Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 4.3bsd-beta 6/6/85; site ucbvax.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!ucbvax!csanders From: csanders@ucbvax.ARPA (Craig S. Anderson) Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: America-bashing (use of atomic bomb) Message-ID: <10080@ucbvax.ARPA> Date: Thu, 22-Aug-85 01:23:33 EDT Article-I.D.: ucbvax.10080 Posted: Thu Aug 22 01:23:33 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 24-Aug-85 14:34:33 EDT References: <3268@drutx.UUCP> <10615@rochester.UUCP> <1733@mnetor.UUCP> <2326@watcgl.UUCP> <655@utai.UUCP> <2371@watcgl.UUCP> Reply-To: csanders@ucbvax.UUCP (Craig S. Anderson) Organization: University of California at Berkeley Lines: 47 In article <2371@watcgl.UUCP> jchapman@watcgl.UUCP (john chapman) writes: >> > 1. apparently the US joint chiefs estimated US deaths at 50,000 if >> > the war was fought to a close with conventional weapons. Depending >> > on who you are saving 50,000 american lives in return for killing >> > 200,000 japanese lives might seem like a good trade but it is not >> > true that more lives would have been lost without the bomb. >> >> Just a point: General MacArthur estimated that a conventional assault >> on the Japanese islands would result in the deaths of 1,000,000 American >> soldiers (my source is the TV series "American Caesar"). Note that this >> count includes ONLY American servicemen. Remember that there would also be >> approximately 500,000 British troops involved in the invasion (source: >> "Triumph and Tragedy" by Winston Churchill) as well as a large number of >> troops from the Soviet Union. Thus I think that your claim of trading >> 50,000 American lives for 200,000 Japanese lives is somewhat incorrect. >> >> >> Ven Seshadri >> University of Toronto >> Artificial Intelligence Laboratory > >My source was an american historian (sorry, can't remember his name) who >was being interviewed by the CBC. His point was that while there were >people (he didn't mention MacArthur by name) who believed that >>200,000 >lives would be lost, the historical record shows the opinion of the >Joint Chiefs at the time to be what I said originally. If you want to >argue whose numbers are correct call CBC, find out who the guy was and >talk to him - not me; I think his comments are sufficient reason to >believe that things were not quite so cut and dried as we are usually >led to believe. > American casualties on Okinowa (sp) were about 77,000. Over 122,000 Japanese soldiers died in the battle, many by committing suicide. Given that there were 'only' 122,000 soldiers on the island, vs. anywhere from 2-4 million regulars plus 5-10 million militia on the four main islands, it is easy to see where people get the figure of a million American casualties. Craig Anderson >-- > > John Chapman > ...!watmath!watcgl!jchapman > > Disclaimer : These are not the opinions of anyone but me > and they may not even be mine.