Miller, E. (2007). War Plan Orange: The U.S. Strategy to Defeat
Japan, 1897-1945. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press
In this book, the author, Edward Miller, had wrote this book that presented the US planning for response to any Japanese aggression against the United States during the period between World War I and World War II. The operation name Edward Miller wrote about was called War Plan Orange. Ultimately, the conclusion was that War Plan Orange was successful more due to the limited options available to the planners than to any inherent brilliance in planning. The adjustments during the War such as invading the Marianas to supply a long-range bombing base tended to be more decisive than the pre-war plans. Rainbow-5 provided an effective starting point and should not be underestimated. A side point is that the author apparently does not believe that Truman would have invaded Japan if there had been no atomic bomb. As he writes, "... it is questionable that after 292,000 American deaths in all theaters of World War II, any president would have accepted carnage on that scale (of the invasion) as the only option for ending the war." I guess the belief the American public can't sacrifice or has limited staying power in a conflict is alive and well.
Giangreco, D.M. (2009). Hell to Pay: Operation Downfall and the
Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval
Institute Press.
The author of this book, D.M. Giangreco, synthesizes years of research in a perfect analysis of America's motives for using atomic bombs against Japan in 1945. The nuclear bombing of Japan, he concludes, was undertaken in the context of Operation Downfall: a series of invasions of the Japanese islands American planners estimated would initially cause anywhere from a quarter-million to a million U.S. casualties, plus millions of Japanese. Giangreco presents the contexts of America's growing war weariness and declining manpower resources. Above all, he demonstrates the Japanese militarists' continuing belief that they could defeat the U.S. Japan had almost 13,000 planes available for suicide attacks, and plans for the defense of Kyushu, the U.S.'s initial invasion site, were elaborate and sophisticated, deploying over 900,000 men. Faced with this conundrum, in Giangreco's excellent examination, President Truman took what seemed the least appalling option.
C. Evaluation of Sources
Source 1: Hell to Pay: Operation Downfall and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947.
This book was written from a third-party perspective by World War II historian, D.M. Giangreco. The purpose of this work is to inform the reader of the research of the analysis of America's motives for using atomic bombs against Japan in 1945. The value of this source is that it is written from a series of documents collected by various military commanders in the Pacific. Based on the information provided by Giangreco, the reader is able to connect the reasons why President Truman employed the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. One of the limitations of this work is the works the author used his own interpretation from the facts he presents, it allows for the reader insight into a particular interpretation of the facts.
Source 2: War Plan Orange: The U.S. Strategy to Defeat
This book was written from a third-party perspective based on collected documents on pre and post-World War II economies of the United States and its allies and the Empire of Japan. Its main purpose is to inform the reader about the US planning for response to any Japanese aggression against the United States during the period between World War I and World War II. The value of the work is the author used sources from American planning called War Plan Orange. It was successful due to the brilliance in planning-starve the Japanese war machine until submission. One of the limitations found in this book is how it failed to provide information on the perspective of the Japanese and how it diminished their economy.
D. Analysis
With the Japanese army heavily fortified, an invasion that required total surrender would be a daunting task for the United States. Knowing a possible bloodshed, President Truman wanted to drop an atomic bomb on Japan, simply to bring an end to the war as quickly as possible due to the vast amount of bloodshed already loss to both the United States and Japan. Truman found that the only way to end the war was by an invasion of Japan itself, which would only result in mass bloodshed for both sides. So Truman dropped the bomb to scare the Japanese into surrendering, which would end the war quickly and prevent mass casualties.
One of the reasons the bomb decision was President Truman’s priority to the United States Marine Corp and Navy due to the fanatic bravery the Japanese fought. The attitude of the Japanese was simply bizarre as they would not surrender in any circumstances including the civilians. This attitude resulted in mass casualties for the Americans as Japanese women and children were involved in the war. ‘On Tarawa Atoll, only 17 of the 4700 Japanese defenders were left alive at the end of the battle’ (Miller, 2007). This meant that the Americans had to kill all the Japanese to win a battle. These were small islands outside of Japan, where as in mainland Japan it would be far worse with vast casualties. In Okinawa, 80,000 Japanese soldiers were able to hold down 500,000 US soldiers for a month, as they had to look through out the island. This meant that the invasion of Japan would result in a prolonged war. Small islands outside of Japan such as Iwo Jima, which is only 7 square miles, contained 21,000 defenders dug into a detailed underground fortress including 13,000 yards of tunnels, 5,000 pillboxes, and bunkers (Sears, 2008). The Japanese commander Kuribayashi had new tactics of fighting from hidden positions and he told his men they must kill 10 of the enemy before they die themselves. With this attitude 1,083 soldiers surrendered and 6,000 US soldiers died, and such fortresses in Japan itself would be difficult to fight or virtually impossible. ‘Any weapon which would bring an end to the war and save a million casualties among the American boys was justified…atomic bomb would be successful…Japanese to surrender on our terms’ (Miller, 2007), said the US secretary of State in 1945, which may be bias as he would support the decision of dropping the atomic bomb. The kamikaze tactics used by the Japanese meant that planes packed with explosives would be driven into US navy ships causing great damage and casualties.
Another reason the United States resorted to the use of the atomic bomb was due to the feared attacks of the Kamikaze planes. Kamikaze, which means "Divine Wind" in Japanese, was Japan's last attempt to balance the ever increasing technological and material advantage of the American forces advancing to Japan. The Kamikaze attack tactic was suggested on October 19, 1944, by vice-Admiral Onishi of the Japanese Navy, when he was assigned to command the air attacks against the huge American invasion fleet off the Philippines, and then realized that he had less than 100 operational aircraft for this task (Inoguchi & Nakajima, 1958). There was no way to sink or even severely damage the American fleet in any conventional tactic. The solution was obvious. Guided weapons provide dramatically greater accuracy and lethality than unguided weapons, producing much greater damage per weapon unit and per sortie. The new tactic was adopted immediately. Large numbers of pilots initially qualified and experienced pilots and later air cadets with minimal training who were asked to volunteer, were assigned to "Special Attack" air wings, the official name of the Kamikaze units. Posing a threat to the aircraft carriers, the U.S. Navy feared Japan’s determination to fight till death.
E. Conclusion
With Japan’s determination to fight to the last man, woman, and child, as seen in Okinawa, the United States believed if they had invaded Japan in 1945, the casualty rates for both the American forces and the Japanese defenders would be staggering. If was to believe that they would be one million casualties of American forces of the invasion of Japan. While the Japanese soldiers and zealous citizens posed a threat, the Kamikaze units preyed on unsuspecting naval ships in the Pacific. Both of Japan’s determination and Kamikaze attacks had prompted the decision of America’s use of the atomic bomb. Threatening the structure of the American fleet and the safety of the soldiers, the commanders decided to utilize the atomic weapon on Japan at a small Japanese city of Hiroshima.
Bibliography
Giangreco, D.M. (2009). Hell to Pay: Operation Downfall and the
Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval
Institute Press.
Inoguchi, R., & Nakajima, T. (1958). The Divine wind: Japan’s
Kamikaze Force in World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval
Institute Press.
Miller, E. (2007). War Plan Orange: The U.S. Strategy to Defeat
Japan, 1897-1945. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press
Sears, D. (2008). At War with the Winds. New York, New York:
Kensington Publishing Corporation
