What a bloodbath it was - moreso for the Japanese than for us but still.... As with most wars, the bloodiest battles usually come at the very end. Of course, no one knew if the bomb would work or even be available at the time of Okinawa.
And very few even knew there could be such a thing.
The large casualty count at Okinawa, the prospect of a million casualties invading Japan and war weariness made the decision to use the atomic bomb a rational choice. Critics of the use of the atomic bomb have no empathy for the young men who would have been killed if it had not been used.