The total strength of the Japanese Army was estimated at about 5,000,000 men. In the middle of July 1945, the intelligence section of the War Department General Staff estimated Japanese military strength as follows: in the home islands, slightly under 2,000,000 in Korea, Manchuria, China proper, and Formosa, slightly over 2,000,000 in French IndoChina, Thailand, and Burma, over 200,000 in the East Indies area, including the Philippines, over 500,000 in the bypassed Pacific islands, over 100,000. If she should persist in her fight to the end, she had still a great military force. There was as yet no indication of any weakening in the Japanese determination to fight rather than accept unconditional surrender. These vague proposals contemplated the retention of Japan of important conquered areas and were therefore not considered seriously. It was known to us that she had gone so far as to make tentative proposals to the Soviet government, hoping to use the Russians as mediators in a negotiated peace. Japan, in July 1945, had been seriously weakened by our increasingly violent attacks. Only the complete destruction of her military power could open the way to lasting peace. The principal political, social, and military objective of the United States in the summer of 1945 was the prompt and complete surrender of Japan. ![]() But in the spring of 1945 it became evident that the climax of our prolonged atomic effort was at hand. As the time went on it became clear that the weapon would not be available in time for use in the European Theater, and the war against Germany was successfully ended by the use of what are now called conventional means. The extraordinary story of the successful development of the atomic bomb has been well told elsewhere. No single individual can hope to know exactly what took place in the minds of all of those who had a share in these events, but what follows is an exact description of our thoughts and actions as I find them in the records and in my clear recollection. I have therefore decided to record for all who may be interested my understanding of the events which led up to the attack on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, on Nagasaki on August 9, and the Japanese decision to surrender on August 10. This decision was one of the gravest made by our government in recent years, and it is entirely proper that it should be widely discussed. In recent months there has been much comment about the decision to use atomic bombs in attacks on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. From “The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb” by Henry Stimson
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