Not justifying the bombings, but roughly 20,000 Japanese soldiers were killed in Hiroshima. The city served as the headquarters for the Second General Army, the Japanese 59th Army, and the 5th Division.

Notably, the 5th Division was one of the units responsible for the Nanjing massacre. However, they suffered minor losses since most of the troops were in Manchukuo at the time.

The other two armies were nearly annihilated. Basically the entire commanding staff of the Second General Army was vaporized. However, the commanding officer of the Second General Army, Field Marshal Shunroku Hata, survived. Hata was the Minister of War for Imperial Japan between 1939 and 1940.