I have put a link at the end of this. This is where the saying of "read it and weep" must have come from.
Where would be without hindsight. What many modern day "pacifists" and sympathises don't key into their logic is that the Japanese had no intention of surrendering without honour. This was not considered and could never have been allowed.
Hiroshima & Nagasaki was a small price the Japanese paid for their atrocities and dreams of Asian domination.
Aerial bombardment of the home island would have "raised" most Japanese cities and killed millions of civilians. Soldiers on both sides would have died in their 100's of thousands.
The dropping of the bombs actually had mercy on those who did not have mercy on others.
The anti-bomb enthusiasts speak of the post war injuries and ongoing medical conditions of those who survived in the two cities yet what is conveniently omitted is the scars they left on the soldiers they interned and treated inhumanely to the point of eradication.
What of the civilians they slaughtered, (in Timor alone, they executed some 60-70,000 or 13% of their total population).
What of the families of the POW's who would never be the same again.
What of their ongoing medical conditions?
While 95% of all Japanese prisoners were repatriated to Japan only 51% of all allied prisoners of the Japanese survived the war.
http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat1.htm