[Rummyfan]

Paradoxically, dropping the bomb(s)saved millions of lives. First and foremost, American and Allied lives as an invasion of the Home Islands would have cost hundreds of thousands of casualties. And on top of those casualties, imagine the Japanese civilian losses as they were being prepared to fight with bamboo spears if it came to that. It would have been a 'take-no-prisoners' scenario and a bloodbath unprecedented in history.

For those armchair historians who decry the use of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, imagine if your father or brother or uncle was one of those soldiers or Marines or sailors or airmen who would have had to wage that battle. Imagine President Truman having such a weapon at his disposal and refusing to use it. And imagine all those slaughtered at Nanking, and during the Bataan Death March, and the abuse and murder our POWs suffered. It was total war. And as Curtis LeMay said, there was a moral obligation to end it as soon as possible.

[skeeter]

The Japanese civilians in such a scenario wouldnt even need to be combatants. See the Battle for Manila - a bloody nightmare for civilians caught between two combatants. Invasion of Japan would’ve made that look like a quick skirmish.

[Paal Gulli]

"Paradoxically, dropping the bomb(s)saved millions of lives....

There's nothing "paradoxical" about it. It's been understood for millennia that inflicting the most violence on an enemy in the least possible time tends to save lives on both sides.

[cowboyusa]

My Grandfather.