LenMiyata

Grumble Grumble Grumble

There is simply no doubt, that had the planned invasion of Japan had taken place, the casualties on both side would have been horrendous. Just before the announced surrender of Japan, the local Civil Defence had high school and grade school children practicing to stab the enemy with bamboo spears, and to wear explosive satchel charges to become 'human bombs'

Now as far as the actual motivations for the use of the Bomb. At this point in WWII, because of the goverment propaganda used by both sides, the popular justification at the time was a race war, plain and simple. The idea of 'Not using the bomb' for humanitarian reasons was seriously considered. Also, at the time, the long term effects of radiation and nuclear fallout was unknown by the military and never considered a factor in the use of the Bomb.

It is obvious from the historical records that the use of the bomb was rushed. The 'Little Boy' bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima was a enriched Uranium based bomb, while the 'Fat Man' bomb used on Nagasaki was a Plutonium implosion device. But only one bomb was tested at the Trinity site, which was the implosion device. This means that the first bomb dropped on Hiroshima was a design THAT WAS NEVER TESTED!!! Now when the Manhatten Projected was started, it was budgeted as the most expensive military project in the history of the world. During WWII, the only military project to exceed the Manhatten project in costs was the 'Euro Bomber' development which led to the development of the B-29 (which dropped the bomb) and the backup B-32. So what was the motivation for deploying untested, the most expensive weapon of the war??? The general thoughts are...

1. To get Japan to surrender before Russia entered the war against Japan, and keep it from capturing Japanese occupied territory. (This was unsuccessful, as Russia did declare war against Japan in the closing weeks of the war, and seized a lot of territory)

2. To influence Russia on the strength of US military power. At the time, in negotiations for control of the captured territories in Europe, Russia was already consolidating control of Eastern Europe, and setting up the boundries that would later be known as the 'Iron Curtain'

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