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The reasons give are:
1. To stop a Russian invasion into Japan and going deeper into China
2. The entire civilian military has been militarized - meaning having to slaughter tens of millions of civilian Japanese
3. Huge American casualties.
4. To force a surrender before the Japanese Emperor was taken hostage or killed by the Japanese military - which would never surrender. (Note: Japan did not unconditionally surrender. We agreed not to put anyone in the Japanese royal family on trial - and many definitely were war criminals against civilians and POWs.)
What was not questioned was we would ultimately win.
Maybe not. It was only after Japan's surrender and occupation that we learned how well prepared Japan was becoming for an invasion. Unknown to us, Japan had moved hundreds of factories and military equipment deeply under the rugged mountains of Japan, including a hundred aircraft manufacturing factories. Due to the terrain, our primitive radar would give no warning of incoming aircraft against our ships, particularly troop transports, which in discovered Japanese plans was to be their number one targets.
Even our few atomic bombs could not had dealt with the massive networks of underground facilities in the mountains. Within the culture of Japan's military, every Japanese should die including civilians rather than surrender.
Stunningly, after the war our intelligence learned that while we thought Japan had no air force left, in fact they had held back 12,000 combat aircraft hidden in the vast underground networks in the mountains - and more horrifying had developed both a jet fighter and jet bomber - with the former already in production. Capable of speeds 100 to 150 miles per hour faster than anything we had, such aircraft could have slaughtered our bombers and defending fighters, at which them their convention aircraft including for Kamikaze attacks. The altitude max was higher than even our highest bombers - previously all but immune to attack. If Japan could gain control of the air, they could also possible obtain more supplies and bring back well over a million troops from China and elsewhere.
Japan's jet and rocket powered fighters - including some in Kamikaze designs - were superior to those of Germany - improving on German designs - and many were past the proven flying prototypes and going into actual production. They were not just a little bit better than our piston driven aircraft. It would be as if we were in WW1 bi-planes. While we had jets also in the works, that would not offset the real challenge of a 10,000 to 15,000 aircraft Japan coming at our troop and supply ships with minutes to seconds notice - often in Kamikaze style attacks.
We were lucky the war ending in 1945 via the A-bomb. Starving out Japan would only have killed millions of Japanese civilians - all which the Japanese military was willing to sacrifice. This was particularly so since much of Japan's military leadership faced war crimes executions if captured and surrender was considered cowardly and dishonorable.
In 1946 we would have been facing both German and the island fortress of Japan with vastly superior aircraft - with Japan being an island nation the greater challenge both strategically and in never-surrender determination. Having jet fighters - and over 10,000 conventional war aircraft shielded by the terrain as a radar shield - would have made invasion and conquest of Japan unthinkably costs in terms of both Allies and Japanese lives. Without the A-bomb that is the situation we would have been in.
1. To stop a Russian invasion into Japan and going deeper into China
2. The entire civilian military has been militarized - meaning having to slaughter tens of millions of civilian Japanese
3. Huge American casualties.
4. To force a surrender before the Japanese Emperor was taken hostage or killed by the Japanese military - which would never surrender. (Note: Japan did not unconditionally surrender. We agreed not to put anyone in the Japanese royal family on trial - and many definitely were war criminals against civilians and POWs.)
What was not questioned was we would ultimately win.
Maybe not. It was only after Japan's surrender and occupation that we learned how well prepared Japan was becoming for an invasion. Unknown to us, Japan had moved hundreds of factories and military equipment deeply under the rugged mountains of Japan, including a hundred aircraft manufacturing factories. Due to the terrain, our primitive radar would give no warning of incoming aircraft against our ships, particularly troop transports, which in discovered Japanese plans was to be their number one targets.
Even our few atomic bombs could not had dealt with the massive networks of underground facilities in the mountains. Within the culture of Japan's military, every Japanese should die including civilians rather than surrender.
Stunningly, after the war our intelligence learned that while we thought Japan had no air force left, in fact they had held back 12,000 combat aircraft hidden in the vast underground networks in the mountains - and more horrifying had developed both a jet fighter and jet bomber - with the former already in production. Capable of speeds 100 to 150 miles per hour faster than anything we had, such aircraft could have slaughtered our bombers and defending fighters, at which them their convention aircraft including for Kamikaze attacks. The altitude max was higher than even our highest bombers - previously all but immune to attack. If Japan could gain control of the air, they could also possible obtain more supplies and bring back well over a million troops from China and elsewhere.
Japan's jet and rocket powered fighters - including some in Kamikaze designs - were superior to those of Germany - improving on German designs - and many were past the proven flying prototypes and going into actual production. They were not just a little bit better than our piston driven aircraft. It would be as if we were in WW1 bi-planes. While we had jets also in the works, that would not offset the real challenge of a 10,000 to 15,000 aircraft Japan coming at our troop and supply ships with minutes to seconds notice - often in Kamikaze style attacks.
We were lucky the war ending in 1945 via the A-bomb. Starving out Japan would only have killed millions of Japanese civilians - all which the Japanese military was willing to sacrifice. This was particularly so since much of Japan's military leadership faced war crimes executions if captured and surrender was considered cowardly and dishonorable.
In 1946 we would have been facing both German and the island fortress of Japan with vastly superior aircraft - with Japan being an island nation the greater challenge both strategically and in never-surrender determination. Having jet fighters - and over 10,000 conventional war aircraft shielded by the terrain as a radar shield - would have made invasion and conquest of Japan unthinkably costs in terms of both Allies and Japanese lives. Without the A-bomb that is the situation we would have been in.
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