SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:
SCIENCE said:so why not just use them and sort out the prospective war before it gets nasty
The Japanese were not ready to surrender after Hiroshima. Not by any means.
After Hiroshima, the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War (comprising the PM, Foreign Minister, Army/Navy Ministers, and Chiefs of Staff), initially tried to keep news of the bombing from the Emperor.
The Council argued vociferously among themselves, even after Nagasaki, with some members utterly refusing to even contemplate accepting the terms that the Allies set out after the Potsdam conference.
One even declared that Japan must fight on, and that if the deaths of twenty million Japanese was the price of honour, then so be it.
Hopelessly deadlocked, they had to take the unprecedented step of asking the Emperor to make a decision, which they found rather shameful as it meant involving a living god in such mundane matters.
Even after Hirohito had decided that the war must end, various elements of the Japanese military resisted, claiming that the emperor must have been coerced. They planned and initiated an attempt to take custody of the emperor, ‘for his protection’, and there was scenes of murder and suicide all over Tokyo as they sought to enlist the assistance of various generals, admirals, ministers and garrisons.
Some of the conspirators tried to locate the two copies of the recording of Hirohito’s ‘surrender’ speech, and to destroy them before the speech could be broadcast.
Hiroshima was bombed on 06 Aug, Nagasaki on 09 Aug. Hirohito recorded his speech on the evening of 14 Aug, and it was broadcast on 15 Aug.
What were the Japanese leaders doing on 10, 11, 12, and 13 Aug? They were debating on whether or not to surrender. It was no ‘done deal’ just because of the A-bombs.
What the Japanese were really afraid of was an invasion of Japan by the Russians. That prospect scared them shitless.
The fact is that any Russian attempt to invade Japan would have been farcical, at best. They did invade some of the Kurile Islands, but it was a total shitshow. But, the Japanese were totally scared of the Russians.
bloody hell, other people told us that Japan had lost and were ready to surrender even before the bombing
Yes, they’ll tell you that Japan’s resources were exhausted.
In fact, Japan’s resources were hoarded.
They had 20,000 aeroplanes hidden away in the hinterland, along with sufficient fuel, to be used in massive kamikaze attacks against any invasion fleet. Most of them were obsolete or non-combat types, but when you’re going to load your plane with 1,000kg of explosives and nose-dive it into a ship, it doesn’t have to be the latest and greatest.
They were preparing to enlist everyone in Japan, from children to elderly people, as combatants to oppose an invasion. Many would have been armed only with a hand-grenade, or even just a sharpened bamboo stake, but they would have been driven forward in waves against invading armies.