FACTS ABOUT THE ATOMIC BOMBINGS

1. There were five cities on the list of potential targets: Hiroshima, Kokura, Yokohama, Nigata, and Kyoto.  Secretary of War Henry Stimson removed Kyoto because he argued it was a cultural center (and he had spent his honeymoon there).  Nagasaki took its place.  Tokyo was not on the list because it had already been heavily bombed and they wanted a target that had not been damaged so the full destruction of an atomic bomb would be apparent.  Leaflets were dropped over all the targets warning the civilians to flee the city because it was about to be destroyed.  Few heeded the advice.
2. The Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs were different. “Little Boy” was a Uranium-235 bomb and was detonated by a “gun type” mechanism.  “Fat Man” was a Plutonium bomb and used implosion to detonate itself.  Each of the bombs gave off the equivalent of 15-20,000 tons of TNT.  The explosion consisted of 35% heat and light, 50% shock pressure wave, and 15% radiation.
3. About 80,000 people were killed in the first few days at Hiroshima. It is estimated that 90-166,000 died as a result of the bomb over the years.  About 40,000 died immediately at Nagasaki and 60-80,000 over the years.  More people actually died in the one-night bombing of Tokyo on March 9, 1945.  More than 100,000 died from fire bombs dropped by 334 B-29s.
4. Everyone within 500 meters of the explosion was disintegrated. Some were imprinted onto sidewalks in what are known as “Hiroshima shadows”.
5. Oleander is the official flower of Hiroshima because it was the first flower to bloom after the explosion.
6. A “Peace Flame” was ignited in 1964 at the Peace Memorial Park. It will stay lit until there is no longer a nuclear threat on planet Earth.
7. Hundreds of Hiroshima survivors evacuated to Nagasaki after the explosion and thus were in the city for the second explosion. Tsutomu Yamaguchi traveled to Hiroshima for his business and survived the attack.  He then returned home to Nagasaki.  He lived to age 93 in 2010.
8. Some American prisoners of war were being held in Hiroshima and perished in the explosion. These included the crew of the B-29 “Lonesome Lady” which had been recently shot down.  Their captain Tom Cartwright survived because he had been taken to Tokyo for further interrogation.
9. Physicist Robert Serber, who worked on the bomb designs for the Manhattan Project, was responsible for naming the bombs. He was a fan of the detective story writer Dashiell Hammett.  The thinner design of the Hiroshima bomb was named “Thin Man” after a character in Hammett’s novels, which became a series of movies.  This was eventually changed to “Little Boy” for the bomb itself.  “Fat Man” was a reference to the rotund character played by Sydney Greenstreet in the movie “The Maltese Falcon”, based on a Hammett novel.

https://www.historyhit.com/facts-about-the-atomic-bombing-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki/

https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2019/08/06/startling_facts_about_the_atomic_bombings_of_hiroshima_and_nagaski.html

https://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2015/08/facts-about-the-hiroshima-bombing/