Iwo Jima USAAF photos

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http://picasaweb.google.com/7thfighter/IwoJima?authkey=Gv1sRgCIW06db_6oth&feat=email#slideshow/5299163150448181842

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Now look up Iwo Jima on Google Earth to see it's strategic importance.

Zoom out until you can see mainland Japan as well.

[J.Mencalice]

Without Iwo Jima and Okinawa, the war would have gone on (conventionally fought) for another two years at the cost another two million casualties on both sides.
That's why President Truman authorized the use of atomic weapons.  It had to be done.

[Willow]

Without Iwo Jima and Okinawa, the war would have gone on (conventionally fought) for another two years at the cost another two million casualties on both sides.
That's why President Truman authorized the use of atomic weapons.  It had to be done.

That doesn't make much sense.  Iwo Jima and Okinawa were in U.S. hands before the bombs were dropped.  It is true that an invasion of the Japanese homeland would have resulted in at least a couple of years and millions dead.

[Rams]

http://www.kilroywashere.org/006-Pages/Invasion.html

This should help those who never understood why President Truman ordered the bombs dropped.

An excellent read.

[Roadog]

Very clear to me.  No regrets . Those A bombs ended the war and it needed to end.  No telling how many of us on both sides would in fact NOT be here if the invasion had gone forward .  It was THE right thing to do.  IMHO.

Roadog

[J.Mencalice]

Without Iwo Jima and Okinawa, the war would have gone on (conventionally fought) for another two years at the cost another two million casualties on both sides.
That's why President Truman authorized the use of atomic weapons.  It had to be done.

That doesn't make much sense.  Iwo Jima and Okinawa were in U.S. hands before the bombs were dropped.  It is true that an invasion of the Japanese homeland would have resulted in at least a couple of years and millions dead.

Clarification: Securing those two islands enabled the continual bombing of the Japanese mainland with escorted B-29's and also secured the seas from any further probability of the Japanese navy interfering with our plans for invasion.  They were being used to stockpile the men and materials that would have been needed for the fight; would have been the jumping off point for the armada. Their possession and the ability to spread propaganda knowledge that the Americans were within the borders of the Japanese Empire was debilitating to the general populace and beginning to wear down it's military to the point of inability to fight effectively.
Had Japan been able to hold Iwo and Okinawa, we would probably have had to stage an invasion from the Philippines and continue to send bombers unescorted to the mainland from Guam and the Marianas.
Those were the points of their strategic importance that I was trying to convey in the short form.

[Roadog]

Without Iwo Jima and Okinawa, the war would have gone on (conventionally fought) for another two years at the cost another two million casualties on both sides.
That's why President Truman authorized the use of atomic weapons.  It had to be done.

That doesn't make much sense.  Iwo Jima and Okinawa were in U.S. hands before the bombs were dropped.  It is true that an invasion of the Japanese homeland would have resulted in at least a couple of years and millions dead.

Clarification: Securing those two islands enabled the continual bombing of the Japanese mainland with escorted B-29's and also secured the seas from any further probability of the Japanese navy interfering with our plans for invasion.  They were being used to stockpile the men and materials that would have been needed for the fight; would have been the jumping off point for the armada. Their possession and the ability to spread propaganda knowledge that the Americans were within the borders of the Japanese Empire was debilitating to the general populace and beginning to wear down it's military to the point of inability to fight effectively.
Had Japan been able to hold Iwo and Okinawa, we would probably have had to stage an invasion from the Philippines and continue to send bombers unescorted to the mainland from Guam and the Marianas.
Those were the points of their strategic importance that I was trying to convey in the short form.

Correct.

Roadog

[Willow]

Without Iwo Jima and Okinawa, the war would have gone on (conventionally fought) for another two years at the cost another two million casualties on both sides.
That's why President Truman authorized the use of atomic weapons.  It had to be done.

That doesn't make much sense.  Iwo Jima and Okinawa were in U.S. hands before the bombs were dropped.  It is true that an invasion of the Japanese homeland would have resulted in at least a couple of years and millions dead.

Clarification: Securing those two islands enabled the continual bombing of the Japanese mainland with escorted B-29's and also secured the seas from any further probability of the Japanese navy interfering with our plans for invasion.  They were being used to stockpile the men and materials that would have been needed for the fight; would have been the jumping off point for the armada. Their possession and the ability to spread propaganda knowledge that the Americans were within the borders of the Japanese Empire was debilitating to the general populace and beginning to wear down it's military to the point of inability to fight effectively.
Had Japan been able to hold Iwo and Okinawa, we would probably have had to stage an invasion from the Philippines and continue to send bombers unescorted to the mainland from Guam and the Marianas.
Those were the points of their strategic importance that I was trying to convey in the short form.

Well clarified.  That is accurate. 

Okinawa was an especially tough campaign on the Japanese.  Many, both military and civilian, jumped off a cliff rather that be taken by the Americans.  Propaganda and rumor had made American behavior toward captives to be hideous to the Japanese.  I find that repulsive knowing what we now know but I'm sure we did some similar strategies.  Not a good time for that part of the world.  A very correct decision by President Truman.