Nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused widespread destruction, snuffing out lives of thousands, maiming millions
Each person had a name. Each person was loved by someone. Let us ensure that their deaths were not in vain,” said Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the August 1945 atomic pounding of Hiroshima during his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in 2017.
This is the month to recall the macabre events of the Second World War. The key takeaway is how to mitigate the agonies inflicted by turmoil and give a chance to the voice of reason and sanity to prevail.
In the spring of 1988, in New Delhi, it was with great trepidation that I stepped into an imposing edifice on Shah Jahan Road called the Union Public Service Commission.
“Well, Mr Valluri, one of the optional papers was history despite studying commerce and Business Economics. What do you know about the ‘Little Boy’ and the ‘Fat Man’?” the head of the interview board with a stentorian voice demanded.
The United States of America had brutally detonated two atomic bombs over the hapless Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in 1945. The events caused widespread destruction, snuffing out lives of thousands, maiming millions.
In the lexicon of American warfare these two were the ‘Little Boy’ and the ‘Fat Man’. The uranium bomb which detonated over Hiroshima on the fateful date had an explosive yield which tantamount to 15,000 tonnes of trinitrotoluene (TNT).
It razed and destroyed around 70 per cent of all the structures and resulted eventually in an estimated 140,000 deaths by the end of 1945.
Unfortunately, those who survived the holocaust were plagued with the pestilence of cancer and other chronic ailments. A humungous plutonium bomb exploded over Nagasaki three days later which flattened 6.7 sq. km. of the city and killed nearly 74,000 people by the end of 1945. It was also estimated that the subterranean temperatures rose to 4,000°C and there was torrential radioactive rain. Such was the cataclysmic impact of the arsenal.
The relations between the two major Axis and Allied powers, Japan and the United States of America plummeted as the Japanese forces overarched towards Indochina with a singular mission of running amuck the oil rich areas of the East Indies.
There was a palpable threat to America which soon put an embargo on scrap metal, oil, and aviation fuel heading towards Japan and froze Japanese assets in the United States as a retaliatory measure. The hostilities did not cease there as the United States demanded that the Japanese troops withdraw from all conquered areas of China and Indochina.
As the malevolence between the two countries spiraled, Japanese planes stealthily attacked the American naval bases at Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941, which brought the United States officially into World War II. In a surprise attack, Japan sank several frigates, destroyed hundreds of planes and snuffed out thousands of lives. The Japanese strategy was to cripple the US Pacific fleet, and they almost succeeded in their mission.
Years of fighting brought the US armed forces in close proximity to Japan as they “hopped” from one island to another. Once President Roosevelt cast his mortal self on April 12, 1945, it became incumbent upon Harry Truman to decisively plan to terminate the war. Truman and his advisors were cautious of invading Japan as Japanese kamikaze pilots could turn planes into guided missiles and throw all plans off gear.
Upon assuming the Presidency, Harry Truman stumbled upon the Manhattan Project, a secret scientific attempt to develop an atomic bomb. President Truman had audaciously tested the weapon and issued what is called the Potsdam Declaration threat, demanding the unconditional surrender of the Japanese government with a stern warning of “prompt and utter destruction”.
Barely 11 days later, on August 6, 1945, an American bomber ‘the Enola Gay’ left Tinian Island en route to Japan.
In the belly of the bomber was the innocuous sounding ‘Little Boy’, essentially an atomic bomb. At 8:15 am Hiroshima time, ‘Little Boy’ was dropped. The unprecedented havoc caused whetted the American appetite.
On the fateful day of August 9, 1945, another bomber traversed towards Nagasaki with the ‘Fat Man’, in the under belly. The moment fireball ‘Fat Man’ dropped from the skies 39,000 men, women and children were killed and 25,000 more were critically wounded.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki were maimed and the soul of Japan was tamed as the war ended.
It is said that as Robert Oppenheimer witnessed the first detonation of a nuclear weapon on July 16, 1945, a piece of Bhagvad Gita ran through his mind, “Now I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds'.
Today science has made stupendous strides and there are several ‘Little Boys’ and ‘Fat Men’. It is for the policy makers and elected representatives to ensure they do not cause further havoc to humanity.
(The author is a railway officer.)