One thing that never gets mentioned is the Soviet invasion of Manchuria [1]. It was a true storm of steel and fire. In 12 days, between 9-Aug-1945 and 20-Aug-19

One thing that never gets mentioned is the Soviet invasion of Manchuria [1]. It was a true storm of steel and fire. In 12 days, between 9-Aug-1945 and 20-Aug-1945, the Soviets conquered an area of 1.5 million km2. That's 125 thousand km2 per day, or about 10 times what the Nazis were conquering at the peak of their blitzkrieg. If Japan did not surrender when they did, it is very likely the Soviet Union would have gobbled her in no time. People think that the US would have invaded the home islands and in the process would have lost X lives and inflicted Y losses on the Japanese themselves. In reality, by the time the US was going to invade, the Soviets would have finished the job long before. And Japan would be like North Korea to this day. The bomb, while tragic, ensured that Japan was under sole US occupation, and the US engaged in reconstruction, rather than in plunder like the Soviets did in East Germany [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_invasion_of_Manchuria https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_invasion_of_Manchuria [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_plunder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_plunder