Reg, G4FGQ wrote:
"The fire storms on German cities, almost as good as gas chambers, were
more efficient than Hiroshima and Nagasaki weapons of mass-destruction."

Just to quibble a bit, the atomic bomb was efficient for an explosive of
its weight, equal to megatons of conventional explosives. My ship
carried some of the first occupation forces into the Nagasaki area which
I got to see. Our ship`s company armed ourselves and marched through
town to see if it were safe to disgorge our soldiers there. Our captain
outranked the army commander. The Japs were meek. They had suffered real
stun and awe. Near ground zero about all that was left were fire-proof
safes.

News here this week included a story on a German memorial celebration of
the 60th anniversary of the destruction of Dresden by a single
American/British airaid which produced one of those firestorms with
massive conventional explosives and incendiary devices. The Germans
don`t want to forget it.

The raid was of course OK as it was retribution for such destruction of
English and other European cities.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI

"Richard Harrison" wrote in message
...
Just to quibble a bit, the atomic bomb was efficient for an explosive of
its weight, equal to megatons of conventional explosives.

To quibble a bit more, the "Little Boy" uranium atomic bomb dropped on
Hiroshima weighed about four to five tons and was the equivalent of about
10 to 15 kilotons of conventional (TNT) explosives. The "Fat Man"
plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki had the equivalent of about 20 to 22
kilotons of conventional explosives. The variance in numbers is based on
quotes from different sources.

Graywolf wrote:
"To quibble a bit more, the "Little Boy" uranium atomic bomb dropped on
Hiroshima weighed about 4 or 5 tons and was the equivalent of about 10
to 15 hilotons of conventional (TNT) explosives."

That`s about 3000 times more powerful. Sorry I exagerated in ignorance.
Atomic bombs took destruction to a new level.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI