Peter Reynolds

Japanese disdain and disrespect for individual life was demonstrated by their treatment of prisoners of war and their suicidal attitude to military duty.

It was already clear by Iwo Jima that the Japanese strategy was to extract maximum casualties from their opposition in the certainty that they had no hope of victory. Data on casualties show the the US typically suffered three times as many wounded as killed but the Japanese literally fought to the death leaving very few wounded.

The two major battles before the atomic bomb was dropped were Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

Iwo Jima Deaths

US. 6,821
Japan. 17,845

Okinawa Deaths

US. 14,010
Japan. 77,823
Okinawan civilians. 149,634

US deaths for the invasion of Japan were estimated to be between 400,000 and 800,000. Japanese deaths were estimated to be over a million with civilian deaths of millions more.

The Hiroshima bomb is estimated to have killed 135,000 including immediate and longer term deaths. The Nagasaki bomb caused a total of 50,000 deaths.

In my view the atomic bombs saved millions of lives and were justified.