The B-29 bomber flew high above the clouds, the sun flinging its shadow onto the white bed of fog below. The captain of the Enola Gay, Colonel Paul Tibbetts, checked the altitude meter: They were 31,000 feet above sea level. By the navigator’s orders, Tibbets cautiously adjusted the plane to the new bearing towards the target. The heavy metal beast turned slowly.
The plane shook violently as they flew through a dense formation. The crew were already incredibly anxious, and they didn’t need turbulence to add to it. There was so much that could go wrong with this mission. The crew’s adrenaline drained away as they continued towards their destination.
The city was in view now. They were in range. At 0815 local time, the Enola Gay released its 9,700 pound payload. The aircraft immediately dove away and headed home.
The siren rang out at seven that morning. Radar had spotted three high flying aircraft heading towards the south, but after a short while, the All Clear was sounded; three planes did not constitute a bombing formation. “Mr B” was not visiting them today.***
The citizens of Hiroshima went back to their work, which consisted mainly of tearing down buildings to create fire-breaks for the expected air raids. Fire had been catastrophic to Japan’s other cities, destroying half the buildings in a city in one night. The citizens of Hiroshima did not want to suffer the same fate, so they dug, picked, pulled and pushed endlessly to protect themselves from the incendiaries.
Soldiers of the Japanese Second Army were doing calisthenics on a small parade field, which consisted of various stretches and light exercises. Upon hearing a loud droning noise, several members of the unit looked up to the sky. 1,900 feet above them, the Heavens tore open.
In a blink of an eye, 70,000 souls were turned to ash. Those that weren’t killed instantly, saw an incredible flash of light above the city, which was followed by a soaring heat, which in turn was followed by the horrifying blast, a blast which threw homes and hospitals like a child threw his toys. Those that weren’t killed in the immediate explosion were either blown to pieces or burnt to death. The heat had been so immense that roads had retained the shadows of passers-by at the moment of detonation. Those within the city heard nothing, but the fisherman on his sampan twenty miles away heard a colossal booming thunder, as if the world was coming to an end. Within minutes, nine out of ten people within half a mile of the explosion were dead.
Numerous fires had erupted around the city, and they eventually combined into one huge firestorm, which engulfed the city, igniting anything and anyone in its path. Nearly every structure within one mile of ground zero was destroyed.
Survivors staggered through the ruins of the city, eyes and ears bleeding, clothing burnt through by the initial flash. Many survivors lay under fallen masonry, bones crushed. They would die an agonising death. Thousands more would fall to radiation sickness. Another 80,000 would die in the bombing of Nagasaki three days later. It is thought that in total 200,000 people lost their lives as a result of the two explosions, and this included several American, Dutch and British POWs. On the same day as the “Fat Man” fell on Nagasaki, the Soviets invaded Manchuria. Six days later, after much discussion with the Allies, the Empire of Japan surrendered. The atomic bomb had worked.
The Second World War was over.