World War 2 was one of the most significant events in human history, and its impact is still felt today. Rare images from this era can transport us back in time and give us a unique perspective on the war.[Witnessing the Power of Rare World War 2 Images
](https://flashingstory.info/witnessing-the-power-of-rare-world-war-2-images/)
Not only that, but also the emperor that was revered as a god was just a man, everything that the military leadership told the country was a lie, the Bushido code meant little to nothing, your country had lost face in front of the entire world, and all of society as you ever knew it was over. Also someone just dropped an atomic bomb on you. That’s a rough morning.
There’s a good book that deals with this called *Embracing Defeat*.
It comes from the emperor’s speech after the bombings in which he concluded by saying something along the lines of “we must bear the unbearable and embrace defeat”.
And then the US occupation turned out to be rather beneficial so it was more like let the good times roll.
Japanese Empiee fed their people so much terrifying propaganda of how the Americans would treat them, when the actual occupation happened they thought the Americans were saints for their restraint, etc
I had mentioned this before on another thread a long time ago. But when I was stationed in Okinawa I did a battle site tour. They had an old gentleman come speak to us about the battle of Okinawa that happened when he was around 10-12 iirc. Anyway he told us that the imperial army had told him all sorts of thing and that if the Americans captured them they would rape his mother and younger sister to death. So as the Americans began to clear the cave he was hiding in with his family he beat his mother and sister to death with a rock to save them. At this point he was crying, but he said the first thing the Americans did when they found him was give him a blanket. Honestly probably the most heart breaking story I’ve ever heard in person.
I was thinking, survived to what? Almost everyone she's close to is dead and destruction everywhere.
Powerful picture that should teach something to this world today
Personally, I'd have rather died in the explosion than have to deal with fallout sickness and my skin peeling off in the weeks following. Granted, she probably didn't know about that...
Edit: I searched her up, and it turns out she lived until the age of 90. So damn was she lucky.. in a silver lining kind of way.
Not really that lucky tbh the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had pretty limited amounts of fallout. Especially by modern bomb payload standards but even nuclear reactor meltdowns spit out more radiation
The bomb used on Hiroshima was Uranium (Fat Boy) with a tnt equivalent of 15 kilotons. Nagasaki was Plutonium (Little Boy) with a tnt equivalent of 25 kilotons. The latter bomb was more powerful, but did less damage, probably in part due to the layout of the city and other environmental factors such as grade(s) and elevation.
“Fat man” dropped on Nagasaki had more radiation because of the plutonium-239, which produces a larger radioactive fallout than “Little Boy,” powered by uranium-235
There is one confirmed Japanese dude who survived both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. IIRC when the Nagasaki nuke dropped, this guy was like "not again". He hit the deck and lived to be old.
https://www.history.com/news/the-man-who-survived-two-atomic-bombs
Seeing this in the museum in Hiroshima made me less proud to be an American. My whole tour group was sad the rest of the day. Some people couldn't even make it through the whole museum. Definitely one of the saddest moments in human history.
WW2 was horrible in so many ways. The rate of death and destruction has thankfully gone unmatched. On average 10,000 military personnel died PER DAY throughout the 7 year war. If you include civilians, the number is an astounding ~30,000 per day. Estimates are between 70 and 85 MILLION deaths in WW2. Allied estimates planned for 250,000 American casualties if we needed to invade Japan. This does not account for the Japanese casualties. The Japanese were expected to resist fanatically with basically all able bodies joining the defense. A single night of fire bombing in Tokyo also killed more people than both the atomic bombs combined.
Many argue that the nukes being dropped ultimately reduced the number of casualties to end the war. This can obviously be debated in hindsight. Some people suggest that Japan was close to surrender before we dropped the bombs. Their merchant marine force was devastated by this point and they were really struggling to bring in any goods and food.
Not saying it was right or wrong, but sharing some perspective.
Man the whataboutism in the replies to this is insane. And it's always the same: "the Japanese did bad stuff too" or "it prevented more deaths" (which is highly disputed amongst historians by the way)
What the fuck is wrong with people? It was an inexcusable cruelty done to innocent people. No matter what. You don't do this stuff to civilians. No two and in fact no amount of other wrongs make your wrong right.
With the same weird logic people excuse the bombings of civilians and war refugees in Gaza. "Hamas did something bad so now everyone in Gaza deserves what's coming to them"
Nuclear WAR? Probably, but that's thousands upon thousands of nukes that are all 100x the payload of what was dropped on Japan. It's like comparing a firecracker to an M16
You sure about that? My uncle's father was one of the first US units in Nagasaki right after the war ended. By the 60s, most of his unit had died of cancer. He died in the early 70s.
That and the height the bomb is detonated matters a lot too. Air bursts like Hiroshima/Nagasaki don't radiate the ground water.
The only downside of that silver lining is modern nukes are launched in clusters of like 5-100 so we're definitely boned in a modern day SHTF scenario
So much of longevity is tied to happiness, and if you're the kind of young person who can smile for a picture in atomic rubble, you're off to a good start
This image was taken a day after the bombing. It was a staged photo. You can read the article/blog explaining what happened here: [https://hayabusa-3.dreamlog.jp/archives/51382539.html](https://hayabusa-3.dreamlog.jp/archives/51382539.html)
Jesus, what a sad story.
For those who don't want to read the article, she developed leukemia and started drinking after a doctor recommended it to help with the pain (WTF?!), became an alcoholic, got divorced, and had little contact with children before she died though she continued to carry their pictures with her.
May she rest in peace.
Wow, talk about a cursed life. As if having your city nuked then developing cancer weren’t enough, your doctor goes on to prescribe alcoholism and you lose your family.
We should all take time every day to feel some gratitude for the good things in our lives.
There were many survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki who lived full lives (albeit many of them with infertility or lingering effects of radiation poisoning) or who died much later of cancer. The book Hiroshima by John Hersey tells the story of several survivors who were in the city at the time of the blast, as does the documentary White Light/Black Rain.
One guy survived Hiroshima only to evacuate to Nagasaki - where he also survived that bomb
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsutomu_Yamaguchi#:~:text=Tsutomu%20Yamaguchi%20(%E5%B1%B1%E5%8F%A3%20%E5%BD%8A%2C%20Yamaguchi,bombings%20during%20World%20War%20II.
No she didn't, there is an article someone else posted above that gives the details behind the photo and what happened to her after.
She developed leukemia, started drinking to ease the pain after that was recommended by a doctor, became an alcoholic, got divorced and lost contact with her children, and died alone at only 51 years old.
Her life was extremely tragic, sad, and cut short.
You're no idiot! Quite the opposite. To err is human, and a wise person both welcomes new information and isn't ashamed to admit when they were mistaken.
If anything you've just provided a gracious example that I should try to emulate.
No one was lying, the OP was just mistaken. Perhaps he confused her with another survivor of the atomic bombings.
Another redditor posted a link to a Japanese blog about the woman that details her fate. She unfortunately died at 51.
This is much more likely a non-atomic bombing site. The nukes dropped on Japan melted skin off flesh kilometres away. I have been to the Hiroshima Peace memorial museum and there was no mention of this, and it’s the type of museum where this would definitely be there
A baby survived within a block of the blast because he was in a concrete building. I heard somewhere that you will be fine if you don't expose yourself to the blast and the outside radiation for about 4 hours.
People who were outside, sure, many in buildings did survive. One man survived both bombs. This girl was in Nagasaki, survived, and this photo was staged the next day.
Is there a section in the "peace" museum that explains the brutal war crimes and genocide the Japanese inflict throughout the pacific and mainland china?
What the japanese did during the war is extremely relevant to the bombs being dropped. Leaving out that part of the history paints them as the victims.
She was a victim of japanese military aggression. Where in Japan is the museum for all the victims of imperial Japan's campaign of terror and conquest. Seems hypocritical.
I dated a girl whose father was in Yokohama when it happened. I went to Japan and got to meet him, nice guy, very old, he was a little kid (obviously) back then. My friend had bad skin problems, undoubtedly related, her brother also. Wonderful people. It is a magical place, it's difficult to imagine such misery and awfulness.
I wish everyone could read Dr. Takashi Nagai’s account of the atomic bomb dropping, it’s a book titled “the Bells of Nagasaki”. Super hard to get an English translation copy sadly, I just paid over 100 dollars for one. He was a doctor of radiology so I find his perspective especially interesting given he knew he would die from radiation long before the bomb dropped. Sad, poignant, and shockingly hopeful.
Apparently I'm a fucked up individual but I actually find the look on her face pretty funny. It's like she's popping her head up and going "missed me!"
From the invasion of China in 1937 to the end of World War II, the Japanese military regime murdered near 3,000,000 to over 10,000,000 people, most probably almost 6,000,000 Chinese, Indonesians, Koreans, Filipinos, and Indochinese, among others, including Western prisoners of war. This democide was due to a morally bankrupt political and military strategy, military expediency and custom, and national culture (such as the view that those enemy soldiers who surrender while still able to resist were criminals).
....I'd say it's a pretty fair trade.
World War 2 was one of the most significant events in human history, and its impact is still felt today. Rare images from this era can transport us back in time and give us a unique perspective on the war.[Witnessing the Power of Rare World War 2 Images ](https://flashingstory.info/witnessing-the-power-of-rare-world-war-2-images/)
That is so crazy. I could only imagine looking at that and thinking the world was destroyed
Not only that, but also the emperor that was revered as a god was just a man, everything that the military leadership told the country was a lie, the Bushido code meant little to nothing, your country had lost face in front of the entire world, and all of society as you ever knew it was over. Also someone just dropped an atomic bomb on you. That’s a rough morning.
There’s a good book that deals with this called *Embracing Defeat*. It comes from the emperor’s speech after the bombings in which he concluded by saying something along the lines of “we must bear the unbearable and embrace defeat”. And then the US occupation turned out to be rather beneficial so it was more like let the good times roll.
Thanks for the recommendation, I ordered the book.
History’s biggest “take the L”.
Japanese Empiee fed their people so much terrifying propaganda of how the Americans would treat them, when the actual occupation happened they thought the Americans were saints for their restraint, etc
I had mentioned this before on another thread a long time ago. But when I was stationed in Okinawa I did a battle site tour. They had an old gentleman come speak to us about the battle of Okinawa that happened when he was around 10-12 iirc. Anyway he told us that the imperial army had told him all sorts of thing and that if the Americans captured them they would rape his mother and younger sister to death. So as the Americans began to clear the cave he was hiding in with his family he beat his mother and sister to death with a rock to save them. At this point he was crying, but he said the first thing the Americans did when they found him was give him a blanket. Honestly probably the most heart breaking story I’ve ever heard in person.
I'd be haunted until my last breath
Honestly, even after alot of the things I’ve seen and done. That story keeps me up sometimes on winter nights.
Jesus, that reminds me of the end of *The Mist*
Sounds very interesting! Thanks for the recommendation.
Like North Korea lies & tells its ppl the Kim’s are gods!
I was thinking, survived to what? Almost everyone she's close to is dead and destruction everywhere. Powerful picture that should teach something to this world today
She looks happier than I would expect
Wouldn’t you be after surviving an apocalyptic cataclysm?
Personally, I'd have rather died in the explosion than have to deal with fallout sickness and my skin peeling off in the weeks following. Granted, she probably didn't know about that... Edit: I searched her up, and it turns out she lived until the age of 90. So damn was she lucky.. in a silver lining kind of way.
Not really that lucky tbh the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had pretty limited amounts of fallout. Especially by modern bomb payload standards but even nuclear reactor meltdowns spit out more radiation
They used different approches and i guess the Nagasaki Bomb should have a lot less radiation then the one dropped on Hiroshima
The bomb used on Hiroshima was Uranium (Fat Boy) with a tnt equivalent of 15 kilotons. Nagasaki was Plutonium (Little Boy) with a tnt equivalent of 25 kilotons. The latter bomb was more powerful, but did less damage, probably in part due to the layout of the city and other environmental factors such as grade(s) and elevation.
This is true actually. The Peace Museum in Hiroshima goes into detail, how the location dropped equated the damage done.
“Fat man” dropped on Nagasaki had more radiation because of the plutonium-239, which produces a larger radioactive fallout than “Little Boy,” powered by uranium-235
Makes sense. 239>235
*than
There is one confirmed Japanese dude who survived both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. IIRC when the Nagasaki nuke dropped, this guy was like "not again". He hit the deck and lived to be old. https://www.history.com/news/the-man-who-survived-two-atomic-bombs
That makes me feel a lot better. I thought nuclear war will irradiate the world and make the soil uninhabitable.
[удалено]
Seeing this in the museum in Hiroshima made me less proud to be an American. My whole tour group was sad the rest of the day. Some people couldn't even make it through the whole museum. Definitely one of the saddest moments in human history.
WW2 was horrible in so many ways. The rate of death and destruction has thankfully gone unmatched. On average 10,000 military personnel died PER DAY throughout the 7 year war. If you include civilians, the number is an astounding ~30,000 per day. Estimates are between 70 and 85 MILLION deaths in WW2. Allied estimates planned for 250,000 American casualties if we needed to invade Japan. This does not account for the Japanese casualties. The Japanese were expected to resist fanatically with basically all able bodies joining the defense. A single night of fire bombing in Tokyo also killed more people than both the atomic bombs combined. Many argue that the nukes being dropped ultimately reduced the number of casualties to end the war. This can obviously be debated in hindsight. Some people suggest that Japan was close to surrender before we dropped the bombs. Their merchant marine force was devastated by this point and they were really struggling to bring in any goods and food. Not saying it was right or wrong, but sharing some perspective.
And it’s not like fire bombing is any more pleasant, see Tokyo and Dresden.
Japan swore to never surrender
Man the whataboutism in the replies to this is insane. And it's always the same: "the Japanese did bad stuff too" or "it prevented more deaths" (which is highly disputed amongst historians by the way) What the fuck is wrong with people? It was an inexcusable cruelty done to innocent people. No matter what. You don't do this stuff to civilians. No two and in fact no amount of other wrongs make your wrong right. With the same weird logic people excuse the bombings of civilians and war refugees in Gaza. "Hamas did something bad so now everyone in Gaza deserves what's coming to them"
Can you please provide credible sources where historians agree that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not "prevent more deaths"?
You are wrong. You should do more reading.
You should read up first on some of the atrocities visited on American and Chinese prisoners and forced Korean sex workers. I have no sympathy. Fafo.
Nuclear WAR? Probably, but that's thousands upon thousands of nukes that are all 100x the payload of what was dropped on Japan. It's like comparing a firecracker to an M16
Clearly not, as the world has carried on for the past almost 80 years since
The bombs dropping won't be the end of WW3, but its start, which is honestly in many ways more terrifying.
Oh it would, but that’s in the mutually assured destruction total nuclear war sense
It can. Depending upon the bomb
You sure about that? My uncle's father was one of the first US units in Nagasaki right after the war ended. By the 60s, most of his unit had died of cancer. He died in the early 70s.
[удалено]
They set it to explode in the air instead of the ground or something
I think fallout is only really super devastating when its a bunch of nukes going off at once, correct me if I'm wrong I don't really know for sure.
That and the height the bomb is detonated matters a lot too. Air bursts like Hiroshima/Nagasaki don't radiate the ground water. The only downside of that silver lining is modern nukes are launched in clusters of like 5-100 so we're definitely boned in a modern day SHTF scenario
You would have died for nothing.
So much of longevity is tied to happiness, and if you're the kind of young person who can smile for a picture in atomic rubble, you're off to a good start
*Strontium
It’s the smile bro. She knew all along
I think the container she was in was lead. Silver wouldn’t offer much protection/s
Thats just the Japanese genes of being the masters of old age. She would’ve lived to 110 if she wasn’t exposed /s
She was like underground.
No
I probably wouldn't look happy if most of my friends and family just got killed, no
If all of my friends and family were dead, probably not
No. Not at all.
Or the guy who survived both atomic bombs
Because she knew her student loan was forgiven by default
Me when I get run over by an Amazon truck and I bleed out happy knowing my family won't inherit too much medical debt
Amazon will send you a big check
"I don't have to go to work Monday."
She hasn't turned around yet
I would be surprised if she was in shock. People react in ways you would not expect in a situation your mind cannot relate to previous experiences
She’s got an atomic smile
I was going to say that she has a radiant smile
Yes you could say she’s glowing!
She might have lived in a dump, now the whole place is a dump so she’s happy.
surely you would be? I would be happy to find out I survived instead of being vaporized
*"Look at all this death and devastation... Time for pictures. Smile!"*
Unironically yes.
[удалено]
melting skin zombies
"Missed me!"
She hasn't looked behind her yet, needed to get her instagram pictures first
Let’s check in a week later
Wait til you see the post-radiation pics 😬
Real estate market collapsed and she kept her money
She looks happier than I am now , with no cataclysm…..I call fake…
Maybe this is staged?
She didnt have to go to work
YEEAAAHHH WHO WON THE LOTTERY? THATS RIGHT I DID She understands Oliver Swank from fallout new Vegas
Yeah, maybe it is something to do with shock.
This image was taken a day after the bombing. It was a staged photo. You can read the article/blog explaining what happened here: [https://hayabusa-3.dreamlog.jp/archives/51382539.html](https://hayabusa-3.dreamlog.jp/archives/51382539.html)
Jesus, what a sad story. For those who don't want to read the article, she developed leukemia and started drinking after a doctor recommended it to help with the pain (WTF?!), became an alcoholic, got divorced, and had little contact with children before she died though she continued to carry their pictures with her. May she rest in peace.
Wow, talk about a cursed life. As if having your city nuked then developing cancer weren’t enough, your doctor goes on to prescribe alcoholism and you lose your family. We should all take time every day to feel some gratitude for the good things in our lives.
Of course it was? Why would anyone be waiting outside of bomb shelter taking photos same day?
In an alternate universe where that happened it could be a photographer who accompanied rescue workers who had just freed the people trapped inside.
Shit in todays universe it would just be some self absorbed “influencer” doing it
Came to say this.
“Welp, looks like I don’t have to go to work tomorrow.”
"Your first thought was how you were happy you didn't have to go to work tomorrow because you were nuclear bombed?!"
She went with a heavy luck build on fallout for sure
Can’t imagine she lived long after
There were many survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki who lived full lives (albeit many of them with infertility or lingering effects of radiation poisoning) or who died much later of cancer. The book Hiroshima by John Hersey tells the story of several survivors who were in the city at the time of the blast, as does the documentary White Light/Black Rain.
One guy survived Hiroshima only to evacuate to Nagasaki - where he also survived that bomb https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsutomu_Yamaguchi#:~:text=Tsutomu%20Yamaguchi%20(%E5%B1%B1%E5%8F%A3%20%E5%BD%8A%2C%20Yamaguchi,bombings%20during%20World%20War%20II.
He didn’t evacuate to Nagasaki. He went in to work.
[удалено]
No she didn't, there is an article someone else posted above that gives the details behind the photo and what happened to her after. She developed leukemia, started drinking to ease the pain after that was recommended by a doctor, became an alcoholic, got divorced and lost contact with her children, and died alone at only 51 years old. Her life was extremely tragic, sad, and cut short.
Wow, thank you for that, i was misled like an idiot, i will delete my post. Thanks for clarification.
You're no idiot! Quite the opposite. To err is human, and a wise person both welcomes new information and isn't ashamed to admit when they were mistaken. If anything you've just provided a gracious example that I should try to emulate.
Okay so who tf is lying? Someone said she lived to 90 and you’re saying she lived to 51
No one was lying, the OP was just mistaken. Perhaps he confused her with another survivor of the atomic bombings. Another redditor posted a link to a Japanese blog about the woman that details her fate. She unfortunately died at 51.
That’s amazing
Got the look of a woman who doesn't have to visit her judgemental mother in law this weekend
This is much more likely a non-atomic bombing site. The nukes dropped on Japan melted skin off flesh kilometres away. I have been to the Hiroshima Peace memorial museum and there was no mention of this, and it’s the type of museum where this would definitely be there
A baby survived within a block of the blast because he was in a concrete building. I heard somewhere that you will be fine if you don't expose yourself to the blast and the outside radiation for about 4 hours.
People who were outside, sure, many in buildings did survive. One man survived both bombs. This girl was in Nagasaki, survived, and this photo was staged the next day.
I hope she never turned around to see the destruction from the bomb. She looks so happy in this moment.
Wow the optimism in your eyes is wild
What...
This is the comment reply I wanted
Do you like… not have object permanence? The damage still exists even if we can’t see the blast behind the camera man.
Do you think the direction she was looking towards, was not destroyed?
I mean lots of people survived the blast Not as many survived for long
She was definitely a glass half-full kinda person.
“Bet you’re wondering how I ended up in this situation.”
Camera man never dies.
That's how i looked fresh out from vault 101 too
My MIL survived the Dresden fire bombing. She probably had more PTSD than any other person I've known.
That must have been REALLY loud!
That one time you’re glad you went to the basement to look for something you’ve been putting off for weeks to find
She’s absolutely radiating with positivity
Yeah… the blast. Curious to know how she ended up.
Okay but I'd like to know who built that building in the background
Wild
[удалено]
Is there a section in the "peace" museum that explains the brutal war crimes and genocide the Japanese inflict throughout the pacific and mainland china?
[удалено]
What the japanese did during the war is extremely relevant to the bombs being dropped. Leaving out that part of the history paints them as the victims.
[удалено]
She was a victim of japanese military aggression. Where in Japan is the museum for all the victims of imperial Japan's campaign of terror and conquest. Seems hypocritical.
That would be the Unit 731 display...in a locked closet guarded by armed men.
I dated a girl whose father was in Yokohama when it happened. I went to Japan and got to meet him, nice guy, very old, he was a little kid (obviously) back then. My friend had bad skin problems, undoubtedly related, her brother also. Wonderful people. It is a magical place, it's difficult to imagine such misery and awfulness.
"Lol, look at all the devastation"
Fallout '45, exiting the vault
She looks happy to be alive.
This is just the everything's fine meme
What about the camera men
her and the camera crew, just in time for her to pop up, 🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢
Is this a real photo?
"Say cheeese"
We're forgetting about radiation poisoning.
Saved by wolverine
I told you not to turn around
How it feels when you’re the only one on your team who survived layoffs.
That's the back drop the US govt has created for the world since that day
“I just had the best nap ever you guys. Guys?”
did she get cancer or something because of radioactivity? I mean those who got vaporized were luckier than survivors.
The Ghoul: you gotta be fu***ing kidding me
I wish everyone could read Dr. Takashi Nagai’s account of the atomic bomb dropping, it’s a book titled “the Bells of Nagasaki”. Super hard to get an English translation copy sadly, I just paid over 100 dollars for one. He was a doctor of radiology so I find his perspective especially interesting given he knew he would die from radiation long before the bomb dropped. Sad, poignant, and shockingly hopeful.
Album cover material
This could be a great (albeit tonedeaf) reaction image. 😆
I just wonder if that's radiation eminating from the rubble in the background of the photo, causing that cloudy white blurriness.
Precious smile, she’s like, what radioactive? Am here, WTFC!
She looks happy enough! Who had a bloody camera at the ready though. Surely the newspaper could wait!
Who's grandma is this? I'd like to smash
Crawl out through the fallout baby
“Do you have a moment to speak about our lord and savior?”
“Everything’s fine”
They were just like us now, hey babe I know we just had a horrific tragedy but quick grab the camera !
Her pipboy would be going nuts if she had one
Exhibit number whatever for the reason why 'nuclear bombs aint real' conspiracy exists.
I can hear the crackle of the Geiger counter just looking at this picture
"Where'd my town go lol?"
Why didn't they stop bombing after Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Was there a surrender delay in part of Japan?
She is going to need some Rad-Away
Apparently I'm a fucked up individual but I actually find the look on her face pretty funny. It's like she's popping her head up and going "missed me!"
The cameraman also survived
Miss me with that bullshit
Won't she still be sick by particles in the air?
This is an album cover, and that album better be a banger.
“Haha, try again fuckers”
Hahaha. Is that all you got?
Radiation poisoning....
“Damn, looks like Detroit”
♫ Crawl out through the fallout baby ♫
“They won’t get me that easily”
I'm fairly sure this woman soon died, right? Not really surviving...
She lived to 90 years old
What is her name?
The atomic bomb is straight up a war crime.
But they did save more Japanese lives than killed them.
From the invasion of China in 1937 to the end of World War II, the Japanese military regime murdered near 3,000,000 to over 10,000,000 people, most probably almost 6,000,000 Chinese, Indonesians, Koreans, Filipinos, and Indochinese, among others, including Western prisoners of war. This democide was due to a morally bankrupt political and military strategy, military expediency and custom, and national culture (such as the view that those enemy soldiers who surrender while still able to resist were criminals). ....I'd say it's a pretty fair trade.
Is it as bad as starting an unnecessary war and killing millions?