The survivors of the Hiroshima attack woke on August 7 to the horrific aftermath of an A-Bomb explosion. According the military records published by Wikipedia some 80,000 people or almost 30% of the population of Hiroshima at the time, were killed by the blast and resultant firestorm and another 70,000 were injured. U.S. surveys further estimated that 4.7 square miles of the city were destroyed with few standing buildings left in the impact zone.
Most of the dead were civilians, who had ignored the warning leaflets.
The USA has always claimed that the attack saved the lives of our troops, since the Imperial troops had been defending Okinawa and Iwo Jima with suicidal ferocity and the Empire still held onto vast territories throughout Asia.
Nothing had prepared the world for Hiroshima, but on August 7 Dr. Yoshio Nishina and other atomic physicists came to the conclusion that the USA had no more than two more bombs and that the Empire should sustain the losses and continue the war.
Two days later Nagasaki changed the mind of the Emperor and Hirohito announced the war was lost.
Forever, especially for the dead.
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