Sources: All of the information stated in this article is based on reliable sources, and is detailed at the end of the article
Preamble:
We all know that the two atomic bombs dropped by the United States greatly contributed to the surrender of Japan, and many Japanese people still regard them as a national pain.
But after the end of World War II, Churchill said amazingly: The atomic bomb saved the Yamato nation, and without the atomic bomb, Japan would have disappeared.
So why did Churchill make such a judgment, and is there any unknown secret behind the atomic bomb dropped by the United States?
The devastating offensive plans of the United States and the Soviet Union
On July 17, 1945, the leaders of the Soviet Union, the United States, and Britain held a meeting in Potsdam, a suburb of Berlin, to prepare to issue an ultimatum to Japan to force them to surrender.
During this period, U.S. President Harry S. Truman and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin engaged in a fierce rivalry, both trying to end the war in the direction that best served their own countries.
At that time, Roosevelt did not want the Soviet Union to participate in the war against Japan, after all, Japan was at the end of its rope at this time, and if the Soviet Union entered the war, they would reap the benefits of the fisherman at the lowest cost, so they hoped that Japan could surrender before the Soviet Union entered the war.
The Soviet Union, on the other hand, hoped that the United States would take the initiative to invite war because of the existence of the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact.
Obviously, the Soviet demands were contrary to the American ideas, so Roosevelt issued the Postan Proclamation with China and Britain soon after, without consulting the Soviet Union.
This angered Stalin, who immediately ordered the commander-in-chief of the Soviet forces in the Far East, Marshal Vasilevsky, to advance the planned start of the war between August 20 and 25 by 10 to 15 days.
Later, there were rumors that the Soviet Union was even preparing to implement the "Mount Fuji Plan" against Japan at that time.
At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union developed a super-heavy bomb called the "Stalin Bomb", and the "Mount Fuji Project" was that the Soviet Army was preparing to use 500 "Stalin Bombs" to bomb Japan's largest volcano "Mount Fuji" in turn, triggering the eruption of Mount Fuji and causing geological disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis to destroy Japan.
At the same time, the United States was also intensively preparing their offensive plan, and long before the Bostan meeting, the United States was planning a plan called "Operation Decline", which was divided into two parts.
The first part was called "Operation Olympic", and they planned to assemble 24 Allied aircraft carriers, 24 battleships, and more than 400 destroyers and frigates on November 1, 1945. Forcibly landed in Kyushu, Japan, and used Kyushu as a springboard to carry out non-stop bombing of the Japanese mainland.
The U.S. military was then scheduled to carry out the second part of the plan, Operation Little Crown, on March 1, 1946, which was expected to surpass the Normandy landings to become the largest amphibious operation in history.
The U.S. forces planned to land 25 Allied divisions from Japan's Kujukurihama in two directions, with each side heading north and finally meeting in Tokyo.
Of course, Japan was not completely defenseless, just when the Allied forces attacked Japan and prepared for a large-scale attack, Japan also staked its own national fortunes, and in 1945 Japan launched the "Absolute Operation" plan.
It was announced that men aged 19-40 who had never enlisted for military service since their home conscription, veterans aged 40-45 and even teenagers aged 17-19 who had retired from active duty would be given surprise training to increase the number of combat troops by 1.5 million.
Second, it stipulates that all male nationals between the ages of 15 and 60 and female nationals between the ages of 17 and 45, except those who have joined the active military service or served in important scientific research and military industrial units, must be incorporated into the "National Volunteer Combat Corps" to increase the strength of the army by 28 million.
At this time, anyone in Japan could see that they had reached the brink of desperation, and in order to boost people's morale, the Japanese government shouted the slogan of "100 million pieces of jade."
According to the Allied estimates, the Japanese casualties will be more than 3 million, the civilian casualties will be more than 10 million, and there will probably be 30 million civilians suffering famine.
It can be said that if Japan continues to be obsessed, what awaits them is the end of national destruction.
Just as the two sides were about to make a move, the unexpected happened, and on April 12, 1945, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt died.
Little boy and fat man
After Roosevelt's death, Vice President Truman took office as the new president of the United States and urgently attended the Bostan Conference, before which the atomic bomb was a top-secret project in the United States, and almost no one knew about it except President Roosevelt and a few key research and development personnel.
And Truman himself only learned that there was such a "big guy" in the United States after he took office.
However, at the beginning of his tenure, the atomic bomb had not yet been developed, so he attended the Bostan Conference to discuss with the Soviet Union about attacking Japan.
As a result, the day before the conference began, the first atomic bomb of the United States was successfully tested on July 15, 1945. Therefore, the "Postan Proclamation" became an ultimatum issued by the United States to Japan.
Unfortunately, Japan did not realize this, and they were still trying to find a balance between the United States and the Soviet Union to achieve conditional surrender, which meant ensuring the security of the Japanese imperial family, guaranteeing the interests of the Japanese mainland, and being willing to carve up the Northeast with the Soviet Union.
Naturally, the Soviet side did not agree, not because they felt that it was too cheap for Japan, but because they felt that the price given by Japan was too low.
Seeing that the Soviet Union did not react, the Japanese cleverly revealed the news of their negotiation of surrender with the Soviet Union to the United States during the Bostan Conference, in an attempt to put pressure on them to prevent the formation of an agreement.
When Truman learned of this, he ordered the military to drop the bomb on the way back, and now there was no choice.
At 9:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, U.S. planes dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, destroying a city of 42 square kilometers, destroying more than 70% of houses and killing 140,000 people.
Since communications were cut off by an explosion, the Tokyo side did not learn of this until the evening, and they immediately summoned the Soviet ambassador to see their attitude, and until this time they were still reluctant to make the decision to surrender.
On the afternoon of August 8, the Soviet ambassador met with the Japanese representative and announced to him the shocking news that the Soviet government would formally declare war on Japan at midnight on August 9.
In fact, less than an hour after the Soviet statement, they had already started the war, and the Japanese government at this time was completely unprepared.
Even worse was to come, as just two hours after the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, US President Harry S. Truman ordered B-29 bombers carrying the "Fat Man" atomic bomb to attack Japan.
At 11:02 a.m., the atomic bomb exploded over Nagasaki, and at the same time, the Soviet Union in the north launched an attack on the Kwantung Army in the northeast at 5:30 a.m. on the 9th.
This series of punches directly stunned the Japanese government, and after several hours of discussion, they found that they had no choice but to surrender.
On August 10, the Japanese government notified the Allies of their willingness to surrender through neutral Switzerland, and on the 15th, the Japanese emperor issued a surrender instrument, thus ending World War II.
Why is it said that the atomic bomb saved the Japanese people?
Now let's go back to the beginning question, why did the atomic bomb save the Japanese people?
First of all, the two atomic bombs made Japan see the gap between itself and the Allies, so that it gave up the idea of 100 million jade pieces, although the atomic bomb caused huge casualties in Japan, but from another point of view it also saved the lives of countless Japanese civilians.
This is indeed a new life for ordinary Japanese people who have escaped. For the Japanese militarists who planned and started the war, the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were quite merciful compared to the heinous crimes they had committed. How can they not be grateful to Dade?
Second, if Japan chooses to resist to the end, then it will become a second Germany.
After World War II, due to the intervention of the United States and the Soviet Union, Germany was divided into East and West, and if Japan wanted to resist to the end, the same fate awaited them.
At that time, Japan will become the focus of hegemony between the United States and the Soviet Union, and unlike Germany, once Japan is occupied, the Soviet Union will have its own important bases in the Pacific, and in order to drive the other side out of here, the United States and the Soviet Union may engage in a head-on confrontation, or even start another war.
Under the control of the Soviet Union and the United States, the possibility of Japan becoming one is not high.
Whether the Soviet Union destroys Japan, or the Soviet Union and the United States join forces to divide Japan, it will put the country in a state of fragmentation.
Second, after having its own access to the sea, the Soviet Union will also truly have the strength to compete with the United States in the world, and then the countries of the entire East Asian region will be twisted head-on into the camp of the United States and the Soviet Union, and then the mainland, North Korea, South Korea, Vietnam, and other countries will never be as peaceful as they are now.
And under this dragon and tiger struggle, the Soviet Union may not disintegrate so early, and perhaps the two countries will still be in a state of hegemony now.
In a sense, Churchill's words were not an exaggeration, he was merely describing a possible situation.
Of course, if Japan surrenders before the United States drops the atomic bomb, that will be another story.
First of all, Japan could avoid huge population losses, and the puppet Manchurians and puppet Mongolians in China at that time were likely to surrender directly to the Nationalist Government and the United States, and the Soviet Union's gains in the northeast would be minimized, and without the help of the Soviet Union, it would be difficult for us to grow rapidly in the north at that time.
Second, it is very likely that the Korean Peninsula will also surrender directly to the United States, replacing Japan as the new focus of the US-Soviet hegemony.
Of course, all of this is speculation, and looking at the international situation today, we can only say that despite the extreme devastation caused by the atomic bomb, it may also have avoided a more divided and turbulent world from a longer-term historical perspective.
The atomic bomb declared war on the Soviet Union was Japan's last despair before its surrender. This history not only makes us deeply aware of the cruelty and ruthlessness of war, but also reminds us to cherish peace, diplomatic negotiations and international cooperation. Only in this way can we avoid a repetition of the tragedy of history and jointly create a peaceful, stable and prosperous world.
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