X -19- \ explosive energy released, and thus the very concentration of power in the atomic bomb detracts from its overall effectiveness. The bomb must be detonated from an altitude of at least 1,000feet if the full spread of its destructive radius is be to realized, and much of the blast energy is absorbed by the air above the target. But the sum of initial energy is quite enough to afford such losses. If should be obvious that there is much more than a logistic difference involved between a situation where a single plane sortie can cause the destruction of a city like Hiroshima and one in which at least 500 bomber sorties are required to do the same job. Nevertheless, certain officers of the U. 5S. Army Air Forces, in an effort to "deflate" the atomic bomb, have observed publicly enough to have their comments reported in the press that the destruction wrought at Hiroshima could have been effected by two days of routine bombing with ordinary bombs. Undoubtedly so, but the 500 or more bombers needed to do the job under those circumstances would if they were loaded with atomic bombs be physically capable of destroying 500 or more Hiroshimas in the same interval of time. observation discounts certain tactical considerations. That These will be taken up in due course, but for the moment it is sufficient to point out that circumstances do arise in war when it is the physical carrying capacity of the bombing vehicles rather than tactical considerations which will determine the amount of damage gh oe © done. II. er hee) g s . No adequate defense against thebomb exists, and the possibilities of - its existence in the future are exceedingly remote. This proposition requires little supporting argument in so far as it is a statement of existing fact. But that part of it which involves a prediction for : the future conflicts with the views of most of the high-ranking military officers who have ventured opinions on the implications of the atomic bomb, No layman can with equanimity differ from the military in their own field, and the present writer has never entertained the once-fashionable view that the military do not know their own business. But, apart from the question of objectivity concerning