Re: Sometimes ya just gotta nuke em

["James M. Cobb" <jcobb@ahcbsd1.ovnet.com>]

  Rich, 
 
 
  Neither dropping nuclear weapons on Japanese cities nor an invasion 
  of Japan was necessary to secure surrender of the Japanese government. 
 
  David Kahn explains: 
 
    Communications intelligence contributed...in major ways to the 
    Allies' Pacific victory.  It stepped up American submarine sinkings 
    of the Japanese merchant fleet by one third. This cutting of Japan's 
    lifelines was, Premier Hideki Tojo said after the war, one of the 
    major factors that defeated Japan. 
 
       David Kahn.  "Codebreaking in World Wars I and II: The 
       Major Successes and Failures, Their Causes and Their 
       Effects" (1980).  In: Kahn on Codes: Secrets of the New 
       Cryptology.  Macmillan Publishing Co.  1983.  Page 108. 
 
 
    The water transport intercepts should provide case after case of how 
    American submarines won one of the most important victories in the 
    Pacific: the sinking of the Japanese merchant fleet.... 
 
       Kahn.  "Opportunities in Cryptology for Historians."  Op 
       cit.  P 289. 
  
 
    Some information came out shortly after World War II, when we 
    all heard about how we broke some Japanese codes before Pearl 
    Harbor, which...did help very much...in the successful American 
    submarine blockade of Japan, which very largely brought the Jap- 
    anese empire to its knees. 
 
       Kahn.  "Signals Intelligence in the 1980s" (1981).  Op cit. 
       P 292. 
 
   
 
             In other words, it was Starvation City. 
             --------------------------------------- 
 
  As an aside. these three quotations from Kahn on Codes, a collection 
  of articles, show that David's views in this regard are consistent 
  over the years. 
 
  Continuing-- 
 
  Dropping nuclear weapons on Japanese cities or an invasion of Japan 
  was not necessary to secure surrender of the Japanese government. 
   
  William Langer explains: 
 
    In the greatest air offensive in history [during May, June, and 
    July 1945] United States land-based and carrier-based aircraft des- 
    troyed or immobilized the remnants of the Japanese navy, shattered 
    Japanese industry, and curtailed Japanese sea communications by sub- 
    marine and air attack and extensive minefields.  United States bat- 
    tleships moved in to shell densely populated cities with impunity 
    and the Twentieth Air Force dropped 40,000 tons of bombs on Japanese 
    industrial centers in one month. 
 
       William Langer.  An Encyclopedia of World History. 
       Houghton Mifflin Co.  1948.  Page 1169. 

 
                    It was Devastation City. 
                    ------------------------ 

  Then why Hiroshima and Nagasaki? 
 
  There were two main reasons nuclear weapons were dropped on Japanese 
  cities: 
 
       (1)  generally, to proclaim Pax Americana...with a bang 
 
       (2)  specifically, to declare war on the Soviet Union. 
 
 
  For the sake of completeness, let's ask:  If it really had been 
  necessary to drop nuclear weapons on Japan in order to compel the 
  Japanese government to surrender, should they have been dropped? 
 
  Without hesitation. 
 
 
  Cordially, 
 
  Jim 
 
 

 
  NOTE.  The first part of the "Opportunities" article was published 
  in 1972.  The second part, dealing with World War II, was written 
  perhaps a decade later for publication in the collection.