| Hiroshima, Japan looking east across the Ōtagawa and Motoyasugawa Rivers to Ōtemachi District. This view, taken in late September 1945, shows how quickly the Japanese were able to clear the city streets of debris. Only the brick and steel frame buildings survived the atomic attack. Their glass windows shattered in the blast wave, cutting down the people within, and exposing the survivors to the flash heat that followed. Visible center right is the Fukuya Department Store, the tallest building in Hiroshima, which was completely gutted. This view was received by Army Intelligence and published in the October 1945 issue of Impact, the United States Army Air Force’s classified magazine distributed to airmen around the world. It was released to the public on November 27, 1945. Colonel Paul Tibbets (February 23, 1915 – November 1, 2007), the pilot of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress that dropped the “Little Boy” atomic bomb on Hiroshima, was known to have signed copies of this photo. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1678.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.11 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 3649 x 2685 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Army Signal Corps |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | September 1, 1945 |
| Location | Ōtemachi District |
| City | Hiroshima |
| State or Province | Hiroshima |
| Country | Japan |
| Archive | Library of Congress |
| Record Number | LC-USZ62-134192 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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