Posted on 07/30/2015 4:16:05 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
The torpedoes hit the forward part of the ship, and she went ahead full speed, essentially "scooping" water into the hull, hastening her sinking. However, it's not clear if there was a "right" decision to make. To go to dead stop makes you a sitting duck for the coup de grace.
There they had their hands tied behind their backs and as the men and children watched, the women were systematically cut to pieces with swords and bayonets until they all died. The screaming children were then seized and hurled alive down a 600 foot deep mine shaft. The men captives, forced to kneel and witness the butchery of their wives and children, and suffering the most indescribable mental torture, were then lined up for execution by beheading. When the grisly ritual was over, the bloodied corpses and severed heads of the 144 men were then thrown down the mine shaft on top of their murdered wives and children.
Hirohito was the third-worst bastard of the 20th century, after Stalin and Mao, with Hitler coming in a distant fourth--and that is probably the hardest lesson to get across to the average student taking 20th century history.
Stalin's and Mao's genocides were primarily of their own people, so they didn't get the "press" they deserved. Between Hitler and Hirohito, whose genocides were not of their own people, Hitler was a much more openly charismatic figure, and therefore much more hate-able, and it isn't just coincidence that the "face" of Japan to America wasn't Hirohito but Tojo--in part because he looked every bit the "dirty Jap," but mostly because he was the one person most Americans would most likely see in a newsreel, while Hirohito hid himself behind the Golden Curtain.
My desk, which is usually a wreck to begin with, now has a pile of papers covered by my reopened Japan's Imperial Conspiracy, and I have been re-reading the description of the step-by-step nemawashi that was being orchestrated by the Emperor to have Japan surrender in a way that would save face for the military and keep himself on the throne. I wish I could post the pages the way HJS does, but you would have to read a whole chapter to get the picture. Luckily, I have found it available online for free from the Library of Congress at https://archive.org/details/japansimperialco00berg. Open it and go to the chapter entitled "A-Bomb," starting on page 51. There is a very detailed description of everything that was going on, and how most of it was, to use a Japanese metaphor, kabuki theater for the Emperor to look like he was saving the nation when in fact he was letting it be destroyed.
Incidentally, in the chapter there is a reference to the Nagano tunnel complex: the Emperor had it built beginning in early 1944, but never intended to use it, only building it in order to convince the Japanese people that they needed to be willing to fight at all costs since the Emperor didn't intend to quit.
I am looking forward to reading Hirohito’s biography for more insight. You previously suggested that he abdicate in favor of his son at the same time as an unconditional surrender. Thus he could accept the “war guilt” for his people. A real leader would do that, but there are not many real leaders in the world.
A real leader would do that, but there are not many real leaders in the world.
Of course, Jesus did exactly that for us, when He was never in any way culpable. That is the ultimate "leadership," that I would follow anywhere--or in this case, straight to heaven.
However, aside from Jesus, you have me wracking my too-empty brain trying to think of a single example in any sphere of the kind of selfless leadership you describe. Can anyone help me out?
leadership
Yes, indeed. Thanks. Although he may by then have just been pooped out. But I agree, that’s a solid ostensible example.
Winston Churchill. Abraham Lincoln. George Washington.
From the description of the ships transferred and the problems they had on Sakhalin, however, these ships could not transport high volumes of troops and could not transport armor or artillery. I doubt they could have landed an army big enough to swallow Hokkaido, even at that late stage of the war. Even if they could, it's probably not enough shipping to keep an army of any size supplied with ammo and food.
Amphibious warfare and supplying an army across the sea were not in the Red Army's wheelhouse. They had real trouble with the little garrison on Sakhalin. So, I now doubt they could have pulled off Hokkaido.
In what sense did Churchill or Lincoln sacrifice their positions? They retained power as long as they could. I realize they gave their all for the cause while in office, so that is certainly strong leadership, and there’s no doubt that involved tremendous personal sacrifice; but we’re discussing Hirohito’s refusal to abdicate, to give up both the actuality and the trappings of power.
Lincoln knew that completing his term would kill him; he even had a dream that convinced him of this. Churchill walked away when he was rejected after doing nothing but good for his people, just as Jesus walked to the cross.
I'm still intrigued and so would like to find even one example of a voluntary abdication or resignation for the larger good. Now that it's come up, I'm surprised they seem so rare. I do suspect Washington demurred largely for personal reasons, and there are plenty of leaders who carried on, like Lincoln, in the face of certain death.
Your ranking is well justified, though some might put Mao ahead of Stalin by the time he got through!
I was thinking of American, Japanese and British naval traditions. In thh USN, the captain is the last man aboard the ship. He goes off last to be made a scapegoat like McVay. In the Royal Navy and IJN, sometimes that tradition means the captain goes down with his ship, like Captain Leach of HMS Prince of Wales and Captain Yanagimoto of HIJMS Soryu.
What evil men. They knew from the beginning they couldn't win. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese military and civilians died, not to mention the millions throughout Asia, while they bidded their time waiting for the "right" time to make peace.
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