What was nagasaki like before the war

The article contains graphic images and details some people may find upsetting. The recorded death tolls are estimates, but it is thought that about , of Hiroshima's , population were killed in the blast, and that at least 74, people died in Nagasaki. The nuclear radiation released by the bombs caused thousands more people to die from radiation sickness in the weeks, months and years that followed.

Those who survived the bombings are known as "hibakusha". Survivors faced a horrifying aftermath in the cities, including psychological trauma. The bombings brought about an abrupt end to the war in Asia, with Japan surrendering unconditionally to the Allies on 14 August But critics have said that Japan was already on the brink of surrender. Following the end of the fighting in Europe on 7 May , the Allies told Japan to surrender by 28 July, but the deadline passed without them doing so.

An estimated 71, soldiers from Britain and the Commonwealth were killed in the war against Japan, including more than 12, prisoners of war who died in Japanese captivity. It was the first time an atomic bomb had ever been used in a war. The Hiroshima bomb, known as "Little Boy", contained the equivalent of between 12, and 15, tons of TNT and devastated an area of 13sq km 5sq miles. Three days later, the Americans dropped another atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki at Japanese time.

Hiroshima was a city of considerable military importance. It contained the 2nd Army Headquarters, which commanded the defense of all of southern Japan. The city was a communications center, a storage point, and an assembly area for troops. To quote a Japanese report, "Probably more than a thousand times since the beginning of the war did the Hiroshima citizens see off with cries of 'Banzai' the troops leaving from the harbor.

The center of the city contained a number of reinforced concrete buildings as well as lighter structures. Outside the center, the area was congested by a dense collection of small wooden workshops set among Japanese houses; a few larger industrial plants lay near the outskirts of the city.

The houses were of wooden construction with tile roofs. Many of the industrial buildings also were of wood frame construction. Paul Deaton lives in rural Johnson County and retired from a career in transportation and logistics during the coronavirus pandemic. Wilford H. Stone Business News Jul. Guest Columnists Nov. Todd Dorman. Staff Columnists Nov. Adam Sullivan.

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Daily News Podcast. Daily Newsletters. Streetcars, bicyclists, and pedestrians make their way through the wreckage of Hiroshima. One of several Japanese fire engines transferred to Hiroshima shortly after the bombing. Hiroshima after the bombing. A Japanese woman and her child, casualties in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, lie on a blanket on the floor of a damaged bank building converted into a hospital and located near the center of the devastated town, on October 6, The devastated landscape of Hiroshima, months after the bombing.

Post office savings bank, Hiroshima. Shadow of window frame left on fiberboard walls made by the flash of the detonation. October 4, In Hiroshima, gas tanks showing shadowing effects of the flash on asphalt paint. Two Japanese men sit in a makeshift office set up in a ruined building in Hiroshima. The shattered Nagarekawa Methodist Church stands amid the ruins of Hiroshima. A huge expanse of ruins left after the explosion of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima.

An aerial view of Hiroshima, some time after the atom bomb was dropped on this Japanese city.