Why "journalists" should not write or rewrite history: The Atomic Bombs were necessary and DID end World War II.

For some reason, every August for the last four or five years, the click mongers at Slate and Salon and assorted other liberal rags inhabited by "journalism" majors who want to change the world write some idiotic piece about how the US didn’t have to use atomic bombs on Japan, or how Harry Truman was a war criminal who nuked Japan to intimidate the Russians or some other claptrap.

Could the Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Be Considered Terrorism?

The indefensible Hiroshima revisionism that haunts America to this day

Now I expect this from these electronic rags as this is the place where Democratic “journalists” go while they await their big break to write for MSNBC or the Daily Show. And of course, it comes as little surprise to me that these pieces are inevitably written by morally smug progressives who have not only never served in uniform, but have been taught history in what passes for the modern American educational system.

Nonetheless, it is HIGHLY irritating to read that these poltroons, smug in the freedom provided by 400,000 dead Americans who fought in World War II, haven’t a clue what the REAL situation was in August 1945.

SO, sit back, relax, and let’s move beyond the hyperbole, stupidity, and intellectual vacuum that passes for modern American “journalism” and get down to the facts.

In August 1945, Harry Truman, President for less than six months was facing an inevitable bloodbath if US forces invaded Japan as the inevitable and only way to secure their unconditional surrender. 

Sifting through the reports of American casualties from Iwo Jima and Okinawa must have caused great distress. In addition, reports of civilian deaths in Okinawa must also have caused some raised eyebrows, as intelligence reports and Japanese propaganda stated the ENTIRE population of the Home Islands were being mobilized to fight the invasion.

In addition to heavy ground casualties, the navy was equally alarmed at the waves of kamikazes Japan had unleashed against the fleet offshore Okinawa, resulting in the loss of nearly an American warship a day from the early version of suicide bombers.

Two really excellent books (yes books, those things that progressive revisionist historians seem to avoid, unless they are written by Barack Obama/Bill Ayers) lay out the TRUTH of the situation in August 1945

Richard Frank's book is really my classic go-to, although Giangreco's book is also really good.

Let's provide a summary...short bullets for John Stewart fans:

• The Allies, although relentless and with overwhelming firepower, were also very predictable, and the Japanese KNEW the next American landing would be on the island of Kyushu.  Declassified interviews and papers from he Japanese show they had already figured out the basic Allied plan.  The Allies had to land on the main island to capture Tokyo, but they would not do it without securing an island to fly B-17 and B-24 bombers.  Simple math would dictate a landing on Kyushu.

• Therefore the Japanese also could figure out basically WHERE they Allies were likely to land since geography limited the number of beaches the Allies could put landing craft and armor ashore.  So the Japanese rushed additional troops and fortifications to Kyushu, almost guaranteeing a Gallipoli like struggle to get off the beaches and securing the airfields the Japanese had built on the southern end of the island.  Allied intelligence estimated that Japan might have had over 500,000 troops on the island, by far the largest force every faced by an amphibious assault.

• Truman also knew that America was very war weary and nearly at the end of their limits.  Many contemporary historians assume the US had a huge material superiority over their enemies in WW2, which is true.  But it was not limitless, and if anyone has seen the move Flags of Our Fathers they should remember the line explaining why they needed those Marines to participate in the War Bond drive...after 4 years of war, the country was nearly broke, Paul Krugman's economic miracle notwithstanding.  Could the US have withstood the estimated 1 million casualties to conquer Japan by conventional assault?  Who know, but Truman was keenly aware of the mood of the country and the limits of what American soldiers destined to invade Japan, many already transferred from combat in Europe were likely to endure.

So Truman made the hard call...and the bomb was dropped.  But guess what revisionists?  The Japanese STILL were not entirely ready to surrender.  Even after Emperor Hirohito made the decision to surrender, a cabal of Japanese officers attempted to launch a coup.  Fortunately for Japan, they failed, but nonetheless, the idea that Japan was ready to surrender before the bombs were dropped is simply NOT supported by the facts.

I think the poltroons on the progressive revisionist left should listen to the soldiers who were there.  Paul Fussell is an often quoted soldier that should always trump the morons on the left.  His essay breaking down the idiocy of the argument that Japan was going to surrender before the bombs were dropped should quickly and forever dispel this idiotic notion.

When the atom bombs were dropped and news began to circulate that “Operation Olympic” would not, after all, be necessary, when we learned to our astonishment that we would not be obliged in a few months to rush up the beaches near Tokyo assault-firing while being machine-gunned, mortared, and shelled, for all the practiced phlegm of our tough facades we broke down and cried with relief and joy. We were going to live. We were going to grow to adulthood after all. The killing was all going to be over, and peace was actually going to be the state of things. When the Enola Gay dropped its package, “There were cheers,” says John Toland, “over the intercom; it meant the end of the war.”  

So, the next time some moron from the left says Truman was a war criminal or the US is a bad country for dropping the bombs on Japan, just send them this link and tell them to read it...if they can...and if they dare.