Dramatic Never Before Published Images of Hiroshima in Immediate Aftermath of Bombing (Very Graphic)

yawoot image collections ^ | May 3, 2008 | Staff

[freerepublic_or_die]

The Robert L. Capp collection at the Hoover Institution Archives contains ten never-before-published photographs illustrating the immediate aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing.

These photographs, taken by an unknown Japanese photographer, were found in 1945 among rolls of undeveloped film in a cave outside Hiroshima by U.S. serviceman Robert L. Capp, who was attached to the occupation forces.
Unlike most photos of the Hiroshima bombing, these dramatically convey the human as well as material destruction unleashed by the atomic bomb.

Mr. Capp donated them to the Hoover Archives in 1998 with the provision that they not be reproduced until 2008. Three of these photographs are reproduced in Atomic Tragedy with the permission of the Capp family. The entire set is available below.

[freerepublic_or_die]

I had always felt extremely resentful, cheated that the Emperor never got his deserved comeuppance. But after watching a History Channel documentary on this recently, expressing the exact same sentiments you just did, I came to terms with what was in the final analysis the only way the Americans could have secured the peace they did, that not even untold atom bombs would have made possible.

[#1CTYankee]

"I’ve never quite understood the obsession with the A-bomb attacks.

We were already utterly destroying Japanese cities with fire bomb attacks, with loss of life in single attacks equivalent to or even higher than when the A-bombs were used.

The A-bombs were harbingers of greater terrors to come, but their use at the time provided no killing power that wasn’t perfectly available via other means.

It there really any moral difference between killing 100,000 people with tens of thousands of bombs dropped by 1000 planes, or using a single Bomb dropped by a single plane?

The purposes of dropping the bomb(s)were were multifaceted, the psychological effect it was meant to have was at least as important as the military strategy.

View this declassified Document.

Minutes of the second meeting of the Target Committee

Los Alamos, May 10-11, 1945

6. Status of Targets

A. Dr. Stearns described the work he had done on target selection. He has surveyed possible targets possessing the following qualification: (1) they be important targets in a large urban area of more than three miles in diameter, (2) they be capable of being damaged effectively by a blast, and (3) they are unlikely to be attacked by next August. Dr. Stearns had a list of five targets which the Air Force would be willing to reserve for our use unless unforeseen circumstances arise. These targets are:

(1) Kyoto - This target is an urban industrial area with a population of 1,000,000. It is the former capital of Japan and many people and industries are now being moved there as other areas are being destroyed. From the psychological point of view there is the advantage that Kyoto is an intellectual center for Japan and the people there are more apt to appreciate the significance of such a weapon as the gadget. (Classified as an AA Target)

(2) Hiroshima - This is an important army depot and port of embarkation in the middle of an urban industrial area. It is a good radar target and it is such a size that a large part of the city could be extensively damaged. There are adjacent hills which are likely to produce a focussing effect which would considerably increase the blast damage. Due to rivers it is not a good incendiary target.

(Classified as an AA Target)

(3) Yokohama - This target is an important urban industrial area which has so far been untouched. Industrial activities include aircraft manufacture, machine tools, docks, electrical equipment and oil refineries. As the damage to Tokyo has increased additional industries have moved to Yokohama. It has the disadvantage of the most important target areas being separated by a large body of water and of being in the heaviest anti-aircraft concentration in Japan. For us it has the advantage as an alternate target for use in case of bad weather of being rather far removed from the other targets considered.

(Classified as an A Target)

(4) Kokura Arsenal - This is one of the largest arsenals in Japan and is surrounded by urban industrial structures. The arsenal is important for light ordnance, anti-aircraft and beach head defense materials. The dimensions of the arsenal are 4100' x 2000'. The dimensions are such that if the bomb were properly placed full advantage could be taken of the higher pressures immediately underneath the bomb for destroying the more solid structures and at the same time considerable blast damage could be done to more feeble structures further away.

(Classified as an A Target)

(5) Niigata - This is a port of embarkation on the N.W. coast of Honshu. Its importance is increasing as other ports are damaged. Machine tool industries are located there and it is a potential center for industrial despersion. It has oil refineries and storage.

(Classified as a B Target)

(6) The possibility of bombing the Emperor's palace was discussed. It was agreed that we should not recommend it but that any action for this bombing should come from authorities on military policy. It was agreed that we should obtain information from which we could determine the effectiveness of our weapon against this target. B. It was the recommendation of those present at the meeting that the first four choices of targets for our weapon should be the following:

a. Kyoto
b. Hiroshima
c. Yokohama
d. Kokura Arsenal

C. Dr. Stearns agreed to do the following: (1) brief Colonel Fisher thoroughly on these matters, (2) request reservations for these targets, (3) find out more about the target area including exact locations of the strategic industries there, (4) obtain further photo information on the targets, and (5) to determine the nature of the construction, the area, heights, contents and roof coverage of buildings. He also agreed to keep in touch with the target data as it develops and to keep the committee advised of other possible target areas. He will also check on locations of small military targets and obtain further details on the Emperor's palace.

7. Psychological Factors in Target Selection

A. It was agreed that psychological factors in the target selection were of great importance. Two aspects of this are (1) obtaining the greatest psychological effect against Japan and (2) making the initial use sufficiently spectacular for the importance of the weapon to be internationally recognized when publicity on it is released.

B. In this respect Kyoto has the advantage of the people being more highly intelligent and hence better able to appreciate the significance of the weapon. Hiroshima has the advantage of being such a size and with possible focussing from nearby mountains that a large fraction of the city may be destroyed. The Emperor's palace in Tokyo has a greater fame than any other target but is of least strategic value.

[Sherman Logan]

I agree that it had great psychological impact, giving the Japanese military the excuse they needed to quit.

But from a moral perspective the difference seems like that between killing several people with a pistol or a grenade. Doesn’t make much difference to the victims.

[Emperor Palpatine]

Thanks for those. I’ve always admired tough-as-nails fighting commanders, such as Halsey, Patton, and LeMay.

We could sure use ‘em now.

[21twelve]

What is really sad about those pictures is that the Japs didn't give up after the first bomb. The military didn't want to give up after the second bomb - but luckily the Emperor did. There wasn't a third bomb to be dropped.

[LibWhacker]

Well, there are plenty of old Imperial Army types still around over there, and they have not forgotten and not forgiven. The fact is, resentment in Japan over Hiroshima and Nagasaki abounds and there have been plenty of stories about it. It’s just one reason we should never trust them with the bomb.

[Emperor Palpatine]

"OTOH, the Allied bombing campaigns against Germany were intentionally designed to kill as many civilians as possible, so we didn’t have great justification for getting up on a moral high horse over the issue."


Not necessarily. The whole USAAF campaign as conducted by the Eighth Air Force was precision daylight bombing of German industrial plants using the Norden bombsight. They had to fight their way to the target in broad daylight, often without fighter escort, in heavily armed and rugged B-17's and B-24's.

Unfortunately there would always be some spill-over from the factory site that was hit. Then again, why in Hades would the Germans put the Schweinfurt Hochschule right next to a ball-bearing factory?

The Brits indulged themselves in area bombing, but for valid reasons. Their bombers, while able to haul fantastic bombloads like the Lancaster, were very lightly armed and when the Brits did try daylight bombing they got slaughtered. Its almost impossible to hit a precision target at night, so they adopted RAF Bomber Command chieftain Sir Arthur Harris' plan of "de-housing" the German workforce. They got very good at it and their raids caused huge firestorms that disrupted everything, including industry in those cities that were hit. After the massive Hamburg raid of 1943, Minister of Armaments and War Production Albert Speer told Hitler that "..six more raids like that and we've lost the war."

There was probably some payback there as well. Observing a heavy Luftwaffe raid on London, "Bomber" Harris said "Well, they're sowing the wind, I shall make them reap the whirlwind." Churchill was also an enthusiast of area bombing. He said "If you asked any Londoner if we should halt our bombing campaign they would tell you no. They would tell you we should mete out to them the measure - nay more than the measure of what they have meted out to us!"

The casualty figures for both the Eighth and RAF Bomber Command were horrific. These men were heroes.

[Grunthor]

QUICK! Someone send these pix to Tehran!

[#1CTYankee]

But from a moral perspective the difference seems like that between killing several people with a pistol or a grenade. Doesn’t make much difference to the victims.

True and given the fact they many died quickly during the initial blast it was more humane in some instances. (they were better off than being burned alive during the fire bombing of say Tokyo)

Of course those who died later from radiation poisoning weren't so lucky.

[#1CTYankee]

"There wasn't a third bomb to be dropped."

Correct, the date that a third weapon could have been used against Japan was no later than August 20. The core was prepared by August 13, and Fat Man assemblies were already on Tinian Island. It would have required less than a week to ship the core and prepare a bomb for combat.

[Emperor Palpatine]

"The Japanese Empire has been given the ultimatum from the allied governments to surrender or face prompt and utter destruction. Unless they immediately accept the terms of the Potsdam Accord and unconditionally surrender, they will face a rain of ruin from the air the like of which has never been seen on this earth."

-President Harry Truman in a broadcast after the Hiroshima bombing.



(Its hard to imagine that Democrats actually said such things once, ain't it?)

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

My husband's grandfather, at this very moment, was being blown to smithereens.

[Sherman Logan]

The USA largely abandoned its daylight "precision" bombing campaign after horrific casualties, up to the point that fighters became available to accompany the bombers.

In the interim, it conducted area attacks, which were aimed quite intentionally at "civilian morale," or IOW the civilians themselves.

The morality or immorality of an action is not impacted by whether it is dangerous. It it were, the greatest heroes of WWII would be the U-boaters, who suffered by far the highest casualties.

Using your same logic, the terrorists who use women and children as human shields when attacking our troops are justified, since if they come out in the open they will suffer excessive casualties.

Here's a link to commentary on the subject by a relatively objective analyst of "democide," or the intentional killing of civilians by governments, in wartime or peacetime.

http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COMM.10.5.03.HTM

[TigersEye]

Exactly.

[Lancey Howard]

I wish the pictures were clearer and in living color.

[Emperor Palpatine]

Making war on civilians is as old as war itself.

Just go to any of the thousand-plus post Civil War threads around here when the subject of General Sherman and his incendiary visit to Georgia and the Carolinas comes up.

Some southerners still hold a grudge over that.

[TigersEye]

OK, I wasn’t aware of that. They still seem pretty low on the list of threats to peace and stability in the world IMO.

[Emperor Palpatine]

PS, I disagree. My father flew B-17’s over Europe for 27 missions from March 1944 to the end of the war in that theater. He always maintained that the USAAF never intentionally targeted civilian areas.

[CT]

I was just reading a history book on Hiroshima last night. Interesting that you don’t hear much about how we dropped 75,000 leaflets the day before telling citizens that we were about to decimate the place. Also interesting that right after the bomb was dropped the military tribunal running Japan immediately sought out scientists to see if Japan could produce an A Bomb.

[21twelve]

Thanks. I didn’t know that we had another one that could come on line so quickly.

I’ve always liked Rush’s song (rock & roll) on it - sort of a tribute to the scientists behind it and not a “blame America” song. The link has a youtube video with other historical photos I found cool. Of course at the end of the video the poster has to blame America - but that is easy enough to ignore. (I’ve had lots of practice!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4zP7l2NFKs

“Manhattan Project” by RUSH

Imagine a time when it all began
In the dying days of a war
A weapon that would settle the score
Whoever found it first would be sure to do their worst
They always had before...

Imagine a man where it all began
A scientist pacing the floor
In each nation, always eager to explore
To build the best big stick
To turn the winning trick
But this was something more...

[Chorus:]
The big bang took and shook the world
Shot down the rising sun
The end was begun and it hit everyone
When the chain reaction was done
The big shots tried to hold it back
Fools tried to wish it away
The hopeful depend on a world without end
Whatever the hopeless may say

Imagine a place where it all began
Gathered from across the land
To work in the secrecy of the desert sand
All of the brightest boys
To play with the biggest toys
More than they bargained for...

[Chorus]

Imagine a man when it all began
The pilot of ‘Enola Gay’
Flying out of the shockwave on that August day
All the powers that be, and the course of history
Would be changed forevermore...