In August 6 and 9, 1945, the United States detonated two nuclear bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively. The aerial bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and about two-thirds of the city's roughly 60,000 buildings were reduced to rubble. To this day, it remains the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict.
On this very day, August 6, 1945, during World War II: In Hiroshima, the United States dropped the atomic bomb codenamed "Little Boy" from the B-29 bomber Enola Gay. Approximately 80,000 people were killed instantly, and tens of thousands more died in the following years, some from burns and others from radiation poisoning.
The United States was the first country in the world to use nuclear weapons during World War II. The bomb's yield was 15 kilotons of TNT. It was developed through the processing of uranium energy.
The U.S. military released it over Hiroshima from an altitude of about ten kilometers above the ground, but it detonated at approximately 600 meters above the city of Hiroshima. When it exploded, it instantly caused the deaths of 80,000 people, and tens of thousands more were injured, with some suffering from the aftereffects of the bomb for the rest of their lives, as water, food, and the air were all contaminated for many years. President Truman authorized the use of the atomic bomb.
Background
In the summer of 1945, the United States was at war with Japan, having been locked in conflict for three and a half years, following Japan's surprise attack on a U.S. military base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941.
That attack led Washington to declare war on Japan and enter World War II. As the conflict intensified, the United States resolved to use nuclear weapons against Japan.
On July 26, 1945, President Harry Truman issued an ultimatum demanding that Japan surrender unconditionally or face prompt and utter destruction. Truman's message did not mention the use of nuclear weapons.
However, these nuclear bombs were among the weapons the United States had prepared as part of its efforts to end the conflict. Hiroshima was the primary target.
The pilot of the Enola Gay, a B-29 bomber carrying the bomb, Colonel Paul Tibbets, reached an altitude of ten kilometers over Hiroshima and released the uranium-235 bomb nicknamed "Little Boy," which detonated in the air at approximately 600 meters above the ground.