ATOMIC BOMB TARGET

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25941, 6 September 1945, Page 5

ATOMIC BOMB TARGET

HAVOC IN HIROSHIMA CITY PRACTICALLY RAZED NEW YORK, Sept. 4. For its.size, no city in the world is so completely wiped out as Hiroshima, says an Associated Press correspondent who has just visited the first atomic bomb target. Less than a dozen buildings stand forlornly ,in the midst of the ruin of what was once supposed to be Japan’s most modern city. By contrast, Bremen, Hamburg, and Berlin seem untouched. Block after block in Hiroshima contain only a thin covering of rusting tin, a few stones, some broken bricks, and twisted frames. The only air raid shelter to escape the bombing was the army headquarters under 18 feet of earth and concrete. A Japanese reporter who visited Hiroshima shortly after the bombing said: “The people of Hiroshima hate you and think you the most fiendish and cruel people on earth.” The Japanese said no attempt would be made to rebuild the city, and the entire area would be evacuated until scientists declared it safe. Two American scientists, Dr H. Winnie antf Dr G. Suits, said the most probable peace-time application of atomic energy would be in the form of heat. However, this was not likely in the near future.

Both men. who participated in the atomic bomb development, consider it technically possible to use nuclear energy as a source of power, but believe it is too early to predict whether this will be economically practical.