The Day the Bomb Fell

It was August 6, 1945 that the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Even today, when there is little about World War II that is considered open to debate, it remains a controversial topic. Some regard it as an act of barbaric cruelty, a vindictive massacre of innocents against an already all but defeated enemy. Others consider it a harsh but justifiable war measure that saved more lives in the long run by forcing Japan to surrender and ending the war before the planned Allied invasion of the main Japanese islands. As with much of history, if looked at honestly, both of these sides have valid points. The American point of view at the time was simple and clear cut: the U.S. and Japan are at war, the Japanese have refused to surrender, using the bomb will remove all doubt as to the hopelessness of their situation and deploying the weapon will save the lives of huge numbers of American military personnel who would otherwise have to invade the Japanese home islands. The Japanese side is more complicated because, as with so much of the war, there was no unity. Some in Japan knew that the war was lost (and some knew it had been for some time) and already wanted to surrender. Yet, there were others who were determined to go on fighting even if it meant the total annihilation of their country. In fact, more than a few wished to carry on fighting even after both atomic bombs had been dropped.

What cannot be denied by anyone was that the atomic attacks were horrific and whether one considers them justified or unjustifiable, they were certainly cruel. Of course, so was the conflict as a whole. The conventional bombing of Japanese cities had already taken a devastating toll on the country and far more died in that way than were killed in the nuclear attacks. Japan had also done the same, bombing and shelling civilian areas in the course of the war. One reason why no one was convicted of war crimes for bombing civilians after the war was that both sides had done it and the Allies had to recognize that they were just as or even more culpable in that regard as the Axis. Yet, there were also limits that both sides adopted. Neither the Axis or the Allies ever resorted to the use of chemical weapons and as both sides were capable of employing such weapons it would have been needlessly cruel to do so as neither would have gained a clear advantage in their use. World War I was the example of that. That war also saw an international outcry about the unrestricted use of submarine warfare. The United States was the most vociferous in condemning the unrestricted submarine warfare policy of Germany and yet, in World War II, the United States waged unrestricted submarine warfare against Japan from the very outset. There again was a case of both sides using tactics that they had at one time criticized when done by the “other” side.

Having often talked to people in and from Japan, I have often been asked my own opinion on the use of the atomic bomb and it is a difficult question to answer. I am rather repelled by those who seem to take a simplistic view of it and take for granted that it was either absolutely right or absolutely wrong. It is far too terrible a thing to take lightly or adopt a knee-jerk reaction to without serious thought. Originally, my point of view reflected that of most people around me. It was a terrible thing but it had to be done to end the war. “They started it, we finished it” was a phrase I often heard. Later, however, I took the opposite view after learning about Japanese efforts to make peace which long pre-dated the nuclear attack and of the numerous and often very prominent American military leaders who were critical of the decision. Anyone who would be quick to adopt the Allied position without thinking would also do well to really read and understand the details of the attack. If you can read that and not be horrified by the gruesome, catastrophic suffering of so many truly innocent people, well, I think you need to turn in your membership card for the human race. Fairly early on, it also seemed to me that even if one could justify the attack on Hiroshima, the subsequent attack on Nagasaki, coming so soon after the first, was totally despicable and unjustified.

However, I did still more thinking and had more internal unrest on the issue. In a war, the object is to destroy the enemy, to kill or be killed and would not the American President have been guilty before his own country and those of the other Allied powers if huge numbers of their troops had been killed in an invasion of Japan that he could have prevented by the use of atomic weapons? And there were, as stated, those in Japan who were determined to fight on even after both atomic bombs were dropped and who were prepared to kill their own leaders and even make their own august Emperor a prisoner in order to spare their pride from surrender. Also to be considered is the fact that, like the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany, the Japanese also had their own atomic bomb project and were working toward obtaining a nuclear weapon of their own. Would they have invested so much in such a project if they never intended to use such a weapon on the United States, Australia or any other Allied power they were capable of striking? Further, I can easily see the point that if you have a weapon of overwhelming power that would enable you to destroy the enemy and so save the lives of countless numbers of your own people, it would seem almost cruel not to use it. One can also reasonably ask why the method of killing is more important than the killing itself. More civilians were killed in the conventional bombing attacks so why is it morally worse to use nuclear weapons to end the war rather than to continue on with the conventional bombing campaign, costing far more lives?

I do have a position on the issue though, as I hope I have demonstrated, it is not necessarily unchangeable. The atomic bombing was a horrific event that I hope I never become so insensitive to as to not have doubts and questions about. Currently, in any event, my position is that the use of atomic weapons was acceptable in theory but unjustifiable in fact. In theory, I say, drop the bomb if it means ending the war quickly and saving the lives of your people. The other side would do the same if they were able to. However, given the facts that existed in August of 1945, I do not see how it was absolutely necessary to do so. I know the invasion of Japan would have been very costly and even more so for the Japanese than the Allied nations. However, why did the Allies have to invade Japan at all? Why is it taken for granted that such a thing had to happen? After all, Germany came very close to winning World War I without ever giving the slightest thought to invading Britain itself because the submarine campaign was so successful. In World War II, by August of 1945 the Allies held complete naval and air supremacy over and around Japan. There were practically no Japanese air defenses left and the Imperial Japanese Navy had long been wiped out. A total blockade of the Japanese islands would have eventually forced a surrender without endangering the life of a single Allied soldier. It would have taken resources and patience but no great sacrifice of lives to have done that.

Supporters of Japan, however, must realize that, being engaged in a war that was clearly hopeless, ultimately it was the Japanese leadership that bore responsibility for the suffering of the people in that country and there would have been plenty of death and suffering if the atomic bombs had not been used. A blockade would have brought a rapidly increasing breakdown in Japanese society. There would have been rampant starvation, suffering from the elements because of a lack of resources and widespread disease from insufficient food, shelter and all the modern conveniences that go along with an industrial society that requires resources Japan did not possess. There could have been even more conventional bombing but even if that had been stopped as well, there would have been a slow death that likely would have prompted ugly internal unrest, even revolution. Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai said, “It may be inappropriate to put it in this way, but the atomic bombs and the Soviet entry into the war are, in a sense, God’s gifts. Now we can end the war without making it clear that we have to end the war because of the domestic situation. I have long been advocating the conclusion, not because I am afraid of the enemy’s attacks or because of the atomic bombs or the Soviet participation in the war; the most important reason is my concern over the domestic situation.” Although not often remembered today, there were those at the time who felt that being defeated by superior forces was a more honorable end to the conflict than disloyalty, unrest and revolution.

The bottom line, of course, is that Japan was fighting a war that could not be won and the suffering was going to be great until the Japanese leadership admitted defeat and surrendered. Personally, I think the Allied demand for unconditional surrender for all Axis powers was a bad decision. It never made sense to me why you would want to make it harder for your enemy to give up but, that decision having been made, the war and misery was going to go on for as long as the Japanese leadership refused to surrender. The use of nuclear weapons in bringing that about was, to my mind, unnecessary though it can be theoretically justified and, under different circumstances, could have been necessary. But, that inevitably leads back to my overall view that the war itself was unnecessary and should never have happened. The Allies should not have been antagonizing Japan and the Japanese should not have launched attacks that unquestionably doomed their empire (and which guaranteed the defeat of all the Axis powers for that matter). The antagonism arose over the Sino-Japanese war in which Japan had no clear goal in mind and which was being waged against the wrong party in China anyway.

If some readers think that the atomic bombings were justified or unjustified, I really have no problem with either position. Whether you agree or disagree with my current thinking on the subject matters to me not at all. I do hope, however, that all who hold an absolute view of the question would give the other side, whichever it is, some consideration. The suffering, the misery and the horror, which lasted for years, is far too immense to be taken lightly or to have no questions about it at all. Whether you blame the United States for using the bomb or blame the Japanese government for not surrendering long before when there was clearly no chance of success, the victims and what they endured should be remembered regardless and the issue is one that should be considered with fear and trembling, not jingoism or self-righteous bravado.