The Churchill Series – Aug. 22, 2006

(One of a series of weekday posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

In life, we must sometimes choose between alternatives that are “awful” and “more awful.” In war such choices are frequent. New weapons often present such choices. That was the case when America successfully tested an atomic bomb in July, 1945.

Martin Gilbert tells us how Churchill looked at the choice presented to the Allies by the development of the atomic bomb :

On the morning of July 22, [1945], Churchill was given a detailed account of the first atomic bomb test in New Mexico. Inside a one-mile circle the devastation had been absolute.

Churchill then went to see [President] Truman. Churchill later recalled, "we had shaped our ideas towards an assault upon the homeland of Japan by terrific air bombing and by the invasion of very large armies. We had contemplated the desperate resistance of the Japanese fighting to the death with Samurai devotion, not only in pitched battles, but in every cave and dug-out.”

Recalling “the spectacle “ of Okinawa, “where many thousands of Japanese, rather than surrender, had drawn up in line and destroyed themselves by hand-grenades, after their leaders had solemnly performed the rite of hara-kiri,” Churchill realized that to over come Japanese resistance “man by man” and conquer Japan “yard by yard” might require the loss of a million American soldiers and half a million British – or more if we could get them there: for we were resolved to share the agony.”

With the news that the atomic bomb was a reality, “all this nightmare picture had vanished. In its place was the vision – fair and bright indeed it seemed – of the end of the whole war in one or two violent shocks.”

I hope you keep this post handy and use it the next time someone tells you we shouldn’t have dropped those atom bombs.

Churchill really understates the case for the use of the atom bombs to save lives. By August, 1945 tens of thousands of non-combatants – civilians in the vast regions still controlled by Japan and POWs – were dying every day from starvation and deliberate killing. The late historian Stephen Ambrose often said the decisions to drop the bombs saved more lives than any other decision the Allies made during WW II.
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Martin Gilbert, Churchill and America. (p. 360)