“The owner of the shadow is my mother.” - Sachiko Ochi
The Atomic bombs that were dropped on the Japanese villages of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
encapsulate one of the darkest periods in human history. Many argue the darkest. The bombs
exemplify humankind’s ability to inflict the most heinous of crimes on one another. Since the dawn
of time there has been killing and murder in the name of war. But none darker or more detached
than the bomb. Certainly none more venomous and detached from the brutality than the atomic
bomb. Such were its affects that the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the first and the last
times nuclear power have been used in war. The complete capitulation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
within seconds of the blast and the instant death of 80,000 people on impact is merely a percentage of the damage done on the days ‘Fat Man’ and ‘Little Boy’ were dropped. A despicable event in history and an unforgiving horror. To play devil’s advocate, I’m not sure the United States knew the extent to which the damage dropping these bombs would cause. The aftershock their impact we can still fell today. It is very difficult to imagine, if the US government did know the true power of the bombs and what it would do to people in the epicentre of the blast, people that were hit by a shockwave, the radiation poisoning and the lives it still affects today, that the order would have been given to drop them. Surely not. A truly deplorable time in human history and one that left physical scars on the Japanese people and one that created some of the most eery and haunting images ever. The Hiroshima Shadows.
The Hiroshima shadows are outlines of bodies that were evaporated from the heat of the blast.
People closest the blast site were incinerated by the heat wave that was initially emitted from the
bomb’s explosion. Contrary to popular belief, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima ‘Little Boy’ did not
detonate on impact, rather it detonated above ground whilst still falling. The immediate radiation
release along with the power and heat of the blast evaporated anything and anyone in its vicinity.
The heat was so powerful that bodies that were struck by the blast were permanently etched into
the concrete they stood on. On August 6 th 1945, Enola Gay was 9 kilometres above Hiroshima when Little Boy was released. And 44.4 seconds later at 8:15 a.m., it exploded. Little Boy contained 64 kilograms of uranium 235. The blinding light that was emitted is estimated to be 1,000 times brighter than the sun and the heat was roughly 4,000 degrees Celsius. According to the World Nuclear Association, the explosion was equivalent to 16,000 tonnes of TNT exploding, which sent a pulse of thermal energy rippling across the city. The pulse flattened 13 square kilometres of the city. Roughly 25% of the population of Hiroshima died immediately. Another 25% died of the effects of radiation poisoning and cancer in the months that followed. Three days after that blast, on the 9th of August the United States detonated the second atomic bomb, nicknamed ‘Fat Man’, over Nagasaki.
The plutonium 239 bomb released a 21,000 tonne explosion that yielded identical results to that of the destruction in Hiroshima. Before the outbreak of war in 1939, a group of American scientists many of whom were refugees from fascist regimes in Europe became concerned with nuclear weapons research being conducted in Nazi Germany. In 1940, the United States government began funding its own atomic weapons development program, which came under the joint responsibility of the Office of Scientific Research and Development and the War Department after the U.S. entry into World War II. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was tasked with spearheading the construction of the vast facilities necessary for the top-secret program, codenamed “The Manhattan Project” and it was in this facility that the bombs were produced. Online you can find pictures of the bombs and written on the sides of both Little Boy and Fat Man in marker are some of the engineers and soldiers’ names that helped create and transport the bombs. Truly haunting photographs.
J. Robert Oppenheimer was the lead scientist in the production of these bombs and has recently
come to prominence due to the self-titled film ‘Oppenheimer’ directed by Christopher Nolan and
starring Cillian Murphy as the protagonist. Over the next several years, the program’s scientists
worked on producing the key materials for nuclear fission uranium 235 and plutonium 239. They
sent them to Los Alamos, New Mexico, where a team led by Oppenheimer worked to turn these
materials into a workable atomic bomb. Early on the morning of July 16, 1945, the Manhattan
Project held its first successful test of an atomic device a plutonium bomb at the Trinity test site at
Alamogordo, New Mexico. On the morning of August 6th, 1945, the Sumitomo Bank in Hiroshima was just about to open. Some of its employees were already inside, while others were on their way to work when the nuclear bomb was dropped. The bank’s 29 employees were instantly killed, including those on their way to work. Some survivors of the blast died a few days later due to radiation sickness. According to Hiroshima City’s archives, passersby took refuge in the building because it was close to ground zero. A huge pile of bodies were recovered inside the building during the search and recovery operations.
One victim was sitting outside the Hiroshima Branch of Sumitomo Bank, two blocks away from
where Little Boy exploded. The Blast Shadow left of the person has become the most prominent of
its kind. This is the most famous of all the Hiroshima shadow photographs. In 1971, moves to
demolish the Hiroshima Branch of Sumitomo Bank prompted a survivor to come forward and plead
with the government to preserve the Blast Shadow. Sachiko Ochi claimed she was the daughter of
the victim. The Peace Memorial Museum initially refused, but eventually acceded to her request, "Every time the shadow faded, my mother seemed to move away from me,” said Ochi. “I'm glad that she is finally recognized. The demolition of the bank proceeded in 1971 and the stones showing the Blast Shadow of Sachiko Ochi’s mother were carefully removed and donated to the museum. There, they were care meticulously reassembled. You can visit the museum to see that artefact today. Other photographs of the Hiroshima shadows are available online. Six days after the second blast having witnessed the devastation the bombs, and eager to spare his people from further misery, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's surrender on August 15th and signed the formal declaration on September 2nd 1945 ending World War II. Nuclear weapons were never used again.