A warning to surrender
President Truman and a group of advisors wanted to come up with a plan to force Japan to surrender and to avoid more casualties. There were two options: one option was to do a full scale invasion of Japan, another option was to drop the worlds first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. President Truman decided to send the bomb. Some of his advisors suggested to have a nonmilitary demonstration of the bomb; but there were two flaws in this option. The first flaw was that the bomb might not even work and this would encourage the Japanese to continue fighting. The other flaw was the plane that would deliver the bomb might be shot down. The Postsdam Declaration Quoted, " We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces." Japanese leaders discussed the Declaration, Emperor Hirohito and some of his leaders were in favor of surrender, but they were out voted. On July 28th the Radio Tokyo announced that Japan would keep fighting. Because of their decision, none of them were expecting the devastation that would come next.
(Youtube.com)
The Bombing of Hiroshima
The bomb dropped on Hiroshima
(Google Images)
On Monday August 6, 1945 at 2:45 am a B-29 named Enola Gay lead by Colonel Paul Tibbets took off from Tinian, a North Pacific island in the Marianas near Japan.
At 8:16 am the Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Eyewitness reports said, "the first mushroom cloud floated off into the blue and it changed its shape into a flower-like form, its giant petal curving downward, creamy white outside, rose-colored inside. It still retained that shape when we last gazed at it from a distance of about 200 miles." Over 90% of the population was wiped out and 80,000 people lost their lives instantly. The bomb that was dropped at Hiroshima was named "Little Boy" and the explosion was equivalent to 15,000 tons of TNT.
At 8:16 am the Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Eyewitness reports said, "the first mushroom cloud floated off into the blue and it changed its shape into a flower-like form, its giant petal curving downward, creamy white outside, rose-colored inside. It still retained that shape when we last gazed at it from a distance of about 200 miles." Over 90% of the population was wiped out and 80,000 people lost their lives instantly. The bomb that was dropped at Hiroshima was named "Little Boy" and the explosion was equivalent to 15,000 tons of TNT.
Fire and Ashes- Orchestral symphony. (Youtube)