August 1945
The United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. On
August 6, 1945, a B-29 bomber--the Enola Gay--released a 9,700-pound uranium
bomb, nicknamed Little Boy, over the city of Hiroshima in southern Japan.
Hiroshima was an important military and communications center with a population
of 300,000. It was also the only primary target city not thought to have
American prisoners. Little Boy detonated 1,900 feet above the city, killing
70,000 people and wounding another 70,000. The bomb devastated everything
within five square miles. President Truman warned Japan that if it didn't
surrender, the United States would attack other targets with equally
devastating results.
The Japanese did not surrender, and the United States continued conventional
bombing raids on Japanese cities. On August 9, another B-29 bomber--Bock's
Car--headed to bomb Kokura Arsenal; however, the pilot switched to his
secondary target, Nagasaki, because of the weather over Kokura. Nagasaki was
the home of a Mitsubishi torpedo manufacturing plant. Bock's Car dropped a
10,000-pound plutonium bomb, nicknamed Fat Man, over the slopes of Nagasaki.
Fat Man killed 40,000, injured 60,000, and destroyed three square miles of the
city. Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945.
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