A grave day to commemorate one of history's worst war crimes. And yet, the popular myth that the bombs "saved lives" by "shortening the war" still persists, thanks to the history revisionists and their ignorant followers. But the opposite is true, as openly admitted by historians and even by the Allies at the time of the bombing.
The decision to hit Japan with atomic weapons had been made in 1943 -
two years before the bombs were dropped - and in 1944, Roosevelt confided this information to Churchill. The bombing was a premeditated event, and the plans were made two years before the weapon was used. This alone destroys the claim that the use of Fat Man and Little Boy was a desperate act to avoid a humanitarian disaster. It was nothing of the kind. It had all been decided long before the invasion of Okinawa.
Of course, the Yanks actually didn't need to use the bombs at all, since they knew Japanese were in the process of trying to surrender. Even the Allies' threat of abolishing the Japanese monarchy (Japan's primary reason for delaying her surrender negotiations) was never carried out, and Japan still has an emperor to this day.
Truman had told his commanders that the bombs must not be used against civilian targets:
The weapon is to be used against Japan between now and August 10th. I have told the Sec. of War, Mr. Stimson, to use it so that military objectives and soldiers and sailors are the target and not women and children.
Even if the Japs are savages, ruthless, merciless and fanatic, we as the leader of the world for the common welfare cannot drop this terrible bomb on the old capital or the new.
As we know, this was completely ignored.
Of course, Truman knew that Japan was trying to surrender, and freely admitted this to his advisers (there are have copies of correspondence which confirm this). The Allies were also aware that a Russian attack on Japan was imminent (which was precisely why Japan was trying to negotiate a surrender via Moscow) and if they wanted to win the war, they could do so simply by sitting on their hands for a month or two.
It is often claimed that the bombs were necessary because a land war would have resulted in too many casualties on both sides. This, too, is a lie.
There was no need for a land war. The Japanese had no way to defend themselves, and the Allies had no need to invade. All they had to do was wait for Japan's surrender. Japan no longer had any capacity to strike outside her borders. America's top brass were completeMost of the American top brass were against the decision to use atomic power against the Japanese for this :
- Henry Arnold (commanding general of the US Army Air Forces):
"The Japanese position was hopeless even before the first atomic bomb fell, because the Japanese had lost control of their own air."
"It always appeared to us that, atomic bomb or no atomic bomb, the Japanese were already on the verge of collapse."
"When the question comes up of whether we use the atomic bomb or not, my view is that the Air Force will not oppose the use of the bomb, and they will deliver it effectively if the Commander in Chief decides to use it. But it is not necessary to use it in order to conquer the Japanese without the necessity of a land invasion."
- Lieutenant General Ira C. Eaker, Arnold's deputy:
"Arnold's view was that it [the dropping of the atomic bomb] was unnecessary. He said that he knew the Japanese wanted peace. There were political implications in the decision and Arnold did not feel it was the military's job to question it."
- William D. Leahy, US Fleet Admiral at the time:
"Once it had been tested, President Truman faced the decision as to whether to use it. He did not like the idea, but he was persuaded that it would shorten the war against Japan and save American lives. It is my opinion that the use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan.
The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender because of the effective sea blockade and the successful bombing with conventional weapons."
"My own feeling was that in being the first to use it, we had adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages. I was not taught to make wars in that fashion, and that wars cannot be won by destroying women and children."
- General Dwight D. Eisenhower:
"I voiced to him [the Secretary of War] my grave misgivings, first on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary, and secondly because I thought that our country should avoid shocking world opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives. It was my belief that Japan was at that very moment seeking some way to surrender with a minimum of loss of 'face'."
- President Herbert Hoover:
"I told [US General] MacArthur of my memorandum of mid-May 1945 to Truman, that peace could be had with Japan by which our major objectives would be accomplished. MacArthur said that was correct and that we would have avoided all of the losses, the Atomic bomb, and the entry of Russia into Manchuria."
Needless to say, all of this this was ignored too.
There's an excellent article on the bombings
here. I'll leave you with this poignant excerpt:
The argument that the Bomb significantly shortened the Pacific conflict and made a bloody invasion of the Japanese mainland unnecessary was first rubbished almost immediately after the war, when the American government’s own Strategic Bombing Survey reported that Japan had been on the point of surrender anyway:
"Based on a detailed investigation of all the facts and supported by the testimony of the surviving Japanese leaders involved, it is the Survey’s opinion that certainly prior to 31 December 1945, and in all probability prior to 1 November 1945, Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the war, and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated."
This episode of FG is on BBC3 now. 