The Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
In 1938, two
German scientists discovered a way to split a uranium atom that could cause huge
chain reaction explosions. When the US entered into the war in 1941, many scientists
fled Nazi Germany. Some of them became part of a team of American scientists
that were able to turn the original discovery into a deadly nuclear
bomb. Secretly called the "Manhattan Project," three bombs were
built in Los Alamos, New Mexico. On July 16, 1945, one of these bombs was
tested in New Mexico. Less than a month later on August 6, 1945 at 8:15 in
the morning a B-29 bomber let loose of the second deadly 9,000-pound atomic
bomb named "Little Boy." This bomb exploded 2,000 feet above the city
of Hiroshima creating a heat flash and blast that destroyed the city and
killed 138,000 men, women, and children. Due to bad weather, the third
bomb named "Fat Man" missed its mark of a military base in Kokura.
Instead, it was drooped on the city of Nagasaki. This 10,000-pound bomb killed
about 74,000 men, women, and children. In all there were more than 200,000
people killed by the bombs with many more suffering from wounds, radiation sickness,
and severe burns. On August 14, 1945 knowing
they could not fight against an atomic bomb, Emperor Hirohito surrendered to the
Allies. His only request was that he could remain as Emperor.
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