Hello all, here is today's article posted on TheArmoryLife.com. It is titled “Was the Atomic Bombing of Japan Necessary?” and can be found at https://www.thearmorylife.com/was-the-atomic-bombing-of-japan-necessary/.
Was the Atomic Bombing of Japan Necessary?
- Thread starter Mike H.
- Start date
Annihilator
Hellion
Good read Mike, but yea, I think it was needed to be done after the sneak attack at Pearl
TidalWave
Professional
A discussion that’ll probably never be settled…
I’ve read a ton about it. Theres all kinds of angles- a lot of ‘em intellectual BS, hindsight knowledge, etc etc.
The ques “was it NECESSARY ?” Is kinda loaded. Rewrite that as “Would we have lost WITHOUT it?” and you get a definitive answer (No).
A lot of Americans forget that for the first couple years, a huge Japanese fear was the Soviets. And at the end, they realized the USSR was finally headed their way. That, the loss of their manufacturing and shipping, and the atomic bombings ended the war.
I’ve read a ton about it. Theres all kinds of angles- a lot of ‘em intellectual BS, hindsight knowledge, etc etc.
The ques “was it NECESSARY ?” Is kinda loaded. Rewrite that as “Would we have lost WITHOUT it?” and you get a definitive answer (No).
A lot of Americans forget that for the first couple years, a huge Japanese fear was the Soviets. And at the end, they realized the USSR was finally headed their way. That, the loss of their manufacturing and shipping, and the atomic bombings ended the war.
HayesGreener
Ronin
It was expected that we would have lost a million people in an invasion of Japan and the war would have extended by years. Estimates were 50% allied casualties. The Japanese thought we would have negotiated a peace treaty instead of suffering those casualties. I have often wondered if we should instead have used nukes against their military in the island campaigns rather than losing all those troops taking island strongholds like Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Pelilieu, Saipan, Palau, Okinawa, etc. Bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki did however destroy Japan's will to fight and ended the war on a much better timeline for the Allies. On balance it was the best course of action at the time.
KillerFord1977
Emissary
Yes
Should have done it to a few more countries as well .
Should have done it to a few more countries as well .
negolien
Master Class
Not only was it necessary we shoulda hung a hell of a lot more of themHello all, here is today's article posted on TheArmoryLife.com. It is titled “Was the Atomic Bombing of Japan Necessary?” and can be found at https://www.thearmorylife.com/was-the-atomic-bombing-of-japan-necessary/.
I did a master’s paper decades ago on “The Humane Use of the Atomic Bomb”. Based on data at the time the estimates were for 1 1/2 million American casualties and if memory serves 5 1/2 million Japanese casualties if we’d been forced to invade. So at least 6.8 million casualties save by “the bomb”. Too many bleeding hearts say “oh that was a terrible thing” forgetting the more than 100,000 killed in one fire bomb raid air raid on Tokyo. Took 1000 B29’s to do it but if you were the poor sob on the ground it wouldn’t make much difference to you. Had an uncle who made 6 amphiblandings as a beach master. Distinctly remember him saying that when they heard about the bomb they were thrilled. He said, and I quote “We wouldn’t have cared if they sank the whole damned island as long as we didn’t have to make another landing”. He was in the army home on leave on 7 December, 1941. Had just got home but everyone was gone. Neighbor across the street called to home and told him about the attack. He listened to the report and the order for “All American military personnel are to report to their duty station by the first available transportation”. My uncle wrote a note to his widowed mother, walked 2 miles to the train station and headed back to the Army. The next time he saw home or family was 20 December, 1945.
Tacoma236
Operator
Interesting factoid. The US just filed a new order for Purple Heart medals. Reason? The ones made for the invasion of Japan have finally been exhausted. Yes Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan and all the other mini wars were adequately covered by the medals we made for the invasion of Japan.
Additionally if we had not ended the war there were thousands upon thousands of POWs that most likely would have been liquidated by the Japanese.
As the Great Ronald Reagan once said " If it had not been for Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima and Nagasaki never would have happened." This was a time when the term Total War existed. Amazing isn't it Two continual aggressors (Germany (almost a thousand years of being assholes) and Japan have been completely agreeable members of society.
Additionally if we had not ended the war there were thousands upon thousands of POWs that most likely would have been liquidated by the Japanese.
As the Great Ronald Reagan once said " If it had not been for Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima and Nagasaki never would have happened." This was a time when the term Total War existed. Amazing isn't it Two continual aggressors (Germany (almost a thousand years of being assholes) and Japan have been completely agreeable members of society.
TurboDog910
Master Class
Yes!
Cedric
Professional
Agree with others that it had to be done. But here is another angle (channeling Victor Davis Hanson here). As mentioned, LeMay's bombing campaign from March 1945 to July 1945 with 2400 B-29s had burned down 75 percent of Japan's urban industrial capacity. If the decision had been made to not drop the bomb, and with Okinawa secured, LeMay would have brought over B-17s and B-24s from Europe which had been sitting on their hands since May 1945 and stationed them on Okinawa. The British would have brought over Lancasters. Instead of 3 sorties a week, with 12,000 -15,000 bombers the sorties would be upped to two per day. LeMay's only concern was if Dow Chemical could make enough napalm. The entire country would have been burned down with an estimated 2,000,000 dead Japanese. This was the other life saving measure the atomic bombs enabled.
Was the bomb necessary, absolutely. I just wish there would have been a way without bombing cities. The two bombs we dropped brought about Japan's unconditional surrender and had little to do with the possibility of Russia entering the war against Japan.
I'm a very spiritual person and believe that after death we have to account for our lives. I would hate to have to stand before the Almighty and justify the deaths of thousands of babies and innocent children. Then again, not everyone shares my beliefs, maybe there is no life after death.
I'm a very spiritual person and believe that after death we have to account for our lives. I would hate to have to stand before the Almighty and justify the deaths of thousands of babies and innocent children. Then again, not everyone shares my beliefs, maybe there is no life after death.
HayesGreener
Ronin
Bombing Pearl Harbor was mega FAFO but it has been long enough since that some fanatic is thinking about trying it again. We still need stone cold killers like Patton and LeMay and Puller on staff just in case...
Even after the first (Hiroshima) bomb Japan refused to surrender. They would have fought to the last man if we ended up invading the homeland and it would have been terribly costly in terms of manpower. So yes, it was necessary.
The thing that galls me is the USSR. They refused requests to declare war on Japan as our ally buy as soon as the Bomb(s) dropped they saw a quick end, immediately declared war and went in to grab what they saw as their share of the spoils. In fact, there was not an official peace between Japan and the USSR until not that long ago.
The thing that galls me is the USSR. They refused requests to declare war on Japan as our ally buy as soon as the Bomb(s) dropped they saw a quick end, immediately declared war and went in to grab what they saw as their share of the spoils. In fact, there was not an official peace between Japan and the USSR until not that long ago.
HayesGreener
Ronin
The Japanese military brass didn't believe the reports that Hiroshima was an atomic blast. They thought it was more firebombing and propaganda. Their own atomic scientist tried to convince them it was an atomic bomb but they didn't believe him until after the second boom. The imperial military had convinced themselves so thoroughly that they were invincible that they could not grasp the concept of defeat. I think a bunch of them fell on their swords. Hitler had a similar problem.
Jester560
Professional
Plenty of babies and children killed, in the Bible, on direct orders from God.
Yes it was necessary and saved countless Japanese and American lives.
The Night Rider
Hellcat
You have to take almost everything Boyington said with a large grain of salt but he claimed that a large portion of the guards at the Ofuna POW camp attempted or claimed they were going to kill themselves the night Japan surrendered but none of them actually went through with it.
Of course, thats just one place.
Also according to Boyington the Allies hung a bunch of the people who were running Japan at the time.
We’d have 100’s of millions if not a billion more alive if it weren’t for the spread of communism. Mao Zedong wouldn’t have murdered 100’s of millions alone, Stalin with 10’s of millions murdered, Khmer Rouge 3 million… Plus all of the Americans who didn’t come back fighting the evils of communism. That probably is about 100K. Truman should have struck Moscow and Leningrad too and ended communism there… China would have been an ally if the OSS also tied up loose ends by getting rid of Mao Zedong and Ho Chi Minh after WWII as well and that would have saved probably around 500 million.
