Originally Posted by
rattman
All the ground forces that died to capture tinnian and the other islands the b-29 flew from. Also many historians believe russians invaision of the northern islands did more to prompt the surrender than the nukes did
If you think like that, next you’ll be claiming that the Battle of Hastings secured the airfields for the Battle of Britain! Also, as I understand it the Soviets only took the Kuril Islands which have been long disputed between nations. What the Soviet Union did do though, was carve Korea in half with the US at the back end of the war (leading to the Korean War 5 years later and an uneasy ceasefire ever since!).