The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima

On 6 August 1945, the American bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. A second bomb hit Nagasaki on 9 August; Japan announced surrender on 15 August, ending the Second World War.

The aircraft took off from Tinian, an island in the Pacific, with Colonel Paul Tibbets at the controls. It carried the weapon known as Little Boy. Hiroshima contained military headquarters and war industries, but it was also a populated city where civilians were beginning an ordinary working day. Germany had already surrendered; the conflict in the Pacific was still continuing.

The bomb was released shortly after 8:15 in the morning and detonated above the city. Intense heat, blast and spreading fires destroyed buildings and caused catastrophic injuries. Survivors searched for relatives and tried to help the wounded among collapsed houses and damaged streets. Radiation added another danger: some people who appeared less seriously injured at first became gravely ill later.

Accounts of the bombing bring together military decisions, the operation of the aircraft and the experiences of people on the ground. Those perspectives describe different parts of the same event. The destruction was not limited to the instant of the explosion; its effects continued as survivors faced burns, radiation sickness and the loss of homes and families. Hiroshima remains central to the history of nuclear warfare.