** World War II Dropping the Atomic Bomb on Japan: Post-War Debate








Dropping the Atomic Bomb on Japan: Post-War Debate


Figure 1.--This is one of about 250 people that gathered in Powerhorn Park for a candle vigil in memory of victims of the atmoc bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Similar vigils are held in Japan. This is of course undestandable. Some 0.2 million people perished in the attacks. What we would like to ask this little boy and his parents and the others wjo partgicipate in these vigils, is why there are no vigils for the some 25 million peolle the Japanese killed in China? The killing took place often under the most brutal circunstances or the use of bacteriological and chemical agents. And of course this does not included the millions the Japanese killd in other countries or the the men, women, and children who perishd of starvation and death in horrendous POW, internee, and slave labor camps. Has there been even one vigil for these vistims of Japanese aggression? Or how many of thes people participating in these vigils understad that it was only the use of the bomb and the Japanese surrendr thst stopped the murderous attrocuities of the Japanese militarists.

At the time of the War there was not a great deal of criticism over Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb. Some of the Manhattan OProject scientists objected, largely because many had committed to working on the bomb out of fear that Hitler and the NAZIs might build a bomb. They never intended to build a bomb for use against the Japanese. Some in the American military also objected. The great bulk of Americans and other in the Allied camp heartily approved, especially the GIs would were preparing to invade Japan. It was widely believed that it would it would be a very costly military operation, based upon Japanese resistance in other Pacific island campaigns. The Japanese still hoped to avoild occupation through a policy of bleeding the Americans. The Japanese knew that the invasion was coming in the southern island of Kyishu and were massing forces there. They had also ammased a Secret Airforce for massive Kamikazze attacks on the Allied invasiion fleet. Civilians were being trained as part of Ketsugo. The Bomb is commonly depicted as killing countless Japanese. In fact about 200,000 Japanese were killed, a terrible number, but a small fraction of the millions of people who died at the hands of the Japanese. And in fact the bomb gave the Emperor the excuse he needed to surrender despite a wide spread determination of the Japanese military to commit national suiside. The bomb was justified by saving the lives of Allied soldiers. Often ignored are the thousands of military and civilian internees who were near death from starvation and the Japanese Army had decided to murder. And usually ignored in the debate was the millions of Japanese lives which were saved. This includes both the casualties from an invasion as well as a famine which was developing because of food shortages and poor harvesrs. Since the War, the Japanese have used the bomb to portray themselves as a victim of the War rather than the perpetrator. We note incesant demands on the internet that America should appologize. Among the mindless chatter, we note some pertinent comments. One came from China. The Chinese who suffered terribly at Japanese hands are less willing to forgive. "As a Chinese, I strongly against the idea of apology, Japan does not deserve any apology as a evil invader who set out the fire WWII and cause so much pain to Asians especially China. The bomb drop hasten the end of WWII, it is certainly justice. How ridiculous for Japan to pretend to be a victim in WWII?" [Junting] One very thoughtful American writes, "Sure. Japan has become a friend, and friends apologize for their actions in past conflicts. However I would also say that this does not mean the USA was necessarily wrong in their decision. Nor is it our place to second-guess those who made that terrible choice. Similarly, the actions of Japan as an aggressor are in the past. They too should apologies to those nations once harmed, but such an apology does not mean that they owe reparations beyond those decided on at the end of the war. It's past, it's over. If we are going to re-fight all the injustices of history we must resign ourselves to endless war until we are all eaten up. As this is senseless perhaps we should all say to one another "I'm sorry that my ancestors did yours harm, regardless of the reasons" and then let it be. Moving on from past conflict is part of friendship. It's called making peace. But it seems to me that most calls for apologies and reparations I see happening between nations are an attempt to turn historical grievances into diplomatic coin or a sense of obligation and/or moral superiority. That's not peacemaking, it's passive aggression. And this strikes me as a shoddy and cynical way to seek advantage. An attempt to exploit the misfortunes of ones own ancestry is hardly something which inspires me to see those demanding such apologies as deserving of any such thing." [Moorer]

American Attitudes in 1945

At the time of the War there was not a great deal of criticism over Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb. Some of the Manhattan OProject scientists objected, largely because many had committed to working on the bomb out of fear that Hitler and the NAZIs might build a bomb. Noy well understood at the time was the degree to which Hitler had disarmmed Germany in nuclear physics. They never intended to build a bomb for use against the Japanese. Some in the American military also objected. The great bulk of Americans and other in the Allied camp heartily approved, especially the GIs would were preparing to invade Japan. It was widely believed that it would it would be a very costly military operation, based upon Japanese resistance in other Pacific island campaigns.

Japanese Strategy

Even after repeated defeats througout the Pacific, the Japanese still hoped for victory (1943-44). The stunning defeat in the carrier Battle of the Philippines Sea (June 1944) and the loss of the Marianas convinced Japanese commanders that they could not win the war. Prime Ministr Tojo resigned. That did not mean, however, that they were willing to make peace. The Japanese still hoped to avoild a castertriohic defeat and especually occupation through a policy of bleeding the Americans. The believed that if they made the Americans advances costly enough, they would eventually decide against continuing the war. And American losses were severe on both Iwo Jima and Okinawa--although only a fraction of Japanese losses. After Okinawa, the Japanese knew that the invasion was coming in the southern island of Kyishu and were massing forces there. They had also ammased a secret air force for massive Kamikazze attacks on the Allied invasiion fleet. Civilians were being trained as part of Ketsugo. The hope was that American casualties would be so high as to finaly force the Americans to give up on occupation.

Casualties

The Bomb is commonly depicted as killing countless Japanese. In fact about 200,000 Japanese were killed, a terrible number, but a small fraction of the millions of people who died at the hands of the Japanese.

Role in the Surrender

The role of the twoatoms bombs in the Japanese surrender is unclear. One thing is clear, it was not the destruction and casualties that foced the surrender. Even before the two atom boms were dropped, the United States strategic bombing campaigns had destroyed one Japanses city after another. The fire bombing of Tokyo killed more civilians than either of the two atomic bombings. This enormous desruction had not convinced the Japanese to surrender. What the atom bombs may have done is given the Emperor the excuse he needed to surrender despite a wide spread determination of the Japanese military to commit national suicide. Andit gave Japanese commanders who felt honor bound not to surrender the excuse to both surrender and not to commit hari-kari even though they had insisted that had ordered their young soldiers to fight to the death. The atmom bomb was a weapon so powerful that even the most fanatical nationalist could accept defeat and surrender.

Lives Saved

Discussions of the two nuclear bombs are almost always discussed in terms of live lost. Rarely do we read about lives saved. Less than 0.2 million peole were killed when the two atom bobs were dropped. Adding in those who subsequently died from their injuries meand that the bombs killed something loke 0.3 billion people. This was of course tragic. The lost of one life is a tragedy, so it is absolutely appropriate that the terrible suffering death and destruction from these two boms be thoroughly discussed. The Japanese have, however, never done this. They simply ignore the millions, probnly tems of millions of lives saved, including American, other Allied, Asians and especially forgotten, Japanese lives SAVED because of the atomic bombs. All these want to discuss is Japanese suffering. And you see this most dramatically at the two very tastefully done memorials. But what you do not see at these memorials or the wider Japanese discussion of the bombs is what led to the dropping of the bombs. Why did America drop the bombs? The primary American justification for dropping the bombs and the one that made up President Trumn's mind was saving the lives of Allied soldiers who were prepaing the invade the Home Islands. But in fact the lives of many million people were saved becuse America dropped the two bombs. The key calculation here is that BEFORE the United states fropped the bombs, the Japanese killed 15-20 million people, probably more. AFTER America dropped the bombs, the killing stopped. Here we are talking about soldiers, POWs, and civilians. And we are not only talking bout Allied lives, we are talking bout ocupied peoples and perhaps more thn ny other group of lives saved, the Japanese themselves. Often ignored are the thousands of military and civilian internees who were near death from starvation in fetid camps and that the Japanese Army had decided to murder. Or the civilian that would hve been killed, largely by the Japanese, if battles have to be fought to liberate Japanese occupied areas (China, Thiland, Malaya, Borneo, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, and Taiwan. And usually ignored in the debate was the millions of Japanese lives which were saved. This includes the casualties from the planned invasion. The Okinawan tragedy gives us a template for what would have happened had the United States had to invade. Perhaps even more deadly was the impending famine which was developing because of food shortages and poor harvesrs on the Home Islands. Also saved from strvation are the cut off Japanese garrisons throughout the Pacific.

Actual Impact

Much of the debate on this issuevis conducted by pacifists and ban the bomb people. They represented the thinking that nearly resulted in a NAZI World War IIn victory and oppositin to Soviet tyranny that woukd have keft Eastern Europe locked in the Sobiet Empire. And opposition includes thos that are critical of America, no matter what the issue. There are, however some thoughful critics. One author argues that the Soviet invasion of Manchuria was more imprtant. [Ham] We believe that this may well be true. And there is the common argument that Japan ws already defeated and thus it was unncessary to use the bombs. [Ham] This is a very different matter. It is absolutely true that the Japanese were defeated. But being defeated and surrendering are two veru different thing. Japan was defeated on one Pacific island after another, but very few soldiers actually surrendered. Many that were taken orisoner were injured so they were no longer capable of resisting. And we are not just taling about soldiers here. On the islands with civilian Japanese populations (Saipan and Okinawa), large numbers of civilians wither committed suiside or were massacered by Japanese soldiers preparing to kill themselves. Hardened marines who thought they had seen it all were horrified. Parents smashed the sculls of their babied against rocks. Mothers jumped from cliffs with children in their arms. Important Japanese military commanders were preparing for national suiside. Some saw it as a 'beautiful' conclusion of their failed War. Most important of all, it gave the Emperor an excuse and the military aay out. The Emperor was an not an absolute dictator. He had to be concerned about assasination by military zealots. The Nagasaki bomb concinced the Emperor, as if more proof ws needed, that the military was incopetent. They assured him that the Unitedstates would take months to oroduce a second bomb. And even rational commanders had their honors to consider. How could they explain the disaster they had brouught to Japan and then meekly surrender after their mn had fought to their death. The atmomic bomb offered the way out. They could point out that the United States unfroduced a terible new weapon against which all resistance was impossible. What we don't know is if the United States had included the willingnss to retain the Emperor in pos-War Japan if Japan would have surrenered with the two bomings. Some authors beliece that the possibility of the Emperor bung tried as a war criminal actually delayed syrrender. [Ham] This is course possible, but it would have meant the Emperor taking on his military and there is no way of knowing if he would have dared do it, he had never dared do it before. Neither do we know if the military would have accepted it. It is notable that the Japanese military since the 1920s had been ruling by assasination.

The Japanese as Vicims of the War

Since the War, the Japanese have used the bomb to portray themselves as a victim of the War rather than the perpetrator. A reader writes, "It is true that the Japanese see themselves as victims of WW2. They never appologized for the many atrocities they commited, starting with the 'rape of Nanking' in 1937 where they slaughtered tens of thousands of Chinese. What they had done later in China, the Philippines, Indonesia, etc. is well-known, except to the Japanese schoolchildren who know nothing about it. The fiction the childrn are taught is that the cruel Americans dropped the a bomb on their country. The Germans will never get away with Auschwitz and they are expected to be falling on their knees forever. The Japanese, however, continue to see themselves as agreed victimes." [Stueck]

Japanese School Children

German and Japanese educators after World War II faced a problem after World War II, what to tell future generations about World War II and the terrible attrocuities committed by both countries. This was a difficult problem because most countries want to teach a history that informs young people about the achievements of their nation. Only Germany and Japan committed the works crimes in human history on an in precedented scale. The two countries decided on different approaches, im part because off the different occupation approaches. The Allies in Germany did away with the NAZI Gobernment and conducted a Denazification program. Anti-Nazis were in listred to build a German government. In Japoan, the United States allowed the Japanese Government to continue to operate. The Germans decided to tell the children the truth. Thus German schoo children are very well informed bout NAZI war crimes. The Japanese Government decided to down play the country's cinduct in World War II. This has caused school text books to become very comntrov=versial, both in Japan and in othger Asian countries that suffered from Japanese attrocities. The text book controversy almost entirely concern the very small section discussing World war II. Primary children are told almost nothingcand for the most part their knowledge is limited to the American dropping of the atomic bombs. Textbooks used in the secondary schools (junior and senior secondary schools) do briefly address the War. Many of the textbooks at the turn of the 21st century included very brief references to the Rape of Nanking (usually called the 'Nanking Massacre', Unit 731, and the comfort women. The inhuman tratment of slave labor and prisoners of war is often not mentioned. Never mentioned is the fact that the Japanese Army did not take Chinese POWs, but simply killed them, meaning perhaps 2 million men. No textbooks begins to describe the enormity of the Japanese atrocities and loss of life. As a result, most Japanese children leave school believing that Japan was a victim in the War and that the atomic bomds involved greater loss of life than the Japanese war crimes. And even this hostorically inadequte treatment is a matter of intense opposition by right-wing nationalists. A recent effort meant to appeal to the nationalists is the New History Textbook (2000). Few school districts adopted the text. Even so, the publication of the text led to anti-Japanese protests in several countries aswell as Okinawa chargeing that the Japanese were white washing their World War II actions. While very little attention is given to, huge attention is give to the American dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan.

American Apology

We note incesant demands on the internet that America should appologize. Among the mindless chatter on the internet. we note some pertinent comments. One came from China. The Chinese who suffered terribly at Japanese hands are less willing to forgive. "As a Chinese, I strongly against the idea of apology, Japan does not deserve any apology as a evil invader who set out the fire WW II and cause so much pain to Asians especially China. The bomb drop hasten the end of WWII, it is certainly justice. How ridiculous for Japan to pretend to be a victim in WW II?" [Junting] One very thoughtful American writes, "Sure. Japan has become a friend, and friends apologize for their actions in past conflicts. However I would also say that this does not mean the USA was necessarily wrong in their decision. Nor is it our place to second-guess those who made that terrible choice. Similarly, the actions of Japan as an aggressor are in the past. They too should apologies to those nations once harmed, but such an apology does not mean that they owe reparations beyond those decided on at the end of the war. It's past, it's over. If we are going to re-fight all the injustices of history we must resign ourselves to endless war until we are all eaten up. As this is senseless perhaps we should all say to one another "I'm sorry that my ancestors did yours harm, regardless of the reasons" and then let it be. Moving on from past conflict is part of friendship. It's called making peace. But it seems to me that most calls for apologies and reparations I see happening between nations are an attempt to turn historical grievances into diplomatic coin or a sense of obligation and/or moral superiority. That's not peacemaking, it's passive aggression. And this strikes me as a shoddy and cynical way to seek advantage. An attempt to exploit the misfortunes of ones own ancestry is hardly something which inspires me to see those demanding such apologies as deserving of any such thing." [Moorer]

Sources

Ham, Paul. Hiroshima Nagasaki: The Real Story of the Atomic Bombings and Their Aftermath (2014). This is a ell researched book and Ham is right about many of his main points. The principal mistake he makes, however, is conusing defear with a willingness to syrrender. The Japanese wee defeated on one Pacific island after another, but very few soldiers actually surrendered. Large numbes of civilians actually killed their children and thenselves rather thn surendering.

Junting, Paco li. Quorum discussion (July 14,2013).

Moorer, Anderson. Quorum discussion (July 14, 2013).

Stueck, Rudi. E-mil message (May 16, 2014).







HBC







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Created: 2:13 AM 7/21/2015
Last updated: 1:13 PM 6/21/2017