Hiroshima was struck by the first atomic bomb used in war on August 6, 1945.
The United States dropped the uranium bomb code-named Little Boy from the B-29 bomber Enola Gay. The explosion occurred at approximately 8:15 a.m. local time, devastating much of Hiroshima and killing large numbers of civilians. The attack was the first use of a nuclear weapon in warfare.
Hiroshima was a major military communications and logistics center, but it was also a densely populated city. The bombing caused immediate destruction, burns, radiation injuries, and deaths that continued afterward. Exact casualty totals remain difficult to establish because records were destroyed and many people died later from injuries and radiation effects.
A second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki three days later. Japan announced its acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration on August 15, after the Hiroshima bombing, the Nagasaki bombing, and the Soviet entry into the war against Japan.