 section 5 the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer visit LibriVox.org the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the Manhattan engineer district June 29th 1946 section 5 including characteristics of the damage caused by the atomic bombs calculations of the peak pressure of the blast wave long-range blast damage ground shock shielding or screening from the blast and flash burn characteristics of the damage caused by the atomic bombs the damage to man-made structures caused by the bombs was due to two distinct causes first the blast or pressure wave emanating from the center of the explosion and second the fires which were caused either by the heat of the explosion itself or by the collapse of buildings containing stoves electrical features or any other equipment which might produce what is known as a secondary fire and subsequent spread of these fires the blast produced by the atomic bomb has already been stated to be approximately equivalent to that of 20,000 tons of TNT given this figure one may calculate the expected peak pressures in the air at various distances from the center of the explosion which occurred following detonation of the bomb the peak pressures which were calculated before the bombs were dropped agreed very closely with those which were actually experienced in the cities during the attack as computed by allied experts in a number of ingenious ways after the occupation of Japan the blast of pressure from the atomic bombs differed from that of ordinary high explosive bombs in three main ways a downward thrust because the explosions were well up in the air much of the damage resulted from a downward pressure this pressure of course most largely affected flat roofs some telegraph and other poles immediately below the explosion remained upright while those at crater distances from the center of damage being more largely exposed to a horizontal thrust from the blast pressure waves were overturned or tilted trees underneath the explosion remained upright but had their branches broken downward B mass distortion of buildings an ordinary bomb can damage only a part of a large building which may then collapse further under the action of gravity but the blast wave from an atomic bomb is so large that it can engulf whole buildings no matter how great their size pushing them over as though a giant hand had given them a shove see long duration of the positive pressure pulse and consequent small effect of the negative pressure or suction phase in any explosion the positive pressure exerted by the blast lasts for a definite period of time usually a small fraction of a second and is then followed by a somewhat longer period of negative pressure or suction the negative pressure is always much weaker than the positive but in ordinary explosions the short duration of the positive pulse results in many structures not having time to fail in that phase while they are able to fail under the more extended though weaker negative pressure but the duration of the positive pulse is approximately proportional to the one-third power of the size of the explosive charge thus if the relation held true throughout the range in question a 10 ton TNT explosion would have a positive pulse only about one fourteenth as long as that of a 20,000 ton explosion consequently the atomic explosions had positive pulses so much longer than those of ordinary explosives that nearly all failures probably occurred during this phase and very little damage could be attributed to the suction which followed one other interesting feature was the combination of flash ignition and comparative slow pressure wave some objects such as thin dry wooden slats were ignited by the radiated flash heat and then their fires were blown out some time later depending on their distance from x by the pressure blast which followed the flash radiation calculations of the peak pressure of the blast wave several ingenious methods were used by the various investigators to determine upon visiting the wrecked cities what had actually been the peak pressures exerted by the atomic blasts these pressures were computed for various distances from x and curves were then plotted which were checked against the theoretical predictions of what the pressures would be a further check was afforded from the readings obtained by the measuring instruments which were dropped by parachute at each atomic attack the peak pressure figures gave a direct clue to the equivalent TNT tonnage of the atomic bombs since the pressures developed by any given amount of TNT can be calculated easily one of the simplest methods of estimating the peak pressure is from crushing of oil drums gasoline cans or any other empty thin metal vessel with a small opening the assumption made is that the blast wave pressure comes on instantaneously the resulting pressure on the can is more than the case can withstand and the walls collapse inward the air inside is compressed adiabatically to such a point that the pressure inside is less by a certain amount than the pressure outside this amount being the pressure difference outside and in that the walls can stand in their crumpled condition the uncertainties involved are first that some air rushes in through any opening that the can may have and thus helps to build up the pressure inside and second that as the pressure outside falls the air inside cannot escape sufficiently fast to avoid the walls of the can being blown out again to some extent these uncertainties are such that estimates of pressure based on this method are on the low side that is they are underestimated another method of calculating the peak pressure is through the bending of steel flag poles or lightning conductors away from the explosion it is possible to calculate the drag on a pole or rod in an air stream of a certain density and velocity by connecting this drag with the strength of the pole in question a determination of the pressure wave may be obtained still another method of estimating the peak pressure is through the overturning of memorial stones of which there are a great quantity in Japan the dimensions of the stones can be used along with known data on the pressure exerted by wind against flat surfaces to calculate the desired figure long range blast damage there was no consistency in the long range blast damage observers often thought they had found the limit and then 2000 feet farther away would find further evidence of damage the most impressive long range damage was the collapse of some of the barracks sheds at Kamigo 23,000 feet south of X and Nagasaki it was remarkable to see some of the buildings intact to the last details including the roof and even the windows and yet next to them a similar building collapsed to ground level the limiting radius for severe displacement of roof tiles in Nagasaki was about 10,000 feet although isolated cases were found up to 16,000 feet in Hiroshima the general limiting radius was about 8,000 feet however even at a distance of 26,000 feet from X in Hiroshima some tiles were displaced at Mogi seven miles from X in Nagasaki over steep hills over 600 feet high about 10% of the glass came out in nearer sequestered localities only four miles from X no damage of any kind was caused an interesting effect was noted at Mogi eyewitnesses said that they thought a raid was being made on the place one big flash was seen then a loud roar followed at several second intervals by half a dozen other loud reports from all directions these successive reports were obviously reflections from the hills surrounding Mogi ground shock the ground shock in most cities was very light water pipes still carried water and where leaks were visible they were mainly above ground virtually all of the damage to underground utilities was caused by the collapse of buildings rather than by any direct exertion of the blast pressure this of course resulted from the bombs having been exploded high in the air shielding or screening from blast in any explosion a certain amount of protection from blast may be gained by having any large and substantial object between the protected object and the center of the explosion this shielding effect was noticeable in the atomic explosions just as in ordinary cases although the magnitude of the explosions and the fact that they occurred at a considerable height in the air caused marked differences from the shielding which would have characterized ordinary bomb explosions the outstanding example of shielding was that afforded by the hills in the city of Nagasaki it was the shielding of these hills which resulted in the smaller area of devastation in Nagasaki despite the fact that the bomb used was not less powerful the hills gave effective shielding only at such distances from the center of explosion that the blast pressure was becoming critical that is was only barely sufficient to cause collapse for the structure houses built in ravines in Nagasaki pointing well away from the center of the explosion survived without damage but others at similar distances in ravines pointing toward the center of explosion were greatly damaged in the north of Nagasaki there was a small hamlet about 8,000 feet from the center of explosion one could see a distinctive variation in the intensity of damage across the hamlet corresponding with the shadows thrown by a sharp hill the best example of shielding by a hill was southeast of the center of explosion in Nagasaki the damage at 8,000 feet from x consisted of light plaster damage and destruction of about half the windows these buildings were of European type and were on the reverse side of a steep hill at the same distance to the south southeast the damage was considerably greater that is all windows and frames doors were damaged and heavy plaster damage and cracks in the brickwork also appeared the contrast may be illustrated also by the fact that at the Nagasaki prefectural office at 10,800 feet the damage was bad enough for the building to be evacuated while at the Nagasaki normal school to which the prefectural office had been moved at the same distance the damage was comparatively light because of the height of the bursts no evidence was expected of the shielding of one building by another at least up to a considerable radius it was in fact difficult to find any evidence at any distance of such shielding there appeared to have been a little shielding of the building behind the administration building of the torpedo works in Nagasaki but the benefits were very slight there was also some evidence that the group of buildings comprising the medical school in Nagasaki did afford each other mutual protection on the whole however shielding of one building by another was not noticeable there was one other peculiar type of shielding best exhibited by the workers houses to the north of the torpedo plant in Nagasaki these were 6,000 to 7,000 feet north of X the damage to these houses was not nearly as bad as those over a thousand feet farther away from the center of explosion it seemed as though the great destruction caused in the torpedo plant had weakened the blast a little and the full power was not restored for another 1,000 feet or more flash burn as already stated a characteristic feature of the atomic bomb which is quite foreign to ordinary explosives is that a very appreciable fraction of the energy liberated goes into radiant heat and light for a sufficiently large explosion the flash burn produced by this radiated energy will become the dominant cause of damage since the area of burn damage will increase in proportion to the energy released whereas the area of blast damage increases only with the two-thirds power of the energy although such a reversal of the mechanism of damage was not achieved in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs the effects of the flash were however very evident and many casualties resulted from flash burns a discussion of the casualties caused by flash burns will be given later in this section will be described the other flash effects which were observed in the two cities the duration of the heat radiation from the bomb is so short just a few thousands of a second that there is no time for the energy falling on a surface to be dissipated by thermal diffusion the flash burn is typically a surface effect in other words the surface of either a person or an object exposed to the flash is raised to a very high temperature while immediately beneath the surface very little rise in temperature occurs the flash burning of the surface of objects particularly wooden objects occurred in Hiroshima up to a radius of 9,500 feet from x and at Nagasaki burns were visible up to 11,000 feet from x the charring and blackening of all telephone poles trees and wooden posts in the areas not destroyed by the general fire occurred only on this side facing the center of explosion and did not go around the corners of buildings or hills the exact position of the explosion was in fact accurately determined by taking a number of sites from various objects which had been flash burned on one side only to illustrate the effects of the flash burn the following describes a number of examples found by an observer moving northward from the center of explosion in Nagasaki first occurred a row of fence posts at the north edge of the prison hill at 0.3 miles from x the top and upper part of these posts were heavily charred the charring on the front of the posts was sharply limited by the shadow of a wall this wall had however been completely demolished by the blast which of course arrived some time after the flash at the north edge of the torpedo works 1.05 miles from x telephone poles were charred to a depth of about 0.5 millimeters a light piece of wood similar to the flat side of an orange crate was found leaning against one of the telephone poles its front surface was charred the same way as the pole but it was evident that it had actually been ignited the wood was blackened through a couple of cracks and nail holes and around the edges onto the back surface it seemed likely that this piece of wood had flamed up under the flash for a few seconds before the flame was blown out by the wind of the blast farther out between 1.05 and 1.5 miles from the explosion were many trees and poles showing a blackening some of the poles had platforms near the top the shadows cast by the platforms were clearly visible and showed that the bomb had detonated at a considerable height the row of poles turned north and crossed the mountain ridge the flash burn was plainly visible all the way to the top of the ridge the farthest burn observed being at 2.0 miles from x another striking effect of the flash burn was the autumnal appearance of the bowl formed by the hills on three sides of the explosion point the ridges are about 1.5 miles from x throughout this bowl the foliage turned yellow although on the far side of the ridges the countryside was quite green this autumnal appearance of the trees extended to about 8 000 feet from x however shrubs and small plants quite near the center of the explosion in erotima although stripped of leaves had obviously not been killed many were throwing out new buds when observers visited the city there are two other remarkable effects of the heat radiated from the bomb explosion the first of these is the manner in which heat roughened the surface of polished granite which retained its polish only where it was shielded from the radiated heat traveling in straight lines from the explosion this roughening of radiated heat caused the unequal expansion of the constituent crystals of the stone for granite crystals the melting temperature is about 600 degrees centigrade therefore the depth of roughening and ultimate flaking of the granite surface indicated the depth to which this temperature occurred and helped to determine the average ground temperatures in the instant following the explosion this effect was noted for distances about one and one half times is great in Nagasaki as in erotima the second remarkable effect was the bubbling of roof tile the size of the bubbles and their extent was proportional to their nearness to the center of explosion and also depended on how squarely the tile itself was faced toward the explosion the distance ratio of this effect between Nagasaki and Hiroshima was about the same as for the flaking of polished granite various other effects of the radiated heat were noted including the lightening of asphalt road surfaces in spots which had not been protected from the radiated heat by any object such as that of a person walking along the road various other surfaces were discolored in different ways by the radiated heat as has already been mentioned the fact that radiant heat traveled only in straight lines from the center of explosion enabled observers to determine the direction toward the center of explosion from a number of different points by observing the shadows which were cast by intervening objects where they shielded the otherwise exposed surface of some object thus the center of explosion was located with considerable accuracy in a number of cases these shadows also gave an indication of the height of the burst of the bomb and occasionally a distinct penumbra was found which enabled observers to calculate the diameter of the ball of fire at the instant it was exerting the maximum charring or burning effect one more interesting feature connected with heat radiation was the charring of fabric to different degrees depending upon the color of the fabric a number of instances were recorded in which persons wearing clothing of various colors received burns greatly varying in degree the degree of burn depending upon the color of the fabric over the skin in question for example a shirt of alternate light and dark gray stripes each about one eighth of an inch wide had the dark stripes completely burned out but the light stripes were undamaged and a piece of japanese paper exposed nearly one and one-half miles from x had the characters which were written in black ink neatly burned out end of section five of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki section six of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer visit LibriVox.org the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the Manhattan Engineer District June 29th 1946 section six consisting of characteristics of injuries to persons burns mechanical injuries blast injuries radiation injuries shielding from radiation and the effects of the atomic bombings on the inhabitants of the cities characteristics of the injuries to persons injuries to persons resulting from the atomic explosion were of the following types a burns from one flash radiation of heat two fires started by the explosions b mechanical injuries from collapse of buildings flying debris etc c direct effects of the high blast pressure that is straight compression d radiation injuries from the instantaneous emission of gamma rays and neutrons it is impossible to assign exact percentages of casualties to each of the types of injury because so many victims were injured by more than one effect of the explosions however it is certain that the greater part of the casualties resulted from burns and mechanical injuries colonel Warren one of america's foremost radiologists stated it is probable that seven percent or less of the deaths resulted primarily from radiation disease the greatest single factor influencing the occurrence of casualties was the distance of the person concerned from the center of the explosion estimates based on the study of a selected group of 900 patients indicated that total casualties occurred as far out as 14,000 feet at Nagasaki and 12,000 feet at Hiroshima burns were suffered at a considerably greater distance from x than any other type of injury and mechanical injuries farther out than radiation effects medical findings show that no person was injured by radio activity who was not exposed to the actual explosion of the bombs no injuries resulted from persistent radio activity of any sort burns two types of burns were observed these are generally differentiated as flame or fire burn and so-called flash burn the early appearance of the flame burn as reported by the Japanese and the later appearance as observed was not unusual the flash burn presented several distinctive features marked redness of the affected skin areas appeared almost immediately according to the Japanese with progressive changes in the skin taking place over a period of a few hours when seen after 50 days the most distinctive feature of these burns was their sharp limitation to exposed skin areas facing the center of the explosion for instance a patient who had been walking in a direction at right angles to a line drawn between him and the explosion and whose arms were swinging might have burns only on the outside of the arm nearest the center and on the inside of the other arm generally any type of shielding protected the skin against flash burns although burns through one and very occasionally more layers of clothing did occur in patients near the center in such cases it was not unusual to find burns through black but not through white clothing on the same patient flash burns also tended to involve areas where the clothes were tightly drawn over the skin such as the elbows and shoulders the Japanese report the incidence of burns in patients surviving more than a few hours after the explosion and seeking medical attention as high as 95 percent the total mortalities due to burns alone cannot be estimated with any degree of accuracy as mentioned already it is believed that the majority of all the deaths occurred immediately of these the Japanese estimate that 75 percent and most of the reports estimate that over 50 percent of the deaths were due to burns in general the incidence of burns was in direct proportion to the distance from x however certain irregularities in this relationship result in the medical studies because of variations in the amount of shielding from flash burn and because of the lack of complete data on persons killed outright close to x the maximum distance from x at which flash burns were observed is of paramount interest it has been estimated that patients with burns at Hiroshima were all less than 7,500 feet from the center of the explosion at the time of the bombing at Nagasaki patients with burns were observed out to the remarkable distance of 13,800 feet mechanical injuries the mechanical injuries included fractures lacerations contusions abrasions and other effects to be expected from falling roofs crumbling walls flying debris and glass and other indirect blast effects the appearance of these various types of mechanical injuries was not remarkable to the medical authorities who studied them it was estimated that patients with lacerations at Hiroshima were less than 10,600 feet from x whereas at Nagasaki they extended as far as 12,200 feet the tremendous drag of wind even as far as one mile from x must have resulted in many injuries and deaths some large pieces of a prison wall for example were flung 80 feet and many have gone 30 feet high before falling the same fate must have befallen many persons and the chances of a human being surviving such treatment are probably small blast injuries no estimate of the number of deaths or early symptoms due to blast pressure can be made the pressures developed on the ground under the explosions were not sufficient to kill more than those people very near the center of damage within 100 feet at most very few cases of ruptured eardrums were noted and it is the general feeling of the medical authorities that the direct blast effects were not great many of the japanese reports which are believed to be false describe immediate effects such as ruptured abdomens with protruding intestines and protruding eyes but no such results were actually traced to the effect of air pressure alone radiation injuries as pointed out in another section of this report the radiations from the nuclear explosions which caused injuries to persons were primarily those experienced within the first second after the explosion a few may have occurred later but all occurred in the first minute the other two general types of radiation that is radiation from scattered fission products and induced radioactivity from objects near the center of the explosion were definitely proved not to have caused any casualties the proper designation of radiation injuries is somewhat difficult probably the two most direct designations are radiation injury and gamma ray injury the former term is not entirely suitable in that it does not define the type of radiation as ionizing and allows possible confusion with other types of radiation for example infrared the objection to the latter term is that it limits the ionizing radiation to gamma rays which were undoubtedly the most important but the possible contribution of neutron and even beta rays to the biological effects cannot be entirely ignored radiation injury has the advantage of custom since it is generally understood in medicine to refer to x-ray effect as distinguished from the effects of actinic radiation accordingly radiation injury is used in this report to mean radiation due only to ionizing radiation according to japanese observations the early symptoms in patients suffering from radiation injury closely resembled the symptoms observed in patients receiving intensive retkin therapy as well as those observed in experimental animals receiving large doses of x-rays the important symptoms reported by the japanese and observed by american authorities were epilation loss of hair patechia bleeding into the skin and other hemorrhagic manifestations oropharyngeal lesions inflammation of the mouth and throat vomiting diarrhea and fever epilation was one of the most spectacular and obvious findings the appearance of the epilated patient was typical the crown was involved more than the sides and in many instances the resemblance to a monk's tonsure was striking in extreme cases the hair was totally lost in some cases regrowth of hair had begun by the time patients were seen 50 days after the bombing curiously epilation of hair other than that of the scalp was extremely unusual patechiae and other hemorrhagic manifestations were striking findings bleeding began usually from the gums and in the more seriously affected was soon evident from every possible source patechiae appeared on the limbs and on pressure points large achemosis hemorrhages under the skin developed about needle punctures and wounds partially healed broke down and bled freely retinal hemorrhages occurred in many of the patients the bleeding time and the coagulation time were prolonged the platelets coagulation of the blood were characteristically reduced in numbers nausea and vomiting appeared within a few hours after the explosion was reported frequently by the Japanese this usually had subsided by the following morning although occasionally it continued for two or three days vomiting was not infrequently reported and observed during the course of the later symptoms although at these times it generally appeared to be related to other manifestation of systemic reactions associated with infection diarrhea of varying degrees of severity was reported and observed in the more severe cases it was frequently bloody for reasons which are not yet clear the diarrhea in some cases was very persistent lesions of the gums and the oral mucus membrane and the throat were observed the affected areas became deep red then violations in color and in many instances ulcerations and necrosis breakdown of tissue followed blood counts done and recorded by the Japanese as well as counts done by the Manhattan engineer district group on such patients regularly showed leucopenia low white blood cell count in extreme cases the white blood cell count was below 1000 normal count is around 7000 in association with the leucopenia and the or pharyngeal lesions a variety of other infective processes were seen wounds and burns which were healing adequately superrated and serious necrosis occurred at the same time similar ulcerations were observed in the larynx bowels and in females the genitalia fever usually accompanied these lesions eye injuries produced by the atomic bombings in both cities were the subject of special investigations the usual type of mechanical injuries were seen in addition lesions consisting of retinal hemorrhage and exudation were observed and 75 percent of the patients showing them had other signs of radiation injury the progress of radiation disease of various degrees of severity is shown in the following table summary of radiation injury clinical symptoms and findings most severe on the first and second day after explosion one nausea and vomiting after one to two hours on the third and fourth days no definite symptoms on the fifth day two diarrhea on the sixth day three vomiting on the seventh day four inflammation of the mouth and throat on the eighth day five fever on the ninth day rapid emaciation and on the tenth day death mortality probably 100 percent moderately severe on the first day nausea and vomiting after one to two hours on the second third fourth fifth sixth seventh eighth ninth and tenth days no definite symptoms on the 11th day two beginning epilation on the 18th day three loss of appetite in general malaise on the 20th day four fever on the 21st day five severe inflammation of the mouth and throat on the 27th day six pallor on the 28th day seven patechiae diarrhea and nose bleeds on the 31st day eight rapid emaciation and death mortality probably 50 percent mild on days one through 18 no definite symptoms on day 19 one epilation day 20 two loss of appetite and malaise on day 22 three sore throat on day 23 four pallor on day 24 five patechiae on day 25 six diarrhea on day 26 seven moderate emaciation followed by recovery unless complicated by previous poor health or superimposed injuries or infection it was concluded that persons exposed to the bombs at the time of detonation did show effects from ionizing radiation and that some of these patients otherwise uninjured died deaths from radiation began about a week after exposure and reached a peak in three to four weeks they practically ceased to occur after seven to eight weeks treatment of the burns and other physical injuries was carried out by the Japanese by orthodox methods treatment of radiation effects by them included general supportive measures such as rest and high vitamin and caloric diets liver and calcium preparations were administered by injection and blood transfusions were used to combat hemorrhage special vitamin preparations and other special drugs used in the treatment of similar medical conditions were used by American Army Medical Corps officers after their arrival although the general measures instituted were of some benefit no definite effect of any of the specific measures on the course of the disease could be demonstrated the use of sulfonamide drugs by the Japanese and particularly of penicillin by the American physicians after their arrival undoubtedly helped control the infections and they appeared to be the single important type of treatment which may have effectively altered the earlier course of these patients one of the most important tasks assigned to the mission which investigated the effects of the bombing was that of determining if the radiation effects were all due to the instantaneous discharges at the time of the explosion or if people were being harmed in addition from persistent radio activity this question was investigated from two points of view direct measurements of persistent radio activity were made at the time of the investigation from these measurements calculations were made of the graded radiation dosages that is the total amount of radiation which could have been absorbed by any person these calculations showed that the highest dosage which would have been received from persistent radioactivity at Hiroshima was between six and 25 retcons of gamma radiation the highest in the Nagasaki area was between 30 and 110 retcons of gamma radiation the ladder figure does not refer to the city itself but to a localized area in the Nishiyama district in interpreting these findings it must be understood that to get these dosages one would have had to remain at the point of highest radioactivity for six weeks continuously from the first hour after the bombing it is apparent therefore that in so far as could be determined at Hiroshima and Nagasaki the residual radiation alone could not have been detrimental to the health of persons entering and living in the bombed areas after the explosion the second approach to this question was to determine if any persons not in the city at the time of the explosion but coming in immediately afterwards exhibited any symptoms or findings which might have been due to persistence induced radioactivity by the time of the arrival of the Manhattan engineer district group several Japanese studies had been done on such persons none of the persons examined in any of these studies showed any symptoms which could be attributed to radiation and their actual blood cell counts were consistently within the normal range throughout the period of the Manhattan engineer district investigation Japanese doctors and patients were repeatedly requested to bring to them any patients who they thought might be examples of persons harmed from persistent radioactivity no such subjects were found it was concluded therefore as a result of these findings and lack of findings that although a measurable quantity of induced radioactivity was found it had not been sufficient to cause any harm to persons living in the two cities after the bombings shielding from radiation exact figures on the thicknesses of various substances to provide complete or partial protection from the effects of radiation in relation to the distance from the center of explosion cannot be released at this time studies of collected data are still underway it can be stated however that at a reasonable distance say about one half mile from the center of explosion protection to persons from radiation injury can be afforded by a layer of concrete or other material whose thickness does not preclude reasonable construction radiation ultimately caused the death of the few persons not killed by other effects and who were fully exposed to the bombs up to a distance of about one half mile from x the british mission has estimated that people in the open had a 50 chance of surviving the effects of radiation at three quarters of a mile from x effects of the atomic bombings on the inhabitants of the bombed cities in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki the tremendous scale of the disaster largely destroyed the cities as entities even the worst of all other previous bombing attacks on germany and japan such as the incendiary raids on hamburg in 1943 and on tokyo in 1945 were not comparable to the paralyzing effect of the atomic bombs in addition to the huge number of persons who were killed or injured so that their services in rehabilitation were not available a panic flight of the population took place from both cities immediately following the atomic explosions no significant reconstruction or repair work was accomplished because of the slow return of the population at the end of november 1945 each of the cities had only about 140 000 people although the ending of the war almost immediately after the atomic bombings removed much of the incentive of the japanese people toward immediate reconstruction of their losses their paralysis was still remarkable even the clearance of wreckage and the burning of the many bodies trapped in it were not well organized some weeks after the bombings as the british mission has stated quote the impression which both cities make is of having sunk in an instant and without a struggle to the most primitive level close quote aside from physical injury and damage the most significant effect of the atomic bombs was the sheer terror which it struck into the peoples of the bombed cities this terror resulting in immediate hysterical activity and flight from the cities had one especially pronounced effect persons who had become accustomed to mass air raids had grown to pay little heed to single planes or small groups of planes but after the atomic bombings the appearance of a single plane caused more terror and disruption of normal life than the appearance of many hundreds of planes had ever been able to cause before the effect of this terrible fear of the potential danger from even a single enemy plane on the lives of the peoples of the world in the event of any future war can easily be conjectured the atomic bomb did not alone when the war against japan but it most certainly ended it saving the thousands of allied lives that would have been lost and any combat invasion of japan end of section six of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki section seven the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer visit LibriVox.org the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the Manhattan engineer district june 29th 1946 section seven part one of an eyewitness account Hiroshima august 6th 1945 by father john a seams professor of modern philosophy at tokyo's catholic university up to august 6th occasional bombs which did no great damage had fallen on Hiroshima many cities round about one after the other were destroyed but Hiroshima itself remained protected there were almost daily observation planes over the city but none of them dropped a bomb the citizens wondered why they alone had remained undisturbed for so long a time there were fantastic rumors that the enemy had something special in mind for this city but no one dreamed that the end would come in such a fashion as on the morning of august 6th august 6th began in a bright clear summer morning about seven o'clock there was an air raid alarm which we had heard almost every day and a few planes appeared over the city no one paid any attention and at about eight o'clock the all clear was sounded i am sitting in my room at the novitiate of the society of Jesus in nagatsuke during the past half year the philosophical and theological section of our mission had been evacuated to this place from tokyo the novitiate is situated approximately two kilometers from Hiroshima halfway up the sides of a broad valley which stretches from the town at sea level into this mountainous hinterland and through which courses a river from my window i have a wonderful view down the valley to the edge of the city suddenly the time is approximately 814 the whole valley is filled by a garish light which resembles the magnesium light used in photography and i am conscious of a wave of heat i jumped to the window to find out the cause of this remarkable phenomenon but i see nothing more than that brilliant yellow light as i make for the door it doesn't occur to me that the light might have something to do with enemy planes on the way from the window i hear a moderately loud explosion which seems to come from a distance and at the same time the windows are broken in with a loud crash there has been an interval of perhaps 10 seconds since the flash of light i am sprayed by fragments of glass the entire window frame has been forced into the room i realize now that a bomb has burst and i am under the impression that it exploded directly over our house or in the immediate vicinity i am bleeding from cuts about the hands and head i attempt to get out of the door it has been forced outwards by the air pressure and has become jammed i force an opening in the door by means of repeated blows with my hands and feet and come to a broad hallway from which opened the various rooms everything is in a state of confusion all the windows are broken and all the doors forced inwards the bookshelves and the hallway have tumbled down i do not note a second explosion and the flyers seem to have gone on most of my colleagues have been injured by fragments of glass the few are bleeding but none has been seriously injured all of us have been fortunate since it is now apparent that the wall of my room opposite the window has been lacerated by long fragments of glass we proceed to the front of the house to see where the bomb has landed there is no evidence however of a bomb crater but the southeast section of the house is very severely damaged not a door nor a window remains the blast of air had penetrated the entire house from the southeast but the house still stands it is constructed in a japanese style with a wooden framework but has been greatly strengthened by the labor of our brother groper as is frequently done in japanese homes only along the front of the chapel which adjoins the house three supports have given way it has been made in the manner of japanese temple entirely out of wood down in the valley perhaps one kilometer toward the city from us several peasant homes are on fire and the woods on the opposite side of the valley are a flame a few of us go over to help control the flames while we are attempting to put things in order a storm comes up and it begins to rain over the city clouds of smoke are rising and i hear a few slight explosions i come to the conclusion that an incendiary bomb with an especially strong explosive action has gone off down in the valley a few of us saw three planes at great altitude over the city at the time of the explosion i myself saw no aircraft whatsoever perhaps a half hour after the explosion a procession of people begins to stream up the valley from the city the crowd thickens continuously a few come up the road to our house we give them first aid and bring them into the chapel which we have in the meantime cleaned and cleared of wreckage and put them to rest on the straw mats which constitute the floor of japanese houses a few display horrible wounds of the extremities and back the small quantity of fat which we possessed during this time of war was soon used up in the care of the burns father rector who before taking holy orders had studied medicine ministers to the injured but our bandages and drugs are soon gone we must be content with cleansing the wounds more and more of the injured come to us the least injured drag the more seriously wounded there are wounded soldiers and mothers carrying burned children in their arms from the houses of the farmers in the valley comes the word our houses are full of wounded and dying can you help at least by taking the worst cases the wounded come from the sections at the edge of the city they saw the bright light their houses collapsed and buried the inmates in their rooms those that were in the open suffered instantaneous burns particularly on the lightly clothed or unclothed parts of the body numerous fires sprang up which soon consumed the entire district we now conclude that the epicenter of the explosion was at the edge of the city near the jagagawa station three kilometers away from us we are concerned about father coop who that same morning went to hold mass at the sisters of the poor who have a home for children at the edge of the city he had not returned as yet toward noon our large chapel and library are filled with the seriously injured the procession of refugees from the city continues finally about one o'clock father coop returns together with the sisters their house and the entire district where they lived has burned to the ground father coop is bleeding about the head and neck and he has a large burn on the right palm he was standing in front of the nunnery ready to go home all of a sudden he became aware of the light felt the wave of heat and a large blister formed on his hand the windows were torn out by the blast he thought that the bomb had fallen in his immediate vicinity the nunnery also a wooden structure made by our brother groper still remained but soon it is noted that the house is as good as lost because the fire which had begun at many points in the neighborhood sweeps closer and closer and water is not available there is still time to rescue certain things from the house and to bury them in an open spot then the house is swept by flame and they fight their way back to us along the shore of the river and through the burning streets soon comes news that the entire city has been destroyed by the explosion and that it is on fire what became of father superior and the three other fathers who were at the center of the city at the central mission and parish house we had up to this time not given them a thought because we did not believe that the effects of the bomb encompassed the entire city also we did not want to go into town except under pressure of dire necessity because we thought that the population was greatly perturbed and that it might take revenge on any foreigners which they might consider spiteful onlookers of their misfortune or even spies father stolte and father earlinghagen go down to the road which is still full of refugees and bring in the seriously injured who have sunken by the wayside to the temporary aid station at the village school there iodine is applied to the wounds but they are left uncleansed neither ointments nor other therapeutic agents are available those that have been brought in are laid on the floor and no one can give them any further care what could one do when all means are lacking under these circumstances it is almost useless to bring them in among the passers-by there are many who are uninjured in a purposeless insensate manner distraught by the magnitude of the disaster most of them rush by and none conceives the thought of organizing help on his own initiative they're concerned only with the welfare of their own families it became clear to us during these days that the Japanese displayed little initiative preparedness and organizational skill in preparation for catastrophes they failed to carry out any rescue work when something could have been saved by a cooperative effort and fatalistically let the catastrophe take its course when we urge them to take part in the rescue work they did everything willingly but on their own initiative they did very little at about four o'clock in the afternoon a theology student and two kindergarten children who lived at the parish house and adjoining buildings which had burned down came in and said that Father Superior LaSalle and Father Schiffer had been seriously injured and that they had taken refuge in Osano Park on the riverbank it is obvious that we must bring them in since they are too weak to come here on foot hurriedly we get together two stretchers and seven of us rush towards the city father rector comes along with food and medicine the closer we get to the city the greater is the evidence of destruction and the more difficult it is to make our way the houses at the edge of the city are all severely damaged many have collapsed or burned down further in almost all of the dwellings have been damaged by fire where the city stood there is a gigantic burned out scar we make our way along the street on the riverbank among the burning and smoking ruins twice we are forced into the river itself by the heat and smoke at the level of the street rightfully burned people beckon to us along the way there are many dead and dying on the Massasi bridge which leads into the inner city we are met by a long procession of soldiers who have suffered burns they drag themselves along with the help of staves or are carried by their less severely injured comrades an endless procession of the unfortunate abandoned on the bridge there stand with sunken heads a number of horses with large burns on their flanks on the far side the cement structure of the local hospital is the only building that remains standing its interior however has been burned out it acts as a landmark to guide us on our way finally we reach the entrance of the park a large proportion of the populace has taken refuge there but even the trees of the park are on fire in several places paths and bridges are blocked by the trunks of fallen trees and are almost impassable we are told that a high wind which may well have resulted from the heat of the burning city has uprooted the large trees it is now quite dark only the fires which are still raging in some places at a distance give out a little light at the far corner of the park on the riverbank itself we at last come upon our colleagues father shiffer is on the ground pale as a ghost he has a deep incised wound behind the ear and has lost so much blood that we are concerned about his chances for survival the father superior has suffered a deep wound of the lower leg father cheslic and father kline's horridge have minor injuries but are completely exhausted while they are eating the food that we have brought along they tell us of their experiences they were in their rooms at the parish house it was a quarter after eight exactly the time when we had heard the explosion in nagatsuke when came the intense light and immediately thereafter the sound of breaking windows walls and furniture they were showered with glass splinters and fragments of wreckage father shiffer was buried beneath a portion of a wall and suffered a severe head injury the father superior received most of the splinters in his back and lower extremity from which he bled copiously everything was thrown about in the rooms themselves but the wooden framework of the house remained intact the solidity of the structure which was the work of brother groper again shown forth they had the same impression that we had in nagatsuke that the bomb had burst in their immediate vicinity the church school and all buildings in the immediate vicinity collapsed at once beneath the ruins of the school the children cried for help they were freed with great effort several others were also rescued from the ruins of nearby dwellings even the father superior and father shiffer despite their wounds rendered aid to others and lost a great deal of blood in the process in the meantime fires which had begun some distance away are raging even closer so that it becomes obvious that everything would soon burn down several objects are rescued from the parish house and were buried and a clearing in front of the church but certain valuables and necessities which had been kept ready in case of fire could not be found on account of the confusion which had been wrought it is high time to flee since the uncoming flames leave almost no way open fukai the secretary of the mission is completely out of his mind he does not want to leave the house and explains that he does not want to survive the destruction of his fatherland he is completely uninjured father klynesorge drags him out of the house on his back and he is forcefully carried away beneath the wreckage of the houses along the way many have been trapped and they scream to be rescued from the oncoming flames they must be left to their fate the way to the place in the city to which one desires to flee is no longer open and one must make for a sano park fukai does not want to go further and remains behind he has not been heard from since in the park we take refuge on the bank of the river a very violent whirlwind now begins to uproot large trees and lifts them high into the air as it reaches the water a waterspout forms which is approximately 100 meters high the violence of the storm luckily passes us by some distance away however where numerous refugees have taken shelter many are blown into the river almost all who are in the vicinity have been injured and have lost relatives who have been penned under the wreckage or who have been lost sight of during the flight there is no help for the wounded and some die no one pays any attention to a dead man lying nearby the transportation of our own wounded is difficult it is not possible to dress their wounds properly in the darkness and they bleed again upon slight motion as we carry them on the shaky litters in the dark over fallen trees of the park they suffer unbearable pain as the result of the movement and lose dangerously large quantities of blood our rescuing angel in this difficult situation is a japanese protestant pastor he has brought up a boat and offers to take our wounded upstream to a place where progress is easier first we lower the litter containing father shiffer into the boat and two of us accompany him we plan to bring the boat back for the father superior the boat returns about one half hour later and the pastor requests that several of us help in the rescue of two children whom he had seen in the river we rescue them they have severe burns soon they suffer chills and die in the park the father superior is conveyed in the boat in the same manner as father shiffer the theology student and myself accompany him father cheslik considers himself strong enough to make his way on foot to nagatsuke with the rest of us but father clinesorge cannot walk so far and we leave him behind and promise to come for him and the housekeeper tomorrow from the other side of the stream comes the winnie of horses who are threatened by the fire we land on a sand spit which juts out from the shore it is full of wounded who have taken refuge there they scream for aid for they are afraid of drowning as the river may rise with the sea and cover the sand spit they themselves are too weak to move however we must press on and finally we reach the spot where the group containing father shiffer is waiting here a rescue party has brought a large case of fresh rice cakes but there is no one to distribute them to the numerous wounded that lie all about we distribute them to those that are nearby and also help ourselves the wounded call for water and we come to the aid of a few cries for help are heard from a distance but we cannot approach the ruins from which they come a group of soldiers comes along the road and their officer notices that we speak a strange language he at once draws his sword screamingly demands who we are and threatens to cut us down father laurice junior seizes his arm and explains that we are german we finally quiet him down he thought that we might well be americans who had parachuted down rumors of parachutists were being bandied about the city the father superior who was clothed only in a shirt and trousers complaints of feeling freezing cold despite the warm summer night and the heat of the burning city the one man among us who possesses a coat gives it to him and in addition i give him my own shirt to me it seems more comfortable to be without a shirt in the heat in the meantime it has become midnight since there are not enough of us to man both litters with four strong bearers we determined to remove father shiffer first to the outskirts of the city from there another group of bearers used to take over to nagatsuke the others are to turn back in order to rescue the father's superior i am one of the bearers the theology student goes in front to warn us of the numerous wires beams and fragments of ruins which blocked the way in which are impossible to see in the dark despite all precautions our progress is stumbling and our feet get tangled in the wire father cruer falls and carries the litter with him father shiffer becomes half unconscious from the fall and vomits we pass an injured man who sits all alone among the hot ruins in whom i had seen previously on the way down on the masasa bridge we meet father tape and father rumor who have come to meet us from nagatsuke they had dug a family out of the ruins of their collapsed house some 50 meters off the road the father of the family was already dead they had dragged out two girls and placed them by the side of the road the mother was still trapped under some beams they had planned to complete the rescue and then to press on to meet us at the outskirts of the city we put down the litter and leave two men to wait until those who are to come from nagatsuke appear the rest of us turn back to fetch the father superior end of section seven part one of an eyewitness account from the atomic bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki section eight of the atomic bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer visit libra vox dot org the atomic bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki by the manhattan engineer district june 29th 1946 section eight part two of an eyewitness account hiroshima august 6th 1945 by father john a seems professor of modern philosophy at tokyo's catholic university most of the ruins have now burned down the darkness kindly hides the many forms that lie on the ground only occasionally in our quick progress do we hear calls for help one of us remarks that the remarkable burned smell reminds him of incinerated corpses the upright squatting form which we had passed by previously is still there transportation on the litter which has been constructed out of boards must be very painful to the father superior whose entire back is full of fragments of glass in a narrow passage at the edge of town a car forces us to the edge of the road the litter bearers on the left side fall into a two meter deep ditch which they could not see in the darkness father superior hides his pain with a dry joke but the litter which is now no longer in one piece cannot be carried further we decide to wait until kenjo can bring a hand cart from nagatsuke he soon comes back with one that he has requisitioned from a collapsed house we place father superior on the cart and wheel him the rest of the way avoiding as much as possible to deeper pits in the road about half past four in the morning we finally arrive at the novitiate our rescue expedition had taken almost 12 hours normally one could go back and forth to the city in two hours our two wounded were now for the first time properly dressed i get two hours sleep on the floor someone else has taken my own bed then i read a mass in gratuorum aksu anum it is the seventh of august the anniversary of the foundation of our society then we bestow ourselves to bring father clinesorge and other acquaintances out of the city we take off again with the hand cart the bright day now reveals the frightful picture which last night's darkness had partly concealed where the city stood everything as far as the eye could reach is a waste of ashes and ruin only several skeletons of buildings completely burned out in the interior remain the banks of the river are covered with dead and wounded and the rising waters have here and there covered some of the corpses on the broad street in the hakushima district naked burned cadavers are particularly numerous among them are the wounded who are still alive a few have crawled under the burnt out autos and trams frightfully injured forms beckon to us and then collapse an old woman and a girl whom she is pulling along with her fall down at our feet we place them on our cart and wheel them to the hospital at whose entrance a dressing station has been set up here the wounded lie on the hard floor row on row only the largest wounds are dressed we convey another soldier and an old woman to the place but we cannot move everybody who lies exposed in the sun it would be endless and it is questionable whether those whom we can drag to the dressing station can come out alive because even here nothing really effective can be done later we ascertain that the wounded lay for days in the burnt out hallways of the hospital and there they died we must proceed to our goal in the park and are forced to leave the wounded to their fate we make our way to the place where our church stood to dig up those few belongings that we had buried yesterday we find them intact everything else has been completely burned in the ruins a few molten remnants of holy vessels at the park we load the housekeeper and a mother with her two children on the cart father Klein's sword feels strong enough with the aid of brother nobuhara to make his way home on foot the way back takes us once again past the dead and wounded in Hakushima again no rescue parties are in evidence at the Masasa bridge there still lies the family which father's tape and Loomer had yesterday rescued from the ruins a piece of 10 had been placed over them to shield them from the sun we cannot take them along for our cart is full we give them and those nearby water to drink and decide to rescue them later at three o'clock in the afternoon we are back in Nagatsuka after we have had a few swallows and a little food father's Stolte Loomer Erlinghagen and myself take off once again to bring in the family father Klein's sword requests that we also rescue two children who had lost their mother and who had lain near him in the park on the way we were greeted by strangers who had noted that we were on a mission of mercy and who praised our efforts we now met groups of individuals who were carrying the wounded about on litters as we arrived at the Masasa bridge the family that had been there was gone they might well have been born away in the meantime there was a group of soldiers at work taking away those that had been sacrificed yesterday more than 30 hours had gone by until the first official rescue party had appeared on the scene we find both children and take them out of the park a six-year-old boy who was uninjured and a twelve-year-old girl who had been burned about the head hands and legs and who had lain for 30 hours without care in the park the left side of her face and the left eye were completely covered with blood and pus so that we thought that she had lost the eye when the wound was later washed we noted that the eye was intact and that the lids had just become stuck together on the way home we took another group of three refugees with us they first wanted to know however of what nationality we were they too feared that we might be Americans who had parachuted in when we arrived in Nagatsuka it had just become dark we took under our care 50 refugees who had lost everything the majority of them were wounded and not a few had dangerous burns father Rektor treated the wounds as well as he could with the few medicaments that we could with effort gather up he had to confine himself in general to cleansing the wounds of purulent material even those with the smaller burns are very weak and all suffered from diarrhea in the farmhouses and the vicinity almost everywhere there are also wounded father Rektor made daily rounds and acted in the capacity of a painstaking physician and was a great Samaritan our work was in the eyes of the people a greater boost for Christianity than all our work during the preceding long years three of these severely burned in our house died within the next few days suddenly the pulse and respirations ceased it is certainly a sign of our good care that so few died in the official aid stations and hospitals a good third or half of those that had been brought in died they lay about there almost without care and a very high percentage succumbed everything was lacking doctors assistants dressings drugs etc in an aid station at a school at a nearby village a group of soldiers for several days did nothing except to bring in and cremate the dead behind the school during the next few days funeral processions past our house from morning to night bringing the deceased to a small valley nearby there in six places the dead were burned people brought their own wood and themselves did the cremation father loomer and father lares found a dead man in a nearby house who had already become bloated and who emitted a frightful odor they brought him to this valley and incinerated him themselves even late at night the little valley was lit up by the funeral pyres we made systematic efforts to trace our acquaintances and the families of the refugees whom we had sheltered frequently after the passage of several weeks someone was found in a distant village or hospital but of many there was no news and these were apparently dead we were lucky to discover the mother of the two children whom we had found in the park and who had been given up for dead after three weeks she saw her children once again in the great joy of the reunion were mingled the tears for those whom we shall not see again the magnitude of the disaster that befell Hiroshima on august 6th was only slowly pieced together in my mind I lived through the catastrophe and saw it only in flashes which only gradually were merged to give me a total picture what actually happened simultaneously in the city as a whole is as follows as a result of the explosion of the bomb at 815 almost the entire city was destroyed at a single blow only small outlying districts in the southern and eastern parts of the town escaped complete destruction the bomb exploded over the center of the city as a result of the blast the small japanese houses in a diameter of five kilometers which comprised 99 percent of the city collapsed or were blown up those who were in the houses were buried in the ruins those who were in the open sustained burns resulting from contact with the substance arrays emitted by the bomb where the substance struck in quantity fires sprang up these spread rapidly the heat which rose from the center created a whirlwind which was effective in spreading fire throughout the whole city those who had been caught beneath the ruins and who could not be freed rapidly and those who had been caught by the flames became casualties as much as six kilometers from the center of the explosion all houses were damaged and many collapsed and caught fire even 15 kilometers away windows were broken it was rumored that the enemy fliers had spread and explosive and incendiary material over the city and then had created the explosion and ignition a few maintained that they saw the planes drop a parachute which had carried something that exploded at a height of 1000 meters the newspaper is called the bomb and atomic bomb and noted that the force of the blast had resulted from the explosion of uranium atoms and that gamma rays had been sent out as a result of this but no one knew anything for certain concerning the nature of the bomb how many people were a sacrifice to this bomb those who had lived through the catastrophe placed the number of dead at at least 100 000 Hiroshima had a population of 400 000 officials statistics placed the number who had died at 70 000 up to september 1st not counting the missing and 130 000 wounded among them 43 500 severely wounded estimates made by ourselves on the basis of groups known to us show that the number of 100 000 dead is not too high near us there are two barracks in each of which 40 Korean workers lived on the day of the explosion they were laboring on the streets of Hiroshima four returned alive to one barracks and 16 to the other 600 students of the Protestant girl's school worked in a factory from which only 30 to 40 returned most of the peasant families in the neighborhood lost one or more of their members who had worked at factories in the city our next door neighbor tamura lost two children and himself suffered a large wound since as it happened he had been in the city on that day the family of our reader suffered two dead father and son thus a family of five members suffered at least two losses counting only the dead and severely wounded there died the mayor the president of the central japan district the commander of the city a korean prince who had been stationed in Hiroshima in the capacity of an officer and many other high ranking officers of the professors of the university 32 were killed or severely injured especially hard hit were the soldiers the pioneer regiment was almost entirely wiped out the barracks were near the center of the explosion thousands of wounded who later died could doubtless have been rescued had the received proper treatment and care but rescue work in a catastrophe of this magnitude had not been envisioned since the whole city had been knocked out at a blow everything which had been prepared for emergency work was lost and no preparation had been made for rescue work in the outlying district many of the wounded also died because they had been weakened by undernourishment and consequently lacked in strength to recover those who had their normal strength and who received good care slowly healed the burns which had been occasioned by the bomb there were also cases however whose prognosis seemed good who died suddenly there were also some who had only small external wounds who died within a week or later after an inflammation of the pharynx and oral cavity had taken place we thought at first that this was the result of inhalation of the substance of the bomb later a commission established the thesis that gamma rays had been given out at the time of the explosion following which the internal organs had been injured in a manner resembling that consequent upon retkin radiation this produces a diminution in the numbers of white corpuscles only several cases are known to me personally where individuals who did not have external burns later died father Kleinsorge and father Jeslik who were near the center of the explosion but who did not suffer burns became quite weak some 14 days after the explosion up to this time small incised wounds had healed normally but thereafter the wounds which were still unhealed became worse and are to date in september still incompletely healed the attending physician diagnosed it as leukopagna there thus seems to be some truth in the statement that the radiation had some effect on the blood I am of the opinion however that their general undernourished and weakened condition was partly responsible for these findings it was noised about that the ruins of the city emitted deadly rays and that workers who went there to aid in the clearing died and that the central district would be uninhabitable for some time to come I have my doubts as to whether such talk is true and myself and others who worked in the ruined area for some hours shortly after the explosion suffered no such ill effects none of us in those days heard a single outburst against the Americans on the part of the Japanese nor was there any evidence of a vengeful spirit the Japanese suffered this terrible blow as part of the fortunes of war something to be born without complaint during this war I have noted relatively little hatred toward the allies on the part of the people themselves although the press has taken occasion to stir up such feelings after the victories at the beginning of the war the enemy was rather looked down upon but when allied offensive gathered momentum and especially after the advent of the majestic b-29s the technical skill of America became an object of wonder and admiration the following anecdote indicates the spirit of the Japanese a few days after the atomic bombing the secretary of the university came to us asserting that the Japanese were ready to destroy san francisco by means of an equally effective bomb it is dubious that he himself believed what he told us he merely wanted to impress upon us foreigners that the Japanese were capable of similar discoveries in his nationalistic pride he talked himself into believing this the Japanese also intimated that the principle of the new bomb was a Japanese discovery it was only lack of raw materials they said which prevented its construction in the meantime the Germans were said to have carried the discovery to a further stage and were about to initiate such bombing the Americans were reputed to have learned the secret from the Germans and they had then brought the bomb to a stage of industrial completion we have discussed among ourselves the ethics of the use of the bomb some consider it in the same category as poison gas and were against its use on a civil population others were of the view that in total war as carried on in japan there was no difference between civilians and soldiers and that the bomb itself was an effective force tending to end the bloodshed warning japan to surrender and thus to avoid total destruction it seems logical to me that he who supports total war and principle cannot complain of war against civilians the crux of the matter is whether total war in its present form is justifiable even when it serves a just purpose does it not have material and spiritual evil as its consequences which far exceed whatever good that might result when will our moralists give us a clear answer to this question end of section 8 and end of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki read on the occasion of the 63rd anniversary of these events by denis sears in medesto california for libera box