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Part 2 The Atomic Bomb

1. Invasion by the Atomic Bombing Unit
2. Situation at the Time of the Atomic Bombing
　(1). Records of Nagasaki City
　(2) Records from Other Cities and Prefectures

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1. Invasion by the Atomic Bombing Unit

Many things remain to be clarified regarding the flight path taken by Bockscar (the B-29 carrying the atomic bomb) and The Great Artiste, the observation aircraft accompanying it, before they dropped the atomic bomb and parachute-fitted radiosondes over the city.

Regarding the flight path taken by the Hiroshima bombing unit on August 6, the log kept by Theodore Van Kirk includes the unit’s flight chart. Van Kirk was the navigator of the Enola Gay, the aircraft used to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. However, the log supposedly kept by James Van Pelt, the navigator of the Nagasaki mission three days later, has never been found. Although it is impossible to determine the exact flight path taken by the Nagasaki bombing unit, a number of reports, witness comments and memoirs provide useful clues.
　A document entitled “August 9 Report on Air-Raid Damage in the Nagasaki District” includes the following information:

Two B-29s were spotted at 10:53 a.m. flying in a westerly direction north of Kumamoto City. They proceeded over the Ariake Sea and the northern part of Shimabara Peninsula toward Nagasaki. Flying from the northeast, the leading B-29 reached Nagasaki around 11:00 a.m., while the second aircraft followed from the same direction around 11:02 a.m. and dropped the bomb. Both aircraft then turned and escaped along the same flight path used on the approach.

This document is dated August 27, relatively soon after the atomic bombing, and therefore does not benefit from later atomic bomb research or surveys, but it nevertheless serves as a useful basic resource. Of particular interest is the observation that the aircraft flew in a westerly direction north of Kumamoto City and proceeded over the Ariake Sea and the northern part of Shimabara Peninsula, and that the leading B-29 reached Nagasaki from the northeast.
　What flight path did the two aircraft- one carrying the atomic bomb and the other observation equipment- follow after leaving Kokura for Nagasaki and while flying over Nagasaki?
　It is a well-known fact that two B-29s reached Nagasaki after abandoning the primary target of Kokura. It is surprising, however, that few witnesses report having seen two aircraft at the same time.
　Many people remember seeing or hearing a single B-29 flying over Nagasaki, but it is not clear to which of the two B-29s they refer. Among these are the recollections of Nakamura Yoshimitsu of the 4th Anti-aircraft Battalion at Mt. Kompira and Hinako Akira and Hiraishi Yoshio, both of whom were serving in the Western Forces No. 8064 Anti-aircraft Battalion on Kōyagishima. All three men had an excellent view of the approaching aircraft.
　The following is an excerpt from the testimony of Nakamura Yoshimitsu:

I responded immediately [to the sound of the aircraft] by searching the sky with the binoculars attached to my measuring instrument. I spotted the aircraft as it appeared from behind clouds, heading toward Mt. Iwaya to the west. To my surprise, the aircraft carried three strange objects like parachutes below the fuselage. These struck me as odd because I had never seen anything like them before. We needed to prepare immediately for combat. Perhaps 20 seconds after I first identified the aircraft, I heard the hissing sound of a falling bomb, a sound that continued for five or six seconds. Then heaven and earth shuddered with a tremendous explosion, and a spectral flash of light and blast wind descended on me from above.

This testimony does not clarify either the number of aircraft or the important issue of the direction from which they flew into the sky over Nagasaki. However, it is noteworthy that the aircraft was seen “heading toward Mt. Iwaya” from the vantage point of Mt. Kompira.
　Now let us look at the memoir of Hinako Akira, who was stationed at Kōyagishima near the entrance to Nagasaki Harbor. While refuting the theory that two aircraft flew together to Nagasaki, Hinako states that a single aircraft, flying in a northerly direction far to the west of Nagasaki, turned and proceeded into the sky over the city. He identified the aircraft using a height-measuring type-90 precision instrument capable of observation up to a distance of 50,000 meters. Hinako continues as follows:

I will discuss the direction taken by the aircraft (carrying the atomic bomb) into Nagasaki. When we first spotted it by binoculars, the aircraft was flying about 25,000 meters off the coast of Nomo, from which point it proceeded over the ocean near Takashima and Shikimi and then turned and entered the sky over Nagasaki from the north. According to our estimates, the altitude was approximately 10,000 meters.
　I conducted calculations and reported the specifications (altitude, speed and angle of approach) to our company leader. We fired once or twice at the enemy aircraft, but even though they were the best in Japan at the time, our anti-aircraft guns were barely capable of a range of 8,500 meters. Since the aircraft was flying at an altitude of 10,000 meters, it was futile to fire at it. We followed the aircraft using binoculars and prepared to shoot it down when it came into range, but it continued to fly at an altitude of 10,000 meters even when dropping the atomic bomb. After all, we did not get an opportunity to use our anti-aircraft guns…
　At the time, the atomic bomb could be seen by the naked eye descending through the sky by parachute. There was only one parachute. The conjecture that there were two parachutes is incorrect. The atomic bomb exploded perhaps five or six seconds – really just an instant – after the parachute fell from the aircraft. A thunderous roar accompanied the explosion.

Of particular note here is the passage regarding the parachute. In his memoir, Hinako Akira states that he saw the aircraft carrying the atomic bomb. However, his description of the parachute is rather sketchy, which leaves some doubt as to whether the aircraft he saw was the one carrying the atomic bomb or the one carrying observation equipment.
　The following information supplements the above memoir. While Hinako Akira tracked the aircraft, Hiraishi Yoshio, also stationed in the anti-aircraft unit at Kōyagi Ialand, conducted early observations using square-edged binoculars. It was Hiraishi’s duty to record information relayed by wire from observation units and special lookout stations. Hiraishi’s notes include the words: “Single B-29 at 1050 (10:50 a.m.).” The following account was included in a book published 20 years later by the Mainichi Newspaper Company:

The enemy aircraft flew straight toward Shikimi over the sea, maintaining an altitude of 10,000 meters. The anti-aircraft bunkers were thrown into a tumult with reports of ‘enemy aircraft over Hashima’ and ‘enemy aircraft over Takashima.’ The Kaminoshima anti-aircraft unit fired all its guns at the aircraft. The three units at Kōyagishima followed. But the 7.7 cm guns had a range of only 7,000 meters. These may have been useful in coping with enemy biplanes during the Manchurian Incident, but they were obsolete now. The soldiers on duty knew the futility of their response better than anyone else. However, they had to continue firing, if only to maintain the honor of their unit, which was composed mainly of soldiers born in Nagasaki. The B-29 meanwhile flew unfazed across the sky, with the anti-aircraft flak bursting innocuously far below. ‘Veering! Sky over Mie!’ Silver wings glinting, the B-29 made a turn in the direction of Ōmura. Was it headed toward Ōmura or Sasebo? Was it merely running a reconnaissance mission? The anti-aircraft guns relented. After a moment of silence, the B-29 disappeared into the peak of a huge cumulous cloud. A minute and a half later it reappeared. ‘The enemy aircraft is heading toward Nagasaki!’ The height-measuring gauge monitor showed an aircraft following a dead-on path to Nagasaki. The terror-inspiring aircraft continued its approach, slightly reducing speed and soon filling the scopes of the binoculars turned toward the sky.
　‘The aircraft passed over Michino’o at an altitude of 9,500 meters!’ There was no longer any doubt. The target was Nagasaki. The B-29 was flying straight through the valley between Mt. Inasa and Mt. Kompira toward Kōyagishima. ‘The aircraft is coming toward the bunkers! The aircraft is now over Urakami!’ These words had barely been spoken when the belly of the B-29 opened and a white dot came slowly downward in the blue sky.
　Another two or three parachutes fluttered open, pure white in color. ‘Three parachutes identified!’ shouted Hiraishi. The unit leader instantly commanded his team to commence precision aiming. ‘One, two, three.’ The count began. One large parachute was visible, with two smaller ones slowly descending a little way off, forming an inverse equilateral triangle. ‘Four, five, six.’ The count continued. Then, just as a lookout shouted ‘Aircraft passing over Fukahori,’ there was a brilliant flash of light. The next instant, Hiraishi and Hinako were both slapped against the ground by a ferocious blast of wind.
　The bunker was the first line of defense for soldiers manning anti-aircraft guns. Abandoning their stations was not an alternative. Hiraishi picked up his binoculars and Hinako set up the height-measuring gauge, and both men pressed their eyes to the scopes. 123

This account also mentions only one aircraft witnessed at the time of the atomic bombing. Which one was it, the bomber or the observation plane? It will be useful here to introduce the testimony of Tanaka Takeshi, a student in the aeronautics course at the College of Aeronautical Science (present-day Tokai University). At the time of the atomic bombing, Tanaka was standing observing the scenery from an elevation on the west side of Nagasaki Harbor.

Viewed from the ground around 10:55, the Nagasaki sky was clear, light blue in color, with a few cumulous clouds drifting slowly on a southwesterly breeze. From behind the clouds, the now-familiar sound of enemy airplane engines approached from the east over the verdant hills of Nagasaki Peninsula. After a while, two B-29 bombers appeared above the ridgeline of Koshikiiwa, as though paying another regular visit. I had never seen B-29s flying so high; their forms were so small that they seemed to blend into the blueness of the sky. They were flying in formation, the leading aircraft ahead and another aircraft following it to the upper left.
　The house where I was living was located at the top of a stone embankment built on a hillside on the west side of Nagasaki Harbor, providing a panoramic view of the city streets and half of the Nagasaki Peninsula. My middle school-aged brother and I went out to the edge of the embankment, shirtless, to watch the B-29s. Our position was slightly away from the flight path, so we did not have to worry about a direct hit from falling bombs.

The B-29s Make a Sharp Diving Turn
　The B-29s were heading straight west over Tachibana Bay, but when they reached the sky over Koshikiiwa (Mogi-machi in those days), they took a course that surprised us because it differed completely from their actions in the past.
　The first aircraft banked sharply to the right and broke away from the accompanying aircraft, flying in a northwesterly direction and for some reason reducing speed. The sound of its engines also weakened. Just when it reached the sky over Suwa Shintō Shrine, the B-29 tilted its wings with their four powerful engines steeply to the left, as though trying to catch a glimpse of the Urakami valley. Then, just when it seemed to lower its left wing, it made a sudden turn as though intending to plow into the munitions factories in Mori-machi. Reducing altitude rapidly, the aircraft turned west and then south and finally reassumed a horizontal position when it passed over our heads at an altitude of about 5,000 meters. The roar of the engines increased in crescendo from piano to fortissimo.
　‘What are they doing?’ I muttered to myself, dismayed by these strange actions unbefitting a large bomber. We had a clear view of the B-29’s characteristic bullet-shaped nose and four long engine casings. When it arrived at the closest point to us, I felt as though I was looking at an illustration of the B-29 underside.
　While the leading aircraft made its first turn, the accompanying aircraft banked slightly to the north and continued west until turning south and heading away from the city toward the entrance to Nagasaki Harbor. After the accompanying aircraft departed, I saw three white parachutes open in a line above Mt. Atago…
　My brother, who had very good eyesight, saw a glittering object float down toward Urakami along the southern ridge of Mt. Kompira north of the Chureito War Memorial Shrine.

The Illusion of a Nearby Explosion
　Suddenly, the air seemed to clear, bringing the distant scenery into sharp relief; the buildings of Nishizaka Elementary School, 1.2 km to the east, each layer of terraced field behind the school, and every single bamboo tree in the groves along the ridge of the mountain. Then, at almost the same instant, a high frequency vibration followed by a tremendous roar, indistinguishable as sound or ground swell, overwhelmed us from the direction of
Urakami. 124

Notably, the writer testifies that he saw two aircraft flying in formation and provides a detailed description of both aircraft. The information that the writer and his brother first spotted the aircraft flying above the ridgeline of Koshikiiwa is also extremely rare.
　Although the memoirs of Charles W. Sweeney, pilot of Bockscar (the B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki) have already been quoted, it will be useful, despite the redundancy, to present once again the passages relating to the approach to Nagasaki and the release of the atomic bomb over the city. The following is a description of the events from the decision to abandon Kokura, the primary target, and to fly to Nagasaki.

　‘Jim, give me the heading for Nagasaki.’
　For the second time in three days the city of Kokura had been spared.
　‘Roger.’ Van Pelt, who had already completed the calculations, responded quickly, giving me the heading. ‘Of course,’ he added, ‘this route will take us right over the Kyūshū fighter fields.’
　I couldn’t afford the extra fuel we’d consume if we swung out over the water, away from the bases. A direct line was the only way we could go. For anyone monitoring our progress from the ground, our direction and flight path would not be that difficult to figure out…
　‘We can’t avoid it, Jim,’ I said as I made the adjustments to put us on the precise heading. I was now an hour and a half behind schedule. The Fat Man was still resting in the bomb bay. I would have one shot to get this done when we arrived at Nagasaki. God only knew what awaited us there. Turning to Don Albury, I said, ‘Can any other goddamned thing go wrong?’
　I couldn’t believe my eyes. Nagasaki was obscured by 80 to 90% by cumulus clouds at 6,000 to 8,000 feet. A visual drop was improbable. We were approaching from the northwest and would arrive at the initial point in a few minutes. Kuharek confirmed again – we had enough fuel for a single bomb run.
　I called Commander Ashworth forward and laid out the situation. He was in charge of the bomb; I was in command of the aircraft. If we didn’t drop, we were out of options. We had about 300 gallons of fuel. If we stayed too long at Nagasaki by making a second bomb run, we might be forced to crash-land on the ground in Japan or in the ocean. If we didn’t get a visual on our first run and then depart, we’d have to dump the bomb into the ocean.
　I summoned up quickly. ‘We haven’t got the time or the fuel for more than one run. Let’s drop it by radar. I’ll guarantee we come within five hundred feet of the target.’ This was a commitment whose execution would be up to Ed Buckley, Kermit Beahan, and Jim Van Pelt. I didn’t have time to consult with them, but I had supreme confidence in my radar man, bombardier, and navigator.
　‘I don’t know, Chuck,’ Ashworth said.
　‘It’s better than dropping it into the ocean,’ I answered.
　‘Are you sure of the accuracy?” Ashworth pressed.
　‘I’ll take full responsibility for this,’ I assured him…
　From the IP, Van Pelt and Buckley started to coordinate the approach to the aiming point. The outline of the city appeared on the scopes in front of Van Pelt and Buckley. Buckley called out headings and precise closure rates to Beahan, who fed the data into the bombsight, all the while hoping for a break in the clouds.
　I reminded the crew to put on their goggles. I decided to leave mine off so I could see what I was doing.
　We were thirty seconds from the bomb’s release. The tone signal was activated and the bomb bay doors snapped open. Twenty-five seconds. Then Beahan yelled, ‘I’ve got it! I’ve got it!’
　　　I answered, ‘You own it.’
　Beahan had spotted a hole between the two great Mitsubishi armaments plants in the industrial valley. It was two miles north of the assigned aiming point and away from the residential area, now shielded by low hills beyond the coastal plain. He locked onto a racetrack reference point and made his adjustments, which were fed into the course direction indicator on my panel, from which I adjusted the flight panel as required. I was still flying the airplane manually to the release point. Earlier in the run, Beahan had caught a momentary glimpse of the assigned aiming point, but it would have disrupted the radar run if he took over. He reconsidered, hoping for a better view, which proved to be fortuitous for us and for the city below.
　‘Bombs away!’ Beahan shouted, and then quickly corrected himself. ‘Bomb away.’
　At the moment of release the airplane lurched upward, suddenly ten thousand pounds lighter. It was 11:01 a.m. The bomb bay doors snapped shut. I took us into a steep, diving, 155-degree turn to the left, in a northeasterly direction, to get away from the blast.

Charles W. Sweeney does not present a complete account of what happened in the aircraft during the Nagasaki atomic bomb mission. Other documents will be useful to supplement the information he provided. In a 1966 interview, Paul W. Tibbets, former commander of the 509th Composite Group, stated that Bockscar had passed over the target but failed to make a visual sighting and returned for a second run. 125 Tibbets’ comment that the aircraft flew over Nagasaki and then “returned” to make the visual sighting is noteworthy. This seems to raise the possibility that, after “heading toward Mt. Iwaya to the west” as reported above by Nakamura Yoshimitsu, the aircraft turned back to drop the bomb over the city.
　New York Times correspondent William L. Laurence was aboard The Great Artiste, one of the observation planes that accompanied Bockscar to Nagasaki and later published his experiences. His remarks provide a useful insight into the flight path taken by the aircraft during the Nagasaki mission:

We flew southward down the channel and at 11:33 crossed the coastline and headed straight for Nagasaki about a hundred miles to the west. Here again we circled until we found an opening in the clouds. It was 12:01 and the goal of our mission had arrived.
　We heard the pre-arranged signal on our radio, put on our ARC welder's glasses and watched tensely the maneuverings of the strike ship about half a mile in front of us.
　‘There she goes!’ someone said. Out of the belly of the Artiste [actually the Bockscar] what looked like a black object came downward.
　Captain Bock [commander of The Great Artiste] swung around to get out of range… 126

Although rather difficult to ascertain, the “channel” and “coastline” mentioned by Laurence at the beginning of the above passage probably refer to the Ariake Sea and the coast of either Tachibana Bay or Amakusa Gulf, respectively. A “hundred miles to the west” can only mean the distance from Kokura to Nagasaki. Of particular note is the comment that: “Here again we circled until we found an opening in the clouds.” What flight path did the aircraft follow when circling? Is Laurence’s comment consistent with the testimony of Hinako Akira and Hiraishi Yoshio, who witnessed the atomic bombing from the bunkers at Kōyagishima?
　In any case, clouds obscured Nagasaki at the time, and it would have been difficult to accurately identify the two aircraft at the same time from the ground.
　Laurence reports that the observation plane was flying half a mile (about 800 meters, or a few seconds) behind the strike plane, which suggests that it took the same flight path into the sky over Nagasaki.
　Many eyewitnesses on the ground have stated that they heard airplane engines north of Nagasaki. One was Tsubota Tsuyo, who was living in Kodagoe, Nagayo, an area north of the city.
　Taken together, the various statements support the conclusion made in the Nagasaki Prefecture Reports that both aircraft flew from the northeast into the sky over the northern part of Nagasaki, that is, the industrial district of Urakami and the location of two Mitsubishi munitions factories (the Mitsubishi Nagasaki Steelworks and Mitsubishi Nagasaki Arms Factory). Immediately after dropping the atomic bomb over the neighborhood of Matsuyama-machi and releasing the radiosondes, Bockscar and The Great Artiste made steep 155-degree diving turns and escaped in the same direction from which they had approached the city.
　The Nagasaki atomic bomb mission had originally been comprised of three B-29 bombers: the above two aircraft and The Big Stink, an observation plane ordered to photograph the atomic bomb explosion. The three aircraft were scheduled to rendezvous over Yakushima, but, as described in the previous chapter, The Big Stink failed to arrive at the rendezvous point. As a result, the two aircraft that actually participated in the strike had to turn back over Nagasaki in order to photograph the explosion, and they headed away along the path of approach. It is incorrect therefore to say that the aircraft circled Nagasaki after the atomic bombing. In his account of the bombing, Bockscar commander Charles W. Sweeney says, “I continued to bank around to allow Beahan to write his strike report.” This means that the aircraft turned back to confirm the result of the atomic bombing. The famous photograph of the mushroom cloud churning up over Nagasaki was taken at this time.
　The Nagasaki Prefecture Atomic Bomb Reports provide the following supplementary information: “It is assumed that the atomic bomb was released by the aircraft flying second in formation and that it exploded at an altitude of approximately 500 meters, about 40 seconds after it was dropped, as a result of an electrical discharge from the parachute.” However, the fact is that the aircraft flying ahead dropped the atomic bomb, while The Great Artiste, flying second in formation, dropped radiosondes by parachute. It is also an established fact that a barometer fuse, not electrical discharges from the parachute, detonated the atomic bomb at a pre-designed altitude. Radiosondes (“sonde” is French for “probe”) are instruments used to collect information on blast pressure and other conditions. Three radiosondes were dropped over Nagasaki.
　For some time after the atomic bombings, the Japanese public referred to the new-type bomb as a “parachute bomb,” but, needless to say, no parachute was attached to the atomic bomb.
　Although absent in later reports, the first Nagasaki Prefecture Atomic Bombing Report states that “two B-29s proceeded north from Amakusa, Kumamoto Prefecture.” This raised the following question: Why was Amakusa mentioned in this early report?
　The time line provided by Commander Frederick L. Ashworth (weaponeer on Bockscar), although slightly different from other documents, sheds light on the course taken by Bockscar during the atomic bomb mission (times are adjusted to Japan time):

2:47 a.m. Depart from North Field, Tinian.
8:15 a.m. Reach the rendezvous point over Yakushima. Spot The Great Artiste piloted by Bock five 　　　　 minutes later, but Hopkins’ aircraft is nowhere in sight.
8:50 a.m. Bockscar and The Great Artiste leave Yakushima for the primary target of Kokura.
9:44 a.m. Arrive at the target and make three runs but cannot visually confirm the aiming point. Head to 　　　　 Nagasaki after 45 minutes over Kokura.
10:50 a.m. Reach Nagasaki. Make a radar approach but find an opening in the clouds.
10:58 a.m. Visually drop F31 (Fat Man).
11:05 a.m. Depart for Okinawa.
12:51 p.m. Land at Yomitani, Okinawa.
9:45 p.m. Return to Tinian.

In conclusion, there is one final document that deserves mention. The historical records of the 509th Composite Group, part of the 20th Air Force of the U.S. Army Air Force, include the following passage:

The only option was to head toward the second target, Nagasaki… Since Sweeney had very insufficient gas supply, we were forced to choose whether to head toward Nagasaki or abort the mission. The crewmembers went to Saganoseki (Lat. 33º15’ N and Long. 131º53’ E) and then headed for the designated initial point of attack and Nagasaki.

The above document suggests that Bockscar and The Great Artiste flew from Kokura to Nagasaki via Saganoseki (Ōita Prefecture) and Shiranui-machi (Kumamoto Prefecture). However, Charles W. Sweeney does not mention Saganoseki in his memoir, stating merely that, “A direct line was the only way we could go.” The disparity between these accounts is a topic that awaits future clarification.

2. Situation at the Time of the Atomic Bombing

　(1)Records of Nagasaki City

At 11:02, August 9, 1945, Bockscar, the B-29 bomber piloted by Maj. Charles W. Sweeney (25), dropped the world’s second atomic bomb (a plutonium bomb) over Nagasaki from an altitude of 9,600 m. Sweeney states in his account of the mission that Nagasaki, like the primary target of Kokura, was covered with clouds and that bombing by radar was deemed the only alternative. There was only enough fuel for one run over the city and the return flight to Okinawa. Some 30 seconds before the drop over the designated aiming point, the tone signal sounded and the bomb bay doors opened loudly. Twenty-five seconds to go. Kermit Beahan, the bombardier, caught a glimpse of the streets of Nagasaki through a small opening in the clouds: the area between the Mitsubishi sports field in Hamaguchi-machi and the Mitsubishi Steelworks and Arms Factory in Mori-machi. Since the crewmembers had been ordered to drop the bomb visually, they abruptly changed the bombing target to that area.
　The atomic bomb exploded over a tennis court at 171 Matsuyama-machi (present-day Atomic Bomb Hypocenter Park), 500 to 600 meters north of the designated target.
　The following is an outline of explosion of the atomic bombing.

Detonation Point
　Different authors offer different estimates regarding the altitude of the detonation. However, the most widely accepted estimate is 503 meters, plus or minus 10 meters.
　In October 1945, Kimura Motoharu and Tajima Eizō, researchers at RIKEN (rikagakukennkyūsho; Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, Japan), estimated the detonation point based on shadows imprinted on the ground in three locations: the eaves of Ibinokuchi Police Station, monuments at Urakami Cathedral, and the Nagasaki Medical College Hospital. The flash of heat and light generated by the atomic bomb created these shadows. The researchers estimated that the altitude of the detonation point was 490 meters plus or minus 25 meters.

Fireball and Heat Rays
　The atomic bomb generated a fireball estimated to be tens of millions of degrees Centigrade at the instant of detonation over Nagasaki. The fireball rapidly expanded. In a very short instant of time (0.0001 seconds after detonation), the fireball expanded to a diameter of approximately 30 meters, its temperature reaching approximately 300,000 degrees Centigrade. Between 0.01 and one second after detonation, the fireball further expanded to a diameter of 100 to 280 meters.
　The fireball emitted heat rays that caused severe damage, particularly during the first three seconds after detonation. Of particular note are the infrared rays emitted during the period 0.3 to 3 seconds after detonation. People exposed to the infrared rays suffered severe burns. Another theory has it that the surface temperature of the fireball reached 7,000 degrees Centigrade 0.3 seconds after detonation and that the temperature at the hypocenter reached 3,000 to 4,000 degrees Centigrade.

Shock Wave and Blast Wind
　The explosion caused huge changes in atmospheric pressure and generated violent shock waves immediately after detonation. The waves spread very quickly and caused enormous destruction. The blast wind generated simultaneously also caused severe damage.

Blast Wind

Distance from the Hypocenter	Maximum Wind Speed (meters per second)
0 km	440
0.3 km	330
0.5 km	280
0.8 km	200
1.0 km	160
1.2 km	130
1.5 km	94
1.8 km	72
2.0 km	60
2.5 km	38
3.0 km	30
3.5 km	26

Atomic Cloud (Mushroom Cloud)
　The vast amount of energy generated at the time of the atomic bombing formed an atomic “mushroom” cloud, sucking up debris from the ground and continuously changing in color as it rose into the sky. The following are estimates of the cloud’s rising speed.

At approximately 0 min. 30 sec	3,000 m
At approximately 1 min. 30 sec.	4,500 m
At approximately 2 min. 30 sec.	6,000 m
At approximately 4 min. 30 sec	7,000 m
At approximately 8 min. 30 sec.	9,000 m

　In his memoir, Charles W. Sweeney, the pilot of the aircraft that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, writes as follows about the cloud: “From the center of the brownish bile sprung a vertical column, boiling and bubbling up in those rainbow hues—purples, oranges, reds… At about 25,000 feet, an expanding mushroom cloud broke off, white and puffy, and continued to burst upward at accelerating speed, passing us at 30,000 feet and shooting up to at least 45,000 feet.” 127
　The mushroom cloud was witnessed not only in the suburbs of Nagasaki City, but in other prefectures as well. Interestingly, however, few who were near the hypocenter at the time of the atomic bombing say that they witnessed it.
　The mushroom cloud soon collapsed from its top and then gradually drifted east at an estimated speed of 12 km/h.
　The “United States Strategic Bombing Survey Summary Report (Pacific War)” describes the moment of detonation of the atomic bomb as follows:

The bombs exploded with a tremendous flash of blue-white light, like a giant magnesium flare. The flash was of short duration and accompanied by intense glare and heat. It was followed by a tremendous pressure wave and the rumbling sound of the explosion. This sound is not clearly recollected by those who survived near the center of the explosion, although it was clearly heard by others as much as fifteen miles sway. A huge snow-white cloud shot rapidly into the sky and the scene on the ground was obscured first by a bluish haze and then by a purple-brown cloud of dust and smoke. 128

　A Japanese translation of this description was presented to a chamberlain of Emperor Shōwa who had been sent to Nagasaki to investigate the damage caused by the atomic bomb. At the time of detonation, not everyone in Nagasaki heard the sound of the explosion. However, all of them saw the flash and felt the blast wind. Not knowing what was happening, they instinctively lay down on the spot. On the other hand, some people, including those in other prefectures, happened to witness the detonation.
　The following are two records from Nagasaki City. The names of the facilities and places indicate the point from which the detonation was witnessed; the distances indicate approximate direct distances from the hypocenter at Urakami.

Nakamura Katsuji

Nakamura Katsuji was serving as chief of the Nagasaki Observation Station in Ōuramoto-machi, also called “Don-no-yama.” The station was 4.7 km south-southeast of the hypocenter. His testimony is as follows:

At 11:00, a staff member went out into the observation field to observe the weather. While finishing this task, he saw three parachutes in the sky to the north. The angle was approximately 45 degrees. Shortly afterward, there was a flash, followed a few seconds later by an explosive blast.
　The weather had been fine all morning. I was working indoors facing east, when I sensed a sudden flash of light. The open windows on the northern side of the building, that is, the lower part of the sky to the north, suddenly brightened. I noticed a basketball-sized ball of light, brownish-yellow in color with a hazy periphery. Although unclear, this was obviously a fireball. It was like a golden sun shining through thick yellow dust, or like an electric light covered with a yellowish globe seen through clouds of steam.
　A few seconds later, the building was assailed by a fierce blast of wind, causing doors and windows to shatter and other objects to crash onto the floor. Mr. Hirono, a weather engineer, and I reported the results of three measurements at a later investigation, judging the average lapse of time between the flash and the blast to be “seven seconds,” but at the time I felt that nine to ten seconds had passed (the range of measurement error may be about one second) before I heard the chaotic sound of smashing windows and doors and falling objects. My family said that the blast wind came immediately after the sound of the explosion.

Matsumoto Matsugorō

Matsumoto Matsugorō, an employee of the Fuel Association, was loading firewood onto a truck in front of Juntei Kannon Shrine on a hillside in the Tōhakkei neighborhood. This firewood had been made from the debris of buildings dismantled to create firebreaks in the city. The location was 6.5 km south-southeast of the hypocenter:

It was shortly after 11:00 a.m. when I saw a sudden flash of light from Nagasaki. At the same time, I heard a dull, but very loud, explosive sound. In an instant, the windows of the teahouse (a private building located in front of the shrine) shattered. Looking in the direction of Nagasaki, I saw a pure white cloud suddenly appear. I felt that the cloud, which was probably due to the atomic bombing, had formed over Urakami Railroad Station. It was huge. I continued watching the strange sight.
　After a while, an explosion sounded and another mass of cloud formed from the center of the original cloud. This mass ascended to the sky, penetrating the original cloud and forming the shape of two round rice cakes piled on top of each other. While everybody watched in fear from the front of the shrine, a third explosive sound assailed us and another mass of cloud formed. That mass also rose up into the sky and added another pile to the rice cake-shaped clouds. The column of the three masses of clouds rose high into the sky. The column looked white at first, later changing to light yellow and light red. The colors of the column were dim, although its outline was clear. All of us were astonished at the beautiful cloud, which was large enough to cover half of Mt. Inasa.
　Shortly after noon, the cloud tilted strongly toward us and the colors faded. At the same time, almost all the clouds over Isahaya, Ōmura, Sasebo and other areas to the north began to turn an unusual color: very dark red. We conjectured that not only Nagasaki but also the entire northern part of Kyūshū had been devastated by bombings. I would find out later that I had been watching the mushroom cloud generated by the Nagasaki atomic bombing, but at the time I thought all of northern Kyūshū had been devastated.

Matsumoto mentions three explosions and their effects upon the mushroom cloud. Although the cause is unclear, soldiers manning high-angle gun units and anti-aircraft unit bunkers on Mt. Inasa also witnessed this phenomenon, and their testimonies may have influenced some of the early reports compiled by Nagasaki Prefecture and the Nagasaki Military Police. These reports state that “two new-type atomic bombs were dropped” or “one to three bombs were dropped.” Other records also refer to the impression of more than one explosion.

(2) Records from Other Cities and Prefectures

Memoir of Hinako Akira

At the time of the atomic bombing, Hinako Akira was serving as observation group chief at the high-angle gun bunkers on the island of Kōyagi, about 10.2 km from the hypocenter. In his memoir, mentioned previously, he remembers the event as follows:

At the moment of the atomic bombing, a pillar of fire rose up into the air, and then a ring of fire formed around it. At first, the pillar and the ring looked clear individually, but soon they merged into a huge column of fire. It was a truly horrifying sight. The pillar continued to grow larger. The layers of fire became thick and the colors of the pillar gradually turned dark and strange. The pillar then changed into a huge cumulonimbus cloud. Almost black, the cloud grew increasingly larger as it ascended into the sky. I observed the above scene with the type 90 height-measuring gauge, which had a range of 50,000 m. Within a few minutes, the cloud had ascended to an altitude of some 50,000 m.
　I want to emphasize that at the time of the atomic bombing, several fires occurred simultaneously in Mie and Shikimi (both were outside the borders of Nagasaki City at the time). The ferocious heat flash immediately caused forest fires.
　Those who saw the atomic bombing in Mie still say candidly that, ‘It was like the sun was falling down’ or ‘It was like the sun had broken into two pieces.’

Memoir of Ishida Taiji

Ishida Taiji was chief of the Unzen-Kinugasa Observation Station, located at the peak of Mt. Kinugasa (880 m), 45 km from the hypocenter. He remembered the event as follows:

On August 9, the weather was sunny and fair in the morning, with cumulus fractus clouds drifting over the station and the city of Nagasaki. Clouds and fog obscured the peak of Mt. Kinugasa around 10:50 a.m. but were gone by 11:14 a.m. Since it was during this time period that the atomic bomb exploded over Nagasaki, the flash could not have been observed from the peak. However, the area around the office on the mountainside, 200 m below the station, was not covered with fog, and so from there we witnessed an intense flash of light. The flash seemed light blue in color and fiercer than lightning. Around 10 minutes after the flash, we heard a loud explosion. The impact was so strong that buildings shook and people ran outdoors. It was the opinion of everyone at the time that a bomb must have fallen nearby.
　The fog dissipated from the peak at 11:14 a.m., improving visibility. Around 11:40 a.m., we observed a huge anvil-shaped cloud hovering over Nagasaki. This must have been a cumulonimbus cloud formed as a result of the atomic bombing. At the same time, we could see black smoke from fires rising between the base of the cloud and the mountain ridge. On the basis of data regarding the cloud base and other factors, recorded when the cloud passed over the station and adjacent mountains, we estimated the height of the cloud base and top to be 1,200 to 1,300 m and 4,000 to 5,000 m, respectively. Around 12:10 p.m., the cloud began to collapse in an east-northeasterly direction.

Memoir of Shiotsuki Masao

At the moment of the atomic bomb explosion, Shiotsuki Masao was serving as a naval surgeon trainee at Ōmura Naval Hospital (present-day National Nagasaki Medical Center in Kubara, Ōmura City), 16.8 km northeast of the hypocenter. Shiotsuki remembered the event as follows:

On August 9, I was working as an on-duty assistant doctor, standing in a hospital room discussing a case of neurosis with Rear Admiral Kanai Izumi, head of the Naval Medical School who had been visiting the hospital from the previous day. It was then that I suddenly saw a strong bluish-white flash, as if someone had ignited a magnesium torch.
　It had not rained for several days. August 9 was a typical sunny summer day with a clear sky. The weather conditions as of noon that day were as follows: the weather was fine, the atmospheric pressure was 763.5 mm mercury manometer, the temperature was 28 degrees C., the wet-bulb temperature was 21 degrees C., and the humidity was 71%. The fact that, on such a sunny day, I felt that the flash was strong indicates that it was indeed extremely powerful. However bright, the sparks from passing night-trains could not compare with it.
　I knew that a special type of bomb had exploded over Hiroshima and caused tremendous damage three days earlier. Of course there was no way to be certain that it was an atomic bomb, but the strange brilliant flash of light made me uneasy. Anticipating that a blast wave would follow, I looked at the second hand of my watch, but since I had never seen such a flash before, I had no idea how far we were from the explosion or how long it would take for the blast wave to arrive. The watch ticked away, but nothing happened despite the huge flash of light. I felt even more uneasy.
　Approximately 55 seconds later, the sound of a very loud explosion reached us, as though a medium-sized conventional bomb had gone off nearby. The sound was followed by a violent shock wave. An evacuation order had been issued immediately after the flash, but many people, feeling uneasy yet fascinated by what was happening, remained outside. After they heard the loud explosion, however, they immediately rushed into shelters. In contrast, two communication staff members and I immediately went outside to proceed to headquarters and take up our stations. When I went outside, I witnessed a large pure-white cloud spreading over Nagasaki like a huge umbrella. The lower part was pale peach or pale orange in color. The cloud gradually spread and ascended into the sky.
　In the lower part of the cloud, I noticed three white parachutes floating down to the east. I had to look carefully, but they were visible to the naked eye. When I used a telescope, I saw an object like a black tube dangling from two of the parachutes and something like a box dangling from the third.
　Nothing special happened after that. However, approximately 10 minutes after the explosion, it rained a little in the sunshine. Approximately 40 minutes after the explosion, the cloud had disappeared completely. 129

The following is an excerpt from the memoir of Rear Admiral Yasuyama Kōdō, who was serving as chief of Ōmura Naval Hospital at the time:

I was reading documents sent from the Chinjufu (naval headquarters) and documents to be sent by the hospital. After reading each document, I affixed my seal to the designated box and placed the document in a steel container. One such document contained the following words: ‘The enemy forces used a special new type of bomb to attack Hiroshima. The explosive power was immense. It is anticipated that the enemy forces will use the same kind of bomb again.’
　Surmising that the special bomb may have been an atomic bomb, I continued reading. Shortly after 11:00 a.m., I saw a flash of light through the frosted windowpanes on my left. Soon after that, I heard the windows shatter along the stairs leading from my office to the entrance. My intuition told me that an atomic bomb had been dropped. I yelled ‘bombing!’ and ordered everyone to evacuate. Some corpsmen had been standing on duty at the entrance. They shouted ‘evacuate!’ through microphones and megaphones, running inside and outside the hospital. Thanks to them, the patients in the hospital were able to leave the building immediately.
　I went out of my office, climbed down the stairs, went into the garden and looked up at the sky. I saw a huge white mushroom cloud over Nagasaki, gradually spreading and moving toward the hospital. I saw roaring flames in the center of the cloud. Peering through binoculars, a member of my staff shouted that he was able to see three parachutes. While I was wondering what shape it would take by the time it reached the hospital, the cloud disappeared. I heard later that the distance between the cloud, when it first appeared, and the batteries on the hill near the hospital was 15,000 m.

On the night of August 9, under the leadership of Yasuyama Kōdō, Ōmura Naval Hospital accepted 750 atomic bomb victims transferred from Nagasaki.

Memoir of an Engineer from the Ōmura 21st Naval Air Arsenal

The following is an excerpt from a statement made by an engineer lieutenant attached to the Ōmura 21st Naval Air Arsenal. The statement is quoted in a report by the military police in Nagasaki. Although his name in unknown, the lieutenant was apparently about 22 km north of the hypocenter at the time of the atomic bombing:

1. A very loud explosion was heard in Ōmura. At the same time, windows and caps were blown away. I intuitively felt that a bomb had been dropped on Ōmura City.
2. Immediately after I heard the explosion, I saw a cloud of smoke 10 km wide and 2 km high, over a mountain in Nagasaki. The smoke was spreading horizontally. The smoke soon disappeared and then three more clouds of smoke, of the same shape as the previous ones, formed and spread horizontally. Subsequently, a white column of smoke churned up into the sky like a tornado. Heavy smoke again covered the sky of Nagasaki. After a while, the three clouds of smoke broke up and rose high into the sky. Later, I saw several fires in Nagasaki City.

Memoir of Ōta Takashi

Ōta Takashi was a first lieutenant attached to the fighter aircraft unit known as the Kusanagi Unit. Stationed at Takematsu, the unit was mainly engaged in night missions with two-seat aircraft called suisei (comets). At the time of the atomic bombing, he was resting in the officer housing on the island of Shikanoshima, Ōmura, 25.5 km north of the hypocenter:

On August 9, I was in a housing unit on Shikanoshima, an island near Takematsu, a little north of Ōmura in the direction of Sasebo. Tired from night duty, most of my coworkers were lying on the floor sleeping. I don’t remember why, but I was up, leaning against a window facing Nagasaki and gazing absentmindedly at the sky. It was then that I saw a flash of light over Nagasaki and then something like a spectral waterfall coming down to the ground. I think the waterfall had a width of approximately 10 degrees in my field of vision. It was so beautifully colored that I could hardly believe what I was seeing. At first, I thought I was looking at the northern lights.
　Just when it occurred to me that this could not be possible, a mushroom cloud formed and I heard a thunderous explosion. The sound was so loud that I thought a one-ton bomb had exploded nearby. I am not sure how many seconds passed from the time I saw the rainbow-like apparition until I heard the explosion. However, since the direct distance between Nagasaki and the island is less than 30 km, it was probably just a few seconds. When I saw the apparition, I unconsciously shouted ‘ahhhh!’ The loud explosion immediately followed this, by which time all my coworkers were on their feet.
　Most of the soldiers were flight trainees who had completed humanities courses. We had heard about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and so concluded that an atomic bomb had been dropped on Nagasaki as well. We left the housing unit in unison and rushed to the base, reaching it, out of breath, in about 20 minutes. However, the base was also in chaos, and the telephone connection between the base and Nagasaki was of course down. No order came to fire at the American aircraft that dropped the bomb. All we could do was shout among ourselves.

Memoir of Shibata Ichirō

Shibata Ichirō was serving as military surgeon captain on the island of Hariojima. While examining patients at the hospital, he happened to witness the phenomena immediately after the atomic bombing. The hospital was 35.5 km north of the hypocenter:

The patient I had been treating left my consultation room. I looked at my watch and saw that it was just past 11:00 a.m. I took a deep breath and prepared to see the next patient in the waiting room. Just then, outside the window, I saw what looked like the sun setting over the mountains in Togitsu and Nagasaki, far from Ōmura Bay. This strange scene captivated me; Nagasaki is south of Hario, not west, and it was still around 11:00 a.m. The strange object, like the setting sun, was larger than the true sun. As soon as the object seemed to sink into the mountains, I saw light radiating upward.
　This light was dull red in color, yellowish and brighter than that emitted by the sun. It was as if a ball of light had been crushed into pieces.
　The so-called new-type bomb dropped on Hiroshima crossed my mind. However, since the next patient was coming into the consultation room, I could no longer think about the bomb. No one in the hospital talked about that strange scene.

Memoir of Fukumaki Mitsuko

People in the prefectures of Saga and Kumamoto also witnessed the atomic bombing, especially in Karatsu and Hizen-Yamaguchi, Saga Prefecture. The following is an excerpt from the memoir of a woman who was in Saga City, 70 km away from the hypocenter, at the time and whose son was a student at Nagasaki Medical College. When she saw the flash of the atomic bomb in Saga, she had no way to know that the explosion had killed her son in Nagasaki.

Around 11:00 a.m., August 9, I was leaning against a pillar on the veranda of my house, looking casually at my garden. Suddenly, I thought of my son Katsuyuki, and just then I saw a bright flash of light like lightning and heard a frightening noise, like windows shattering. I was completely baffled. Since I could not be sure that it had just been my imagination, I asked my family about the light and noise but no one else had noticed. Strange thoughts raced through my head, like the idea that a car accident had perhaps occurred at the corner nearby.
　Around 11:00 a.m., Mr. Yonekura was on duty observing the sky to the west with a telescope. A teacher, Mr. Yonekura had been in charge of Katsuyuki’s class for six years in the primary division at Saga Teachers School. He saw the white mushroom cloud in the sky and reported his opinion that a new-type bomb had been dropped. Someone admonished him, however, saying that it could not be true and that he should know better. In fact, however, he was right.

Memoir of Nishikawa Masaru

Nishikawa Masaru was a military surgeon ensign attached to the Independent Combined 42343rd Unit. At the time of the atomic bombing, he was performing surgery in a private residence in the village of Saitsu on the island of Amakusa-shimo, Kumamoto Prefecture, which he was using as a temporary clinic. The residence was 50 km from the hypocenter:

Wiping sweat from my forehead, I was about to make an incision in a patient’s upper right chest to remove a swelling, without anesthetic. The patient was a private who had been drafted from northeastern Japan. At that moment I heard a loud explosion, apparently nearby. The sound was like the sudden, loud noise made when a jet plane takes off. The sound shocked everyone in the room, and I shouted ‘get down!’
　One or two minutes passed, perhaps more, but nothing happened. I told the patient to keep still and went outside.
　Although I had assumed at first that the explosion had occurred in the neighborhood, I soon found that I had been wrong. I saw a pale-red mushroom cloud high in the sky over Nagasaki City, northwest of the village of Saitsu. The cloud was growing larger against the sunlight. It struck me as astonishingly beautiful. I checked my watch and saw that it was 11:04 a.m. I would hear later that the explosion had occurred at 11:02 a.m.
　I told everyone in the residence to come outside, and they all marveled at its strange beauty. No one knew what had happened, but it occurred to me that a balloon bomb of the type raising concerns among military authorities might have been dropped.
　Approximately one hour after the explosion, special radio news was broadcast, reporting that a new-type bomb had exploded over Nagasaki. The announcer said that the city was completely destroyed. I was worried about my mother and sisters, who were in Nagasaki, my hometown. After thinking a great deal, I tried to persuade my superior to grant me permission to go to Nagasaki, but he refused on the grounds that no detailed information was available yet.

Memoir of Hiroshima Shisei

At the time of the Nagasaki atomic bombing, Hiroshima Shisei was a second grade student in the pharmacy course at Nagasaki Medical College working in a factory in Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture. The factory was referred to as the Kumamoto Prefecture 7042 Factory (present-day Chisso Minamata Factory). The 60 students in the second grade of the pharmacy course had been sent to the factory to work as researchers. The factory was very dangerous in that it handled the raw materials of gunpowder. It was about 80 km from the hypocenter. Remembers Hiroshima:

We were evacuating to a shelter in response to an air-raid alarm when we suddenly heard a very loud noise like a distant roll of thunder.
　Wondering what it was, I turned back, only to see a white cloud, like a dragon, rising straight up into the sky. I saw the cloud rising through the clouds over Amakusa, at the edge of the Ariake Sea. The top of the cloud soon spread and then divided into upper and lower parts. The two parts quickly ascended to the sky and merged again into one cloud. Set against the bright blue sky and changing in color from red to blue, yellow and green like a rainbow, the cloud passed overhead at around noon. I felt as if I were dreaming.
　I could never have imagined that, under such a beautiful rainbow-streaked cloud, people were experiencing hell on earth.
　After the alarm was lifted, many people began to discuss the strangely shaped cloud. Some guessed that it had been produced by an eruption of Mt. Unzen; others suggested that it was the result of an experiment with Japan’s new aerial mine.
　However, some of my friends who had just returned from shelters said that they had heard a radio broadcast telling everyone in Nagasaki to evacuate immediately and to put out fires. Since most of us were natives of Nagasaki, this information was shocking.
　After a while, we were informed that everyone in the area all around Nagasaki had been killed.
　‘That can’t be true! If it were true, our factory would also have been destroyed. But we’re still alive!’
　‘It doesn’t make sense that a single bomb could kill such a large number of people!’
　No one could have imagined at the time that a single bomb was capable of destroying an entire city. What actually happened in Nagasaki was truly beyond our wildest dreams.

Assistant Professor Akiyama Tsuneo, who was living with the students as an instructor, remembers the events of that day as follows in his diary:

At 8:00 on August 9, the students and I rode trucks to a dormitory that had been destroyed in an air raid a few days before. We were busy digging out debris when, around 9:30 a.m., an air-raid alarm was issued. We stopped digging and evacuated to shelters near the coast. Around 12:30, the alarm was lifted. Some students told me that they had seen a huge mushroom cloud over Nagasaki at around 11:00. In the afternoon, I received word from factory headquarters that a new-type bomb had been dropped on Nagasaki. My students began to worry about their families and lodgings in Nagasaki. (It was not until August 16, eight days later, that they were allowed to return to Nagasaki.)

Let us stop here and look briefly at the radio broadcasts of August 9.
　As Nishikawa Masaru mentions in his memoir, the news of the Nagasaki atomic bombing was broadcast in the neighboring prefectures of Fukuoka, Saga and Kumamoto from approximately one hour after the explosion. These reports followed the emergency broadcasts calling for the people of Nagasaki to evacuate immediately. Many people in different prefectures say that they heard these reports. Many also say that they repeatedly heard excited instructions to the people of Nagasaki to extinguish fires. These instructions are odd in view of the fact that the people of Nagasaki were being urged to put out fires right after being told to leave the city immediately.
　It should be noted, however, that the NHK radio station in Nagasaki had been destroyed by the atomic bomb explosion. The route by which these reports were broadcast remains unclear, but the records of the Defense Agency Office of War History at the National Defense College include the following passage:

The information available about the Hiroshima atomic bombing suggested that the B-29 mission [of August 9] was also an atomic bomb attack. The enemy aircraft circled over Yahata and then flew away in a southwesterly direction. The 16th Army Headquarters judged that the enemy aircraft were on their way to Nagasaki and, using radio and other communication devices, repeatedly alerted the public that a few B-29s were approaching Nagasaki and that everyone in the city should take cover immediately.

This indicates that the 16th Army Headquarters took unprecedented emergency measures to inform the public of the approach of B-29 bombers and that that these reports were heard by people in the prefectures of Fukuoka, Saga and Kumamoto. However, unusual as these broadcasts were, the people of Nagasaki would not hear them under the mushroom cloud.

___________________________
123 Yanagimoto Kenichi (ed.), Gekidō nijūnen (Twenty Years of Upheaval)
(Mainichi Shimbunsha, 1965) ^
124 Tanaka Takeshi ^
125 Interview with Paul W. Tibbets (former commander of 509th Composite Group) ^
126 William L. Laurence, “Eye Witness Account Atomic Bomb Mission Over Nagasaki,” (U.S. War Department, Bureau of Public Relations Press Release, September 9, 1945), (http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/Hiroshima/Nagasaki.shtml) ^
127 Charles W. Sweeney with James A. Antonucci and Marion K. Antonucci, War's End: An Eyewitness Account of America's Last Atomic Mission (Avon Books, 1997), p.219. ^
128 “The Effects of the Atomic Bombs,” in the United States Strategic Bombing Survey Summary Report (Pacific War), Washington, D.C., July 1, 1946. ^
129 (Source: My Experience in the Treatment and Autopsy of Victims of the Atomic Bombing in Nagasaki City.) ^

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