Hiroshima was the first Japanese city targeted by an atomic bomb during the 1945 events leading to V-J Day.
The United States dropped the uranium-235 bomb known as Little Boy on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. The B-29 bomber Enola Gay carried out the mission, and the explosion devastated much of the city. Hiroshima was an important military and communications center, and it had not previously experienced the large-scale destruction seen in some other Japanese cities.
Nagasaki became the second atomic-bomb target on 9 August, when the plutonium bomb Fat Man was dropped. The two attacks were among the events that intensified debate within Japan’s leadership over whether to continue the war.
Hiroshima should not be confused with Nagasaki, which was bombed three days later. Japan announced its acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration on 15 August, and the formal surrender was signed on 2 September aboard the USS Missouri.