[slimer]

In the summer of 1945, Japan had more than 2 million soldiers and 30 million citizens who were prepared to choose "death over dishonour."

That the Japanese bore the brunt of the first weapons of mass destruction, that tens of thousands of innocent and helpless Japanese citizens died during those tragic and soul-searching days of early August 1945 is a given.

I see a contradiction in these statements. If 30 million of them were prepared to die for the war effort then how could there be tens of thousands of innocent and helpless ones.

[Vigilanteman]

A good share of the 30 million civilian "volunteers" were volunteered by the militarists like the civilians on Saipan. A good book (written by a Japanese scholar who lived through the era) is "The Pacific War" by Saburo Ienaga. The English edition has been published.

[MosesKnows]

By August 1945, the war with Japan showed signs of continuing indefinitely

I was a small boy at the time there was a slogan indicating how long the war might last; "golden gate by '48". My father came home in '45.

[fhayek]

Although I am sure that they did not think so at the time, the dropping of the bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the best thing could have happened to Japan at the time. Three reasons:

One: It saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of Japanese.

Two: Had the war continued, the Soviets would have certainly become more involved with the war with Japan. The nation would have probably become partitioned into North and South Japan, half becoming communist.

Three: Had the U.S. lost a million men taking Japan, it almost certainly would not have shown the degree of mercy and goodwill that it did after the atomic bomb attack.