Adonis Diaries

Why Japan was nuked? (Feb. 9, 2010)

Germany had surrendered.

Stalin, Truman, and Churchill met in Potsdam (Germany) to iron out the state of power after the war; they sent Japan a declaration to surrender.

Truman divulged to Stalin that the US is in possession of a particularly destructive bomb.  Stalin had knowledge of the atomic bomb.  But the peace treaty between Russia and Japan was valid for another year.  Stalin informed Truman that Russia is going to open its eastern front against Japan and said: “Make sure you use your weapon on Japan”

By July 8, 1945, the US dropped its atomic bomb on Hiroshima using its super-fortress B 29 Enola Gay.

On July 9, Russia’s three armies (one million strong) amassed on the Manchurian border started its attack on the Japanese troops that surrendered quickly.  As long as Japan did not officially surrender, then Stalin was legitimate to conquer any land occupied by Japanese troops, including Korea and demanding to share and divide Japan as it did in Germany.

The US hoped that Japan will surrender much quicker after the first atomic bomb and Stalin hoped that the Japanese inertia will extend him more time to occupy all of Korea.

The US selected 3 potential cities to drop on another bomb at any cost.  Nagasaki was the thirst in the selection but weather conditions advanced this unfortunate city to the next target.

After Germany capitulated, Japan had lost the war but it waited for better surrendering conditions. One major condition is that their Emperor will retain its “divine” function.  The US didn’t have to land troops on Japan soil: it could bomb every city and destroy every infrastructure with the B29 as it did in Germany; hunger would have taken care of this haughty island.

The US wanted quick unconditional surrender of Japan before Russia shares the spoil on the pacific front as well: otherwise, the US would have strategically lost the Pacific war. Yes, the US was ready to keep nuking Japan until it surrenders before Russia legitimately demands to divide Japan after the war.

I contend that, if Japan allowed Russia to conquer Korea before surrendering, then the US would have had no choice but to nuke Russia as well to force it to retreat to its former borders. The US was to be the main superpower covering all seas and oceans.  That’s what happened and still is.

The US was awfully lucky three times and so was the world of effective routine use of atomic bombs:

1.  First, the US navy miraculously defeated the crushing superiority of Japan’s naval fleet in Midway battle of the air carriers.

2.  Second, the USS Indianapolis had delivered this “Baby Bomb” to Guam before the ship was sunk on its return trip by a Japanese submarine.

3. Third, apparently, the US didn’t experiment dropping a bomb from air before Hiroshima and the devastation of air explosion was not well accounted for; that it worked without a hitch for the first time is luck.