August 6, 1945 — Three B-29 bombers take off from the island of Tinian, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
One of them, the Enola Gay, carries in its hold Little Boy, an atomic bomb with the power of 15,000 tons of TNT. Approximately six hours after takeoff, the bomb is dropped on the city of Hiroshima. The explosion is immense, and a powerful blast devastates the city. Ninety percent of the buildings are damaged or destroyed. In a matter of seconds, 80,000 people lose their lives in the atomic inferno. Three days later, a second nuclear bomb strikes the city of Nagasaki, causing 40,000 deaths in mere moments. On August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito announces that Japan will surrender. Originally, the atomic bomb was not intended for Japan, but for Germany. Could the Third Reich have developed nuclear weapons? How did the United States win the race to build the bomb? Did this terrifying weapon help end the war—or did it mark a point of no return for humanity?
