It's always a bad thing when civilians get caught up in war, but as the BBC history site points out...
Quote:
Although some Japanese were taken prisoner, most fought until they were killed or committed suicide. In the last, desperate months of the war, this image was also applied to Japanese civilians. To the horror of American troops advancing on Saipan, they saw mothers clutching their babies hurling themselves over the cliffs rather than be taken prisoner.
Not only were there virtually no survivors of the 30,000 strong Japanese garrison on Saipan, two out of every three civilians - some 22,000 in all - also died.
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Of course the bombings were terrible, but I wonder what would have happened if they hadn't occurred. (I don't get why some people are saying the threat of being bombed would be enough, Japan didn't surrender despite the Hiroshima bomb being dropped)
Anyway I also think it's very easy for people like myself, from a different country and a different time in history, to look back and make judgements, but if you've not lived through these times and experienced them I don't think you can ever have a full understanding.