The Gun Counter

Today let's raise a toast to the men and women of The Manhattan Project, and the men of the 509th Composite Group, especially the crew of the Enola Gay.

And in response to the inevitable whining about the "victims" of Hiroshima (home of the HQ of the 2nd Army and 5th Divisions of the Imperial Army, as well as a port used by the Imperial Navy), I offer the following; Nanking, Bataan, Wake Island, Parit Sulong, Sook Ching, Manila, Unit 731, ...and on and on.

Karma's a bitch, ain't it Bushido Boy?

Yep

I tiptoe around August 6th. But my reason has nothing to do with Japan and has to do with something much more recent and personal.

I lost my best friend and first wife that day. It still hurts like hell even if no one else is allowed to see it in real time.

But yes, Karma is a bitch Bushido Boy.

They were planning to attack the US with biological weapons.

Even without their atrocities, using the nukes was a sensible decision given the utter fanaticism of their military.

I think I've mentioned the book Downfall in this space before. Makes extensive use of previously unavailable contemporary Japanese records to show that the decision to use the bomb was the right call by a wide sea mile.

MiddleAgedKen wrote: ↑Wed Aug 10, 2022 2:05 am I think I've mentioned the book Downfall in this space before. Makes extensive use of previously unavailable contemporary Japanese records to show that the decision to use the bomb was the right call by a wide sea mile.

They were expecting a million plus casualties for an invasion of mainland Japan, based on what happened taking Okinawa. They made so many purple hearts in anticipation of it, they don't start making them again till the 90s. The Militarists were intending for every last man woman and child to die defending the home islands.

MiddleAgedKen wrote: ↑Wed Aug 10, 2022 2:05 am I think I've mentioned the book Downfall in this space before. Makes extensive use of previously unavailable contemporary Japanese records to show that the decision to use the bomb was the right call by a wide sea mile.

I have not read that, but there has been a ton of information backing that up since the time. It was not a hard call.

HTRN wrote: ↑Wed Aug 10, 2022 3:47 am They were expecting a million plus casualties for an invasion of mainland Japan, based on what happened taking Okinawa. They made so many purple hearts in anticipation of it, they don't start making them again till the 90s. The Militarists were intending for every last man woman and child to die defending the home islands.

And that's just US. The Japanese would have come off a lot worse.

Even without the interdiction associated with preparatory bombardment for an invasion, their were already at or near famine. I can only imagine how much more their infrastructure would have been disrupted by preinvasion bombardment.

HTRN wrote: ↑Wed Aug 10, 2022 3:47 amThey were expecting a million plus casualties for an invasion of mainland Japan, based on what happened taking Okinawa. They made so many purple hearts in anticipation of it, they don't start making them again till the 90s. The Militarists were intending for every last man woman and child to die defending the home islands.

The other alternative -- blockade -- might have produced an even higher death toll among Japanese civilians than invasion.

Funny, this popped up on the WW2TV channel: https://youtu.be/QuYBFMgcgn4 "Exploding the idea that the Atomic Bombs were justified"

Haven't watched the whole thing, but I have my doubts on his thesis.