The city was also a communications center, a key port for shipping, and an assembly area for troops. Hiroshima was a minor supply and logistics base for the Japanese military, but it also had large stockpiles of military supplies. Hata’s command consisted of some 400,000 men, most of whom were on Kyushu where an Allied invasion was correctly anticipated.
A number of military units were located nearby, the most important of which was the headquarters of Field Marshal Shunroku Hata’s Second General Army, which commanded the defense of all of southern Japan, and was located in Hiroshima Castle.
Only rubble and a few utility poles remained after the nuclear explosion and resultant fires.Īt the time of its bombing, Hiroshima was a city of both industrial and military significance. A pre-war photograph of Hiroshima’s vibrant downtown shopping district near the center of town, facing east.
