Taratara- excellent articles.
On one point you are mistaken. The bombs could not have been used in Europe because they were not ready. The bombing of Dresden happened on February 13, 1945. Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945. The first atomic bomb test didn't happen until July 16, 1945- over two months later. I think it is ridiculous to charge that we would not have used it on Germany if it had been ready a year earlier. Until Allied troops crossed the German Frontier, victory was not a certainty and the bombs almost certainly would have been used.
On the other point, we disagree. Japan did not surrender after the firebombing of Tokyo March 9-10, 1945. Nor did ten more days of intense bombing of nine other cities that resulted in over 500,000 deaths result in a surrender. Neither did the sinking of the Emperial Navy including the Yamato, nor the fall of
Okinawa in June and July of 1945. Japan did not surrender after the Potsdam Declaration on July 26, 1945. Japan continued to resist ferociously- taking an enormous toll on both sides. There was no indication of any desire to surrender until after both bombs had fallen.
The military had specific invasion plans, and was in the initial stages of moving the men and material necessary for it. The United States economy was busy producing more incidiary bombs, and heavy bombs, as well as shells for the heavy naval guns for a protracted "softening up" campaign of
Hokkaido and souther
Kyushu. War spending for 1946 was set to increase- in spite of the fact that Germany had already surrendered. Japan still had millions of soldiers and many more millions of civillians who were willing and able to keep fighting for years. They may have been on the ropes, but they were still capable of inflicting damage and fighting on and on.
Admiral Leahy was the only one that expressed reservations before hand, although Truman indicated that he recommended using the bomb. No other major leader of the few that were informed in the Pentagon or on the Dept. of War raised any concerns. Sec. Stimson, Gen. Leslie Groves, Adm. Nimitz, Gen. McArthur, Adm. Halsey, and Gen. LeMay all urged the dropping of the bomb. (Eisenhower was not informed until after the decision had been made.) Many of the scientist on the Manhatten project were concerned including Oppenheimer and sent a letter to Truman to that effect, but Truman never indicated whether he even read it. I don't know what the source is but if Nimitz expressed a reservation about dropping the bomb, it must have been much, much later.
Nearly every soldier and sailor who served in the Pacific, and certainly every POW that was held by the Japanese will credit the bomb with saving their lives. We need to keep the decision to drop the bomb in context.
I don't think carpet bombing, firebombing, or the atomic bombing of civillians should ever be allowable. Certainly during World War II, it would have been incomprehensible for Americans to consider these acts as atrocities or war crimes- but they certainly were attrocious. The military leadership and the public at large believed that not only were these actions neccessary, they were justified. And it is difficult for me, sixty years later, in my safe cushiony seat to judge that attitude. These people did not initiate the conflict, but they did end it in the quickest most efficient way the knew of.