Nuclear attack on Japan. Who dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

(average: 4,71 out of 5)

The American atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which killed a total of 214 thousand people, were the only cases in history of the use of nuclear weapons.

Let's see what those places look like then and now.

In August 1945, American pilots dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. From atomic explosion and its consequences, in Hiroshima, out of a population of 350 thousand, 140 thousand people died, in Nagasaki - 74 thousand. The vast majority of victims atomic bombing were civilians.

International analysts believe that it is unlikely that the United States will apologize to Japan for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

2. Mushroom from the explosion of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. (Photo: Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum):

3. Hiroshima in October 1945 and the same place on July 28, 2015. (Photo by Shigeo Hayash | Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Issei Kato | Reuters):

4. Hiroshima on August 20, 1945 and the same place on July 28, 2015. (Photo by Masami Oki | Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Issei Kato | Reuters):

5. Hiroshima in October-November 1945 and the same place on July 29, 2015. By the way, this place is located 860 meters from the center of the explosion nuclear bomb. (Photo US Army | Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Issei Kato | Reuters):

6. Hiroshima in October 1945 and the same place on July 28, 2015. (Photo by Shigeo Hayash | Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Issei Kato | Reuters):

7. Hiroshima in 1945 and the same place on July 29, 2015. (Photo US Army | Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Issei Kato | Reuters):

8. Nagasaki August 9, 1945 and July 31, 2015. (Photo by Torahiko Ogawa | Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, Issei Kato | Reuters):

9. Nagasaki in 1945 and the same place on July 31, 2015. (Photo by Shigeo Hayashi | Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, Issei Kato | Retuers):

10. Nagasaki in 1945 and the same place on July 31, 2015. (Photo by Shigeo Hayashi | Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, Issei Kato | Retuers):

11. Nagasaki Cathedral in 1945 and July 31, 2015. (Photo by Hisashi Ishida | Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, Issei Kato | Reuters):

12. Commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, August 6, 2015. (Photo by Toru Hanai | Reuters):

13. Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima. This is a park located on the territory of the former Nakajima district, which was completely destroyed as a result of the atomic bombing of the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945. On the territory of 12.2 hectares there is the Peace Memorial Museum, many monuments, a ritual bell and a cenotaph. (Photo by Kazuhiro Nogi):

14. Commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, August 6, 2015. (Photo by Kimimiasa Mayama):

16. Peace Memorial Park in Nagasaki, built in memory of the atomic bombing of the city on August 9, 1945. (Photo by Toru Hanai | Reuters):

“The United States used atomic weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki not to force Japan to surrender, but to prevent geopolitical advantage Soviet Union after the end of the war in Asia.

"> " alt=" The nuclear bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 through the eyes of the executioner: on the 69th anniversary of the tragedy">!}

August 6 at 8:15 am 69 years ago Armed forces The United States, on the personal orders of US President Harry Truman, dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima atomic bomb"Little Boy" is the equivalent of 13 to 18 kilotons of TNT. Babr prepared the history of this terrible event through the eyes of one of the participants in the bombing

On July 28, 2014, one week before the 69th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the last crew member of the Enola Gay, which dropped the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, died. Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk died in a nursing home in Georgia at the age of 93.

Van Kirk fought in the US military during World War II. He has dozens of missions in Europe and North Africa. However, he will be remembered as a participant in one of the most horrific acts in human history.

In December 2013, Theodore Van Kirk was interviewed by British director Leslie Woodhead for his documentary film for the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 2015. Here's what Kirk recalled about that day:

“I remember well what it was like on August 6, 1945. Enola Gay takes off from the South Pacific from Tinian Island at 2:45 am. After a sleepless night. I have never seen such a beautiful sunrise in my life. The weather was beautiful. While flying at 10,000 feet, I saw the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean. It was a peaceful scene, but we had a tense atmosphere on the plane because the crew didn't know if the bomb would go off. After six hours of flight, Enola Gay approached Hiroshima.”

“When the bomb fell, my first thought was: “God, I’m so glad it worked...”

Nuclear mushroom over Hiroshima (left) and Nagasaki (right)

“We made a 180-degree turn and flew away from the shock waves. Then they turned around to see the damage. We saw nothing but a bright flash. Then they saw a white mushroom cloud hanging over the city. Under the cloud, the city was completely engulfed in smoke and resembled a cauldron of black boiling tar. And fire was visible on the outskirts of the cities. When the bomb fell, the first thought was: “God, I’m so glad it worked... the second thought: “It’s so good that this war will end.”

"I am a supporter of peace..."

Model of the "Little Boy" bomb dropped on Hiroshima

Van Kirk gave many interviews during his life. In conversations with young people, he often urged them not to get involved in another war and even called himself a “supporter of peace.” “The Dutchman” once told reporters that seeing what one atomic bomb had done made him reluctant to see it happen again. But at the same time, the navigator did not feel much remorse and defended the use of the atomic bomb against the Japanese, calling it a lesser evil compared to the continuation of the aerial bombing of Japan and a possible American invasion.

“I have never apologized for what we did in Hiroshima and I never will...”

Japanese boy injured by explosion

On frequently asked question“Does he feel remorse for his participation in the bombing that killed about 150,000 Japanese?” he replied:

“I have never apologized for what we did in Hiroshima and never will,” he said in an interview. - Our mission was to end World War II, that's all. If we had not thrown this bomb, it would have been impossible to force the Japanese to capitulate..."

“This bomb saved lives, despite the huge number of victims in Hiroshima...”

Hiroshima after the atomic explosion

“This bomb really saved lives, despite huge amount casualties in Hiroshima, because otherwise the scale of casualties in Japan and the United States would have been appalling,” Van Kirk once said.

According to him, it was not about dropping a bomb on the city and killing people: “Military installations in the city of Hiroshima were destroyed,” the American justified, “the most important of which was the army headquarters responsible for the defense of Japan in the event of an invasion. It had to be destroyed."

Three days after the bombing of Hiroshima - on August 9, 1945 - the Americans dropped another atomic bomb, Fat Man, with a yield of up to 21 kilotons of TNT, on another Japanese city - Nagasaki. Between 60 and 80 thousand people died there.

The officially declared purpose of the bombing was to hasten Japan's surrender in the Pacific theater of World War II. But the role of the atomic bombings in Japan's surrender and the ethical justification of the bombings themselves are still hotly debated.

“The use of atomic weapons was necessary”

The crew of the Enola Gay

One day late in his life, Theodore Van Kirk visited the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, where Enola Gay is on display. a museum worker asked Van Kirk if he would like to sit on the plane, to which the latter refused. “I have too many memories of the guys I flew with.”, he explained his refusal.

Most of the pilots who bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not publicly active, but did not express regret about what they had done. In 2005, on the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, the three remaining Enola Gay crew members—Tibbetts, Van Kirk and Jeppson—said they had no regrets about what happened. "Application atomic weapons was necessary", they said.

Van Kirk's funeral was held in his hometown of Northumberland, Pennsylvania on August 5 - the day before the 69th anniversary of the US nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, where he was buried next to his wife, who died in 1975.

Several historical photographs about the tragic events of August 6 and 9, 1945:

These wrist watch, found among the ruins, stopped at 8.15 am on August 6, 1945 -
during the atomic bomb explosion in Hiroshima.

The shadow of a man who was sitting on the steps of the stairs in front of the bank at the time of the explosion, 250 meters from the epicenter

Atomic explosion victim

A Japanese man discovered the wreckage of a children's three-wheeler among the ruins.
bicycle in Nagasaki, September 17, 1945.

Very few buildings remain in the devastated Hiroshima, a Japanese city that was razed to the ground
caused by the explosion of an atomic bomb, as seen in this photograph taken on September 8, 1945.

Victims of the atomic explosion, who are in the tented care center of the 2nd Military Hospital of Hiroshima,
located on the banks of the Ota River, 1150 meters from the epicenter of the explosion, August 7, 1945.

A tram (top center) and its dead passengers after a bomb exploded over Nagasaki on August 9.
The photo was taken on September 1, 1945.

Akira Yamaguchi shows off his scars from burn treatment.
receivedduring a nuclear explosionbombs in Hiroshima.

Smoke rises 20,000 feet high over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 after
how an atomic bomb was dropped on it during hostilities.

Survivors of the explosion of the atomic bomb, first used in military action on August 6, 1945, are waiting medical care in Hiroshima, Japan. The explosion killed 60,000 people at the same moment, and tens of thousands died later due to radiation exposure.

The first use of atomic bombs in human history occurred in Japan in 1945.

Reasons and history of the creation of the atomic bomb

Main reasons for creation:

• presence of powerful weapons;
• having an advantage over the enemy;
• reducing human losses on our part.

During the Second World War, the presence of powerful weapons gave a huge advantage. This war has become driving force in the development of nuclear weapons. Many countries were involved in this process.

The action of an atomic charge is based on research papers Albert Einstein on the theory of relativity.

For development and testing, you must have uranium ore.

Many countries could not carry out design due to lack of ore.

The United States also worked on a nuclear weapons project. Various scientists from all over the world worked on the project.

Chronology of events to create a nuclear bomb

Political prerequisites for bombing and the choice of targets for them

The US government justified dropping the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki for the following purposes:

• for the speedy surrender of the Japanese state;
• to save the lives of their soldiers;
• to win the war without invading enemy territory.

American political interests were aimed at establishing their interests in Japan. Historical facts indicate that from a military point of view, the use of such radical measures was not necessary. Politics has taken precedence over reason.

The United States wanted to show the whole world the presence of extremely dangerous weapons.

The order to use atomic weapons was given personally by US President Harry Truman, who to this day remains the only politician to make such a decision.

Selecting targets

To resolve this issue, in 1945, on May 10, the Americans created a special commission. At the initial stage, a preliminary list of cities was developed - Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Kokura, Niigata. The preliminary list of four cities was due to the availability of a backup option.

The selected cities had certain requirements:

• absence of air attacks by American aircraft;
• high economic component for Japan.

Such requirements were drawn up to apply severe psychological pressure on the enemy and undermine the combat effectiveness of his army.

Bombing of Hiroshima

• weight: 4000 kg;
• diameter: 700 mm;
• length: 3000 mm;
• explosion power (trinitrotoluene): 13-18 kilotons.

Flying in the sky of Hiroshima American planes did not cause concern among the population, since this had already become a common occurrence.

On board the Enola Gay aircraft there was an atomic bomb "Baby", which was dropped during a dive. The detonation of the charge occurred at an altitude of six hundred meters from the ground. Explosion time 8 hours 15 minutes. This time was recorded on many clocks in the city, which stopped working at the time of the explosion.

The mass of the dropped “Baby” was equal to four tons with a three-meter length and a diameter of seventy-one centimeters. This cannon-type bomb had a number of advantages: simplicity of design and manufacture, reliability.

From negative qualities low efficiency was noted. All the details of the development and drawings are classified to this day.

Consequences

The nuclear explosion in Hiroshima led to horrific consequences. People who were directly at the source of the blast wave died instantly. The rest of the dead experienced a painful death.

The temperature of the explosion reached four thousand degrees, people disappeared without a trace or turned into ashes. Dark silhouettes of people remained on the ground from the effects of light radiation.

approximate number of victims of the bombing

It was not possible to accurately determine the total number of victims - this figure is about 140-200 thousand. This difference in the number of victims is due to the impact of various destructive factors on people after the explosion.

Consequences:

• light radiation, a firestorm and a shock wave led to the death of eighty thousand people;
• later people died from radiation sickness, radiation, and psychological disorders. Taking into account these deaths, the number of victims was two hundred thousand;
• within a radius of two kilometers from the explosion, all buildings were destroyed and burned out by a fire tornado.

In Japan they could not understand what happened in Hiroshima. Communication with the city was completely absent. Using their aircraft, the Japanese saw the city in rubble. Everything became clear after official confirmation from the United States.

Bombing of Nagasaki

"Fat Man"

Performance characteristics:

• weight: 4600 kg;
• diameter: 1520 mm;
• length: 3250 mm;
• explosion power (trinitrotoluene): 21 kilotons.

After the events in Hiroshima, the Japanese were in a state of terrible panic and fear. When American planes appeared, danger from the air was declared and people hid in bomb shelters. This contributed to the salvation of some of the population.

The projectile was called "Fat Man". The detonation of the charge occurred at an altitude of five hundred meters from the ground. The explosion time was eleven hours and two minutes. The main goal was an industrial area of ​​the city.

The weight of the dropped “Fat Man” was four tons, six hundred kilograms, with a length of three meters and twenty-five centimeters and a diameter of one hundred and fifty-two centimeters. This bomb has an implosion type of detonation.

The damaging effect is many times greater than that of the “Kid”. In fact, the damage caused turned out to be less. This was facilitated by the mountainous area and the choice to reset the target by radar due to poor visibility.

Consequences

Although the damage caused was lower than when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, this event horrified the whole world.

Consequences:

• about eighty thousand people died from light radiation, a firestorm and a shock wave;
• taking into account deaths from radiation sickness, radiation, and psychological disorders, the death toll was one hundred and forty thousand;
• destroyed or damaged - about 90% of all types of structures;
• The territorial destruction covered about twelve thousand square kilometers.

According to many experts, these events served as the impetus for the start of the nuclear arms race. Due to the existing nuclear potential, the United States of America planned to impose its Political Views to the whole world.

On final stage World War II, on August 6 and 9, 1945, the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed with nuclear bombs dropped by the US military to hasten Japan's surrender. There's been a lot since then nuclear threats, created different countries world, but nevertheless, only these two cities remain the only victims of a nuclear attack. Here are a few interesting facts about Hiroshima and Nagasaki that you may have never heard of.

10 PHOTOS

1. Oleander is the official flower of the city of Hiroshima because it was the first plant to bloom after the nuclear attack.
2. Six ginkgo trees growing about 1.6 km from the bomb site in Nagasaki were severely damaged by the explosion. Surprisingly, they all survived, and soon new buds appeared from the burned trunks. Now the ginkgo tree is a symbol of hope in Japan.
3. B Japanese There is a word called hibakusha, which translates to “people exposed to an explosion.” This is the name given to those who survived the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
4. Every year on August 6th, a remembrance ceremony is held at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, and at exactly 8:15 (the time of the explosion) a minute of silence occurs.
5. Hiroshima continues to advocate for the abolition of all nuclear weapons, and the city's mayor is the president of a movement for peace and the elimination of the nuclear arsenal by 2020.
6. It was not until 1958 that the population of Hiroshima reached 410,000 and finally exceeded the pre-war population. Today the city is home to 1.2 million people.
7. According to some estimates, about 10% of the victims of the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were Koreans. Most of them were forced laborers producing weapons and ammunition for the Japanese military. Today, both cities still have large Korean communities.
8. Among the children born to those who were in Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the time of the explosion, no mutations or serious health abnormalities were identified.
9. Despite this, survivors of the bombing and their children were subject to serious discrimination, mainly due to the prevailing ignorant public beliefs about the consequences of radiation sickness. Many of them found it difficult to find work or get married because most people believed that radiation sickness was contagious and inherited.
10. The famous Japanese monster Godzilla was originally invented as a metaphor for the explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

These are the shots! During World War II, on August 6, 1945, at 8:15 a.m., a U.S. B-29 Enola Gay bomber dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. About 140,000 people were killed in the explosion and died in the following months. Three days later, when the United States dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki, an estimated 80,000 people were killed.

On August 15, Japan surrendered, ending World War II. To this day, this bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remains the only case of the use of nuclear weapons in human history.
The US government decided to drop the bombs, believing that this would hasten the end of the war and would not require prolonged bloody fighting on the main island of Japan. Japan was strenuously trying to control two islands, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, as the Allies approached.

This wristwatch, found among the ruins, stopped at 8.15 am on August 6, 1945 - during the explosion of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima.

The flying fortress Enola Gay lands on August 6, 1945 at a base on Tinian Island after bombing Hiroshima.


This photo, which was released in 1960 by the US government, shows the Little Boy atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The bomb size is 73 cm in diameter, 3.2 m in length. It weighed 4 tons, and the explosion power reached 20,000 tons per TNT equivalent.


This photo provided by the U.S. Air Force shows the main crew of the B-29 Enola Gay bomber that dropped the Little Boy nuclear bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Pilot Colonel Paul W. Taibbetts stands in the center. The photo was taken in the Mariana Islands. This was the first time nuclear weapons were used during military operations in human history.

Smoke rises 20,000 feet high over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, after an atomic bomb was dropped during the war.


This photograph taken on August 6, 1945, from the city of Yoshiura, across the mountains north of Hiroshima, shows smoke rising from the explosion of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. The photo was taken by an Australian engineer from Kure, Japan. The stains left on the negative by radiation almost destroyed the photograph.


Survivors of the atomic bomb, first used in warfare on August 6, 1945, await medical treatment in Hiroshima, Japan. The explosion killed 60,000 people at the same moment, and tens of thousands died later due to radiation exposure.


August 6, 1945. In the photo: military medics provide first aid to the surviving residents of Hiroshima shortly after an atomic bomb was dropped on Japan, used in military action for the first time in history.


After the explosion of the atomic bomb on August 6, 1945, only ruins remained in Hiroshima. Nuclear weapons were used to hasten Japan's surrender and end the Second world war, for which US President Harry Truman ordered the use nuclear weapons with a capacity of 20,000 tons of TNT. The surrender of Japan took place on August 14, 1945.


On August 7, 1945, the day after the atomic bomb exploded, smoke billows across the ruins in Hiroshima, Japan.


President Harry Truman (pictured left) sits at his desk in the White House next to Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson after returning from the Potsdam Conference. They discuss the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.


The skeleton of a building among the ruins on August 8, 1945, Hiroshima.


Survivors of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki walk among the ruins, with raging fire in the background, August 9, 1945.


Crew members of the B-29 bomber "The Great Artiste" that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki surrounded Major Charles W. Swinney in North Quincy, Massachusetts. All crew members participated in the historic bombing. From left to right: Sergeant R. Gallagher, Chicago; Staff Sergeant A. M. Spitzer, Bronx, New York; Capt. S. D. Albury, Miami, Florida; Captain J.F. Van Pelt Jr., Oak Hill, West Virginia; Lieutenant F. J. Olivi, Chicago; Staff Sergeant E.K. Buckley, Lisbon, Ohio; Sergeant A. T. Degart, Plainview, Texas, and Staff Sergeant J. D. Kucharek, Columbus, Nebraska.


This photograph of an atomic bomb exploding over Nagasaki, Japan, during World War II was released by the Commission on nuclear energy and the US Department of Defense in Washington on December 6, 1960. The Fat Man bomb was 3.25 m long, 1.54 m in diameter, and weighed 4.6 tons. The power of the explosion reached about 20 kilotons of TNT.


A huge column of smoke rises into the air after the explosion of the second atomic bomb in the port city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. The explosion of a bomb dropped by a US Army Air Forces B-29 Bockscar bomber immediately killed more than 70 thousand people, with tens of thousands more subsequently dying as a result of radiation exposure.

A huge nuclear mushroom cloud over Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945, after a US bomber dropped an atomic bomb on the city. The nuclear explosion over Nagasaki occurred three days after the United States dropped the first-ever atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

A boy carries his burned brother on his back on August 10, 1945 in Nagasaki, Japan. Similar photos were not made public by the Japanese side, but after the end of the war they were shown to the world media by UN staff.


The boom was installed at the site of the atomic bomb fall in Nagasaki on August 10, 1945. Most of the affected area remains empty to this day, the trees remained charred and mutilated, and almost no reconstruction was carried out.


Japanese workers clear debris from damaged areas in Nagasaki, an industrial city in the southwest of Kyushu island, after an atomic bomb was dropped on it on August 9. Visible in the background chimney and a lonely building with ruins in the front. The photo was taken from the archives of the Japanese news agency Domei.

Mother and child try to move on with their lives. The photo was taken on August 10, 1945, the day after the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.


As seen in this photo, which was taken on September 5, 1945, several concrete and steel buildings and bridges remained intact after the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima during World War II.


A month after the first atomic bomb exploded on August 6, 1945, a journalist tours the ruins in Hiroshima, Japan.

Victim of the first atomic bomb explosion in the ward of the first military hospital in Udzina in September 1945. The thermal radiation generated by the explosion burned a design from the kimono fabric onto the woman's back.


Most of the territory of Hiroshima was wiped off the face of the earth by the explosion of the atomic bomb. This is the first aerial photograph after the explosion, taken on September 1, 1945.


The area around the Sanyo Shoray Kan (Trade Promotion Center) in Hiroshima was left in ruins after an atomic bomb exploded 100 meters away in 1945.


A reporter stands among the rubble in front of the shell of what was once the city's theater in Hiroshima on September 8, 1945, a month after the first atomic bomb was dropped by the United States to hasten Japan's surrender.


Ruins and a lonely building frame after the explosion of an atomic bomb over Hiroshima. Photo taken on September 8, 1945.


Very few buildings remain in the devastated Hiroshima, a Japanese city that was razed to the ground by an atomic bomb, as seen in this photograph taken on September 8, 1945. (AP Photo)


September 8, 1945. People walk along a cleared road among the ruins created after the explosion of the first atomic bomb in Hiroshima on August 6 of the same year.


A Japanese man discovered the remains of a child's tricycle among the ruins in Nagasaki, September 17, 1945. The nuclear bomb dropped on the city on August 9 wiped out almost everything within a 6-kilometer radius and took the lives of thousands of civilians.


In this photo, which was provided by the Japan Association of Aftermath Photographers nuclear explosion in Hiroshima (Association of the Photographers of the Atomic (Bomb) Destruction of Hiroshima), a victim of an atomic explosion. The man is in quarantine on Ninoshima Island in Hiroshima, Japan, 9 kilometers from the blast's epicenter, a day after the US dropped an atomic bomb on the city.

A tram (top center) and its dead passengers after a bomb exploded over Nagasaki on August 9. The photo was taken on September 1, 1945.


People pass a tram lying on the tracks at Kamiyasho Crossing in Hiroshima some time after the atomic bomb was dropped on the city.


This photo, provided by the Association of the Photographers of the Atomic (Bomb) Destruction of Hiroshima, shows victims of the atomic explosion at the tented care center of the 2nd Hiroshima Military Hospital, located on the beach. Ota River 1150 meters from the epicenter of the explosion, August 7, 1945. The photo was taken the day after the United States dropped the first atomic bomb in history on the city.


A view of Hachobori Street in Hiroshima shortly after a bomb was dropped on the Japanese city.


Urakami Catholic Cathedral in Nagasaki, photographed on September 13, 1945, was destroyed by an atomic bomb.


A Japanese soldier wanders among the ruins in search of recyclable materials in Nagasaki on September 13, 1945, just over a month after the atomic bomb exploded over the city.


A man with a loaded bicycle on a road cleared of ruins in Nagasaki on September 13, 1945, a month after the explosion of the atomic bomb.


On September 14, 1945, the Japanese are trying to drive through a street littered with ruins on the outskirts of the city of Nagasaki, over which a nuclear bomb exploded.


This area of ​​Nagasaki was once built up industrial buildings and small residential buildings. In the background are the ruins of the Mitsubishi factory and the concrete school building located at the foot of the hill.

The top photo shows the bustling city of Nagasaki before the explosion, while the bottom photo shows the wasteland after the atomic bomb exploded. The circles measure the distance from the explosion point.


A Japanese family eats rice in a hut built from rubble left over from what was once their home in Nagasaki, September 14, 1945.


These huts, photographed on September 14, 1945, were constructed from the rubble of buildings that were destroyed by the explosion of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki.


In the Ginza district of Nagasaki, which was the equivalent of New York's Fifth Avenue, shopkeepers destroyed by a nuclear bomb sell their wares on the sidewalks, September 30, 1945.


The sacred Torii gate at the entrance to a completely destroyed Shinto shrine in Nagasaki in October 1945.


A service at Nagarekawa Protestant Church after the atomic bomb destroyed the church in Hiroshima, 1945.


A young man injured after the explosion of the second atomic bomb in the city of Nagasaki.


Major Thomas Ferebee, left, from Moscow, and Captain Kermit Behan, right, from Houston, talk at a hotel in Washington, February 6, 1946. Ferebee is the man who dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, and his interlocutor dropped the bomb on Nagasaki.


US Navy sailors among the rubble in Nagasaki, March 4, 1946.


View of the destroyed city of Hiroshima, Japan, April 1, 1946.


Ikimi Kikkawa shows his keloid scars left after treatment for burns suffered during the atomic bomb explosion in Hiroshima at the end of World War II. Photo taken at the Red Cross hospital on June 5, 1947.

Akira Yamaguchi shows his scars from treatment for burns suffered during the nuclear bomb explosion in Hiroshima.

Jinpe Terawama, a survivor of the first atomic bomb in history, has numerous burn scars on his body, Hiroshima, June 1947.

Pilot Colonel Paul W. Taibbetts waves from the cockpit of his bomber at a base on Tinian Island on August 6, 1945, before his mission to drop the first atomic bomb in history on Hiroshima, Japan. The day before, Tibbetts named the B-29 flying fortress "Enola Gay" in honor of his mother.