Evening star., 1946-07-07
Cities Versus Atom:
An Unequal Match
Official Studies Show America
Full of Potential Hiroshimas
By William H. Harrison.

There are many reasons why 1t would
be the height of folly to conclude from
the results of the first phase of the
Bikini test that the atomic bomb may
not be so terrible after all
To begin with this single midair burst
wrought incomparably more havoc than
any orthodox bomb could have wrought,
and the second phase of the test-a
shallow subsurface burst to be staged
before the month ends-may prove to be
much deadlier, Further, even after the
second phase occurs, final judgment still
will have to be withheld pending the
outcome of the deep underwater deto-
nation scheduled for some time next
year. Not until then will it be possible
to speak defnitively of the atoms likely
effects on the future makeup of navies.
Sea power to one side, however, what
is beyond question is the unprecedented,
appalling and revolutionary nature of
the atoms destructive force. The Bikini
tests were not agreed upon in order
either to demonstrate or confirm this.
Long before last Sundays explosion. in
August a year ago, the demonstration
and the confirmation were complete and
absolute at Hiroshima anG Nagasaki.
II any doubt still fingers anywhere on
that score, it should be dispelled for
ever by the recently released reports of
the Manhattan Engineer District and
and the United States Strategic Bomb
ing Survey. For the reports, based on
comprehensive studies of the two devas-
tated cities, affirm and reaff1rm. on
every page, this indisputable fact: That
the atomic bomb is weapon touching
the outermost limits of human endur-
ance and that in the event of another
war it would make the urban areas Of
the world-not least of all our own
vulnerable to degree scarcely imagined
before, probably Vulnerable enough to be
shattered even more thoroughly than
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
In both these cities the atomic explo-
sions caused total destruction within a
radius of one mile from the bursting
point. Hiroshima, wholly exposed on
fat area, was virtually erased, heavy
damage extending in every direction for
three miles, with lighter damage for
several miles beyond that Nagasaki
though struck by more powerful bomb
did not suffer quite SO much because
hills protected some sections, but three
square miles of it were wiped out none
the less. In both places only reinforced
concrete buildings stood up. but fire re-
duced them to hollow shells. and in
vast area steel-framed structures were
crushed and buildings with brick walls
l8 inches thick went tumbling down
AS for casualties, the toll in Hiro-
shima was $4,000 killed and another
10000 injured, while Nagasaki's dead
totaled about $4,000 and the injured
a somewhat smaller number A CHASTITY
combination of flash burns, blast effects.
secondary fires and radiation sickness
accounted for this, but in the judgment
Of the Strategic Bombing Survey, even
if all the other lethal factors had been
entirely absent, the radiation alone
might have taken as many lives as were
actually lost within a half-mle radius
of the bursting point and only slightly
fewer within a mile
All this. it must be remembered hap
pened to each city because of one bomb
dropped by one plane. The overall
weight of this bomb-the bulk of it
in casing and machinery-has not yet
peen revealed, but a safe guess is 10
tons at the very most, with the atomic
substance itself possibly being not too
heavy for man to carry in his arms
Yet, according to the Manhattan Engi-
neer District and the Strategic Bombing
Survey, this single weapon did damage
that could not be equaled by anything
short of a gigantic amount of INT "ap-
proNlmately of the order of 10000 tons"
Stated another way, its effectiveness
pound bomb to 225 times that of a 10
ton blockbuster.
AS made clear in the official reports
these and similar figures become even
more impressive (to put it mildly when
read in relation to the following facts:
% That the A-bomb today utilzes only
tiny fraction of it's potential power
and that it may be far more efficient
and destructive tomorrow 90 that
atomic energy, whose manufacture gives
of as by-products radioactive poison
gases quite as lethal as the bomb itself,
can be developed for use in guided mis-
slles or transoceanic rocket weapons.
and go that against such weaponS-not
to mention meteorological weapons-the
urban compunities of the world are ter
ribly vulnerable.
Thus, in the words of the Strategic
Bombing Survey, The overwhelming
bulk of the buildings in American cities
could not stand up against an atomic
bomb bursting mile or a mile and a
half from them Moreover, since great
centers like New York Pittsburgh De-
trolt and Chicago are more crowded at
the heart than much of urban Japan,
and since relatively few of our struc-
lures are blast-resistant, our casualties
might well be considerably heavier than
those OF Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
** X
What can America do about this vul-
nerability? Short of effective interna-
tional control, according to the Strategic
Bombing Survey, the threat of retalia-
ton will be safeguard of sorts, and
"a wise military establishment will make
sure-by dispersal, concealment. protec-
ton and constant readiness of its forces
that no single blow or series of blows
from an enemy can cripple its ability
to strike back in the same way"
Other antiatomic security measures,
which t'n1nSt ha FOL ~ i,,;t tod ,,o,.