WARNING: Graphic images

ON AUGUST 6, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima to hasten the end of World War II.

American B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped its deadly payload, dubbed “Little Boy”, over the city at 8.15am local time. The explosion obliterated nearly everything within 10sq km in the downtown area.

Around 140,000 people, or more than half of Hiroshima's population at the time, died. Some died immediately while others succumbed to injuries or radiation-related illnesses weeks, months and years later.

Hiroshima — and the Nagasaki bombing that took place three days later — remain the only use of nuclear weapons in the history of warfare.

Following the bombings, Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945, to Allied forces, officially ending World War II and bringing down the curtain on the costliest conflict in history.

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