A-bombing of Japan

I am writing with reference to the letter : "America's role," by Harun-or-Rashid (Sept 19).
Like most observers, Harun-or-Rashid fails to realize that the atomic bombs dropped on Japan were not to defeat the Japanese but to send a message to Soviet Russia and its dictator Joseph Stalin.
As I have already mentioned in my letter published in DS on Aug. 16 ("A-bombing of Japan") of the account left behind by Dr. Leo Szilard, a top atomic scientist at the Manhattan Project, about his meeting with Secretary of State designate and Chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee James Byrnes on May 28, 1945. In the meeting, Mr. Byrnes made it clear why the bomb would be dropped on Japan. Here is the account:
"Byrnes was concerned about Russia's post-war behaviour. Russian forces had moved into Hungary and Rumania. Byrnes thought it would be very difficult to persuade Russia to withdraw its troops from these countries and that Russia would be more manageable if impressed by American military might. I shared Byrnes's concern about Russia's throwing around its weight in the post-war period, but I was completely flabbergasted by the assumption that rattling the bomb might make Russia more manageable ...
"I was concerned at this point that by demonstrating the bomb and using it in the war against Japan, we might start an atomic arms race between America and Russia which might end with the destruction of both countries. ... I was rarely as depressed as when we left Byrnes's house and walked toward the station."
Thus atomic bombs were dropped on Japan to demonstrate America's awesome military might and warn Russia that it would face atomic annihilation if it tried to invade Western Europe. After the end of the Second World, the Soviet Union had emerged as a superpower and only America was in a position to challenge it. It can be argued that if America didn't drop the bomb on Japan, the destructive power of the bomb remained unknown and the Soviet Union, which was the biggest land power, might be tempted to militarily threaten Europe, thinking America as a distant power lacking the capacity to project power. If this happened, the United States would have no other option but to use its nuclear weapons against the Soviet Union.
But why not against Nazi Germany? The answer is: before the bomb was ready to be deployed, Germany had already surrendered. But Japan continued to fight, taking a heavy toll of American lives by its suicide pilots. Also Japan is an island and it is extremely difficult to invade an island as developed as Japan. Japan was prepared to cause a heavy toll of American lives if invaded. Japan wanted ceasefire, not surrender. Moreover, dropping atomic bombs on Germany would have prompted the Germans to surrender to approaching Russian forces who would look like saviours. At the final stage of the war, both the Allied and the Russian forces were trying to beat each other to conquer Germany and the whole purpose of containing Russia after the war would be lost if the bombs were dropped on Germany.
Now that the Cold War is over, America should apologise to Japan for using it as a showcase to send a message to Russia. Japan has apologised for killing millions of Chinese during its occupation of China. It is now America's turn.