I wrote:
> U.S. invasion forces in Japan included 800,000 men, compared to just over > 100,000 in the Normandy invasion. > I meant scheduled invasion forces, in Kyushu. God only knows how many it would have taken to invade Honshu and Tokyo. I knew many soldiers and civilians on both sides and I have no doubt the fighting would have gone on for months or years, with the kind savagery seen the battle of Okinawa, except on an unimaginably larger scale. The U.S. attacked Okinawa with 183,000 men and lost 13,000 killed, in 80 days. As I said, they had 800,000 men prepared to invade Japan, and it would have taken months, or perhaps a year. Japanese deaths in Okinawa were roughly 95,000 soldiers and 120,000 civilians. Incidentally, in the Okinawa war memorial museum they added a "Cornerstone of Peace" memorial, similar to the Vietnam memorial, only it lists everyone, from both sides. It is, "a collection of large stone plates with the names of all fallen soldiers and civilians, including Koreans,Taiwanese, Americans and Britons." I find that gratifying. Regarding the atomic bomb, I think they should have demonstrated one by dropping it over Tokyo Bay in the evening. That probably would have brought the war to an end without Hiroshima or Nagasaki. But we will never know. It is unfair for me to second-guess Truman. I have the benefit of hindsight. I know far more about conditions on the ground in Japan in 1945 than Truman or any U.S. expert could have known. Still, some experts did recommend a demonstration. - Jed
