'A Thousand Suns' – Hiroshima: 6 August 1945

Three US bombers fly into Japanese airspace. At 8.15am, an atomic bomb drops from the Enola Gay: 45 seconds later, much of Hiroshima disappears. Nagasaki is next.

US President Truman wanted the war to end. However, even after fire-bomb raids on Japanese cities – with 100,000 dying in one night in Tokyo – the enemy military showed no sign of giving in. Almost 100,000 die instantly with the detonation of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later, 35,000 die immediately at Nagasaki. Five years later, there have been 340,000 deaths from radiation poisoning.

Paramount and French Pathé: newsreel footage for cinema audiences with some music and commentary added at the time and effects added later.

Back

Top