Hiroshima Bombed: Atomic Warfare Changes Everything
The B-29 Enola Gay released a 9,700-pound uranium bomb nicknamed "Little Boy" over Hiroshima at 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945. The weapon detonated 1,900 feet above Shima Surgical Clinic, instantly killing an estimated 80,000 people and destroying everything within a one-mile radius. The blast generated temperatures reaching 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit at ground level. Shadows of vaporized humans were burned into stone walls. By the end of 1945, radiation sickness and injuries raised the death toll to roughly 140,000. Colonel Paul Tibbets, who piloted the Enola Gay, later said the city looked like a pot of boiling black oil. Three days later, a second bomb hit Nagasaki. Japan surrendered on August 15.
August 6, 1945
81 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on August 6
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