Tokyo, JAPAN
Japan has
marked 74 years since a US atomic bomb attack that razed the city of Hiroshima
to the ground at the end of World War II.
 |
| Hiroshima after atomic bomb attack in 1945 |
Around
50,000 people, including representatives from around the
world, attended on Tuesday a ceremony held in the Peace
Memorial Park near ground zero to honour the memory of the victims of the
world's first nuclear bomb attack.
In a
speech, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui called on the international community to
work towards a world without atomic weapons.
Below we
take a look at the events that shaped the course of history.
On August 6, 1945, at about 8:15am Japanese time,
the US aircraft Enola Gay dropped an untested uranium-235 gun-assembly
bomb nicknamed "Little Boy" over Hiroshima.
The
devastation was unlike anything in the history of warfare, ushering in the
era of weapons of mass destruction.
Hiroshima
was immediately flattened. The resulting explosion killed 70,000 people instantly; by December 1945,
the death toll had risen to some 140,000.
The
radius of total destruction was reportedly 1.6 kilometer.
"The
impact of the bomb was so terrific that practically all living things - human
and animal - were literally seared to death by the tremendous heat and pressure
set up by the blast," Tokyo radio said in the aftermath of the explosion,
according to a report by The Guardian in August 1945.
"All
the dead and injured were burned beyond recognition. Those outdoors were burned
to death, while those indoors were killed by the indescribable pressure and
heat."
But the
damage did not end there. The radiation released from the explosion caused
further suffering.
Thousands
more died from their injuries, radiation sickness and cancer in the years that
followed, bringing the toll closer to 200,000, according to the Department of Energy's history
of the Manhattan Project.
 |
| The nuclear bombing of Nagasaki during World War II |
Japan was a fierce enemy of the US and its allies, Britain,
China and the Soviet Union during World War II.
By 1945, the allies had turned the tide of the war
and pushed the Japanese forces back from many locations.
The
Japanese had publicly stated their intent to fight to the bitter end, and were
using tactics such as kamikaze attacks, in which pilots would suicide dive
against US warships.
In July
1945, US President Harry Truman and allies demanded the "immediate
and unconditional" surrender
of Japan, but Japan did not issue a clear
response.
Shortly
after, the US attacked Hiroshima, which was seen as a strategically
sound target due to weather conditions, aircraft range,
military impact and morale impact upon the enemy.
"What
has been done is the greatest achievement of organised science in history. It
was done under high pressure and without failure," Truman said 16 hours
after the atomic bomb was dropped.
"We
are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every productive
enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city. We shall destroy their
docks, their factories, and their communications. Let there be no mistake; we
shall completely destroy Japan's power to make war."
Truman
said if Japan's leaders "do not now accept our terms they may expect a
rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this
Earth".
He added:
"Behind this air attack will follow sea and land forces in such numbers
and power as they have not yet seen and with the fighting skill of which they
are already well aware."
After the
bomb obliterated Hiroshima, the Japanese did not surrender.
Three days later, the US launched another mission
to bomb Kokura, however, the citywas obscured by clouds. The city of
Nagasaki was chosen as a target instead. "Fat Man" was dropped over
Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, instantly killing at least 40,000 people.
The
British pilot Leonard Cheshire, who was involved in the mission to bomb
Nagasaki, later recalled the cloud caused by the atomic blast:
"Obscene in its greedy clawing at the earth, swelling as if with its
regurgitation of all the life that it had consumed."
The
bombings were as questionable back then as they are today. Six out of
seven five-star US generals and admirals at the time felt there was no need to
drop the bomb because Japanese surrender was imminent.
On August
15, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's surrender, and on September 2, the surrender was
formally signed, bringing the hostilities of World War II to a close.
The power
of the atomic bomb would usher a change in geopolitics that still reverberates
to this day, with several countries currently vying to acquire this
technology.
 |
| Former California Governor Jerry Brown, left, and former US Secretary of Defence William Perry unveil the Doomsday Clock during on January 24, 2019. This year the Doomsday Clock remains unchanged and is set at two minutes to midnight |
In 1947,
the scientists involved in the Manhattan Project created the Doomsday Clock,
which represents the likelihood of a man-made global catastrophe, with midnight symbolizing the destruction of civilization as we know it.
Last
year, the clock was adjusted to two minutes to midnight, the closest it has been to
doomsday.
In 2019,
the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists maintained
the "two minutes to midnight" time, citing continuing
climate change, US and Russian nuclear modernization efforts; information
warfare threats and other dangers from "disruptive technologies" such
as artificial intelligence, synthetic biology and cyber-warfare. - Aljazeera
No comments:
Post a Comment