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Nuvendil on 20 May 2016
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Soundwave said:
Jon-Erich said:

Oh yeah, the Russians had every intention in moving in on Japan. The atom bombs not only brought a quick surrender but it also sent a message to the Russians to stay away. The Emperor and his advisors also feared the Russians but the extreme right-wing element of the Japanese imperial army who were encouraging citizens to fight to the death and were also trying to take over the government while holding the Emperor hostage didn't give a shit about the Russians. But again, history was on Japan's side. What happened in Germany and Korea could have easily happened in Japan. It didn't. As I said before, out of all the terrible decisions that were made, the ussage of the atom bombs were the least terrible. If anything, they saved Japan.

If the US did drop nukes on Japan for the main purpose of showing up the Russians though ... it's hard to look at that event as anything other than a massive war crime. 

The narrative that dropping the nukes to prevent a ground war do seem to be a bit dubious considering the US had Japan at that point completely cut off and surrounded without the ability to resupply itself. 

Have you even read about the force Japan had amassed to meet a mainland invasion?  Operation Ketsugo?  And the ferocity of the battles throughout the Pacific?  Japan had repeatedly fought with intensity well beyond the point of hopelessness.  They had demonstrated their willingness to go to extraordinary, even near suicidal tactics like bonsai charges against far superior numbers, to keep up the fighting.  The US had no reason to believe that wouldn't be the case.  

Seriously, read up on the projected outcomes of Operation Downfall and the measures of Japan in Operation Ketsugo.  The Japanese even planned to pull from all males 15 to 60 and all females 17 to 40 to aid in the battle.  Casualties were expected to be extraordinary.  Also, they anticipated they would likely need nukes or near-equal destructive weapons to succeed without casualties climbing to outright ludicrous levels.