Operation A-Bomb

• Watchlist

U.S. Marine Corps cameramen shot 40,000 feet of color film at Yucca Flats, Nevada, during what was called Operation Rock Number 4. Producer Jay Bonafield edited this down to 1,450 feet of tight, telling motion picture for RKO Radio Pictures. The doings at Yucca Flats were the U.S. first atomic warfare maneuvers. Twenty one hundred Marines squatted in fox holes less than four miles from Ground Zero, the spot at which the 28th A-bomb dropped by America was exploded. The picture also shows the Marines on short leave in Las Vegas several evenings before the blow-off. The same young soldiers who hours later crouch grim-faced in fox holes, guinea-pigging America's first atomic warfare maneuvers, are seen on this Vegas leave, strolling out of barrooms with beautiful gals in 10-gallon hats and old men shills dressed as prospectors, leading burros. A remarkable contrast for men who shortly after would be closer than any humans had ever before been to the horrifying heart of the atomic blast, excepting of course, Hiroshimans and Nagasakians.