The Allies feared that any conventional attempt to invade the Japanese home islands would result in enormous casualties, and the bomb was seen as a way of bringing the war against Japan to a swift conclusion. Hiroshima was chosen because it had not been targeted during the US Air Force's conventional bombing raids on Japan, and was therefore regarded as being a suitable place to test the effects of an atomic bomb. Thousands of people were made homeless and fled the devastated city. And the intense heat of the explosion then created many fires, which consumed Hiroshima and lasted for three days, trapping and killing many of the survivors of the initial blast. The blast destroyed more than ten square kilometres (six square miles) of the city. As well as residents of Hiroshima, the victims included Koreans who had been forced to come to Japan as labourers, and American prisoners-of-war who were imprisoned in Hiroshima. The final death toll was calculated at 135,000.
Many more died of the long-term effects of radiation sickness. The heat from the bomb was so intense that some people simply vanished in the explosion. Between 60,000 and 80,000 people were killed instantly. The bomb was dropped by parachute and exploded 580m (1,900ft) above the ground. On the morning of 6 August 1945 an American B-29 bomber, the 'Enola Gay', dropped the first atomic bomb used in warfare on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
