Wild Mass Guessing for Blake and Mortimer.
Reports of destruction of world cities were greatly exaggerated
Moscow, Hankow (now Wuhan) and Calcutta are reported to have been destroyed by nuclear weapons. A number of cities, including Rome, London, and Paris, are mentioned as destroyed. Moscow and Paris are later depicted — with their historic buildings — in The Voronov Plot and S.O.S. Meteors. From the end of Part 3 and later volumes, the destruction of London appears to be comparable to the Blitz and is quickly restoredIn the confusion following the attack, it's very possible the BBC presenter is exaggerating the extent of the carnage based on a) Imperial propaganda or b) fantastic or sensationalist reports from his own side. Radio Lhasa is likely doing the same. Much the same thing happened during the outbreak of the Pacific War.
- Furthermore, the Yellow Empire is clear about its intentions to conquer rather than to destroy. The decree actually given to the generals by Olrik (on behalf of the Emperor) is to sieze these cities intact as much as possible.
