If morality and military ethics are the governing factor in this kind of determination, then the Roosevelt administration, and a sizeable portion of the U.S. military leadership, should have been tried and hanged for treason on the basis of their own decisions about the execution of the war in the Pacific. By your own standard, the strategy of p!ssing away the lives of thousands of Marines in landings on small islands all over the South Pacific --- when this was far from the most effective way of seizing those islands -- was tantamount to mass murder.
I suppose we could have starved the Japanese to death but that would have taken a long time and been incredibly cruel.
Do a bit of research into how far along Germany AND Japan were in developing their own atomic weapons. Rocketry technology was also a factor, since airplanes would not be needed to deliver atomic weaponry. Evidently, your perspective lacks sufficient data to make the assertions you’ve made.
I read your critique and wonder where were you and what was your war standing as to use of the bombs. I was up front on Leyte preparing to get the job(end of the war) done.
I don't know about you but my knowledge of military tactics catapulted me to the lofty rank of SP5 many years ago.Perhaps you were a Major General,thus far outranking me.But whatever rank you achieved in the Armed Forces I'd *love* to hear how *you* would have done it.
First off, those small islands were necessary stepping stones to the main island of Japan which Japan recognized and why they were heavily fortified.
Shelling from ships and bombs from aircraft couldn't have destroyed the Japs because of the tunnels and heavy fortifications. Marines were required to rid these islands of the japs......
Once seized, these islands then became our own fueling depots for our planes on the march towards Japan.......
And as a side note, the Japs weren't very friendly to our POW's either.....