The United States dropped the atomic bomb Little Boy on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945.
The weapon was carried by the B-29 bomber Enola Gay and detonated over Hiroshima at 8:15 a.m. local time. Little Boy used uranium-235 in a gun-type design. The attack destroyed much of the city and caused enormous immediate and long-term loss of life from blast, fire, radiation, and injuries.
The Hiroshima bombing came during the final weeks of World War II in the Pacific. Japan had not yet accepted the Allied demand for surrender, and the attack was followed by the Soviet declaration of war on Japan on 8 August and the bombing of Nagasaki on 9 August. The exact contribution of the atomic bombings, the Soviet entry, and other factors to Japan’s decision remains a major subject of historical debate, but the dates and targets are firmly established.