Today marks 70 years since Japan's unconditional surrender, marking the end of the bloodiest war in history. Lest we forget.

Lest we forget.

Times have changed and they're back to being allies.

But back then, thank God for the atom bomb.
If the USAF hadn't dropped those weapons on mainland Japan, I don't think there would be enough manpower, small arms/artillery ammunition or aircraft delivered munitions to ensure a successful prosecution of the invasion.

Lest we forget.

I've been following a few stories on how the atom bomb shaped Japans surrender but I'm increasingly seeing more and more articles on historians arguing whether it was the Atomic bomb or the Soviet deceleration of war which really brought Japan to breaking point. I believe it was a combination of the both. It'll be interesting to see how this viewpoint is shaped over the next few decades though.

http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/30/the ... talin-did/

Given that there was a coup attempt against the Emperor to NOT surrender and continue fighting from certain junior elements of the Imperial Forces, I'd suggest that it was predominantly the two physics packages.

Although the news of the Russians declaring hostile intent would have weighed heavily on the high command suppressing the coup attempt.

Have a read:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyūjō_incident

Lest we forget