I HAD the privilege of meeting Professor Joseph Rotblat, the last living survivor of the Manhattan Project and a pupil of Albert Einstein’s. He quoted General Leslie Groves, (head of the Project to make the atomic bomb), who said in March 1944: “From two weeks after taking up the post, there was never any illusion on my part that the main purpose of the project was to subdue the Russians.”

This flatly contradicts the contention (Letters, January 10) that Hiroshima was a “necessary evil”.

Hiroshima must be understood in its historical context. The USSR and Japan had a non-aggression pact during the war against Hitler. As agreed with the allies at Yalta, three months after the surrender of Germany, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan.

Vast amounts of military equipment were trundled half way round the world from Germany to Manchuria. There, Marshal Aleksandr Vasilievsky (a top general up there with Zhukov or Rokossovsky) inflicted a crushing defeat on the Japanese army. South Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands were seized. The USSR now occupied Japanese territory, and was poised to invade mainland Japan itself by August 10.

This put the gun to Emperor Hirohito’s head. He had to do a deal with the Americans – and quickly – or face a Soviet occupation and his execution as a war criminal. The Americans did not want to see Japan occupied by Russia, so they no longer demanded the unconditional surrender of the Emperor – the one condition the Japanese had sought.

Prime Minister Suzuki explained: “The Soviet Union will take not only Manchuria, Korea, Karafuto, but also Hokkaido. This would destroy the foundation of Japan. We must end the war when we can deal with the United States.”

I quote no less an authority than Winston Churchill: “It would be a mistake to suppose that the fate of Japan was settled by the atomic bomb. Her defeat was certain before the first bomb fell and was brought about by overwhelming maritime power”. It was fear of Russian occupation and his own execution that motivated Hirohito, not Hiroshima.

In July 1945, before Hiroshima, the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff recommended that “with atomic weapons a nation must be ready to strike the first blow if needed” .The resultant war plan – JIC 329/1 – singled out for obliteration 20 Soviet cities.

But they didn’t have 20 A bombs, only the two earmarked for Japan. After these experiments proved so successful, US production of nuclear weapons went full steam ahead. But Russia didn’t have an atomic bomb until four years later.

Thus it was the US that started the nuclear race to extinction. But we still believe we are the innocent victims of the wicked machinations of the “evil other”. Hiroshima and Trident, its descendant, cannot be defended.

Brian Quail,

2 Hyndland Avenue,

Glasgow.

IN response to Mr William Scott’s letter (January 9), I must support Brian Quail (Letters, January 8). The atomic bombs dropped on the two Japanese cities did not end the war; it was the prospect of Russia laying waste to Japan that made Japan capitulate.

General McArthur maintained the war would have ended earlier if the United States had modified its surrender terms. General Curtis LeMay said: “Without the atomic bombs and the Russian entry into the war, Japan would have surrendered in two weeks.” The atomic bombs did not end the war; the Japanese had sued for peace.

The use of the atomic bombs convinced Josef Stalin that the Soviets needed their own bombs as a deterrent to the Americans. The bombs were dropped to tell the Russians that the US had the upper hand, and led directly to the Cold War. If any country is, in the words of William Scott, morally corrupt, might I suggest those words describe the US to a T?

Ghandi said the results of “an eye for an eye” philosophy simply means that everybody ends up blind. Perhaps that’s what we need. Then we won’t see where the aggressive, militaristic and imperialistic, foreign policy of the America is taking us next.

Mass murder is mass murder and there is never any excuse for it. Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheiner both regretted helping the Americans to get the nuclear bomb.

Margaret Forbes,

Corlic Way, Kilmacolm.