August 6, 1945: Hiroshima obliterated
On this day in 1945, the aircraft Enola Gay dropped a nuclear bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan.
On July 26, the United States, Great Britain, and China had issued the Potsdam Proclamation, an ultimatum telling Japan to surrender or face “prompt and utter destruction.” After Emperor Hirohito failed to respond, President Truman ordered the use of the atomic bomb over two cities.
Hiroshima was originally the second strategic choice for a bomb; Kyoto was first on the list, but Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson was fond of the city because he had taken his honeymoon there, and successfully petitioned Truman for its removal. Wrote Truman in his journal in mid-July:
Even if the Japs are savages, ruthless, merciless and fanatic, we as the leader of the world for the common welfare cannot drop that terrible bomb on the old capital [Kyoto] or the new [Tokyo].
On August 6, the Enola Gay and six other planes* took off from the island of Tinian in the Mariana Islands. Kokura and Nagasaki were back-up targets in case of weather or other issues. At 8:15 a.m., Colonel Paul W. Tibbets released the uranium bomb, which fell for 44 seconds before detonating at an altitude of around 2,000 feet.
Within seconds, 66,000 Japanese were dead, with around the same number injured. 6,000 more would die due to radiation exposure in the years after the war.
The United States dropped a second bomb – the plutonium-based Fat Man – on Nagasaki three days later. Bockscar, piloted by Major Charles W. Sweeney, delivered the weapon. The city of Kokura lucked out; it was to be the target on August 11, but an approaching storm forced the U.S. to move up the schedule.
Japan announced its capitulation on August 15; it signed the instrument of surrender on the USS Missouri on September 2.
Image: U.S. Department of Energy photo of Hiroshima, November 27, 1945
*The other planes involved in the Hiroshima bombing were Full House, The Great Artiste, Jabit III, Necessary Evil, Straight Flush, and Top Secret.
For Nagasaki, the supporting planes were Big Stink, Enola Gay, Full House, The Great Artiste, and Laggin’ Dragon. This mission needed one fewer plane because there was only one backup site (Kokura).