August 6th 1945: Hiroshima bombed
On this day in 1945, the first nuclear attack in history occurred when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The American plane ‘Enola Gay’ dropped the bomb called ‘Little Boy’, which killed 66,000 instantly. The effects of the radiation killed thousands more in later years. Three days later, the ‘Fat Man’ bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, which essentially ended the war in the Pacific theatre of World War Two. In both cases, the majority of casualties were civilians. Japan surrendered to the Allies on 15th August.
“My God, what have we done?”
- Enola Gay’s co-pilot Robert Lewis upon seeing the impact
(via queenamelias)
