Hiroshima was targeted by the atomic bomb nicknamed “Little Boy” before Japan’s 1945 surrender.
The United States dropped Little Boy on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. It was a uranium-235 gun-type nuclear weapon delivered by the B-29 bomber Enola Gay. The explosion devastated much of the city and caused enormous immediate and long-term loss of life.
Three days later, the United States dropped a different weapon, Fat Man, on Nagasaki. The two bombings were part of the final sequence of events leading to Japan’s surrender, alongside the Soviet Union’s entry into the war against Japan. Japan announced its acceptance of the Allied terms on August 15.
A common mix-up is reversing the weapon names or cities: Little Boy was used against Hiroshima, while Fat Man was used against Nagasaki. Kokura was the primary target for the second mission, but poor visibility led the bomber crew to attack Nagasaki instead.