On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped the “Little Boy” atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
It is the world’s first use of a nuclear weapon in a war.
“Recently, an American plane dropped a bomb on Hiroshima and destroyed its use for the enemy. This bomb is more powerful than 20,000 tons of TNT.” Harry S. Truman, US President 1945 to 1953
At 8:16 am and two seconds local time, the bomb explodes at a height of around 600 meters above the city center.
The pressure wave destroys 80 percent of the city with 350,000 inhabitants – more than 70,000 people die immediately. Thousands die from the long-term effects. By the end of 1945, the number of deaths rose to an estimated 140,000.
Film recordings by the US Army from the US National Archives show what the city looked like after the devastating use of nuclear weapons.
The detonation of the bomb razed most of the city to the ground.
The firestorm destroyed 70,000 of the traditional wooden houses.
Only a few remains of destroyed buildings remain – destruction as far as the eye can see.
Color photos from March of the following year also show Hiroshima in ruins.
After the Second War, the city is rebuilt as the “City of Peace”.
Today numerous monuments commemorate the many victims, the cruel horror and the extensive destruction that went hand in hand with the use of the atomic bomb on August 6, 1945.
Three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the US dropped a second nuclear weapon – called “Fan Man” – with a US B-29 bomber from the 509th Composite Group over the Japanese city of Nagasaki. The destroyed cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki become symbols of the horrors of war and a possible nuclear war during the Cold War.