The Atom Strikes!
Encyclopedia
The Atom Strikes is a document commissioned by the U.S. Army Signal Corps Pictoral Division shortly after the end of the Second World War. It documents the findings of a commission sent to Japan
to assess the damage caused by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Opening with the blast of the experimental bombing in Los Alamos, New Mexico
, the film turns to the Enola Gay
and its mission over the Japanese city of Hiroshima
. The narrator informs the audience about the military significance of the city and that it had not experienced bombing as yet, but it had been warned. The results of the bombing are then explained, with footage and descriptions of how various buildings were affected by the blast at different distances from ground zero
. Afterwards, an interview with Father John A. Siemes http://www.cddc.vt.edu/host/atomic/hiroshim/siemes.html, a Jesuit priest who was living at the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus in Nagatsuka, is shown to give the audience a firsthand account of the bombing. Near the end of the interview, the priest is seen reading from a prepared statement.
Nagasaki is then mentioned, with the narrator pointing out how much armament and other military supplies were being produced there, as well as the fact that even civilian homes were used for war work. Nevertheless, the effect of the atomic blast on local schools and churches is also shown.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
to assess the damage caused by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Opening with the blast of the experimental bombing in Los Alamos, New Mexico
Los Alamos, New Mexico
Los Alamos is a townsite and census-designated place in Los Alamos County, New Mexico, United States, built upon four mesas of the Pajarito Plateau and the adjoining White Rock Canyon. The population of the CDP was 12,019 at the 2010 Census. The townsite or "the hill" is one part of town while...
, the film turns to the Enola Gay
Enola Gay
Enola Gay is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, mother of the pilot, then-Colonel Paul Tibbets. On August 6, 1945, during the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb as a weapon of war...
and its mission over the Japanese city of Hiroshima
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...
. The narrator informs the audience about the military significance of the city and that it had not experienced bombing as yet, but it had been warned. The results of the bombing are then explained, with footage and descriptions of how various buildings were affected by the blast at different distances from ground zero
Ground zero
The term ground zero describes the point on the Earth's surface closest to a detonation...
. Afterwards, an interview with Father John A. Siemes http://www.cddc.vt.edu/host/atomic/hiroshim/siemes.html, a Jesuit priest who was living at the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus in Nagatsuka, is shown to give the audience a firsthand account of the bombing. Near the end of the interview, the priest is seen reading from a prepared statement.
Nagasaki is then mentioned, with the narrator pointing out how much armament and other military supplies were being produced there, as well as the fact that even civilian homes were used for war work. Nevertheless, the effect of the atomic blast on local schools and churches is also shown.
See also
- List of American films of 1945
- List of Allied Propaganda Films of World War 2