mingled the tears for those whom we shall not see again.

The magnitude of the disaster that befell Hiroshima on August 6th was
only slowly pieced together in my mind. I lived through the
catastrophe and saw it only in flashes, which only gradually were
merged to give me a total picture. What actually happened
simultaneously in the city as a whole is as follows: As a result of the
explosion of the bomb at 8:15, almost the entire city was destroyed at
a single blow. Only small outlying districts in the southern and
eastern parts of the town escaped complete destruction. The bomb
exploded over the center of the city. As a result of the blast, the
small Japanese houses in a diameter of five kilometers, which
compressed 99% of the city, collapsed or were blown up. Those who were
in the houses were buried in the ruins. Those who were in the open
sustained burns resulting from contact with the substance or rays
emitted by the bomb. Where the substance struck in quantity, fires
sprang up. These spread rapidly.

The heat which rose from the center created a whirlwind which was
effective in spreading fire throughout the whole city. Those who had
been caught beneath the ruins and who could not be freed rapidly, and
those who had been caught by the flames, became casualties. As much as
six kilometers from the center of the explosion, all houses were
damaged and many collapsed and caught fire. Even fifteen kilometers
away, windows were broken. It was rumored that the enemy fliers had
spread an explosive and incendiary material over the city and then had
created the explosion and ignition. A few maintained that they saw the
planes drop a parachute which had carried something that exploded at a
height of 1,000 meters. The newspapers called the bomb an "atomic
bomb" and noted that the force of the blast had resulted from the
explosion of uranium atoms, and that gamma rays had been sent out as a
result of this, but no one knew anything for certain concerning the
nature of the bomb.

How many people were a sacrifice to this bomb? Those who had lived
through the catastrophe placed the number of dead at at least 100,000.
Hiroshima had a population of 400,000. Official statistics place the
number who had died at 70,000 up to September 1st, not counting the
missing ... and 130,000 wounded, among them 43,500 severely wounded.
Estimates made by ourselves on the basis of groups known to us show
that the number of 100,000