on the instant about first last until hiroshima banished from the list of living cities closely guarded plants in new mexico tennessee and the state of washington continue their work to shorten the war heroes one of japan's arsenal cities was selected as the first to feel the weight of atomic power twenty one days after the new mexico dress rehearsal alone b twenty nine was over here oshima carrying an atomic bomb at eight fifteen in the morning of august six japanese time the first atomic bomb get do a bomb was aimed to explode a bomb zero point five in the city at the junction of the mata he show and ota river the bomb was intentionally set to explode well above the zero point two dissipate its radioactivity here is the victoria record of the result at zero point directly beneath the explosion the soldier in the scene is pointing at the spot from which all damage to the surrounding area was measured in terms of distance from the center of the blast within a mile  zero point the devastation who speaks for itself were approximately twenty thousand japanese military personnel stationed here they are among the missing alone concrete smokestack indicates where a bustling factory on reinforced concrete buildings seem to have withstood the explosion fairly well the damage carrying with their distance from zero point within an area of a mile one mile and a half this type of building was the light surface indicates the angle of the blast two tenths of a mile from zero point many of the shattered windows pointed like skeleton fingers the direction of the atomic wind of death on one side blown in upholstery like a blowtorch hiroshima city hall which stood in an eye angle of forty five degrees to the direction of the explosion at its doors and windows blown in but suffered much less damage than buildings squarely in the path of the edge of the area of greatest damage was a landmark the red cross hospital which never ceased functioning although it sustained damage today it dominates the desert over debris that was hiroshima and other notable exception to the general demolition where they got the railroad station in east hiroshima a mile and a half from the center of the blast this building however suffered extensive damage the twisted steel beams and concrete walls show the effects of the tremendous concussion  what's left of the commercial museum within two tenths of a mile of zero point zero also gives indication of the tremendous push of the explosion the downward force of the blast turned the roof of the commercial museum and our reservoir amazingly enough bridges did not suffer too badly at hiroshima the steel rail bridge one mile from zero point had the side  rd the explosion virtually blasted by flying particles which removed almost all the pain but the side away from the explosion did not need a new paint job roads in the area fared better than been ten seconds after seeing the light the flashlight and immediately i was covered in dust of the window frames and glass sticking  into the road and actually m because the plants were located in a valley surrounding hills shielded most residential areas and concentrated the damage on the industrial section at ten fifty eight the morning of august ninth the bomb was exploded above the city and in the towering mu from the air the skeletons of the mitsubishi plants made evident that nagasaki as war making power was totally destroyed or the valley area of little more than three square miles blast and fire reduced the industrial plants and surrounding buildings to black mitsubishi steel and arms works extended almost a mile in length before the blast these were modern buildings constructed like our own american factories closer examination of the ruins shows the same complete destruction that characterized the ruins o and machinery used in the manufacture of naval rifles a guns and heavy artillery was such that even if japan had determined to commit suicide by continuing resistance she could not have salvaged much from the ruins smoke stack spent but did not break before the blasts and roads were unaffected people using them without ill effect shortly after the explo rowan's revealed beyond doubt the existence of the shadow factories the japanese had set up in the nearby residential areas of the industrial valley you have seen the swath of destruction created by atomic power in this tale of two cities worlds greatest minds and science statecraft and military matters are wrestling with the problems created by the atom on the spot outlined in stone is a figure representing the average man regardless of his race or atomic age was born atomic power put the question squarely to mankind