If the Omaha Beach push had failed.....

[SteyrAUG]

There are estimates that a ground campaign to subdue the Japanese mainland would have nearly doubled the U.S. casualties up to that point in the entire war in both theaters combined. That was (rightfully) unacceptable. To have an A-bomb and not use it at that point would have been insane as well as reckless. Whether the U.S. originally planned on it being for Germany and whether we had an "unfair" view of the worth of Japanese life, it is irrelevant. The Germans would (and did) surrender, albeit it at high cost to the Allies doing it. The Japanese were fanatical.

Not many people know this but we expected so many casualties related to a mainland invasion of Japan all the Purple Heart decorations produced in 1945 were not issued until the first Persian Gulf War.

[MountainRaven]

Not many people know this but we expected so many casualties related to a mainland invasion of Japan all the Purple Heart decorations produced in 1945 were not issued until the first Persian Gulf War.

Actually, we're still using them.

Link.

They've just been updated as needed and mixed in with new stock since Vietnam.

[SteyrAUG]

Actually, we're still using them.

Link.

They've just been updated as needed and mixed in with new stock since Vietnam.

Wow, I thought that by the Iraq war we finally handed them all out.

[sundance435]

Actually, we're still using them.

Link.

They've just been updated as needed and mixed in with new stock since Vietnam.

Wow, that's crazy. I had never heard that. I see the "1 million casualties" number pretty often, but the military's own estimate was anywhere from 250,000 up. Still, I don't fault Truman at all for dropping the bomb. Any more U.S. deaths at that point would have been too many.

[SteyrAUG]

Wow, that's crazy. I had never heard that. I see the "1 million casualties" number pretty often, but the military's own estimate was anywhere from 250,000 up. Still, I don't fault Truman at all for dropping the bomb. Any more U.S. deaths at that point would have been too many.

Honestly, Truman saved millions of Japanese lives as well. If we did a mainland invasion, nearly the entire population was willing to meet Marines with bamboo spears if necessary and we are talking men, women and children. The bombs and our willingness to use them also prevented a Soviet invasion in northern Japan that would have happened the moment we invaded the south and at best this would have resulted in a partitioned Japan with a communist north and a southern republic.

The Russians were pretty eager to payback Japan for the Russo-Japanese war and would have loved to have grabbed some Hokkaido real estate.

[ABNAK]

Honestly, Truman saved millions of Japanese lives as well. If we did a mainland invasion, nearly the entire population was willing to meet Marines with bamboo spears if necessary and we are talking men, women and children. The bombs and our willingness to use them also prevented a Soviet invasion in northern Japan that would have happened the moment we invaded the south and at best this would have resulted in a partitioned Japan with a communist north and a southern republic.

The Russians were pretty eager to payback Japan for the Russo-Japanese war and would have loved to have grabbed some Hokkaido real estate.

I believe it was Admiral Halsey that said [paraphrasing] "If we have to invade Japan it will be a language spoken only in Hell".

[flenna]

I believe it was Admiral Halsey that said [paraphrasing] "If we have to invade Japan it will be a language spoken only in Hell".

Said when Admirals and Generals were expected to be fighting men and not PC politicians. Can you imagine an admiral saying that today?

[SteyrAUG]

Said when Admirals and Generals were expected to be fighting men and not PC politicians. Can you imagine an admiral saying that today?

We also used to have a "War Department" and not a "Department of Defense."

[Diamondback]

I believe it was Admiral Halsey that said [paraphrasing] "If we have to invade Japan it will be a language spoken only in Hell".

I believe his exact quote was, "By the time we're through, the Japanese language will be spoken only in Hell." Sorry, WWII History major/aspiring professor... I live for this shit.

[sundance435]

We also used to have a "War Department" and not a "Department of Defense."

Most PC name change in U.S. history. Bring back the "War" Department.