Hiroshima was the target of the first atomic bomb used in warfare before V-J Day.
The United States dropped the uranium bomb Little Boy on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The B-29 bomber Enola Gay carried the weapon, which exploded at approximately 8:15 a.m. local time.
Hiroshima was a major military and communications center, and the bombing destroyed much of the city. Large numbers of civilians were killed immediately and later from injuries and radiation-related effects. Exact totals remain difficult to establish because records were destroyed and deaths continued afterward.
Nagasaki was bombed three days later with the plutonium weapon Fat Man. The two attacks occurred during a rapidly changing political and military situation that also included Soviet entry into the war against Japan.
Japan announced its acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration on August 15. The surrender document was then signed aboard USS Missouri on September 2.