“It would have been long-term but very inexpensive, especially in terms of American lives.”
A long-term fight would have seemed very expensive to the American GIs who were killed or maimed doing the fighting.
The American casualty rate in August 1945 was running 7,000 a week. Just 12 more weeks of war would have generated 84,000 American casualties, about equal to that of Hiroshima alone.
The Japanese fought harder as the war approached the home islands. In Okinawa civilians had been recruited to fight and they committed mass suicide as the island was conquered. American war planners understood that the fight for the home islands would be even more intense and the casualty rate would be even higher.
“There was no urgency to any ground invasion.”
And this is known to you how, exactly?
“Japan could have been blockaded at that point and the rest of its air forces and naval forces destroyed.”
This was the situation at Okinawa. I suggest that you read up on the fight for Okinawa and see how “easy” that went despite the Japanese being cut off from supplies.
“It was all over, but the Japanese war lords would not recommend surrender yet.”
I read an interesting article in the Rafu Shimpo on one of the atomic bomb anniversaries, it might have been the 50th. The day after Hiroshima the Emperor convened his war council. To discuss surrender? Of course not. He wanted to know how soon Japan could have its own bomb to drop on the American invaders.
But the Nagasaki bomb took the air out of this bravado. The Japanese had no idea of how many bombs that we had but figured out that the first one wasn’t a fluke. And that we would keep dropping them until we ran out or reloaded. Fortunately for all involved the Emperor and his warlords saw the light once it appeared to them in the form of mushroom clouds and they surrendered, something unimaginable only days before.
I read somewhere that the last two Japanese soldiers left on Iwo Jima surrendered in 1949. That's not a typo ... 1949. Did the U.S. forces on Iwo Jima face massive military casualties between 1945 and 1949 just because those two dudes were willing to hold out for four years after Japan surrendered? Of course not. Japan wasn't in a position to carry out any serious military threats against the U.S. by the time August of 1945 rolled around.
We had casualties because we kept ground attacking, throwing men at incredibly well-fortified positions.
“Take that hill”, etc.
In 1945 Japan was kaput, it was over. No navy = no support for ground troops. The whole “empire” was all separated by ocean. No navy = impotent.
Just keep sweeping airplanes from the sky until you can part 20 carriers right off the Japanese coast.
Rushing in to “charge” enemy positions before the overwhelming force has arrived is going to cost lives.
If some kamakazi divisions want to live in caves in Okinawa for 10 or 20 years, let them.
Take your time, gradually burn them out from the air. Send the infantry home.
The kamakazis will be stuck inside their underground fortresses. Slap up a sign and call it an American POW camp.
The American infantrymen can be home and getting on with life.