“The top priority for President Truman was to end the war as quickly as possible with the fewest U.S. casualties.”
“By mid-1945, it was apparent that the collapse of Japan was near and the Allies had to plan for the invasion of the Japanese mainland – something that they knew would be very costly in terms of lives lost.”
Both the Army and Navy were coming up with ideas to finish the war. The Navy wanted to continue …show more content…
Japanese casualties were estimated at 10 million.
Two known dangers were; the Japanese becoming even more dangerous with defeat “In fact, between mid-April 1945 and mid-July, Japanese forces inflicted Allied casualties totaling nearly half those suffered in three full years of war in the Pacific, proving that Japan had become even more deadly when faced with defeat.” And the Japanese knowing that there would only be two possible beaches for the Americans to launch large scale amphibious assaults on.
Other alternatives considered were using chemical weapons and/or waiting for the Soviets to enter the war. Even though the U.S. didn’t sign the Geneva Convention, outlawing the use of chemical weapons, many officers had ethical concerns about using them. Many officers felt that the Soviet invasion of Manchuria would help, but would not be enough.
History often depicts that Truman never fully understood the destructive nature, when in fact he did. “Certainly, the power of this new weapon was understood before its use against Japan. President Truman stated that “it was the most terrible thing ever