Days That Shook the World (2003) s01e05 Episode Script
Hiroshima
1
NARRATOR:
In the history of modern warfare,
one day stands out above all others,
the dropping of the atomic bomb
on Hiroshima,
the mission which annihilated a city
and heralded the end
of the Second World War.
This is a dramatisation of events
as they unfolded
on a day that shook the world.
(CLOCK TICKING)
Tinian Island, Southwest Pacific,
strategic centre of America's air war
against the Japanese empire.
In exactly 24 hours,
a B-29 Superfortress,
the world's largest bomber,
will take off from this island
and fly 1,700 miles north,
up the Pacific Ocean
to the city of Hiroshima, in japan.
Its mission, to drop a bomb unlike
any other used in this, or any war.
A bomb
which will change the world forever.
NEWSCASTER: Three different cameras
recorded, from six miles away,
these views of the most concentrated
release of explosive energy
in the history of mankind.
NARRATOR: July 16th, 1945, 5:29 a.m.
The night sky of New Mexico
was ripped open
by a new and terrifying phenomenon.
The atom bomb.
Code-named Trinity,
the test is so successful
its creators fear
it may crack the earth's crust
Just four hours later, an American
destroyer will leave San Francisco
to sail halfway round the world
to Tinian Island.
On board is another atom bomb.
Its final destination,
a city whose name will forever be
an emblem of the forces unleashed
by this new and terrible power.
Hiroshima.
In a remote corner of Tinian airbase,
one B-29 crew starts the day
like any other of the
several hundred crews on this island.
But these men are different
Keep practising with that glove,
you might actually catch the ball
Over the past year, they've been
training for a mission so secret,
only one of them knows what it is:
their leader, Colonel Paul Tibbets.
You're gonna have to
give him some money.
For three months, he was checked out
by FBI agents before being selected
by the head of the air force
to lead this mission.
TIBBETS: At the age of 29,
I had been entrusted
with the successful delivery
of the most frightening weapon
ever devised.
One that had been developed
at a cost of $2 billion
in a programme that involved
the nation's best scientific brains
and the secret mobilisation
of its industrial capacity.
Even as all this began to sink in,
it never occurred to me
that I might not succeed.
If this bomb could be carried
in an aeroplane, I could do the job.
NARRATOR:
An innocuous weather report from Guam,
150 miles to the south.
Prediction,
that the weather over southern Japan
is expected to improve
in the next 24 hours.
The signal is handed
to General Thomas Farrell,
Deputy Head of the Manhattan Project,
America's top-secret programme
to develop and build the atomic bomb.
Seven days ago, Farrell received
the authorisation to drop the bomb
in the week after August 3rd.
The order came direct
from President Truman.
The final date
is left to Farrell's discretion.
All that matters is the right
weather conditions
and today, they look perfect
MAN: We're all right, we're all right,
Hank covers that, you got your coffee
TIBBETS: The word came through
Sunday morning, August 5th.
After three days of uncertainty,
the clouds that had hung over
the Japanese islands for the past week
were beginning to break up.
Conditions were go,
and today was the day.
NARRATOR: Tibbets doesn't break the news
to his crew yet,
but after six months of training,
all of them are ready.
His co-pilot, Bob Lewis,
a tough 26-year-old New Yorker
and one of the most experienced
B-29 pilots in the air force.
Come on over here, Sarge,
light this baby!
NARRATOR: His tall gunner,
21-year-old Sergeant Bob Caron,
who flew 24 missions
with Tibbets over Europe.
He's also a keen amateur photographer.
The key to success of any bombing
mission is the man who drops the bomb
and Captain Tom Ferebee,
according to Tibbets,
is the best damn bombardier
in the air force.
Although he does not know it yet,
in exactly 17 hours,
this 26-year-old farmer's son
from North Carolina,
whose greatest ambition is to play
baseball for the Boston Red Sox,
will press a button on his panel
and release a bomb
which will kill over 100,000 people
and destroy an entire city.
Hiroshima's fate is sealed
by a committee set up by the President
Just three months ago.
General Farrell chaired the meeting.
FARRELL: Hiroshima.
This is an important army depot
and port of embarkation
in the middle
of an urban industrial area.
It is a good radar target..
NARRATOR: Untouched by American bombs,
the Committee decides
Hiroshima provides a perfect opportunity
to assess the full impact
of an atomic explosion.
FARRELL: It is such a size
that a large part of the city
could be extensively damaged.
There are adjacent hills which are
likely to produce a focusing effect
which would considerably increase
the blast damage.
NARRATOR: A decision is made to send
single, high-flying B-29s over the city
so that the inhabitants would become
used to the sight of them
and regard them as harmless.
Dimples' estimated take-off time is
245 hours. Repeat
NARRATOR:
With its unlikely code name, Dimples,
the mission is given a take-off time.
Farrell sends the message
halfway round the world
to the man in charge of the Manhattan
Project, General Leslie Groves.
7,000 miles away, Groves
passes the take-off time
to a ship in the middle of the Atlantic,
to President Truman
of the United States.
The decision has been taken,
the power of the atom is about to be
unleashed on an unsuspecting enemy.
What happens in the next few hours
will determine the fate of the world.
An awesome responsibility rests
on the President.
In his diary, Truman writes
TRUMAN: "The weapon
is finally to be used against Japan."
"It seems to be the most terrible thing
ever discovered."
NARRATOR: Over the past year,
US troops have fought ferocious battles,
island by island towards Japan.
(MACHINE GUNS FIRING)
Tens of thousands of Americans have died
fighting in these islands.
But the biggest challenge
still lies ahead,
the invasion of Japan itself;
expected to cost
a million American lives.
General Marshall,
the US Army Chief of Staff, says
GENERAL MARSHALL: The Japanese had
demonstrated they would not surrender
and they would fight to the death.
It was expected that resistance
in Japan, with their home ties,
would be even more severe so it seemed
quite necessary, if we could,
to shock them into action.
We had to end the war.
We had to save American lives.
NARRATOR: With the time for
the mission fixed, things moved quickly.
Tibbets consults the expert opinion
of his bombardier, Ferebee.
The purpose, to decide where exactly
on the primary target to drop the bomb.
- We'll be coming in from the east
- It's a clear day.
TIBBETS: Tom and I studied
a huge air photo of Hiroshima.
From this, he chose
a geographical feature east of the city
as the initial point from which
we would start our bomb run.
MAN: You get the bird here,
this is your aim, right here.
TIBBETS: As the aiming point
he put his finger on a T-shaped bridge
near the heart of the city.
There were many bridges which divided
the city, but this one stood out
because of a ramp in the centre.
It gave it the shape of the letter "T".
To Hiroshimans,
it was known as the Aioi Bridge.
We can do a southeast turn
NARRATOR: But even now, Ferebee has
no idea what kind of bomb he is to drop.
eighty knots,
that should give us plenty of time.
NARRATOR: In a heavily guarded
restricted zone on the airfield,
the bomb is wheeled out of its hangar.
Named Little Boy, one observer calls
it an elongated trash can with fins.
Unlike any other trash can,
this one cost $2 billion.
The 9,700-pound bomb is so heavy,
special pits have had to be dug
into the ground to winch it
into the bomb bay of the B-25.
TIBBETS: With its coat of dull gunmetal
paint, it was an ugly monster.
It seemed incredible that a single bomb
should have the explosive force
of 20,000 tons of TNT.
40 million pounds.
Surely the scientists were exaggerating.
This would equal 200,000
of the 200 bombs I carried
over Europe and North Africa.
NARRATOR: Watching the proceedings
are General Farrell
and the man who will take charge
of the bomb all the way to the target,
William "Deak" Parsons.
A tough, brilliant naval Captain,
he's the world's greatest expert
in the theory of atomic bomb ballistics.
In just a few hours,
he will put that theory to the test.
But right now, Parsons has
a more immediate concern.
In the past 24 hours,
four heavily-loaded B-29s
have crashed on take-off.
(SIRENS WAILING)
Parson's greatest nightmare
is the catastrophic consequences
of a similar crash,
this time with a fully-armed
atomic bomb on board.
Disregarding months of planning,
he makes a last-minute decision
to attempt the arming of the bomb
in the air and not on the ground,
something which has never been tried
outside the controlled,
sterile environment of the laboratory.
Armed with just & screwdriver
and a spanner,
he spends hour after hour
practising the techniques
required to arm the bomb in-flight.
The temperature inside the bomb bay
soars to over 40 degrees,
but he continues,
even as his hands start to bleed.
There is no room for error. The next
time he does this will be for real,
31,000 feet up in the sky,
exactly two hours away from the target.
(CLOCK TICKING)
1,700 miles to the north of Tinian
lies the city of Hiroshima.
Despite four years of war,
it remains a city at peace.
Occasionally, in the past few weeks,
a single, high-flying B-29 has
overflown the city to the north.
But Mister B, as the Japanese call
the B-29, has not visited today,
and even when he does,
he never drops any bombs.
(TICKING)
TIBBETS: My thoughts turned
at this moment
to my courageous red-haired mother,
whose quiet confidence had been a source
of strength to me since boyhood.
Her name, Enola Gay,
was pleasing to the ear.
It was also unique.
It would be a fine name for my plane,
Enola Gay.
NARRATOR:
In the last moments of daylight,
Tibbets is handed a special package.
So secret is this mission,
that if the Enola Gay ls shot down,
every crewmen faces
the risk of interrogation,
torture and possible execution.
TIBBETS: He came to me and said,
I hope it's something
that never comes up,
“but just in case,
it would be easier to swallow a pill
"than to blow your brains out
with a pistol shot."
He assured me that with cyanide,
there would be no pain.
NARRATOR: The capsules take
less than 10 seconds to kill a man.
There are 12 of them,
one for each member of the crew.
Tibbets tells none of them
that he has the pills in his possession.
(CLOCK TICKING)
500 metres from the T-shaped bridge
Tom Ferebee has selected
for his aiming point,
12-year-old Reiko Watanabe,
a first-year student at Hiroshima's
Municipal High School, studies at home.
Like all schoolchildren in the city, she
is conscripted to help the war effort
The only schoolwork
she is able to do is now, at night
1,500 metres from the same bridge,
little Shinichi Tetsutani
opens his birthday present,
a beautiful new tricycle.
He is four today.
Tomorrow he will spend the day
with his best friend, Kimiko,
playing with his new toy.
(SPEAKING JAPANESE)
But now, it's time for bed.
(SPEAKING JAPANESE)
2,000 metres from the aiming point,
Yoshito Matsoshige,
a photographer with the local newspaper,
spends the night developing photos
for tomorrow's edition.
Most of the paper is devoted
to the expected invasion
of the home islands
by the American enemy.
As for Hiroshima itself, there is,
as always, little news to tell
1,600 metres from the aiming point,
on the other side of the city,
Kengo Nikawa settles down for the night,
his pocket watch with him as always,
a special gift from his son.
(TICKING)
TIBBETS: Gentlemen, tonight is the night
we've been waiting for.
We've been training for months,
and what happens after this
will determine the success or failure
of that hard work.
We're gonna be carrying a weapon
on board our bird
that is unlike anything you or I,
or the world, has ever seen.
Our primary target is Hiroshima.
The secondary target, Kokura.
Alternate, Nagasaki.
NARRATOR:
Distance to target, 1,700 miles.
Flight time, 13 hours there and back.
Three weather planes will fly
one hour ahead of the strike force
to each of the designated targets.
A directive from the President
authorises use of the bomb
only when the target is visible.
Weather chooses the target.
An hour later,
our attack approach begins.
Three B-29s of the strike force
will fly exactly one hour
behind the weather planes.
The Great Artiste
to carry scientific instruments,
Necessary Evil
to carry specialist observers,
Enola Gay to carry the bomb.
Sergeant, first slide please.
NARRATOR: Now Captain Parsons,
the weapons specialist, takes the floor,
revealing the power of the bomb
the crew will carry tonight
It is the first inkling
in six months of training
of what they are about to drop.
This bomb is the most powerful weapon
ever devised by man.
We believe
that this bomb will destroy everything
within a three-mile radius
of its target.
It's powerful enough to crack the crust
of the surface of the earth.
TIBBETS: The men sat there
in shocked disbelief.
They were unable to imagine a single
bomb with such explosive force.
Frankly, neither could I
PARSONS: The equivalent of the centre
of this bomb, once it hits,
is 1 million degrees centigrade.
The light that it gives off,
10 times more powerful than the sun.
So you could be blinded.
That's why everyone on this mission,
in this crew,
is going to be issued special goggles,
and you will wear them,
so that you can
Look your grandchildren in the eye
and tell them
what happened this evening.
This bomb is gonna save lives.
Not only is this bomb gonna save lives
but it's going to end the war.
(WOMAN SINGING IN JAPANESE)
After this mission,
you're gonna be famous, you're gonna be
more famous than Clark Gable.
And everyone's gonna be reading
about this mission in history books
for 100 years to come.
TIBBETS: There stood the Enola Gay,
bathed in floodlights
like the star of a Hollywood movie.
I'd known there would be some routine
picture taken before departure
but I was unprepared for this.
For the next 20 minutes
we were put through a photo routine
to which none of us were accustomed.
As the crew posed for the press,
the three weather planes
take off for their destinations,
Kokura, Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
Without their knowing it
the lives of hundreds of thousands
of now-sleeping Japanese men,
women and children
depend on what the weather is like
when they wake up tomorrow morning.
(AIRCRAFT HUMMING)
Dimples 8-2, clear to taxi, baker echo.
MAN ON RADIO: Altimeter two-niner
point niner-three.
Clear to taxl, baker echo,
two-niner point niner-three.
MAN ON RADIO: Dimples 8-2
from North Tinian tower,
clear take-off from point "A" for Abel
wind 160, seven knots.
MAN 2: Dimples 8-2, clear for take-off.
NARRATOR: Tibbets will need every inch
of the runway to take off,
and at the far end is a cliff with
a 600-foot sheer dropped to the sea.
TIBBETS: Now had come
the moment of truth.
More than a mile and a half of runway
stretched before me in the darkness.
The blackened skeletons of four B-29s
that had crashed the night before
had not yet been cleared away.
We were heavily loaded.
7,000 gallons of gas
and the 9,000-pound bomb.
I glanced at my wristwatch.
It was 2.45 a.m.
(TICKING)
(CLOCK TICKING)
(BEEPING)
NARRATOR:
In the operations bunker on Tinian,
General Farrell immediately flashes
the take-off time
7,000 miles across the world
to General Groves at the Pentagon.
In turn, Groves sends it on
a further 2,000 miles
to the U.S.S. Augusta,
sailing in mid-Atlantic.
President Truman is just about
to sit down to dinner
when he receives the signal
One obstacle has already been cleared.
Enola Gay ls safely in the air,
the bomb is on board.
All the President can do now is wait.
Enola Gay climbs to 4,700 feet
as the island of Tinian
falls behind in the darkness.
Below is nothing but empty ocean
for the next six hours.
MAN 1 ON RADIO: Dimples 8-2,
Tinian tower. Position?
MAN 2 ON RADIO:
158 nautical miles north of Tinian,
heading 338 degrees
NARRATOR: On board,
the flight settles down to routine.
MAN 2: Indicated airspeed, 213 knots.
Repeat, position, 158
NARRATOR: Tibbets' co-pilot, Bob Lewis,
begins a log of the flight.
It is written in the form of a letter
to his parents,
halfway round the world
in Richfield, New Jersey.
LEWIS: "Dear Mom and Dad,
at 45 minutes out of our base",
"everyone is at work."
"Colonel Tibbets has been
hard at work with the usual tasks"
"that belong to the pilot of a B-29."
"Dutch Van Kirk, navigator,
and Sergeant Stiborik, radio operator,"
“are in continuous conversation
"as they are shooting bearings
on the Northern Marianas"
"and making radar wind runs."
TIBBETS: Having had little sleep
in the past 48 hours,
I was operating on nervous energy alone.
A bone weariness told me
I needed to relax, if only briefly,
in order to be reasonably sharp
for the work ahead.
NARRATOR: As Enola Gay
continues northwards,
Tom Ferebee and Deak Parsons
also snatch some rest
Like their Captain,
their moments are yet to come.
(CLOCK TICKING)
In Washington, General Groves,
the man in charge of the programme which
built the bomb Enola Gay ls carrying,
sits by his telephone.
GROVES: There was nothing to do
but sit back and wait
I told my family I would have to
stay in my office all night
The hours went by more slowly
than I ever imagined hours could go by,
and still there was no news.
TIBBETS: 5:51. The first signs of dawn.
That's a nice sight
I think we will have clear sailing
for a long spell
I think everyone will feel relieved
when we have left our bomb
with the Japs and get halfway home.
Or better still, all the way home.
NARRATOR: With the rising sun,
Enola Gay starts the long climb
to its final operational altitude
of 30,700 fest
A few miles ahead
lies the island of Iwo jima,
a harsh, volcanic rock in the Pacific,
and a halfway point to Japan.
(TELEGRAPH BEEPING)
On Tinian, General Farrell
receives the signal
that Enola Gay has reached Iwo Jima.
Tibbets now links up with The Great
Artiste and the Necessary Evil,
the two other B-29s
that make up the strike force.
Together they set course for Japan.
TIBBETS: As we took leave of Iwo Jima,
we were slightly more than
three hours away from our target.
Our target?
We weren't sure where we were going
or on what unlucky city
our atomic lightning would strike.
It would be one of the three,
Kokura, Nagasaki or Hiroshima.
(CLOCK TICKING)
NARRATOR: In his stateroom,
President Truman opens a dossier
containing a prepared statement
to the world
on the first use of an atomic bomb,
due for release just 16 hours
after the bomb has been dropped.
The name of the city
has been left blank.
In just over an hour,
the three weather planes will reach
their respective destinations.
Only then will the city have a name.
300 miles to the Japanese coast
and Captain Parsons,
the weapons specialist,
prepares for his toughest moment
in the next few minutes, he will enter
the bomb bay and arm the bomb,
just the way he practised
all yesterday afternoon.
PARSONS: I am now entering the bomb bay.
NARRATOR: 70 access the detonation
system at the rear of the bomb,
Parsons must negotiate a catwalk
just one foot wide.
Only the bomb doors separate him
from 30,000 feet of thin air.
The temperature inside the bomb bay
is -57 degrees,
colder than the coldest Arctic winter,
as he prepares the intricate business
of arming an atomic bomb.
(CLOCK TICKING)
1,400 miles to the south,
General Farrell waits for a signal
from the strike force
that the bomb is finally armed.
Nobody wants to consider
the implications
if Parsons makes a single mistake.
(HEAVY BREATHING)
The critical stage of the operation
starts here.
Parsons first removes the fuse assembly
from the rear of the bomb.
There is no room for error.
PARSONS: I am now going to insert
the first cordite charge.
NARRATOR: One by one,
Parsons must insert four cordite charges
into the fusing system.
Together they will fire a uranium bullet
resulting in an atomic explosion.
Parsons is now effectively handling
volatile explosives
in close proximity
to nuclear sub-assemblies.
PARSONS: I am now going to Insert
the first live detonation plug.
(HEAVY BREATHING)
NARRATOR: This is the most dangerous
part of the whole operation.
Each of the three plugs is part of
a chain activating the bomb's circuits.
Despite every precaution,
nobody knows exactly what will happen
the moment Parsons
inserts the final plug
and the detonation circuits activate.
(TELEGRAPH BEEPING)
From the strike force,
a coded signal is flashed
to General Farrell on Tinian.
Farrell immediately opens the sealed
document which accesses the code.
At this point, nobody knows
whether Parsons' efforts have been
successful or catastrophic.
He checks the code word.
The bomb is armed and ready.
The coded signal is immediately flashed
to General Groves in the Pentagon.
32 minutes from the Japanese coast,
Little Boy ls live
TIBBETS: Captaln Parsons has put
the final touches on his assembly job.
We are now loaded. The bomb is now live.
It's a funny feeling
knowing it's right in back of you.
Knock wood.
Outside, it is a very beautiful day.
We are now about two hours
from bombs away.
NARRATOR: But even now, as Enola Gay
approaches the Japanese coast,
no one on board
knows its final destination.
150 miles to the north,
Hiroshima basks in sunshine,
a perfect, cloudless summer's morning.
At exactly 731, Straight Flush,
the B-29 weather plane,
appears overhead the city.
(SIRENS WAILING)
Despite triggering a yellow alert,
very few of the city's inhabitants
bother to look up.
B-29s have been passing this way
for days.
(TICKING)
And who wants to hide in an air-raid
shelter on this perfect summer's day?
(SIRENS WAILING)
This perfect summer's day.
Almost exactly the description
which Straight Flush, 30,000 feet above,
is sending back to the men
in Enola Gay, 45 minutes behind.
(TELEGRAPH BEEPING)
MAN ON RADIO: Two-tenths cloud cover,
lower and middle
TIBBETS: 7:31. We receive a report
from our radio operator
that our primary is the best target.
We have started our second climb
to our final altitude.
With everything going well so far,
we will make the bomb run on Hiroshima.
We are now only 25 miles
from the Empire.
Everyone has a big, hopeful look
on his face.
NARRATOR: Like many schoolchildren
her age in Hiroshima,
Reiko Watanabe prepares
for another day of fire prevention work
under the student mobilisation order.
By this stage of the war, her lunch
of boiled rice and peas is a rare feast
a special treat from her mother.
After a long night in his darkroom,
Yoshito Matsoshige sits in his garden,
enjoying the glorious weather,
an opportunity to play with his camera
in the perfect light conditions.
MAN ON RADIO: Nav to pilot,
heading 264,
wind 170 degrees, eight knots.
Estimated time to aiming point,
16 minutes,
time check, 0759.
NARRATOR:
Undisturbed by flak or fighters,
Enola Gay reaches the Japanese coast
The crew take up their battle stations.
Taking his camera, tall gunner Bob Caron
moves to his isolated position
in the rear of the plane.
As Enola Gay dives away
from the target after the drop,
he will have a grandstand view
of the blast
His intention is to capture
the moment for posterity.
TIBBETS:
We have now set the automatic pilot
for the last time until bombs away.
I have checked with all concerned,
and all stations report satisfactorily.
Well, folks, it won't be long now.
MAN ON RADIO: Bomber to pilot,
visual with target.
Heading 264, repeat, heading
TIBBETS: Now it was up to Tom and me.
We were only 90 seconds
from bomb release
when I turned the plane
over to him on autopilot
My eyes were fixed
on the centre of the city
that shimmered
in the early morning sunlight
MAN ON RADIO:
Wind 170 degrees, eight knots.
Two minutes to drop.
NARRATOR: This time there are no sirens.
MAN ON RADIO: Okay, I got the bridge.
NARRATOR: The moment Ferebee
activates a high-pitched warning tone,
the crew know they have one minute
before the bomb is released.
Exactly 42 seconds later,
Little Boy will explode.
LEWIS: 8:15,
there will be a short intermission
while we bomb the target
(LONG HIGH-PITCHED BEEP)
(CLOCK TICKING)
(LOUD EXPLOSION)
TIBBETS: The first shockwave hit us.
The whole aeroplane cracked
and crinkled from the blast
Where before there had been a city
with distinctive houses, buildings
and everything you could see
from our altitude,
now you couldn't see anything
except the black,
boiling debris down below.
No one spoke for a moment,
then everyone was talking.
I remember Lewis pounding my shoulder,
saying, "Look at that, look at that"
He said he could taste atomic fission.
He said it tasted like lead.
NARRATOR: In the tail of Enola Gay,
Bob Caron starts taking photos
of the huge mushroom cloud.
CARON: The column of smoke
is rising fast
It's nearly level with us and climbing.
It has a fiery, red core.
It's all turbulent.
Fires are springing up everywhere,
like flames shooting out
of a huge bed of coals.
The city must be below that.
8:18.
My God, what have we done?
If I live for 100 years,
I'll never get these few minutes
out of my mind.
NARRATOR: One millionth of a second
after detonation,
Hiroshima ceases to exist.
Later tests reveal the full force
of a nuclear shock wave
as it tears through buildings,
cars and flesh at the speed of sound.
Over 100,000 people and 47,000 buildings
are, quite literally, obliterated.
500 metres from the bridge Tom Ferebee
selected as his aiming point,
Reiko Watanabe is instantly
incinerated by the blast
1,500 metres from the bridge,
Shinichi Tetsutani and his best friend
are also killed,
his new tricycle's steel frame twisting
and melting in the million-degree heat
1,600 metres from the epicentre,
Kengo Nikawa is exposed
to the same intense heat
But his watch survives,
its hands forever frozen
at the exact moment Little Boy explodes.
Within minutes of the explosion,
Hiroshima's fate is signalled around
the world to the men who devised it
(TELEGRAPH BEEPING)
The culmination of three years' work
and $2 billion expenditure
is transmitted in one sentence of code.
Clear-cut, successful in all respects.
Visual effects greater
than Trinity test.
Target Hiroshima.
NARRATOR: On board the U.S.S. Augusta,
President Truman
is just about to have lunch
when he receives the message.
He says,
"This is the greatest thing in history."
Miraculously surviving the blast,
Yoshito Matsoshige, the photographer,
moves directly towards the epicentre.
He takes just five photographs,
the only ones ever taken of Hiroshima
on the day the bomb fell
MATSOSHIGE: The scene I saw
through the viewfinder was too cruel
Among the hundreds of injured persons,
you cannot tell the difference
between male and female.
There were children screaming,
"It's hot it's hot."
and infants crying
over the body of their mother,
who appeared to be already dead.
I tried to pull myself together
by telling myself,
"I'm a news cameraman
and it is my duty to take a photograph,"
"even if it's just one."
"Even if people take me as a devil,
or a cold-hearted man."
I finally managed to press the shutter,
but when I looked through the finder
a second time,
the object was blurred with tears.
NARRATOR:
Its mission successfully accomplished,
Enola Gay ref urns home.
TIBBETS: It was 2:58 p.m. when
we touched down on the long runway
from which we had taken off with
such apparent effort 12 hours before.
(PEOPLE CHEERING)
I was unprepared for the welcome
which awaited us when,
after landing,
I taxied to the hard-stand
from which we had departed
in the early morning hours.
One after another shook my hands
or slapped my back,
Jubilant over the success
of our mission,
wanting to hear more about the bomb
and the destruction it had caused.
NARRATOR: The crew barely have time
to step off the plane
before they're all awarded medals
in front of the world's press.
Later that night, tall gunner Bob Caron
writes a letter to his wife
back in New York.
CARON: "Hi, sweetie.
I received this medal today."
I can't tell you just yet why I got it
"In fact, our whole crew got one."
"Seems our crew and airplanes
made history or something."
"Write my mother and tell her to collect"
"all the newspaper stories
on the biggest story."
"P.S. Collect all the stories
of the new bomb for our scrapbook."
NARRATOR: Three days later, a second
atom bomb is dropped on Nagasaki,
killing 86,000 people.
On August the 14th,
exactly eight days after Enola Gay's
mission to Hiroshima,
the Japanese finally surrender.
Shinichi Tetsutani
was buried in the front garden
where he was playing on the day he died.
Because his father felt that laying
a four-year-old in a grave alone
was too pitiful,
he burled his tricycle with his son.
Thirty years later,
Shinichi's bones were dug up
and placed in a formal grave.
Reiko Watanabe's body was never found.
For two days, her father, mother and
sister searched the city ruins in vain.
But all they ever found was
her lunchbox,
buried under a fallen mud wall,
its contents carbonised
by the heat of 10 suns.
Kengo Nikawa died from burns
two weeks after the bomb fell
Many years later, his son donated
the watch to the Hiroshima Peace Museum
where it remains to this day, a symbol
of the moment the world changed forever.
NARRATOR:
In the history of modern warfare,
one day stands out above all others,
the dropping of the atomic bomb
on Hiroshima,
the mission which annihilated a city
and heralded the end
of the Second World War.
This is a dramatisation of events
as they unfolded
on a day that shook the world.
(CLOCK TICKING)
Tinian Island, Southwest Pacific,
strategic centre of America's air war
against the Japanese empire.
In exactly 24 hours,
a B-29 Superfortress,
the world's largest bomber,
will take off from this island
and fly 1,700 miles north,
up the Pacific Ocean
to the city of Hiroshima, in japan.
Its mission, to drop a bomb unlike
any other used in this, or any war.
A bomb
which will change the world forever.
NEWSCASTER: Three different cameras
recorded, from six miles away,
these views of the most concentrated
release of explosive energy
in the history of mankind.
NARRATOR: July 16th, 1945, 5:29 a.m.
The night sky of New Mexico
was ripped open
by a new and terrifying phenomenon.
The atom bomb.
Code-named Trinity,
the test is so successful
its creators fear
it may crack the earth's crust
Just four hours later, an American
destroyer will leave San Francisco
to sail halfway round the world
to Tinian Island.
On board is another atom bomb.
Its final destination,
a city whose name will forever be
an emblem of the forces unleashed
by this new and terrible power.
Hiroshima.
In a remote corner of Tinian airbase,
one B-29 crew starts the day
like any other of the
several hundred crews on this island.
But these men are different
Keep practising with that glove,
you might actually catch the ball
Over the past year, they've been
training for a mission so secret,
only one of them knows what it is:
their leader, Colonel Paul Tibbets.
You're gonna have to
give him some money.
For three months, he was checked out
by FBI agents before being selected
by the head of the air force
to lead this mission.
TIBBETS: At the age of 29,
I had been entrusted
with the successful delivery
of the most frightening weapon
ever devised.
One that had been developed
at a cost of $2 billion
in a programme that involved
the nation's best scientific brains
and the secret mobilisation
of its industrial capacity.
Even as all this began to sink in,
it never occurred to me
that I might not succeed.
If this bomb could be carried
in an aeroplane, I could do the job.
NARRATOR:
An innocuous weather report from Guam,
150 miles to the south.
Prediction,
that the weather over southern Japan
is expected to improve
in the next 24 hours.
The signal is handed
to General Thomas Farrell,
Deputy Head of the Manhattan Project,
America's top-secret programme
to develop and build the atomic bomb.
Seven days ago, Farrell received
the authorisation to drop the bomb
in the week after August 3rd.
The order came direct
from President Truman.
The final date
is left to Farrell's discretion.
All that matters is the right
weather conditions
and today, they look perfect
MAN: We're all right, we're all right,
Hank covers that, you got your coffee
TIBBETS: The word came through
Sunday morning, August 5th.
After three days of uncertainty,
the clouds that had hung over
the Japanese islands for the past week
were beginning to break up.
Conditions were go,
and today was the day.
NARRATOR: Tibbets doesn't break the news
to his crew yet,
but after six months of training,
all of them are ready.
His co-pilot, Bob Lewis,
a tough 26-year-old New Yorker
and one of the most experienced
B-29 pilots in the air force.
Come on over here, Sarge,
light this baby!
NARRATOR: His tall gunner,
21-year-old Sergeant Bob Caron,
who flew 24 missions
with Tibbets over Europe.
He's also a keen amateur photographer.
The key to success of any bombing
mission is the man who drops the bomb
and Captain Tom Ferebee,
according to Tibbets,
is the best damn bombardier
in the air force.
Although he does not know it yet,
in exactly 17 hours,
this 26-year-old farmer's son
from North Carolina,
whose greatest ambition is to play
baseball for the Boston Red Sox,
will press a button on his panel
and release a bomb
which will kill over 100,000 people
and destroy an entire city.
Hiroshima's fate is sealed
by a committee set up by the President
Just three months ago.
General Farrell chaired the meeting.
FARRELL: Hiroshima.
This is an important army depot
and port of embarkation
in the middle
of an urban industrial area.
It is a good radar target..
NARRATOR: Untouched by American bombs,
the Committee decides
Hiroshima provides a perfect opportunity
to assess the full impact
of an atomic explosion.
FARRELL: It is such a size
that a large part of the city
could be extensively damaged.
There are adjacent hills which are
likely to produce a focusing effect
which would considerably increase
the blast damage.
NARRATOR: A decision is made to send
single, high-flying B-29s over the city
so that the inhabitants would become
used to the sight of them
and regard them as harmless.
Dimples' estimated take-off time is
245 hours. Repeat
NARRATOR:
With its unlikely code name, Dimples,
the mission is given a take-off time.
Farrell sends the message
halfway round the world
to the man in charge of the Manhattan
Project, General Leslie Groves.
7,000 miles away, Groves
passes the take-off time
to a ship in the middle of the Atlantic,
to President Truman
of the United States.
The decision has been taken,
the power of the atom is about to be
unleashed on an unsuspecting enemy.
What happens in the next few hours
will determine the fate of the world.
An awesome responsibility rests
on the President.
In his diary, Truman writes
TRUMAN: "The weapon
is finally to be used against Japan."
"It seems to be the most terrible thing
ever discovered."
NARRATOR: Over the past year,
US troops have fought ferocious battles,
island by island towards Japan.
(MACHINE GUNS FIRING)
Tens of thousands of Americans have died
fighting in these islands.
But the biggest challenge
still lies ahead,
the invasion of Japan itself;
expected to cost
a million American lives.
General Marshall,
the US Army Chief of Staff, says
GENERAL MARSHALL: The Japanese had
demonstrated they would not surrender
and they would fight to the death.
It was expected that resistance
in Japan, with their home ties,
would be even more severe so it seemed
quite necessary, if we could,
to shock them into action.
We had to end the war.
We had to save American lives.
NARRATOR: With the time for
the mission fixed, things moved quickly.
Tibbets consults the expert opinion
of his bombardier, Ferebee.
The purpose, to decide where exactly
on the primary target to drop the bomb.
- We'll be coming in from the east
- It's a clear day.
TIBBETS: Tom and I studied
a huge air photo of Hiroshima.
From this, he chose
a geographical feature east of the city
as the initial point from which
we would start our bomb run.
MAN: You get the bird here,
this is your aim, right here.
TIBBETS: As the aiming point
he put his finger on a T-shaped bridge
near the heart of the city.
There were many bridges which divided
the city, but this one stood out
because of a ramp in the centre.
It gave it the shape of the letter "T".
To Hiroshimans,
it was known as the Aioi Bridge.
We can do a southeast turn
NARRATOR: But even now, Ferebee has
no idea what kind of bomb he is to drop.
eighty knots,
that should give us plenty of time.
NARRATOR: In a heavily guarded
restricted zone on the airfield,
the bomb is wheeled out of its hangar.
Named Little Boy, one observer calls
it an elongated trash can with fins.
Unlike any other trash can,
this one cost $2 billion.
The 9,700-pound bomb is so heavy,
special pits have had to be dug
into the ground to winch it
into the bomb bay of the B-25.
TIBBETS: With its coat of dull gunmetal
paint, it was an ugly monster.
It seemed incredible that a single bomb
should have the explosive force
of 20,000 tons of TNT.
40 million pounds.
Surely the scientists were exaggerating.
This would equal 200,000
of the 200 bombs I carried
over Europe and North Africa.
NARRATOR: Watching the proceedings
are General Farrell
and the man who will take charge
of the bomb all the way to the target,
William "Deak" Parsons.
A tough, brilliant naval Captain,
he's the world's greatest expert
in the theory of atomic bomb ballistics.
In just a few hours,
he will put that theory to the test.
But right now, Parsons has
a more immediate concern.
In the past 24 hours,
four heavily-loaded B-29s
have crashed on take-off.
(SIRENS WAILING)
Parson's greatest nightmare
is the catastrophic consequences
of a similar crash,
this time with a fully-armed
atomic bomb on board.
Disregarding months of planning,
he makes a last-minute decision
to attempt the arming of the bomb
in the air and not on the ground,
something which has never been tried
outside the controlled,
sterile environment of the laboratory.
Armed with just & screwdriver
and a spanner,
he spends hour after hour
practising the techniques
required to arm the bomb in-flight.
The temperature inside the bomb bay
soars to over 40 degrees,
but he continues,
even as his hands start to bleed.
There is no room for error. The next
time he does this will be for real,
31,000 feet up in the sky,
exactly two hours away from the target.
(CLOCK TICKING)
1,700 miles to the north of Tinian
lies the city of Hiroshima.
Despite four years of war,
it remains a city at peace.
Occasionally, in the past few weeks,
a single, high-flying B-29 has
overflown the city to the north.
But Mister B, as the Japanese call
the B-29, has not visited today,
and even when he does,
he never drops any bombs.
(TICKING)
TIBBETS: My thoughts turned
at this moment
to my courageous red-haired mother,
whose quiet confidence had been a source
of strength to me since boyhood.
Her name, Enola Gay,
was pleasing to the ear.
It was also unique.
It would be a fine name for my plane,
Enola Gay.
NARRATOR:
In the last moments of daylight,
Tibbets is handed a special package.
So secret is this mission,
that if the Enola Gay ls shot down,
every crewmen faces
the risk of interrogation,
torture and possible execution.
TIBBETS: He came to me and said,
I hope it's something
that never comes up,
“but just in case,
it would be easier to swallow a pill
"than to blow your brains out
with a pistol shot."
He assured me that with cyanide,
there would be no pain.
NARRATOR: The capsules take
less than 10 seconds to kill a man.
There are 12 of them,
one for each member of the crew.
Tibbets tells none of them
that he has the pills in his possession.
(CLOCK TICKING)
500 metres from the T-shaped bridge
Tom Ferebee has selected
for his aiming point,
12-year-old Reiko Watanabe,
a first-year student at Hiroshima's
Municipal High School, studies at home.
Like all schoolchildren in the city, she
is conscripted to help the war effort
The only schoolwork
she is able to do is now, at night
1,500 metres from the same bridge,
little Shinichi Tetsutani
opens his birthday present,
a beautiful new tricycle.
He is four today.
Tomorrow he will spend the day
with his best friend, Kimiko,
playing with his new toy.
(SPEAKING JAPANESE)
But now, it's time for bed.
(SPEAKING JAPANESE)
2,000 metres from the aiming point,
Yoshito Matsoshige,
a photographer with the local newspaper,
spends the night developing photos
for tomorrow's edition.
Most of the paper is devoted
to the expected invasion
of the home islands
by the American enemy.
As for Hiroshima itself, there is,
as always, little news to tell
1,600 metres from the aiming point,
on the other side of the city,
Kengo Nikawa settles down for the night,
his pocket watch with him as always,
a special gift from his son.
(TICKING)
TIBBETS: Gentlemen, tonight is the night
we've been waiting for.
We've been training for months,
and what happens after this
will determine the success or failure
of that hard work.
We're gonna be carrying a weapon
on board our bird
that is unlike anything you or I,
or the world, has ever seen.
Our primary target is Hiroshima.
The secondary target, Kokura.
Alternate, Nagasaki.
NARRATOR:
Distance to target, 1,700 miles.
Flight time, 13 hours there and back.
Three weather planes will fly
one hour ahead of the strike force
to each of the designated targets.
A directive from the President
authorises use of the bomb
only when the target is visible.
Weather chooses the target.
An hour later,
our attack approach begins.
Three B-29s of the strike force
will fly exactly one hour
behind the weather planes.
The Great Artiste
to carry scientific instruments,
Necessary Evil
to carry specialist observers,
Enola Gay to carry the bomb.
Sergeant, first slide please.
NARRATOR: Now Captain Parsons,
the weapons specialist, takes the floor,
revealing the power of the bomb
the crew will carry tonight
It is the first inkling
in six months of training
of what they are about to drop.
This bomb is the most powerful weapon
ever devised by man.
We believe
that this bomb will destroy everything
within a three-mile radius
of its target.
It's powerful enough to crack the crust
of the surface of the earth.
TIBBETS: The men sat there
in shocked disbelief.
They were unable to imagine a single
bomb with such explosive force.
Frankly, neither could I
PARSONS: The equivalent of the centre
of this bomb, once it hits,
is 1 million degrees centigrade.
The light that it gives off,
10 times more powerful than the sun.
So you could be blinded.
That's why everyone on this mission,
in this crew,
is going to be issued special goggles,
and you will wear them,
so that you can
Look your grandchildren in the eye
and tell them
what happened this evening.
This bomb is gonna save lives.
Not only is this bomb gonna save lives
but it's going to end the war.
(WOMAN SINGING IN JAPANESE)
After this mission,
you're gonna be famous, you're gonna be
more famous than Clark Gable.
And everyone's gonna be reading
about this mission in history books
for 100 years to come.
TIBBETS: There stood the Enola Gay,
bathed in floodlights
like the star of a Hollywood movie.
I'd known there would be some routine
picture taken before departure
but I was unprepared for this.
For the next 20 minutes
we were put through a photo routine
to which none of us were accustomed.
As the crew posed for the press,
the three weather planes
take off for their destinations,
Kokura, Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
Without their knowing it
the lives of hundreds of thousands
of now-sleeping Japanese men,
women and children
depend on what the weather is like
when they wake up tomorrow morning.
(AIRCRAFT HUMMING)
Dimples 8-2, clear to taxi, baker echo.
MAN ON RADIO: Altimeter two-niner
point niner-three.
Clear to taxl, baker echo,
two-niner point niner-three.
MAN ON RADIO: Dimples 8-2
from North Tinian tower,
clear take-off from point "A" for Abel
wind 160, seven knots.
MAN 2: Dimples 8-2, clear for take-off.
NARRATOR: Tibbets will need every inch
of the runway to take off,
and at the far end is a cliff with
a 600-foot sheer dropped to the sea.
TIBBETS: Now had come
the moment of truth.
More than a mile and a half of runway
stretched before me in the darkness.
The blackened skeletons of four B-29s
that had crashed the night before
had not yet been cleared away.
We were heavily loaded.
7,000 gallons of gas
and the 9,000-pound bomb.
I glanced at my wristwatch.
It was 2.45 a.m.
(TICKING)
(CLOCK TICKING)
(BEEPING)
NARRATOR:
In the operations bunker on Tinian,
General Farrell immediately flashes
the take-off time
7,000 miles across the world
to General Groves at the Pentagon.
In turn, Groves sends it on
a further 2,000 miles
to the U.S.S. Augusta,
sailing in mid-Atlantic.
President Truman is just about
to sit down to dinner
when he receives the signal
One obstacle has already been cleared.
Enola Gay ls safely in the air,
the bomb is on board.
All the President can do now is wait.
Enola Gay climbs to 4,700 feet
as the island of Tinian
falls behind in the darkness.
Below is nothing but empty ocean
for the next six hours.
MAN 1 ON RADIO: Dimples 8-2,
Tinian tower. Position?
MAN 2 ON RADIO:
158 nautical miles north of Tinian,
heading 338 degrees
NARRATOR: On board,
the flight settles down to routine.
MAN 2: Indicated airspeed, 213 knots.
Repeat, position, 158
NARRATOR: Tibbets' co-pilot, Bob Lewis,
begins a log of the flight.
It is written in the form of a letter
to his parents,
halfway round the world
in Richfield, New Jersey.
LEWIS: "Dear Mom and Dad,
at 45 minutes out of our base",
"everyone is at work."
"Colonel Tibbets has been
hard at work with the usual tasks"
"that belong to the pilot of a B-29."
"Dutch Van Kirk, navigator,
and Sergeant Stiborik, radio operator,"
“are in continuous conversation
"as they are shooting bearings
on the Northern Marianas"
"and making radar wind runs."
TIBBETS: Having had little sleep
in the past 48 hours,
I was operating on nervous energy alone.
A bone weariness told me
I needed to relax, if only briefly,
in order to be reasonably sharp
for the work ahead.
NARRATOR: As Enola Gay
continues northwards,
Tom Ferebee and Deak Parsons
also snatch some rest
Like their Captain,
their moments are yet to come.
(CLOCK TICKING)
In Washington, General Groves,
the man in charge of the programme which
built the bomb Enola Gay ls carrying,
sits by his telephone.
GROVES: There was nothing to do
but sit back and wait
I told my family I would have to
stay in my office all night
The hours went by more slowly
than I ever imagined hours could go by,
and still there was no news.
TIBBETS: 5:51. The first signs of dawn.
That's a nice sight
I think we will have clear sailing
for a long spell
I think everyone will feel relieved
when we have left our bomb
with the Japs and get halfway home.
Or better still, all the way home.
NARRATOR: With the rising sun,
Enola Gay starts the long climb
to its final operational altitude
of 30,700 fest
A few miles ahead
lies the island of Iwo jima,
a harsh, volcanic rock in the Pacific,
and a halfway point to Japan.
(TELEGRAPH BEEPING)
On Tinian, General Farrell
receives the signal
that Enola Gay has reached Iwo Jima.
Tibbets now links up with The Great
Artiste and the Necessary Evil,
the two other B-29s
that make up the strike force.
Together they set course for Japan.
TIBBETS: As we took leave of Iwo Jima,
we were slightly more than
three hours away from our target.
Our target?
We weren't sure where we were going
or on what unlucky city
our atomic lightning would strike.
It would be one of the three,
Kokura, Nagasaki or Hiroshima.
(CLOCK TICKING)
NARRATOR: In his stateroom,
President Truman opens a dossier
containing a prepared statement
to the world
on the first use of an atomic bomb,
due for release just 16 hours
after the bomb has been dropped.
The name of the city
has been left blank.
In just over an hour,
the three weather planes will reach
their respective destinations.
Only then will the city have a name.
300 miles to the Japanese coast
and Captain Parsons,
the weapons specialist,
prepares for his toughest moment
in the next few minutes, he will enter
the bomb bay and arm the bomb,
just the way he practised
all yesterday afternoon.
PARSONS: I am now entering the bomb bay.
NARRATOR: 70 access the detonation
system at the rear of the bomb,
Parsons must negotiate a catwalk
just one foot wide.
Only the bomb doors separate him
from 30,000 feet of thin air.
The temperature inside the bomb bay
is -57 degrees,
colder than the coldest Arctic winter,
as he prepares the intricate business
of arming an atomic bomb.
(CLOCK TICKING)
1,400 miles to the south,
General Farrell waits for a signal
from the strike force
that the bomb is finally armed.
Nobody wants to consider
the implications
if Parsons makes a single mistake.
(HEAVY BREATHING)
The critical stage of the operation
starts here.
Parsons first removes the fuse assembly
from the rear of the bomb.
There is no room for error.
PARSONS: I am now going to insert
the first cordite charge.
NARRATOR: One by one,
Parsons must insert four cordite charges
into the fusing system.
Together they will fire a uranium bullet
resulting in an atomic explosion.
Parsons is now effectively handling
volatile explosives
in close proximity
to nuclear sub-assemblies.
PARSONS: I am now going to Insert
the first live detonation plug.
(HEAVY BREATHING)
NARRATOR: This is the most dangerous
part of the whole operation.
Each of the three plugs is part of
a chain activating the bomb's circuits.
Despite every precaution,
nobody knows exactly what will happen
the moment Parsons
inserts the final plug
and the detonation circuits activate.
(TELEGRAPH BEEPING)
From the strike force,
a coded signal is flashed
to General Farrell on Tinian.
Farrell immediately opens the sealed
document which accesses the code.
At this point, nobody knows
whether Parsons' efforts have been
successful or catastrophic.
He checks the code word.
The bomb is armed and ready.
The coded signal is immediately flashed
to General Groves in the Pentagon.
32 minutes from the Japanese coast,
Little Boy ls live
TIBBETS: Captaln Parsons has put
the final touches on his assembly job.
We are now loaded. The bomb is now live.
It's a funny feeling
knowing it's right in back of you.
Knock wood.
Outside, it is a very beautiful day.
We are now about two hours
from bombs away.
NARRATOR: But even now, as Enola Gay
approaches the Japanese coast,
no one on board
knows its final destination.
150 miles to the north,
Hiroshima basks in sunshine,
a perfect, cloudless summer's morning.
At exactly 731, Straight Flush,
the B-29 weather plane,
appears overhead the city.
(SIRENS WAILING)
Despite triggering a yellow alert,
very few of the city's inhabitants
bother to look up.
B-29s have been passing this way
for days.
(TICKING)
And who wants to hide in an air-raid
shelter on this perfect summer's day?
(SIRENS WAILING)
This perfect summer's day.
Almost exactly the description
which Straight Flush, 30,000 feet above,
is sending back to the men
in Enola Gay, 45 minutes behind.
(TELEGRAPH BEEPING)
MAN ON RADIO: Two-tenths cloud cover,
lower and middle
TIBBETS: 7:31. We receive a report
from our radio operator
that our primary is the best target.
We have started our second climb
to our final altitude.
With everything going well so far,
we will make the bomb run on Hiroshima.
We are now only 25 miles
from the Empire.
Everyone has a big, hopeful look
on his face.
NARRATOR: Like many schoolchildren
her age in Hiroshima,
Reiko Watanabe prepares
for another day of fire prevention work
under the student mobilisation order.
By this stage of the war, her lunch
of boiled rice and peas is a rare feast
a special treat from her mother.
After a long night in his darkroom,
Yoshito Matsoshige sits in his garden,
enjoying the glorious weather,
an opportunity to play with his camera
in the perfect light conditions.
MAN ON RADIO: Nav to pilot,
heading 264,
wind 170 degrees, eight knots.
Estimated time to aiming point,
16 minutes,
time check, 0759.
NARRATOR:
Undisturbed by flak or fighters,
Enola Gay reaches the Japanese coast
The crew take up their battle stations.
Taking his camera, tall gunner Bob Caron
moves to his isolated position
in the rear of the plane.
As Enola Gay dives away
from the target after the drop,
he will have a grandstand view
of the blast
His intention is to capture
the moment for posterity.
TIBBETS:
We have now set the automatic pilot
for the last time until bombs away.
I have checked with all concerned,
and all stations report satisfactorily.
Well, folks, it won't be long now.
MAN ON RADIO: Bomber to pilot,
visual with target.
Heading 264, repeat, heading
TIBBETS: Now it was up to Tom and me.
We were only 90 seconds
from bomb release
when I turned the plane
over to him on autopilot
My eyes were fixed
on the centre of the city
that shimmered
in the early morning sunlight
MAN ON RADIO:
Wind 170 degrees, eight knots.
Two minutes to drop.
NARRATOR: This time there are no sirens.
MAN ON RADIO: Okay, I got the bridge.
NARRATOR: The moment Ferebee
activates a high-pitched warning tone,
the crew know they have one minute
before the bomb is released.
Exactly 42 seconds later,
Little Boy will explode.
LEWIS: 8:15,
there will be a short intermission
while we bomb the target
(LONG HIGH-PITCHED BEEP)
(CLOCK TICKING)
(LOUD EXPLOSION)
TIBBETS: The first shockwave hit us.
The whole aeroplane cracked
and crinkled from the blast
Where before there had been a city
with distinctive houses, buildings
and everything you could see
from our altitude,
now you couldn't see anything
except the black,
boiling debris down below.
No one spoke for a moment,
then everyone was talking.
I remember Lewis pounding my shoulder,
saying, "Look at that, look at that"
He said he could taste atomic fission.
He said it tasted like lead.
NARRATOR: In the tail of Enola Gay,
Bob Caron starts taking photos
of the huge mushroom cloud.
CARON: The column of smoke
is rising fast
It's nearly level with us and climbing.
It has a fiery, red core.
It's all turbulent.
Fires are springing up everywhere,
like flames shooting out
of a huge bed of coals.
The city must be below that.
8:18.
My God, what have we done?
If I live for 100 years,
I'll never get these few minutes
out of my mind.
NARRATOR: One millionth of a second
after detonation,
Hiroshima ceases to exist.
Later tests reveal the full force
of a nuclear shock wave
as it tears through buildings,
cars and flesh at the speed of sound.
Over 100,000 people and 47,000 buildings
are, quite literally, obliterated.
500 metres from the bridge Tom Ferebee
selected as his aiming point,
Reiko Watanabe is instantly
incinerated by the blast
1,500 metres from the bridge,
Shinichi Tetsutani and his best friend
are also killed,
his new tricycle's steel frame twisting
and melting in the million-degree heat
1,600 metres from the epicentre,
Kengo Nikawa is exposed
to the same intense heat
But his watch survives,
its hands forever frozen
at the exact moment Little Boy explodes.
Within minutes of the explosion,
Hiroshima's fate is signalled around
the world to the men who devised it
(TELEGRAPH BEEPING)
The culmination of three years' work
and $2 billion expenditure
is transmitted in one sentence of code.
Clear-cut, successful in all respects.
Visual effects greater
than Trinity test.
Target Hiroshima.
NARRATOR: On board the U.S.S. Augusta,
President Truman
is just about to have lunch
when he receives the message.
He says,
"This is the greatest thing in history."
Miraculously surviving the blast,
Yoshito Matsoshige, the photographer,
moves directly towards the epicentre.
He takes just five photographs,
the only ones ever taken of Hiroshima
on the day the bomb fell
MATSOSHIGE: The scene I saw
through the viewfinder was too cruel
Among the hundreds of injured persons,
you cannot tell the difference
between male and female.
There were children screaming,
"It's hot it's hot."
and infants crying
over the body of their mother,
who appeared to be already dead.
I tried to pull myself together
by telling myself,
"I'm a news cameraman
and it is my duty to take a photograph,"
"even if it's just one."
"Even if people take me as a devil,
or a cold-hearted man."
I finally managed to press the shutter,
but when I looked through the finder
a second time,
the object was blurred with tears.
NARRATOR:
Its mission successfully accomplished,
Enola Gay ref urns home.
TIBBETS: It was 2:58 p.m. when
we touched down on the long runway
from which we had taken off with
such apparent effort 12 hours before.
(PEOPLE CHEERING)
I was unprepared for the welcome
which awaited us when,
after landing,
I taxied to the hard-stand
from which we had departed
in the early morning hours.
One after another shook my hands
or slapped my back,
Jubilant over the success
of our mission,
wanting to hear more about the bomb
and the destruction it had caused.
NARRATOR: The crew barely have time
to step off the plane
before they're all awarded medals
in front of the world's press.
Later that night, tall gunner Bob Caron
writes a letter to his wife
back in New York.
CARON: "Hi, sweetie.
I received this medal today."
I can't tell you just yet why I got it
"In fact, our whole crew got one."
"Seems our crew and airplanes
made history or something."
"Write my mother and tell her to collect"
"all the newspaper stories
on the biggest story."
"P.S. Collect all the stories
of the new bomb for our scrapbook."
NARRATOR: Three days later, a second
atom bomb is dropped on Nagasaki,
killing 86,000 people.
On August the 14th,
exactly eight days after Enola Gay's
mission to Hiroshima,
the Japanese finally surrender.
Shinichi Tetsutani
was buried in the front garden
where he was playing on the day he died.
Because his father felt that laying
a four-year-old in a grave alone
was too pitiful,
he burled his tricycle with his son.
Thirty years later,
Shinichi's bones were dug up
and placed in a formal grave.
Reiko Watanabe's body was never found.
For two days, her father, mother and
sister searched the city ruins in vain.
But all they ever found was
her lunchbox,
buried under a fallen mud wall,
its contents carbonised
by the heat of 10 suns.
Kengo Nikawa died from burns
two weeks after the bomb fell
Many years later, his son donated
the watch to the Hiroshima Peace Museum
where it remains to this day, a symbol
of the moment the world changed forever.