Did the Bomb Ultimately Save Lives?

As U.S. forces neared Japan, casualties rose at an alarming rate

The decision to drop the atomic bomb is the single most controversial act in the history of warfare. Tens of thousands were killed within minutes; as many as 340,000 had died by 1950 from the effects of radiation. But the men in command of U.S. forces in the Pacific had been well aware they faced total war against an enemy that preferred death to surrender. Until the moment of Japanese surrender, the United States moved forward with plans for a massive invasion of Japan's home islands. Operation Downfall. Initially, the casualty rates of American soldiers killed in the U.S. invasion of Saipan were used to calculate the worst-case scenario for American forces in Downfall: as many as 2 million casualties, including 500,000 fatalities. But when the casualty rates from the Battle of Okinawa were later applied, the projected casualties doubled. The worst-case scenario had become even worse.

(My own comments: I agree with the article in that I do believe that the two atomic bombs did, ultimately, save a lot of lives, both American and Japanese. The article shows that, without a doubt, American casualties rose as they got nearer and nearer to Japan, and the fanaticism of the Japanese soldiers and the American both also rose.

I think that articles examining this topic do tend to leave something out, though, and that is the emotional nature of both countries at the time. The Germans, although hated, especially for the Holocaust, fight in a 'normal' manner. They did not use the kamikaze form of attack nor the banzai form of attack. They fought, they lost, they surrendered. Germany later apologized for the atrocities it committed during the war.

In addition, there was no great animosity towards German or Italian Americans. Some were put into prisons or internment camps, but not relatively many. There was no long-standing prejudice against either group.

For the Japanese, though, there was a long-standing animosity dating all the way back to 1900 or so. Their immigration into American was opposed particularly by people on the West Coast. An Anti-Japanese League was formed. Specific laws were passed that had effects on anyone born of Japanese descent. Further, the first-generation Japanese (Issei) that came to America could not even legally become citizens.

So there was already a great deal of anti-Japanese feelings (as I noted, particularly on the west coast.) Then came the attack on Pearl Harbor which really raised the level of hate. As the war progressed and the fanaticism of the Japanese soldier became apparent, especially with the kamikaze attacks and the banzai charges, and as American casualties rose, the American hate for Japanese rose. Remember that some 110,000 or so persons who were of Japanese descent and who lived in the United States were rounded up and put into internment camps which had a lot of similarities to prisons. They were not charged with any crime. They were not put on trial.

So, if the United States had needed to actually invade Japan I think two possibilities arise. One is that, as the casualties reached the almost unbelievable level, the United States and Japan would have reached some kind of peace treaty. This also, though, depends on how much of Japan Russia had already attacked. America might have just said enough of our soldiers have died, let's just end it.

The other possibility is that, if the invasion got underway and the casualties rose the American people would have been even more outraged and more filled with hate than before. I also expect that Japan would have had a lot of its civilians, including women and children, act like terrorists, strapping bombs to themselves and blowing them up when American soldiers came nearby.

I think that type of fanaticism would have led to the mindset that the Japanese had to be totally destroyed. I think the United States, filled with hatred, would have come very near to committing genocide on the Japanese people. The soldiers would have assumed that every single Japanese person they saw was a potential suicidal enemy and would simply have killed everybody in their way.

The propaganda in the United States, in my opinion, also played a part and I think it also would have been ratcheted up once an invasion started. I have read where there was one plan that, if the United States had had a bunch of nuclear bombs they would have used nine alone during an invasion. Three were to have been used on the beaches, three more on the area behind the beaches and the other three to be used on any Japanese reinforcements that appeared. Japan itself planned to unleash a massive kamikaze attack on the United States ships that were part of the invasion of Japan itself and that, too, would have raised the level of hate.

I think the atomic bombs prevented something far worse from happening; the end of Japan as a country.)

The Path to Japan

After success at Midway in June 1942, the United States began closing in on Japan by capturing a string of strategic islands. U.S. forces perfect amphibious landings while capturing outlying Japanese territory.

Phase II: Now familiar with their enemy, Japanese troops employ increasingly effective, and desperate, tactics.

Battle of Guadalcanal August 7,1942-February 9,1943. First indication that the Japanese would fight to the death rather than surrender.

Battle of Tarawa November 20-November 23,1943. Heavy U.S. casualties shatter propaganda caricatures of Japanese soldiers.

Marshall islands January 31~February 22,1944. The Japanese learn to increase beach defenses in future battles.

Battle of Saipan June 15, 1944-July9,1944. Over 10,000 civilians commit suicide at the emperor's urging.

Battle of Peleliu September 15-November 27, 1944. The highest casualty rate for Marines in the Pacific Campaign.

Philippines Campaign October 20, 1944-September 2,1945. The Battle of Leyte Gulf marks the first of many kamikaze attacks.

Battle of Iwo Jima February 19-March 26, 1945. Marine casualties exceed Japanese, excepting fatalities.

Battle of Okinawa April 1, 1945-Jutie 22, 1945. High civilian casualties are a grim preview of combat in Japan

The Emperor and his close advisors discussed sacrificing up to 20 million for victory just before surrendering. American casualties would have been 1.7 to 3 million with 400,000 to 800,000 killed, based on Okinawa figures.

The Hardest Decision

In June 1945, President Harry Truman recorded in his diary that determining whether to invade Japan or bomb and blockade would be his "hardest decision to date." Fourteen months of firebombing Japan's home islands with 161,000 tons of ordnance had brought the Pacific War no closer to an end. But was proceeding with Operation Downfall the answer when it might double America's casualties for World War II? The unprecedented might of the atomic bomb, proven at the Trinity test on July 16, seemed a means to prompt surrender without razing the entire nation—and, as Truman said, "preventing an Okinawa from one end of Japan to the other."

(Article modified from Aviation History, September 2006)

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