

Was Dropping the Atomic Bomb Necessary? Considering the Context - tokenadult
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/was-dropping-atomic-bomb-necessary_1020243.html

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jleyank
The blockade would have been effective, assuming the Allied Nations were able
to keep the ships and planes on station. The effect on the Japanese from mines
and closing their harbours would have been horrendous.

Note that bombing inflicted far worse damage on Tokyo than Hiroshima. It just
took a few hundred planes and a few trips rather than one plane and one trip.
The bomb was efficient, but firebombing was just as "spectacular" when the
conditions were right. Granted, the bomb sent a horrible and significant
message, but there were many examples of the horror of large-scale strategic
bombing in WW II.

If the land invasion of Japan was attempted rather than blockade, the
casualties would have been almost unimaginable. There would have been no
quarter offered or taken and no noncombatants. One estimate had the US Marine
Corps dying on the first day or two of invasion to secure the beach (3
divisions each landing). They were already considering tactical nuclear
weapons. If the Kamikazes were more successful than anticipated, I imagine the
stigma of chemical weapons would be insufficient to prevent their use.

The Allies had to end matters before the home population tired of war. The
Japanese knew and planned on this.

