Save at least 1 American life at the expense of 140000 enemy lives. I know which one i choose.
Ask any mom or dad that had a son in the service and I bet they choose to save 1 American too.
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It is one of the absurdities of modern Political Leftism. They want to argue that it was some how immoral to use the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombs. That we could of “Besieged” the Japanese.
That utter nonsense. The infrastructure of the Japanese islands was breaking down. Japan could not feed itself and dended on food imports. Instead of killing Japanese Civilians in the tens of thousands. The Leftist “Siege” would of killing millions from disease, starvation and malnutrition. EVEN then there is NO indication that would of broke the Japanese will. Japanese soldiers hung on various pacific islands for decades after WW 2 ended. Even after the bombs dropped die hard militarists tried to stop the Emperor from surrendering.
Then their is the question. What response would the Japanese been to an invasion and occupation. Ehat do you suppose a Japanese Insurgency would of done? Also, who knows if the Japanese would of survived as a people? The Civilian and Military casualties on Siapan and Okinawa were horrific.
Given the intensifying tempo of suicide attacks,the fire power brought down on the Japanese Home Island prior to and during an Invasion would of killed tens of thousands if not millions of civilians as well as military forces.
Hindsight is always 20/20.
I wonder how many Japanese would have died if we merely had blockaded them until they surrendered?
Not mentioned is the estimate that at least 1,000,000 US troops would be killed in the invasion of Japan as the entire populous of Japan would have fought to the death.
Not mentioned is the discovery after the war of secret Japanese jets, rockets and missiles stored in preparation for the believed invasion.
With this latter addition, the cost in US troops, aircraft and ships would have steeply risen, and perhaps have ended in defeat for the US.
The 140,000 dead were scarified to save the lives of millions on both sides.
There was some compassion in their disposition, thpugh our strong propaganda had caused most of the American people to hate the Japanese.
More civilians were killed at Nanking. Ask the Chinese if bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki were necessary.
This isn’t even worth debating
its like arguing with the crazy guy on the street corner downtown.
Regarding Peleliu, I watched Ollie’s “War Stories” on this battle last weekend.
Gruesome!
I was a Nuke Weapons Specialist during Nam, so I spent my time stateside.
My mentor later in my aerospace career, was a veteran pilot from the Korean War.
He provided some perspective:
“Have you ever seen someone die from .50 cal fire, grenade shrapnel, flame thrower, or a conventional bomb?”
“None of war is pretty.”
We had only 2 atomic bombs. Had the Japanese known that, they would not have surrendered when they did. Fortunately two were sufficient.
Had the two atomic bombs not been dropped, this bestseller would not have been written because the author and his fellow POW's would not have been alive. At the time Enola Gay and Bock's Car appeared over Japan, they were starving and would not have survived another winter.
I remember seeing an interview of a Japanese woman who had been a 16 year old on Okinawa during the battle.
She was forced into a cave where she was then forced to aid the Japanese Army. They had been told of how horrible the Americans treated captured Japanese.
She said after the battle was over, she was surprised that the Americans treated her better than her own people did.
The battle for Okinawa probably removed any real doubt Truman may have had about using “the gadget”
“You may feel good about yourself with an attitude of this sort, but can you honestly expect to win a war for your own survival?”
A liberal is so open-minded that he can’t take his own side in a quarrel.
I deplore that it had to be done.
If the US had needed to invade Japan to win that war, at least 5 million Japanese would have died - many from burns and starvation. So just from their perspective, it was merciful to end it with a short and sharp action. That doesn’t even speak to the millions of US servicemen that would have been killed, maimed or “just” wounded.
War is Hell - best to get it over with very quickly. Besides, our use of nukes then and there made it far less likely that we’d end up fighting the Russkies, and that hypothetical war would have killed tens of millions even without nukes, and a couple hundred million with them. Yeah, this was a good decision; grisly, but good.
The Purple Heart I received in 1969 is from WWII.
Manufactured in preparation for the Japanese invasion.
IIRC they are still using the same batch.
The United States President is elected to serve the interest of Americans.
He is not elected to serve the interests of Upper Volta. Or Japan. Or anywhere else.