“The strategic plans of our armed forces for the defeat of Japan, as they stood in July, had been prepared without reliance upon the atomic bomb, which had not yet been tested in New Mexico. We were planning an intensified sea and air blockade, and greatly intensified strategic air bombing, through the summer and early fall, to be followed on November 1 by an invasion of the southern island of Kyushu. This would be followed in turn by an invasion of the main island of Honshu in the spring of 1946. The total U.S. military and naval force involved in this grand design was of the order of 5,000,000 men; if all those indirectly concerned are included, it was larger still.
We estimated that if we should be forced to carry this plan to its conclusion, the major fighting would not end until the latter part of 1946, at the earliest. I was informed that such operations might be expected to cost over a million casualties, to American forces alone.” – Secretary of War Henry Louis Stimson, from: The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb (February, 1947)
There is also, of course, the granting of war booty and land to the Soviets with the Potsdam Conference and the rightful concern that defeat of Japan with Russia’s assistance might likewise grant the Soviets vast sea access should Japan also be divided. Let us not forget that the Russian goal is and always has been world domination.
I have no problem with the decision to use the atomic bombs to compel Japan to surrender. I had six uncles in the Pacific during WW2, five came back. Had we needed to invade the main islands, I am confident that fewer would have returned. Had we had a usable atomic bomb eighteen months earlier, my sixth uncle might have come home. RIP Paul K. Duncan (1920-1944) PFC USMC.
They were adequately warned. They decided to zealously follow their God-Emperor. They brought it on themselves.
My friend Kate, who worked in Japan for two years tells me of a conversation with an old man near Tokyo. He, being a boy during the war and a historian afterward, stated that the atomic bombs saved the Japanese people. His contention was that the militarists had so usurped the government and corrupted the nation’s good judgement, that only the mega-bombs could get them to look clearly at reality.
My Father was one of the men that was supposed to fly a B-29 over Japan. I’ve had a few interesting conversations with those that think we shouldn’t have dropped the bomb.
We’d love for you to share some of them…