69 years ago today

[Little-Acorn]

On Aug. 5, 1945, the first atomic bomb ever used in warfare, was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Approx. 40,000 people died in Hiroshima that day, with as many as 60,000 more dying over the next year from injuries, disease, radiation etc. Three days later, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, with similar casualties.

Analysts estimate that the abrupt end of the war caused by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, saved approx. 500,000 American casualties, and a million or more Japanese casualties, that would otherwise have occurred in the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands.

In conclusion, it can be said that the atomic bomb saved more lives than any development since penicillin.

 

[pismoe]

good info , thanks . Because of these bombs my Dad and Uncles got out of the military and went on to have wives and kids .

 

[martybegan]

good info , thanks . Because of these bombs my Dad and Uncles got out of the military and went on to have wives and kids .

My Grandfather's division was planned as the 2nd or 3rd wave for one of the invasions.

It would NOT have been pretty, and even more disturbing, Russia might have been asked to assist if the invasion bogged down.

Can you imagine the Cold War with North and South Japan added?

 

[SmedlyButler]

On Aug. 5, 1945, the first atomic bomb ever used in warfare, was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Approx. 40,000 people died in Hiroshima that day, with as many as 60,000 more dying over the next year from injuries, disease, radiation etc. Three days later, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, with similar casualties.

Analysts estimate that the abrupt end of the war caused by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, saved approx. 500,000 American casualties, and a million or more Japanese casualties, that would otherwise have occurred in the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands.

In conclusion, it can be said that the atomic bomb saved more lives than any development since penicillin.

that the horrifying destructive power of these weapons was demonstrated to the world on such a relatively small scale. The thermo-nuclear weapons developed soon after would be hundreds of times more lethal. It's just too bad that human beings seem to need such reinforcement to act rationally. Hopefully the death-shadows on the walls are indelibly etched onto the human conscience.

I have seen criticism of the strategic need to use high density civillian targets for the demonstration of the power unleashed when E=MC2 is proved in the real world and not just on paper. I just don't know if the Japanese high command was rational enough to be swayed by less murderous scenarios. And I've never been completely convinced by the argument you use. Some historians have presented evidence that Japan would have collapsed soon anyway and that invasion was not an historical inevitability.

It's another one of the ethical dilemmas I have not resolved in my own mind in my 60+ yrs.

 

[auditor0007]

On top of everything, it was payback for attacking us to begin with. It was a warning to the rest of the world to never again fuck with the United States.

 

[westwall]

On Aug. 5, 1945, the first atomic bomb ever used in warfare, was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Approx. 40,000 people died in Hiroshima that day, with as many as 60,000 more dying over the next year from injuries, disease, radiation etc. Three days later, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, with similar casualties.

Analysts estimate that the abrupt end of the war caused by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, saved approx. 500,000 American casualties, and a million or more Japanese casualties, that would otherwise have occurred in the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands.

In conclusion, it can be said that the atomic bomb saved more lives than any development since penicillin.

that the horrifying destructive power of these weapons was demonstrated to the world on such a relatively small scale. The thermo-nuclear weapons developed soon after would be hundreds of times more lethal. It's just too bad that human beings seem to need such reinforcement to act rationally. Hopefully the death-shadows on the walls are indelibly etched onto the human conscience.

I have seen criticism of the strategic need to use high density civillian targets for the demonstration of the power unleashed when E=MC2 is proved in the real world and not just on paper. I just don't know if the Japanese high command was rational enough to be swayed by less murderous scenarios. And I've never been completely convinced by the argument you use. Some historians have presented evidence that Japan would have collapsed soon anyway and that invasion was not an historical inevitability.

It's another one of the ethical dilemmas I have not resolved in my own mind in my 60+ yrs.

Based on evidence from the battle of Saipan there is no doubt that an attack on the Japanese mainland would have resulted in horrific casualties for BOTH sides..far more for the Japanese who were making spears to attack the GI's on the beach to try and nullify the American firepower advantage.

There is NO doubt that the bombs ended the war, and that they were needed.

 

[Little-Acorn]

Is there any doubt that there was no way to end the war that quickly, permanently, and with that FEW casualties, other than by dropping the Bomb as we did?

 

[BobPlumb]

If there could have been another way we will never know because the history does not allow do overs. Dropping the A-bombs worked and that's all that counts now.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

There is plenty of doubt that this was the way to end the war. It will forever be a stain on the integrity of the US that we killed MORE than 40K innocent people that day - likely for nothing at all.

Why do some say its okay to kill hundreds of thousands of innocents in Hiroshima or Iraq but not okay to kill a few hundred innocents with modern day drones?

 

[Little-Acorn]

There is plenty of doubt that this was the way to end the war.

Do you have any evidence of this "doubt"?

It will forever be a stain on the integrity of the US that we killed MORE than 40K innocent people that day - likely for nothing at all.

Ending the war quickly and getting the war-supporting Japanese government officials out of power, is "nothing at all"?

 

[RetiredGySgt]

There is plenty of doubt that this was the way to end the war. It will forever be a stain on the integrity of the US that we killed MORE than 40K innocent people that day - likely for nothing at all.

Why do some say its okay to kill hundreds of thousands of innocents in Hiroshima or Iraq but not okay to kill a few hundred innocents with modern day drones?

You have been schooled on this every time you post this nonsense. I have a link to source documents that PROVE Japan was not going to surrender. That after the 1st Bomb Japan was not going to surrender and that after the second bomb the only reason they surrendered is the Emperor intervened personally. Further the documents show that the Japanese Army attempted a Coup to stop that surrender.

 

[R.C. Christian]

There is plenty of doubt that this was the way to end the war. It will forever be a stain on the integrity of the US that we killed MORE than 40K innocent people that day - likely for nothing at all.

That is simply incorrect. To be fair, no civilian, whether he be a victim of 9-11, Hiroshima, or Nagasaki is innocent. They fed the war machine. It's a tough thought to swallow as well as a thought that should allow for a lot of empathy. The tragic exception to this thought is the children, animals and ecosystem.

If you really want to get pissed about war crimes, then I suggest Dresden and maybe, just maybe, the low altitude B-29 incendiary raids over Wooden Tokyo. LeMay was hardcore in the Pacific. He would have nuked anyone if he got the order.

Your problem is that you're are viewing this event out of context. It's much like Civil War when we pass judgments on practices that were perfectly acceptable to people at the time.

 

[Rikurzhen]

Here's an interview with a Manhattan Project physicist conducted by Japanese TV where they also bring a survivor to the interview and ask him to apologize for his role in developing the bomb. Note his response. Here he is holding the core of the bomb which was dropped on Nagasaki.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlo_hTQxMYU#t=474[/ame]

 

[jon_berzerk]

cool video

the bravest generation

VJ Day, Honolulu Hawaii, August 14, 1945

VJ Day, Honolulu Hawaii, August 14, 1945 on Vimeo

 

[auditor0007]

Here's an interview with a Manhattan Project physicist conducted by Japanese TV where they also bring a survivor to the interview and ask him to apologize for his role in developing the bomb. Note his response. Here he is holding the core of the bomb which was dropped on Nagasaki.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlo_hTQxMYU#t=474

Apologizing would be stating that we were wrong. Japan started the war. The US ended it. No fucking apology.

 

[Two Thumbs]

considering that if 2000 Japs were holding a island and to take the island we had to kill 1997 of them, b/c they would fight to the death or kill themselves, I'm confident that w/o using the bombs "Japan and Japanese" would only be used in the past tense.

 

[Lacy]

They should not have attacked us.

 

[pismoe]

hey , good , excellent video Auditor , thankyou !! Yeah , Japanese started the war and USA finished it . I wish that kind of thinking still existed in the American people today .

 

[Luddly Neddite]

To be fair, no civilian, whether he be a victim of 9-11, Hiroshima, or Nagasaki is innocent. They fed the war machine.

To be fair, US citizens also "fed the war machine". As do most countries citizens when they go to war.

Some Americans are against the use of drones because they inevitably kill civilians and because they want more wars. I also dislike using drones but if the choice is killing and maiming hundreds and hundreds of thousands AND decimating a country AND putting us deeply in debt, I'll take the drones.

We cannot go back to Hiroshima and Nagasaki and play it out differently so the question is moot. Nonetheless, I am against the killing of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, such as what happened in Japan and, more recently, in Iraq.

 

[pismoe]

Japanese started the war Luddley , Americans wouldn't have fed the USA war machine if the Japanese hadn't started the war . [obvious]