General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The Real Reason We Bombed Japan [View all]still_one
(92,494 posts)in those battles?
In Iow Jima the most of the Japanese soldiers refused to surrender
Okinawa was the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War. At least 200000 people were killed in that battle. The Okinawa campaign led
directly to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as a means of avoiding the planned ground invasion of the Japanese
mainland.
Here is one example of what it was like at Iwo Jima for 2nd Lieut. Benjamin Roselle, part of a ground team directing naval gunfire:
"Within a minute a mortar shell exploded among the group ... his left foot and ankle hung from his leg, held on by a ribbon of flesh ... Within minutes a second round landed near him and fragments tore into his other leg. For nearly an hour he wondered where the next shell would land. He was soon to find out as a shell burst almost on top of him, wounding him for the third time in the shoulder. Almost at once another explosion bounced him several feet into the air and hot shards ripped into both thighs ... as he lifted his arm to look at this watch a mortar shell exploded only feet away and blasted the watch from his wrist and tore a large jagged hole in his forearm: "I was beginning to know what it must be like to be crucified," he was later to say."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Iwo_Jima
From Victor Davis Hanson in his book Ripples of Battle:
"...because the Japanese on Okinawa... were so fierce in their defense (even when cut off, and without supplies), and because casualties were so appalling, many American strategists looked for an alternative means to subdue mainland Japan, other than a direct invasion. This means presented itself, with the advent of atomic bombs, which worked admirably in convincing the Japanese to sue for peace [unconditionally], without American casualties."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Okinawa
An invasion of the Japanese mainland would have resulted in tremendous American casualties.
It is also sometimes forgotten exactly what was being dealt with. In Nanjing, China alone, over 300000 civilians were killed, and over 20000 mass rapes were committed by Japanese troops against the residents of Nanjing
Malaya, Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, and so many other places in China and throughout Asia atrocities were done at the hands of the Japanese military.
Manila massacre of 1945, Sook Ching massacre in 1942, Kalagong massacre, and so many other massacres that now have faded into the past. In China alone, more than 2.7 MILLION Chinese civilians were killed based on Japans scorched earth strategy, sanctioned by
the emperor himself.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_crimes
As horrible as it was, it ended the f*king war, and prevented a direct invasion of the Japanese mainland.