nt of Surrender on September 2, 1945. World War II had come to an end but in Hiroshima, it didn’t look too good. Before World War II, Hiroshima’s population grew to around 360,000 and after the atomic bombing, the population had dropped to 137,197. From the bombing in Hiroshima, 66,000 people were dead and 69,000 people were injuries. The casualties of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had totaled up to be around 200,000.

Two-thirds of Hiroshima’s buildings were demolished. The fires had burned everything within 4 miles of ground zero. Hiroshima had quickly disappeared under thick foam of flames and smoke. 30 minutes after the explosion, heavy rain filled with dirt, dust, soot, and the contaminated particles that were sucked into the air started to fall in areas.

People reported to the navy’s underground headquarters in Tokyo that they had saw an “enormous explosion,” a “sinister cloud,” and more. These reports had created more confusion than alarm. From the descriptions of the of the city’s destruction, Japanese military finally got the whole picture. They realized that Hiroshima’s explosion was caused because of a atomic bombing. This came as a shock to the Japanese as most of them thought that the U.S were in the scientific investigation stage. 16 hours after the attack, President Truman had made a public announcement in Washington, D.C. which informed Tokyo of what happened.

Army and navy personnel were sent to investigate Hiroshima. Many were in disbelief that the destruction in Hiroshima was caused because of a atomic bomb. Reviewing the nature of the destruction, Japan had come to the terms that the U.S had perfected the atomic bomb. Japan was behind in their own nuclear bomb development.