IX: Hiroshima, The Military City
Waves of Men — Waving Flags
This Hiroshima, that now presented a picture of Hell had for many years before the bomb been functioning as a military base along with the city of Kure. Through both the Russo- and Sino-Japanese wars, and up through World War II, Hiroshima's harbor remained a highly strategic embarkation point for men and supplies. Over the years, with waves of flags washing over waves of men, countless troops had passed through this city, lending it an extraordinary vigor.
From the Quartermaster's office to the uniform makers and rations preparation centers from which he ordered and the warehouses where supplies were stored, through the ammunition dumps, drill grounds, army hospital and navy shipyard, to the factories producing war material, Hiroshima was full of the military. Further, more than 50,000 troops were quartered in the city.
Compulsory Building Clearance
To create safe areas and prevent spread of fire after air raids, more and more buildings were ordered demolished. Even two years before Pearl Harbor such clearance had been carried out around Hachobori, and by the end of the conflict, 133 small areas totaling 27,000 square meters had been cleared of houses.
The popular slogan of the war was, "Forget self — all out for your country," and so it was possible to recruit a civilian corps of about 20,000 from areas surrounding the city. These volunteers came in faithfully early in the mornings to do the demolition. The corps consisted of workers from non-strategic factories and firms, and intermediate boys and girls too young for the military factories.
Elementary school children and the elderly were permitted to evacuate, but all others were required to remain in the city. Many, however, would leave at night for friends' houses in the suburbs, in order to escape the sleeplessness of the frequent air-raid warnings. The district officers, when caught one of these, would turn him back with the reproof, "You are not a good citizen !"
The Chugoku Command
Motomachi, with the castle at its center, was an army hase quartering some 24 units. It reached from 0.1 to 0.9 mile from hypocenter. The five-storied castle looked down upon a moat colorful with lotus and carp, on ancient cryptomerias shading its gate, and on the city, beyond.
Beside the stone bridge over the inner moat stood the base command and around it barracks surrounded by cisterns of water, protection against incendiary bombs. Half-buried concrete bunkers housed the information and command centers for the Chugoku District, and three communications men manned the radio around the clock. Young Girl Survivors
Also working there, in three shifts daily, were ninety young teenaged girls who carried messages and ran errands. Of these, 73 were killed in the blast. Twelve, who barely escaped with their lives, wrote a memorial book, "Within the Flames" on the 25th anniversary to express their anger and sorrow over the loss of their classmates.
"August 6, 1945 is a day we can never forget. We ad worked all through the night before and were very tired, but the clear blue sky cheered us. At 8:13 there was a warning signal. Thinking to alert the various command centers and news media, we ran to the telephones. We had hardly opened our mouths, however, when "Dön!" and we fainted.
First News from Hiroshima
"Some minutes later, everything was gray as far as the eye could see. "What's happened ?' We crawled out of the bunker and stood, stupefied. The command center. indeed all of Hiroshima had disappeared. Somewhere soldier shouted, "We've been hit by a new kind of bomb! We must let the Kyushu and Fukuyama centers know. we thought, so we ran in, and snatched up phones. Consumed with impatience while the connection was being made, we finally contacted Kyushu, and that finished, called Fukuyama Headquarters.
"Dreadful ! Hiroshima has been hit by a new bomb !
" 'What? A new kind of bomb? Only the division headquarters?
" 'No! It looks like most of Hiroshima.'
" 'Is that really true ?'
" 'Oh, the fire's on us-we've got to get out.' "
Thus two fifteen-year-old girls, Yoshie Okura and Katsuko Itamura, were the first to send out word of the nuclear attack from Hiroshima.
That morning, when the burst came the high school girl workers had been at their morning exercises in the grounds of the old Meiji Imperial Headquarters, just prior to a change in shifts. They were left piled one on another like so much rubble. Torn clothing, inflamed bodies, shredded skin... over sixty girls could not be identified. Apparently they had been caught while practicing sell defense with bamboo spears, for most of them still clutched lengths of bamboo in shriveled hands.
Nothing Could be Done
"With flames surrounding them," writes one of the survivors, "their hair burning, victims ran about searching water. The river bank was packed with them and heaps of bodies lined the water's edge. From among them came shrieks and groans, and cries, 'Water, give me water! other!' cried a soldier. When I tried to help them, the flabby bodies slipped and fell away. Nothing could be done. Shouts surrounded me, 'Do you want me to die—to die?' and with these ringing in my ears, I fled. Before my eves the swift river carried past one of my classmates clinging to a tree among the many bodies. Just for an instant I saw her, and then she was gone; she was found later, drowned."
At the end, the authors write, "On a day when the sun wilts the oleanders, we recall our classmates whose young lives were so suddenly cut short. Our anger is not a thing of the moment, but we resolve that it shall persist until it merges with our prayers."