17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fair and surprising look at the bombing of Hiroshima., May 28, 1996
By A Customer
This review is from: Code-Name Downfall: The Secret Plan to Invade Japan-And Why Truman Dropped the Bomb (Hardcover)
In Codename Downfall, Allen and Polmar accomplish an amazing feat. In a book describing U.S.
President Harry Truman's decision to use the atom bomb, they make the world's only nuclear attacks
seem almost unimportant.
Fifty years have passed since U.S. bombers annihilated the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
but those events have been debated frequently and furiously ever since. Using insightful research the
authors paint so terrible a picture of the Pacific war's escalating destruction it even dwarfs the instant
vaporization of two complete cities.
Downfall does not linger on the classic numerical comparison of lives lost to nukes versus invasion.
Instead, the authors provide a sweeping account of the Allies' efforts to liberate or capture island after
island in their determined drive to seize the Japanese homeland and stop the Japanese war-making ability.
Both sides expected a full mobilization of every Japanese citizen to fight what would be the largest
invasion of all time. As Japanese generals preached about "100 million souls" all dying together, the
American leaders searched for any alternative to the "decisive battle" as the Japanese military referred to
it. The book described how the U.S. leaders grasped at the atomic bomb as a last, desperate hope to
avoid this bloody climax their enemies thirsted for.
By the end of the book, the reader no longer wonders why Truman dropped the Bomb, but how the Japanese
leaders could refuse the mercy of a peaceful surrender. Responsibility for the bombing finally rests
squarely on the shoulders of the Japanese "cabinet."
Codename Downfall gives a fresh and convincing perspective on a very old question.
R. Day: May 29, 1996
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well-researched book on a contentious subject., April 27, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Code-Name Downfall: The Secret Plan to Invade Japan-And Why Truman Dropped the Bomb (Hardcover)
While the overall argument of this title is to show why Truman approved the use of the atomic bomb, Allen and Polmar also show the strengths and weaknesses of the grand strategies pursued by the U.S. and Japan during World War II. The American failure to truly appreciate the massive national effort to defeat the Axis powers lead to a reliance on a bombing campaign to knock Japan out of the war, the apotheosis of which were the atomic bombs. The Japanese expected to exhaust America through heroic sacrifice and terror weapons. Code-name Downfall does a better job than most books on this period of the war in discussing the internal Japanese debate over surrender. My main complaint is that the book fails to consider the possible success of the continued American submarine campaign against the Japanese merchant marine. Nonetheless, highly recommended for all those interested in the Pacific campaigns in World War II and those debating the dropping of the atomic bomb.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Actual Plan to Invade Japan, October 4, 2004
When Col. Paul Tibbets, flying the Enola Gay, dropped the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, it was prevent an American invasion of Japan. If the bombs were not dropped and the ensuing cataclysms had not caused Emperor Hirohito to break the tie in the War cabinet, bringing the unconditional surrender of Japan, a massive invasion would have been necessary - one that would have dwarfed the one at Okinawa, which required twice as many ships as are in the entire United States Navy today. Arrayed against the Americans were millions of Japanese soldiers and civilians, all of which the defense minister Anami wanted to mobilize in what he described as "the glorious death of 100 million." For the first time, a book details the actual plan to invade Japan, summarizing the experience and tactics that led up to it and the losses that were envisioned.
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