OLD WAR MOVIES

OLD WAR MOVIES

OLD WAR MOVIES

...The 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: The growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power and the growth of corporate propaganda against democracy.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

HEROES OF TELEMARK: THE TRUE MANHATTAN PROJECT

 

 

HEROES OF TELEMARK: THE TRUE MANHATTAN PROJECT

 

The entrance of America into WW2 in Europe against the Nazis on behalf of England is now alleged to have actually started in early 1941 before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  The USG had formed a lend-lease agreement with England in March 1941 after war England declared war on Germany in September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland.  England had invaded Iceland and turned it over to the US to use as a military base.  In April 1941 the US destroyer Niblock fired 3 depth charges against a German U Boat which actually started a secret war in the North Atlantic with Nazi Germany.  Hitler had been reluctant to enter into a war with the US but was frustrated by the US assistance of England with massive shipment of supplies.Back-channel deals were made midpoint through the war with Nazi Intel for a settlement agreement.  The German military would surrender, but the Nazi party would share it massive assets that it had stripped from countries it attacked, invaded and occupied and from the Jews and dissidents sent to death camps.  It would also share its plutonium that it successfully processed from uranium (later to be used in the Atomic bombs dropped on Japan) and its rocket technology, other advanced weapons technology such as TV guided cruise missiles, and anti-gravity craft.

And it would share all this and it’s ready made world wide spy network which they claimed to have completely infiltrated Russia, if the USG would agree to bring thousands of its key intel and scientists over to the US, offer them jobs in defense and Intel, provide opportunities to become US Citizens, and most important of all allow them to continue using South America and Antarctica as bases of operations to serve as “consultants” and praetorian guard for certain dictators and at least one very large US Corporation importing certain yellow fruit from South American (known as the “octopus” or the “company”, the original network of private spies which the CIA was later based on.

 

Upshot-Knothole Grable, a test carried out by the U.S. military in Nevada on May 25, 1953. A 280mm nuclear shell was fired 10km into the desert by the M65 Atomic Cannon, detonating in the air, about 500 feet above the ground, with a resulting 15 kiloton explosion.

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“Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience. Therefore (individual citizens) have the duty to (refuse to obey) domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring.” ~ Nuremberg War Crime Tribunal, 1950

“We must kill them in war, just because they live beyond the river. If they lived on this side, we would be called murderers.” ~ Blaise Pascal (17th century mathematician and philosopher whose father lost his entire savings because of France’s national bankruptcy caused by the debt incurred during the religious Thirty Years War)

“If you had seen one day of war, you would pray to God that you would never see another.” ~ The Duke of Wellington (celebrated for being the victorious British general at the Battle of Waterloo, June 1815)

 

From the last few months of 1940 through the summer of 1941, the conflicts among nations grew into true World War. The East African campaign and Western Desert campaign both began during this period, with largely Italian and British forces battling back and forth across the deserts of Egypt and Libya and from Ethiopia to Kenya. The Tripartite Pact -- a declaration of cooperation between Germany, Italy, and Japan -- was signed in Berlin. Japanese forces occupied Vietnam, established bases in French Indochina, and continued to attack China. Mussolini ordered his forces to attack Greece, launching the Greco-Italian War and the Balkans Campaign. The Battle of Britain continued as the forces of Germany and Britain carried out bombing raids and sea attacks against each other. The United States began its lend-lease program, which would eventually ship $50 billion worth of arms and materials to to Allied nations. And an ominous new phase began as the Germans established walled ghettos in Warsaw and other Polish cities, rounding up Jews from surrounding areas and forcing them to move into these enclaves.

 

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British Infantrymen in position in a shallow trench near Bardia, a Libyan Port, which had been occupied by Italian forces, and fell to the Allies on January 5, 1941, after a 20-day siege. (AP Photo)

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Against a background of a rock formation, a British bomber takes off on May 15, 1941, from somewhere in East Africa, leaving behind a trail of smoke and sand. (AP Photo) #

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Warships of the British Mediterranean Fleet bombarded Fort Cupuzzo at Bardia, Libya, on June 21, 1940. On board one of the battleships was an official photographer who recorded pictures during the bombardment. Anti-aircraft pom-pom guns stand ready for action. (AP Photo) #

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An aerial view of Tobruk, Libya, showing petrol dumps burning after attacks by Allied forces in 1941. (AP Photo) #

Bardia, a fortified Libyan seaport, was captured by British forces, with more than 38,000 Italian prisoners, including four generals, and vast quantities of war material. An endless stream of Italian prisoners leaves Bardia, on February 5, 1941, after the Australians had taken possession. (AP Photo)

A squadron of Bren gun carriers, manned by the Australian Light Cavalry, rolls through the Egyptian desert in January of 1941. The troops performed maneuvers in preparation for the Allied campaign in North Africa. (AP Photo)

This armorer of the R.A.F.'s middle east command prepares a bomb for its mission against the Italian forces campaigning in Africa. This big bomb is not yet fused, but when it is it will be ready for its deadly work. Photo taken on October 24, 1940. (AP Photo)

Extraordinary: The clips show inhabitants of Colditz in a more relaxed light, joking around and smiling for the camera

Extraordinary: The clips show inhabitants of Colditz in a more relaxed light, joking around and smiling for the camera

Colditz may have been a notorious Nazi prisoner of war camp, but a newly-unearthed film shows its inmates and guards still found time to fool around.

The extraordinary footage – the only known film of prisoners and guards inside the camp – was found 70 years after it was shot. It will be screened for the first time on Channel 4 tonight.

The clips show inhabitants of the camp in a more relaxed light, joking around and smiling for the camera.

The grainy colour film also shows prisoners gathered for a roll call in the isolated Renaissance castle, which formed the most secure prison camp in the Third Reich.

Colditz, near Leipzig, Dresden, and Chemnitz in the state of Saxony, was built on the side of a cliff above the Mulde river in the 11th Century.

It gained international fame as a prisoner of war camp during the Second World War for 'incorrigible' Allied officers who had repeatedly escaped from other camps.

The castle housed around 500 Allied officers, among them the legendary Battle of Britain pilot Sir Douglas Bader, and was meant to be impossible to escape from.

But Allied officers made a series of daring attempts and by the end of the war it boasted one of the highest records of successful escapes.

The castle only received its first Americans in August 1944. They were 49-year-old Colonel Florimund Duke - the oldest American paratrooper of the war - Captain Guy Nunn, and Alfred Suarez.

They were all counter-intelligence operatives parachuted into Hungary to prevent it joining forces with Germany.

When U.S. troops liberated Colditz in April 1945, 31 prisoners had successfully reached home after more than 300 attempts. Twelve Frenchmen made it home, 11 Britons, seven Dutch and one Pole.

Enlarge Rare footage of guards fooling around at Colditz

Enlarge Rare footage of guards fooling around at Colditz

Enlarge Rare footage of guards fooling around at Colditz

Enlarge Rare footage of guards fooling around at Colditz

Captured on film: Rare footage of guards fooling around at Colditz will be shown on Channel 4

At one point during the film, a group of four officers is seen laughing as they cross the bridge leading to the castle entrance. One produces a pistol and waves it at the others, one of whom responds by drawing his sword.

In another scene an officer is shown gazing out of a castle window and doffing his cap to the camera.

Two officers are also seen out and about in the East German town, with one offering a Nazi salute whilst his colleague laughs.

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Fooling around: A still from newly-discovered film showing first moving pictures from inside the infamous Colditz Prison

Fooling around: A still from newly-discovered film showing first moving pictures from inside the infamous Colditz Prison

Unearthed: The grainy colour film also shows prisoners gathered for a roll call in the isolated Renaissance castle

Unearthed: The grainy colour film also shows prisoners gathered for a roll call in the isolated Renaissance castle

The new documentary tells the story of one of the most infamous prisoner of war camps of the Second World War

The new documentary tells the story of one of the most infamous prisoner of war camps of the Second World War

THE WW2 PoW CAMP THE NAZIS THOUGHT WAS ESCAPE-PROOF

Actor Desmond Llewelyn, one of the stars of the new James Bond films, was imprisoned in Colditz

The most infamous of the more than 100 PoW camps in Germany was of course in Colditz Castle.

Officially known as Oflag IV-C, it was used to house Allied soldiers who had already been recaptured after fleeing from other camps, and was supposed to be escape-proof.

Instead, many of the highly motivated men there dedicated all their waking hours to finding new ways to outwit their German captors, meaning it was left with one of the highest escape rates of all.

Outrageous schemes included manufacturing German uniforms, dropping out of windows 100ft high, and even building a glider in the loft.

Among the prisoners were Desmond Llewelyn (pictured above), who resumed his acting career after five years in Colditz and achieved fame as Q in the James Bond films.

Other well known POW records to be released include that of Viscount George Henry Hubert Lascelles, who was seventh in line to the throne at the time of capture, and imprisoned in Colditz from 1944 until the end of the war.

Some of the daring escapes from Colditz have also been immortalised in TV's 1970s Colditz series and on film in The Colditz Story.

More sinister footage shows hundreds of prisoners lined up for a roll call and exercising in the yard, walking in twos and threes.

The footage was shot by Walter Langar, a logistics and supply officer, who spent several weeks at Colditz early in the war.

It was bought by memorabilia collector Karl Hoeffkes, who alerted the castle authorities when he recognised the footage.

Tom Cook, the director, told The Daily Telegraph: 'It is very unusual to see German officers having a laugh.

'This is the first time the film has been broadcast anywhere in the world.

'It is the only known film footage of prisoners at the castle and is a very exciting find.

'Although Colditz is well-documented through still photography, we have never before been inside the castle in such a way with film.'

The film will be shown at 9pm today on Channel 4 during the documentary Escape from Colditz which also features the story of one of the most audacious escape plots.

Prisoners managed to construct a glider from materials including bedsteads, floorboards, cotton sheets and porridge and planned to fly out of the camp.

Now, 67 years later, a team of engineers has attempted to reconstruct and launch the Colditz Cock, as it was known, and lay the mystery of whether it would have worked to rest.

In total there were 186 Allied escape attempts before the camp was liberated on April 16, 1945.

The first of 11 Britons to make a 'home run' was former Northern Ireland Secretary Airey Neave, who disguised himself as a German officer and walked out of the camp during a theatrical production through a trap door prisoners built under the stage.

History is remade: The glider after crash-landing in front of the castle

History is remade: The glider after crash-landing in front of the castle

There was one major difference between the original (pictured) and the replica - the Forties glider was built to carry two prisoners, but in 2012 a polystyrene dummy, nicknamed Alex, sat in the cockpit while the aircraft was steered by remote control

There was one major difference between the original (pictured) and the replica - the Forties glider was built to carry two prisoners, but in 2012 a polystyrene dummy, nicknamed Alex, sat in the cockpit while the aircraft was steered by remote control

Prisoners of war: Some of the British servicemen who were held in Colditz

Prisoners of war: Some of the British servicemen who were held in Colditz

The glider, though, was never tested because the castle was liberated by the Americans before the prisoners had a chance to try.

Sixteen British prisoners had built the two-man glider behind a false wall in the prison attic, in a space just 20ft by 7ft. Forty more acted as lookouts.

They fashioned tools from bedsteads and iron window bars and made the wing spars from floorboards, the glider skin from cotton sheets and the control wires from electric cable.

The finished glider spanned 33ft 9in and was 19ft 7in long.


Arrested: Laszlo Csatary was the world's most wanted Nazi for his alleged role in the Holocaust

Arrested: Laszlo Csatary was the world's most wanted Nazi for his alleged role in the Holocaust

The world's number one Nazi war crimes suspect is facing prison in the city he once ruled with fear.

Authorities in Slovakia want Laszlo Csatary to serve a life sentence for his role in the deportation of 15,700 Jews to the Auschwitz death camp.

Csatary, 97, is under house arrest in Hungary after it was revealed he was secretly living in Budapest. Now the authorities there are considering bringing new war crime charges against him.

But Slovakia's Justice Minister Tomas Borec has asked a court in Kassa where Csatary was a police chief to issue an international arrest warrant and make an extradition request.

He said:'This is one of the last possibilities for us to punish someone for crimes carried out during the Second World War.

'Csatary's crimes cannot be justified on the basis he acted on orders.'

Csatary - full name Laszlo Csizsik-Csatary - is number one on the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's wanted list.

He was a senior police officer in Kosice, which at that time was occupied by Nazi ally Hungary and is now in Slovakia. He fled after the war, but in 1948, a court condemned him to death.

Prosecutors said he was present when trains took Jewish men, women and children to Auschwitz. Slovakia has indicated the sentence will be commuted to life in prison if he is extradited.

After the war, Csatary sneaked into Canada, where he worked as an art dealer in Montreal and Toronto until in the 1990s he was stripped of his citizenship there and was forced to flee.

He ended up in Budapest where he has lived undisturbed until the Wiesenthal Center alerted Hungarian authorities last year, providing it with evidence it said implicated Csatary in war crimes.

He was then tracked down by the Sun newspaper, who photographed him after confronting him at his front door.

Acting on the information provided by the Wiesenthal Center, which was supplemented by fresh evidence last week over the deportation of some 300 other Jews in 1941, prosecutors began an investigation in September.

A statement by prosecutors last month, however, appeared to limit the chances that the old man will end up in the dock.

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Manhunt: The 97-year-old arrested and questioned by Budapest police. He is accused of orchestrating the murder of 15,700 Jewish Hungarians

Manhunt: The 97-year-old arrested and questioned by Budapest police. He is accused of orchestrating the murder of 15,700 Jewish Hungarians

Case: Csatary was a senior police officer at the time he is accused of committing the crimes

Case: Csatary was a senior police officer at the time he is accused of committing the crimes

The events 'took place 68 years ago in an area that now falls under the jurisdiction of another country - which also with regard to the related international conventions raises several investigative and legal problems.'

Efraim Zuroff, the Wiesenthal Center's chief Nazi-hunter, said that he has been 'very upset and very frustrated' about the lack of action by Hungarian authorities.

The fact that Csatary lived freely in Hungary for some 15 years and the lack of progress by prosecutors also added to worries about the direction of the EU member state under right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Almost exactly a year ago, a court in Budapest acquitted Hungarian Sandor Kepiro, 97, of charges of ordering the execution of over 30 Jews and Serbs in the Serbian town of Novi Sad in January 1942.

The Wiesenthal Center, which had also listed Kepiro as the most wanted Nazi war criminal and helped bring him to court, described the verdict as an 'outrageous miscarriage of justice'.

Six weeks later Kepiro died.

Up in arms: Demonstrators protest outside Csatary's Budapest home on Monday after prosecutors said investigating an aged Nazi war criminal is problematic because the events took place so long ago

Up in arms: Demonstrators protest outside Csatary's Budapest home on Monday after prosecutors said investigating an aged Nazi war criminal is problematic because the events took place so long ago

Activists hold up 'No Nazi' symbols in front of the door of Laszlo Csatary's hideaway building prior to their protest against him Hungarian PM Viktor Orban

The door of Csatary's Budapest home (left) on which activists have pasted 'No Nazi' symbols. Slow progress by prosecutors has added to worries about the direction of Hungary under right-wing PM Viktor Orban (right)

Prior to his arrest: The European Union of Jewish Students stand with their hands taped together in front of Csatary's home

Prior to his arrest: The European Union of Jewish Students stand with their hands taped together in front of Csatary's home

Recent months have seen something of a public rehabilitation of controversial figures, most notably of Miklos Horthy, Hungary's dictator from 1920 until falling out with his erstwhile ally Adolf Hitler in 1944.

Anti-Semitic writers like Albert Wass and Jozsef Nyiro, a keen supporter of the brutal Arrow Cross regime installed in power by the Nazis in 1944, have also been reintroduced into the curriculum for schools.

Other incidents include the verbal assault of a 90-year-old rabbi, Jozsef Schweitzer, when a stranger came up to him in the street and said 'I hate all Jews!'

The decision by the speaker of the Hungarian parliament, Orban ally Laszlo Kover, to attend a ceremony in May honouring Nyiro, prompted Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel to return Hungary's highest honour in disgust.

Holocaust survivor Mr Wiesel, 83, said: 'It has become increasingly clear that Hungarian authorities are encouraging the whitewashing of tragic and criminal episodes in Hungary's past.'

The speaker of Israel's Knesset followed this up by withdrawing an invitation to Kover to a ceremony this week in Israel paying tribute to Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who saved Jews during the war.

Hell: Millions lost their lives at Auschwitz Concentration Camp, where Laszlo Csatary is accused of being complicit in deporting 15,700 to their deaths

Hell: Millions lost their lives at Auschwitz Concentration Camp, where Csatary is accused of being complicit in deporting 15,700 to their deaths

Csatary, the former police commander of the Jewish ghetto in Kassa, Hungary, is accused of complicity in transporting thousands to their deaths

Csatary, the former police commander of the Jewish ghetto in Kassa, Hungary, is accused of complicity in transporting thousands to their deaths

ELUDING JUSTICE 70 YEARS AFTER THE END OF NAZISM

Laszlo Csatary is number one on the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's list of Nazi war criminals known to be alive and at large almost seven decades after the end of the Second World War.

Csatary, 97, is listed by the Vienna-based Nazi-hunters as having 'helped organise the deportation to Auschwitz of approximately 15,700 Jews' from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia in early 1944.

The top two names - Alois Brunner and Aribert Heim - are widely suspected to be dead.

The following are the five top remaining names on the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's list:

  1. Laszlo Csatary - Served as a Hungarian police chief in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. Accused of being instrumental in sending thousands to death camps.
  2. Gerhard Sommer - A former German SS officer who was involved in the massacre of 560 civilians in August, 1944 in Italy
  3. Vladimir Katriuk - Served in a Ukrainian

 

A longer-exposure photograph of the Trinity explosion seconds after detonation on July 16, 1945. (U.S. Department of Defense)

THE USG WAS COMPROMISED AT THE HIGHEST LEVELS BY RUSSIAN MOLES WHO WERE ABLE TO OBTAIN THE MANHATTAN PROJECT SECRETS AND THERE IS AMPLE EVIDENCE TO SUGGEST THAT 9,000 US SOLDIERS (POWS) WERE CAPTURED BY RUSSIAN SOLDERS (TAKEN FROM GERMAN PRISON CAMPS TO RUSSIAN GULAGS FOR HARD LABOR, MEDICAL EXPERIMENTATION, TORTURE AND MURDER, AND THE US MILITARY HIGH COMMAND KNEW THIS AND ALLOWED  IT WITH THE EXCEPTION OF GENERAL GEORGE PATTON WHO OBJECTED AND WAS ASSASSINATED FOR IT.

During WW2 the secrets of the Manhattan Project were rumored to have been stolen by Russian moles placed deep and high inside FDR’s administration including Harry Hopkins, and it was alleged that the Russians were provided this information along with certain war products during lend lease shipments by military cargo aircraft.  It has been rumored and alleged that General Eisenhower, the Allied Commander, knew full well that approximately 9,000 US GIs were captured by Russian soldier who overran some Nazi prison Camps, and allowed the Russians to keep these US POWS, after which they were allegedly taken to Russian Gulags in Siberia and used for extreme labor and horrible medical experiments, both usually fatal.  One American soldier escaped to tell the story but could  get little traction in the American mainstream media.  It was rumored that FDR made some twisted back-channel deals with Stalin and gave up far too much to the Russians.  When General George Patton objected and raised the alarm he was shunned.  It is rumored that he was planning on returning to the US and running for President, which he had a fair chance of winning since he was so popular.Truman’s advisers convinced him that Patton had to be sanctioned and Army Intel was tasked with the Assassination.  Those first offered refused and eventually someone agreed.  The rest is history.  General Patton was shot in the neck with a rubber bullet through the window of his staff car which was supposed to kill him, but failed.  While in the hospital he was allegedly poisoned.

NAZI INTEL CAPITALIZED ON SOVIET INFILTRATION OF THE USG AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL DURING THE LAST PART OF WW2 AND ALLEGEDLY USED THIS AS A MEANS TO FURTHER INFILTRATE AND HIJACK AMERICAN INTEL

Later as the Rosenbergs were implicated to have been involved in providing advanced nuclear secrets to the Soviets by Richard Nixon, Gehlen who ran the  Nazi intel network brought in under Operation paperclip, convinced US War Dept (now Defense Dept) that the administration of FDR and Truman had been infiltrated by Russian moles and major changes would have to be made to provide corrective action.  This really moved up the Cold War several notches and is rumored to have allowed Nazi Intel to have deeply infiltrated and perhaps taken control of the War Dept and the Shadow Govt which evolved soon after the Roswell UFO flap and two other nearby UFO crashes about the same time.

NAZI INTEL APPEARS TO HAVE HIJACKED AMERICAN INTEL AND IS ALLEGED TO HAVE SERVED AS CUTOUTS AND SERVANTS OF THE CITY OF LONDON AND THE LARGE WALL STREET BANKS

Thus Nazi Intel appeared to have hijacked the US Shadow Govt and American Intel and was allowed this power as long as it served as useful cutouts for the large Wall Street Banks by working to hep start and maintain perpetual police action, undeclared wars around the world, maintain powerful dictatorships in South America thus protecting the Octopus and asset stripping of South America, and assisted in the raising of large amounts of off the books funds from black operations such as illegal narcotics and weapons trafficking.

A massive column of water rises from the sea as the U.S. detonate an atom bomb at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific in the first underwater test of the device, July 25, 1946. (AP Photo)

A huge mushroom cloud rises above Bikini atoll in the Marshall Islands on July 25, 1946 following an atomic test blast, part of the U.S. military's Operation Crossroads. The dark spots in foreground are ships that were placed near the blast site to test what an atom bomb would do to a fleet of warships. (AP Photo)

On November 16, 1952, a B-36H bomber dropped a nuclear bomb over a point north of Runit Island in the Enewetak atoll, resulting in a 500 kiloton explosion -- part of a test code-named Ivy. (U.S. Department of Defense)

Operation Greenhouse took place in the spring of 1951, consisting of four explosions at the Pacific Proving Grounds in the Pacific Ocean. This photo is from the third test, George, on May 9, 1951, the first thermonuclear bomb test, yielding 225 kilotons. (U.S. Department of Defense)

 

During Plumbbob test at the Nevada Test Site on August 30, 1957, the Franklin Prime shot is detonated from a balloon in Yucca Flat at an altitude of 750 feet. (National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Site Office)

The test explosion of a hydrogen bomb during Operation Redwing over the Bikini Atoll on May 20, 1956. (AP Photo)

Ionization glow surrounds the cooling fireball of the Diablo shot, fired in Yucca Flat at 4:30 a.m. Monday, July 15, 1957. (National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Site Office)

 

The fireball of the Priscilla shot, fired on June 24, 1957, as a part of the Operation Plumbbob series. (National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Site Office)

 

A view of the Arkansas test, part of Operation Dominic, a series of over 100 nuclear test explosions in Nevada and the Pacific in 1962. (U.S. Department of Defense)

The rising fireball of the Aztec test, part of Operation Dominic, a series of over 100 nuclear test explosions in Nevada and the Pacific in 1962. (U.S. Department of Defense)

 

Shot during Fishbowl Bluegill, this is an image of an explosion of a 400 kiloton nuclear bomb taking place in the atmosphere, 30 miles above the Pacific, as viewed from above, in October 1962. (U.S. Department of Defense)

 

Expanding rings surround a mushroom cloud, during the Yeso test explosion, part of Operation Dominic, a series of over 100 nuclear test explosions in Nevada and the Pacific in 1962. (U.S. Department of Defense)

 

A 1971 photo of a nuclear bomb detonated by the French government at the Mururoa atoll, French Polynesia. (AP Photo)

 

A photo of a nuclear bomb detonated by the French government at the Mururoa atoll, French Polynesia. Original here. (Pierre J. / CC BY NC SA)

 

   

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Hiroshima atomic bombing survivors receive emergency treatment by military medics, on August 6, 1945. (AP Photo) #

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A badly burned nuclear bomb victim lies in quarantine on the island of Ninoshima in Hiroshima, Japan, 9,000 meters from the hypocenter on August 7, 1945, one day after the bombing by the United States. (AP Photo/The Association of the Photographers of the Atomic Bomb Destruction of Hiroshima, Yotsugi Kawahara) #

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A Japanese soldier walks through a completely leveled area of Hiroshima in September of 1945. (NARA) #

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"Fat Man" was dropped from the B-29 bomber Bockscar, detonating at 11:02 AM, at an altitude of about 1,650 feet (500 m) above Nagasaki. An estimated 39,000 people were killed outright by the bombing a further 25,000 were injured. (USAF) #

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This picture made shortly after the August 9, 1945 atomic bombing, shows workers carrying away debris in a devastated area of Nagasaki, Japan. This picture obtained by the U.S. Army from files of Domei, the official Japanese news agency, was the first ground view of the nuclear destruction in Nagasaki. (AP Photo) #

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The only recognizable structure remaining is a ruined Roman Catholic Cathedral in background on a destroyed hill, in Nagasaki, Japan in 1945. (NARA) #

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Dr. Nagai, medical instructor and x-ray specialist at Nagasaki Hospital, a victim of atomic radiation caused by the nuclear bombing. A few days after this photo was made, Dr. Nagai passed away. (USAF) #

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People walk through the charred ruins of Nagasaki, shortly after an atomic bomb destroyed much of the city. The explosion generated heat estimated at 3,900 degrees Celsius (4,200 K, 7,000 °F). (USAF)


 

 

 

On Monday, August 6, 1945, a mushroom cloud billows into the sky about one hour after an atomic bomb was dropped by American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, detonating above Hiroshima, Japan. Nearly 80,000 people are believed to have been killed immediately, with possibly another 60,000 survivors dying of injuries and radiation exposure by 1950. (AP Photo/U.S. Army via Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum)

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Tanks of the Sixth Marine Division probe the outskirts of Naha, capital city of Okinawa, Japan, on May 27, 1945. (AP Photo/U.S. Marine Corps) #

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Perched on the rim of a gaping hole in the wall of a theater in the Ryukyu capital, a Marine rifleman views the result of the American bombardment of Naha, Okinawa, Japan, on June 13, 1945. Structure skeletons are all that remain of the city with a pre-invasion population of 443,000 people. (AP Photo/U.S. Marine Corps, Corp. Arthur F. Hager Jr.) #

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A formation of Boeing B-29 Superfortresses of the 73rd Bomb Wing fly over Mt. Fuji, Japan in 1945. (USAF) #

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Flames spread through the city of Tarumiza, Kyushu, Japan, after incendiary bombing by the 499th Bomb Squadron, 345th Bomb Group. (USAF) #

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A night view of burning Toyama, Japan on August 1, 1945, after 173 American B-29 bombers dropped incendiary bombs on the city. Formerly a big producer of aluminum, the city was 95.6% demolished. (USAF) #

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After an incendiary bombing, a view of some of the damage in Tokyo, Japan in 1945. A strip of residential buildings remains undamaged, surrounded by ashes and rubble of neighboring structures burned or blasted to the ground. (USAF) #

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In July of 1945, the United States was in the final stages of developing a powerful and deadly new weapon - the Atomic Bomb. Here, Los Alamos director J. Robert Oppenheimer is seen in silhouette as he oversees final assembly of "The Gadget", the first nuclear device to be detonated, at the Trinity test site in New Mexico. (U.S. Department of Defense) #

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The expanding fireball and shockwave of the Trinity test explosion, seen .025 seconds after detonation in the New Mexico desert on July 16, 1945. (U.S. Department of Defense) #

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Incendiary bombs are dropped from B-29 Superfortresses of the U.S. Army Air Forces on already-burning landing piers and surrounding buildings in Kobe, Japan, on June 4, 1945. (USAF) #

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Charred remains of Japanese civilians after the March 10, 1945 firebombing of Tokyo. That night, some 300 U.S. B-29 bombers dropped 1,700 tons of incendiary bombs on the largest city in Japan, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 100,000 people -- the single deadliest air raid of World War II. (Koyo Ishikawa) #

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The terrible damage done to Tokyo by American bombers can be seen in what was once a residential district in the Japanese capital, viewed months later, on September 10, 1945. Only large well constructed buildings remain intact. (AP Photo) #

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In flight over the Japanese city of Kobe, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-29 Superfortress trails smoke and fire, on July 17, 1945. (AP Photo) #

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Following the July 26 Potsdam Declaration, where Allies outlined the terms of surrender for Japan and promised "inevitable and complete destruction" of Japan if they failed to comply, preparations were secretly under way to make use of the newly-tested Atomic Bomb. Here, the first nuclear device to be used as a weapon, codenamed "Little Boy", rests on trailer cradle in a pit, ready for loading into the bomb bay of the "Enola Gay" in August of 1945. (NARA) #

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The U.S. B-29 Superfortress bomber "Enola Gay" took off from Tinian Island very early on the morning of August 6th, carrying "Little Boy", a 4,000 kg (8,900 lb) uranium bomb. At 8:15 am, Little Boy was dropped from 9,400 m (31,000 ft) above the city, freefalling for 57 seconds while a complicated series of fuse triggers looked for a target height of 600 m (2,000 ft) above the ground. At the moment of detonation, a small explosive initiated a super-critical mass in 64 kg (141 lbs) of uranium. Of that 64 kg, only .7 kg (1.5 lbs) underwent fission, and of that mass, only 600 milligrams was converted into energy - an explosive energy that seared everything within a few miles, flattened the city below with a massive shockwave, set off a raging firestorm and bathed every living thing in deadly radiation. At the time this photo was made, smoke billowed in a column 20,000 feet above Hiroshima while smoke from the burst had spread over 10,000 feet at the base of the rising column. (NARA) #

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A pall of smoke lingers over this scene of destruction in Hiroshima, Japan, on August 7, 1945, a day after the explosion of the atomic bomb. Nearly 80,000 people are believed to have been killed immediately, with possibly another 60,000 survivors dying of injuries and radiation exposure by 1950. (AP Photo) #

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The searing heat from the nuclear explosion above Hiroshima scorched the roadway of this bridge across the Ota River, about a half a mile from the focal point of the bomb burst. The areas shielded by the concrete pillars and railings were left undamaged, creating permanent "shadows" on the bridge deck. (NARA) #

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Hiroshima atomic bombing survivors receive emergency treatment by military medics, on August 6, 1945. (AP Photo) #

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The shadow of a handle on a gasometer left an imprint after the August 6, 1945 atomic bomb explosion, two kilometers away from the hypocenter in Hiroshima. (AFP/Getty Images) #

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A badly burned nuclear bomb victim lies in quarantine on the island of Ninoshima in Hiroshima, Japan, 9,000 meters from the hypocenter on August 7, 1945, one day after the bombing by the United States. (AP Photo/The Association of the Photographers of the Atomic Bomb Destruction of Hiroshima, Yotsugi Kawahara) #

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A Japanese soldier walks through a completely leveled area of Hiroshima in September of 1945. (NARA) #

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Only days after the bombing of Hiroshima, the second operational nuclear weapon was readied by the U.S. Called "Fat Man", the unit is seen being placed on a trailer cradle in August of 1945. When the Japanese still refused to surrender after Hiroshima, U.S. President Truman issued a statement saying in part "If they do not now accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth." (NARA) #

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"Fat Man" was dropped from the B-29 bomber Bockscar, detonating at 11:02 AM, at an altitude of about 1,650 feet (500 m) above Nagasaki. An estimated 39,000 people were killed outright by the bombing a further 25,000 were injured. (USAF) #

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This picture made shortly after the August 9, 1945 atomic bombing, shows workers carrying away debris in a devastated area of Nagasaki, Japan. This picture obtained by the U.S. Army from files of Domei, the official Japanese news agency, was the first ground view of the nuclear destruction in Nagasaki. (AP Photo) #

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The only recognizable structure remaining is a ruined Roman Catholic Cathedral in background on a destroyed hill, in Nagasaki, Japan in 1945. (NARA) #

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Dr. Nagai, medical instructor and x-ray specialist at Nagasaki Hospital, a victim of atomic radiation caused by the nuclear bombing. A few days after this photo was made, Dr. Nagai passed away. (USAF) #

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People walk through the charred ruins of Nagasaki, shortly after an atomic bomb destroyed much of the city. The explosion generated heat estimated at 3,900 degrees Celsius (4,200 K, 7,000 °F). (USAF)

Starting in 1942, the U.S. government began quietly acquiring more than 60,000 acres in Eastern Tennessee for the Manhattan Project -- the secret World War II program that developed the atomic bomb. The government needed land to build massive facilities to refine and develop nuclear materials for these new weapons, without attracting the attention of enemy spies. The result was a secret town named Oak Ridge that housed tens of thousands of workers and their families. The entire town and facility were fenced in, with armed guards posted at all entries. Workers were sworn to secrecy and only informed of the specific tasks they needed to perform. Most were unaware of the exact nature of their final product until the nuclear bombs were dropped on Japan in 1945. Photographer Ed Westcott (the only authorized photographer on the facility) took many photos of Oak Ridge during the war years and afterwards, capturing construction, scientific experiments, military maneuvers, and everyday life in a 1940s company town (where the company happens to be the U.S. government).

A special traveling exhibit of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, "Your Stake in the Atom", is housed in its own geodesic exoskeleton structure some 20 feet high and 50 feet in diameter in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in 1966. The exhibit featured live demos on uses of nuclear power and a set of remote controlled mechanical hands. (Ed Westcott/DOE)

A special traveling exhibit of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, "Your Stake in the Atom", is housed in its own geodesic exoskeleton structure some 20 feet high and 50 feet in diameter in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in 1966. The exhibit featured live demos on uses of nuclear power and a set of remote controlled mechanical hands. (Ed Westcott/DOE)

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Early Construction of the K-25 uranium enrichment facility (background), with one of original houses of Oak Ridge, Tennessee in the foreground, in 1942. That year, the United States Army Corps of Engineers began quickly acquiring land in the Oak Ridge area, at the request of the U.S. government, to build production facilities for the Manhattan Project. The K-25 plant, when completed, was the largest building in the world for a time. (Ed Westcott/DOE) #

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Military Police man Elza Gate in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in 1945. (Ed Westcott/DOE) #

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Lie detection tests were administered as part of security screening (U.S. Department of Energy) #

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A billboard posted in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, on December 31, 1943. (Ed Westcott/DOE) #

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Calutron operators at their panels, in the Y-12 plant at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, during World War II. The calutrons were used to refine uranium ore into fissile material. During the Manhattan Project effort to construct an atomic explosive, workers toiled in secrecy, with no idea to what end their labors were directed. Gladys Owens, the woman seated in the foreground, did not realize what she had been doing until seeing this photo in a public tour of the facility fifty years later. (Ed Westcott/DOE) #

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Workers perform maintenance on a cell housing in the K-25 uranium enrichment facility, in Oak Ridge, Tennesee. (James E. Westcott/DOE) #

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A caultron "racetrack" uranium refinery at the Y-12 plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, during the Manhattan Project. The light-colored bars along the top are solid silver. (Ed Westcott/DOE) #

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Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer at Oak Ridge, on February 14, 1946. Oppenheimer was called the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role as the head of the secret weapons laboratory of the Manhattan Project. (Ed Westcott/DOE) #

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Temporary Housing (Hutments) fill the formerly empty valleys of Oak Ridge in 1945. The sudden growth of the military's facilities caused the local population to grow from about 3,000 in 1942 to about 75,000 in 1945. (Ed Westcott/DOE) #

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A young entrepreneur during the days of the Manhattan Project, in Oak Ridge, Tennesee. (James E. Westcott/DOE) #

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Shift change at the Y-12 uranium enrichment facility in Oak Ridge. Notice the billboard: "Make CEW count Continue to protect project information." CEW stands for Clinton Engineer Works, the Army name for the production facility. (Ed Westcott/US Department of Energy) #

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A billboard in Oak Ridge, photographed during WWII, on January 21, 1944. (Ed Westcott/DOE) #

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The main control room at the K-25 uranium enrichment plant in Oak Ridge. (Ed Westcott/DOE) #

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Welding at the K-25 facility in Oak Ridge, in February of 1945. At the height of production, nearly 100,000 workers were employed by the government in the secret xity. (Ed Westcott/DOE) #

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Kiddy Club at the Midtown Recreation Hall in Oak Ridge, on January 6, 1945. (Ed Westcott/DOE) #

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A Link Trainer, a type of flight simulator produced between the early 1930s and early 1950s, in Oak Ridge, in September of 1945. (Ed Westcott/DOE) #

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This 1945 photograph shows the giant 44 acre K-25 plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where the uranium for the first atomic weapon was produced. (AP Photo/U.S. Department of Energy) #

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V-J day celebration in Jackson Square in downtown Oak Ridge in August of 1945. When the first atomic bomb was dropped on Japan on August 6, 1945, the news reports revealed to the people at Oak Ridge what they had been working on all along. (Ed Westcott/DOE) #

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Oak Ridge's Grove Theater shows "The Beginning or The End" in March of 1947. (Ed Westcott/DOE) #

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Oak Ridge's X-10 graphite reactor, in 1947. X-10 was the world's second artificial nuclear reactor (after Enrico Fermi's Chicago Pile) and was the first reactor designed and built for continuous operation. (DOE) #

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An employee at the Oak Ridge electromagnetic process plant, where stable isotopes are concentrated, holds a vial containing the stable isotope Molybdenum 92, on January 22, 1948. Stable isotopes can be handled without risk to the person. In contrast to radioactive isotopes, they do not emit radiation and can therefore be safely handled. (AP Photo) #

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A therapy unit installed at the Oak Ridge hospital in 1955 used a source of radioactive cesium-137 to kill diseased tissue, allowing maximum dose of radiation to a cancerous area and minimizing effects to healthy tissue elsewhere. The hospital, was one of the nation's early centers for nuclear medicine. (AP Photo/ Oak Ridge Associated Universities) #

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Two of 40,000 mice being used in atomic tests at Oak Ridge, by scientists seeking to learn the possible effects of radiation on the heredity of man, displayed by the Atomic Energy Commission on February 18, 1950. The mouse on the right is described by the AEC as a "hereditary mutation" - a descendant of mice which have been given periodic doses of X-rays. A normal litter mate in on the left. (AP Photo) #

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An "Atoms For Peace" traveling exhibit in Oak Ridge, in 1957. President Dwight D. Eisenhower launched an "Atoms for Peace" program that supplied equipment and information to schools, hospitals, and research institutions within the U.S. and throughout the world. The first nuclear reactors in Iran and Pakistan were built under this program. (Ed Westcott/DOE) #

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Senator John F. Kennedy visits Oak Ridge National Lab on February 24, 1959. (Ed Westcott/DOE) #

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Oak Ridge, Tennessee, on April 21, 1959. When it was first founded in 1942 to supply housing for workers at the Atomic Energy Commission plant, Oak Ridge was a military reservation. Since the end of World War II, however, the AEC has removed the fence that once surrounded Oak Ridge and gradually given more voice in matters of community policy to the town council, an elected body with advisory powers only. On May 5, Oak Ridge's transformation from military control to self-government was completed, as its citizens voted to incorporate. (AP Photo) #

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A view of the K-25 uranium enrichment facilities from a patrol radio relay tower in Oak Ridge, on November 7, 1960. (Ed Westcott/DOE) #

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Photographer Ed Westcott took almost all of the photos above. He was the first AEC government photographer in Oak Ridge, and the only authorized photographer during the Manhattan Project. Here, Ed poses with his motion picture cameras and lights in Building 2714 in in Oak Ridge, in 1960. Born in 1922, Westcott still resides in Oak Ridge, and recently celebrated is 90th birthday. (Ed Westcott/DOE)

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