Posted on 08/03/2020 7:06:21 AM PDT by Kaslin
It is August, 2020, now seventy-five years since the end of America's World War II hostilities with the nation then known as the Empire of Japan. August 6 and 9 are the historic anniversary dates of the first and only use of nuclear weapons in warfare. In the ensuing three quarters of a century, the attacks of 1945 on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — their usefulness and their rectitude — have been the subject of vigorous debate over their military, scientific, political, historic, and moral significance.
Schools of thought regarding yes-or-no justification generally break down as follows:
Yes. The European and Pacific wars were already too costly in lives and property. A quick end was mandatory.
No. The European war was already over, and the Pacific conflict was winding down. The Soviet Union, free from battling Germany, was soon to engage in hostile action against Japan.
Yes. There were no good options. This was the least bad alternative.
No. Regardless of military considerations, the attacks were a crime against humanity for the massive carnage of Japan's innocent civilian population, and Japan was presumably about to capitulate. America should apologize to Japan.
Yes. Western notions of chivalry, honor, and humane treatment of vanquished opponents were alien to Japan's ruthless, barbarous, and sadistic military culture. A powerful checkmate was required, and Japan should apologize to the world.
The atomic attacks by the United States Army Air Force on the two Japanese cities undeniably were horrific tragedies. Abstracted from historical context, by themselves, they do suggest extravagant cruelty in a purely vengeful act by this nation. And they provide ready ammunition for the "Shame America" movement, now in high gear over America's history of slavery, accusations of endemic racism, and other assorted offenses.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
The easiest call ever. Totally justified.
And remember the Japanese military was the ISIS of its time. A uniformed mob of torture killers.
I had my 5th Birthday when the Atomic Bomb fell on Hiroshima
My father had a battlefield promotion to Captain from staff sgt. He said the captain got shot and all the LT’s were dead or injured.
He was discharged as a Staff Sargent.
My dad was primarily a field mechanic and heavy equipment operator. When he got out he was a heavy equipment field mechanic for Yale & Towne. He traveled all around North America fixing machines for them.
He went onto Luzon on the third day of the invasion to clean up the beach. The Australian and US marines had gone in on the first two days to establish a beach head. He said he had to walk on their bodies that covered all the sand on the beach. Then they brought in bull dozers and buried them right there.
He lost all of his upper teeth on Luzon. A Jap knocked them out with the butt of his rifle. He was shot in the head threw his helmet. The helmet saved his life. The bullet did not penetrate his skull. He was then shot in the lower abdomen. That wound became infected in the jungle atmosphere. That put him in the hospital for 6 weeks and a trip home.
FYI, he would not buy anything Made in Japan until the 1988 Honda Accord he bought for my mother.
He always said: “never trust a Jap, they are sneaky bastards”
Still discussing this after all these years. They made the decision based on what they knew, being intently influenced by what they had just gone through on Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
After surviving Saipan and Iwo Jima, he felt quite pleased about the atomic bomb putting a permanent end to the argument!
Took till post 50 to get the best answer available.
Justified.
Rebuilding Japan came via Uncle Sam’s battle for South Korea.
My dad told the story of a couple of executives from a Japanese company who visited his office and asked if they could build something...anything for the USA.
Dad and a procurement partner delivered a brand new Studebaker Duce and a half (2 1/2 ton) truck to the company’s yard, saying, “If you can build them, we’ll buy them.”
They copied the truck’s mechanicals and exterior, including the tool kit, in the correct color.
The company was Isuzu.
Japanese Studebakers are still running in S. Korea, Viet Nam and the Philippines...
Opposition to the bombing in treated as something like blasphemy. The Left has done an excellent brainwashing job. More people died in conventional bombing raids. Throughout history conflicts have been ended through negotiation. Had they been allowed to retain Korea and Manchuria - no Korean War, no Red China. The destruction of Germany and Japan was the goal of the Soviets and their high placed officials in the U.S. government.
would it work in portland?
I have my own personal note.
My Dad served two years in the South Pacific as an anti-aircraft gunner in the Marines during World War II. By November 1944, Australians took over mopping up the few Japanese remaining on the islands and Dad was sent to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. As plans were made for the invasion of Japan, Dad’s unit would have been included in the first wave of soldiers and Marines to land on the island of Kyushu in November 1945, with a large number of deaths anticipated.
Instead, with the two bombs, Japan surrendered and Dad was honorably discharged October 9, 1945.
During the 1970’s, my Mom was involved with Church Women United. Plans were being made to host visitors from other countries, and Mom was asked if she would be a host to two men from Japan. One day when I was visiting my folks, the topic came up and Dad said it would be a cold day in hell before he would allow any Japs in his house. I flippantly remarked that I did not know my Dad was an Archie Bunker, and he really took that comment to heart. After thinking it over, Dad agreed that Mom could invite them into their home.
They were very nice gentlemen, and my folks became good friends with them, corresponding with them throughout the rest of their lives. In appreciation for putting them up, one of the men gifted my folks with a painting of a famous Japanese temple, which my parents proudly hung in their dining room. With their deaths, one of my sons has the picture hanging in his dining room.
Another child, my daughter, spent a year in Japan after graduating from college under the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program. She was there on 9/11, and the people there were very kind and expressed their condolences.
The Japan of today is on friendly terms with the United States and the people of both countries grieve over the horrible things that happened during World War II.
I think all three were justified.
400,000 to 800,000 Americans would have died in an invasion of Japan. If Truman had refused to use the atomic bomb and it later came out that he had the means to end the war in a few days by dropping atomic bombs on Japan, but had instead elected to send several hundred thousand Americans to their deaths, he would have been impeached, removed from office, and then charged and tried for treason.
We were going to invade the Japanese Home Islands. We would have had more atomic bombs by then. The plan was to use these in a tactical way, which meant using them on the advance to/in Tokyo.
Check out “Hell to Pay: Operation DOWNFALL and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947” by D.M. Giangreco.
“No. The European war was already over, and the Pacific conflict was winding down. The Soviet Union, free from battling Germany, was soon to engage in hostile action against Japan.”
Those saying this were obviously never a US or Soviet infantryman in 1945.
How would Truman explain to a family of an American killed after we had the bomb, if he refused to use it? Would he say their Soldier, Sailor, Marine, or Airman dies to save Japanese lives from a really mean bomb?
Justified.
If it wasn’t for them, we would have seen anywhere between 400,000 and 800,000 KIA, and 1.7 to 4 million wounded in any attempt to invade Japan. And that’s not including the Japanese death toll which could be 10+ million.
Our demand, from President Truman, before the bomb was dropped was for unconditional surrender. At the time even Eisenhower believed that this demand was unreasonable, that the Japanese were ready to make reasonable surrender, and that we would bear the odium for killing innocent civilians with atomic bombs.
Further, the willful killing of innocent civilians is a war crime, even if the purpose is to terrorize the enemy into surrendering to end the war. Which is what we were trying to do. Indeed, after the bomb was dropped, we made the absurd claim that Hiroshima was an important military center.
In the event, the Japanese did not unconditionally surrender. They demanded a major concession, that the Emperor remain as Head of State. We accepted this condition.
It is my view, that President Truman accepted conditional surrender because he was frightened by the prospect of being seen as a barbaric war criminal. Had the war continuad of the was, our atomic bombs would have been killing 100,000 civilians a month> After Nov 1945 when bomb production would increase, it would become every week. As a smart politician, truman knew that such mass slaughter would have grown very old very quickly.
I thought the piece of work was a sound argument justifying the bombings.
Modern day people have no idea of the ferocity and tenacity of the Japanese Imperial Army. They would have fought a war to the death of every one of them, and of us.
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