History books of are replete in their description of Japan's attitude towards surrender. They certainly would have surrendered by the end of the year, but the c

History books of are replete in their description of Japan's attitude towards surrender. They certainly would have surrendered by the end of the year, but the casualties for Japan (and China and the US) would have been horrendous. Concerning the bombing of Hiroshima I'll quote an excerpt from https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/japan-surrenders https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/japan-surrenders After the Hiroshima attack, a faction of Japan’s supreme war council favored acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration, but the majority resisted unconditional surrender. On August 8, Japan’s desperate situation took another turn for the worse when the USSR declared war against Japan. The next day, Soviet forces attacked in Manchuria, rapidly overwhelming Japanese positions there, and a second U.S. atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese coastal city of Nagasaki. As horrific as the bomb was, it put a decisive end to the war. Everyone, especially the Japanese, avoided a massive slaughter (and starvation) that was coming.