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