Events leading up to the Hiroshima A-Bombing (1945)
- July 16
- First nuclear test in history conducted by the United States (Alamogordo,
New Mexico). USS Indianapolis leaves San Francisco for Tinian Island in
the Marianas (via Hawaii). Cargo: Portions of uranium 235 and atomic bomb
to be dropped on Hiroshima. Scheduled to arrive on July 26. (Other portions
of uranium 235 and bomb parts were transported in separate shipments.)
- July 25
- Order given to drop atomic bomb. (Order issued from US Army General
Staff Office to Strategic Air Command in Guam).
- July 26
- Potsdam Declaration announced in United States, United Kingdom and
China, asking for unconditional surrender of Japanese.
- July 28
- Japan announces it will ignore the Potsdam Declaration.
- August 2
- US Army Air Force Corps No. 20 field operation order No. 15 issued
(August 6. attack Japan. No. 1 target: Hiroshima City industrial sector).
- August 5 (Sunday)
- 21:20
- Yellow alert sounded (signals approach of enemy aircraft).
- 21:27
- Air raid warning sounded.
- 23:55
- Air raid warning cleared.
- August 6 (Monday)
- 00:25
- Air raid warning sounded.
- 00:37
- Three reconnaissance planes leave Tinian Island
in the Mariana Islands heading for Hiroshima, Kokura and Nagasaki to verify
weather conditions over target cities. (Japan time)
- 01:45
- B-29 Bomber Enola Gay, carrying A-bomb, leaves Tinian Island. (Japan
time) Enola Gay was accompanied by a plane for dropping equipment for measuring
the A-bomb's destructive power and another plane for photographing the
event.
- 02:10
- Air raid warning cleared.
- 02:15
- Yellow alert cleared. (from 21:20 previous day)
- 07:09
- Yellow alert sounded (B-29 enters Hiroshima air space to verify weather
conditions).
- 07:31
- Yellow alert cleared.
- 08:15
- Before air raid warning could alert citizens, A-bomb is dropped and
explodes.
- August 9
- 11:02
- Plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki.
- August 10
- Japan protests new type of weapon as violation of international law.
- August 15
- Japan accepts the Potsdam Declaration (Surrenders unconditionally to
the Allied Forces).
Copyright (c) 1995 Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. All rights reserved.
