“We could always have went back to cities later, except this time with more of a superior moral position.”
Really? While his brother was working on the Manhattan Project, my Granddad was the junior engineering officer on USS Gato. His surface action station was directing the deck gun. They sank a Japanese combatant ship within sight of the Japanese homeland. The survivors were swimming to shore. The crew broke out the small arms and shot them in the water. “We had no facilities to take them prisoner, they’d kill us if we tried, they’d be back on another combatant ship within a week. So we killed them all.”
Sic Semper Tyrannis.
There were instances of Japanese enlisted trying to surrender. In many cases their officers shot them.
Just FYI, my grandfather was in the 821st AEB (army airforce engineers) Battalion and I was very close to him. He was actually loaded and ready to go from Luzon P.I. to invade Japan when the bombs were dropped. So no I dont have this opinion because I don’t care for the lives of US servicemen like my Papaw.
It’s possible we could have forced surrender, still saved US lives and spared the population of 2 Japanese cities with a first strike on a military target.
Isn’t that worth a chance?