Not to justify it, but more people died firebombing Tokyo. Many cities were equally destroyed conventionally to the extent that it was somewhat difficult to find target cities for Fat Man & Little Boy. European firebombing was minor compared to the extent Japanese cities burned. Exponentially more sq miles.
Had the war not ended in August 45, most of Japan would have been starving in winter 46. No transportation was left to move the summer rice harvest to remaining population centers.
It saved both GIs and Japanese. Also probably saved South Korea from Kim Jung Il and the Soviets.
It was weather that made the targets hard to locate.
” ... but more people died firebombing Tokyo”
Beat me to it. Not to mention the 1,000,000 or so civilian and military deaths that would have occurred as a result of a full-scale invasion of the Japanese mainland.
The firebombing of Tokyo was a masterpiece; the US military allegedly determined what mix of high explosive bombs should be combined with those that would spread fire (the first bombs would reduce the area to matchsticks, the next would set them alight).
Brilliant, and couldn’t have happened to a better enemy. It wasn’t just revenge for Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March, etc., but also the atrocities on the Asian mainland.