The Atomic Bombing of Japan

The Western Front was won and ended on May 7, 1945. It was titled "VE Day" or Victory Europe. Although that war ended, the one raging in the Pacific theatre was still far from over. Island hopping by the military decreased the Japanese stranglehold on the Pacific Islands, Iwo Jima being a milestone in the war with the reclaiming and raising of the American flag on Mount Surabachi.

On September 2, 1945, the Japanese surrendered, thus ending the Second World War and coining VJ Day. The cost of the victory has split two sides to the matter. Should the US have utilized the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Some say yes, it was necessary to bring the war to a close. Others say that it could have been handled a lot differently.

The US sent numerous telegrams to the Japanese military and government, stating they wanted an unconditional surrender or face a weapon unlike any have ever seen before. Some say that President Truman didn't have much of a choice in the matter, for a full scale invasion of Japan was the only other option. It was scheduled to begin on November 1, 1945 titled "Operation Overthrow".

When the Japanese refused to surrender, the US prepared for the invasion of the Southern most island of Kyushu, the first part of the operation known as "Olympic". The second part of the invasion was "Coronet" the invasion of the main island of Honshu. The estimates for the loss of life was never actually presented, but experts say it would have ranged in the millions for both Japanese and American forces. The Japanese knew that an invasion was coming, and prepared for it accordingly. They hid thousands of aircraft in caves, to be sheltered and hidden from the allies "Softening up" air strikes upon Japanese airbases, foundries, train stations, munition plants, as well as sensitive government structures. Softening up, was the first stage of the invasion to knock out the majority of resistance. The American military hoped the Japanese would surrender and not put up a fight. They obviously didn't know the Japanese.

This was a war of personal proportions, the attack on Pearl Harbor, the brutal treatment of Prisoners Of War (POW), mixed with the already tense racism of the US. The Japanese hated the Americans just as much as the Americans hated them. Men, woman, and children were instructed on how to defend their homes with farm tools, improvised weapons and munitions, as well as suicide bombing. The Japanese were fanatical with the principle of "Surrender" a word not found in their language! To surrender was disgrace, one should fall upon their own sword before facing surrender. That was one of the reasons why they treated the POW's so poorly, to surrender meant cowardice and should be treated as such.

No one really knows how long the invasion of Japan would have taken, or the cost of life, both military and civilian. Many say it would have dwarfed the body count of D-day, or even the body count of the atomic bombs. America felt that the only way to end a war with an enemy that was too stubborn, proud, cocky, and fanatical, was to wipe it out entirely. Tensions within the armed forces was high, for those who fought in the European campaign felt that they had already done their part, let the others in the Pacific finish theirs. Who would want to leave one war, and go into a completely different one? The Rules Of Engagement (ROE) were futile in the Pacific, no mercy was asked, and none was given. Proof can be seen of this with the Bataan Death March, the fall of the Philippines and of Singapore. The cruelties of the American forces can be seen with the occupation of the Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima amongst other islands and locations.

On August 6, 1945, the B-29 Bomber, "Enola Gay" (named after the pilot's mother) was to drop the first atomic bomb in history, named "Little Boy". At 2:45 pm, the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a bomb equivalent of 20,000 tons of TNT. Even as the American pilots pulled away from the blast zone, they were quoted saying "My God, what have we done?"

The blast burned and vaporized everything near the point of impact and detonation. Other surrounding areas were reduced to dust and rubble. Rocks burst into flame, glass soared through the air, cutting those in it's path. If people weren't outright burned to ash or melted, they were severely burned. Others who survived, would have years of agony from cancer, birth defects, miscarriages, and other health issues. There is no accurate account of how many perished, but an estimate of 70,000 people died amongst a city of 300,000, 43,000 of them were soldiers.

Only 3 days later, August 9, 1945 at 11:02 am,the Americans dropped another atomic bomb, this time on Nagasaki. The delay in the second bombing was not for the Japanese to surrender, it was because the US needed more time to gather more plutonium-239 for the bomb, dubbed "Fat Man". Still exact numbering for the dead is unknown, but still estimated in the thousands if not more. Weeks later, the Japanese would surrender.

Many are appalled if not disgusted with the only two instances in world history of the atomic bombs being used. Albert Einstein, the man who was the brainchild of the weapon, cursed himself for helping create such a hellish device. But the problem with this issue lies with trying to put a past event with different principles, ideals, and opinions, into our modern format. Back in 1945, the war was two sided, we and our allies were the "Good guys", while Japan, Italy, and Germany were the "Bad guys". It was a time when the loss of civilian life was acceptable, just casualties of war. This was before we had a working foreign policy, where diplomacy is a priority, and "Smart bombs" are used. During the war, propaganda portrayed the Axis as being barbaric, ignorant, hypocritical, and cocky. The Axis portrayed the Allies as the same, nothing more than a decadent, over confident nation. As mentioned before, this was a personal war that would not have ended unless one of the two nations was wiped out.

When you look at the cost of the bombings, and the cost of life of a full invasion of the island of Japan, the former is much more palpable than the latter. If the bombs had not been dropped, the loss of life and the duration of the war would have been bloody and grueling.

Another fear of the Allies, was that the Japanese would kill all POW's, an act of revenge on their part.The Japanese took various forms of revenge, from the mass executions of prisoners, to deploying balloon bombs overseas, that killed a family of 6 in the West coast. Kamikaze pilots were used as well, being aimed at troop transport ships to knock out key forces before they could fight back. The Japanese were fanatical enough to have all Japanese occupants of Saipan (which was later claimed by the US) to jump off of the cliffs and onto the jagged rocks below. Woman clutching newborns would leap off, rather facing death than defeat at the hands of the enemy.

In closing, was the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki appropriate and necessary? Yes in the respect that it finally ended a war with an enemy who was not afraid to die, and spared any further blood shed. No, because by today's standards, any loss of innocent civilian life is unacceptable, no matter the cost.

But one can't help but think, if the US hadn't used the atomic bomb, just when would the war have ended? Who would have won? If the bomb hadn't been used, it was bound to be used eventually, but when and where and against whom in what future war? If the bomb had not been used, foreign policy may or may not have changed, as well as the restriction of building and using atomic weapons all over the globe.

Sometimes you have to make a mistake to learn from it.