It was an average, hot day in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Home to the Japanese army’s Second General Headquarters, yet also home to 280,000 civilians, 43,000 military personnel, and 20,000 Korean forced laborers (Gray, Paul, and Kunii). Everything had been running accordingly, adults going to their jobs, school children assisting in the cleaning of the streets, until they saw a foreign object, hurling at them at a fast speed. It exploded before anyone had the chance to choke out the work ‘bomb’, leaving the menace behind the death trap, President Truman,a villain to Japan. The Japanese had attacked multiple places before the bombing occurred, including cities such as Shanghai, Manchuria, and most famously, Pearl Harbor. Although the U.S. already had control over the Pacific, the Japanese were merciless, continuing to fight against forces. The U.S. finally decided to grab the situation and take control over it by conjuring a plan. The said plan must administer a “tremendous shock which would carry convincing proof of [the United States’] power to destroy the Empire” (Stimson), and must also result in the complete destruction of the Japanese power, as it could end in peace. The master plan was a 10 and a half foot, 29 inch wide, and 9,700 pound atomic bomb named Little Boy. Little Boy was to hit Japan with no Spatz 2 warning, and to target “a military installation or war plant surrounded by or adjacent to houses and other buildings most susceptible to damage” (Stimson). With Hiroshima being home to the Second General Headquarters, it was deemed a perfect target. Within 43 seconds of release, Little Boy had exploded approximately 1,900 feet above Hiroshima, creating a flash of light and heat.
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Temperatures in the middle of the bomb reached around 5400 to 7200 degrees Fahrenheit. Within an instant, the victims trapped in the center of the bomb were instantly vaporized, and left as nothing but a cloud of smoke or a pile of ash. Buildings miles away hurled glass shards from windows, striking civilians, and trapping others under piles of rubble. If citizens were not buried under scrap and ash, they were hit by a thermal wave, “melt[ing] eyeballs of some who had stared in wonder at the blast” and also “burned off facial features and seared skin all over the body into peeling, draping strips” (Gray, Paul, and Kunii). A good majority of these victims were innocent children, women, and everyday people who did not deserve such a fate. On the first day of the bombing, an estimated 100,000 of the Hiroshima population had lost their lives, this figure climbing to 140,000 by the end of the year. Of this statistic, 65 of the city’s 105 doctors had passed away, and 90% of nurses were either dead or incapacitated, leaving medical help scarce. Not only did Little Boy have immediate consequences, its lingering radiation still had an effect on the Japanese population today, the air being lethal to those who survived the vicious attack. After the disastrous bomb, Japan decided to continue on in the war, Japanese leaders trapped in disbelief regarding the Hiroshima incident. War Minister Korechika Anami told the Cabinet that “‘the Spatz 3 Americans had only one bomb, after all’” (Gray, Paul, and Kunii). This response was anticipated, so the United States conjured another bomb, to simply prove that
Temperatures in the middle of the bomb reached around 5400 to 7200 degrees Fahrenheit. Within an instant, the victims trapped in the center of the bomb were instantly vaporized, and left as nothing but a cloud of smoke or a pile of ash. Buildings miles away hurled glass shards from windows, striking civilians, and trapping others under piles of rubble. If citizens were not buried under scrap and ash, they were hit by a thermal wave, “melt[ing] eyeballs of some who had stared in wonder at the blast” and also “burned off facial features and seared skin all over the body into peeling, draping strips” (Gray, Paul, and Kunii). A good majority of these victims were innocent children, women, and everyday people who did not deserve such a fate. On the first day of the bombing, an estimated 100,000 of the Hiroshima population had lost their lives, this figure climbing to 140,000 by the end of the year. Of this statistic, 65 of the city’s 105 doctors had passed away, and 90% of nurses were either dead or incapacitated, leaving medical help scarce. Not only did Little Boy have immediate consequences, its lingering radiation still had an effect on the Japanese population today, the air being lethal to those who survived the vicious attack. After the disastrous bomb, Japan decided to continue on in the war, Japanese leaders trapped in disbelief regarding the Hiroshima incident. War Minister Korechika Anami told the Cabinet that “‘the Spatz 3 Americans had only one bomb, after all’” (Gray, Paul, and Kunii). This response was anticipated, so the United States conjured another bomb, to simply prove that