The document discusses whether the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were necessary to end World War II. It summarizes a 1946 report that argued Japan was ready to surrender, but also provides counterarguments. It notes that while political leaders debated surrender, soldiers may have wanted to keep fighting. The document also discusses the human costs of a land invasion or continued bombing campaign as alternatives. It ultimately concludes the atomic bombs were necessary to force Japan's surrender and avoid further massive casualties on both sides.

1. Chris Constantinou
Cold War History
30 September 2013
Did the A-Bomb end the war?
The Strategic Bombing Survey Essay states that “Japan would have surrendered even if
the atomic bombs had not been dropped,” (Essay, 155).What the 1946 report articulates is that
Japan’s political leaders were debating whether or not to end the war and make peace with the
United States. Some leaders wanted peace while others would not consider surrender and opted
to commit suicide. However, the Essay cannot be entirely right because even if the political
and/or military leaders might have wanted to end the war, the soldiers in the battlefield might not
have felt the same. The atomic bomb was the least awful choice in President Truman’s options.
There were three possible decisions that could have been made, (1) continuation of a bombing
campaign, (2) the continuation of a blockade, (3) an invasion of mainland Japan. All of those
possible alternatives would have had heavy human loses to both nations. It was estimated that an
invasion of Japan would have cost the United States upwards of 1 million military deaths and a
far greater loss of life on the Japanese side. The Japanese would have killed many American
POWs if the military invaded the island. Truman’s decision to drop the A-Bomb, (1) shortened
the war, (2) created no need to invade Japan, and (3) saved the lives of countless people. Truman
believed that there was no end in sight when the death toll in the Battle of Okinawa nearly
exceeded 300,000 casualties on both sides. Even though there was extensive bombing by the
United States against Japanese cities before the A-bomb was dropped, Japanese soldiers and
civilians continued to fight on. Truman said, “I do not want another Okinawa from one end of
Japan to the other.” Clearly, he realized that Japanese forces and civilians would fight to their
very deaths in case of an invasion of mainland Japan. Japan’s leaders created Operation Ketsugo,

2. a plan in which in the event of an invasion of Japan, mass casualties would be imposed upon the
enemy. Even after the atomic bombs were dropped, some leaders still wanted to fight on.
The fact that surrender was not an option can be seen when American soldiers witnessed
countless Japanese civilians commit suicide on the island of Saipan. In a 1944 TIME magazine
article, many Marines witnessed the brutality firsthand: “They would jump off the cliff, or climb
down and wade into the sea. I saw a father throw his three children off, and then jumped down
himself.” Japanese soldiers would even shoot their own people when they could not go through
the process of committing suicide: “The Jap sniper took aim. He drilled the man from behind…”
It was clear that some could not fathom complete surrender. The Japanese people had been
bombarded by anti-American propaganda saying that “Americans are beasts and would murder
them all.”
In the end it really depends on who wanted to give up. The average Japanese soldier
would rather commit suicide than be captured by the military. The same went for citizens in a
culture in which it was their patriotic to die for the Emperor and to never give up the homeland. I
personally do not agree with the Strategic Bombing Survey and its findings that Japan was ready
to give up. The bombs were necessary to make a clear point to the Japanese that they had
ultimately lost and that there was no way they could fight against a stronger and more productive
military. In the book Bomb Power, after the findings are released by the Strategic Bombing
Survey, the American public felt that they should not have “to wait one more day, not to the risk
of one more life,”( Bomb Power, 28). The American people felt in the same way as Truman,
“The Japanese began the war from the air at Pearl Harbor. They have been repaid manifold,”
(Bomb Power, 29). With the use of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it forced a
quick Japanese surrender in 1945.