I understand that you're a little light in the loafers and now we know that you're a little light in history. The Japanese were finished....really? The Japanese were finished on Okinawa and they cost us plenty of lives and almost all of theirs to take the island. Finished? The Imperial Army didn't see that way. They tried to kidnap their own emperor to keep him from entertaining the idea of surrender. No Virginia, the Japanese were NOT finished. They were beaten but they were not finished. Originally Posted by JD BarleycornI've read this post three times and other than the light in the loafers comment (no personal knowledge), I am utterly astonished to say that I agree with every word.
The Japanese Army was ready to do the same thing in defense of the home islands that they had done on almost every island invaded by the US....engage in a no-quarter asked, none given fight to the finish with US forces. An invasion of Japan would have resulted in hundreds of thousands of US casualties. And, as somebody else noted, once you've spent a billion dollars developing a new weapon, you're damn sure going to use it if it is going to prevent those types of casualties. Can you imagine the outrage of the American people if the invasion had occurred and a couple of hundred thousand Americans were killed and wounded.....only to find out we had this weapon and didn't use it? It didn't hurt to let the Russians know who they would be fucking with if push came to shove as well.
I'll say what I always say about the WW2 Pacific Theater of Operations: They started it. We ended it.