The US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on this day in 1945. Haunting photos show what happened.
On August 6, 1945, a 10-foot-long uranium bomb called "Little Boy" was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The explosion, nicknamed "Little Boy," killed an estimated 80,000 people and destroyed 5 square miles of the city. The bomb, weighing 9,788 pounds, was dropped from a B-29 bomber named Enola Gay. Japan had refused to surrender, despite the US issuing a warning on July 26 via the Potsdam Declaration.
The US believed that an invasion of Japan would result in the deaths of up to a million US troops, and that the atomic bomb was necessary to bring an end to the war.
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