Atomic Salvation: How the A-Bomb Saved the Lives of 32 Million People

by Tom Lewis

A thought-provoking analysis of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—and what might have happened if conventional weapons were used instead.It has always been a difficult concept to stomach—that the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, causing such horrific suffering and destruction, also brought about peace. Attitudes toward the event have changed through the years, from grateful relief that World War II was ended to widespread condemnation of the United States.Atomic Salvation investigates the full situation—examining documents from both Japanese and Allied sources, but also using in-depth analysis to extend beyond the mere recounting of statistics. It charts the full extent of the possible casualties on both sides had a conventional assault akin to D-Day gone ahead against Japan. The work is not concerned solely with the military necessity to use the bombs; it also investigates why that necessity has been increasingly challenged over the successive decades.Controversially, the book demonstrates that Japan would have suffered far greater casualties—likely around 28 million—if the nation had been attacked in the manner by which Germany was by amphibious assault, artillery and air attacks preceding infantry insertion, and finally by subduing the last of the defenders of the enemy capital. It also investigates the enormous political pressure placed on America as a result of their military situation. The Truman administration had little choice but to use the new weapon given the more than a million deaths that Allied forces would undoubtedly have suffered through conventional assault.By chartingreaction to the bombings over time, Atomic Salvation shows that there has been relentless pressure on the world to condemn what at the time was seen as the best, and only, military solution to end the conflict. Never has such an exhaustive analysis been made of the necessity behind bringing World War II to a halt.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

358 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 20, 2020

About the author

Dr Thomas Anthony "Tom" Lewis, OAM is an Australian author, military historian, editor, teacher, and former naval officer. An author since 1989, Lewis worked as a high school teacher, and served as naval officer for 20 years, seeing active service in Baghdad during the Iraq war, and working in East Timor.

In June 2003, Lewis was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for meritorious service to the Royal Australian Navy, particularly in the promotion of Australian naval history.

Dr Lewis is the author of 14 books and continues to work on a variety of military history research projects, including acting as Lead Historian for The Territory Remembers, the NT Government's commemoration of 75 years since the first air raid on the NT in 1942.

Reviews

[Laura Gill · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book with a strong and convincing premise that could be half as short and badly needs an editor, particularly in the second half. The author repeats anecdotes, sometimes within the very same chapter, as if he'd forgotten he'd already used them.

[Michael Lynch · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book and reviewed it for Parameters, the journal of the US Army War College. The full review is embargoed until publication, but I found this book disappointing. Lewis reaches the right conclusion, but he does so by simply collating and presenting call the existing arguments while adding nothing new to the discourse.

[Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have rated this book higher if an editor had been employed. There are more than a few instances of repeating subject matter. I also question some of the figures given. The author references a "Saipan Ratio" that claims that there was one American killed "to exterminate one Japanese soldier" during the invasion and capture of Saipan. That's a ridiculous claim. Some 3,500 Americans among land forces and ships personnel were killed or missing during this battle. A little more than 25,000 Japanese soldiers were killed. This was no 1:1 ration. Based on this errant claim Lewis goes on to extrapolate that a half a million Americans would be lost fighting Japanese ground forces in the Home Islands.

The USS Franklin is included in a table of US carriers attacked and hit by kamikaze aircraft. It lists a Date struck as 27/30 October 1944 (?) with more than 700 KIA. The Franklin was hit by a kamikaze 30 October 1944 resulting in 56 KIA. On 19 Mar 1945 she was struck by two bombs, not a kamikaze, resulting in over 700 KIA.

To be fair, Lewis gives a strong defense why the atomic bombings were necessary and refutes many claims by revisionist historians why they should they not have been. There is no question that these bombings in fact saved lives. An invasion of Japan's Home Islands would have cost countless numbers of lives, both among the opposing forces and the civilian population. I'm just not sold on his 32 million lives saved figure.

[TJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most important roles historians have in the current social climate is to fight revisionism with facts, reason, and context. Tom Lewis does an incredible job of doing just this in Atomic Salvation. Separated by two generations, the current opinions regarding the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki see them as ghastly, inexcusable war crimes. Lewis goes to great lengths to dispel these notions as revisionist fantasies, pointing out the faulty rationale and cherry-picked history that supports this distortion of the past. Lewis outright acknowledges that the bombings were terrible tragedies and a sort of evil but a most necessary evil. There is much to be learned about the atomic bombings of Japan, lessons that can be applied to future conflicts to hopefully avoid future tragedies, but we get no closer to these lessons by clouding our vision of the past with fantastic revisionism.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must read for anyone who wants to understand the reasons the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan at the end of WWII. Revisionists like to portray this as an evil act of racist aggression. The author lays out a very detailed counter argument to the revisionist premise. In theory, the deaths could have reached as high as 32 million if the bombs had not been dropped. While I am unconvinced as to whether the Japanese or Americans would have let the figures get that high, I do believe that they would have run into several million and ruined Japan as a nation. Lewis makes a good argument that entry of the Soviet Union into the war had very little to do with Japan's capitulation nor would it have. It is also interesting to note the following:

1. Had Germany not surrendered before the bomb was ready, it would have been used in Europe first.
2. Firebombing in Germany and Japan killed more people in cities than either of the atomic bombs.
3. 300,000 POWs were under an imminent order to be executed prior to a land invasion of the Home Islands. The executions had already begun when the bombs were dropped. The executions halted immediately afterwards.
4. Nothing short of the dropping of a bomb that alone could destroy an entire city instantly would have had an effect on the Japanese military.

This is an excellent book from a factual standpoint, though it was a bit repetitive in places. If you are really interested in WHY the bombs were dropped in the context of the time.

[Stephanie Cohu · Rating 5 out of 5]

interesting information

This book looked at all the information there is on the end of WW2. His thoughts and analysis is incredible. I wished he would have a table in the end showing 32 million. I also had a hard time believing this number. It is overwhelming. Thumbs up.

[mailen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very helpful for my school historical investigation surrounding the use of the atomic bombs, but was so dense and boring to read for fun. I kept zoning out and could not take anything in.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative and great documentation. Just notice a couple things that were not correct in the book.

[Francis Slobodnik · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a hard cover edition.
Excellent book EXCEPT, whatever happened to proof readers? I would have given it 5 stars except for the multiple textual mistakes. There were duplicate words, duplicate sentences, sentences that made no sense etc.. Poor editing and proof reading hurt the credibility of this otherwise excellent book.
Other than that, the book was very insightful and full of all sorts of information. As Sherman once said, "war is hell." That it is. If one is to be victorious one has to use the means at one's disposal to achieve victory. Wars are won on the psychological level. The object of war is to convince the other side to lose sufficient morale to either sue for peace or surrender, or be destroyed.
As the author demonstrates, a land invasion would have caused millions of deaths. The atomic bombs, and it took two of them, convinced the war mongering Japanese Empire to surrender.
The deaths of civilians is always tragic, but part of war. Don't start wars and your civilians need not suffer.