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A-bert who use to post in these parts from my neck of the ideological woods was one of those who was happy the bomb were dropped; he was told he was preparing for the Japanese invasion.

I respect that nor do I dispute the human calculus, however, as I read the history, I believe the Japanese were ready to give-up save a vocal minority in the Japanese Army who proposed to fight to the death, no different than officers within Lee's Army who wanted to keep fighting.

To pretend that the case is closed is not 'history' but ideological posturing. Beginning in Jan. 1945 when the Japanese sent out peace feelers, MacArthur seems to believe the Japanese would surrender to terms they eventually surrendered to in August 1945. I get the impression that there was never going to be a Japanese invasion.

I respect that nor do I dispute the human calculus, however, as I read the history, I believe the Japanese were ready to give-up save a vocal minority in the Japanese Army who proposed to fight to the death, no different than officers within Lee's Army who wanted to keep fighting.

For what it's worth...that "vocal minority" damn near wound up in charge on August 15th, 1945.

My late father, during his service in the Navy, talked to people who'd been junior high school students in 1945.

They trained to repel the American invasion, and they were perfectly willing to use suicidal tactics to do it. One tactic they practiced was strapping a satchel charge to their back and diving under an American truck, then detonating it. Others who've talked to ordinary folks who were in and out of the Japanese military have heard similar tales.

One thing that is interesting is that the Japanese military did NOT fight a guerilla action, and the incidence of lawless behavior by former Japanese soldiers was close to nil during the American occupation. (By 1947, occupation duty in Japan was much preferred to occupation duty in Germany; there was no analogue to the "Werewolf" movement in Japan.) The Emperor had commanded them to lay down their arms; they did so. That speaks to a very high standard of discipline. Had the orders come down to fight the gaijin to the last drop of Japanese blood...I believe that those orders would've been largely obeyed. And the results would have been sanguinary in the extreme, on both sides.