Summary: A report on the effects of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan.
Description: The film, apparently taken some 5 or 6 weeks after the events by the American mission sent to study the effects of the blasts, shows the damage to buildings and structures at various distances from "ground zero". Attention is drawn to the different degrees of damage sustained by different types of building, and to the way that the damage and scorch patterns point towards the centre of the blast. Apart from pointing out the shadow of a person etched on the pavement of a bridge, the only reference to casualties comes in the testimony of a Jesuit priest (Father John Zeemas ?) who witnessed the Hiroshima blast; in a 7 minute interview he describes the detonation and the exodus of survivors. He also dismisses the rumours of "deadly rays" in the city after the explosion, and reports on Japanese attitudes to the Americans during the war and his fellow Jesuits' views on the necessity of the atomic attack.
Alternative Title:
Colour:B&W
Digitised:
Object_Number:USA 109
Sound:Sound
Access Conditions:IWM
Featured Period:1939-1945
Production Date:1945
Production Country: United States of America
Production Details: United States War Department (Production sponsor)
Army Pictorial Service, Signal Corps (Production company)
Personalities, Units and Organisations:
Keywords: Japan & Hiroshima (geography)
Nagasaki, Kyushu, Japan (geography)
Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W
Sound format: Sound
Soundtrack language: English
Title language: English
Technical Details: Format: 16mm
Number of items/reels/tapes: 1
Footage: 1096 ft; Running time: 30 mins
