What was the situation when truman signed the order to drop atom bomb on japan ?
Answers
The war had all but concluded in Europe but the Japanese were still refusing to surrender, even after the fire bombings of Tokyo which killed up to 100,000 people. As well as many of the smaller island invasions.
110,071 Japanese soldiers were killed during the battle of Okinawa as well as up 20,000 American soldiers. The Americans also lost 6,000 men during the battle for Iwo Jima and the Japanese lost nearly their entire force of 18,000 troops. In Saipan the americans lost 3,000 men and 24,000 Japanese were killed in action and there were over 5,000 suicides on the island. Also the alternative was the land invasion of Japan (operation downfall) which was estimated by supreme commander of the allied forces in the Pacific, Douglas MacArthur, would cost 1.4 million American lives as well as many more Japanese.