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1945 proceeded on predictable lines. Germany was overrun by the Allies, and an exhausted and devastated peace came to Europe in May. The American juggernaut, with some British assistance, continued closer and closer to the Japanese home islands. The Japanese resorted to massive suicide attacks, which caused extensive loss to Pacific Fleet but did not delay it. As Japan itself was subjected to massive incendiary bombing and even shore bombardment, and as islands very close to Japan fell to the Allies, a few Japanese leaders started thinking of making peace. Thinking the Soviet Union was a friendly neutral, they submitted unofficial peace feelers to the United States through them. The Soviets quietly suppressed these feelers, wanting to join the war against Japan themselves. It would not have made any difference, as the feelers had no official standing and were totally unacceptable to the United States, at best vaguely offering to return conquered territories in exchange for peace. The Japanese military party made it impossible to pursue peace directly, as they would arrest or kill anybody who tried to extend official peace offerings, or who they found clearly explaining what sort of peace would be acceptable. Meanwhile, a new factor was coming into play.
In the fearful days of 1941 and 1942, the United States had embarked on a research program to produce the most amazing secret weapon yet, a bomb powered by nuclear forces, powerful enough to demolish an entire city. The United States was certainly not the only power doing so. Germany was working on a nuclear bomb, although an estimate by the great physicist Heisenberg overestimated the necessary size of the bomb by a factor of 100, making it unusable (whether this was an error or a strategem on his part is still debated). Japan had two programs to develop an atomic bomb, one for the Army and one for the Navy.. The main fear of the United States was that Germany would develop a nuclear bomb and use it, and so the American nuclear program was intended to be used against Germany. However, Germany was conquered by more conventional means, and the question remained whether to use the nuclear bomb against Japan.
The main strategic question remaining was how to force Japan's surrender. So far, the Japanese navy had been destroyed, the islands completely blockaded, and Japanese cities had been attacked with devastating fire-bombing raids almost nightly; a few of them had even been shelled by American battleships. The next obvious step was an invasion, and that was going to be very costly, both in Allied lives and in Japanese civilian lives. It was very desirable to wrap up the war, not only for the soldiers and sailors who wanted to go home, but for the various people under the brutal Japanese occupation. The United States correctly expected the Soviet Union to enter the war, but did not want too much of East Asia to fall under Soviet domination either. Harry Truman had just ascended to the Presidency, after Roosevelt's death, and had to make a quick decision on the atomic bomb. He chose to drop both available bombs as soon as possible, leaving some time between the two to allow for a Japanese surrender. Therefore, in a very short period, the Japanese experienced two nuclear attacks, and the Red Army intervened, overrunning Manchuria in very short order. Finally, the Japanese Emperor made a decision to surrender, and made it stick despite several attempts at last-minute palace coups to force the war to continue. World War II was over.
My opinion, after years of thought, is that it was a good decision. The war had to be ended as soon as possible. We should have offered earlier to let the Japanese keep the Emperor, but that decision was also somewhat controversial.
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All contents of these pages Copyright 1997, 1998 by David H. Thornley.