realized that the main line telegraph had stopped working just north of
Hiroshima. From some small railway stops within ten miles of the city
there came unofficial and confused reports of a terrible explosion in
Hiroshima. All these reports were transmitted to the Headquarters of the
Japanese General Staff.

Military headquarters repeatedly tried to call the Army Control Station in
Hiroshima. The complete silence from that city puzzled the men at
Headquarters; they knew that no large enemy raid could have occurred, and
they knew that no sizeable store of explosives was in Hiroshima at that
time. A young officer of the Japanese General Staff was instructed to fly
immediately to Hiroshima, to land, survey the damage, and return to Tokyo
with reliable information for the staff. It was generally felt at
Headquarters that nothing serious had taken place, that it was all a
terrible rumor starting from a few sparks of truth.

The staff officer went to the airport and took off for the southwest.
After flying for about three hours, while still nearly 100 miles from
Hiroshima, he and his pilot saw a great cloud of smoke from the bomb. In
the bright afternoon, the remains of Hiroshima were burning.

Their plane soon reached the city, around which they circled in disbelief.
A great scar on the land, still burning, and covered by a heavy cloud of
smoke, was all that was left of a great city. They landed south of the
city, and the staff officer immediately began to organize relief measures,
after reporting to Tokyo.

Tokyo's first knowledge of what had really caused the disaster came from
the White House public announcement in Washington sixteen hours after
Hiroshima had been hit by the atomic bomb.