The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved untold numbers of lives—both Japanese and American—that would have been lost in an invasion of Japan.
They also shortened the war—allowing most American troops to demobilize and go home in 1945—not 1948!
Dropping Atomic Bombs on Japan Was Imperative
We now mark the 77th anniversary of dropping atomic bombs to end WW II. As the Greatest Generation that lived into and through that history dies, we listen increasingly to revisionist asymmetrical analyses expounding the immorality of the atomic bomb decision.
Customary rebuttals extrapolate over 23,000 American and 265,000 Japanese deaths on Saipan and Okinawa to early estimates of 500,000 American and millions of Japanese deaths for mainland invasions. Such estimates could have substantially understated casualties because Kyushu and Honshu at 100,000 non-arable square miles mathematically enables at least 500 vast redoubts; complex fortifications comparable that General Ushijima constructed to inflict most losses on Okinawa.
The American “island hopping” strategy had ended. The Japanese knew the few regions within their mountainous country that could accommodate the huge armies and air forces needed. In preparation, they redeployed veteran Kwantung divisions from China. They mobilized home defense armies by drafting able citizens 17-60 years old for Peoples Volunteer Corps and Home Defense Units. They determined to wage Total War of upmost savagery rather than contemplate the shame of surrender.
If there was any alternative, Harry Truman, Henry Stimson, and George Marshall would end the war immediately. As far as they and the country were concerned the only innocent civilian lives at stake were the American citizen soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen who would invade Japan. The Greatest Generation, their parents, and grandparents would have been enraged to discover a cabal had ignored the nuclear option just to indulge some incestuous moral orthodoxy.
Unknown Japanese Invasion Preparations
The Japanese planned savage battles sacrificing 20 million citizens from a population of 72 million. Secretary of State Henry Stimson commissioned a study in July 1945 that said, “we shall probably have to kill 5 to 10 million Japanese at a cost of 400,000 and 800,000 Americans.”
Yet the Japanese had capabilities planners could never measure. The feeble response to B-29 bombing caused analysts to significantly underestimate the swarms of kamikaze airplanes, boats, and min-submarines, poised to attack the amphibious fleet.
The Japanese were also intent on waging biological warfare. During occupation searchers uncovered large stockpiles of viruses, spirochetes, and fungus spores throughout rural Japan. These biological pathogens had already been tested on several hundred thousand people in Chinese villages and on prisoners of war. Japanese civilian militias were to stay behind advancing Americans to infuse pathogens into food and waters sources, to release infected animals and insects into American compounds, and to infect themselves with choleras and plaque germs.
Harry Truman, Henry Stimson, and George Marshall would pursue any alternative consistent with the Potsdam Declaration to avoid the deaths of countless Americans in protracted ground campaigns following assaults matching D-Day. War weariness had already arisen from the shock of 1,000,000 combat deaths since June 1944 compared to 250,000 in the previous two and a half years.
The Greatest Generation, their parents, and grandparents would have been enraged to discover a cabal had ignored the nuclear option for ending the war simply to indulge some incestuous moral orthodoxy.
Partial bibliography:
Hell to Pay, D. M. Giangreco
The Atomic Bomb and the End of WW II, The National Security Archive
The Making of the Atomic Bomb Richard Rhodes
Japan’s Imperial Conspiracy, David Bergamni
Hirohito, Edward Behr
A quote by film director Akira Kurosawa illustrates the transformation of that generation of Japanese people, who before were resigned to the slogan “Honorable Death of a Hundred Million”.
“When I walked the same route back to my home (after the Emperor’s broadcast), the scene was entirely different. The people in the shopping street were bustling about with cheerful faces as if preparing for a festival the next day. If the Emperor had made such a call (to follow the above slogan) those people would have done what they were told and died. And probably I would have done likewise. The Japanese see self-assertion as immoral and self-sacrifice as the sensible course to take in life. We were accustomed to this teaching and had never thought to question it….In wartime we were like deaf-mutes.”
Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. Herbert P. Bix
Japanese Biomedical Experimentation During the WW II Era, Sheldon H. Harris, PhD
About Unit 731
https://unit731.org/
Battle of Okinawa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Okinawa
Battle of Saipan
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-saipan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Saipan
Cornerstone of Peace (Okinawa)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_of_Peace
Over 240,000 names recorded including 14,000 from the U.S.A.
“Thank God for the Atom Bomb”
http://www.uio.no/studier/emner/hf/iakh/HIS1300MET/v12/undervisningsmateriale/Fussel%20-%20thank%20god%20for%20the%20atom%20bomb.pdf
Nuking Japan: nobody asked the enslaved
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/04/nuking_japan_nobody_asked_the_enslaved.html
And Free Republic at: https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/4228963/posts?page=10
Battle of Okinawa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Okinawa
Battle of Saipan
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-saipan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Saipan
Normandy landings
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_Landings
Japan geography:
http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/geography/Indonesia-to-Mongolia/Japan.html https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ja.html
Okinawa redoubt was about 100 sq mi
An illustrated guide to the Atomic Bombs
http://www.alternatewars.com/Bomb_Loading/Bomb_Guide.htm