First atomic bombing by U.S. devastates Hiroshima
August 06, 1945
Hiroshima, in western Japan, was devastated by the first atomic bomb ever used in war. Not only were tens of thousands of residents killed in an instant but the radiation emitted by the bomb led to a number of illnesses in subsequent years, even in those who entered the city after the attack to help the bombing victims.
A mushroom cloud spreads out across the skies of Hiroshima after an atomic bomb nicknamed "Little Boy" was dropped at 8:15 a.m. on Aug. 6, 1945, from the B-29 bomber Enola Gay of the U.S. military.
Two people walk amid the rubble of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped. The city was chosen as the target for the first atomic bombing because it was a key industrial and military base. It had been left deliberately untouched by U.S. firebombs to better demonstrate the destructive power of the new weapon in order to convince the Japanese government to surrender unconditionally.
A photo taken by the U.S. military shows the extent of destruction in Hiroshima following the dropping of the atomic bomb. While the fires and collapsed buildings immediately following the bombing accounted for many of the initial deaths, victims in the ensuing months and years died from burns as well as effects from radiation illnesses.
Part of the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall remains standing after the atomic bombing even though it was located about 160 meters from ground zero. Everyone who was working in the building at that time died. The building would become known as the Atomic Bomb Dome in subsequent years and serve as an iconic symbol for the city.
Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, right, and a representative of bereaved family members of atomic bomb victims place the names of those who died over the past year in the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims at Peace Memorial Park on Aug. 6, 2011, in a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the bombing. The annual ceremony has been attended by people around the world, including Ban Ki-moon, who in 2010 became the first U.N. secretary-general to take part in the ceremony.
