Opaque Lucidity

After dropping the weapon, the Enola Gay (named after pilot Paul Tibbet's mother) and her accompanying instrument and weather planes made a steep, turning dive to get away from the blast. They then headed back for Tinian. In Hiroshima, 80,000 people died immediately from the blast, including a group of American POWs being held in the city. Later, nearly 100,000 people (figures vary according to the source) would die from their injuries. The city was cut off from the outside world for two days; the government in Tokyo did not believe the reports they were receiving of a city-destroying bomb. The Allies demanded complete and unconditional surrender from the Japanese, but the ruling military leaders considered this unthinkable. But there was a small group of realists who understood that the war was lost.

Three days later, Bock's Car dropped another atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki. It was only after this second mission that the Emporer made known his desire to accept the Allied terms of surrender. As he said in a broadcast to the Japanese people (the first time his voice had ever been heard in public), "We must accept the unacceptable, bear the unbearable." Hostilities ended on August 15th and the formal surrender was signed on September 2nd in Tokyo Harbor on board the USS Missouri. The Second World War was over, six years and one day after it began.

What you have just read is what actually happened in the two weeks before the end of the war in the Pacific. The actions of the United States have been a source of debate ever since. In fact, rumor has it that the surviving crew members of the two missions still receive hate mail. Some critics claim that Hiroshima was not particularly important in a strategic sense but that it was bombed because it had not been seriously damaged during conventional raids. There is also a racial component to the criticism in that many believe nuclear weapons would not have been used against Germany. There is also a military aspect: Japan's navy and air force were decimated; she may have surrendered anyway in time. Or, perhaps the atom bomb could've been tested, in public, on an uninhabited island that Japanese officials would've been allowed to witness.

I will not attempt to answer all of those criticisms here. What I will do is present what was being planned for Japan before the weapons were used.

Planning for the invasion of the Japanese home islands was well underway by August, 1945. The conquest of Japan was to be called Operation Downfall and it would happen in two seperate invasions: Operation Olympic (invasion of the southern islands in the chain) and Operation Coronet (invasion of the Tokyo Plain). Olympic was to involve an initial landing of 500,000 troops, many of them belonging to divisions transferred from Europe after the end of hostilities there. The second invasion would've involved that many Army personnel plus the entire Marine Corps. Both invasions would've required the commitment of 90% of the US Navy (all 74 of her aircraft carriers) and untold contributions from England, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. It was projected that the war would not end until 1947 and that the United States would suffer 250,000 casualties. Up to that point in the war, in both the European and Pacific Theatres, American losses had been a little less than 400,000, depending on who you ask.

It has been projected that more than a million Japanese civilians would've lost their lives defending their homeland. The Imperial government had gathered millions of able-bodied citizens and taught them to fight with old rifles, spears and even bamboo sticks. Every beach on every island had been cleared of brush and trees so as to create free-fire zones with no cover for invading troops. The Japanese Air Force had nearly 5,000 aircraft in ready reserve for use as kamikazes against the fleets offshore and there was no shortage of volunteers willing to fly them. Japanese civilians had already shown a willingness to fight to the death and commit suicide instead of surrender on the islands of Saipan and Okinawa.

The invasion of Japan would've had an enormous effect on the American homefront as well. Although they were protected from direct fighting by two oceans, the American people had sacrificed much in order to assure that we remained the Arsenal of Democracy. By 1945, that willingness was wearing thin. We hear stories today of rationing and war bond rallies and how high everyone's morale was. These stories are true, but many historians believe that another two years of war and the transfer of millions of men to the Pacific from Europe (instead of the expected trip home) could've planted the seeds of unrest. A huge number of casualties in a very short period of time (the Olympic invasion was projected to cause as many as 50,000 casualties on the day of the invasion) would have been a huge blow to the nation's morale. Would there have been protests in the street? It's doubtful, but it definitely would've changed the nation's attitude about defending Democracy around the globe. It is doubtful that Korea would've been defended at all after such a costly loss less than a decade earlier.

Another factor to consider is Soviet intentions. The Soviets declared war on Japan in August right after the Hiroshima bombing. They probably would've done so anyway, meaning that Japan would most likely be divided between north and south just like Korea is today. It's economy would probably be a shadow of what it could be; this would have economic effects all over the globe.