It occurs to me that by asserting that the American nuclear bombardment was not justifiable because the Japanese were not sufficiently terrified of it but were sufficiently terrified of a Russian invasion, we are saying something quite extreme about the nature of an invading Russian army.
Does anybody know what narrative is taught in Russian schools to Russian children?
Japan had been allied to Germany. The Wehrmacht had been one of the most effective fighting forces the world has ever known. The Imperial Japanese Army had been formed on the Prussian model back in the 19th century.
The German Wehrmacht had just been defeated by the Soviet Army three months earlier.
Also, the Japanese army had already tried and failed to defeat the Soviet army in 1939. In fact, that's how Zhukov got his first Hero of the Soviet Union award. That was in 1939, before the massive Soviet arms buildup, before the dissipation of Japanese strength in the Pacific.
A Japanese general would have to be delusional to think that he could hold out against the Soviets in 1945.
Does anybody know what narrative is taught in Russian schools to Russian children?