Nuclear Bombing of Nagasaki

Mushroom cloud over Nagasaki

Historical Context

Nagasaki was the second Japanese city to be bombed by the US in the dying days of World War II. Unlike "Little Boy" dropped on Hiroshima on the 6th August 1945, Nagasaki's bomb, christened "Fat Man", was plutonium based and dropped three days later on the 9th August.

Although this second bomb was more powerful than that dropped on Hiroshima, the hilly terrain of Nagasaki protected it to some extent and there was no firestorm. The effects were still catastrophic, with the exact death toll unknown but estimated at about 75,000.

Photo Info

Photographer: Charles Levy
Date taken: August 9, 1945
Location taken: Nagasaki, Japan

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1945-07-28 Physicist Raemer Schreiber and Lieutenant Colonel Peer de Silva arrive on the Pacific island of Tinian with the plutonium core used to assemble the Fat Man bomb used in the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9
1945-08-09 US drops second atomic bomb "Fat Man" on Nagasaki, Japan, destroying part of the city