Contrary to one of the many myths that surround the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in August of 1945, none of the aircrew of either plane committed suicide or became insane after the bombing.
In 1985, a navigator on one of the planes that accompanied the bomber that dropped the bomb on Nagasaki did commit suicide, and was despondent over health issues he had, as well as the bomb.
The dropping of the two bombs might have, or might not have, convinced the Japanese to surrender. The Russian invasion of Manchuria, in fact, was a greater cause for concern to the Japanese than the two atomic bombs. Japanese troops deserted en masse in front of the Soviet Army, which was well trained, well equipped, and had the element of surprise on their side.
Also, in the Battle of Okinawa, which ended in June of 1945, almost 8,000 Japanese troops surrendered. While a small fraction of the up to 100,000 soldiers on the island, many believed the Imperial Japanese Army could see defeat as inevitable.
On August the 6th, a bombing raid destroyed the last functioning oil refinery in Japan, reducing their ability to produce fuels of any kind to zero. They imported 100% of their crude oil, and American submarine actions had reduced imports to 1% of their capacity in 1941.
The Battle of Okinawa, saw the first massive use of kamikazes against the Allied Fleet. The Japanese hoped enough ships would be hit, and sunk, to dissuade an invasion of the Japanese home islands. But the kamikazes, even when they did strike a ship, rarely did enough damage to sink that ship. American naval vessels in particular were heavily armed with antiaircraft batteries. Moreover, American ships were built to take a lot of damage before sinking, and American damage control teams were superb in both putting out fires, and repairing the damage done to their ships. Earlier in the war, the USS Yorktown was thought to be sunk twice by the Japanese before being torpedoed at Midway. The damage control teams on the Yorktown kept that boat afloat after taking damage the Japanese were certain would sink her.
In August of 1945, eighty years ago this month, the Japanese Empire was turning to dust. The Soviets were in China, the Chinese were getting stronger, the Allied Fleet was unstoppable, the American Air raids using incendiaries were killing hundreds of thousands of people, there was no oil, and then atomic bombs were dropped on two cities.
Would the Japanese have surrendered if the A Bombs had not been dropped?
Yes, I think they would have. The idea of letting the United States Marie Corp land in Japan and wreakthe havoc upon the Japanese homeland that they had in some many other places had to give the emperor pause. The Marines and American Army had thousands of veterans while the Japanese had very few.
As the battleship Yamato slipped under the sea in April 1945, the dreams of Japanese Empire went with it. I think the Japanese would have surrendered in August of 1945, simply because anything short of that would have meant the end of their entire culture.
Yes or no? Do you think The Bomb pushed them over the edge or was The Reason?
Take Care,
Mike
As I have come to understand it, the choice of dropping the bomb or not involved the math of potential American soldiers’ lives to be lost if not dropped, thus extending the war and risking more lives, versus ending it as quickly as possible. That and the need to show the USSR our new weapon.
CAI, I think that if untrue, not as untrue as what the government claimed.
Mostly, I think we dropped the bomb to see what it would do.
Lived in Japan for a few years in my youth (1980s). The Japanese people who have spoken to me about it (I would never raise it myself), said they didn’t believe the Japanese would have surrendered without the bomb being dropped. Personally, I believe that’s true. I remember one old woman telling me about how they were being trained to sharpen sticks to repel their attackers…
NK, I remember reading about the sharpened sticks. The idea was to send a wave of civilians armed with sticks into the American positions so it would burn up their ammo. That sort of insanity was not uncommon with the Japanese.
On Saipan, five thousand Japanese troops, some armed with clubs and sticks, charged the American lines. It was mass suicide, and they were slaughtered for no good reason at all.
Worse, when considering how much was too much to get the Japanese to surrender, that sort of thing might have led the Americans to do whatever it took, even if it means firing machine guns at civilians armed with sticks.
But like CAI said, showing the Soviets we had a new toy played a part in all of this. Truman was in over his head yet who at that point would not have been?
There’s a lot to think about here, and I had forgotten the pointy sticks. Thanks for reminding me.
The Japanese of the ’30s and early ’40s were awful–look at the atrocities they did in Nanking, China in about 1935. They were horrible and thought they were right.
As others have said, I also do not think they would have surrendered in August ’45 without the bombs. They were training every man, woman, and child to fight to the end. Several scenarios the US military plotted out if they had to invade the main Japan islands came up with hundreds of thousands (maybe millions?) of deaths on both sides.
A bit of trivia: we had leaflets written in Japanese, telling civilians to leave their city as something was coming. We air dropped them on Nagasaki, Hiroshima, and 33 other cities. We wanted to cripple Japan and their military and industry, not hurt the citizens.
While not many may agree with this guy’s views, he is quite the historical researcher and has an interesting 16 minute presentation here about the bombs (and is apolitical): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fbDgAQA22s
Tim,
When the Japanese decentralized their arms industries to escape bombing, they invited the wholescale raids on cities. And interesting point of view on this can be found in Robert McNamara’s “Fog of War” documentary where he describes the bombing of Japanese cities as “war crimes.” He helped plan those raids, and yes, he described himself as a war criminal.
I disagree with Jon Steward, and so do on the grounds that if you’re going to go to war, you leave behind much ethical behavior. Do you not invade the coast of France because you’ll kill civilians? Do you not sink a ship carrying soldiers because the crew are not combatants? I still believe the Japanese would have surrendered as the time for Operation Downfall grew closer. The Soviets, who Japan had a long history of hostilities with, would have swung the balance.
Do i agree with McNamara or Stewart, or anyone else who says “war crimes” when it came to ending that war? No. We weren’t there. We can sit in front of a keyboard and what if things until we’re bored and start looking at cat videos. Truman was given raw data about men killed, men wounded, ships sank with hundred of losses, and he was the person who was told, “Use this bomb, end the war.”
I would have done it. I think they would have surrendered without it, but eighty years past the event, it’s easy to say. Truman was handed a way out of a war that would had cost 450,000 American lives, and sent home twice that many wounded.
Yeah, I would have.
Japan decentralizing their arms industries may have helped save some of the companies–but forced us to bomb many more cities.
I agree that “war crimes” is something that needs an investigation and a trial to determine if the person is, in fact, guilty of war crimes. Similar to all the trials done for the German officials after WW II.
And yes, war is Hell. If you declare war, go all-in. If you get attacked and declare war, go all-in. One should fight a war to win.
Tim, it would seem the Japanese strategy was to make war so terrible no one would fight them. It worked in China for a while, and they took Singapore by intimidating the Brits with their ferocity. Yet that same mindset failed on the ground against the Marines on Guadalcanal. On their first night after taking the airfield, General Vandegrift told his officers to pass on the word there would be no surrender. They would fight the Japanese for the airfield, and if need be, would fight a guerrilla war from the jungle. But there would be no surrender, no death marches, no prisoner of war camps, and they would fight until the last bullet and last bayonet.
That was the way the Marines fought from that point on. None asked, none given.