Memoirs of an eyewitness to the American atomic bombing of Nagasaki
The American bombing of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 will forever remain a tragic event in stories humanity. After all, this was the first (if we consider both strikes as one whole) and, fortunately, the only combat use of nuclear weapons. weapons.
According to preliminary data, US military strikes on August 6 and 9 claimed the lives of 90 to 166 thousand people in Hiroshima and from 60 to 80 thousand in Nagasaki. Moreover, in this case we are talking about losses directly from explosions.
Meanwhile, a huge number of Japanese lives were taken by the consequences of the bombing. Thus, according to data from open sources, death from acute radiation sickness reached its peak 3-4 weeks after the explosion and began to decline only after 7-8 weeks. Moreover, many of those who managed to survive had serious health problems for the rest of their days.
An eyewitness to the Fat Man explosion shared his memories of what happened in Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. Misaki Ikeda was 6 years old at the time.
As the man said, that day he was playing with his friend Shige. The boys climbed onto the roof of the university hospital, which was located about 700 meters from the epicenter of the explosion.
At some point, Misaki's friend said that he wanted to go to the toilet and it was time for them to go down. As a result, the friends left the roof and got into the elevator.
As an eyewitness to the explosion said, when the elevator doors opened on the first floor, he saw a blinding flash, from which he lost consciousness. Then, when he woke up, his eyes were dark.
However, when the boy’s vision returned, a terrible picture with fires and destruction appeared before his eyes. Shige also survived, and he and Misaki followed the other survivors into the mountains, where people took refuge in a small temple.
On the way, the boy saw a woman carrying her child on her back. The baby was dead...
When Misaki told her this, the woman began to shake and call for her baby, and then burst into loud tears. According to an eyewitness to the tragedy, this was the first time in his life when he saw an adult crying bitterly.
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