Posted on 08/29/2002 11:13:48 AM PDT by Asmodeus
My thoughts, exactly.
This "historian" seems to think that if the US had not sunk this submarine an hour before the Japanese attack, that the hundreds of Japanese Zero's would have all turned around and gone home.
Who does he think he is fooling?
At 1100 next morning (12 December 1937) Panay and the three tankers anchored near Hoshien, upstream from Nanking. American flags were hoisted on their masts and painted on the awnings and topsides. The day was clear, sunny and still. Panay's ate their Sunday dinner and secured. No guns were manned or even uncovered. Shortly after 1330, three Japanese Navy bombing planes flew overhead and released eighteen bombs, one of which disabled Panay's forward 3-inch gun, wrecked the pilothouse, sick bay and fire room, wounded the captain (Lieutenant Commander J.J. Hughes) and several others. Immediately after, twelve more planes dive-bombed and nine fighters strafed, making several runs over a space of twenty minutes. She fought back with her .30-cal. machine guns. By 1406 all power and propulsion were lost, the main deck was awash and, as Captain Hughes saw that his ship was going down, he ordered her to be abandoned. Japanese planes strafed the boats on their way to shore, and even combed the reeds along the riverbank for survivors. Two of the three oil barges were also bombed and destroyed. The Panay survivors, kindly treated by the Chinese, managed to get word through to Admiral Yarnell and were taken on board U.S.S. Oahu and H.M.S. Ladybird two days later. Two bluejackets and one civilian passenger died of their wounds; eleven officers and men were seriously wounded.[14]
Mr. Grew, who remembered the Maine, at first expected his country to declare war. But the promptness and apparent sincerity with which the Japanese government and people apologized and expressed their readiness to make what reparation they could, turned away wrath. The Japanese official inquiry resulted in the face-saving explanation that the attack was all a mistake; ships emblazoned with American flags had been mistaken for Chinese at 600 yards' range; it was just to bad. A United States naval Court of Inquiry at Shanghai brought out unmistakable evidence that the sinking was deliberate. But the United States government was so anxious to avoid war that it accepted the "mistake" theory, together with an indemnity. When it did so, a sigh of relief passed over the length and breadth of America.[15] In a Gallup poll conducted during the second week of January 1937, 70 per cent of the American voters who were interviewed and had an opinion on the subject favored a policy of complete withdrawal from China -- Asiatic Fleet, Marines, missionaries, medical missions, and all.[16]
Apparently no American except Mr. Grew remembered the Maine.
[12] Panay of 450 tons was 191 ft. long and carried two 3-inch and ten .30-cal. machine guns.
[13] Annual Report of Navy Department 1930 p. 99.
[14] Account by Mr. George Atcheson Jr., Second Secretary of the American Embassy, who was a passenger; report of Court of Inquiry held by order of Admiral Yarnell on Board U.S.S. Augusta off Shanghai 23 Dec. 1937, printed in Foreign Relations, Japan 1931-1941 I 532-47.
[15] Same, p. 559; Grew Ten Years in Japan pp. 232-42. The allegations of Hashimoto's responsibility were obtained by Mr. Hallert Abend of the New York Times and other American newspaper correspondents, and transmitted to me by Admiral Yarnell in 1947. Note: But for an excellent Japanese account of this affair, see Commander Okumiya "How the Panay Was Sunk," U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings pp. 587-96 (June 1953). The author, whose plane squadron led the dive-bombing attack, makes out a good case for the fliers who neither recognized Panay nor were informed of the gunboat's presence in the vicinity. The strike was made on the basis of army intelligence, not on the orders of Colonel Hashimoto; the Japanese naval aviators thought they were bombing enemy troops escaping up-river in Chinese merchant ships.
[16] The vote was about 3 to 1 for complete withdrawal in eight West Central States; 2 to 1 in New England and the Pacific Coast. American Institute of Public Opinion, 16 Jan 1938.
One of the weirdest myths of WWII is the idea that the Flying Tigers were fighting BEFORE Pearl Harbor.
They didn't enter combat until AFTER Pearl Harbor; never fired a shot in anger before Pearl Harbor.
I think the myth comes from a horrendously bad John Wayne movie about the Flying Tigers, the name of which escapes me....was it just "The Flying Tigers?"
Interestingly, the Flying Tigers NEVER, EVER encountered a SINGLE Japanese Zero, another fact that people treat with complete disbelief; they fought only against the Japanese Army and most of their kills were bombers, obsolete fixed landing gear Japanese Army Fighters, with a handful of kills of more modern (but still not as good as the Zero) Japanese Army retractable-gear fighters.
You have just unleashed a 300 post thread.
A whole Japanese task force steams within striking distance of Pearl Harbor, launches heavily armed planes, and a few mini subs, loaded with torpedos. It takes them weeks to get into position: the mini subs being launched well ahead of the carrier planes,because of their speed differences.
The author seems to be saying-because we sank one of the attacking subs before the actual bombing started, we started WW II !!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.