In reality the United States would not have had a third bomb ready for use until around August 19, and a fourth in September. However the Japanese leadership had no way of knowing the inaccuracy of this faulty intelligence, and assumed the United States had the capacity not just to devastate individual cities, but might even wipe out the Japanese people as a race and nation. In response Anami expressed a desire for this outcome rather than surrender, stating "Would it not be wondrous for this whole nation to be destroyed like a beautiful flower?"