“He was right, it was overwhelming force.”
*
You’re right. But, it’s beneficial to keep a few things in mind.
*if not for the bombs (little boy, fat man) we would have been faced with a couple of unfavorable alternatives; invade with the probability of as many as 500,000 casualties or more. Or, accept a negotiated peace.
*in the European Theatre; we were the arsenal for the allies and the Soviets provided the troops. They were the meat grinder that chewed up German troops, about 20M. Not to belittle American sacrifices, I lost an uncle and older cousin, but our 400,000 casualties in both theaters is small when compared to Soviet losses. However, without us the Nazis would have conquered Europe and forced the UK to capitulate and accept some sort of negotiated settlement which Hitler would have violated at first opportunity for sure. So, I’m not minimizing the US role.
“You’re right. But...”
No “but”:
“little boy, fat man” = overwhelming force.
“Russian, yadda yadda yadda...” The Russians were totally dependent on the U.S.A. for food and materials, and having so many casualties is not something to be proud of. The Russians were able to move their eastern troops to the west because the U.S.A. was fighting Japan.
The only countries that came close to the U.S.A. in WWII were England and Germany, and they were distant seconds.
All those “Nazi secret weapons” you hear about? The U.S.A. had ten for every one they had. The atomic bombs (we didn’t just have one, we had two entirely different designs), the B29 (a bigger, more expensive project than the atomic bombs), radar, code breaking, logistics, proximity fuses, ...
There is simply no comparison. It was not a contest. It could have gone worse. It could have gone better. But, it was going to go to victory for the U.S.A.
” . . . and the Soviets provided the troops.”
I had an Aussie buddy you used to point that out whenever the topic of WWII came up, and it’s a fair and accurate point - my usual response was that I thought that was probably about right from the standpoint of karma, given the Hitler-Stalin nonaggression pact that allowed the Nazi’s to get of the block the way they did in the European theater.