The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki | Page 8

to build them
throughout the entire industrial valley.

THE ATTACKS
Hiroshima
Hiroshima was the primary target of the first atomic bomb mission. The
mission went smoothly in every respect. The weather was good, and

the crew and equipment functioned perfectly. In every detail, the attack
was carried out exactly as planned, and the bomb performed exactly as
expected.
The bomb exploded over Hiroshima at 8:15 on the morning of August
6, 1945. About an hour previously, the Japanese early warning radar
net had detected the approach of some American aircraft headed for the
southern part of Japan. The alert had been given and radio broadcasting
stopped in many cities, among them Hiroshima. The planes approached
the coast at a very high altitude. At nearly 8:00 A.M., the radar operator
in Hiroshima determined that the number of planes coming in was very
small - probably not more than three - and the air raid alert was lifted.
The normal radio broadcast warning was given to the people that it
might be advisable to go to shelter if B-29's were actually sighted, but
no raid was expected beyond some sort of reconnaissance. At 8:15
A.M., the bomb exploded with a blinding flash in the sky, and a great
rush of air and a loud rumble of noise extended for many miles around
the city; the first blast was soon followed by the sounds of falling
buildings and of growing fires, and a great cloud of dust and smoke
began to cast a pall of darkness over the city.
At 8:16 A.M., the Tokyo control operator of the Japanese Broadcasting
Corporation noticed that the Hiroshima station had gone off the air. He
tried to use another telephone line to reestablish his program, but it too
had failed. About twenty minutes later the Tokyo railroad telegraph
center realized that the main line telegraph had stopped working just
north of Hiroshima. From some small railway stops within ten miles of
the city there came unofficial and confused reports of a terrible
explosion in Hiroshima. All these reports were transmitted to the
Headquarters of the Japanese General Staff.
Military headquarters repeatedly tried to call the Army Control Station
in Hiroshima. The complete silence from that city puzzled the men at
Headquarters; they knew that no large enemy raid could have occurred,
and they knew that no sizeable store of explosives was in Hiroshima at
that time. A young officer of the Japanese General Staff was instructed
to fly immediately to Hiroshima, to land, survey the damage, and return
to Tokyo with reliable information for the staff. It was generally felt at
Headquarters that nothing serious had taken place, that it was all a
terrible rumor starting from a few sparks of truth.

The staff officer went to the airport and took off for the southwest.
After flying for about three hours, while still nearly 100 miles from
Hiroshima, he and his pilot saw a great cloud of smoke from the bomb.
In the bright afternoon, the remains of Hiroshima were burning.
Their plane soon reached the city, around which they circled in
disbelief. A great scar on the land, still burning, and covered by a heavy
cloud of smoke, was all that was left of a great city. They landed south
of the city, and the staff officer immediately began to organize relief
measures, after reporting to Tokyo.
Tokyo's first knowledge of what had really caused the disaster came
from the White House public announcement in Washington sixteen
hours after Hiroshima had been hit by the atomic bomb.
Nagasaki
Nagasaki had never been subjected to large scale bombing prior to the
explosion of the atomic bomb there. On August 1st, 1945, however, a
number of high explosive bombs were dropped on the city. A few of
these bombs hit in the shipyards and dock areas in the southwest
portion of the city. Several of the bombs hit the Mitsubishi Steel and
Arms Works and six bombs landed at the Nagasaki Medical School and
Hospital, with three direct hits on buildings there. While the damage
from these few bombs were relatively small, it created considerable
concern in Nagasaki and a number of people, principally school
children, were evacuated to rural areas for safety, thus reducing the
population in the city at the time of the atomic attack.
On the morning of August 9th, 1945, at about 7:50 A.M., Japanese time,
an air raid alert was sounded in Nagasaki, but the "All clear" signal was
given at 8:30. When only two B-29 superfortresses were sighted at
10:53 the Japanese apparently assumed that the planes were only on
reconnaissance and no further alarm was given. A few moments later,
at 11:00 o'clock, the observation B-29 dropped instruments attached to
three parachutes and at 11:02 the other plane released the atomic