Atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima

The allied war against Japan continues after the capitulation of the German Reich. As early as 16 July 1945 the Americans were testing a terrible new weapon in the Nevada desert: the atomic bomb. On the morning of 6 August over the city of Hiroshima, a lone American bomber drops the first strategically employed nuclear weapon in human history. Its explosive power equals that of about 14,000 tons of TNT. The city is reduced to debris and ash. Approximately 90,000 people suffer death immediately, a further 50,000 after excruciating suffering. On 9 August a second atomic bomb falls on Nagasaki (31,000 killed immediately, ca. 140,000 subsequent casualties). Eventually the Soviet Union also declares war on Japan and, by 15 August, the country has no choice but unconditional surrender.

© ICRC Hiroshima, August 1945