It was the most destructive weapon ever built.
The U.S. labored for years to create it and had doubts over whether to us it or not…
But after months of devastating war in the Pacific, President Truman decided to use it.
It was that or losing thousands of troops in the pending Operation: Downfall…
July 16, 1945 the Enola Gay Climbs to 30,000 feet and drops the 6,300 pound atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japans most densely populated city.
After falling for 43 seconds, the time and barometric trigger started the firing mechanism. A uranium bullet fired down a barrel into a uranium tank – Together they started a nuclear chain reaction. Solid matter began to come apart, releasing untold quantities of energy.
There are no exact figures for the number who died in the instant of the explosion, but tens of thousand of people in the open near the fireball vanished in a fraction of a second.
The War ended, but at what cost?
