Smiley ’s Reviews > The Day Man Lost: Hiroshima, 6 August 1945 > Status Update

At eight seconds past 8:16, the Little Boy had exploded. Fifty-one seconds previously it had been dropped from the bomb bay of the Enola Gay at a height of almost six miles. ... The explosion occurred at a height of 1,850 feet and less than two hundred yards from the target point, the T-shaped Aioi Bridge ... The Little Boy had released the equivalent of 13,500 tons of TNT over the center of the city. (pp. 236-237)

But all was in vain. The impetus that had, for a time, inspired the emperor and the men around him to move in the direction of peace now appeared stagmant; everyone was still waiting for a reply from the Kremlin; no one seemed able to credit that the Potsdam Proclamation meant exactly what it said: "We shall brook no delay. ... The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction."
... (p. 226)

... He paled upon hearing the news; then, after a moments' silence, so the report goes, he murmured, "So, the palace has burnt down." His tone was sad, although later, again according to report, he said he felt better now that he was sharing the destruction with the rest of his poeple. In any case, after that one remark. he was silent the rest of the night; ... (p. 149)

On 1 January 1945 the people of Hiroshima witnessed most unusual phenomenon: snow began to fall before dawn, and the fall grew heavier as the day wore on. .. Older citizens racked their brains, trying to recall the last time they had seen a white New Year's Day ... Some insisted it was an auspicious omen; others, more pessimistic, believed that it boded ill for the city, ... (p. 67)

Yoshida was not, by any means, the only man in the country secretly working toward the war's end. ... There were also peace groups outside the military or the government, many of whom acted not out of hatred of war but out of fear that Japan was doomed to annihilation if the war was allowed to continue. This fear became intensified when it was apparent that a disastrous defeat at Leyte was imminent.
... (pp. 62-63)