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LIFE
August 20, 1945 Vol. 19, No. 8

HIROSHIMA
ATOM BOMB NO. 1
OBLITERATED IT


A B-29, laden with a new weapon of terrible but virtually untried destructive power, circled in the morning air over Japan's isle of Honshu from the Inland Sea. Shortly before, its crew, headed by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets Jr., had selected Hiroshima, a major Japanese port and military center, for the first actual test. They dropped the 8,900 lbs pound bomb, sped away. It was Aug. 6, 1945 and man had unleashed atomic power on man.
In the moment of its incomparable blast, air became flame, walls turned to dust. "My God," breathed the crew of the B-29 at what they saw. Members reports, "There was a terrific flash of light, even in the daytime... couple of sharp slaps against the airplane. White smoke leaped on a mushroom stem to 20,000 feet where it spilled into a huge, billowy cloud (above). Then an odd thing happened. The top of this cloud structure broke off the stem and rose several thousand feet. As it did so, and the cloud formed on the stem exactly as the first had On the ground, ,from a distance, a Jap saw the explosion "...A lightninglike flash covered the sky," he said.  around I found dead and wounded...bloadted...burn with a huge blister...All green vegetation...perished

HIROSHIMA 
BEFORE

To the atomic-bomb-laden B-29 "Enola Gay" droning overhead, Hiroshima looked like this-a typically Oriental congestion of modern industry, rickety dwellings, shrines and quaint teahouses. It has a population of 344,000 which made it Japan's seventh city. It was a military center, dating from the days of the Russo-Japanese War when the Mikado made its historic castle his wartime headquarters. In World War II its army transport base, ordnance depot and food depot (lower right) made it a military target, as did the nearby docks and textile mills.
In the heart of the city were oil stores, electrical works and many bridges spanning the arms of the Ota River on whose delta it stood. There were centuries-old temples and a public garden which was famous for its flowering trees.