Hiroshima Day was identified by Japan every year on August 6. The day points to increasing knowledge about the destructive power of the atomic bomb which was abandoned on Hiroshima and Nagasaki ending the Second World war.
On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb was abandoned on Hiroshima in Japan by an American B-29 bomber killing nearly 80,000 people immediately while tens of thousands died afterwards due to the radiation exposure.
Three days later, a second B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki eliminating another 40,000 people. These attacks, on the two Japanese cities, were the first time that the atomic bomb was practised.
The nuclear bombings on Japan made the country on August 15, 1945, declare that it was abandoning unconditionally during the Second World War.
During the war, Japan was part of the Axis Group, which included Nazi Germany and the Kingdom of Italy, along with other small and significant regions.
| History of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 |
On August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber released an atomic bomb, called ‘Little Boy’, with a force of 12-15 Kilotons of TNT on Hiroshima. The city was the production hub of more than 3,50,000 people and about 500 miles from Tokyo.
The blast damaged 500 square miles of the city directly. The bomb was abandoned by an American aircraft by parachute in the morning at 8.15 and exploded 2,000 feet above the city.
What happened in Nagasaki?
Even after the destruction that took place in Hiroshima due to the atomic bombing, Japan did not abandon the Second World War.
Three days later, on August 9, 1945, the United States sent another B-29 to the main target of the city of Kokura. Though, thick clouds over the city, stopped the pilot from dropping the atomic bomb so he travelled to the secondary target, Nagasaki, which was huddled between the mountains.
The pilot dropped ‘Fat Man’ over the city at 11.02 am. This plutonium bomb was even influential than the one dropped on Hiroshima, three days earlier.
Hiroshima Day: Why is it in news?
As the Olympic Games 2020 are being maintained in Tokyo, Japan, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui had given a letter to the President of the International Olympics Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, urging for a minute of silence to be recognised to mark Hiroshima Day on August 6.
Nevertheless, reportedly, IOC has no intentions to call for a time of silence during the games on August 6 but has been preparing to honour the day during the closing celebration of the Olympic games.
