I read somewhere that the Americans dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and nagasaki because of what they had to go through on Okinawa and the other pacific islands. The Japanese were quite prepared to sacrifice their lives in battle,even on the islands of no military tactical consequence.Okinawa was a total bloodbath.the Americans had nightmares of what an invasion of the Japanese mainland would incur in casualties on both sides hence their use of the a bomb. That's what I read anyway.