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.
A few years ago, liberal “comedian/satirist” Jon Stewart said we should have dropped an atomic bomb offshore, to show the Japanese the power of the bomb. And then tell them if they didn’t surrender, then we would use the bomb on them.
Lots of speculation and “what if” there. Would Japan really have surrendered just by us revealing we had that bomb? Would they have thought we were bluffing? Who knows if the Jon Stewart scenario would have played out that way? It’s easy to say with 70 years of hindsight that we should have it next something different.
A siege with continued firebombing would have done the trick. The results would have been more Japanese casualties than the nuking itself. There was no pretty ending to the War in the Pacific to be had. As retribution for the Pearl Harbor attack, none should have been expected.
What happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a thing of mercy and grace compared to the incomprehensible horror had the Japanese not been compelled to promptly surrender.
I have heard the “blockade” reasoning before and who knows if that was workable while leading to a humanitarian crisis and most POW’s killed. Most soldiers were to be reassigned from the European theatre and off to the Pacific to meet those already at the last remaining islands outside of the Mainland for the invasion that would dwarf D-Day. It is safe to say the invasion would be epic in loss of life militarily and civilian. Every soldier that I have read about thought they would most likely not survive the operation and thanked God for the Bomb and end of the war with Japan.
The Left is upset because their beloved Soviet Union didn’t get the spoils and occupied at least half of Japan, like they did Germany.
And there’s no question that Japan would have been divided, just like Korea, with the result another Civil War that would have likely gotten even more Japanese and Americans killed down the road.