Boeing B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay" landing after the atomic bombing mission on Hiroshima, Japan

Image size: 1600 x 1099 pixel. 486 KB
Date: 2:58 PM, Monday, 6 August 1945
Place: North Field, Tinian Island, Marianas
Photographer: Unknown

After dropping the "Little Boy" atomic bomb on Hiroshima, "Enola Gay" B-29-45-MO serial number 44-86292 encountered a single Japanese fighter that did not engage. The mushroom cloud could still be seen an hour later when Enola Gay was 360 miles (579 kilometers) from Hiroshima. The Enola Gay landed at North Field, Tinian, at 1458 Hours. The Great Artiste (B-29-40-MO 44-27353, victor number "Dimples" 89) the scientific plane, and Necessary Evil (B-29-45-MO 44-86291, victor number "Dimples" 91), the photographic plane, landed a few minutes later. The Enola Gay was airborne for twelve hours and thirteen minutes. 

Source:

U.S. Air Force photo

http://www.af.mil/photos/index.asp?galleryID=161&page=3

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1144

US Army Air Force Colonel Paul Tibbets in front of the Enola Gay

Image size: 1248 x 1600 pixel. 1.57 MB
Date: Thursday, 8 November 1945
Place: Roswell, New Mexico, United States of America
Photographer: Unknown

US Army Air Force Colonel Paul Tibbets stands in front of "Enola Gay" B-29-45-MO serial number 44-86292 after flying the aircraft from Tinian on November 4, 1945 to Roswell Army Air Field in New Mexico, arriving on November 8, 1945. The flight, which is 6,727 miles (10,827 kilometers) on a direct line, was part of the operations that returned the 509th Composite Group to the United States. The aircraft's markings, its Victor 82 number and name, have been repainted since the attack on Hiroshima. "Enola Gay" was called up as part of the Operation Crossroads testing of the atomic bomb on Bikini Atoll in July 1946. It was then placed in several storage facilities around the United States until it was donated to the Smithsonian Institution's Air and Space Museum in 1960. The fuselage was placed on display in 1995 and after restoration the entire aircraft was placed on display in 1998. Tibbets retired as a Brigadier General from the Air Force in 1966. 

Source:

USAF (United States Air Force)

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1143

Reactor B at the Hanford Engineer Works

Image size: 1600 x 1277 pixel. 587 KB
Date: Thursday, 1 February 1945
Place: Hanford, Washington, United States of America
Photographer: Unknown

Reactor B at the Hanford Engineer Works. With the Oak Ridge, Tennessee, facility too close to a large population and demanding more power then the Tennessee Valley could provide, a new site for plutonium production was required. On December 16, 1942, 560 square miles (1450 square kilometers) around Hanford, Washington State, were set aside. Ample Hydroelectric power was available, and it was determined that the existing infrastructure could be upgraded to support the construction and operation of the facility. three water-cooled production reactor (piles), designated by the letters B, D, and F, would be built about six miles apart on the south bank of the Columbia River. The four chemical separation plants would be built in pairs at two sites nearly ten miles south of the piles. A facility to produce slugs and perform tests would be approximately twenty miles southeast of the separation plants near Richland. Ground-breaking for the water-cooling plant for the B Reactor, the westernmost of the three, took place on August 27, 1943. DuPont work gangs began to lay the first of 390 tons of structural steel, 17,400 cubic yards of concrete, 50,000 concrete blocks, and 71,000 concrete bricks that went into the pile building. By early 1944, a windowless concrete monolith towered 120 feet above the desert. On September 13, 1944, Enrico Fermi placed the first slug into the pile at B Reactor. The pile stopped and restarted, frustrated by an unforeseen buildup of Xenon gas. DuPont overbuilt the reactor, so it was pushed beyond the designated load, which eliminated the Xenon before it could build up and shut down the reaction. Los Alamos received the first shipment of Plutonium in February 1945. 

Source:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hanford_B_site_40s.jpg

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1131

Sanno Shrine after Atomic Attack on Nagasaki

Image size: 1600 x 1312 pixel. 615 KB
Date: Monday, 24 September 1945
Place: Nagasaki, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan
Photographer: Corporal Lynn P. Walker, Jr.

 Statues of Amida Buddha and Jizo in Sanno Shrine after atomic attack on Nagasaki. One-legged Torii (short for bird place or expression "pass through and enter") of Sanno Shrine at extreme right. This Shinto Shrine nestles among towering camphor trees at the edge of the former Urakami kaido, the narrow road used by Edo-Period travelers entering Nagasaki from the north through the Urakami Valley. The shrine was founded in 1652 and named after Sanno (Hie) Shinto Shrine near Kyoto because of the similarity in the terrain and the fact that both shrines were located in a place called "Sakamoto." The two enormous camphor trees flanking the entrance to Sanno Shinto Shrine were probably planted at the time of the shrine's foundation. Located about 800 meters from the hypocenter, Sanno Shinto Shrine was completely flattened, except for one of its Torii Gates on the far side of the hypocenter and the half-flattened Torii in the extreme right of the photo. While the neighborhood and the shrine were rebuilt after the war, the one-legged Torii was left as a reminder of the power of the explosion as a memorial to the 74,000 Nagasaki residents who were killed immediately or by the lingering effects of radiation between August 9 - December 31, 1945. The camphor trees were originally thought to be killed in the blast, but they survived to bloom again and were designated a national landmark on February 15, 1969. 

Source:

http://www.dodmedia.osd.mil/DVIC_View/Display_CD.cfm?StartRow=1&MaxRows=50&CD=War%20And%20Conflict%20CD

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1339

Hiroshima's Financial District One Day After Atomic Blast

Image size: 1600 x 1063 pixel. 436 KB
Date: Tuesday, 7 August 1945
Place: Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Photographer: Mitsugi Kishida

Smoke still hangs over the vicinity of Ohte-machi, Kamiya-cho, Hondori and Fukuro-machi after the bombing. Here were the Hiroshima Branch of Yasuda Bank, the Hiroshima branches of Obayashi Corporation, Sanwa Bank, Sumitomo Bank and the central Geibi Bank. Except for those buildings made of steel rebar reinforced concrete, the stores lining the Hondori Shopping Arcade were completely destroyed by blast and fire. Steel and concrete buildings mostly withstood the bomb, but their fixtures made of glass and wood melted or burned. Brick buildings suffered major damage, and the wooden buildings were completely consumed by the fire. 

Source:

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1096

Baby Gets Burns Treated In Hiroshima

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Date: Thursday, 6 September 1945
Place: Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Photographer: Unknown

Doctors treat a baby with severe burns after the atomic attack in a still from an Education Ministry film. Most casualties received little, if any, treatment. Food, medicine and clean water were scarce. Because of the devastation, many were left in the open and died. Photographic and film evidence, as well as written reports, were confiscated by the United States government, who feared the reaction of the public just as the Cold War required atomic testing and increased funding. This film was saved by a Japanese technician who hid it in Nippon Eiga Shinsha studio, where it was discovered in 1993. A similar written account by the first American reporter to enter the city, George Weller of the Chicago Daily News, was suppressed. Wilfred Burchett defied the ban on reporters visiting Hiroshima, traveling thirty miles by train the visit the destroyed city. Burchett's article, headlined "The Atomic Plague," was published on September 5, 1945, in the London Daily Express. Other reporters, like William L. Laurence, the Pulitzer Prize-winning science reporter for The New York Times, worked with or for the War Department and published articles refuting the idea that radiation caused large numbers of casualties. 

Source:

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1092

"Fat Man" Atomic Bomb Explodes Over Nagasaki

Image size: 1200 x 1600 pixel. 659 KB
Date: Thursday, 9 August 1945
Place: Nagasaki, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan
Photographer: Charles Levy

Mark 3 "Fat Man" nuclear bomb exploded over Nagasaki at 1102 Hours at an altitude of 1,650 feet, dropped by Bockscar, B-29-36-MO serial number 44-27297, victor number 77, 393rd Bomb Squadron, 509th Composite Group. The primary target, Kokura, was obscured by clouds and haze from conventional B-29 raids. The yield of the explosion was later estimated at 21 kilotons, 40 percent greater than that of the Hiroshima bomb. Nagasaki was an industrial center and major port on the western coast of Kyushu. As had happened at Hiroshima, the "all-clear" from an early morning air raid alert had just been sounded. There were 200,000 people in the city below the bomb when it exploded. The hurriedly-targeted weapon ended up detonating almost exactly between two of the principal targets in the city, the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works to the south, and the Mitsubishi-Urakami Torpedo Works to the north. Had the bomb exploded farther south the residential and commercial heart of the city would have suffered much greater damage. Bockscar, virtually out of fuel, landed on Okinawa. The picture was taken by Charles Levy from one of the B-29 Superfortresses used in the attack.

Source:

http://www.archives.gov/research/military/ww2/photos/images/ww2-163.jpg

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1121

Services in Hiroshima's Nagarekawa Church

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Date: Monday, 1 October 1945
Place: Hiroshima, State Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Photographer: Max Desfor

Minister leads services in Nagarekawa Methodist Church of Christ. The building, which was totally destroyed in the bombing, was only insured for 150,000 yen, about $500 in 1945 dollars ($5425 in 2005 dollars). Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto bartered, traded and cajoled donations of money and supplies to start rebuilding. When he wasn't doing that, he and four other ministers would walk around Hiroshima preaching to the community, which was angry at both the occupation and the Japanese government for the bombing and the terrible conditions that plagued Hiroshima for years afterward. An Emory University alumni, he contacted his friends in the United States for help. He visited the United States in 1948, touring Methodist congregations and telling about his efforts to minister to the Hiroshima community. This resulted in thousands of dollars in donations and a car. He began social services for people, especially women, who were disfigured by the bomb, and an orphanage. He brought the "Hiroshima Maidens" to the United States for surgery to treat their scars and wounds in 1955. 

Source:

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1094

Southern Hiroshima After Atomic Bomb

Image size: 1600 x 1067 pixel. 485 KB
Date: Wednesday, 5 September 1945
Place: Hiroshima, State Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Photographer: Max Desfor

View looking south at Miyajima Island between Tenma and Ota Rivers, with the Hiroden streetcar line in the direction toward Eba Station. Municipal Fukuromachi Elementary School is visible next to the train tracks. Some 160 students and faculty were killed in the initial attack. Because of the condition of the school, it became a relief hospital. The relief station remained in operation after October 5, 1945 when most relief stations closed. The school reopened in 1946. Many people came here to post written messages about their missing loved ones on the school's chalkboards. A section of one chalkboard, still written with names, was discovered in 1993. Hiroshima's 70 streetcars were all in operation at the time of the attack. Only three were fit for service after the explosion. On August 9, 1945, using the undamaged Hatsukaichi transformer for power, one section of the line between Koi Station and the Tenma-cho stop 4600 feet long (1.4 kilometers) began running, driven by 16-year-old Maso Yamasaki. Many citizens, still digging out their dead and cremating them in maskeshift open pits, saw the streetcar as a sign that the city would survive. 

Source:

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1095

"Little Boy" Bomb Explodes Over Hiroshima

Image size: 1357 x 1600 pixel. 265 KB
Date: Monday, 6 August 1945
Place: Hiroshima, State Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Photographer: Technical Sergeant George R. "Bob" Caron (US Army)

Explosion of "Little Boy" Atomic bomb on Hiroshima. For the strike, four 509th Composite Group aircraft were used. Straight Flush, piloted by Major Claude R. Eatherly (B-29-36-MO 44-27301, victor number "Dimples" 85) was assigned to weather reconnaissance. The Great Artiste, piloted by Major Charles W. Sweeney (B-29-40-MO 44-27353, victor number "Dimples" 89) carried blast measurement instrumentation, dropping four canisters of radio measurement equipment. Necessary Evil, Captain George W. Marquardt (B-29-45-MO 44-86291, victor number "Dimples" 91) was assigned to strike observation and photography, including a Fastax Camera that shot 10,000 frames per second operated by Physics Professor Bernard Waldman. Enola Gay, piloted by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets (B-29-45-MO-44-86292 Victor 82) delivered the bomb. Several fixed "official" cameras were mounted on the planes, and film cameras in several planes. The 509th's photography officer, Lieutenant Jerome Ossip, asked Enola Gay's tail gunner, Technical Sergeant George R. "Bob" Caron, to carry handheld a Fairchild K-20 Camera. After the mission, Ossip developed the photos, but found that the fixed cameras were unable to record anything, and Waldman's film was mishandled in developing. The last camera, Caron's, was able to take this photo. Another handheld 16mm film camera on "Great Artiste" captured the only known motion film of the explosion. 

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Boy

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1093

Ruins of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall

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Date: Friday, 5 October 1945
Place: Hiroshima, State Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Photographer: Shigeo Hayashi

Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, Sarugaku-cho District. 500 feet (160 meters) from the hypocenter of the atomic attack. Photographed from the roof of the Hiroshima Prefectural Commerce Association in Moto-machi District 850 feet (260 meters) from the hypocenter. Czech architect Jan Letzel (April 9, 1880 – December 26, 1925) designed the building, constructed in 1915 as Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall. In 1921, the name changed to Hiroshima Prefectural Products Exhibition Hall and again in 1933 to Industrial Promotion Hall. Besides displaying and selling products from around the prefecture, it also served as a history and art museum. As the war intensified, these roles withered and various government offices took over the space, including the Chugoku-Shikoku Public Works Office of the Home Ministry and the Lumber Control Corporation. The atomic bombing killed everyone in the building. Because the bomb exploded virtually overhead, it retained the distinctive feature that earned it the name "Atomic Bomb Dome" after the war. 

Source:

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1089

Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, the "Atomic Bomb Dome"

Image size: 1600 x 1265 pixel. 826 KB
Date: Friday, 7 September 1945
Place: Hiroshima, State Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Photographer: Stanley Troutman

American Survey Team Member pauses in front of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. The 4 square miles of densely built-up area in the heart of the city — residential, commercial, and military — contained three-fifths of the total population. If there were about 245,000 people in the city at the time of the attack, the density in the congested area must have been about 35,000 per square mile. Five completed evacuation programs and a sixth then in progress had reduced the population from its wartime peak of 380,000. In Hiroshima the dwellings were of wood construction; very few were more than two stories. There were no masonry division walls. Large groups of dwellings clustered together. The type of construction, coupled with antiquated fire-fighting equipment and inadequately trained personnel, made even in peacetime a high possibility of conflagration. Nearly seven percent of the residential units had been torn down to make firebreaks, but the firestorm jumped the human-made breaks and the rivers as well. Many buildings were of poor construction by American standards. The principal points of weakness were the extremely small tenons, the inadequate tension joints, and the inadequate or poorly designed lateral bracings. Reinforced concrete framed buildings were not uniform in design and in quality of materials. Some of the construction details (reinforcing rod splices, for example) were often poor, and much of the concrete was definitely weak; thus some reinforced concrete buildings collapsed and suffered structural damage when within 2,000 feet of the hypocenter, and some internal wall paneling was demolished even up to 3,800 feet. Other buildings, however, were constructed far more strongly than is required by normal building codes in America, to resist earthquakes. Since the 1923 earthquake, construction regulations in Japan have specified that the roof must safely carry a minimum load of 70 pounds per square foot (708 kilograms per square centimeter) whereas American 1945 requirements did not normally exceed 40 pounds per square foot (405 kilograms per square centimeter) for similar types. Though the regulation was not always followed, this extra strong construction was encountered in some of the buildings near ground zero at Hiroshima, and undoubtedly accounts for their ability to withstand atomic bomb pressures without structural failures. 

Source:

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1091

Rivers of Hiroshima After Atomic Bombing

Image size: 1600 x 1265 pixel. 595 KB
Date: Wednesday, 5 September 1945
Place: Hiroshima, State Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Photographer: Unknown

The (top to bottom) Koi, Tsukishima, and Tenma tributaries of the Ota River (Japanese: "Ota Gama") frame the devastation of Hiroshima looking West to Koi Station. The city is located on the broad fan-shaped delta of the Ota River, whose seven mouths (today six) divide the city into six islands which project fingerlike into Hiroshima Bay of the Inland Sea. These mouths of the river furnished excellent firebreaks in a city that is otherwise flat and only slightly above sea level. A highly developed bridge system, with 81 major bridges, joined the islands. A single kidney shaped hill in the eastern part of the city, about one-half mile long and rising to an elevation of 221 feet, offered some blast protection to structures on the eastern side opposite the point of fall of the bomb. Otherwise, the city was uniformly exposed to the spreading energy from the bomb. Because of the flat terrain and circular shape of the city, Hiroshima was uniformly and extensively devastated. Practically the entire densely or moderately built-up portion of the city was leveled by blast and swept by fire. A firestorm developed in Hiroshima: fires springing up almost simultaneously over the wide flat area around the center of the city drew in air from all directions. The inrush of air easily overcame the natural ground wind, which had a velocity of only about 5 miles per hour. The "fire-wind" attained a maximum velocity of 30 to 40 miles per hour for hours. The "fire-wind" and the symmetry of the built-up center of the city gave a roughly circular shape to the 4.4 square miles which were almost completely burned out. The surprise of the attack, the collapse of many buildings, and the conflagration contributed to an unprecedented casualty rate. Seventy to eighty thousand people were killed, or missing and presumed dead, and an equal number were injured. The magnitude of casualties is set in relief by a comparison with the Tokyo fire raid of 9-10 March 1945, in which, though nearly 16 square miles were destroyed, the number killed was no larger, and fewer people were injured. 

Source:

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1090

American Survey Team Member in Hiroshima

Image size: 1600 x 1306 pixel. 501 KB
Date: Saturday, 8 September 1945
Place: Hiroshima, State Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Photographer: Stanley Troutman

Original caption: "This section of Hiroshima looks like nothing more than a work pile. Radiators from buildings that disappeared from face of the Earth after blast of the atom bomb lie peculiarly in foreground". A member of the first American Survey Team explores the devastation near the financial district. Note radiators that survived fires in foreground, and complete destruction as a result of the firestorm. The first Americans arrived in Hiroshima on September 4, 1945, and immediately reported radiation sickness to scientists on Saipan. However, while radiation was expected, the possibility of overdose was discounted. US Army General Leslie Groves, manager of the Manhattan Project, ordered Brigadier General Thomas F. Farrell to proceed to Hiroshima with scientists and a medical team. They arrived on September 8 and immediately began to measure the city to determine the impact hypocenter by measuring the angle of the shadows of the people and objects incinerated by the bomb. Cooperation with Japanese scientists was marked by mutual distrust and discounting of the abilities of each side, complicated by the lingering war animosity. The Nagasaki physicians ordered their surviving nurses to hide, fearing they would be raped by the Americans. The teams were limited by the available transportation, which had to be flown or shipped by sea as the rail lines were jammed with refugees. Through 1947, American scientific teams examined Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but little effort was made to provide medical support to radiation poisoned survivors. A high death rate continued for several years, as radiation, injury, and poor diet and sanitation combined to kill thousands of people who survived the initial attack. Eventually the Japanese and Americans set up the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC) at the end of 1945, but with most records destroyed, who had a legitimate claim to assistance remained in dispute. Survivors, known as hibakusha ("explosion-affected people") are still struggling with their injuries and cancers.  

Source:

http://www.corbisimages.com/Search#pg=troutman

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1088

Nakajima-hon-machi District in Hiroshima After Atomic Bombing

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Date: Saturday, 1 September 1945
Place: Hiroshima, State Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Photographer: Unknown

Nakajima-hon-machi District debris from the blast wave and the heat wave after atomic attack. Koa Fire Insurance Building, 1300 feet (400 meters) from the hypocenter, is top left. Near downtown Hiroshima, the Ota River divides into two branches, becoming the Hon and the Motoyasu rivers. Today, known as Nakajima-cho District, it is occupied by the Peace Memorial Park; no one lives there. But before the bombing, Nakajima was home to about 4,400 people living in 1,300 households in six distinct neighborhoods: Nakajima-honmachi, Zaimoku-cho, Tenjin-machi, Motoyanagi-machi, Kobiki-cho, and Nakajima-shinmachi. Jisenji-no-hana Park, a popular gathering place, was also there. Immediately after the bomb, the burned and injured sought to cool themselves in the water, and when the firestorm hit, everyone tried to seek shelter in the rivers. Most were too injured to swim. Thousands of people drowned or suffocated to death. The sheer number of corpses led to a huge health emergency, with rats and flies infesting the wounds of the living. 

Source:

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1087

Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. Waves from the Enola Gay Before Takeoff

Image size: 1288 x 1600 pixel. 486 KB
Date: Monday, 6 August 1945
Place: North Field, Tinian, Marianas
Photographer: Private First Class Armen Shamlian

Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., commander of the 509th Composite Group, waves from the Enola Gay (B-29-45-MO Superfortress, serial number 44-86292, victor number 82) at 0245 Hours on August 6, 1945 prior to takeoff. Enola Gay was assigned to the USAAF's 393rd Bomb Squadron, 509th Composite Group. The plane was one of 15 B-29s with the "Silverplate" modifications necessary to deliver nuclear bombs. A Boeing design, Enola Gay was built by the Glenn L. Martin Company at its Omaha, Nebraska, plant and personally selected by Tibbets on May 9, 1945 while still on the assembly line as the B-29 he would use to fly the atomic bomb mission. The airplane was accepted by the USAAF on May 18, 1945, and assigned to Crew B-9 (Captain Robert Lewis, aircraft commander), who flew the plane from Omaha to the 509th's base at Wendover Army Air Field, Utah, on June 14, 1945. Thirteen days later it left Wendover for Guam, where it received a bomb bay modification, and flew to Tinian on July 6. It was originally given the victor number 12 but on August 1 was given the circle R tail markings of the 6th Bomb Group as a security measure and had its victor changed to 82 to avoid misidentification with actual 6th BG aircraft. After flying eight training missions and two combat missions during July to drop pumpkin bombs on industrial targets at Kobe and Nagoya, Enola Gay was used on July 31 on a rehearsal for the actual mission, with a dummy Little Boy assembly dropped off Tinian. On August 5, during preparation for the first atomic mission, Tibbets had the plane named after his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets. Captain Lewis was unhappy to be displaced by Tibbets for the important mission, and furious when he arrived at the aircraft on the morning of 6 August to see it painted with the now-famous nose art. Tibbets himself, interviewed on Tinian later that day by war correspondents, confessed that he was a bit embarrassed at having attached his mother's name to such a fateful mission.

Source:
NARA (National Archives) Record Group 208: Records of the Office of War Information, 1926 - 1951 (ARC identifier: 535). Series: Photographs Depicting "Life in the United States", compiled 1942 - 1946, documenting the period 1881 - 1946 (ARC identifier: 535735). NAIL Control Number: NWDNS-208-LU-13H-5. Select List Identifier: WWII #162. 208-LU-13H-5
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22Col._Paul_W._Tibbets,_Jr.,_pilot_of_the_ENOLA_GAY,_the_plane_that_dropped_the_atomic_bomb_on_Hiroshima,_waves_from_his_-_NARA_-_535736.jpg
http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1064

Urakami Cathedral at Nagasaki After Atomic Attack

Image size: 1600 x 1322 pixel. 954 KB
Date: Saturday, 15 September 1945
Place: Nagasaki, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan
Photographer: Unknown

Urakami District after atomic attack. St. Mary's Cathedral is the only major structure, totally destroyed. Note people on main road. Often known as Urakami Cathedral after its location, it is a Roman Catholic church located in the district of Urakami, Nagasaki, Japan. Construction started in 1895 and was completed in 1914. At the time it was the largest Cathedral in Asia. The atomic bomb that fell on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 detonated in Urakami, only 1640 feet (500 meters) from the cathedral, which was completely destroyed. Urakami was not the intended Nagasaki ground zero for the explosion of the 'Fat Man' atom bomb, however winds on the day moved the bomb towards the hills of Urakami, which was close to the Mitsubishi Shipyards. Dr. Nagai Takashi, a medical doctor whose efforts secured funds for children orphaned as a result of the atomic bomb, was known as 'The Saint of Urakami'.What remained of the cathedral is now on display in the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. Statues and artifacts damaged in the bombing, including a French Angelus bell, are now displayed on the grounds. The nearby Peace Park contains remnants of the original cathedral's walls. A replacement was built in 1959, and remodeled to more closely resemble the original in 1980. The hills around Nagasaki kept the blast from expanding, minimizing casualties (74,000) compared to Hiroshima (140,000). 

Source:

NARA (National Archives) Identifier 519385

http://www.archives.gov/research/ww2/photos/images/ww2-165.jpg

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1057

Panorama of Hiroshima's Kami-Nagarekawa-cho District

Image size: 1600 x 162 pixel. 322 KB
Date: Friday, 5 October 1945
Place: Kami-Nagarekawa-cho District, Hiroshima, Chūgoku-chihō, Japan
Photographer: Shigeo Hayashi

Panorama of devastation from the roof of Chugoku Shimbun (Newspaper) Building in Kami-Nagarekawa-cho District, 950 yards (870 meters) from the hypocenter. A commission from the Japan Science Council was sent to study the effects of the bomb in October 1945. Filmmakers and photographers from the Nihon Eigusa Studio were recruited. Shigeo Hayashi, an Imperial Japanese Army veteran of Manchuria and a former reporter for FRONT Magazine, was selected. The team arrived at Hiroshima on October 1, 1945 and began at the hypocenter at Shima Hospital. When the weather cleared, he climbed several buildings and made these panaramas. He later wrote, "Every few steps I saw the remains of another makeshift crematoria. Wherever I aimed the camera, voices from the hell of two months earlier flooded toward me." 1.) Nagarekawa Methodist Church of Christ. Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto, Minister, famously administered first aid to Hiroshima's massive number of casualties for days. 2.) On the right, the Old Fukuya Department Store. 3.) On the left stands the New Fukuya Department Store (now, Fukuya Department Store). The new building was completed in 1938 with eight stories above ground and two below. During the war, the army, control corporations, and other government agencies took over most of its retail space. The atomic bombing completely gutted the interior and killed dozens of occupants. 4.) Odamasa, a kimono fabric store, made military uniforms as well. The steel structure survived the blast but caved in soon after. 5.) Higushi Police Station, Shimo-yanagi-cho District. Relief Efforts began around these stations and moved out to the city. 6.) Hirataya-cho District's Kirin Beer Hall and Shimomura Jewelers, also known as Hondori Clock Tower. It lacked internal support and shifted. The financial district is behind these buildings. 7.) Chimney of Chugoku Shimbun Building where photo was taken. All of Hayashi's work was confiscated by Supreme Command Allied Powers (SCAP) run by US General of the Army Douglas MacArthur. 540 35mm photos and 174 4x6 photos were donated to the Hiroshima Peace Museum after their return in 1973. Hayashi later became head of the Anti-Nuclear Photography Movement. Chugoku Shimbun Building, rebuilt in 1949, was torn down in 1970. The Mitsukoshi Department Store stands on the spot today. 

Source:

Hiroshima Peace Museum 

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii2003

Panorama of Hiroshima's Motomachi District

Image size: 1600 x 162 pixel. 322 KB
Date: Friday, 5 October 1945
Place: Motomachi District, Hiroshima, Chūgoku-chihō, Japan
Photographer: Shigeo Hayashi

Panorama of devastation from the roof of the Hiroshima Prefectural Commerce Association in Motomachi District, 285 yards (260 meters) from the hypocenter. A commission from the Japan Science Council was sent to study the effects of the bomb in October 1945. Filmmakers and photographers from the Nihon Eigusa Studio were recruited. Shigeo Hayashi, an Imperial Japanese Army veteran of Manchuria and a former reporter for FRONT Magazine, was selected. The team arrived at Hiroshima on October 1, 1945 and began at the hypocenter at Shima Hospital. When the weather cleared, he climbed several buildings and made these panoramas. He later wrote, "Every few steps I saw the remains of another makeshift crematoria. Wherever I aimed the camera, voices from the hell of two months earlier flooded toward me." Locations include 1.) Air-burst hypocenter over Shima Hospital. 2.) Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall; "Atomc Bomb Dome" and Peace Museum today. 3.) Motoyasu Bridge. 4.) Hiroshima Chapter, Red Cross Society. 5.) Aioi Bridge, the aiming point for Enola Gay's bombardier. The bridge built in 1932 took on a "T" shape two years later when it extended an arm to the "nose" of Jisenji Temple on the north tip of Nakajima-hon-machi. It was because of this unusual shape that it was chosen as the target of the atomic bombing. Immediately after the bombing, the bridge was strewn with debris and human and animal corpses. The floating corpses were enough to choke the river. 6.) Honkawa National School, which was used as a hospital after the bombing. Many schoolchildren were killed as they were outside constructing defenses. All of Hayashi's work was confiscated by Supreme Command Allied Powers (SCAP) run by US General of the Army Douglas MacArthur. 540 35mm photos and 174 4x6 photos were donated to the Hiroshima Peace Museum after their return in 1973. Hayashi later became head of the Anti-Nuclear Photography Movement. 

Source:

Hiroshima Peace Museum 

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii2002