[Eric in the Ozarks]

I just finished James Bradley's latest book, "Flyboys," which tells the story of a half dozen Navy flyers assigned to hit a Japanese radio station on Chichi Jima while the Marines were hitting Iwo.
Several passages discuss the fire bombing campaign Gen Curtis LeMay was conducting every night beginning in early 1945. Every city in Japan would have been totally destroyed if the Japanese had not surrendered in August.

[FreedomPoster]

Besides the firebombing campaign, go look into the civilian casualties during our conquest of Okinawa. It wasn't pretty, and an invasion of the primary Japanese home islands would have been worse.

After reading the background on Okinama, there is no doubt in my mind that the nuclear bombs used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki *saved* hundreds of thousands, if not a million or more, Japanese lives.

[Prime Choice]

Every city in Japan would have been totally destroyed if the Japanese had not surrendered in August.

Minor correction: Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed in August, but Japan didn't surrender until September 2nd, 1945.