Tomorrow marks the 70th anniversary of the day a US bomber dropped a four-ton uranium bomb on Hiroshima, the explosion of which from 70 thousand to 100 thousand people died instantly. Thousands of other residents of Hiroshima died from radiation sickness later. The total number of victims of the bombing exceeded 140 thousand.
A Senior Researcher of the 21st Division of the Scientific Research Institute (of military history) of the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Arkady Cherepakhin, believes that by using nuclear weapons, the United States wanted to show the world that they have this weapon: "Japan was like a testing ground for this weapon. It was, of course, intended or pursued the aim not only of a purely military and political nature, but also to show the world, the Soviet Union, first of all, who was the master of the world at the time."
"So this moment was not chosen by chance, August 6 and 9, because the United States itself was in a deadlock. On the one hand, to continue military operations at sea, where they had achieved considerable success, to transfer military operations to the continent, for this, according to Americans themselves, they did not have enough forces and means. In order to create the necessary group of forces and means, according to the estimation of the Americans themselves, they needed at least 1-2 years. In addition, they worried about those supposed great sacrifices which the Americans and their allies could suffer. According to the assessment of the Americans, these victims could be somewhere around a million people at least," the expert says.
According to him, "by achieving the participation, or the holding of the Kwantung operation by Soviet Union, it completed one of these tasks, in other words, claimed responsibility for large losses and the defeat of the Kwantung Army, which was generally positive for them. But they worried about another moment, that the Soviet Union and its role after the victory over Germany in the war would increase dramatically. And the Soviet Union would gain by defeating the Kwantung Army, its role would increase even more as a result. Therefore, the victory, the end of the war with Germany, it was generally accepted, was brought about by the Soviet Union. The end of the Second World War also suggested an end of the war with Japan. To put an end to this, America had no choice but to use nuclear weapons."
