The Atomic Cannon

This is the scariest film of a nuclear weapon I have seen. Not because of the scale -- it's a small one -- but because it's so mundane. Some soldiers load a nuclear artillery shell into a gun which fires it a short distance and then we see the nuclear explosion.

This was a 1953 test firing. They discovered that the low altitude (500ft) caused a pressure wave that made the weapon much more destructive than a higher yield weapon exploding at 2,500ft.

If I think about large weapons like ICBMs I imagine and take comfort from the extensive command and control systems. If I battlefield commander is backed into a corner and has one of these, it's much harder to imagine restraint.

This squence is from a documentary on the history of the atomic bomb shown on the History Channel, which I recommend.