IN PICS | Rare pictures from 1945 on Hiroshima Day; 77 years since World War II atomic bombings

On this day (August 6), 77 years ago, the United States dropped their deadliest atomic bombs on Hiroshima during World War II. After his predecessor Ban Ki Moon's visit in 2010, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was the first UN leader to attend the yearly ceremony at the Peace Memorial Park. The United States used atomic bombs against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and August 9, respectively, during World War II. These images depict the deadly destruction caused.

Devastation is seen in the vicinity of 'ground zero' after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan. August 6 marks 75 years since the United States unleashed the world's first atomic bomb attack on the city of Hiroshima, followed three days later by the second and last on Nagasaki, vaporizing lives, buildings and Japan's capacity for war.
 

A 21-year-old soldier who was exposed to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima lies on a cot with purple subcutaneous haemorrhage spots visible on his body at the Ujina Branch of the Hiroshima First Army Hospital in Hiroshima prefecture, Japan, on September 3, 1945.

A woman being treated shows her wounds caused by an atomic bomb in Nagasaki, Japan March 17, 1948. On August 9, the United States dropped another bomb, dubbed "Fat Man", about 261 miles to the south over Nagasaki, instantly killing more than 75,000 people beneath a mushroom cloud which grew as high as 30,000 feet. Japan surrendered six days later, ending World War Two.
 

A "Little Boy" atomic bomb, the kind detonated over Hiroshima and a "Fat Man" atomic bomb type, the kind detonated over Nagasaki. 
 

Smoke billows 20,000 feet (6,100 metres) after an atomic bomb codenamed "Little Boy" exploded after being dropped by a U.S. Army Air Force B-29 bomber named "Enola Gay" over Hiroshima.

A bridge 4,400 feet east of the detonation centre of the atomic bomb blast is seen in Hiroshima.
 

U.S. troops arrive a month after an atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan in September 1945.
 

The crew of the U.S. Army Air Forces B-29 bomber Enola Gay commanded by Colonel Paul Tibbets, Jr. (top row C), that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, pose in 1946.