Hiroshima

Photo by US Army The huge atomic cloud 6 August, 1945. A Uranium bomb, the first nuclear weapon in the world, was dropped in Hiroshima City. It was estimated that its energy was equivalent to 15 kilotons of TNT. Aerial photograph from the 80 kilometers away of the Inland Sea, taken about 1 hour after the dropping.

Photo by US Army The ruins of fire in Kako-machi.  The stone monument was left alone. The A-bomb Dome is seen in the far distance.

The Atomic Bomb Dome

Photo: Ohmura Navy Hospital A girl with her skin hanging in strips, at Ohmura Navy Hospital on August 10-11.

Melted Sake Bottles--Photo by Hiromi Tsuchiya

Binoculars--Masami Tsuchiya (25 at the time), a second lieutenant, was in the First Army Hospital (900 meters from the hypocenter) for an appendectomy. On August 7, a corpsman found Masami's dead body, part skeleton. He was identified only by the name on the towel in his hand. He was scheduled to leave the hospital that day.

Lunch Box--Reiko Watanabe (15 at the time) was doing fire prevention work under the Student Mobilization Order, at a place 500 meters from the hypocenter. Her lunch box was found by school authorities under a fallen mud wall. Its contents of boiled peas and rice, a rare feast at that time, were completely carbonized. Her body was not found.

The Atomic Shadow--The shadows of the parapets were imprinted on the road surface of the Yorozuyo Bridge, 1/2 of a mile south-southwest of the hypocenter. It is one of the important clues for establishing the location of the epicenter. Photo: US Army

The leaves of this Fatsia japonica threw a shadow on an electric pole near the Meiji Bridge. Photo: US Army

Nagasaki Journey: The Photographs of Yosuke Yamahata On August 10, 1945, the day after the bombing of Nagasaki, Yosuke Yamahata began to photograph the devastation. His companions on the journey were a painter, Eiji Yamada, and a writer, Jun Higashi.

Wounded Horse--The bomb not only hurt people but animals (burnt hip skin)