[QUOTE="jun_aka_pekto"][QUOTE="thebest31406"]You guys are talking like this is a C&C game. What possible strategic value could dropping two bombs on japan have besides ending a conflict in a quick hurry and pretty much running the country? Couldn't be because the wanted to save lives; millions died in one boom and they have felt the affects for generations.thebest31406
What if the bombs were not dropped? What if the military rulers of Japan had their way and mobilized every man, woman, and child to resist the invading Allies? You have to remember that back in those days, Emperor Hirohito was a divine being, a living god to the Japanese. The rank and file could not even look him in the face and their devotion was fanatical. In just about every single battle in the Pacific, the Japanese fought to the last man, including civilians who would rather die than surrender.
If the Allied invasion took place, how many civilians do you think would've died fighting? You're talking about something akin to an extermination of a whole people. Whoever's left will not be in any position for anything. There would have been be no reason to spare Emperor Hirohito (who led his country through the subsequent Allied occupation). The Allies would've suffered heavy casualties and would not be in a position to be lenient. You have to consider the Russians as well. Who knows how far they would've gone in grabbing japanese territory besides the Kurile Islands which they continue to occupy to this day?
If I'm being pragmatic, it's because I'm in a forum and I'm not going to apologize if it sounds like C&C talk to you.
Do I feel for the survivors? Sure. I was born in Japan and have taken the time to learn what the country of my birth was like even though I'm not Japanese. I have Japanese friends which I still keep in touch with.
You can't justify targeting and exterminating a civilian population in order to expedite conflict. What, the civilians are suppose to pay for their governments actions? Should US civilian population pay for their country's mongering actions? And with regard to the russians, we can speculate how far they would go; but we know for sure that the US dropped the bomb. You really do not have a grasp of what happened during WWII. From the sounds of things, you have to be under 18 years old to be talking the ignorance you are.
US POWs in Japan, in camps on the west coast at that, watched as Japanese civilians sharpened sticks and other instruments to use as weapons. Japanese civilians were getting ready to repel any invasion that took place on any of the Japanese islands. The Kanto plains surrounding Tokyo (I lived in a place called Kanto Mura that was base housing for Fuchu Air Station in the late 60s) were a likely landing zone for US forces and just one of the places civilians would have been used to "fend" off invaders.
While you worry about ~ 200,000 dead and injured in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Hilter and Stalin killed some 14,000,000 people that were not directly involved in combat (civilians) both before and during war time. Why not mourn over the Ukranians that were starved to death?
Whomever asked why not bomb Tokyo needs to remember that Tokyo was already bombed out by firebombing. There was nothing left to destroy really. Killing the emperor would have made things more difficult during the post war occupation.
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