The first atomic bomb has been dropped by a United States
aircraft on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
President Harry S Truman, announcing the news from the
cruiser, USS Augusta, in the mid-Atlantic, said the device was more than 2,000
times more powerful than the largest bomb used to date.
An accurate assessment of the damage caused has so far
been impossible due to a huge cloud of impenetrable dust covering the target.
Hiroshima is one of the chief supply depots for the Japanese army.
The bomb was dropped from an American B-29 Superfortress,
known as Enola Gay, at 0815 local time. The plane's crew say they saw a column
of smoke rising and intense fires springing up.
The President said the atomic bomb heralded the
"harnessing of the basic power of the universe". It also marked a
victory over the Germans in the race to be first to develop a weapon using
atomic energy.
President Truman went on to warn the Japanese the Allies
would completely destroy their capacity to make war.
The Potsdam declaration issued 10 days ago, which called
for the unconditional surrender of Japan, was a last chance for the country to
avoid utter destruction, the President said.
"If they do not now accept our terms they may expect
a rain of ruin from the air the like of which has never been seen on Earth.
Behind this air attack will follow by sea and land forces in such number and
power as they have not yet seen, but with fighting skill of which they are
already aware."
The British Prime Minister Clement Attlee, who has
replaced Winston Churchill at Number 10, read out a statement prepared by his
predecessor to MPs in the Commons.
It said the atomic project had such great potential the
government felt it was right to pursue the research and to pool information
with atomic scientists in the US.
As Britain was considered within easy reach of Germany
and its bombers, the decision was made to set up the bomb-making plants in the
US.
The statement continued: "By God's mercy, Britain
and American science outpaced all German efforts. These were on a considerable
scale, but far behind. The possession of these powers by the Germans at any
time might have altered the result of the war."
Mr Churchill's statement said considerable efforts had
been made to disrupt German progress - including attacks on plants making
constituent parts of the bomb.
He ended: "We must indeed pray that these awful
agencies will be made to conduce peace among the nations and that instead of
wreaking measureless havoc upon the entire globe they become a perennial
fountain of world prosperity."
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