Japan was this close to stubbornly continuing on even after taking two nukes and we were out of nukes! No choice left but to invade. Some say even without the a-bombs Japan would have soon capitulated. There is absolutely no indication of that considering their past performances. The history of their fanatical bayonet charges beginning at Guadalcanal, later coined “banzai charges,” and bunker mentality fighting to the last man was proof that they would never have gone down without spitefully inflicting as much damage on invaders as possible. They would have killed their prisoners to save food and hunkered down for the onslaught. The deploying of the weapons was simply justification of the project’s massive monetary expenditure it’s been said. However, for whatever reason, the Emperor had a relatively sudden change of heart and swayed the War Council to surrender.
In whatever scenario we can imagine, make no mistake, the Americans and Allies would have triumphed albeit in 1947 instead of 1945.
The figure long discussed of 10 million Japanese invasion deaths is certainly a possible amount considering the historical ratio of American versus Japanese KIA leading up to and through Okinawa.
Harry Truman said in answer of, ‘why I dropped the atomic bomb,’ "It was a question of saving hundreds of thousands of American lives. You don't feel normal when you have to plan hundreds of thousands of deaths of American boys who are alive and joking and having fun while you’re doing your planning. You break your heart and your head trying to figure out a way to save one life.
I made the only decision I knew how to make. I did what I thought was right. I still think that.”
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