BBC Hiroshima s01e02 Episode Script

This is the story of the first ever use of a weapon of mass destruction Very recently the weapon we are about to deliver was successfully tested in the States.
We've received orders to drop it on the enemy.
lt is the most destructive weapon ever produced.
The target was an empire with its own secret weapon - -- the suicide bomber.
l trained myself that l could die at any time.
We got Nayagata, Kukuro, Nagasaki and Hiroshima Hiroshima was an important military base.
The headquarters of the Second General Army with a key-role in the defense against the expected invasion.
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Advice -Bomb primary It's Hiroshima! Hiroshima, part 2 Bomb away! lt took about 45 seconds from the time the bomb left the airplane, until it exploded.
And l think there wasn't a man in the airplane that wasn't either timing it with his watch, or counting, or doing something.
l was sure the bomb was a dud.
l 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 target.
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.
l was astonished.
lt 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 degree 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 infrared radiation and gamma rays.
These could penetrate walls, and attack the cells in human bodies.
Then l 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.
lt turned everyday windows and walls into shrapnel.
As soon as the blast hit, l 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.
Ajet black belt of cloud came towards me.
lt 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! lt was the blast.
lt sent me flying through the house.
The flash was very brilliant, and it only lasted a very short period of time.
lt 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 there was just a, it was all covered with smoke and dust, and everything.
l'm not emotional.
l would have first goddamn thought,and l'd have told you what it was.
l did the job, but l 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.
Thousand 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.
lt had been the morning commuting hour, 8:15 in the morning.
People that had been walking the streets were doubled up dead over each other for as far as we could see.
They had died immediately,naked, burnt.
l 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 hyper centre, nurse Kinuko was blown away from the window.
Like so many others, she was badly lacerated by flying glass.
l had pieces of glass sticking up from my body, all over.
From my head, my face, my body.
The drillground was less then a mile from the hypocenter.
20 year old Cadet Morio Osaki had gone inside the barracksbuilding just before the bomb exploded.
His collegues outside were exposed to the full heatflash They were all either dead of gravely burned.
The Roshima castle which had been there in front of my eyeshad gone.
Everybody was covered in blood The wooden buildings had been smashed to pieces ln 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 l looked around for the children.
There was my daughter, Kasku.
She was six.
She was buried from the chest down, and was wedged in by timber and plaster.
l tried to get her out, l was desperate to, but whatever l 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.
The school building had also collapsed, in the blast.
Eight-year-old Takashito Tanemori and his friends were trapped in the rubble,crying out for someone to rescue them.
First things l saw, was pitch dark.
Then l sensed there were several soldiers above my head, moving the debris.
And finally one soldier dug me out.
All l 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.
l thought that l'd caused some kind of disaster.
l thought l'd broken the tram and done something terrible! And then l thought, is it a bomb? That was when l realised it wasn't me who'd caused all this trouble.
First l thought only the station area was affected.
Then l saw people walking towards me with injuries, and skin hanging from them.
Everybody thought, perhaps if l go over there, l 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 Takashi Tanemori 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.
Somehow my father spotted me! l guess he called my name, and maybe l responded, and l 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 saviour! 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 lsland.
The following Three, four, 500 people there.
And when we got out of the airplane, of course we were all getting out,we're tired and l get out, l remember getting out, carrying my oxygen mask,l'm right behind Paul, and then some joker calls us to attention.
l got out of the airplane,like l was told, he pins this thing on my shirt, guys are taking pictures of us,l saluted, and after that was over with.
l'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.
l 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.
lt's about six kilometres to Hiroshima from there.
When l 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 l saw was all black, from top to bottom.
Pitch black.
l though it was strange.
At the top there was something round,like a head.
lt had shoulders,something like a body followed.
But it was like it had no face.
lt was black.
The area around the eyes had swollen up, it had no nose, the lower half of the face was just mouth! lt was frightening! As a doctor,the first thing you do is take a pulse.
But when l took his hand, there was no skin.
There was nowhere l could hold.
So l 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 l saw.
Army recruit, Shigeru Terasawa,had been stationed seven milesfrom 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 l will never forget.
One is the sound of people begging me for water.
ln 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 l didn't give them any.
A lot of people died.
Now, looking back, l wish l 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.
l 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 l can never forget.
l still dream about it.
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 which 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.
lt descended in a torrent.
Black fluid flowed where the rain fell.
lt was raining black fluid.
What the people who drank the rain didn't realise, was that it was highly radioactive.
ln 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.
l 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.
ln case there was any doubt, Truman spelt it out to the Japanese High Command.
lt was to spare the Japanese people form otter destruction that the ultimatum of July 26th was issued at Potsdam.
Their leaders promptly rejected that ultimatum.
lf 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.
l don't know whether l was unconscious for hours or for days.
When l did come round, l thought, so, l'm still alive.
God must have given me strength.
She woke to find that she had been thrown into a mass grave.
After l crawled out of the hole, l managed to cross the road, to get to the entrance of the hospital.
lt took me a terribly long time, as l could not stand, nor lift my arms, or move them to the side.
l 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.
l am nearly 80 years old now, but she was only 18 at the time.
whenever l think of her, she is still 18 years old.
She was a very pretty, gently person.
Nurse Kinuko decided to make her own way home.
She crawled from the hospital as far as Hiroshima Station But no trains were running I was told that i had to go to the next station, to get on a train.
I asked myself: what the best way to get there would be? I realised the only way was to crawl along the railwaytrack.
And that is how i got to the next station Several times i lost conscienceness.
Sometimes i woke up to see blue sky Other times black sky In the end, i reached the station Kinuko finally reached her hometown, where she was nursed for many months by her mother, who had given her up for dead 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.
lf Japan does not surrender, bombs will have to be dropped on more industries.
l urge Japanese civilians to leave industrial cities immediately, and save themselves from destruction.
l 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.
A 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 in Tokyo was meeting on 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 to the Japanese people 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.
lt started in the hospitals.
A mysterious illness began to spread.
l noticed it from about the fourth day.
Of course, it had been there all along, but l 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.
lt 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.
ln 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.
lt emerged that those who were worst affected had been close to the hyper centre, or had swallowed radioactive material, like the people who drank the black rain.
ln 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 scientist had always known 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? lt 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 hyper centre, is one of the last witnesses to the full horror of the bomb.
There is a department store called Sogo, in Hiroshima, where l stop sometimes for tea.
From the tearoom, l can see the road from the bank to the drill ground, where we escaped.
l see old people walking happily down the street.
Young people holding hands, and enjoying each other's conversation.
Children holding their parents' hands, and looking happy.
And l think about those awful scenes that l experienced, many years ago, now, and all the people that lost their lives.
l think to myself, what was all that? Did it really happen? Every year, on 6th 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.