General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Hiroshima - quit lying to yourselves [View all]hunter
(38,304 posts)Truman himself hadn't been told about the Manhattan Project before FDR died. He was fully briefed a few days afterwards.
Most military planners were also out of the loop.
Absolutely, U.S. servicemen headed to Japan had good reason to believe they'd be experiencing a bloody horror -- that they'd be shooting suicidal Japanese old people, women and children jumping out of the bushes with sharpened bamboo sticks, and fired upon by whatever was left of Japanese military forces.
But Japan was already in ruins. Isolation, further firebombing, and monthly atomic bomb drops would have been the end of Japan had they not surrendered. Much of their industrial infrastructure was ruined.
So the planned invasion was moot. It didn't happen. Knowing what we know now, it wouldn't have happened.
Yes, it is a myth that the atomic bomb "saved" American lives. If not atomic bombs, further bombing would have accomplished the same thing. It's also a myth that there was any great uncertainty about the atomic bombs working.