This Day in American Military History

6 August 1945: On President Harry Truman’s orders, an atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Paul Tibbets, in command, flew B-29 Enola Gay from North Field, Tinian Island, and in six hours reached Hiroshima. At 8:15 a.m., the bomb was dropped.

The President ordered the attack after being told an invasion of Japan could cost up to one million American casualties. Truman knew that U.S. and Allied casualties in two recent battles—Iwo Jima and Okinawa—were horrendous: approximately 77,469 killed and wounded. A second atomic bomb would be dropped three days later on another city, Nagasaki (see August 9). Between the initial blast, burns, and exposure to radiation, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed 210,000 people by the end of 1945 and 340,000 within five years—mostly civilians. Horrific as they were, the bombs appeared to do what the president and his advisors determined they would do: save more lives than they took, and hasten the end of World War II (see August 14).

Quote of the Day: “The most terrible bomb in the history of the world . . .” – Harry Truman

Brandus, Paul. This Day in U.S. Military History (pp. 193-194). Bernan Press. Kindle Edition.