The Allies circulated a lot of propaganda(fake news) to raise their fighting spirit, like now. For example, one of them was the Nanjing Massacre which was fabricated by anti-Japanese activists Missionary John Magee in the United States. Later, it has been used by the Allies repeatedly. Saying "This is what the Japanese soldiers did," he was showing footage of several Chinese on the ground in the United States. (BTW I couldn't help but remember his footage when I saw the footage called "The Bucha Massacre.") And Magee spread the lie in the United States that 50,000 Japanese soldiers killed 42,000 Chinese civilians. However, Japanese soldiers who actually entered Nanking was only about 3,000. Yes, this missionary was a liar. Then, this story was further distorted by the Allies, including Chiang Kai-shek, to justify the war with Japan. CCP insists that the number of victims is 300,000. On the other hand, the number of unarmed people in Nanjing that the National Revolutionary Army announced before fled from Nanjing was 200,000. And when the Japanese troops left Nanjing, there were about 220,000-250,000 citizens in Nanjing. This can be confirmed from multiple records. The reason why the number of people after leaving of Japanese troops is larger than the number announced by the National Revolutionary Army is that Nanjing citizens who had been evacuated for fear of fighting returned Nanking. Anyone who can make an elementary calculation will notice that this story does not make sense.

Do not bark at the wrong tree. Japanese civilians in Tokyo were not responsible for wrongdoings in China which Imperial Army committed. And two wrong do not make a right.

@@MrEjidorie yes the civilians were responsible, as there were war factories in homes all over cities making weapons and parts, small factories., some mom and pop factories. The civilians were just as racist as the military types.

@@jamesharrigan7063 >he civilians were responsible If so, how can you justify killing of civilians` children, toddlers and babies? Did they commit any war crimes which were punishable by horrible death? And were American children also responsible for A-bombings on noncombatants in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

@@MrEjidorie war is hell, especially if it’s falling from the sky and your defenses have been cut to threads. Hopefully Japan got the message, …Seek peace, cooperation instead of racism.

I hope that Lemay’s help with the growth of a secret government comes out - our Constitutional government is in danger because of Lemay

He covered that from the first which I extrapolated as the most important factor in the change of tactics..

The leaflet dropping excuse is convenient at best. It’s absolutely ridiculous to believe that we can expect millions of people to leave their homes and go live in the wilderness for no other reason than a air raid is coming In 1945.. no one knew what napalm was, radiation poisoning, Atomic bombs (which were dropped in rush hour traffic to maximize civilian casualties)

Basically one human lifespan...hard to believe. What's also remarkable is how Japan rebuilt itself into perhaps the most sophisticated urban environment on the planet.

They carried 5 states and took 46 electoral votes, it was higher than any third party ever had, I'm not sure about since then because I remember Ross Perot and I believe it was Admiral Stansfield Turner as his VP candidate that did well back when they ran but I don't know if they beat that. But I would have to say he helped quite a bit based on those election results, I'm a veteran and knowing the mindset of veterans the men who served under LeMay probably almost 100% voted for the ticket he was on, even the majority of guy's who'd have bitched about him during and after the war still would have voted for him (the ticket he was on actually), and there was a lot of guy's under his command during the war including when he was in Europe before he went to the Pacific, you can bet that same thing helped Eisenhower get elected, you've also got their popularity with the public if they got good headlines during a war that's going to draw votes so yea, he definitely bolstered Wallace's chances, once again they did set the record for percentage of votes taken for that time and at least way up to the Perot/Turner 3rd party campaign about 30 years later. It's my honest belief that any candidate that's been a military commander of large groups of men (and women nowadays) will receive the vast majority of their votes, I'm talking people who'd have been in command of entire Army Groups, entire Theaters of Operations etc etc, because it'd take those kinds of number's to sway things, plus again they're generally the one's who got headlines during the war which will draw in votes with the general public, after all LeMay was in charge of the Army Air Force command that dropped the bombs that ended the war, you can bet there was plenty in the public that saw it that way no matter how inaccurate that simplification of it may be, plus for years he had his image splattered all over as the commander of the Strategic Air Command plus being neck deep in things during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

I used to live in Hiroshima for about two years in early 1980`s, and a lot of A-bomb survivors (Hibakusha in Japanese) were still alive at that time. As far as I know, none of them had grudges against Americans, but they expressed their strong wish that Hiroshima would be the first and last A-bombed city in the world.

Next time don't attack people

I'll second that much but wager on nothing.

The people of Nanking would have been tickled pink at hearing the fate of the Japanese.

Japanese plan's were one thing but I doubt that the Allies would have met the resistance that a lot of people think, all those images on film of the Japanese people training for an invasion all were made back before Operation Starvation was launched, Japanese resistance on those islands is legendary but first of all those were military men and not civilians, Japan was literally starving to death by the time the bombs were dropped, beyond what the US command understood at the time, they knew they had the Japanese population hurting but they didn't know it was as bad as it was. Soldiers fighting to the last man is one thing, even civilians putting up a fight is still something, but starving civilians, I think after they got a load of the fact that the American Gi's would rather have fed them than kill them all that resistance people think would have happened would have in all reality collapsed, nothing will take the fight out of people like reducing them to walking skeletons. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of these revisionists crying about the use of the bombs, but I just don't think it'd have been the million plus casualties that they were making plans for, I think starving Japanese moms and dad's would rather have seen their children fed at the time than die fruitlessly.

@@dukecraig2402 The one thing the Japanese planners were worried about the most is what the public would do once the military started confiscating food from the populace as they often did in China. Nevertheless at the time of the Nuclear bombings there was no inclination for the military dominated cabinet ruling Japan to consider any talk at all of ending the war until after our invasion. That was the record until the Emperor intervened. For one thing there is no telling what we would've had to go through without the Emperor's directive. The Soviet's took the overwhelming majority of IJA troops in Manchuria prisoner after Hirohito's directive. What were left fought fanatically to their death. As far as the planning on both sides goes: DL Giangreco's research is worth considering.

Lemay was hero. His only concern was to end the war as soon as possible and therefore save the lives of his men. The Japanese intransigence in the face of defeat is why Japan burned.

I was commenting on a review of "Dr. strangelove,"which undoubtedly is a great movie that lampooned the crap out of Gen. LeMay because he was so hawkish as the SAC commander but I think ultimately MAD and the real threat of overwhelming US nuclear strikes kept the peace and won the cold war.

LeMay calculated that without guns and gunners, the bombers could deliver more incendiary munitions per plane lost. They bombed at low altitude at night where the Japanese air defences were almost non existent. His every calculation was the destruction of Japan with the least loss of life of his men.

It's true

I caught the same thing and understand the question. 11 crew members per plane × 200 planes = 2200 men. Did the crew who would normally man the various machine guns (that were stripped) just go along for the ride? If so, why?

It’s not necessary at all. Because the Japanese government was about to surrender. From beginning of 1945, Japan had been offering peace talks to the United States through Mr. Dulles of the OSS (the predecessor agency of the CIA) in Switzerland. Since Washington had not responded, Japan also asked the Soviet Union to mediate negotiations to end the war based on the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact in February 1945.

@@115islandscompass6 " Japan had been offering peace talks to the United States through Mr. Dulles of the OSS " More made up nonsense . The ONLY Japanese Diplomat who had official sanction was Sato in Moscow . Sato was sent to Moscow to see if the Soviets would mediate terms . Any terms put forward by Sato were rejected by Tojo , Japan's foreign minister ( one of the Big Six ) . At no time did Japan's government ever propose any terms . The Big Six rejected the Potsdam Declaration , instead , they initiated Operation Ketsu Go wanted to kill as many Americans as possible , regardless of how many Japanese died , so that Truman and his advisors would seek an armistice . .

@@user-td5dg7ch1l Firstly, The OSS was the predecessor of the CIA. So the PDF file of this record is posted on the CIA website and can be read by anyone. If you want to read it, search for the name of the following PDF file: “Memoranda for the President: Japanese Feelers”

@@user-td5dg7ch1l About the mediation request to the Soviet Union The very first part of the above record shows that Emperor Showa was the first to act to end the war. The United States was spreading propaganda to the world that Japan was an evil military state under the dictatorship of the Emperor. Nevertheless, they shamelessly ignored the call for peace talks of "that DICTATOR, as they called it." And even after that, the United States continued to ignore the Japanese government's proposals for several months and did not reply at all. Therefore, the Japanese government requested the Soviet Union to mediate with the Allies under the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact. Although Stalin was reluctant to accept repeated requests from Japan, he never said NO until he declared war on Japan on August 9.

@@user-td5dg7ch1l About the U.S. lie that Japan's Big 6 rejected the Potsdam Declaration Cabinet records after receiving the Potsdam Declaration show that leaders shared the perception that rejecting it would be dangerous. On the other hand, there was also the perception that it was dangerous for the Japanese government to publicly announce that it was in the final stages of ending the war. This was because there were many communist spies in Japan who were looking for an opportunity for revolution after losing the war. In fact, the Venona Papers reveal that Japan's defeat revolution and making Japan a communist state were planned, and that about 50,000 communist spies in Japan had been looking for an opportunity to carry their plans out. Truman said that he permitted the atomic bombings because the Japanese government “rejected” the Potsdam Declaration, but that was completely a lie. The Japanese government had not replied the United States anything. It was a British newspaper that reported that the Japanese government rejected the Potsdam Declaration. It is inferred that the British newspaper probably wrote so because the Asahi Shimbun wrote that the Japanese government ignored the Potsdam Declaration. This Asahi Shimbun report has been said to be the words of Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki. But even that is questionable. According to memos of newspaper reporters at the time, when Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki was surrounded by reporters and questioned about the Potsdam Declaration, he tried to avoid giving a clear answer, stating that he did not attach importance to the Potsdam Declaration and so on. It's considered his action was for detering communist espionage, as mentioned above. He then said "no comment" and walked away to prevent further reporters from asking questions. The Mainichi Shimbun and the Yomiuri Shimbun reported on this as "laughing off(笑止)", but the Asahi Shimbun reported "silently ignoring(黙殺)". Shigenori Togo, who was the Minister of Foreign Affairs, strongly denied the Asahi‘s report, but the Asahi Shimbun did ignore Togo, and British newspapers also ignored the Foreign Minister's words.

Good point. I don't know if you've heard of this pretty insane sounding research but FDR was ready to burn Japanese cities with little incendiaries attached to Bats . . . That's right . . . Bats. And without even using them it should've made sci fi bats vs Godzilla movies happen post war. But it was known from the outset that flammable vulnerability. It's a violation of KZfaq guidelines to post links in comments of other poster's videos but "Bat incendiary bombs " is a good google that proves truth is stranger than fiction. . To briefly summarize some dentist that knows Elanor Roosevelt gets an audience with the President and talks him into sponsorship . FDR contacts the pertinent military commanders, vouches for the Doctor's sanity and directs them to accommodate the doctor's program which results in loose bats with incendiaries attached setting the base afire and burning up the Base Commanders Car before eventually being cancelled. Some say preempted by the "Manhattan Project" but I suspect the viability of it being unexpected and so the ludicrous appearance was less entertaining to military hosts who just might've said in effect: "We ain't wearing this project anymore!" What I think appealed to FDR was the message of approval for the incendiary direction, perhaps without having to formalize it. Napalm was first used in the Pacific by P47Ns during the amphibious landings on Saipan. Saipan was the better alternative after B29 bases having been forced completely out of range" in China by Japans largest offensive of the war, from Indo China throughout eastern China to Manchuria, "Operation Ichi-Go in '44 evidenced the potency that remained with the IJA to destroy a sizable adversary enough to have sealed the fate of the Nationalist Government in the inevitable postwar conflict. Mao Zedong's larger evolved force was sidelined by De Facto arrangement with the IJA and so not affected with anything near any similar attrition damage and further benefited by a more prescient and dedicated sponsor country in the USSR as directed by Stalin..Stalin handed Manchuria back to China upon Mao's seizing the power of mainland China in '49..Ironically reversing that gesture from the result of the negotiated end of the Russo Japanese war.

"the Bomb was important for giving the Japanese a face saving excuse to surrender"? Absolutely it's wrong. From beginning of 1945, Japan had been requesting peace talks to the United States through Mr. Dulles of the OSS (the predecessor agency of the CIA) in Switzerland. The record of repeated contacts calling for peace talks from the Japanese government can be found on the CIA website as a PDF file with the following name: “Memoranda for the President: Japanese Feelers” This PDF file shows that the Government of Japan was asking the United States to talk the end of the war repeatedly. And it was recorded that they admitted defeat and argued that retention of the Emperor was the only condition for surrender, which was necessary to prevent Japan from becoming a communist nation. The draft of the Potsdam Declaration was supervised by Joseph Grew, the former ambassador to Japan. The draft contained one sentence authorizing the guarantee of the emperor's status along with some conditions of surrender, such as disarming the Japanese army and not colonizing Japan. Because Grew had heard of the above report, knew well why Japan wanted the retention of the Emperor, and knew that Japan would surrender as soon as the Potsdam Declaration allowed the retention of the Emperor. This Grew’s action is proven by the Truman memoir. It says: "Grew arrived at the end of May and suggested to make a declaration urging Japan to surrender. The declaration provided Japan with a guarantee that the United States would allow the Emperor to remain head of state." "I told him that I had already considered this issue and that (Grew's suggestion) seemed like a sound opinion." However, when the Potsdam Declaration was read out, the sentence guaranteeing the emperor's retention was deleted. Because the United States wanted to conduct a test on the dropping of the completed nuclear bomb against “the Japanese”. Since Washington had not responded, Japan also asked the Soviet Union to mediate negotiations to end the war based on the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact in February 1945. In other words, Japan raised a white flag to the United States and the Soviet Union, but they did not reply at all until the Potsdam Declaration. Without replying, the U.S. military carried out air raids on 430 cities in Japan. In the 3/10 Tokyo air raid in 1945, more than 100,000 Japanese civilians were burned to death in 2 hours. Westerners often interpret that Japan did not have the will to surrender to the Allies because it was preparing for the decisive battle on the mainland. However, when the enemy is ignoring you for a ceasefire consultation and attacking, it is quite natural to prepare for the next possible attack "landing operation on the country", isn't it? Kantaro Suzuki was the Prime Minister, who was clearly appointed by the Emperor with the intention of ending the war. For the Japanese government, the Potsdam Declaration was a response from the United States that had finally arrived after several months of negotiations to end the war. So Prime Minister Suzuki tried to proceed with the acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration. But what hindered it was that there was no wording to guarantee the Emperor's position. Suzuki inquired about this, but the United States did not reply. Even after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, there were military leaders who insisted that they should wait for the mediation of the Soviet Union. It also affected the fact that the number of victims reported from Hiroshima was less than the number of victims of the March 10 Tokyo air raid. So, the Japanese government could not accept the Potsdam Declaration immediately because some of leaders refused to accept the Potsdam Declaration. However, on August 9, the Soviet started invasion. This invasion cut off the hopes of some leaders who were pro-Soviets, so Japan accepted the Potsdam Declaration.

In addition, the indiscriminate genocide of civilians by airstrikes and atomic bombings on Japanese cities took place after Japan raised the white flag as mentioned in the comments above. From this, I am convinced that the United States tried to kill as many Japanese as possible in order to ease the occupation of Japan after the war.

Just have to ask: What would have greater influence on your decision making ? 1) Threat of nuclear annihilation of to major cities. OR 2) Attack on your your distant army, separated from your homeland by hundreds of miles and a significant body of water.

@@115islandscompass6As a Japanese national, it`s hard to believe that A-bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki contributed Japan`s unconditional surrender. Japanese leaders knew that Japan`s defeat was almost unavoidable when Imperial Navy was annihilated at the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October, 1944. In addition, Japanese confidence was completely shattered by the Great Tokyo Air Raid of March 10th ,1945 and more than 100 thousands Tokyoites were scorched to death. So Japanese leaders attempted to capitulate to the United States in a favorable condition as possible. Their top priority was that Emperor Hirohito might be immune to war crimes which Imperial Japan had committed. Japanese leaders expected the Soviet Union to work as a mediator between the United States and Imperial Japan. However, the Soviet Union annulled the Russo-Japanese Nonaggression Pact on August 9th, 1945 and declare a war against Japan out of the blue. That was Japan`s last straw, and Emperor Hirohito decided to accept Potsdam Declaration. The United States knew Imperial Japan was on the rope, and its ostensible purpose of A-bombings was to induce Japan to accept the Potsdam Declaration. But her real objective was to contain the Soviet Union by demonstrating A-bombs` destructive power.

More recent scholarship has shown that Hirohito made the decision to surrender on the afternoon of the 8th. The Russians invaded AFTER that. While that was a concern for the army commanders on the Asian mainland, it was not that big a factor for Hirohito and the Big Six.

Since 1927, the United States began ordering Chinese warlords to conduct anti-Japanese campaigns in exchange for financial and arms support. That was in order to disturb Japan from expanding its interests in China through friendship and business. The Chinese warlords sabotaged Japanese commercial facilities, looted/raped/massacred ordinary Japanese residents, and attacked/kidnapped&slaughtered Japanese soldiers. (eg: Tongzhou incident) The atrocities of anti-Japanese terrorism against those Japanese residents and Japanese soldiers were the cause of the Manchurian Incident and the China Incident. However, the Allies twisted those things, such as "Japan is an evil expansionist country and invaded China." Because of the China-Japanese War provoked by the United States behind the scenes, the United States notified the cancellation of the Japan-U.S. Treaty of Commerce and Navigation in 1940 and revoked it. This restricted U.S. exports of iron and oil to Japan. After that, Japan entered French Indochina with the permission of the French government to shut off the Chiang Kai-shek support route from the United States. Because Chiang Kai-shek had ignored the repeated requests for ceasefire talks from Japan and prolonged the war. This Japanese entry into Indochina was branded as an invasion by the United States. Because of this, the United States imposed economic sanctions such as a total ban on oil exports to Japan and at the same time as freezing assets against Japan. At that time, Japan was cornered in a very troubled situation because it depended on the United States for resources such as iron and oil. On August 12, 1941, Roosevelt held a secret meeting on the Navy heavy cruiser Augusta with Churchill, who visited on the cruiser Prince of Wales, off Newfound Round Island in Canada. Already at that time, Roosevelt and Churchill had decided that they forced Japan into a war with the United States, and decided that after defeating Japan, they would never again allow it to have the ability to self-defense. This was 4 months BEFORE the attack on Pearl Harbor attack. In short, even before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States and Britain had decided to make Japan a colony of the United States after fighting and destroying with Japan. In other words, the United States was going to keep provoking until Japan made a preemptive strike. Incidentally, the United States was preparing to start a war against Japan from the United States in China in case Japan did not make a preemptive attack. This attack plan was called “JB. No. 355.”

Actually the war was really over in mid ‘44. HOWEVER the IJG showed no concerned for their own people but for their own honor and elected to pursue a lost war

100,000 burned to death vs millions starved to death. That was the math they had to work with in early 1945.

"lost the war" and "surrendered unconditionally as per the Potsdam declaration" are two very different things.

Another factor that I wouldn't have risked doing without. Perhaps the most cost effective one but arguably the most brutal had it been the only one used to force a surrender by starvation. The blockade was crippling their war industry and logistics but hadn't yet resulted in a surrender by the last few days of the war before the other factors were in play.. And the US Navy and Air Force that wanted that option couldn't commit to any projected timeline to make it work while we had a half million servicemen waiting in the theater to back it up as serious intent.