08/06/2026
On this day, August 6, 1945, the world entered the atomic age when the first nuclear weapon used in warfare was dropped on Hiroshima.
The mission began on Tinian in the Mariana Islands, where the United States had built a major air base. In the early hours of that morning, the B-29 bomber Enola Gay took off carrying the uranium bomb known as “Little Boy.” After a flight of several hours and a rendezvous near Iwo Jima, it reached Hiroshima and released the bomb over the city at 8:15 a.m. local time.
Three days later, on August 9, another B-29 named Bockscar left Tinian carrying the plutonium bomb “Fat Man.” Its primary target was Kokura, but cloud and smoke obscured the city, forcing the crew to turn toward its secondary target, Nagasaki. Running critically low on fuel after the mission, Bockscar landed on Okinawa before returning to Tinian.
The two bombings killed tens of thousands of people immediately, with many more dying later from injuries, burns, and radiation exposure. Most of the victims were civilians, and survivors, known as hibakusha, lived with the physical and psychological effects for decades.
Japan announced its surrender on August 15, bringing World War II to an end. The bombings remain among the most consequential and debated military actions in history, marking both the close of a global war and the beginning of the nuclear age.
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