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These photos were taken on the day after the Japanese city of Nagasaki was destroyed by an atomic bomb. The photos were confiscated, but are now published. The collection of terrible images was made by the Japanese military photographer Eske Yamahata and show the horror and desperate situation of the survivors after the bombing.
All the pictures were requisitioned by order of General Douglas MacArthur in order to conceal the real picture of the devastation.
Many of the photos were used in Japanese publications only a few weeks after the explosion.
Survivors in Nagasaki.
Eske Yamahata died at the age of 48 in 1966 from cancer, which is believed to have been caused by extensive exposure to radiation.
Photographer: Eske Yamahata.
CasualFridayHandjob
Jesus christ...
inevitableban
Ground war would've seen millions more dead and the Japanese were too prideful to surrender. Shock and awe.
emocin
War. War never changes.
OmicronPerseiEight
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKYOOOOOOOOUUUU
1/2 Even after the second bomb, many Japanese military leaders wanted to keep fighting and attempted to stop the Emperor from surrendering.
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKYOOOOOOOOUUUU
They attempted a violent overthrow to stop the surrender announcment from happening https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%ABj%C5%8D_incident
NavyMax46
So, where is the humen rights org??? Or woman wearing hejab is the world issue nowadays??
pwdrjnky
Pretty sure in reading comments that many folks do not realize we dropped two with majority civilian victims
BEANSBEANSBEANSBEANSBEANSBEANSBEANS
This isn't even a political post but everybody is gonna make it one.
KnightofMalta
I always heard that there were outlines where people were vaporized in the blast. Are there pictures of that?
delpharseven
What happens is that the extreme EM radiation of the blast bleaches concrete and stone. So the "shadows" are actually the original colour.
Jalopenis
Wouldn't the radiation ruin the film?
delpharseven
Little Boy and Fat Man were airbursts. There was very little fallout or residual radiation.
umpbumpfizz
Well... Obviously it didn't.
Psychoclock
The world needs more of you.
SomethingWittyIDK
Fun fact, the death and destruction here is just a fraction of what happened to other Japanese cities. Was a big deal because of theone bomb
Sauroctonus
The firebombing of Tokyo did far more damage, it just wasn't instant.
andrewstnh
The internet tells me his name was Yōsuke Yamahata, this page is the first hit if you google Eske Yamahata.
Gabegie
For me, these pictures still inspire compassion and awe at the devastation reigned by the atomic bombs. 1/3
Gabegie
Notwithstanding the horrific actions taken during and before the war by its target country. 2/3
Gabegie
And the decision to drop the second bomb so immediately still gives me pause. 3/3
EerieBarlow
To many overly liberal knob jockeys in the comments trying to stand up for the "victim," in this time in history. Which is even more >
EerieBarlow
Ridiculous when most you know do it for the self congratulatory masturbatory parade that is their ego. Fuck those people. >
EerieBarlow
They're the same type that sees a mass shooting on the news and instantly shouts "oh it's the schools and the government that failed them!"
Sauroctonus
The victims are the civillians and soldiers who had no choice but participate.
ArniePye
Crawl out through the fallout baby
Sauroctonus
You mean "Come out of the garden, baby"?
NotACnnPollThisIsNotALieIAmNotCnn
I don't know what you mean by confiscated because my grandfather took many many pictures that show every portion of what the bombs did
zspencer711
America! Fuck yeah!
TheEmperorOfMankind40000
Think of it this way through the u.s.a's point of view. Let Russia and America invade losing countless soldiers and turn it into Germany 1/?
TheEmperorOfMankind40000
2.0 in terms of separation. Not to mention the fact that it would be Vietnam before Vietnam. And every person could be a soldier. Anyone.2/2
mousemarie94
Hero or villain depends on where you live... which is why photos like these are important. Human lives are human lives.
SteakNazisMustDie
With all these "we needed to drop the bombs b/c" my two cents is that it gave both practical real-world data on use of atomic weapons, and 1
SteakNazisMustDie
it showed the human cost of these weapons, both of which I think made countries hesitate to use them again without serious consideration 2
SteakNazisMustDie
Imagine a world where Japan surrendered before the bomb, and we ended up using them for the first time in Korea. 3
Sauroctonus
I hesitate to wonder if the country would be split in that situation, and if it wasn't, which half would it resemble...
SteakNazisMustDie
MacArthur wanted to bomb several Chinese border cities during the conflict, suppose he would've gotten his way.
MrsBlake
Empire of the Sun by J.G Ballard - read it kids
ohscrewit
The giant slept no more
Sauroctonus
Did anyone watch the documentary Johanna Lumley was in recently? She spoke to a guy who was a kid at the time, he survived with (1/2)
Sauroctonus
a mile (I think) of the epicentre while digging out their shelter. I thought the radiation would have permeated the ground. (2/3)
Sauroctonus
Or does that usually take a longer time? (3/3)
AJRDeck
Earth is surprisingly good at stopping radiation, AFAIK.
delpharseven
This is a very common misunderstanding. Little Boy and Fat Man were airbursts, too high to create any significant amount of radioactive 1/
delpharseven
fallout (to do that the fireball basically needs to touch the ground). All the radiation that reached the ground was EM (x-rays, etc.). 2/
delpharseven
The radius from the hypocentre (not epicentre) for a 1 Sv dose was about a mile. That is inside the radius for 5 psi overpressure which 3/
LittleAldy
People don't seem to understand not blaming others for things that happened before they were born.
Papakeecha
Invading with a ground force would be even more devastating to human life.
JazzyDong
Thought this was gonna be a "just kidding, this is Detroit" thing.
sgtrobby
People forget that we warned them and dropped pamphlets warning them we were going to destroy their city
NOINOON
Oh. This shit again. From their pov IT WAS ENEMY PROPAGANDA.
thatmuslimguy
Gee thanks - japanese probably
Chunky4life
Don't start shit you can't finish.
SophisticatedBadassery
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes
mousemarie94
So people with no where else to go were going to uproot their entire lives and families on what they might have seen as propaganda?
cuteandcuddly
People forget a lot of thins. Watch the Untold History of the United States.
SomethingWittyIDK
I believe that's debated and maybe not actually true. I remember reading about that but I can't find the link atm
sosimsinking
Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that American Propaganda?
d0o0o0d
It's not untrue. There are pamphlets preserved in the museum at Hiroshima urging civilians to evacuate.
sosimsinking
Both? Or just Hiroshima?
d0o0o0d
I dunno about Nagasaki, but the pamphlet drops are real, and there is proof at the museum.
bergymaximus
It's only propaganda if we don't make good on our promises. Which we did.
sosimsinking
I mean the propaganda is that America says they dropped pamphlets (and can produce mock examples) when they might not have?
playthatrecordbackwards
I don't know about the pamphlets. Japanese government definitely was aware.
GreatAlfredini
I thought we *wanted* to scare the world with how powerful the bomb was. Why would we confiscate pictures that showed its devastation?
delpharseven
The US didn't want its people seeing how devastating they were. Look at the post-war propaganda telling people they could survive by 1/
delpharseven
hiding under a desk. They wanted US citizens to believe that a nuclear war was survivable so they could continue the arms race. Once 2/
delpharseven
everyone woke up and realized that a nuclear war would mean extinction the anti-nuke movement began. 3/3
GreatAlfredini
Ahhh, good point.
steadyrockin
We don't need pictures to know how horrible the aftermath was. War is hell. Life goes on. Just never forget so we dont repeat ourselves
Kittenswithasteamedcoat
Repeating cliches like "war is hell" for people who have never seen or experienced it doesn't have a lasting impact. Pictures, however, do.
NOINOON
War is not hell. http://m.imgur.com/r0eGs0c.jpg
Autumlove
"Pic or it didn't happen" is kinda a thing now. Having unedited evidence of history is important for our future.
Arizoniac
Even though this aftermath is bad, if you look at cities destroyed with conventional bombs (Warsaw, Dresden), both methods were devastating
umpbumpfizz
But that's WHY we need pictures. So those of us who haven't experienced it can glean some inkling of what it is.
dmil103
People forget how monstrous the Japanese were in WW2 before the US joined in. They were very nearly as bad as Germany.
d0o0o0d
The countries near Japan would say they were worse.
spoileddentist
Japanese army kill a lot of Malaysian chinese during the war. A lot of chinese people gave up their children and gave them to be raised 1/2
spoileddentist
..by other races during the war. The moment the bomb dropped Japan retreat from our country only to be replaced by British.
ZacEM
You say that as if it in any way justifies using the nukes.
squintish
They have, however, repeatedly vowed never to make war again. I wish more countries would join them.
Sauroctonus
But we also have to remember that the majoritory of their populations would just be going along because it was all they could do.
roburtguy
Worse. And they still deny what they did.
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKYOOOOOOOOUUUU
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731
Fahargo
they were just as bad
fruust
The japanese mengele was worse than mengele
The2020ElectionWasStolen
Incredibly, he was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for their full disclosure of germ warfare data based on human experiment.
The2020ElectionWasStolen
He died a good Catholic though, having converted on his deathbed. How convenient.
HeckuvaEngineer
And had camps similar to Auschwitz. But nobody really publicizes it.
SchrodingersSchrodinger
North Korea still does and no one gives a shit
JobenFreemen
The U.S. had camps for the Japenese Americans, nothing on Nazi camps ofc. No ones hands are clean in war.
MightyHank
You are an idiot.
JobenFreemen
Grow up kid.
HeckuvaEngineer
Ours weren't to play around with different killing methods. It was to stop any possible spies living in the US. We just isolated them.
JobenFreemen
I'm aware, but you can't justify taking entire families (including old ladies and children) out of they're homes based on ancestory 1/2
JobenFreemen
It was racist and flagrant violation of civil liberties.
TylerPowell89
Exactly! This was literally the only way we could stop them. They just wouldn't surrender
ZacEM
There was talk of surrender long before the nukes fell.
SuckAnElf
I absolutely believe they were much worse. Look at what they did to the Chinese.
RideTheTiger
That one picture of Japanese troops burying Chinese civilians alive, is absolutely haunting.
BallsackHippo
Japan has a long history of cruelty, just think about how Samurais (real ones, not Hollywood ones) used to test new swords on living targets
BallsackHippo
Sometime the targets were criminals but sometime they just picked an innocent passerby.
giveittomestraightlikeapearcidermadefrom100percentpears
People have forgotten the same thing about the Russians just after the war. They never taught us that in school. That in some concentration>
Keydan
Russians were barbaric, but they were not even close to the inhumane levels of German death camps and Japanese with unit 731.
TheCommissar
And let's not forget what they did to Berlin.
giveittomestraightlikeapearcidermadefrom100percentpears
camps the Russians did to the Nazis what was done to them. But i would say more unjustly. They punished Nazi officers wives and children. >
giveittomestraightlikeapearcidermadefrom100percentpears
The postman, and other people with no real connection with the camp.. Just punishing the officers would have some strange justice to it.
The2020ElectionWasStolen
It is rumored that some guards ended up buried alive with the corpses in some liberated camps, Belsen e.g. Not in the Russian sector.
giveittomestraightlikeapearcidermadefrom100percentpears
Humans are the worst.
Malleck
They started it.
welluhwhatdoyouwantmetosay
MacArthur's great sin was not plowing down Yasukuni Shrine, where they honor war criminals, and blame Roosevelt for the war.
randolphjcarter
I'm not sure that was the point of the post or the releasing of the pictures but........
cominginhot
US knew about Pearl Harbor's strike
HEXADECIMAL
Read this article then get in on this discussion below.
cuteandcuddly
Well, it's fair to say they did. Although the US is still the first and the only country that used nuclear weapon in warfare.
DeckhandAdmiral
And with good reason, i think we all understand that further war would've cost many many more lives.
cuteandcuddly
There's a different perspective on that, but what's done is done http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1494191
DeckhandAdmiral
Right.. thats not a real source.. There are, and they're wrong. As it would've taken the invasion of japan for them to finally surrender.
SingleFlamingle
We finished it.
abcedertree
Well, their military started it. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind - with thoughtless rage. And here we are.
spankmyass
Oh boo hoo... I disagreed with the American.
koopaya
"disagree" implies you tried to engage in some kind of discussion. Instead you said "shut the fuck up"
Xen300
To be fair, if you say something critical of the US on here, you tend to get very severely downvoted, very quickly.
HEXADECIMAL
http://www.iiipublishing.com/politics/asian_war/source/hull/hull_28.html
MissDashLisa
Tl:dr bad people on both sides
drOctopi
The Japanese murdered 6 to 10 million Asians before Pearl Harbor.
RideTheTiger
The Japanese lead "Rape of Nanking" killed more than 200,000 Chinese.
spankmyass
Shut the fuck up ????
FeversAndMirrors
This way of using question marks seems to be quite popular ????
Danowar1990
Look at all these people accurately describing the subtleties of the decades-long Pacific Theater in less than 140 characters
Kaleopolitus
My thought exactly...
Blazefast
Thank you for those carefully chosen words Donawar, you think we'd learned.
The2020ElectionWasStolen
The Pacific theater was four short years.
Danowar1990
Between the US and Japan, yes. I meant everything else that lead up to it as well.
The2020ElectionWasStolen
Well, what's subtle about Japanese Imperial aggression?
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v3rtabreaker
As a New Yorker who's parents are from the Philippines, who's family died to torture from the Japanese during WWII: Thank God!
PriapusMagnus
So?
Mitheledh
Ironically, the bombs probably actually saved lives.
[deleted]
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Mitheledh
I do not believe those are comparable.
d0o0o0d
Yeah, had a moment of stupid there.
VultureTX
most harsh? Hardly even under the Geneva Conventions we could done far worse to Honshu.
revcleo
Recent discussions have been saying it was the threat of Russia which finished it, with the bombs used to save face. Japan was burnt before.
revcleo
http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/30/the-bomb-didnt-beat-japan-stalin-did/
RyoukoSama
On mobile, stupid adds won't let me read it.
revcleo
rip
The2020ElectionWasStolen
interesting read
revcleo
Yeah, even if you don't agree with it, it does make sense.