Whoa

I've never heard this. Japan planned to kill all American POWs on August 22, 1945. That's 35,000 people. They continued to plan this after the first atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6. It was only when the second atom bomb was dropped on Nagasaki August 9 that they surrendered and those 35,000 Americans were allowed to go home to their families. This is apparently according to Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand. I don't know if the Americans knew about Japan's plans and whether it played a role in their decision to use the atomic bombs.