All language subtitles for BBC.Hiroshima.2005.1080p.HDTV.x265.AAC.MVGroup.org

This is the story of the first ever
use of a weapon of mass destruction.

The weapon we are about to deliver
was successfully tested
in the States.

We've received orders
to drop it on the enemy.

It is the most destructive
weapon ever produced.

The target was an empire
with its own secret weapon -

the suicide bomber.

TRANSLATION FROM JAPANESE:
I trained myself
that I could die at any time.

On the 6th August 1945,

a bomb unlike any other fell
from the skies above Hiroshima.

The bomb was designed by some
of the world's finest scientists.

Using it was one
of the most momentous political
decisions ever made.

Soldiers and sailors are the target,
not women and children.

This is the story of the
aircrew who flew the mission,
and dropped the bomb.

I'm not thinking about the people
who got killed or hurt, but of those
that did not get killed or hurt.

And it's the story of the people
of Hiroshima

who were the first ever
victims of a nuclear attack.

TRANSLATION:
When something as devastating
as a nuclear weapon is used,

people are powerless,
just like ants, or insects.

The entire city of Hiroshima was
annihilated in just a few seconds.

The bomb helped bring the
Second World War to an end,

and it marked the beginning of
a new chapter in human history.

July 14th 1945.

At the top-secret research
facility in Los Alamos, New Mexico,

a heavily armed convoy was loaded
with parts for a new kind of bomb.

This was the start of a journey
that would end in Hiroshima.

This bomb was the product
of three years' research,
and had cost $2bn to develop.

But at this stage, the technology
was still completely untested.

Two days later, there
was a chance to find out.

In the desert of New Mexico,
the scientists and soldiers

of the Manhattan Project
gathered for the first ever test
explosion of an atomic bomb.

A hundred to one,
we crack the Earth's crust,
and destroy the whole world.

Fifty to one
we ignite the atmosphere,
and only destroy New Mexico.

Someone shut Thirmy up,
he's frightening the MPs.

Ten to one it fizzles out.

If that weapon fizzles out, each of
you can look forward to a lifetime

testifying in front of Congressional
Investigation Committees!

OVER RADIO:
'Six, five, four, three,

'two, one, zero.'

The explosion vaporised
the stainless steel
tower holding the bomb.

The intense heat melted the desert
sand, leaving an area of glass.

The force of the explosion was
estimated to be the equivalent

of 67 million sticks of dynamite.

THEY APPLAUD AND CHEER

The bomb had originally
been intended for use
against Nazi Germany,

but its backers now
had another target in mind.

I'm very proud of you! Thank you.

Well, done. The war's over, General.

Yep! As soon as we've dropped
a few of these things on Japan!

Good work.

For Scientific Director
Robert Oppenheimer it was a moment
of terrible truth.

'Now I am become Death,

'the destroyer of worlds.'

By July 1945, the war
in Europe was over.

Nazi Germany was defeated.

But in the Pacific,
the war against Japan was raging on.

After the surprise attack on Pearl
Harbour, American forces had fought
their way back across the Pacific,

island by island, with
savage hand to hand fighting.

But Japan's main armies were
still intact, and undefeated.

The Americans had tried firebombing
the Japanese into submission.

City after city was reduced
to rubble, but still the
Japanese refused to surrender.

So the Allies now faced the
prospect of a full-scale invasion,

with some estimates putting their
losses as high as a million
casualties, and many more Japanese.

In Japan, at the time,
the Emperor was Head of State,
and also a living god,

but day-to-day power rested with
the Special War Direction Council.

Prime Minister Suzuki and Foreign
Minister Togo were considering
a negotiated settlement.

But Army Minister General Koretchika
Anami was determined to fight on.

Anami's plan was for
an all-out, final battle.

In Hiroshima,
as in the rest of Japan,

soldiers and civilians were being
prepared for the coming invasion.

The Japanese military were
relying on a powerful weapon -

people's willingness
to die for the Emperor.

Ordinary soldiers learned how
to strap bombs to their bodies
and throw themselves under tanks.

Dr Shintaro Hida was working at
the Army Hospital in Hiroshima.

One of his duties was
to train medical orderlies
as suicide bombers.

TRANSLATION:
The soldiers were trained to strap
bombs to their bodies,

and throw themselves against
the tanks. At the military
hospital we had to teach this.

The officers, in particular,
were resigned to the fact

that once we had gone to the Front,
we would not return - we would die.

I trained myself that I could die,
at any time.

The whole population was to be part
of the battle against the invaders.

Even schoolgirls were trained
to attack American soldiers
with sharpened bamboo spears.

A bloodbath seemed inevitable.

The man who would have
to authorise the invasion was
American President Harry Truman.

On 16th July he had just arrived in
Berlin for the Potsdam Conference,

where he was meeting his
fellow Allied leaders.

That very night came news of the
successful New Mexico bomb test.

Listen to this.

Operated on this morning,
the results seem satisfactory.

The test has already
exceeded expectations.

They did it!

Now the boys may be spared an
invasion of the Japanese Home
Islands. I'll drink to that.

But before going ahead with the
new bomb, Truman gave the Japanese

one last chance to surrender.

The Americans had broken the secret
Japanese codes, and could decipher

military and diplomatic cables.

So, they knew their
demands for total,

unconditional surrender had been
seen as a threat to the Emperor.

Now they decided to alter the terms,
and give the Japanese a way out.

On Truman's staff was a young
naval lieutenant, George Elsey -

the last surviving
witness to these events.

The Potsdam Declaration
called upon unconditional surrender.

It was modified in the light of
this, what we were learning from

the intercepts,

to read, "unconditional surrender
of the armed forces of Japan."

"We call upon the government
of Japan to proclaim now
the unconditional surrender

"of all Japanese armed forces."

That left the door open
for a retention of the Emperor.

The modified ultimatum
was broadcast to Japan.

But ironically, the softening
of the surrender terms
seems to have backfired.

Prime Minister Suzuki announced that
his government would ignore the
Potsdam Declaration.

He used the word "mokusatsu",

meaning
"to kill with silent contempt".

From that moment,
the dropping of the bomb on
Hiroshima was inevitable.

The bomb left San Francisco
on board the USS Indianapolis,

two hours after the successful
Trinity test in New Mexico.

It travelled across the Pacific
on a ten-day voyage to the island

of Tinian, just six hours
flying time from Japan.

The island was the biggest
air base in the world,
with four large runways,

and it was home to more
than 500 B-29 Super Fortresses.

In charge was Commanding Officer
Colonel Paul Tibbets, a veteran

of the bombing campaign
against the Germans.

At 29 years of age, I was so
shocked to ask what the confidence

of anything I couldn't do.

The two key members of his crew
were bombardier Tom Ferraby,

and navigator, Dutch Van Kirk.

You never heard the word "atomic",
"nuclear", or anything of that type

around the group. We referred to the
weapon as, the "gimmick", "weapon",

that sort of thing.

And, if you did figure it
out, you'd better be smart
enough not to talk about it.

All right, gentlemen,
cities have been signed off.

Kyoto is out,
Stimpson likes the temples too much,

but we've got Nyagada,
Kokura, Nagasaki, and Hiroshima.

They're the only major cities left
we haven't roasted. And the primary?

The primary is Hiroshima.

All right.

Have you worked out an aiming point?

The T-shaped bridge.

Here.

That's the most perfect AP I've
seen in this whole damn war.

Angle of approach -
bomb drop like this.

Prevailing winds from the north.

You may want to come in this way,
then you'll be flying with the wind,
and you'll clear the target sooner.

Too risky. We'll fly into the wind.
That way we're slower
and more accurate.

You may get caught in the blast.

Once I make the dive turn, I'll have
a tail wind, we'll be out quicker.

Anyway, we'll take that risk.
We want to be as accurate
as possible, don't we?

Hiroshima was an important
military base, the Headquarters
of the Second General Army,

with a key role in the defence
against the expected invasion.

Akiko Takakura, who was 19 and
working as a bank clerk
in the city centre,

remembers the atmosphere at the time.

People called it an army city.

Everywhere you looked
you saw the army...

..and there were always a lot of
ships transporting soldiers
from the port.

All the major cities of Japan
had already been the targets
of bombing raids, so everybody

living in Hiroshima expected that
Hiroshima would be targeted soon.

What no-one could realise
was that the city had been
preserved for a reason -

the Americans had deliberately
avoided firebombing Hiroshima

so they could measure the
precise effects of the atom bomb.

On the evening of the 4th August,
Paul Tibbets
called his men together.

The bombing mission was set for the
following night, when the clouds
over Japan were due to clear.

The moment has arrived.

This is what we've all
been working towards.

Very recently the weapon
we're about to deliver was
successfully tested in the States.

We have received orders
to drop it on the enemy.

There will be three
possible targets.

In order of priority, they are
Hiroshima, Kokura, Nagasaki.

The bomb you are going
to drop is something new in
the history of warfare.

It is the most destructive
weapon ever produced.

We think it's going to knock out
everything within a three-mile area.

Roll film. Kill the lights.

Weapons specialist Deke Parsons
had brought film
of the New Mexico explosion.

But the projector jammed.

The film you are now not
about to see

was made
of the only test we have performed.

I was in a B-29, looking down
on the target, in the darkness,

and I can say that it is the
brightest and the hottest thing
on this Earth since creation.

This is what happened.

The flash of the explosion
was seen for ten miles.

A soldier 10,000 feet away
was knocked off his feet.

Another soldier, more than five
miles away, was temporarily blinded.

Those of us who were there

knew it was the
beginning of a new age.

No-one knows exactly
what will happen when

the bomb is dropped from the air -
that has never been done before.

We expect a cloud, this shape,

rise to at least 30,000 feet, maybe
60,000 feet,

preceded by a flash of light
much brighter than the sun.

A combat version of the bomb

has now been assembled and ready.

All we are waiting for is an end to
the rainstorms over Japan, so we can
see our target. Colonel Tibbets.

Right, men,
I know some of you have seen a lot

of action already, and I picked you
because you're the best available,

but let me tell you all, beside this
mission, whatever you've done before
in this war is small potatoes.

I am personally honoured,
and I'm sure all of you are,

to have been chosen to take part
in this raid, which will shorten
the war by at least six months.

You're now the hottest
crews in the Air Force.

There will be no talking
about this to anyone.

No talking, even among yourselves.

No letters, no writing home.

No mentioning of the slightest
possibility of a mission.

Is that clear?
ALL: Yes, sir!

MECHANICAL RUMBLING

The next morning, the aircrews on
Tinian woke to a disturbing sound...

HEAVY EXPLOSION

Once again,
a B-29 had crashed on the runway.

The crash alarmed Parsons,
the weapons specialist.

It was the day of the mission,
and they were planning to load the
bomb on to the plane, fully armed.

The bomb's firing mechanism used
gunpowder to force two separate

pieces of uranium together,
to start a nuclear reaction.

Parsons' worry was that if the plane
crashed on take-off, the firing
mechanism would be triggered,

and they would blow up
the whole island.

So, without authorisation,
he changed the plan.

I think it's better if I load the
powder charges into the gun barrel
after we've cleared the island.

Have you made the assembly
with the powder charges before?

Do you know how to do it?

Nope.

But I've got all day and night to
learn. We don't take off till 02:00.

There's time.

If Parsons got it wrong, there was
a serious risk the whole mission,
and the bomb, would be wasted.

Parsons sat in that airplane
for several hours, rehearsing
exactly what he was going

to have to do, removal of the
breech plug, inserting the powder,

hooking up the thing.

He made it, this time is when he
made his detailed check-off list.

And he practised that
for half a day,

and his hands were beaten up
from handling this thing.

For God's sakes, man!

Why don't you let me lend you a pair
of pigskin gloves? I wouldn't dare!
I've gotta feel to touch.

That's why I could be bombing
the Japs with dirty hands!

Paul Tibbets had reached
a decision of his own -

as commanding officer, he was also
planning to pilot the strike plane.

As was traditional,
he chose a name for it.

I said, I'd like to
name it after my mother.

Her name was Enola Gay, and I know
that there'll never be another B-29,

I don't think
there'll be an airplane flying, that
will have the name Enola Gay on it.

I think the airplane will go down
in history, and I want it to be
with a good omen.

Tibbets' decision came as a
shock to Captain Bob Lewis.

He had always flown that plane,
and assumed he would be the pilot.

Why the hell are they putting that
on my airplane? What's going on?

Number one, it's not your
airplane, it belongs to United
States Air Corps...

..and number two, I'm
the organisation commander,

I can do what I want with any one
of those airplanes, including yours!

He shut up.
That was the only discussion.

Dismissed!

For most citizens of Hiroshima,
5th August was uneventful.

As the day closed, people prepared
themselves for more air-raid
sirens, and more disturbed sleep.

Dr Hida was still on
duty after a busy day.

He remembers the 5th quite clearly.

TRANSLATION:
I returned
to the hospital around 8pm.

An office on night shift came and
told me that four guests from
Manchuria were in Hiroshima.

They were high-ranking army doctors.

I was told to look after them.

SNORING

Eventually I put everybody to bed,
and then I lay down beside them.

Then, in the middle of the night,
an old man from the village
come on his bicycle to see me.

There weren't any doctors where he
lived, they were all at the Front.

Thinking it couldn't be helped,
I went with him,
in the middle of the night.

I was very drunk.

There were no cars at that
time, and so I sat on the back
of the old man's bicycle.

That is how I survived.

OK, there are three planes
involved in the mission.

That night, in the last minutes
before departure, there was a final
briefing for all the crews

who were heading to Hiroshima.

There are three planes involved
in the mission.

Number one,

the Enola Gay, carrying the bomb.

Number two, the Great Artiste...

carrying recording equipment.

Number three...
..the Necessary Evil,

we were the photographic ship.

Do your jobs,

obey orders, don't cut corners.

That is all.

The mission was so secret,
Tibbets was given suicide pills, in
case they fell into Japanese hands.

That evening, when I came out
the mess hall, the Flight Surgeon
gave me the pills.

He told me what they were.

"I hope you don't need
them, but," he said,
"if you do, they're cyanide."

He said, "Here, if you need them,
one for each man of the crew."

He said, "You'll never
know anything, within six
minutes, you're gone."

"You never feel anything
different, you never feel a thing."

And I told the guys outside the
airplane, before we climbed up,

"I'll give any one of you
the pill, if you want the pill."

And no-one said anything,
but Captain Parsons, he said,
"I'd like to have one."

And I understood his position,
because he knew more technical
stuff about that bomb than anybody.

When we got to the Enola Gay,
that was our first big surprise,
because we had,

there were lights
all over the place,

and this was not like any mission
we'd ever flown. You know,
this was like a Hollywood premiere!

Photographers and film crews
had been ordered to record
the historic mission.

We had climbed into the airplanes,
in order to start the engines, and

there were people all around, there
were clegg lights right there, right
in front of the number two engine,

and I couldn't do anything
with that thing there,

so I opened the window, stuck
my head out, I said...

Stand back!

Move out of the way!

But I just waved my hand like that,
and some guy said, "Wave at us!"

So I waved,

and that's what you got.

It was another day,
it was another bombing run.

And that was it.
It was my responsibility.

Dimples 82 to North Tinian tower,

taxi out and take-off instructions.

The bomb weighed more than
four tons, making take-off
even more dangerous than usual.

15 seconds to go!

'The take off I remember,
the most dangerous
part of flying is in take off.'

Five seconds! Get ready!

Everyone on board, I'm sure,
felt the same way

I did, waiting for
it to lift off.

'And it seemed like it
took an inordinate amount of time.'

I wanted to hold the airplane on
the ground, to get all the air flat
over the tail that I could get.

I held it down longer than what Bob,

used to see an airplane take off
at 140, 145 miles an hour,

I held it down till I was
over 150 miles an hour.

'He reached for the yoke, tried to
pull it back to...' Pull it back!

Get your damn hands off this yoke!

I'm flying this airplane!

'..and he pulled back right quick.'

'But eventually it lifted off,
and we didn't crash at the
end of the runway, so we were off.'

Fifteen minutes after take-off,
with the plane still

at low altitude, Parsons was
ready to assemble the bomb.

We're starting!

Dimples 82 To North Tinian tower.

Judge going to work.
I repeat, judge going to work.

It's about, maybe eight inches wide
around the outside, to the back end

of the weapon,
which had those big fins.

Very cramped quarters -

you had to squat down in order to
peer into the back end of this bomb,

and that's the position
that Parsons took,

is to work inside these fins.

They all knew a mistake would
jeopardise the entire mission.

I'm screwing breech!

Inserting charges! Parsons would
then take the powder charges,

about the size of a loaf of bread.

He would put those in there,
one at a time, then he'd pick up the
breech block,

put it into where it was supposed
to go, turn it, just make the seal.

Inserting breech!

Each one of these manoeuvres he would
check off on his check-off list, to
ensure that he had made no mistakes.

And returning home! Check!

Two hours later, the Enola Gay
met up with the scientific
and photographic planes.

They were now three
hours from Hiroshima.

Dawn was breaking, and it's now
just a beautiful, beautiful morning.

We're about at 9,000 feet at
that time, and we all remarked about

what a beautiful sunrise it was,
that particular morning.

Dick Jepson, Parson's assistant,
had one task left, to arm the bomb.

Before the plane went to altitude,
I had to climb into the bomb bay,

and remove these three green plugs,
and replace them with three

arming plugs, which enabled the
fusing circuit to fire the weapon,
causing it to detonate.

And the only time I felt
really nervous on this mission

was the time when I inserted these
red plugs into the bomb.

The bomb was now armed and live.

After they were in place,
I breathed a sigh of relief, because
nothing had happened

at this point in time.

Evidently, with the action of
replacing these plugs, or switching

these plugs, I became the last person
to put a hand on this bomb.

I hadn't realised that at the time.

We're at 30,000 feet.

Ahead of the Enola Gay, another B-29
was already flying over Hiroshima,

checking the weather.

It triggered an alert.

ANNOUNCEMENT IN DIALECT
SIRENS BLARE

TRANSLATION:
There was an air-raid warning.

It was the type that warned
that a raid was a possibility.

As the people waited in air-raid
shelters, the weather plane

reported its findings to
the Enola Gay by coded message.

Cloud cover less than three
tenths at all altitudes.

Advice - bomb primary.

It's Hiroshima!

The weather plane now headed away.

For a time, it seemed
that the threat had passed.

About 30 minutes later,
they sounded the all-clear.

It meant there was not going
to be an air raid,

so everyone went about
their business,
going to offices and factories.

I think that was the reason why
such a large number died, and
could not be found afterwards.

On the drill ground, thousands
of soldiers were doing their
early morning exercises.

Dr Hida had spent the night
at a farm outside Hiroshima, looking
after the girl with heatstroke.

It was just after eight o'clock
when I woke up. I was already late.

I had to go back to the hospital.

I got myself ready, took the child's
pulse, and then examined her chest

with a stethoscope.

Sixteen-year-old Teruko Fujii
had enlisted as a tram driver,
to support the war effort.

The men were sent to
the Front, with the army.

Because their numbers
gradually declined, they wanted
students to drive the trams.

Clerk Akiko Takakura and her
friend were the first to arrive at
the bank in central Hiroshima -

just 260 metres from the aiming
point, the T-shaped bridge.

At the bank,
I stamped the arrival book.

You stamped next to your name when
you arrived, so I stamped the book.

In those days, female staff were
supposed to arrive 30 minutes before
the men, to do the cleaning.

That sort of thing
would be unthinkable now!

Kinuko Doi was working as a nurse
at the communications hospital,

also near the centre of the city.

TRANSLATION:
My first job of the day was to
sterilise the hospital tools,

and prepare the patients for surgery.

The weather was beautiful. The sky
was clear blue, not a cloud in sight.

In another part of the city,
eight-year-old Takashi Tanemori
was on his way to school.

Every morning, as soon
as we get to school,

we went and played a game of
hide and seek.

Then we stand, picking
who's going to be It.

And so we ran to the main gate...

..and I was to become It
that morning.

Shigai Hiratsuka died in 2002,
but her extraordinary story

is taken from her written account.

It had just gone past eight
in the morning -

we had finished breakfast.

Our two children were playing
beside us.

My husband
was reading the newspaper.

Paul, Tom, Deke and I were
all three up there, confirming,

yes, this was the target,
yes, that was bridge, yes,

that was the aiming point.
You might say we were having a
convention in the nose of the plane.

OK, we're about to start the
bomb run! Put on your goggles!

We were on that bomb run for three,
three and a half minutes.

Tom and I are talking!

Christ, Dutch! We never sat on a
bomb run this long over Germany!

They'd have blasted us out the sky!
Yeah!

He said, "Nothing there!"

No opposition, no nothing.

Just...going to bomb the target.

TRANSLATION: I saw an aircraft,
like a tiny silver drop,
entering the sky above Hiroshima.

I instantly recognised
it as an American plane,

as no Japanese aircraft could
fly at that altitude at the time.

It was just one plane, so I assumed
that it was passing by, as usual.

I was counting.

Ichi...ni...san...

I was wiping the desktop.
That was when the bomb was dropped.

Bomb away!

It took about 45 seconds from the
time the bomb left the airplane
until it exploded.

There wasn't a man in the airplane
that wasn't either timing it with
his watch,

or counting, or doing something.

I was sure the bomb was a dud.

I was sure it wasn't going to work.

After falling for 43 seconds,

the time and barometric triggers
started the firing mechanism.

A uranium bullet fired down
the barrel into a uranium tunnel.

Together they started a
nuclear chain reaction.

Solid matter began to come apart,
releasing untold
quantities of energy.

There was a white
light in the window.

A flash, white like magnesium.

The bomb delivered its
destruction in stages.

The flash came from a giant
fireball 300 metres wide.

I was astonished.

It was a startling light.

Even if you had your back turned to
it, you felt the shock go through,
right to the centre of your brain.

At the same time, any area of skin
that was exposed became very hot.

Heat. Heat. Such burning heat.

Temperatures directly below the
fireball were 4,000 degrees Celsius.

The heat rays left shadows.

Ladders, railings, even people, left
their outlines on stone and metal.

Anyone in the open air was either
vaporised, or turned to carbon,
in an instant.

At the same time, the flash sent out
powerful infra-red
radiation and gamma rays.

These could penetrate walls, and
attack the cells in human bodies.

Then I slowly opened my eyes,
and for the first time, looked
in the direction of the light.

Just at that moment,
a mushroom cloud appeared.

People who saw this in Hiroshima are
nearly all dead by now.

There is barely anyone left now, who
can say they actually saw it happen.

A fraction of a second later
came a powerful shockwave,

which moved at the speed of sound.
It turned everyday windows
and walls into shrapnel.

As soon as the blast hit,
I was thrown across the room.

My body was flung from wall to wall,

and from the ceiling to the floor.

My body was thrown around
like it was a ball.

A jet black belt of cloud
came towards me.

It came from there, over
the lip of the mountain.

The black cloud
spread between the mountains,

and came rolling
in my direction, swirling like this.

Just like that, my body was
scooped up! It was the blast.

It sent me flying through the house.

The flash was very brilliant,
and it only lasted a very
short period of time.

It was over in a...few short seconds.

We didn't see any bodies down there,
or anything of that type.

You didn't see any buildings
collapsing,

you can't really distinguish
things like that.

And even if we had been able to, we
couldn't do it, anyhow,

because it was all covered
with smoke and dust, and everything.

I'm not emotional.

I didn't have a first goddamn
thought, or I'd have told you
what it was.

I did the job, but I was so
relieved that it was successful,
you can't understand that.

Seeing the fires on the ground,
and the cloud coming up,

then you get pretty...distressed
that there's such havoc down there,
and people are suffering.

There are no exact
figures for the number who died
in the instant of the explosion,

but tens of thousands of people
in the open near the fireball
vanished in a fraction of a second.

For the survivors,
the ordeal was just beginning.

Thousands of people were
injured and terribly burned.

Many were trapped in the rubble.

Just 260 metres from the bomb,
the two girls in the bank had
been sheltered from the worst

of the explosion by the
earthquake-proof building.

When the girls struggled outside,
they found a vision of hell.

The morning sunshine was gone,
the whole city was dark,
and shrouded with smoke.

The streets were full of corpses.

The words "city of death" came to
mind. There were only dead people.

We were the only living souls.

It had been the morning commuting
hour, 8:15 in the morning.

People that had been walking the
streets were doubled up dead on each
other for as far as we could see.

They had died immediately,
naked, burnt.

I just asked myself, why?

And could not find any words.

The two of us just crouched down,
and burst into tears.

How could
such terrible things happen?

At the communications hospital,

one mile from the explosion's
hypocentre, nurse Kinuko was
blown away from the window.

Like so many others, she was
badly lacerated by flying glass.

I had pieces of glass sticking up
from my body, all over.

From my head, my face, my body.

In another part of the city,
Shigei Hiratsuka's
peaceful family breakfast

had given way to chaos and
confusion.

When we got out,
we saw that the whole of Hiroshima
had been turned upside down.

None of the buildings were left.

Fires were breaking out in
different places all over the city.

Then I looked around
for the children.

There was my daughter, Kazu.
She was six.

She was buried from the chest down,
and was wedged in by
timber and plaster.

I tried to get her out,
I was desperate to,

but whatever I tried, wouldn't work.

The fires were
moving closer and closer.

The flames were at our feet,
and roaring up around us.

We could not stand the
heat and pain any longer.

KAZU SCREAMS

The school building had
also collapsed in the blast.

Eight-year-old Takashito Nimuri
and his friends

were trapped in the rubble, crying
out for someone to rescue them.

First things I saw, was pitch dark.

Then I sensed there were
several soldiers above my head,
moving the debris.

And finally one soldier dug me out.

All I remember was the soldier
clutched me in his arms,

weaving through the fires,
between the fires.

The only place we were able to
escape - it was the river
that runs behind our school.

Near the station, about two
miles from the flash, Teruko Fujii

thought her tram had short-circuited
on the overhead cables, and that
the whole thing was her fault.

I thought that I'd
caused some kind of disaster.

I thought I'd broken the tram
and done something terrible!

And then I thought,

"Is it a bomb?"
That was when I realised it wasn't
me who'd caused all this trouble.

First I thought
only the station area was affected.

Then I saw people walking
towards me with injuries,
and skin hanging from them.

Everybody thought, "Perhaps if I
go over there, I could be saved."

People to the west thought
the east might be better.

People were going
in every direction, in total silence.

Amid all the destruction,
there was at least one miracle.

Eight-year-old Takashito Nimouri
was carried through the burning city
by the soldier who rescued him.

At last, the soldier reached
the river, and from the crowds, the
little boy heard a familiar voice.

TAKASHI! TAKASHI!

Somehow my father spotted me!

I guess he called my name,

and maybe I responded,
and I said, "That's my daddy!"

And then he stood straight
to the soldiers, and then he bowed

many, many times to the soldiers,
said, "Thank you! You are saviours!"

Later on, after we were flying back,

conversation started about,
you know, the war being over,

as a result of this bombing. Despite
the number of people we killed,

we saved multiple numbers

over that from being
in a war, and being killed,

on America's side,
and on the Japanese side.

That time, there was such a
hatred for the Japanese,

that the more we killed,

the better off we thought we were,
because that means there's going

to be less that we're going to have
to contend with during the invasion.

After a six-hour return flight,

the Enola Gay
reached Tinian Island.

The following...

300, 400, 500 people there.

And when we got out of the airplane,
of course we were all getting out,
we're tired, and everything,

and I get out, I remember
getting out, carrying my oxygen
mask, I'm right behind Paul,

and then some joker
calls us to attention.

I got out of the airplane, like
I was told, he pins this thing

on my shirt, guys take pictures of
us, I saluted, and after that was
over with, I'm back to my duty.

We've got to go to de-briefing,
by the intelligence people.

They had certain things to ask,
"Did you see this,
and did you see that?" and so forth.

Confirming that we had
bombed the right target.

I said, "Sure."

Dr Hida escaped from the
rubble of the farmhouse
four miles outside Hiroshima.

After checking on the child
he had been treating,
he headed back towards the city.

It's about six kilometres
to Hiroshima from there.

When I was halfway there,
suddenly a strange creature
appeared out of nowhere.

As it was summer, if it were human,
it would have been wearing white.

What I saw was all black,
from top to bottom.

Pitch black.
I thought it was strange.

At the top there was
something round, like a head.

It had shoulders...

something like a body followed.

But it was like it had no face.
It was black.

The area around the eyes had swollen
up, it had no nose,

the lower
half of the face was just mouth!

It was frightening. As a doctor, the
first thing you do is take a pulse.

But when I took his hand,
there was no skin.

There was nowhere I could hold.

So I stood up, saying,
please, pull yourself together,

and walked around him.

This person gave a small shudder,
and then he stopped moving.

He had died.

He had fled three kilometres,
and then he died there.

That man was the first fatality
caused by the bomb, that I saw.

Army recruit Shigeru Terasawa

had been stationed seven miles
from the centre of the blast.

His unit was sent to help survivors,
but they soon faced a terrible
conflict

between their compassion
and their training.

Even now there are things
that I will never forget.

One is the sound of
people begging me for water.

In those days, we had been told not
to give water to the badly burned,

to tell you the truth,
we all had these big,
military water flasks on our hips.

People were begging for water,

but we didn't give them any.

We had been told that if we did,
they would die straight away.

And so I didn't give them any.
A lot of people died.

Now, looking back,
I wish I had given them water.

Burned, and bleeding,
in the intense heat,

people were desperate to find any
water they could.

They fled to the rivers,
to pools, and reservoirs.

Among them, nurse Kinuko.

I knew there was a pool of water,
in the back yard of the hospital.

Lots of people had
already got into the pool.

More people had jumped
on top of them.

The people underneath drowned.

This is one scene I can never forget.

I still dream about it.

THUNDER RUMBLES

Then came a strange deliverance.

Dark raindrops began to fall from
the clouds above the burning city.

We opened our mouths, and drank it.

Our throats were parched, but
it was difficult to capture the rain

into our mouths.

The rain had been made black by ash

and smoke that had been sucked
into the rising mushroom cloud.

When these ashes mixed with cool,
humid air in the upper atmosphere,

they formed thick, black raindrops,
and fell back down on to the city.

The drops
of rain were big enough to hurt,

when they hit your skin.
It descended in a torrent.

Black fluid flowed where the
rain fell.

It was raining black fluid.

What the people who drank
the rain didn't realise,
was that it was highly radioactive.

In time,
it would poison many thousands.

On the day the bomb was dropped,
President Truman was still
travelling home from Europe.

On our way back, on the Augusta,
returning to Washington,

we were on the edge of our chairs,
because we expected any day -
any time, any day -

to have a flash
from the War Department

that the first bomb had been dropped.

And on August 6th, as we were one day
out from Norfolk, that flash came.

George Elsie decoded the telegram
that brought the news to
President Truman on the Augusta.

When something like that came, we
would walk in to him immediately,

we would interrupt
whatever he was doing.

He happened to be having lunch
with the crew, at that point.

I took it to Truman,
who showed it to Secretary Burns,

and to Admiral Leyhey,
and Truman announced to the ship's
crew this great accomplishment.

We have dropped a single bomb
on the Japanese city of Hiroshima,

with the power of
20,000 tons of TNT.

The city
has been completely destroyed!

There was cheering -

cheering by the crew, and by
the officers, when he read
it in the officers' mess.

The Augusta was one of the ships
that was destined for the Pacific,

and would have been
involved in the invasion.

The crew knew that.

Just about everybody who was
in Europe knew that they

would be headed for the Pacific,
and an invasion of Japan.

So they were just as
overjoyed as the President was,
that this damned thing is over!

We hope this will be a warning
to the Japanese military.

Come on, boys, we're going home!

He was eager to get home,
because he was sure that the Japanese
surrender would come very soon.

In case there was any doubt,
Truman spelt it out to the
Japanese High Command.

It was to spare the Japanese
people form utter destruction

that the ultimatum of July 26th
was issued at Potsdam.

Their leaders
promptly rejected that ultimatum.

If they do not now accept our terms,
they may expect a rain of war,

from the air, the like of which
has never been seen on this earth.

Late that afternoon,
the mayor of Hiroshima,
issued his own proclamation.

The present catastrophe is
the result of a horrible
and inhuman air raid.

The enemy's intention is clearly
to undermine the fighting
spirit of the Japanese people.

Citizens of Hiroshima,

the damage is great,

but that is only to be
expected during a war.

Keep up your spirits.

Do not lose heart.

The morning after the bomb,
a full-scale rescue effort began.

Squads of soldiers from surrounding
garrisons were drafted in to help.

They collected the dead
bodies and disposed of them
before disease could spread.

The wounded were quickly
taken away for treatment.

Makeshift hospitals were set up,
although there were only a
handful of medical staff.

Dr Hida found himself treating
3,000 survivors in a
village outside Hiroshima.

At first we had no medicine,
no equipment.

There was nothing
we doctors could do.

However, we gathered up some things,
and started treating the burns.

Nurse Kinuko had an
extraordinary escape.

I don't know whether I was
unconscious for hours or for days.

When I did come round, I thought,
"so, I'm still alive.

"God must have given me strength."

She woke to find that she had
been thrown into a mass grave.

After I crawled out of the hole,
I managed to cross the road, to get
to the entrance of the hospital.

It took me a terribly long time, as I
could not stand, nor lift my arms,

or move them to the side.

I crawled like an insect, and finally
reached the hospital entrance.

Dr Hinoki from the pharmacy
spotted me,
and exclaimed, "you're still alive!"

He picked me up, and carried me
to the surgery area.

The corridor was full
of people lying side by side.

This was where
they operated on me...

..and removed all of the large pieces
of glass that were stuck in me.

All over the city,
relatives searched the ruins

for signs of survivors.

Before midday,
my friend's father came to get us.

But my friend, who had escaped
from the bank with me,

turned out to have a broken spine.

She died a week later.

She was a year younger than me.

I am nearly 80 years old now,
but she was only 18 at the time.

Whenever I think of her,
she is till 18 years old.

She was a very pretty,
gentle person.

Three days
after the Hiroshima bomb,

despite all the destruction,
Japan still hadn't surrendered.

A second bomb was made ready

and Truman issued another warning.

The world will note that the first
atomic bomb was dropped
on Hiroshima, a military base.

If Japan does not surrender,
bombs will have to be
dropped on more industries.

I urge Japanese civilians to leave
industrial cities immediately

and save themselves
from destruction.

I realise the tragic significance
of the atomic bomb.

Having found the atomic bomb,
we have used it.

We have used it against those
who attacked us,
without warning, at Pearl Harbour.

Against those who have starved,
and beaten, and executed
American prisoners of war.

Against those who have abandoned
all pretence of obeying
international laws of warfare.

We have used it in order
to shorten the agony of war,

in order to save the lives
of thousands and thousands
of young Americans.

The second bomb was intended
for the city of Kokura,

but it was too cloudy,
so the plane moved on to Nagasaki.

Desperately short of fuel,
the crew released the bomb
despite more clouds.

The bomb missed the aiming point
and fell into a valley.

This time there was no firestorm.

But, even so, more than 50,000
people were killed.

The Supreme War Direction Council
was meeting the same day.

By now, the Russians
had declared war on Japan.

Then came the news from Nagasaki.

Then, Prime Minister Suzuki
did something unheard of.

He asked the Emperor to break
the deadlock and make a decision.

Emperor Hirohito told them
he wanted to end the suffering

and bear the unbearable.

Four days later,
radical soldiers attempted a coup
to prevent the surrender.

They failed.

At dawn,
on the day that Emperor Hirohito

was to broadcast an announcement
that the war was over,

General Anami prepared to end
his life in the time-honoured
tradition of seppuku.

His suicide note read,

"My death is my apology
for my great crime."

The war was over.

At last the troops were going home.

There was jubilation
around the world.

But then came something
that would forever change
perception of the bomb.

It started in the hospitals.

A mysterious illness
began to spread.

I noticed it
from about the fourth day.

Of course, it had been there
all along, but I thought people
were dying of severe burns.

The woman who lost her children
in the fires, Shigei Hiratsuka,

and her husband,
were amongst those affected.

They lined my bed up next to my
husband's and took his test first.

When they had taken enough blood for
the sample, they withdrew the needle.

But the blood wouldn't stop.

Nothing worked, whatever they did.

Even when they applied pressure,
he carried on bleeding.

During this time,
purple spots began breaking out
all over my husband's body.

He then vomited a large amount
of brown liquid.

Afterwards he went limp
and died an hour later.

He had managed to survive that far
but then even he
was taken away from me.

Her husband was one of thousands
who would die from this new
and untreatable condition.

They were rotting.

It was necrosis.

There were no white blood cells,
so the blood had no power
to fight against infection,

and so, suddenly,
the rotting set in.

In the end,
the hair would start to fall out.

When you put your hand on the
patient's head, tufts of hair
would come away in your hand.

It emerged that those
who were worst affected

had been close to the hypocentre,

or had swallowed
radioactive material,

like the people
who drank the black rain.

In hindsight we realised that
it was radiation but, at that time,
we didn't know what it was.

Radiation sickness
has become the single
most disturbing legacy of the bomb.

American scientists always knew
the bomb would produce radiation

but the scale of the after effects
came as a shocking surprise.

Today, Hiroshima is a thriving city
of over a million people.

Japan, too, has been transformed

into a prosperous country that has
renounced the use of war entirely.

Although no-one
has used a nuclear weapon since,

arguments continue as to
the morality of dropping the bomb.

Was it really necessary?

Could it have been avoided?

The nation had no rice to eat,
people had not eaten white rice
for a whole year.

How could such a country
go to battle?

The Americans knew that very well
and still dropped the atomic bomb.

Why? It was an experiment!

They knew that the bomb
had enormous explosive power.

What they did not know was how much
damage the radiation would cause.

Some scientists thought they knew,
but they had not tested it,

so they made an experiment to find
out by testing it on human beings.

The final decision that resulted
in the two bombs -

Hiroshima and Nagasaki -
was not made in Potsdam,

it wasn't made by Truman, it was
made by the Japanese militarists

when they rejected any opportunity

to surrender just their armed forces

and save further massive
loss of life.

Today, there are just a few places
that bear the scars
of August 6th 1945.

There are burn marks on trees...

..the shadow of a vaporised man
left on stone.

First-hand memories are fading too.

Akiko Takakura, the bank clerk,

who had been just 260 metres
from the hypocentre,

is one of the last witnesses
to the full horror of the bomb.

There is a department store
called Sogo, in Hiroshima,

where I stop sometimes for tea.

From the tearoom,
I can see the road from the bank to
the drill ground where we escaped.

I see old people walking
happily down the street,

young people holding hands
and enjoying conversation,

children holding their parents'
hands and looking happy.

And I think about those awful scenes
that I experienced,
many years ago now,

and all the people
that lost their lives.

I think to myself,
what was all that?

Did it really happen?

Every year, on the 6th of August,

there are ceremonies to recall
what took place on that day...

..to make sure that these events
are never forgotten or repeated.

At sunset, tens of thousands
of candles are released
on the river in Hiroshima...

..each candle representing the soul
of one of the dead.