"Japan would not have surrendered without the bombs, and would have put ever younger children into uniform for two more years until they were utterly destroyed. I would hate to be the one to make that decision but the bombs ended the war before tens or hundreds of thousands of children would have died."
"Japan would not have surrendered without the bombs, and would have put ever younger children into uniform for two more years until they were utterly destroyed. I would hate to be the one to make that decision but the bombs ended the war before tens or hundreds of thousands of children would have died."
Opinion is divided on whether Japan would have surrendered or was already in the process of surrendering. I don't know enough to say with real confidence. But I'm not convinced the death toll would have been higher if the bombs hadn't been dropped.
Italy and Germany had surrendered 3 months prior, Japan had been defeated on Okinawa and several other countries had recently declared war on Japan. Would another 200,000 people have been killed before Japan realised it was hopeless? Not to mention the human suffering you allude to. I don't think so.
Fifty years ago (apox) I read Hiroshima by John Hersey. The thoughts of survivors. A compelling book that influenced my views on nuking cities. And yet Lemay boasted that his fire bombing campaign killed more Japanese people than the nukes.
"Japan would not have surrendered without the bombs, and would have put ever younger children into uniform for two more years until they were utterly destroyed. I would hate to be the one to make that decision but the bombs ended the war before tens or hundreds of thousands of children would have died."
Opinion is divided on whether Japan would have surrendered or was already in the process of surrendering. I don't know enough to say with real confidence. But I'm not convinced the death toll would have been higher if the bombs hadn't been dropped.
Italy and Germany had surrendered 3 months prior, Japan had been defeated on Okinawa and several other countries had recently declared war on Japan. Would another 200,000 people have been killed before Japan realised it was hopeless? Not to mention the human suffering you allude to. I don't think so.
Please don’t think I’m saying the bombing was justified. I too have read many opinions on how much longer they would have fought.
Those clinic films haunt me.
Fifty years ago (apox) I read Hiroshima by John Hersey. The thoughts of survivors. A compelling book that influenced my views on nuking cities. And yet Lemay boasted that his fire bombing campaign killed more Japanese people than the nukes.