I've been reading a lot about operation downfall and i found some pretty scary stuff concerning what the American where considdering and planning of doing. But not only that, also what the Japanese where planning and considdering on doing.
That combined freaked me out a little bit and i have a few questions about it. I wrote this topic in shock so please try to hold back the nitpicking.
Imagining the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki wouldn't have resulted in the surrender of Japan and they would have gone through with both Olympic and Coronet, the resulting campaign would have changed the war, even though it was nearing its end.
What freaked me out most about the American planning is that they where considdering of using nuclear weapons for a tactical purposed(noyl if the first 2 atomic bombs actually worked of course). They would have about 15 nukes ready by August 1945. Thats scary enough. What scares me more is that they advised American troops not to enter a nuked site for "at least 48 hours". That would mean a death sentence for thousands of American troops.
Imagining they had gone through with it and had to use 4, maybe 5 bombs before the Japanese surrendered what would the reaction of the American people, but also from the rest of the world be when it became clear now thousands of Amercian soldier where exposed to immense doses of radiation and will die between hours, days, weeks or months after? What would be the future of nuclear weapons be then? What would the future of war be after such a terrible blunderous end too WWII? I can see disgust, fear, anger.
thanks in advance for any answers to those questions.
What freaked me out most about the Japanese though was that the way i see it they where ready to sacrifice everybody, everybody for the cause... I mean, not just the roughly 10.000 military planes all changed into kamikaze planes but also ready to give every man aged 15-60 and woman 17-40 a pointed stick and charge them against American forces. and they would do it too i recon. Can you imagine the fatality rate of the invasion would be then?
William Shockley estimated the fatalities of this campaign the best i think with 1.7-4 million american casualties(800.000 fatalities) and 5-10 million Japanese fatalities(military, including civilians forced to fight).
Wouldn't you all agree the fatality rate of Japanese civilians would be maybe between 70 and 80 percent on Kyushu and certainly hundreds of thousands more on the main island Honshu? I do that by looking at Okinawa where civilians would actually throw themselves and their families off cliffs to avoid capture. Of course with nukes being used the fatality rate would just go up and up, i don't think the Holocaust can come close to it. i would almost put this in the ASB section and imagine some sort of Hellmouth opening up and Satan rising.
Would there be an end too American advance once the result of radiation exposure becomes clear, when thousands of civilians lay dead and there is no stopping them from killing themselves untill there is nobody left? Would they just stop and look around and be just sad for them? I don't want to sound like a hippie but there has to be an limit for human compassion.
how high do you all think the casualties in Japan would be?
How far do you think the fighting in Japan itself would have gone?
Also, in what way would that change life in Japan? With all that nuclear devastation would there even be life in Japan?
thanks in advance