Not exactly accurate. There were feelers from elements of the government seeking terms but they were not supported by the military, the militarists and, most important, the Emperor.
On top of that the allies were unwilling to discuss anything but unconditional surrender.
Add to the two bombings the declaration of war by Russia the day after Nagasaki and the Japanese government finally understood it had no choice but to surrender....unconditionally.
In neither case did strategic bombing end the war.
Germany didn't surrender until the Russians spent hundreds of thousands of lives invading and occupying Berlin. And then they fought bitterly until Hitler killed himself.
In Japan it took two bombs to convince the Emperor to quit. Until then they were suffering nightly raids, usually firebombings, that killed more people than either Hiroshima or Nagasaki.
Absent the atomic and nuclear bombs we would have had to invade the home islands at an almost unimaginable cost in American and Japanese lives.
Yes! I'm not sure most people understand how different things would have been, in both the east and west, without Russia.
Not exactly accurate. There were feelers from elements of the government seeking terms but they were not supported by the military, the militarists and, most important, the Emperor.
On top of that the allies were unwilling to discuss anything but unconditional surrender.
Add to the two bombings the declaration of war by Russia the day after Nagasaki and the Japanese government finally understood it had no choice but to surrender....unconditionally.
Mark,
Sir Arthur Harris' tenure as head of Bomber Command was more than a little controversial. See Dresden.
He did not serve into the post war years. He was promoted to Air Marshal and retired within a few months after the end of the war in 1945.
Mark,
In neither case did strategic bombing end the war.
Germany didn't surrender until the Russians spent hundreds of thousands of lives invading and occupying Berlin. And then they fought bitterly until Hitler killed himself.
In Japan it took two bombs to convince the Emperor to quit. Until then they were suffering nightly raids, usually firebombings, that killed more people than either Hiroshima or Nagasaki.
Absent the atomic and nuclear bombs we would have had to invade the home islands at an almost unimaginable cost in American and Japanese lives.