“Thank God for the Atom Bomb”

TNR ^ | August 1981 | Paul Fussell

[Rummyfan]

In honor of the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, 6 August 1945.

[Red Badger]

[RayChuang88]

It was not a hard decision for the then-War Department to authorize the use of the atomic bomb on Japan. Not after the unbelievable horror of the Battle of Okinawa, where over 12,000 American soldiers were killed, possibly 100,000 Japan soldiers were killed and maybe as many as 150,000 civilians were killed between March 26 to June 22, 1945. And that was just a preview of the bloodbath that awaited American and British troops if they tried to invade any of the Japanese home islands. Weary from six years of World War, the Americans needed a fast way to end the war—and the atomic bomb was the perfect means to impress on the Japanese government to accept the Potsdam Declaration.

[Old Sarge]

Let’s see here...

The bombs fell in August of 1945, just as the Allies were planning Operation Olympic, the amphibious invasion of Japan.

Initial casualty estimates were ove 1 million Allied soldiers would be KIA as a result.

The bombs fell, and Japan surrendered a few weeks afterwards - meaning Operation Olympic was cancelled.

Meaning that ONE MILLION men woudl return to America and eslewhere and make babies in the postwar Baby Boom.

How many baby boomers, now in their 60’s and older, would never have been born?

How many hipster millenial Leftists would also never have been born, if their grandfathers died on the beach in Japan?

[sauropod]

Bfl

[dhs12345]

Yup.

And don't forget how many Japanese (military and civilian) would have died in the invasion and eventual blockade of the islands. Mass starvation, perpetual bombing runs and destruction. The WHOLE continent of Japan would have been destroyed with millions of dead.

Also, it was clear that the Japanese were willing to fight to the death, ie, the kamikaze if their emperor told them to do so.

[humblegunner]

The WHOLE continent of Japan would have been destroyed

I never knew Japan was a continent.

[DuncanWaring]

Those two bombs saved the lives of TENS OF MILLIONS of Japanese.

[Old Sarge]

And today, we read in Homer's grand article This Morning how there were indeed, warlords on the Japanese Council who vowed to keep fighting to the end, even in the face of atomic fire.

[laplata]

My Dad spent most of the war in the CBI Theater of War. Everything was being shifted closer to Japan when the war ended.

He was in the initial Occupation of Japan and what the occupation forces saw scared them. It would have been horrible had we invaded.

Thank God for the bombs.

[mrmeyer]

My grandfather was a combat engineer that went ashore with the first amphibious assault wave on Omaha Beach. He was part of the breakout of the bocage and liberation of France, the battle of the bulge and relief on Bastogne, the invasion of Austria and the liberation of Gusen concentration camp.

After surviving all of that he told me when I was a boy that had the bomb not been dropped, he would not have survived the invasion of Japan.

The Japanese surrender saved his life. It also ensured an existance for my mother and my uncle, myself, my brother, my two cousins, my own two children, and eight second cousins.

[kidd]

Anyone who doubts Japan’s stubbornness, resolve, devotion, etc. needs to understand this:

Hiroshima was bombed with a horrible weapon.
Japan didn’t surrender after this first A-bomb was dropped.
Japan had no defense or counter offense for the A-bomb.

Japan was not planning to surrender at all.

[central_va]

Japan was sending out peace feelers thru the Swedish Embassy weeks before the bomb dropped.

[rlmorel]

One of the best articles I have ever read on this subject, kudos to you for posting it.

In it, the author said: "...Understanding the past requires pretending that you don’t know the present..."

I am not sure I agree with that. I think I understand quite well many of the lessons of the past without having to pretend I don't know what goes on presently. What I think you DO have to do is accept one simple fact: You cannot judge people in the past by the standards of the present.

That's it. Granted, I do think there are some things in God's laws that are immutable, and can can be judged from afar, and I am not talking about that kind of thing.

My dad had the opportunity to speak on Memorial Day back in 1995 on the upcoming 50th anniversary of the dropping of the bombs, and said unashamedly, if we had to, we should have used more of them (or something along those lines. Hoo boy. You should have seen the local headlines the next day, something like "Veteran says more bombs should have been dropped on Japan" or something like that...but my dad was completely comfortable and unapologetic for saying what he did, and the context in which he said it.

Here was the picture from the paper...my dad was a hell of a guy...I sure do miss him.

[Axenolith]

My Grandfather recalled the machine guns being set up outside their barracks and being told they were for killing all the POWs I their camp the moment landings occurred on the home islands.

Atomic Bomb apologists rank right at the top of my “worthless bags of shit” list. As far as I’m concerned 1 American life would have been worth carpet bombing the home islands with them.

[rlmorel]

It should be “some parts of the Japanese government” were sending out feelers...John Toland’s book is an excellent one: “The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945”

[rlmorel]

Amen, there.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Excellent essay; thanks for posting it.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

I have always viewed the A-Bomb as a big lesson for the Japanese; i.e. don’t bomb Pearl Harbor without warning on a Sunday, December 7, 1941. My Dad was in the movement towards Japan moving by carrier to Hawaii when the war ended. He was home by October.