Posted on 04/01/2018 8:30:33 PM PDT by BBell
The Japanese are pretty resourceful. They have that whole group think going. A blockade would likely have taken years to work.
Would have been less costly in Allied lives, but it would have killed every occupant of the islands of Japan, to the last man, woman and child.
War is hell after all. Embargo would have cost lives, but how many hundreds of thousands would have died as the battle raged all over the home islands? Would the blockade have cost more?
But in the savings of how many thousands of lives? And I assume the air campaign would still have kept going on.
To put it bluntly, those two bombs saved the lives of literally tens of millions of Japanese.
Army Brat.
Likely outcome of an invasion of Japan described here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20091101051918/http://www.webwizpro.com/1945InvasionofJapan.html
Tojo wanted to kill Hirohito and proclaim he was a “Martyr” to keep the war going.
My Dad was on an Escort there.
Like most he hardly talked about his war service. But once we were talking about Kamikazes and I said that they must not have worried him since they were supposed to go for the big ships.
LOL! I was very young but I still remember that look he gave me.
God bless him.
Sounds like another McElroy/Skidmore Mo. situation that just got so untenable that the local Islanders had to take matters into their own hands and deal with the scumbags. I see no reason why any of them should feel guilty at all!
Good old Skidmore...
Same here. Class of '53, Fort Ord, California.
I read a book about events leading up to Pearl Harbor that had an epilogue called (IIRC) After The Bomb.
One of our diplomats was talking with his Japanese equivalent and the guy said they had to surrender for fear of more bombs. Our guy said we only had two. The Japanese said "If we had known that . . ." and let it drop, but it gives you an idea about how suicidal their leaders were.
[sidebar] I wrote this before but it seems appropriate here. Early 1950s some liberal outfit sent reporters around Asia, asking their opinion about the atomic bombing of Japan. (There was a big "Lay a Guilt Trip on America" then,)
They got some 'tsks tsks" from those who weren't involved, but they cut the trip short when they started asking those who suffered under Japanese occupation. Their reply was "Why did you drop only two?"
As I and other Freepers have contended over my 20 years here, Truman's decision to drop the Atomic Bomb on Nagasaki and then Hiroshima SAVED LIVES. On both the American and Japanese sides.
It's not popular to say it, however it's TRUE.
2000 bombers loaded with incendiary bombs flying unopposed against cities built mainly of bamboo and wood.
Yes, the atomic bombs were a godsend for the general population of Japan.
Crazy how the Japanese army wanted to keep fighting. Absolute idiots who believed their own propaganda.
And they want us to apologise for not completely destroying their island.
At this time a third atomic bomb was expected to be ready by the end of August. Eight bombs were scheduled to have been completed by November, and General George Marshall, the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, was advocating that they be reserved for use against tactical targets in support of the planned invasion rather than be dropped on cities.
That used to be common knowledge but in our age of PC it no longer is.
Someone here at FR, perhaps yourself, posted a great summary of how the Soviets transported tens of thousands of their troops from the Eastern front to Manchuria, etc and surprised the Japanese forces there, decisively defeating them.
I was referring to other Japanese armies (full divisions) further into the Chinese Mainland. Don’t have a good source on how many but it was significant. Remember the Japanese literally got into India and had taken-over much of Burma, Thailand, and some of Vietnam.
If these armies decided to put up a suicidal last stand, then our casualties and those of our Allies coming in from India/Burma and fighting across the mainland would have been horrible.
Remember, Mao kept most of his Red Army in reserve, letting the Nationalists do most of the fighting and dying in great numbers (millions) against the Japanese. Mao intended to use them against the remnants of the Kuomintang forces after the defeat of Japan, and that is exactly what he did.
If anyone has an Order of Battle for mainland China Japanese forces, please list it or give us a source. A little known theater of combat that really does need to be learned.
PS: One of my late friends, Gen. Bernie Yoh, Kuomintang guerrilla forces leader, becamethe youngest of their generals for his heroic and smart defeat of a major Japanese force where he used his head instead of guns to drive them out of a major ammunition depot/city. See “SACO: Sino-American Combined Operations” book. There is a full chapter on Bernie, who later fought in So. Vietnam under Gen. Ed Lansdale’s command.
Also, remember, Kuomintang forces defeated a major Japanese drive in Burma that would have opened the way to a major invasion of India. Our Air Force, perhaps the Flying Tigers or reinforced 8th AF under Chennault provided the air attack, but the Chinese on the ground took on and defeated a major Japanese army.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.