Truman bombing hiroshima and nagasaki

[Rhonda Drowsy]

Did Truman make the right decision??

I remember reading him saying he prayed long & hard before giving the green light & bombing Japan's cities with largest Christian population

What were alternatives??

[New England]

Did Truman make the decision??

I remember reading him saying he prayed long & hard before giving the green light & bombing Japan's cities with largest Christian population

What were alternatives??

drag the war in teh pacific out another several years. hitler had basically already lost the war in europe, but the US navy was not in a position to drag things out with the japanese and fight a naval war.


someone can give you more detail than that, but that's the short story.

japan could have easily been nuked once, you know. they didn't surrender until the second bomb had been dropped and the US let them know that there were others on the way.

[1bad65]

Did Truman make the decision??

I remember reading him saying he prayed long & hard before giving the green light & bombing Japan's cities with largest Christian population

What were alternatives??

The only alternative was to invade Japan.

Based on the casualty numbers in previous battles, that would have resulted in about 1 million American casualties and the Japanese people would have been pretty much eradicated.

The Japanese had no navy left (most of it was destroyed in 1944, the few remaining capital ships were sunk in April 1945). American subs and ships roamed freely, destroying supply vessels that were needed to bring food and fuel into Japan, which lacked those natural resources.

Their air force was in tatters, with pilots receiving minimal training and flying mostly obsolete models.

Their cities had been bombed since 1944, so their war production was drastically reduced.

Yet they refused to quit and were determined to die but kill as many Americans as possible. And this wasnt just military thinking. The civilian population felt the same way (see the battle of Saipan for a graphic illustration of that thinking).

It was the only choice, and thankfully Truman made it.

[Left Hook Tua]

Invading Japan would have been costly.

I dont even know why this is debated.

Stupid ppl I guess.

[BuckToothed]

Should’ve dropped one in North Korea and Vietnam...
And maybe we wouldn’t have to worry about Asians taking up all the seats in our universities

[Left Hook Tua]

Should’ve dropped one in North Korea and Vietnam...
And maybe we wouldn’t have to worry about Asians taking up all the seats in our universities.

We should have.

Nuke Hanoi in north vietnam and Chinese-north vietnamese border

Nuke the Chinese-north korean border

[Left Hook Tua]

Since a lot of ppl dont want to believe the casualty estimates for a japanese invasion.

I looked up some specific numbers from the battle of Okinawa for comparison.

Okinawa was a small island 400 miles south of the japanese home islands.

We invaded okinawa in 1945, the last year of the war.


U.S. military suffered 82,000 casualties. 14,000 of whom died.

Japanese military suffered anywhere from 70,000 to 110,000 deaths.

Estimated civilian deaths ranged from 40,000 to 150,000 deaths.

This was the results of an invasion of a small island of 300,000 people.

What do you think the numbers would be like invading the japanese home islands with a population of 73 million?

[Left Hook Tua]

Another comparison.

The invasion of okinawa caused 14,000 us military deaths in less than 3 months.

14,000 american dead in 82 days.


During the wars in afghanistan and iraq we suffered 2,400 american dead in 18 years in Afghanistan. 4,500 american dead in 16 years in Iraq.


In 82 days on okinawa there was double the us deaths than 18 years in afghanistan and 16 years in iraq COMBINED.

[aboutfkntime]

Another comparison.

The invasion of okinawa caused 14,000 us military deaths in less than 3 months.

14,000 american dead in 82 days.


During the wars in afghanistan and iraq we suffered 2,400 american dead in 18 years in Afghanistan. 4,500 american dead in 16 years in Iraq.


In 82 days on okinawa there was double the us deaths than 18 years in afghanistan and 16 years in iraq COMBINED.

it took you chickens 18 years, to take Afghanistan... ?

wow, those goat-farmers must have been tough

how many of those US deaths were friendly-fire... ?

[Clegg]

More impressive, Fury getting up Vs Wilder in the 12th or Japanese getting up and trying to continue after the first atom bomb?