"The Bomb Hastened the End of World War II"

     In late '44 a very intensive bombing campaign was launched against Japan in an effort to force an early surrender.  In early 1945 General LeMay started employing the fire bombing tactics that had been used against Germany.  In March of 1945 a single raid on Tokyo resulted in over 80,000 deaths and left one fourth of the city totally destroyed.  This type of bombing continued till the end of the war but did not result in a Japanese offer to surrender.  Thirty-eight major cities had already been destroyed; 140 more were still awaiting their turn.  The conventional wisdom of the day was that the death rate from conventional bombing and naval bombardment would reach 150,000 deaths per day by early fall 1945.

     With the above devastation in mind and the Japanese still not offering to surrender, the invasion of Japan seemed inevitable.  When you are in an all-out war, the only effective way to end it is to keep applying pressure until your opponent offers to surrender.  The Japanese tried to negotiate a pact with Russia so they could keep most of their gains, but refused to communicate a desire to surrender to us.  We were the ones they attacked and were fighting, not Russia.  One would expect a nation that wanted to surrender would contact the nation they were at war with, either directly or indirectly.

     On June 18, 1945, President Truman approved a plan for operation Olympic, the invasion of Kyushu (southern-most island of Japan) set for Nov. 1, 1945, a second invasion was planned for March 1, 1946.  At this meeting the expected casualty figures were discussed, they were believed to be about 250,000 for the invasion of Kyushu, approximately one-third of the invasion force of 766,700.  Immediately after the meeting President Truman called another meeting attended by only those cleared for the atomic bomb, the minutes for this meeting have not been declassified but one would assume that the use of the bomb was discussed.

     The Japanese forces defending Kyushu were expected to be well over 200,000 men, supported by 10,000 Kamikaze planes, 2,000 suicide boats, 200 human torpedoes and 400 small submarines.  The Japanese had correctly guessed where we would land and were preparing beach defensives in depth.  They also had a mobile reserve counterattack force set to attack seven to ten days after the landings.  The beach defenses  were to be well dug-in with overlapping fields of fire.  This type of defense could withstand air and naval bombardment very well.  The upcoming battle for Kyushu looked like Okinawa all over again, but with many more Japanese defenders.

     The order to drop the bomb was issued on July 25, 1945 by Secretary of War Stimson with the understanding that if Japan met our surrender terms, President Truman would rescind the order.  The terms of surrender were spelled out the next day with the issuance of the Potsdam Declaration.  It required the unconditional surrender of all armed forces, occupation of Japan by Allied forces, withdrawal from all occupied territory and the removal of all influence of those leaders who had led Japan on its path of conquest; or face complete and utter destruction.  Two days later on July 28, 1945, Premier Suzuki declared that Japan would ignore the Potsdam Declaration and fight on.  So now with its major cities destroyed, its navy and air force near total destruction, the militarists ordered the population to fight to the death.  All it would have taken to surrender was a simple radio message directed to any of our forces anywhere in the world.