Did the Japanese deserve the Atomic Bomb?

The "bomb" is still a deterent to (sometimes) warring neighbour countries (eg India & Pakistan) however terrorists is another matter. This would be their ultimate act of carnage.
These fundamentalists could not give a damn and would probably welcome a nuclear conflict.

 

Thanks for that one Spidge, i was feeling a little hopeful about the world. Now I think I'll just go away and shoot myself.

 

Now I think I'll just go away and shoot myself.


Please don't do that they'll take are firearms away.

 

Thanks for that one Spidge, i was feeling a little hopeful about the world. Now I think I'll just go away and shoot myself.


Dont do that, just go home and listen to either leonard Cohen or Dido to cheeer yourself up!

 

I'm of the opinion that it probably saved more lives than would have been lost, had the war continued. Since my dad was with 14th Army, his might have been one of the latter, so I'm probably a bit biased ...

 

I'm of the opinion that it probably saved more lives than would have been lost, had the war continued. Since my dad was with 14th Army, his might have been one of the latter, so I'm probably a bit biased ...

Biased is okay. You are here and so am I.

My father was hit at Tobruk (mortar) and in hospital in Egypt and Australia for 12 months after a lot of "Plastic Surgery" wire in the fingers, new nose , metal plate in the head................

If he had not been wounded he would have been sent to Greece with the Australian 6th div and if he survived that, they then went to New Guinea.

In hindsight he was lucky he got knocked!

 

Finally got around to posting in this one again and i find Morse is advising me to listen to Dido to cheer myself up. Dido? Nah, as much as i know you are just extracting the urine, i shall go away and listen to a bit of Queen. altogther now "Mama, just killed a man..."
Oops.

 

I do think the atom bomb was necessary, 1. It actually saved more lives than it destroyed, because if the war had kept on going on more men would have died in gun to gun combat. 2. The Americans weren't trying to kill lots of Japenese, they could've dropped the bomb on Tokyo, but the dropped it on a smaller city in size because they again, didn't want to kill many people, they just wanted to show the japenese what they had against them.

Once the Americans dropped the atomic bomb the japenese thought to themselves that "they did it once, they'll never do it again." And still didn't surrender, so the americans dropped another atomic bomb, this time on Nagasaki to show the japenese that they weren't messing around.

 

LostKingdom,

The situation that necessitated the use of the bomb is the fierceness at which the Japanese army fought to keep Okinawa. Obviously in war it is a “we lose men versus they lose men” decision, the latter is always the more desirable no matter what country. The culture in Japan is much different now that it was in the days it was under the militarists. The Japanese soldiers on Okinawa had convinced the population that they would be raped and tortured and then killed by the Americans so they had to fight to the death along side them. This to us now is an unscrupulous behavior but it was common place in the old Japanese military controlled culture.

Many of the people as Okinawa fell, committed suicide and killed their babies to spare them the “cruelty” of the Americans. They did this before the Americans could get food, water and medical supplies to them. With this in mind, and the fanaticism that the Japanese showed, there was no reason to believe conquering the island of Japan where women and children were being trained to fight to the death rather than be conquered and enslaved. As a matter of fact Truman in making his decision to use the bomb is quoted as saying “I won’t have another Okinawa”.

The Americans were fire bombing cities and taking many more lives than the bomb would but it had not “shock” effect on the leadership. The atomic bomb created a “shock response” to where they believed they could be totally annihilated without the Americans even having to invade. As a result this got the message home and I am certain nothing else could have since it hadn’t even made a dent in the more horrific and deadly fire bombings. They had to see the genie come out of the bottle, they couldn’t be left to believe that a “divine wind” would come and save them in order to inspire them to fight till the end.

Millions of lives mostly Japanese were saved by the decision to use that bomb. It seems so paradoxical but I am convinced from what I read. I am also of the belief that we wouldn’t have invaded until they had burned out virtually the whole island and population due to the “its them or us” decision. That would have been horrific beyond horror.

There is one last thing about the bomb. It gave the US closure of the war and the attack on Pearl. Because the Pearl attack was so violent, graphic and successful, the Americans would never have been satisfied with simply winning, as they would want a pound of flesh. By the “shock” and horror of the bomb, even though many were saved by its usage, it served to satisfy the anger of the American people which allowed our nations to heal fast. Had it not have satisfied it then angst and bitterness would have affected US/Japanese relations for years to come.

It was the Japanese that requested that the Militarists be removed from power by removing the allowance for the standing army from the constitution of Japan. This wasn’t forced upon them and if these leaders had not sought this from Macarthur after the war, then it may be that Japan had simply built up again and ended up in another war somewhere not long after. Whether the Japanese people realize it or not, and regardless of the fact it is so counterintuitive, the bomb brought lasting peace to Japan.

Someone asked on another thread if a soldier should forgive his enemies. The answer is most certainly if he (or she) can. The US had to forgive Japan, and Japan should forgive the US for using the bomb as well. Letting ill will of events that happened over 60 years ago fester, only leads to more pain and resentment by both sides. One side because they can’t get over the offense, and the other that resents the fact the other can’t get over it. Nobody wants to bear guilt especially descendants.

This is one of the reasons I believe it is not a good idea to exhaust people with the memories of the Holocaust. People will bear remorse only so long and then they begin to feel exploited themselves. I person’s or a people’s true character is in their ability to forgive and forget.

 

Very well said Jimbo.

Rgds

Tim

 

'm with you on about 99% of that jimbo. But forget the Holocaust? i wish we could, but future generations need to learn what mankind can do, and if this can be a deterrant then every fourteen year old should be dragged to Auschwitz and made to understand so it can never happen again.
War is not glorious or heroic, and children need to learn this, because in this country their teachers are not allowed to teach them the real truth.

 

your right mosquito...anyways I the a-bomb was totally neccisary. Imagine how many lives would be lost invading japan?

 

Very well said Jimbo.

Tim

Agreed

But forget the Holocaust?

I believe it is not a good idea to exhaust people with the memories of the Holocaust

I don't think Jim meant that specifically, Moggy

Piece of cake

 

'm with you on about 99% of that jimbo. But forget the Holocaust? i wish we could, but future generations need to learn what mankind can do, and if this can be a deterrant then every fourteen year old should be dragged to Auschwitz and made to understand so it can never happen again.
War is not glorious or heroic, and children need to learn this, because in this country their teachers are not allowed to teach them the real truth.

No Mossie, that's not a good interpretation of what I said. The US still honors Pearl Harbor memories with the Arizona Memorial which as I understand it is a very solemn tour if you go on it. Likewise the death camps can be visited now as museums and are very illustrative of the types of atrocities that took place and I plan to visit one this spring on a trip to Germany.

But if the US still threw Pearl Harbor up in people’s faces to garner sympathy or to exploit guilt, the Japanese would grow quickly tired and resentful of it and it would sour relations between our peoples. It would also make the US look petty, provocative and having no character as to forgive their enemies whom they have finally made peace. In the case of the Holocaust, I would have thought the Nuremburg Trials would have given closure but does not seem to have.

Tormenting people with guilt while being tormented by paranoia serves no purpose. It doesn’t prevent anything and in fact can become self-fulfilling animus. It is no way to live life, because people that do are already dead, even if they are still breathing. At least in physical death there is relief from torment. That doesn’t mean you can’t honor the dead, or punish the guilty. But execute the punishment and then move on in life. Who wants the testimony of their life to be that they sat around and simmered with resentment and bitterness? If you choose to live that way, then you are also choosing to limit your friends to like-minded or at least sympathetic people. You will eventually exhaust the sympathizers. Like the old saying goes, “laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone”.

 

There is much mixed opinion on wether the Americans should have dropped the bombs. The Americans lost thousands of troops, to fierce die hard resistance from the japanese forces, over the previous years. Even after soldiers surrendered they pulled out grenades at the hand of their capters, leaving many american soldiers fearful of taking prisoners.
To land an assault on mainland Japan would have been very costly and the casualty count would have probably been higher than all the pacific battles previously.
The arrival of the A-bomb was perfect for America. They could save thousands of troops and show of their technology to the Russians. For America it would be a fitting end to the war, for them, started by cowardly unprovoked attack at Pearl Harbour.

But Japan was heavily crippled and although they were to stubourn to surrender may have just had no choice.
Inevitably the bombs were dropped and the war was over, but as always its the civilians who pay the price. Over 70,000 men, women and children killed instantly with many more killed after by radiation at Hirosima alone.
On the 6th of August 1945 the world changed forever and entered a new age. In my opinion i dont think America took the their new weapon as seriously as they should. Thankfully today nuclear weapons are taken more seriously and are more of a status than a weapon. Im undecided as to wether it should have been used, but i dont think it should have been dropped twice.

 

This has been discussed before: http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5539

I think you know what my opinion is about them considering I am Japanese, but what are your views on it? Do you think we deserved it? Or do you think otherwise?

 

The Japanese were developing (or had already developed) an atomic bomb of their own, it was only a matter of who would drop theirs first.

 

The Japanese were developing (or had already developed) an atomic bomb of their own, it was only a matter of who would drop theirs first.

The Japanese atomic research programme was in a worst state than germany.