Atomic bombings

of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki

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In the final year of World War II,
the Allies prepared for a costly invasion of the
Japanese mainland.

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• By July 1945, the Allies’ Manhattan Project
had produced two types of atomic bombs:

“Fat Man", a plutonium implosion type nuclear weapon; and

“Little Boy", an enriched uranium gun type fission weapon.

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• orders were issued on 25 July by General Thomas Handy, the
acting Chief staff of the United States Army, for atomic bombs to
be used against Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata, and Nagasaki.

• These targets were chosen because they were large urban

areas that also held militarily significant facilities

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• On 6 August, a Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima, to
which Prime Minister Suzuki reiterated the Japanese
government's commitment to ignore the Allies' demands and
fight on.

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• Three days later on 9th of August, a Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki
• Over the next two to four months, the effects of the atomic bombings killed
between 90,000 and 146,000 people in Hiroshima and 39,000 and 80,000
people in Nagasaki; roughly half occurred on the first day.
• For months afterward, large numbers of people continued to die from the
effects of burns, radiation sickness, and injuries, compounded by illness
and malnutrition.
• Most of the dead were civilians, although Hiroshima had a sizable military
garrison.

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• Japan surrendered to the Allies on 15 August, six days after
the Soviet Union’s Declaration of war and the bombing of
Nagasaki. The Japanese government signed the instrument of
surrender on 2 September, effectively ending the war.

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• Likewise, the explosions of the atomic bomb also led to
environmental contamination.

• When the bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki exploded in the

middle of the air, high degree of radiation was emitted and
carried by wind to areas beyond the cities.

• It then dispersed gradually and led to radioactive air

contamination.

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• The detonation of atomic bomb created radioactive dust that falls
out of the sky into the area around the site of the explosion.

• Wind and water currents carry the dust across a much larger radius
than the initial explosion, where it contaminates the ground, water
supply and the food chain.

• An increase in leukemia appeared about two years after the attack

of Hiroshima-Nagasaki.

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 Thank you
Presented by - Chethasi Fernando

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