General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: No Choice: Why Harry Truman Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Japan [View all]melm00se
(4,991 posts)but try and put yourself in Truman's shoes:
- Your country has been involved in WWII since late 1941 and war planners projected that the war would have continued for at least 1 more year.
- 22 US servicemen were being killed every day.
- Your two most recent Pacific invasions/battles (Iwo Jima and Okinawa) cost you:
Iwo Jima - 6,800 KIA and 19,217 wounded
Okinawa - 20,195 KIA and 55,162 wounded (and 40,000 to 150,000 civilians killed).
- The Japanese losses were:
Iwo Jima: ~18,000 dead
Okinawa: 77,000+ dead
- You faced USA casualty projections at least 1 order of magnitude greater if a Japanese invasion was necessary.
- The Japanese fought to the death in the major battles:
Saipan: of a garrison of 31,000, less than 1000 were captured.
Tarawa: of a garrison of 3,000, less than 20 were captured.
- Japan, in addition to the ~4,000,000 military personnel on the Japanese Home Islands (+31 million in civilian militias), had ~1,000,000 to draw on in China.
- Japanese casualties (both military and civilian) would have been absolutely atrocious during an invasion and post invasion.
- In the month's leading up to August 1945, the Japanese refused to surrender post-VE day and then again after the Potsdam Declaration (the split in the Japanese Supreme War Council on the topic of surrender was not definitively known at that time).
- The Soviets pledged to attack Japan 3 months after the German surrender.
- You had some serious concerns in regards to the Soviets post-Potsdam especially after Stalin indicated that the Soviets planned to impose Soviet control over certain territories annexed by Germany and Japan.
- You are told that you have a weapon or two that could cause such devastation that ending the war in very short order. Bearing all of the above in mind:
Knowing all of this, can you fault Truman for dropping the bomb(s)?