Bombing of Hiroshima
                                                                      Samantha Paz



- 2:45 in the morning of August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber flew north from Tinian Island in the Marianas toward Japan.
- 3 and a half hours later, over the city of Hiroshima, the Enola Gay dropped an 8,900 lb atomic weapon from its specially modified bomb bay.
- Two thousand feet above the ground, the bomb called, "Little Boy" detonated (exploded) almost 90% of the city.
- August 9th, another B-29 set out for the Kokura Arsenal on the southwest Japanese Island of Kyushu.
- The weather persuaded the pilot to proceed instead, toward Nagasaki.
- Over this secondary target Bockscar dropped a larger device, named "Fat Man".
- Fat Man and Little Boy, both weapons of unparalleled destructive power, were actually quite different.
-  Little Boy, fueled by highly enriched uranium, was triggered by a simple "gun" mechanism; a small, slug-shaped piece of uranium was fired down a barrel into a larger, cup-shaped piece.
- The attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had a devastating psychological impact on the already weakened Japanese.
- The decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki—the first and last use of atomic weapons in combat—remains one of the most controversial in military history.
- Altogether, the two bombings killed an estimated 110,000 Japanese citizens and injured another 130,000.
- By 1950, another 230,000 Japanese had died from injuries or radiation. 
- Though the two cities were nominally military targets, the overwhelming majority of the casualties were civilian.