ARMED FORCES: The Little Big Ones

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The H-bomb explosions in mid-Pacific last year were awesome proof of how big the atom can blow. The 14 test shots at Yucca Flat, Nev., programmed between Feb. 1 and this week, are equally sensational proof of how small the weapon can get—small enough to fit the conventional artillery pieces, bomb racks, torpedo tubes and antiaircraft rifles of the U.S. armed forces and provide them with a jump in firepower as revolutionary as the introduction of gunpowder.

Armed with a baby atomic bomb, the pilot whose fighter bomber used to pack a 1,000-lb. bomb under each wing for an attack on a troublesome artillery battery could now devastate an army's reserve-supply area. The artillery commander who might have aimed an 8-in. howitzer at a crossroads could now aim a similar weapon, fire an atomic shell and wipe out the heart of a whole infantry division. A Navy torpedo plane could launch an atomic torpedo that could lift a ship out of the water; a destroyer could fire an atomic depth charge that would crush submarines like eggshells.

Suitcase Size. During the Yucca Flat tests, one baby bomb was parachuted out of a B-36, exploded at 30,000 ft. amid a cluster of other parachutes carrying little metal canisters. Probable purpose: to estimate the effect of an atomic aerial explosion, such as an antiaircraft shell or missile, on the metal parts of bombers. Another blast was exploded underground (TIME, April 4), gouging a mammoth crater and tossing a column of dirt hundreds of feet into the sky. Reportedly, the bomb was no bigger than a suitcase.

During one of the aboveground blasts, 2,000 marines crouched in 6-ft. trenches within sight of ground zero. In a matter of minutes after the fireball disappeared, some 1,400 were being helicoptered in to seize the atomized battlefield, theoretically blasted clean of enemy troops. For the 13th shot, the Army's Task Force Razor this week was poised to ride out the explosion in the most exposed surface position to date: in Patton tanks, spread 50 yds. apart, some 3,100 yds. from ground zero, and in new M59 armored personnel carriers 3,900 yds. from ground zero. Just as soon as monitor teams reported a safe level of radiation, the armored column would roll forward to exploit the atomic attack, ready to pin down whatever remnants of enemy power were left.

Division Down. During the period when the pundits could see nothing in their tea leaves except intercontinental bombers, the Army plugged hard for its giant 280-mm. atomic cannon, with its 20-mile range. Now, as the Joint Chiefs accept the possibility of a stalemate in strategic airpower and the need for powerful battle forces (TIME, Jan. 10), the Army also has in sight atomic shells for its conventional big artillery pieces, 20 howitzers, rocket launchers and atomic heads for its guided missiles.