Originally Posted by
Danny42C
Pontius Navigator (your #66) and Bergerie1 (#68),
Nor had I (I was in India at the time). The casualties (Allied and Japanese civilian) of a seaborne invasion of Japan would have far exceeded even the horrific total caused by the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Japanese home armies would certainly have fought to the last man and the last round. I had a personal interest - one of the Allied casualties might well have been me !
Precious few people who lived through WWII (and were old enough to understand what was going on) have questioned the decision to drop the atomic bombs. My dad was training for the invasion of Japan at the time the bombs were dropped - he was a platoon leader for what was to be the second wave of the initial landings. They had been told to expect over 80% casualties
. Dropping those bombs likely saved millions of lives.