The Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombings

26:48The surrounding mountains are suddenly illuminated with a light brighter than any of those observing has ever seen. Red, yellow, purple, green, white. Then comes a great roaring sound. The tower on which the bomb has been sitting is vaporized, and the desert sand melts into a substance like green-tinged glass for hundreds of meters around the detonation. At its center is a huge crater, a meter and a half deep and 80 meters wide. A mushroom cloud climbs into the heavens, eventually rising some seven and a half miles. The test has been a success. Watching on, Oppenheimer knows the world has changed.

27:40Truman, meanwhile, is at a conference with Churchill and Stalin in the German city of Potsdam. The Chinese leader, Chiang Kai-shek, though not present, is party to the discussions via diplomatic channels In an unguarded moment between formal talks, Truman lets slip to Stalin that the US is on the brink of getting a great new weapon Stalin's network of spies has long known about the Manhattan Project, but the news takes him off guard And leaves him with no doubt that Moscow must now accelerate its own nuclear program Later that day, the US, British, and Chinese delegations jointly issue a declaration demanding Japan surrender.

28:24The might Japan faces, it ominously warns, is immeasurably greater than even that which confronted Germany. The full application of our military power, it reads, will mean the inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forces and just as inevitably the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland. The demand is for nothing less than unconditional surrender. But Tokyo continues to hold out, refusing to countenance such an offer. It's because they were deeply worried that their emperor, Hirohito, would be deposed, deprived of power, and probably, worst of all, humiliated by these unconditional surrender terms.

29:09The United States would dictate every part, every aspect of the Japanese surrender, and that would include the degradation or even the elimination of what the Japanese called the Kokutai, the imperial institution and the emperor himself. The stage is set for a fight to the death.

29:33Work starts in Washington to identify suitable targets on which to drop the bomb. Still, no one really knows what damage the weapon might wreak, especially as the bomb they're planning to use first differs slightly from the one detonated in the Trinity test, being of a different design and uranium instead of plutonium. They want a clean target, one that has not already suffered significant damage from other types of bombing, and will therefore clearly show them the weapon's potential for destruction. It is also thought that an attack on a previously unscathed city will prove more shocking to the Japanese themselves.

30:11Tokyo, then, is ruled out early. It is agreed that any target must have military significance, but given that there is war work going on in a great many cities, that leaves a long list to whittle down. Finally, a short list is formulated. Hiroshima, a city of 350 ,000 people, is home to war industries, serves as an embarkation port, and hosts a large military base. It makes the cut. So too do Kokura, Yokohama, Niigata, and the old imperial capital of Kyoto, a major center of industry as well as home to beautiful temples and shrines. But Kyoto has an unexpected protector within the U.S. administration.

30:58The American Secretary of War was a man by the name of Henry Stimson. Stimson had been in Japan a couple of times, and he'd been to Kyoto, and he'd seen how beautiful it was. And he argued strenuously against putting Kyoto on the target list. He said this was simply unnecessary. It would destroy the essence of Japan, which of course is what some wanted anyway, but not Stimson. And he made the case, powerfully and eloquently, to spare Kyoto from the atomic bombing. After much debate, Kyoto is removed from the list, and attention turns more closely to the industrial center and port city of Hiroshima.

31:41Whatever the final decision on the target, getting the bomb in place is another logistical challenge. Preparations for delivering an atomic bomb, either to Germany or Japan, had been underway for almost as long as the work has been going on to develop the bomb itself.

31:59Since December 1944, 30-year-old Colonel Paul Tibbetts has been commanding what is known as the 509th Composite Group, based in Utah. Here, air crews are being readied to transport and dispatch the weapon. Tibbetts has previously been key to the development of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the plane ultimately selected for the task of dropping the bomb. Though he himself has been briefed on the weapons, many of the 1 ,800 men working under him have no or limited knowledge of the true nature of the work they are carrying out. They are simply informed that they are working on a project with the ability to significantly shorten the war.

32:40Since May, almost all of the group has been transferred to the island of Tinian in the Marianas Group, within striking distance of Japan. In the months before the atomic bomb was ready, the military built these kind of imitations of atomic bombs made out of concrete and high explosives. And they were painted orange, so they were called pumpkins. They were meant to simulate by weight the kind of payload that Tibbetts would be carrying. You had to practice because it was a delicate bomb. It was a very heavy bomb, and precision was necessary. Also, when you released this bomb, because of its weight, the plane was going to bounce.

33:23And you had to know how that would feel, how to control the balance of the plane. Then the bomb would be triggered with a fuse, a delayed fuse, that would cause an explosion in the air. So the fuse was set for 43 seconds from release. Dropped out of the bomb bay, you had 43 seconds. You had to get out of there. With no sign of Japanese surrender, the bomb, known as Little Boy, is shipped to Tinian in late July. Hiroshima is now established as the first target. And with the necessary agreement from Manhattan Project partners Britain and Canada, the date for the mission is set for a week's time.

34:06Weather permitting

34:14At 2.45 in the morning on the 6th of August Paul Tibbetts takes off in his B-29 Which he has named Enola Gay after his mother On board is 5 tons of deadly weapon As the aircraft reaches altitude The 12-man crew is told the nature of their cargo Several, no doubt, have been harboring suspicions, but only now are they confirmed. It takes six hours before they spot Japan's home island on the horizon. As they approach Hiroshima, two of the crew clamber into the bomb bay to ready Little Boy for detonation. When the target comes into view, the crew put on protective goggles. A shout of, Bomb away, resounds in the cockpit.

34:59The hatch opens, and Little Boy is released into the air.

35:06American scientists who worked with the military to build this bomb and to plan its deployment believed that by using an airburst, the amount of radiation that would affect those on the ground would not exceed in its radius the area that had been destroyed by blast and fire. In other words, anyone getting a fatal dose of radiation would already be dead. So radiation didn't matter. They were wrong. Whether they were willfully wrong or just plain wrong is hard to determine. By now, the Enola Gay is over 10 miles from the drop zone. Even so, the aftershock jolts the aircraft, setting off warning indicators on the instrument panel.

35:58Tibbetts focuses to keep the plane stable, while another of the crew snaps a photo of the great purple mushroom cloud swallowing up the sky behind them. They can only wonder at the devastation they have helped to inflict.

36:22This August, on the Noiser Podcast Network, Jane Austen Stories returns. This time, Dame Julie Andrews will be reading another beloved classic, Emma. Step into the village of Highbury, home to the handsome and clever Emma Woodhouse. Witness the delicate art of matchmaking, where appearances can deceive, and true affections are not always easily guessed. On Short History Off, we're herring around the world with the groundbreaking journalist Nellie Bly and grappling with the surreal with Salvador Dali. On Real Survival Stories, we're in the shark-filled waters off the coast of Florida and trundling down the Birdsville track deep in the Australian bush.

37:01And in Sherlock Holmes' short stories, Holmes investigates the disappearance of a missing star rugby player in The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter. Get all of these shows and more early and ad-free on Noiser+. No one on the ground below has any inkling what is about to befall them. In fact, there have already been two air raid warnings this morning, followed by the all clear. For 15-year-old Terra May and her fellow citizens, it is just another day, with no more than the usual worries associated with being on the back foot in a long war. Indeed, the absence of US bombing up to this point has led some to believe that Hiroshima is being saved by the Americans, perhaps with a view to using it as a headquarters should they eventually invade.

37:51When Little Boy detonates above them, it is with a force equivalent to 15 ,000 tons of TNT. Up in the sky, birds burst into flames as they fly. At ground level, the temperature hits 7 ,000 degrees Fahrenheit in less than a second. Anything remotely combustible within a mile or so of the immediate target zone ignites. So bright is the light that accompanies the explosion that it burns the shadows of people and objects onto walls. Many of those who survive the initial heat of the explosion are injured or killed when they are knocked from their feet by the subsequent shockwave and hit by flying glass and debris.

38:35Buildings collapse as if they were dolls' houses. Virtually nothing within a mile of the center of the blast still stands. The telephone exchange, just a few hundred yards away, only survives in any form because of its concrete structure. Even up to three miles away, there is hardly a building unscathed, and as far away as 12 miles, windows are shattered by the force. As for those unlucky enough to be within half a mile of the explosion, 90 % do not survive more than a few minutes. Meanwhile, fires consume over four square miles of the city, bringing a renewed wave of death. Then the radiation begins to kick in.

39:23You read accounts of this, and people said things like, The blades of grass turned into weapons, became like knife edges, so powerful was the blast, and lacerated people's skin. and the horrible burns that people came to hospital with. And then, of course, the special cruelty of having apparently survived unscathed from an atomic bomb blast. The cruelty of suddenly discovering, days or weeks later, that something was wrong with your body, that you were getting these pettichiae, these purplish blotches on your skin, that your hair was falling out, that you were horribly nauseated, that you began bleeding from various orifices.

40:04It meant that you had radiation poisoning, and thousands of people died as a result. Terra May is one of those who exhibit symptoms, but over time she makes a recovery, though she loses the sight in her right eye. Much worse, she discovers her 13-year-old sister has not survived, succumbing to terrible burns. Upwards of 45 ,000 people die on the day of the bombing. Almost all Japanese, but also a number of US military personnel who have been held prisoner in the city. Many tens of thousands more perish in the coming months. The final death toll can only be estimated, but it likely stands between 100 and 150 ,000.

40:58It is 2.58pm local time, as Enola Gay closes in on the US airbase on Tinian, a little more than 12 hours after takeoff. Inside the aircraft, virtually the only noise is that of the engine drone. There is no conversation, not even when the men ate their sandwiches on their way back, each of them caught in his own thoughts. In the hours since the bomb was dropped, they had been too busy absorbing what they had been witnessed to. A city about the same size as Dallas, consumed within moments by fire and smoke. As the aircraft bumps to a stop along the runway and the engines power down, Tibbetts prepares to exit through a hatch in the nose of the plane.

41:42As he emerges into the fresh air, he is hit by a wave of cheering and applause.

41:51A crowd of some 200 lines the taxiways, consisting of military personnel of all ranks, from the lowliest to the highest. Tibbetts has never seen more generals and admirals gathered in one place. He quietly accepts the acclaim, even though he executed the mission as if it were any other. A military man to his bones, he simply had his orders, and he has carried them out to the best of his abilities. The politics and the ethics are for others to wrestle with. Now a familiar face appears. Carl Thuy Spatz, Chief of the Air Force out here in the Pacific. He pins a cross on the pilot's chest in recognition of his distinguished service.

42:37The gesture prompts a renewed round of applause.

42:49Now Tibbetts feels a hand at his elbow, and he is led off along with the rest of the mission crew for a private debriefing. But then it is back to, if not festivities, then at least a break with a regular routine of airbase life. Filling a plate from tables piled high with food, he cracks open a cold beer and watches some of the men playing softball to unwind. A spectacular catch provokes a chorus of whoops and high-fiving Another group is immersed in a jitterbug contest But Tibbetts has expended enough energy today And heads instead to a special screening of a new movie Sinking into his chair as the opening scene begins He might be any guy in a picture house Eyes fixed on the screen as the lead actress sweeps into the action But today is anything but normal Today he has played his part in changing the world And for all the high spirits on Tin Yan No one yet really understands What the change will lead to

43:58This August on the Noiser Podcast Network Jane Austen Stories returns This time Dame Julie Andrews will be reading Another beloved classic, Emma Step into the village of Highbury, home to the handsome and clever Emma Woodhouse Witness the delicate art of matchmaking, where appearances can deceive And true affections are not always easily guessed On Short History Off, we're herring around the world with the groundbreaking journalist Nellie Bly And grappling with the surreal with Salvador Dali On Real Survival Stories, we're in the shark-filled waters off the coast of Florida And trundling down the Birdsville track deep in the Australian bush And in Sherlock Holmes' short stories, Holmes investigates the disappearance of a missing star rugby player in The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter.

44:47Get all of these shows and more early and ad-free on Noiser Plus.

44:54President Truman is in the middle of the Atlantic when he is notified of the attack. Sixteen hours after the blast, he releases a statement acknowledging the nature of the assault. The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East. We are now prepared to destroy, more rapidly and completely, every productive enterprise the Japanese have in any city.

45:25But still, the Japanese refuse to concede. Hirohito is in a tricky spot. As emperor and accorded divine status, he is supposed to be above such earthly matters as politics and the progress of the war. But with his own neck and his country's future on the line, he has not been able to keep out of things. His government is split. On one hand, is a faction determined to fight to the bitter end, convinced they will somehow emerge from this crisis. On the other hand, a faction seeking peace, aware of how weak Japan has become, desperate to find a way out and fearful of what might happen next. They favor suing for a conditional peace, but the conditions suggested are unlikely to be accepted by the Allies.

46:14They include maintaining the Emperor's head of state, ruling out any form of occupation, and leaving Japan responsible for its own disarmament and any potential war crimes trials. Now, just two days after Hiroshima, the pressure ratchets up again when the Soviet Union declares war. And this really throws them for a loop. Because as much as they don't wish to be occupied by anybody, including the Americans, the thought of occupation by the Soviets is utter anathema. They cannot fathom the possibility of Soviet occupation, even in combination with the United States. But with still no sign of movement from Tokyo, the Americans prepare to drop another bomb.

47:03The initial plan is to go on the 11th, but the weather is set for a downturn by then. So the date is moved forward by two days. On the 9th of August, at 3.47am, a B-29, this one called Boxcar, takes off from Tinian laden with a plutonium bomb, of the same design as the Trinity bomb. Nicknamed Fat Man, the weapon is destined for the city of Kokorah, home of a mighty arsenal. However, the flight is hit by a host of technical problems, and by the time it reaches its target, visibility is poor. partly due to the weather and partly because of smoke rising from an earlier conventional bombing raid undertaken in error.

47:46With fuel running low, boxcar's pilot, Major Charles W. Sweeney, has a difficult call to make. Figuring he can't take the bomb home or drop it into the sea, he decides to make a pass over the mission's secondary target, Nagasaki, a city with a population of 200 ,000. On the approach, they fear that Nagasaki is also too obscured by cloud cover. But then suddenly, the city's stadium appears through the gloom, a landmark by which the crew can orientate themselves. The hatch opens, and Fat Man begins its deadly descent, exploding at 2 minutes past 11 in the morning at a height of 1 ,650 feet. At 21 kilotons, it is 40 % more powerful than the weapon used against Hiroshima.

48:35It detonates over an industrial area close to the factory complex responsible for manufacturing the missiles that rained down on Pearl Harbor four years ago. Everything within a half-mile radius of ground zero is destroyed. Over a quarter of the city's 52 ,000 homes are flattened, and almost 90 % of all properties suffer some damage. Somewhere in the region of 40 ,000 people die in the immediate aftermath, with the final death toll put at 70 ,000. Had the bomb dropped over the city's commercial or residential districts, these figures would have been closer to or even exceeded those of Hiroshima.

49:21The very same day, leaflets are dropped by the Americans across Japan, warning civilians that their enemy possesses the most destructive explosive ever devised by man. It urges them to ask their authorities about what has already befallen Hiroshima. Japan's war council meets in the afternoon, but by evening they still cannot agree on whether or not to throw in the towel. there is a fraught conversation until really the 12th of august so three days after nagasaki when they put forward to the united states their willingness to surrender under certain circumstances with certain conditions and it's pretty much a guarantee of the imperial institution and what do the americans do now what do they say are they going to give up on unconditional surrender They're out of atomic bombs for now.

50:11They won't be getting any more till fall. The Soviets are pushing down against the Japanese. The Americans offer a kind of slippery compromise that the emperor, not in so many words, but they say the emperor could continue to exist as long as it's understood that he is under the control of the supreme commander for the Allies in Pacific, that is, the United States. Three days later, on the 15th of August, Irohito formally addresses the nation, the first time a Japanese emperor has spoken to his collected people. In his speech, delivered in stilted, formal Japanese, he references the new weapon used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

50:57Should fighting continue, he says, it will set human civilization on the path to total extinction. Two weeks later, Japan signs off its formal surrender, ending the war in the Pacific and bringing the curtain down on the Second World War altogether.

51:21Though the war is over, the race for nuclear weapons has really only just started. Stalin's Soviet Union becomes the next nuclear state in 1949. As of today, a total of nine nations are known to have nuclear weapons. I think the use of the bomb led to other nations wanting to develop it. And whether they would have done the same if they'd simply learned about the existence of the bomb, a bomb that had not been used, I don't know. I suspect they might have anyway. But certainly once the bomb was used, the United States, of all nations, had dropped atomic bombs. They decided that they had better build a bomb of their own.

52:05As for Japan, it is occupied by the Americans until into the 1950s, by which time the Asian nation is on the way to becoming a demilitarized, democratic, economic superpower. Both Hiroshima and Nagasaki are rebuilt in the years after the war, becoming thriving urban hubs, dotted with memorials to the terrible fates they once suffered. The impact of the two bombs is enduring. Millions carry physical and emotional scars, and struggle under the weight of grief. Some 650 ,000 survivors have to deal not only with long-term health impacts, including heightened risk of cancers, but also with social stigma, rooted in the unfounded fear that they carry disease which may be contagious, or even transferred to their descendants.

52:56All the while, debate simmers about the morality of using the bombs in the first place. Did they help shorten the war and save more lives than they cost? And even if they did, what was the price to humanity?

53:18Whatever the answer, it is certainly true that the bomb has continued to demonstrate its power as a deterrent. The concept of mutually assured destruction, that the use of a nuclear weapon brings with it the risk of being reciprocally attacked with one, has proved a potent negotiating tool. 80 years after the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki The horrors of what befell them have not been forgotten And though war is certainly far from a thing of the past The bomb that brought to Oppenheimer's mind a line of poetry About the radiance of a thousand suns has never since been used If you want one silver lining, no one has used one since Nagasaki And one can only hope that memories of the utter destruction of these bombs, of what they did to human beings, will prevent people, prevent governments from ever deploying them again.

54:18Heaven knows we have many other ways to distribute horror in the world.

54:29Next time on Short History Up we'll bring you a short history of Florence Nightingale

54:38Nightingale and her lamp became a symbol of hope for people in the Crimean War and these people were stuck in an awful situation and they just needed someone who cared And I think, for me, human nature hasn't changed in the last 200-odd years. There are still people today who step outside their comfort zone to really try and help others and to make a difference. That's next time. If you can't wait a week until the next episode, you can listen to it right away by subscribing to Noiser+. Head to www.noiser.com forward slash subscriptions for more information.

55:46guest. On Short History Off, we're herring around the world with the groundbreaking journalist Nellie Bly and grappling with the surreal with Salvador Dali. On Real Survival Stories, we're in the shark-filled waters off the coast of Florida and trundling down the Birdsville track deep in the Australian bush. And in Sherlock Holmes' short stories, Holmes investigates the disappearance of a missing star rugby player in The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter. Get all of these shows and more early and ad-free on Noisa Plus.