Japan marks 70th anniversary of Hiroshima atomic bombing

Opinion remains divided over whether the twin attacks were justified.

While some historians say that they prevented many more casualties in a planned land invasion, critics have said the attacks were not necessary to end the war, arguing that Japan was already heading for imminent defeat.

Dropping the bombs, which were developed under strict secrecy, was hugely popular with war-weary Americans at the time — and 70 years on, a majority today still think it was the right thing to do.

Fifty-six percent of Americans surveyed by the Pew Research Center in February said using the atomic bomb on Japanese cities was justified, compared to 79 percent of Japanese respondents who said it was not.

Paul Tibbets, who piloted the Enola Gay, said he never had any second thoughts about dropping the bomb, telling a newspaper in an interview in 2002, five years before his death: “I knew we did the right thing”.

Washington, which has been a close ally of Tokyo since the war, has never officially apologised for the bombings.