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80 years ago today, on August 6, 1945, the United States deployed “Little Boy,” an atomic bomb, on Hiroshima, Japan, marking the first use of a nuclear weapon in warfare. This World War II event instantly devastated the city, leading to the deaths of tens of thousands near the hypocenter, approximately 10 kilometres (6 miles) north of Ninoshima. By the end of that year, the death toll had reached an estimated 140,000. Within two hours of the blast, victims began arriving by boat from Hiroshima at the island’s Number 2 quarantine centre. Its buildings are filled with patients suffering severe wounds. Many died en route to the island. (Photo Source: Associated Press)
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This handout picture, taken on August 6, 1945, by the US Army and released from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, shows a mushroom cloud of the atomic bomb dropped by the B-29 bomber Enola Gay over the city of Hiroshima. (Photo source: Associated Foreign Press)
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In this September 8, 1945, file photo, an Allied correspondent stands in a sea of rubble before the shell of a building that once was a cinema in Hiroshima, western Japan, a month after the first atomic bomb ever used in warfare was dropped by the US to hasten Japan’s surrender. Many people exposed to radiation developed symptoms such as vomiting and hair loss. Most of those with severe radiation symptoms died within three to six weeks. Others who lived beyond that developed health problems related to burns, radiation-induced cancers and other illnesses. (Photo Source: Associated Press)
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In this August 8, 1945, file photo, survivors walk past one of the few buildings still standing two days after an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945. (Photo Source: Associated Press)
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In this September 7, 1945, file photo, an unidentified man stands next to a tiled fireplace where a house once stood in Hiroshima, Japan. In recollections published by the city years later, Gishi, a resident of Japan who witnessed the bombing, wrote that soldiers initially handled bodies carefully, one by one, but were soon overwhelmed by the huge number of decomposing corpses and used an incinerator originally intended for military horses. (Photo Source: Associated Press)
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An undated handout image released by the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum of the Hiroshima A-bomb Dome, originally the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, photographed by the US military following the atomic bomb drop on Hiroshima. (Photo Source: Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum)
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The headquarters of Geibi Bank (second building from the left) as seen from Saiku-machi (now part of Ote-machi, Naka Ward), hypocenter of the atomic bombing. To the right of the bank building is the Hiroshima branch of the Sumitomo Bank. The building in the foreground on the right is the Hiroshima branch of the Norinchukin Bank. This photo was taken by the U.S. military in November 1945. (Photo Source: United States Army – Returned Materials)
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In this September 8, 1945, file photo released by the US Air Force, two people walk on a cleared path through the destruction resulting from the August 6 detonation of the first atomic bomb in Hiroshima. (Photo Source: Associated Press)
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The building was constructed in 1915 as the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall. In 1921, the name changed to Hiroshima Prefectural Products Exhibition Hall and again in 1933 to Industrial Promotion Hall. The atomic bombing killed everyone in the building. Because the bomb exploded virtually overhead, it retained the distinctive feature that earned it the name “A-bomb Dome” after the war. (Photo source: National Archives)
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This picture, taken soon after the bombing, shows smouldering fires around the once bustling street. In the centre, back, is the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall (now, the A-bomb Dome). This photo was taken on Hondori Street, facing north. A charred body lies at the bottom left corner. (Photo source: Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum)
