Thanks for clarification on the military aspect of the targeting. I was focusing on the civilian casualties obviously. Let’s face it, if you decide to use an atomic bomb but don’t kill a lot of people with it, the effect might not be realized. Heck, we still had to do it twice before they came to their senses. It’s pretty hard to break the will of your enemy...
Remember, up to the time of WWII the Japanese were pure warriors and trained and indoctrinated as such. They were brutal before then to the Chinese and others.