Was it Wrong to Drop the Atom Bomb on Japan?

[kyredneck]

105,000 killed in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombings (so roughly 50,000 'daddies').

...compared to what the Japs did to ONE CITY WITHOUT THE BOMB:

"During the six weeks of the Japanese massacre, over 300,000 people were killed and over 20,000 additional women were brutally raped...."

 

[JonC]

While interesting, I am not so sure that comparisons are helpful in justifying either position (the bombing or the murder/ rapes).

 

[InTheLight]

This thread, or one like it, seems to come up every so often here on BB. Most of the same arguments are repeated. One thing I don't think I've seen is this one:

Supposing we didn't drop the bomb on Japan. Instead we continued with the island hopping, conventional warfare against suicidal Japanese soldiers and we lost another 100,000 US military personnel before eventually being victorious, sometime in the spring of 1946. About three months after victory it is learned that Truman had a "super bomb" that could have ended the war 6 months earlier and spared those 100,000 US lives, if only he would have used it. What is Truman going to tell the mothers of dead soldiers, the widows of dead soldiers? Would anything he say be enough?

I don't think so.

 

[JonC]

This thread, or one like it, seems to come up every so often here on BB. Most of the same arguments are repeated. One thing I don't think I've seen is this one:

Supposing we didn't drop the bomb on Japan. Instead we continued with the island hopping, conventional warfare against suicidal Japanese soldiers and we lost another 100,000 US military personnel before eventually being victorious, sometime in the spring of 1946. About three months after victory it is learned that Truman had a "super bomb" that could have ended the war 6 months earlier and spared those 100,000 US lives, if only he would have used it. What is Truman going to tell the mothers of dead soldiers, the widows of dead soldiers? Would anything he say be enough?

I don't think so.

Interesting idea.

We know that the second bomb was not the motivation for Japan’s surrender simply because the Japanese council had already begun meeting to discuss unconditional surrender before Nagasaki was bombed.

But what if the purpose of the second bomb was for the US to keep victory in the eyes of its citizens grounded in the actions of the US rather than the Soviets?

 

[robycop3]

I thank GOD & thank your dads for their service. My dad was in the AAF, ETO, first as a tail gunner in a B-17, then a quartermaster.

And, as my dad said, if it was against Jesus' will that the A-bombs were used against Japan, they wouldn'ta been!

 

[robycop3]

The 2nd bomb was to try to make Japan believe we had an unlimited number of such bombs, & THEIR CITY OR TOWN COULD BE NEXT!

Mosta my life, I've heard from many a person, both former military & civilians alive during WW2 that, had Truman insisted that the proviso that Hirohito would be left on the throne under a shogun, that Japan woulda surrendered.

In late July, 1945, Japan had been overwhelmed everywhere but in China, & their leadership wanted to surrender. Their only interest was keeping the Emperor on the throne, & the whole nation woulda fought to the last bullet for that purpose. And it was truman's intent that Hirohito remain on the throne under a shogun, as Truman believed he would be of great help in reshaping Japan & suppressing the diehard militants. But he failed to insist on that proviso being included in the Potsdam Declaration, so Japan was determined to fight on. And even after the bombs, it took the Emperor himself to bring about the surrender.

 

[Adonia]

No, it was not wrong to drop the atomic bombs, the Japanese nation got what it deserved. The Japanese armed forces during WW2 were the most barbaric of soldiers ever to take the field of battle. The horrendous things they did to the people of the nations they conquered and to the Allied soldiers who fought them knew no bounds. In biblical terms they reaped what they had sown.

 

[David Kent]

2. The Japanese were at the point of surrender. In fact months before they had shown willingness to surrender to terms that were basically identical to the terms the US later accepted. But the US refused the earlier offer.

The evidence was that they were not about to surrender. The Emperor may have been, but the generals refused till after Nagasaki. There was a British POW camp in Nagasaki.
The bomb was developed in a rush because the allies. were worried that Hitler was near to developing one and he would have no hesitation on using it on London or other cities. Had it been developed a year earlier it may well have been used on Berlin.

 

[David Kent]

I thank GOD & thank your dads for their service. My dad was in the AAF, ETO, first as a tail gunner in a B-17, then a quartermaster.

And, as my dad said, if it was against Jesus' will that the A-bombs were used against Japan, they wouldn'ta been!

So your dad was a Calvinist?

 

[robycop3]

The evidence was that they were not about to surrender. The Emperor may have been, but the generals refused till after Nagasaki. There was a British POW camp in Nagasaki.
The bomb was developed in a rush because the allies. were worried that Hitler was near to developing one and he would have no hesitation on using it on London or other cities. Had it been developed a year earlier it may well have been used on Berlin.

The final blows that convinced MOST (but not ALL) the Japanese military leaders that Japan was whupped & should end the war was the destruction of most of the remnants of the IJN in the Philippine Sea (where the Yamato was sunk) and the fall of Okinawa. But, long as they were unsure of what would become of Hirohito, they were willing to fight til they were all killed.

Truman intended to keep Hirohito on the throne, believing correctly he'd be of immense help in de-militarizing Japan & keeping the people from resisting occupation. however, Secy-Of-State james Byrnes, who believed Hirohito was the main sistigator of the war, was opposed to placing the proviso of retaining him in the Potsdam Declaration, & saw to it that it wasn't included. We know the rest.

Thus, I tend to believe it was the hand of God that influenced those events so the bombs were used against Japan.

 

[robycop3]

So your dad was a Calvinist?

Nupe!