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Sean Malloy, a professor at the University of California Merced, "recently unearthed 10 previously-unpublished photographs illustrating the aftermath on the Hiroshima bombing."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

[TodStewart]

Why don't we have photos of our current war crimes? You need to put at least a few pictures of the tens of thousands of Iraqi children who have been killed. Ever seen what depleted uranium does? You don't have to go far...just use google or youtube and see. This should be on your post EVERY DAY. George Bush is a war criminal and the MSM, including HuffPo, is not demanding Congress remove him and Cheney.

[Nebris]

Americans have become 'too sensitive'. They don't really want to see what it looks like and get utterly freaked out if their kids see it. But this Nanny State mentality has left us at the mercy of the Repugs and their henchmen.

[TrappedinBizarroWorld]

How timely that these photos show up on the day after Hillary has put the nuclear option on the table. Well, what happens when the phone rings at 3am and Hillary's had a bad day or is just plain menopausal? The fact that she has made this atrocity an option in her 'foreign policy' makes her a very dangerous woman. I'm a mid-50s white woman. I've voted my whole life for democrats. If she gets the nomination, I'm not voting.

[MainSpark]

"Well, what happens when the phone rings at 3am and Hillary's had a bad day or is just plain menopausal? [snip] I'm a mid-50s white woman."

Sorry to go off topic, but if you're a woman in her mid-50s, why would you question whether or not a woman, who is 60, might be menopausal?

Ya think that maybe that boat sailed, quite some time ago?

[OnTheCusp]

I actually spent a day in Hiroshima just this past February. I thought nothing could make me more ashamed of being a US citizen than George Bush, but seeing Peace Memorial Park and the Atomic Dome were infinitely more shaming and humbling. I believe it is the most evil thing on the planet to drop nuclear weapons on anyone. I know, I know it won us the war, but it was WRONG to drop those bombs on Japan or anywhere else. Everyone on the planet should have to go through that exhibit of the aftermath of a nuclear bomb. Then the bombs would all be dismantled and some form of looking each other in the eyes as humans might occur. I honestly believe that even the most hardened war-mongers and "'murkins" would be given pause if they could see the evil for what it really is.

[MrKINOKO]

That was a fantastic post. I couldn't have said it better myself. I made it a point to go to Nagasaki while in Japan, and it was the most moving experience I have ever had. Kudo's to anyone with enough of a thirst for peace and knowledge to go there at least once and see what a horrific thing the US did to the citizens of Japan.

[Nebris]

But who cares about what the Japanese did to the peoples of Asia? More inverted racism. Shame on you!

[BlackWidowPilot]

Kinoko-san,

better include *Nanking* in your travel itinerary.

Answer me this; which is worse, the A-bombing of a city or the deliberate mass rape and murder of an army running amok under official sanction and orders from their superior officers resulting in the gruesome deaths of as many as 300,000 civilians from bayonets, swords, bullets, and other means?

Which is worse, to A-bomb a city and kill an estimated 100,000 people to try and force a fanatical government to end a bloody war and prevent further loss of an estimated 1 million of your own people, or the deliberate gang rape of an entire city's population of women and girls, followed by their execution frequently by bayonet or sword rather than wasting ammunition, and to use any convenient civilian as a practice dummy for bayonet drill?

END PART I

[bobwalters]

I, too, have spent time in Hiroshima, and toured the same sites you refer to. There is NO way such horror wrought on innocent civilians can be justified, no matter WHAT the rationalization. Same with bombing Dresden, and every other war-time attack on civilians (as in Iraq), who like most of us, resist war as an option but get over-ruled/ignored by the power elites who profit from war and its destructive effects. All war proves is the failure of any kind of humane morality effectively operating in the world. I used to retain some respect for HRC, but that went out the window with her pandering to the Israeli lobby with her vow to "obliterate" Iran. She's a vicious, totally unprincipalled, narcissistic person who certainly doesn't represent the values of the America I grew up in and love.

[RezidentBivrip]

What was it Jeremiah Wright said?

"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye"

He's a whack job to be sure, but when you see photos like this... he kind of has a point.

[Oilygarch]

Truth is truth is truth regardless of its source. Unfortunately, truths from the mouthes of mere mortals of who's mouthes consequently more than truths are uttered, often results in character assassination, being pelted or burnt at the stake!

[booboouu]

yeah, he has a point...located atop his head...it's idiotic to compare 911 with Japan

[Nebris]

"...we never batted an eye" is BS. There are several examples sited in these comments by folks apposed to the bombings that show several high ranking individuals expressing grave misgivings over their use. Wright is just another demagogue. They come in all colors, ya know.

[k. cecile]

The way MSM looped him, Wright now appears to be a "whack" job, while in actually he speaks the truth on many matters,incuding this one.

[AllanF]

sort of puts a different flavor on the pics taken in Times Square on VJ Day...doesn't it?

[peterg76]

War is hell.

[thatvisionthing]

"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets." ~ Voltaire

[Mandy85]

"Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich."
-- Peter Ustinov

[lvogt]

There is no doubt the American government should have pursued the war aggressively to its swift conclusion. In war it is legitimate to attack any military target but not civilians, apparently, unless "we" do it. And it is wrong to blame "America". It was not we the people who did this but a handful of generals and politicians. The Japanese had exactly ZERO say in how their dictatorship/theocracy prosecuted the war. Everyday we talk about how terrorism is the great evil now set against us. What is terrorism but intentional violence or threat of violence against civilians to move their government to action. It is called terrorism because it is never justified. Being effective does not make it moral. It is not an act of war but a monstrous crime. If the fire-bombing and nuking of every major Japanese population center was justified then terrorism is justified. I understand it helped end the war. I understand everyone hated Japan and didn't care what happened to any Japanese. I understand people were rightfully relieved it was over. Just understand that others will hope to achieve their ends by similar means and will point to this as their example and then... you will call it terrorism.

[RFBorjal]

I agree completely!

[chicago25624]

Tell that to the 2400+ that died on December 7th, 1941.

[MrKINOKO]

The 2,400+ that should have been vacationing in the NATION OF HAWAII, as opposed to occupying it with a naval armada, under the auspices of a foreign (US) occupying power. The US took Hawaii, the Johnson Atoll, Guam, Saipan, and Samoa by force..it's as simple as that. If we didn't have a nice, juicy target at Pearl Harbor/Sand Island, there would have been no attack, and 12/7/41 would be just another day, not an alleged "day of infamy". Some of you people speak like the privileged crusading conquerors you will never be. You obviously have no respect for any sovereignty the United States has taken over by force, including Iraq and Afghanistan, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico, or Haiti, or...the list goes on and on. Wake up. Jingoism begets terrorism. America has even gone as far as to send Federal troops to fight alongside "mercenaries" in South America in the 1800's, a 200 years ago version of "Blackwater" fighting next to our soldiers, at the behest of the United Fruit Company....over bananas !!! look it up, don't believe me. Use your resources.

[JimHinCO]

2,350, only 68 civilians.

Compare that to 140,000 deaths in Hiroshima and 80,000 deaths in Nagasaki...and thousands more that have died due to the radiation.

Clearly, this wasn't an eye for an eye...this was simply brutal murder by the U.S.

[Spazzers]

The Japanese government was given a chance to surrender. The Potsdam Declaration made it very clear that if the Japanese did not surrender they would be obliterated. The japanese government dismissed the Declaration out of hand.

"The full application of our military power, backed by our resolve, will mean the inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forces and just as inevitably the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland." - Potsdam Declaration.

After the first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima the Japanese government still did not relent, even after the Soviet Union declared war on them. President Truman announced the bombing of Hiroshima to the world "If they do not accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air the likes of which has never been seen on this earth." Three days later a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.

Terrorists do not give fair warning prior to their attacks.

[ideasmatter]

A couple of issues go unmentioned in this discussion. First, the firebombings of Tokyo, Dresden, and Hamburg, were even worse than Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and, as an Allied investigation revealed after the war, served no purpose. Indeed imperial Japan committed unspeakable atrocities, but that doesn't mean the Allieds were morally obliged to do the same....

Second, the atomic bombs were dropped right after the USSR invaded Korea and there was a great sense of urgency in the US to end the war right away to avoid losing China (which happened anyway four years later). That was much more of a motivation than the cost of an invasion of Japan.

Finally, and most important, the issue is always represented as a choice between a full scale invasion of Japan and dropping the bombs. It wasn't. The US could have dropped a bomb in the bay of Tokyo, with the mushroom cloud visible from the imperial palace and the ministry of defense, and then send in an ultimatum stipulating that the next bomb would be dropped on the imperial palace. That would have cost a few thousand lives at most, and would have been just as effective in producing a surrender.

[thatvisionthing]

"Indeed imperial Japan committed unspeakable atrocities, but that doesn't mean the Allieds were morally obliged to do the same...."

BINGO!!

[Mandy85]

This is "faulty logic" and it's totally unacceptable:

- 9/11 is justified because of what the Americans did in the middle east
- Nazi war crimes in the Soviet Union are justified because of what the Red Army did at Katyn (actually one of Hitler's favourite lines.)

This, on the other hand, is perfectly acceptable:

- Hiroshima and Nagasaki (a deliberate attack against civilians, i.e. a WAR CRIME by the definition established at the Nuremberg Trials and applied to nazi war criminals) is justified because of Pearl Harbor (a MILITARY operation, where the only civilians who died were killed by "friendly" fire...)

Only American "patriots" can believe it's not a case of gargantuan hypocrisy.

[watererbob]

The horror of the bomb's aftermath probably saved 100's of millions from horrible death - by showing World leaders EXACTLY what a nuclear exchange would do!

[Mandy85]

I wonder if you said the same if the targets were US cities...
My guess is: you're a hypocrite, just like the US government, the one that ruled "every deliberate attack on civilians is a war crime" at the Nuremberg Trials but, of course, it doesn't apply when it's the US military doing exactly the same...

[Durango]

There may be some truth in that.

But I fear the lesson has been lost on idiots like Bush, Cheney and many other rightwing chickenhawks.

I hope Hillary isn't one of them. But she is sounding like she is.

[MrKINOKO]

Mr. McCain...is that you? Didn't Hillary give you your War supression pill this morning?

[thegirlnextdoor]

The Japanese were trying to surrender. But the USA had a new war toy to try out.

[reasonlives]

All reasonable people know that this was the greatest war crime in human history. US govt (not "we) obliterated 2 cities w\o warning or cause. It was done for racist reasons, petty vengeance and to flaunt our military might (as if other nations werent going to obtain the same technology eventually) to our great ally Stalin and the Soviets. The Japanese wanted to surrender but Truman and company didnt want that because we wanted to show off our new toy. We refused to negotiate and also insisted upon "unconditional" surrender meaning that they would have to renounce their Emperor. Why did US care about their emperor's status, and why was this somehow more important than hundreds of thousands of lives and untold destruction and misery? It wasnt of course, but it was a handy excuse for American bloodthirstiness and conceit. Lo and behold, we let them keep their emperor anyway after we destroyed our CIVILIAN "targets". Read what Eisenhower and other Americans thought about this at the time. They were opposed and horrified. But once the deed was done the fix was in, and Americans to this day have bought it hook, line and sinker, w\o doing any reading or investigation of their own, so they can continue to think that we are the "good guys" and convince themselves that we must have had our excuses for committing an evil act of TERRORISM, that makes 9-11 look like childs play.

[yoyo1959]

Does anyone on this website remember the "controversial" words of Reverend Wright, who talked about the chickens coming home to roost? Well, I dare anyone to look at these pictures, read up on their history for a few minutes, and tell me that the U.S. has not committed terrorist acts? These photos should be shown to every high school and college student and taught as part of history classes in every major university. I saw an HBO special last summer on the bombings in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and I cried through entire 90 minutes. It was unspeakable and a crime against humanity.

[Mandy85]

Americans don't commit crimes against humanity. Only foreigners do it.
Stick with the program or emigrate to another country.
What part of "love it or leave it" can't you understand?

P.S. This is satire.

[Oilygarch]

Bombings of Hiroshima&Nagasaki are a disgrace, an act of terrorism & a crime against humanity.

Most US citizens still suffer amnesia about the acts of its own elected government. Part of this amnesia is to preserve a collective soul which cannot fathom such misdeeds would have been perped under the direction its own govt. Not discounting others' misdeeds, but as the "civilized" nation we claim to be, why then stoop to such atrocities. Yet we continue to fervently patriotically rush to wars while claiming G-d to be on our side.

Most peeps worldwide aren't as blinded bout Hiroshima&Nagasaki. Under today's standards, even as defined by world's largest superpower: A-bombs that went off in Japan by all means, simply put, were gargantuan acts of terrorism.

This dichotomy created one of the greatest taboos in American history. But, as some might realize, history is of the occupiers & is spelled history for a reason: Because it is HIS-STORY.

Notice photos were taken by the occupied, & squirreled away til many decades later, somehow evading occupier censorship. The ugly heads of "war-porn", "bad taste", "imprudence" & "inconvenience" had a seeping way of getting out for the world to see that the truth, no matter how unpleasant, is hard to squelch over the test of time.

Which ones of us & how many are responsible for the current on-going Atrocity that is lraq? Are peeps worldwide as blinded as we with respect to lraq? What'll grandma time say about it & our motives?

[NicoleAnonymous]

You're acting as though our goverment just suddenly decided to attack Japan without any reason as if people were sitting around going "I feel like killing innocent civilians today - which country should be bomb?"

Of course history might have turned out much differently if we hadn't bombed them - we might not be alive right now. But you don't know that - all you can do is insult our goverment because it makes you feel somehow superior to them.

[bigogre]

You're defending the indefensible. You have been brainwashed into believing your government can do no harm, despite tons of evidence to the contrary. That is sad indeed.

[thegirlnextdoor]

Nanking. Dresden. the blitz. Auschwitz. Dachau. the crusades. Little Big Horn. Guantanamo.
The trick, the gift, the curse, is to know that it is wrong when it is happening. No matter what the provocation. These things are wrong.
They all happened because someone wanted what someone else had. Oil, land, gold.
And that got tarted up in patriotism and religion!

[Anyacat]

While we're feeling sorry for the poor Japanese, I wonder if someone can spare a moment to consider the Japanese treatment of the Chinese--it ain't called The Rape of Nanking for nothing. And we certainly don't want to hold the Japanese accountable for the mistreatment of military Prisoners of War, since we in the United States no longer adhere to the Geneva Convention--but what about those civilians who were also locked up, starved, beaten, and killed by the Japanese? Oh, you say, but that was during a war--well, so was the dropping of the A Bomb, it brought an end to World War II in the Pacific and in doing so saved thousands, maybe millions of lives. The war had to end at some point and since the Japanese seemed unwilling to end it, it fell to the United States to do so. And one bomb wasn't enough, the Japanese were still spitting in the US eye, claiming we only had one special weapon so the war should continue. Sometimes the bully has to be beaten into submission, and sometimes even that isn't enough.

[Oilygarch]

Most often though, the bullied become the bullies and the slaves become masters.

Again, I do not wish to discount such grievous as the Rape of Nanking, or the Mai-Lai Massacre. The pile of bods you see in the A-Bomb pics were not those performing the rape, and neither were those crushed under the weight of WTCs 1&2 the ones performing the Mai-Lai Massacre.

For as long as the dangerous precedent of honor-killing those who with blood in one's eyes fall withing a broad swath of one's depiction of those who one chooses to be the expiatory lambs of one's wrath, we will continue to experience either wars without end or wars that beget wars.

But do heed notice how, by way of such de-humanization, it is vastly the every-day people, the ones who pay for the misdeeds of the much much fewer.

How and why we play into that trap time and time again escapes me.

[Harinama]

So, in your line of thinking...

Bush and his war criminals invaded Iraq, a sovereign state, for NO REASON, except for resources and supporting the almighty (sic) dollar, and killed over 1million innocent iraqis. So basically this gives them the right to nuke us and kill 10million of our innocents?

Typical imperialist war rhetoric. The peoples of the world are subjugated by their own govts. via propaganda, dictatorships, etc. Basically they have no power or say in what their government does, but they should pay the price of their govt's attrocities?

I say, leave the gd battles on the battlefield and dont make the controlled civilians pay the price. The nuking of hiroshima and nagasaki was a crime against humanity and was completely unjustified since japan was no longer a threat to us.

[alamantra]

I read a number of the responses and it seems that some feel that the atomic bombings were justified by ...fill in the blank. Yet, this was not the opinion of the "commanders on the ground."

Eisenhower: "In 1945 Secretary of War Stimson, visiting my headquarters in Germany, informed me that our government was preparing to drop an atomic bomb on Japan. I was one of those who felt that there were a number of cogent reasons to question the wisdom of such an act. During his recitation of the relevant facts, I had been conscious of a feeling of depression and so I voiced to him my grave misgivings, first on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary, and secondly because I thought that our country should avoid shocking world opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives."
Nimitz: "The Japanese had, in fact, already sued for peace. The atomic bomb played no decisive part, from a purely military point of view, in the defeat of Japan."
Leahy: "The use of [the atomic bombs] at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender."

[Sneaky]

Partially correct, but America was not the bad guy you describe it as. Because we weren't communicating directly with Japan, nor they with us, we both went through the USSR. There's pretty good documentation on "communication hang-ups", intentionally or not, that kept us from "getting the memo" as it were. Civilian cities were still stupid targets, no denying that, but just keep in mind that there was a very important third party here.

[Mandy85]

"Because we weren't communicating directly with Japan, nor they with us, we both went through the USSR."

Too bad you're forgetting the most important part...
The Japanese wanted to start negotiations as early as January 1945. The Soviets were more than eager to see the Pacific War end soon, because that would give them the chance to move almost all their armoured divisions stationed in the east on the western front and their massive weight would have brought the German surrender much earlier. So, the Japanese wanted negotiations (their ONLY condition was that the life of Hirohito be spared, which is what eventually the US agreed on), the Soviets wanted negotiations but America DID NOT want negotiations. Why? Because they had their new toys to test and because they wanted to use them to send a strong warning to the Soviets: Asia is ours!! Once the bombs were dropped, the US government was quick to agree to Japan's only demand (although never officially, because the gullible public had to believe the beastly "Japs" surrendered unconditionally...) and it only took a few days for peace to ensue. That could have happened eight months before and would have saved an awful lot of lives on either side. But, of course, the Pentagon was not in the business of caring for human life. We can still see the very same attitude 63 years later...

[nogimmicks]

Those photos are what Hillary and McCain call "Inspiration"

[LaurieLee]

That's exactly what I was thinking. The people in the photos were 'totally obliterated'.

[Mandy85]

"The people in the photos were 'totally obliterated'."

As long as they're not white and christian children, only "Liberal hearts" would bleed...
That, of course, doesn't include Clinton supporters.

[NicoleAnonymous]

My grandfather was part of the Manhattan Project - they recruited him because he was a scientist apparently. He never talked about it while he was alive but we found some journals after he died describing how they were testing bombs in the desert.

I can't really see the picture here -are those bodies? Also the link you provided didn't work. I'm sure the pictures are horrible but they can't be worse than pictures I've seen from the Holocaust so I probably wouldn't be shocked.

[muslimarabdude]

"I'm sure the pictures are horrible but they can't be worse than pictures I've seen from the Holocaust so I probably wouldn't be shocked."

why in the world would you diminish (and sound dismissive about) the most horrific military attacks in human history? courtesy of the US gov when they had no need to? can you be a little less self centered and realize that the holocaust actually included other groups and not just those of the Jewish faith? and even still, why wouldn't you be shocked? have you completely lost your own sense of compassion to come off sounding so indifferent? how is your lost sense different from the indifference of those that commit crimes against humanity? maybe you should see more of such pictures to infuse some sense of revulsion

[NicoleAnonymous]

I didn't mention anything about Jews being the only victims of the Holocaust - where are you getting that from? In fact I didn't mention Jews anywhere in that response.

Although my response probably did seem a little insensitive, I didn't mean it that way but I can't help the way people interpret my responses.

[Durango]

"Never think that war, no matter how necessary or how justified, is not a crime."
Ernest Hemingway

I understand completely the reasoning behind President Truman's decision to drop the bomb. I have heard and weighed the arguments in favor and against it.

My father believed it was a mistake. And he was scheduled for the first wave. in the invasion of Mainland Japan.

The number of people here who think that those civilians in some way deserved that fate is quite frankly, incredible. And very disturbing.

I have to wonder if the fact that the last major war fought on American soil having ended in 1865 might have a lot to do with the blood thirsty arm chair generals we seem to have here. Americans might feel different if the wars were fought over here.

"War is cruelty, and it cannot be refined" said Sherman. Which is why we should ALWAYS do everything we can to avoid war. EVERYTHING!

Because as Hemingway said: It is always a crime.