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Atomic bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, by Charles Levy.

Top 10 Unknown facts about The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the only use of nuclear weapons in armed conflict.

Japan surrendered to the Allies on 15 August, six days after the Soviet Union’s declaration of war and the bombing of Nagasaki. 

Here are the top 10 unknown facts about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

1. Nagasaki was not the initial target list

The Target Committee was appointed to select targets nominated 5 targets: Kokura, Hiroshima, Yokohama, Niigata, and Kyoto. Henry L. Stimson, the Secretary of War at the time, was an admirer of Kyoto as he had spent his honeymoon there previously. He was adamant that Kyoto be removed from the list and hence on July 25, Nagasaki was put on the target list in place of Kyoto.

2. Nagasaki was not the target for the second bombing

Although the second bombing was scheduled for August 11 against Kokura, it was brought forward by two days due to a forecast of bad weather. Due to clouds, and smoke resulting from a firebombing nearby, the aiming point in Kokura was obscured. After three runs over the city and with fuel running low, it was decided to bomb the secondary target Nagasaki. There were clouds in Nagasaki too but a last-minute break in the clouds allowed the captain to sight the target and drop the ‘Fat Man’ weapon.

3. Policemen in Nagasaki were saved by the ‘Duck and Cover ‘ method

‘Duck and cover’ is a way to enhance the chances of personal protection in case of a nuclear explosion. It provides a certain degree of protection to practitioners who are outside the radius of the nuclear fireball but still in the range in which they would suffer grave injuries or death if they are standing upright. In the 1946 book Hiroshima, it is mentioned how a Hiroshima policeman went to Nagasaki and taught their police to duck after the atomic flash. As a result, not a single Nagasaki policeman died in the initial blast. This allowed the Nagasaki police to organize better relief efforts than in Hiroshima. Sadly the public was ignorant of this method.

4. The code name for the bombs was taken from the movie ‘The Maltese Falcon

The bomb dropped over Hiroshima was a uranium gun-type atomic bomb with the codename ‘Little Boy’ while the one dropped on Nagasaki was a plutonium implosion-type atomic bomb with the codename ‘Fat Man’. The bomb designs were created by Robert Serber who chose the codenames according to the design shapes of the bombs. The ‘Fat Man’ was round and fat and was named after Sydney Greenstreet’s ‘Kasper Gutman’ character in The Maltese Falcon. ‘Little Boy’ was named after Elisha Cook, Jr.’s character in the same film, as referred to by Humphrey Bogart.

5. Origami papers became a symbol of peace

Japanese school children dedicate a collection of paper origami cranes they are delivering to the memorial for Sadako Sasaki in Hiroshima Peace Park, By Andrew Dunn,

Origami paper cranes can be seen throughout the city. They became a symbol of peace because of a 12-year-old bomb survivor, Sadako Sasaki, who, while battling leukemia, folded paper cranes using medicine wrappers after hearing an old Japanese story that those who fold a thousand cranes are granted one wish.

Sadako developed leukemia 10 years after her exposure to radiation at age 2 and died three months after she started the project. 

6. Obama was the first American leader to visit Hiroshima

On May 27, 2016, then U.S. President Barack Obama visited Hiroshima; while there, he donated origami paper cranes he had folded to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The cranes have since been loaned to exhibitions around the world as messages of peace. The four origami cranes are among artifacts from the two bombings displayed at the “War and Peace.

7. Hiroshima celebrated its 75th anniversary since the dropping of the world’s first atomic bomb

The Rest House of Hiroshima Peace Park, by Taisyo, Wikipedia

On 6 August 1945, a US bomber dropped the uranium bomb above the city, killing around 140,000 people. Three days later a second nuclear weapon was dropped on Nagasaki. Two weeks later Japan surrendered, ending World War Two.

On 6 August 2020, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the mayor of Hiroshima joined bomb survivors and descendants in the city’s Peace pack for their 75 anniversary since the atomic was dropped. Now Hiroshima has become a symbol of peace.

8. The bomb birthed Godzilla

Godzilla is a fictional monster, originating from a series of Japanese films. Godzilla is an enormous, destructive, prehistoric sea monster awakened and empowered by nuclear radiation. With the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki incident still fresh in the Japanese consciousness, Godzilla was conceived as a metaphor for nuclear weapons. The films address themes including Japan’s forgetfulness over its imperial past, natural disasters, and the human condition.

9. Ginkgo trees survived the  Hiroshima Bombing

 remarkable Gingko at place Dargent, By Eecherplaz Ginkgo,

Ginkgo biloba is a unique species of tree with no living relatives. It is a living fossil. It is similar to species known only from fossils. 270 million years old, Ginkgo has survived many extinction events. Its tenacity was seen in Hiroshima, where six Ginkgo trees within 1–2 km from the bomb explosion were among the very few living things in the area to survive the blast. The trees healed quickly and are still alive today. The first thing to bloom again after the bombing was the oleander, which was made the official flower of Hiroshima.

10. Hiroshima peace flame will burn until all nuclear weapons are destroyed

The Peace Flame is another monument to the victims of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, but it has an additional symbolic purpose. The flame has burned continuously since it was lit in 1964 and will remain lit until all nuclear bombs on the planet are destroyed and the planet is free from the threat of nuclear annihilation.