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GenuineAdvantage:

--- Quote from: worker201 ---that the US was forced to drop the atomic bomb in order to save the lives of American troops,
--- End quote ---

This one is half true. It wasn't forced but it chose to. And in truth not just American lives. But I suppose 10x the dead through conventional weapons is still better than what was caused by the two atomic bombs combined. So yeah, it was the wrong choice.

worker201:
Actually, according to a book I read, Japan was already prepared to surrender, and it was trying to get the Soviet Union to arbiter a surrender agreement, since Japan felt (rightly so) that the US would not give them a fair deal (think 10+ years of military occupation).  But we had to test the bomb somewhere.

GenuineAdvantage:
Don't take it personal, but your events are almost ludicrous. Japan was not friendly with the Soviets, to say the least. Overall they were terrified of Russian occupation (i.e. enslavement) much more than a US occupation. Historical arguments that I've heard float around, and which I tend to believe, even claim that that fear of Russia also contributed to the surrender. And a tough surrender it was. 2 towns destroyed and probably fear from Soviet enslavement. And yet many Japanese STILL did not want to surrender. But it was up to the emperor at the end.

Saying that it was wrong because Japan was about to surrender is like saying it's wrong for me to shoot a known killer pointing a gun at me because in his mind he was about to surrender.

Regardless of historical conjecture, the undeniable reality is that Japan had NOT surrendered and showed no intention of doing so to the enemy, and just after the last main battle around Okinawa which took more lives than the 2 bombs combined and was just one of many many bloody battles in the pacific war. In fact the intention would have seemed the opposite to anyone on the business end of things like their kamikaze strikes.

pofnlice:
I'm thinking I have to agree with GA...

The Japanese vets I had priviledge to talk with while I was in Korea said they would have never surrendured. They believed Americans were coming to enslave them, treat them miserabley, rape thier women and kill their babies. It wsn't until after the bombs forced a surrendur that they discovered that wasn't the case. It was a great propeganda machine though. It ensured the Japanese would fight hard, long and mostly to the death in the pacific...Not to mention by thier own traditions, defeat was punishable by death anyways.

We won, we got to write the book :P

worker201:
Interesting.  Fear of Soviet enslavement never comes up in this book.  However, it does say that the Japanese military was operating outside of the control of the people and government of Japan.  It's possible that the Japanese people could have surrendered, leaving their already rogue military to fend for itself, which certainly would have been disastrous for everyone.

Unfortunately, it's also possible that everything all of us has heard was a big lie.  I certainly wouldn't trust Japanese soldiers to know the truth, anymore than I would trust American soldiers to know the truth.  Their job is to fight, and they are necessarily kept ignorant of overall strategies.

And then again, I've only read one book on the subject.  While it does appear to be completely scholarly, it could be wrong too.  The only thing that can be known for sure is that none of the stories we have heard paint a complete picture.  Thus, it would not be intelligent to blindly believe any of them.

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