Ya they basically did anything they could to win.. the US military estimated it would cost the lives of over 500,000 soldiers to take the island of Japan.
That is why it was nuked.
Also, after the fact they found out they had drastically under estimated the man power fortifying the Japanese islands, and the casualties would have been somewhere around 1,000,000 American soldiers. This was after though, not initial estimates. Just like pretty much every other island in the Pacific front, the Japanese held their cards very close to their chest and kept military intelligence guessing.
Many, many men died as a result of poor judgment from command... the Japanese greatest weapon in WW2 was secrecy.
Last nights episode shows you the "bravery" of the Japanese soldier.
I wish somehow they could have fit in an episode about the Bataan Death March... but I guess that just wouldn't mesh.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bataan_Death_March