I also just finished reading "Downfall: The End of the Japanese Empire" by Richard B. Frank.
Amazon product
This is an absolutely 10-star book (on a 5-star scale).
In the run-up to the 50th anniversary to the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima the revisionist view (i.e., that the bombing was immoral, unethical, and unnecessary) gained a previously unseen level of support (which continues to this day).
Frank demolishes this revisionist view from (it seems to me) every perspective. Well-researched (using materials previously unavailable or poorly/sparsely reviewed) one cannot (if one chooses to be a grown-up about it) reject the view that the bombing was not only moral it was necessary. Why?
Well,
- Japanese leadership played a cynical game with its
Ketsugo plan (which required mass
kamikaze attacks and the complete commitment of the Japanese civilian population),
- U.S. public support for a continuing war in the Pacific was falling precipitously following V-E Day,
- U.S. military assumptions about the Japanese defense of Kyushu were criminally low,
- various senior U.S. leaders played games against each other to ensure their services would get the glory (e.g., MacArthur, King) and some (e.g., Marshall) knowingly mis-briefed (i.e., lied to) Truman,
- and alternative strategies offered up by U.S. senior military leaders would have caused not just millions of U.S. casualties, but also tens of millions of civilian casualties (Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, etc.).
What to get an excellent overview of the massively complex matrix of factors that led up to the bombing? Read this book. Want to read and learn about how difficult strategy is in real-time (rather than in hindsight)? Read this book. Want to read proof that Hirohito wasn't a pawn and that he fully backed Imperial Japanese Army (& Navy) war plans? Read the book.
Btw, Frank's case has been bolstered in recent years with newer material coming to light. A documentary in Japan (2010 or so) revealed (or at least pointed me to other research) that it was the second bomb (i.e., the plutonium bomb dropped (off-target) on Nagasaki that finally convinced Japanese leadership to sue for unconditional peace. Apparently, Japanese scientists didn't believe the U.S. had a functioning hydrogen-based atomic bomb, but after it was dropped thought the U.S. couldn't have many in stock because they rightly understood that hydrogen-based bombs were tricky to produce. The Japanese scientists also didn't believe a plutonium-based bomb was at all possible and were floored to learn that the Nagasaki bomb was plutonium-based. This info, coupled with "intel" gotten from a downed/captured P-51 pilot under torture (the pilot made up the entire story!) caused the Japanese to believe the U.S. had scores of plutonium bombs ready and waiting to be dropped (when, in fact, there was only one more available and enroute and others would have taken weeks/months to make/get in-theater/assemble).
Excellent book. Absolutely excellent book.
--- End of line (MCP)