New Photos Reveal Horror Of Hiroshima (GRAPHIC IMAGES)

Sean Malloy, a professor at the University of California Merced, "recently unearthed 10 previously-unpublished photographs illustrating the aftermath on the Hiroshima bombing."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.

Below, you'll find one of the photos from this collection. See the rest here. Warning: some of the images are graphic and will be difficult for some readers to view. (Via Danger Room)

Comments

[Louiz]

Eight years of war throughout the globe and 70 million people killed. America had a chance to end it and did with the horrible decision to use atomic weaponry. It can be debated back and forth how many potential lives were saved by bombing Nagasaki and Hiroshima; 5 million? 50,000? Which estimate is correct and therefore either praises or condemns the decision? (Let's ignore the extraordinary high Japanese casualty rates of 98% or more in certain battles for now.) After eight years and 70 million people killed the decision is to end the war as quickly as possible. The debate whether or not Japan was prepared to surrender or would surrender at a certain time is just that -- an unknown debate, along with how many Japanese and American lives would be lost with an invasion. To classify the bombings as terrorism, after 70 million deaths, is incorrect and irresponsible.

[TERRYKEITH4]

Somebody please help me care about it, because here in Silicon Valley I see Asians; especially Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans who have that same race supremacy attitude as racist White people. "You are not us and we are superior to you." It wouldn't bother me one bit to sit and watch all you "superior" people eventually kill one another off. It is hate pure and simple, period!

[messy]

"t wouldn't bother me one bit to sit and watch all you "superior" people eventually kill one another off. It is hate pure and simple, period!"

you mean like they did in Darfur and Rwanda?

[ProWarDem]

It is history 101 that the decision to use the bombs was made to save lives. Without the bombs, a mainland invasion of Japan would have been necessary, with a much larger human toll, mainly from suicide.

[Seafarer61]

Despite whatever opinion one holds regarding the use of atomic weapons, it is a factual observation that had the Japanese not attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec 7; these photos wouldn't exist.

[TERRYKEITH4]

True that!

[shrugged]

While in China, visit Nanjing and hear about the raping of Nanjing.
While in Singapore, read about the history of the Japanese invasion.
Visit the Philippines and ask about the atrocities.
While in Thailand, visit the Death Railway and read about .
On and on.
The guilt trip on the USA will not work.

Better yet, go to Cambodia and visit the killing fields where millions were killed after the USA pulled out of Vietnam. Or visit Laos and learn of the destruction once the USA left Vietnam. Or visit South Vietnam and talk to the people on the street about the millions killed, millions sent for "re-education", and people starving for decades once the USA left.

However, the point that war is barbaric should remind us all of the disaster when we turn the military leaders loose. Yet, you say "please Mr. President, send troops to Darfur"

[BlackWidowPilot]

"Yet, you say "please Mr. President, send troops to Darfur""

Goddam right I do. The war for oil and empire based upon over 900+ *documented* lies about WMDs and debunked claims of connections between Saddam Hussein and 9/11 is a far cry from stopping the absolute barbarism of the Sudanese government's deliberate genocide.

Darfur left unchecked will make Rwanda look like a girl scout outing.

Bring our people home from Iraq, NOW.

Rest and re-equip the USMC, then send them to Darfur enmass unless the Sudanese government backs off, pulls the paramilitary militias back, and lets the people of the Darfur region return unharmed to their homes. No more Rwandas, no more Iraqs.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[rjohns3]

Watch the movie "Fog of War". This was bad but the fire bombing of Japan was 100x worse. McNamara admits a remark by Lemay that both of them would have been tried as war criminals had they lost the war.

The dropping of the two atomic bombs is a testament to the failure of the human race, however it was no where near as bad as the fire bombing of japan. Niether side allies or axis's can look back with an honorable sense at this period of history.

[BlackWidowPilot]

"Niether side allies or axis's can look back with an honorable sense at this period of history."

In a pig's eye.

Here's a very short list of Axis atrocities -anything but comprehensive:

*The "Final Solution to the Jewish Question."

*"Einsatzt­ruppen."

*Lidice.

*Malmedy.

*Oradour sur-glane.

*Unit 731

*"Comfort women"

*Rape of Nanking

*Bataan Death March

Ad infinite nauseum. These were all acts of official policy, officially sanctioned by their governments, including the systematic extermination of whole ethnic populations, the systematic enslavement of whole peoples. The Allies may not have been saints, but they were vastly less the devils than their fascist opponents.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[Durango]

If you accept the proposition that atrocities committed by ones enemies justify atrocities committed by your side you can make the argument that the bastards who flew those planes into the World Trade Center were right to do so.

And I know for a fact that they were wrong.

Every time I think about those poor civilian passengers on those planes. Obliterated by madmen. Who were convinced they were doing the right thing.

But they were wrong. Horribly and definitively wrong.

[mollyjackson]

Most people who glorify war beleive it was a mistake. They wanted the killing to continue.

[pepenero]

We did that. So proud, our leaders, to be warriors, from a distance of course. There was a time when civilian targets were off-limits. It wasn't done. There was rape and pillage, but not as an act of war. War was once a formal thing between countries.
All that is off the table for quite a while now.
Have you ever seen New York City from the air? L.A., Chicago? Any large city, with it's families, it's elders, it's kids, it's babies, it's hospitals and churches, museums and architecture?
Just targets now.

[Redrover666]

What comic books have you been reading.

[revenant]

Wow, what a sadly ignorant and revisitionist view of history. Humans killing each other in horrid ways is nothing new, and atrocties are found in every chapter of history in all cultures. To pine for the "good old days where we all danced around the campfire in harmony with each other and the world" is naive at best, if not altogether idiotic.

Our capacity to kill each other more efficicently, however- THAT is a (horrific) other story... :(

[Mandy85]

"Humans killing each other in horrid ways is nothing new, and atrocties are found in every chapter of history in all cultures."

So, you think it was a mistake to sentence Nazi war criminals? Hey, after all everybody did it, so why pick on them alone? Right?

[Nebris]

"There was rape and pillage, but not as an act of war."

Nonsense. Throughout most of history rape and pillage was considered part and parcel of the soldier's 'pay'.

[rh654]

Yes the images are horrible - but there are always horrible images from war - you don't need a nuclear bomb to have horrific images.

There were men trapped alive on the ships sunk at Pearl Harbor - the guards could hear the mean pounding from inside the ships but there was nothing that could be done to help them due to the amount of oil and gasoline in the water - there was no way to cut open the ships to get to them - so they slowly just died inside those ships.

These images should be a real warning that you should not start a fight or a war because once started you lose control over how it may just turn out.

As for destruction the fire bombings of Japan were simply devastating the number of deaths there was also very, very high and the pictures would not be any better than those from the atomic blasts.

[GrainOSand]

Should America heed the warning as well or are we the one exception? You can justify anything if you have a desire to. I can allow for dog eat dog, but do not get mad at me when I get hungry and feel I can eat like others have eaten; doggishly. The slope of justifiable killing is indeed slippery.

[omechengineeru]

O_o..... k..... fact is... war is hell.... we discovered new technology that would win the war... just like any other tech advancement like radar and jet engines...­. so we used it. Once used we gave the Japanese time to surrender.­.. but when they didn't we were faced with the horrible decision to end the lives of several thousand Japanese lives and hopefully the war in the Pacific... or march into their homeland and end the lives of countless thousand American AND Japanese..­.... the choice is not easy but is clear.....­.. the same as any other point in war... if presented with the option of killing your enemy with one shot ... or by throwing waves of your own men agianst them... you take the shot.

[MainSpark]

"These images should be a real warning that you should not start a fight or a war because once started you lose control over how it may just turn out."

How does that phrase go? Oh, yeah...The­y bit the hog in the ass.

[Redrover666]

Best comment on this threat. Thanks.

[GrainOSand]

Looking at the images does not and cannot portray what was beyond horrific. But the images are compelling in that they froze a moment that I cannot even imagine being a part of in any way. I tried to imagine the thoughts of the people standing there in the aftermath breathing the air that probably later killed them, and I am left with nothing but darkness, a void where the unthinkable lives and breeds in a hot thick sticky heat of terror and evil. The images from September 11, 2001 were very much like this as well in their effect on me. Images of mass murder do disturb the senses.

Some may argue that somehow 9/11 was murder and Nagasaki and Hiroshima were not. I am not one of them. The rationale to kill in this way is one even the greatest orator or advocate of the court could not make a case for with me. I want to split the atom of love by colliding it into the atom of a desire for all who live to be ok. From that reaction we may find an explosion of prospering life nurtured versus life wantonly destroyed.

[Durango]

It is amazing how many people on this site, let alone in the world, lack any empathy for their fellow human beings.

They look at these pictures and the first thing that comes to mind is "Served them right"?

Could it be because American wars are fought elsewhere. And most Americans, unlike European counterparts have no real conception of war?

When WW II began there was no question that bombing civilians was a criminal act. Look at the outrage over the London Blitz. But the allies, particularly the Americans learned the lesson well. Too well. And perfected bombing of civilians. Killing millions in air raids over Germany and then Japan.

If these acts were crimes at the beginning of the war why weren't they at the end?

Because they were committed by the USA? Situational ethics? Because when we do what the Nazis did it is OK?

They were committed because the USA and all the other combatants became so dehumanized by the war as to accept atrocities as normal.

But here 60 years later most people should be able to recognize a crime when they see one

Maybe it was necessary. I have looked at it and can't pass judgment on Truman and the other leaders who made the decision.

But I can see that the civilians killed were innocent. And the act was a horrendous crime.

[Nebris]

And this crime is being used here for partisan political purposes.

[Durango]

What? Reminding people what nuclear obliteration means is a partisan political purpose.

So be it.

But I am more struck by the outright lack of empathy by so many people on this post.

[Redrover666]

Absurd! Empathy hell! The Japanese did attack the United States. The Japanese, besides attacking Pearl Harbor invaded and occupied parts of Alaska. They floated bombs over our cities attached to balloons trying to cause a bit of mass killing of innocents themselves.

The civilian population provides material aid and support and underpins it's army's morale and will to fight. Civilians organize and send an army to war, they are not innocent. Our enemies don't think you are innocent either, and will kill you, your families and your children in their beds as soon as look at you.

Any nation willing to engage in a war risks being exterminated. Period.

So... if you don't like war then I recommend that you go down to your congressman's office and put your foot in his ass.

[Durango]

So you are on record favoring the killing of civilians, especially women and children?

When you think about it that is quite an amazing admission.

BTW You are wrong. The civilians of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were innocent. Under what twisted logic can you claim babies and small children to be guilty of anything?

Look at the above post where Curtis LeMay admits that had the US lost the war he would have been tried as a war criminal.

So the only difference between a crime and no crime is success?

P.S. Occupied parts of Alaska. That gave me a big chuckle. THAT justifies Hiroshima and Nagasaki!

[BlackWidowPilot]

"It is amazing how many people on this site, let alone in the world, lack any empathy for their fellow human beings."

I don't.

"They look at these pictures and the first thing that comes to mind is "Served them right"?"

No, I do not. I do however recognize the ancient wisdom that if one sows the wind, one reaps the whirlwind.

"Could it be because American wars are fought elsewhere. And most Americans, unlike European counterparts have no real conception of war?"

Doubtful. More likely, as we haven't had a war on American soil in any real sense since 1865... hence why 9/11 was such a profound shock to our psyche, and so convenient a lever for the Busheviks to manipulate to get their war for oil and empire in Iraq...

"When WW II began there was no question that bombing civilians was a criminal act. Look at the outrage over the London Blitz. But the allies, particularly the Americans learned the lesson well. Too well. And perfected bombing of civilians. Killing millions in air raids over Germany and then Japan."

Have you so conveniently forgotten the unrestricted bombing campaign of Imperial Japan of Chinese cities starting in the 1930s? How about Guernica? Nanking?

END PART I

[frump]

"...why 9/11 was such a profound shock to our psyche..."

What wind is it that you think all of those Japanese civilians sowed? Do you really think that innocent people should have to pay the ultimate price for the nefarious deeds of their governments? 9/11 was a "profound shock to our psyche" because we didn't know what we had done to precipitate such a vicious assault; actually we didn't know what our government (and military) had been doing around the world to precipitate such an assault, but the idea is the same. So if we follow your wind/whirlwind logic, we deserved 9/11 every bit as much as the Japanese civilians deserved Hiroshima.

No one deserves to be attacked for the misdeeds of their government.

[BlackWidowPilot]

PART II

"If these acts were crimes at the beginning of the war why weren't they at the end?"

War dehumanizes, reduces the combatants however noble their original goals to a vicious cycle of tit-for-tat. You bombed our cities, and our technologies won't let our bombers hit anything with any accuracy smaller than a football stadium, and your factories making weapons are embedded in your population center? You bombed Coventry and Rotterdam and Nanking and Shanghai and Manila, so turnabout is fair play...

"Because they were committed by the USA? Situational ethics? Because when we do what the Nazis did it is OK?"

No, just in war, painfully, sadly predictabl­e...

END PART II

[BlackWidowPilot]

PART III

"They were committed because the USA and all the other combatants became so dehumanized by the war as to accept atrocities as normal."

Don't be so sure; the Allies weren't in the habit of executing enemy civilians out of hand as a matter of official policy after gang raping their women and girls (Imperial Japan), nor did British or American soldiers round up members of a specific ethnic group and deport them to death camps (Germany), nor did they use poison gas upon troops completely unable to defend themselves or reply in kind (Italy). American soldiers were more likely to slip a starving German, Italian, or Japanese child a can of C-rations, compared to the IJA policy of rounding up the prettiest local girls to serve as "comfort women," or the German practice of forcibly taking all of the food away from the locals and killing any who protested.

END PART III

[Nebris]

What is really going here is that these images of dead, burnt, bloated Japanese are being deployed for partisan political gain. HuffPo has a clear pro-Obama stance and this article is meant to exploit the dead of Hiroshima to cut into Clinton's support, which is a small atrocity all on its own.

The 'how would you respond to Iran's use of nukes?' question is BS in the first place. Not even going into the reality that Iran has no nukes yet and that even the ayatollahs are not so insane to make a first strike, how the hell is one supposed to answer such a question? “Well, we'd consult with our allies...b­lah blah blah.” [while Israel is nuking everyone in sight]

Yes, of course we're consult with our allies, but in the public mind – a simple beast at best – such a statement is political suicide and most of you here know that. The question is a set up. And the images posted here are a ghoulish maneuver to exploit that set up. So much for the New Politics of Hope.

[McLaren]

Facists are leftists. Look in the mirror.

[NoCalDrummer]

If you're looking in the mirror then you've mistaken Far-RIGHT for Far-LEFT.

No one would disagree that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were horrible situations. But they probably brought about a quicker end to the Pacific Front of the War (that, in this case, the Japanese provoked) and therefore fewer deaths overall.

[wavydavy]

You are a moron. Look in the mirror.

[McLaren]

Gee, snappy come-back. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, all Leftists, and all Fascists. Look it up. Nazi = Nationalist Socialist Party. Google "Liberal Fascism"

Maybe not -- you definitely won't like what you learn.....

[maca]

Fascists are as far RIGHT as you can get. Look in a history book.

[booboouu]

I guess 60 years out, it's difficult to have the proper context with this situation. The Japs and Germans caused millions upon millions of civilian deaths.

To go back at this point and say we should not have responded in such a manner is delusional. Pearl harbor was just the catalyst for the US’s involvement. Keep in mind that if we had failed in stopping the advances of the gems and japs, the U.S. would not exist.

Dropping these weapons was absolutely the correct response. It’s just too bad we didn’t have the capability earlier so as to stop both these nation from the millions of deaths they inflicted.

[Spazzers]

Ah...you forget that the Huffkids are bleeding heart liberalists. They keep likening the bombs to terrorist acts. The Japanese government was asked to surrender and given explicit details of what will happen if they do not surrender. Even after the first bomb was dropped Japan still did not surrender. It took a second bomb three days later for the Japanese to finally surrender unconditionally.

[JimHinCO]

Would you be so kind as to list your resource for "millions" of civilian deaths at the hands of the Japanese.

Thanks.

[Blutus]

10 million civilian deaths in China alone.

Are you trying to be stupid?

[ema]

Just google: Japanese Atrocities WWII. And if you want to have a really good time, look at the images.

Now I'm going to be attacked for somehow implying the Japanese babies deserved it.

Of course the babies didn't deserve it, many innocent people died who didn't deserve it, but the Japanese were exceptionally brutal in WWII. In some ways, they made the Germans look like school kids -- especially their treatment of POWS.

[BlackWidowPilot]

Rape of Nanking is a good start, Jimbo.

Unit 731.

Shiro Ishii.

Japanese invasion of China commencing in 1931 and the official IJA approach to the occupied territories and their civilian populations.

I also happen to be a Military Historian and academic that has studies Far Eastern Military History for over two decades, so I can assure you I am all too aware of the activities of the Imperial Japanese Army during the period 1931-1945.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[Nebris]

I've been reading all the hand wringing and guilt laden whining below. It's pathetic, bourgeois self indulgence and sub-textually racist; “We burned those cute little Asian children.” The ones we now adopt like they are designer fashion accessories. [No wonder the body politic is powerless in the face of monsters like Dick Cheney and Karl Rove.]

Well, white folks, you should ask some of those other 'cute little Asians' what they think of using nukes on Japan. I have. They smile quietly and say, “Yes, that was a Good Thing.”

In the 1920's and 30's the Japanese militarists attained total power by using fear and assassination and then began a twelve year rampage through Asia. They bombed, massacred, raped, enslaved, murdered, and raped nonstop until they the Allies beat them into submission and nothing less than full submission would suffice, for the Japanese are a very proud and stubborn people.

War is ugly and should be avoided when possible, though not at all costs, as that leads to war anyway and usually a worse one. The use of atomic weapons were necessary monstrous acts in a monstrous war. Deal with it!

Nations and peoples have Karma. Japan's ripened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, just like ours ripened on 9/11. Deal with that, too!

[TrappedinBizarroWorld]

I gotta guess you're a man from your comments. ...'We burned those cute little Asian children".­...We burned CHILDREN, man. And their parents and their grandparents. Why is it that only men seem to see an objection to nukeing innocent civilians as 'bleeding heart liberalism?' Are you so damned insensitive to your fellow humans? I know...the Japanese did 'bad things too'...so that justifies melting two cities filled with civilians?? You know, if I squint and stop thinking I can almost say, well, ok, Hiroshima.­..we didn't now what we were doing....B­ut by the time we got to Nagasaki, we already knew the aftermath.­..There was NO EXCUSE for bombing Nagasaki. And if they hadn't surrendered, there's no doubt in my mind that we would've gone from city to city, nukeing them until they surrendered.

[Nebris]

There is no such thing as 'bleeding heart liberalism'. That is a right wing canard. There is unthinking, knee jerk white guilt however and that has crippled the true progressive ethic in this country. It is a product of middle class timidity, a fear of 'losing what we got'. All this whiny is a classic example of it and it allows the real Fascists to control the discussion.

[TERRYKEITH4]

Somebody help me care about it, because the Asians I have encountered here in Silicon Valley have that same race supremacy attitude that I see in racist White people. "You're not us and we are superior to you." It wouldn't bother me one bit to watch both of you kill each other.