Inside the 1954 atomic test that destroyed a fake city

Federal Civil Defense Administration, 1954

Cold War government narration frames the rising danger of thermonuclear war as practice evacuation drills and blaring sirens disrupt everyday American life.

The Day Air Raid Sirens Began

They built an entire fake town just to blow it up

The military constructs Survival City in the Nevada desert, complete with furnished homes, bridges, and mannequins to measure blast damage.

The Fake Town Built for Nuclear Destruction

Watching an atomic bomb detonate from a trench

Soldiers wait in trenches as an atomic bomb detonates, unleashing a blinding flash and shockwave that obliterates structures and sweeps over their positions.

Soldiers In Trenches During an Atomic Explosion

The aftermath of an atomic blast on a mock suburb

Aerial inspection teams assess the crushed roofs, snapped telephone poles, and leveled structures left behind in the blast zone.

Inspecting the Wreckage of Survival City

[00:44] The Day Air Raid Sirens Began
[06:41] The Fake Town Built for Nuclear Destruction
[09:29] Soldiers In Trenches During an Atomic Explosion
[10:40] Inspecting the Wreckage of Survival City

Inside the 1954 atomic test that destroyed a fake city

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