Japan’s World War blunder

Toronto Sun ^ | 3/14/2010 | Eric Margolis

[Saije]

Sixty-five years ago this month, three U.S. Marine Corps divisions were assaulting the heavily fortified volcanic island of Iwo Jima. In the bloody battle, 6,821 Americans and some 33,000 Japanese died or went missing.

My late father, Henry M. Margolis, fought at Iwo as a member of the renowned 5th Marine Amphibious Division. So frightful was the battle, he rarely spoke of it in later years.

The United States military faced a well-armed, courageous Japanese foe in the Pacific campaign and won decisive victories, such as Midway, the Marianas and Leyte, that rank among history’s most glorious battles.

A leading Japanese newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, has been running a fascinating re-examination of Japan’s role in the Second World War based on a new book, From the Marco Polo Bridge to Pearl Harbor, which sharply contradicts the image of Japan’s supposedly efficient war machine.

This book and other new sources make it clear that Japan blundered into the Second World War without any real strategy, then made a total mess of its conduct.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who planned the Pearl Harbor attack, predicted in 1941, “We are going to war for oil, and we will lose the war because of oil.” He warned Japan could only fight for one year and called for peace talks with the U.S. soon after Pearl Harbor.

American P-38 fighters shot down Yamamoto’s aircraft in 1943, killing the Japanese officer best placed to overthrow the militarist regime.

Former prime minister Fumimaro Konoe also predicted disaster. In 1942, he wisely proposed Japan begin planning “how to lose the war.” Some officers plotted to kill war leader Hideki Tojo and other militarists — but, like Hitler’s foes, failed.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

“There mistake was that they fought an American population that had not degenerated to what we have today.”

You are so correct in your statement!!!

[MattinNJ]

My Grandfather was a firefighter on a small carrier in the Pacific. Young boys would try and land their shot up, flame-engulfed, planes on the carrier's deck. This could lead to a chain reaction explosion so they were waved off. That meant certain death so some boys would actually land-and would be quickly pushed into the sea by a small dozer. My grandfather could never, ever, get their faces in the canopies as they slowly sunk out of his mind's eye.

The Japanese had a choice-the Brits, Dutch, and the US shut them off from their oil. It was either fight or surrender. A fool could see that the Japanese would fight. While we eventually would have won, Midway saved us years of fighting.

I have read that Midway truly was a miracle. War colleges have re-enacted the battle on computers tens of thousands of times and they cannote generate a US victory.

[MattinNJ]

Interesting anecdote. The Soviets had a high level German spy in Tokyo (name escapes me). He was the one who informed the Soviets that the Japanese would not invade Russia. That enabled Stalin to shift his forces to the Western Front-some skiied most of the way. That turned the tide at Stalingrad

Anyway, the spy was sentenced to die in one of Stalin's purges. A General reminded Stalin of what the spy had done. Stalin slowly turned and an icy grin spread over his face as he said-"Gratitude is a disease for dogs". Dude died.

[Mike Darancette]

We won because we didn’t give up when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor. Japan should have invaded the USSR in 1941 or at least made a feint in that direction. With the USSR out of the War and the USA not in it, there would have been a very different result.

[uglybiker]

Yamamoto, who planned the Pearl Harbor attack, predicted in 1941, “We are going to war for oil, and we will lose the war because of oil.”
American P-38 fighters shot down Yamamoto’s aircraft in 1943, killing the Japanese officer best placed to overthrow the militarist regime.

See? SEE?!!

IT'S JUST ANOHTER CONSPIRACY BY BIIIIIG OIIIIILLLL!!!

[Sherman Logan]

Richard Sorge.

He was a Soviet spy posing as a German journalist and businessman in Japan.

He was arrested in mid-October, 1941 and hanged (by the Japanese, not the Soviets) in 1944.

Since the war-changing information about the Japanese decision not to attack Siberia was transmitted in late September of ‘41, if the Japanese had arrested him three weeks earlier the war might have had a different outcome.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Sorge

Your anecdote about Stalin’s ingratitude may be true, but not about Sorge.

[Mike Darancette]

Of course, the Bomb would still have won us the war in 1945.

Of course it might have been Germany that had the bomb.

[Sherman Logan]

Of course it might have been Germany that had the bomb.

Very unlikely. Germany had the best engineers, but the Nazis considered advanced physics to be "Jewish science," and just about all the leading ones defected to the USA. Of course, a goodly number of these were also providing information to the Soviets.

The Germans were many years away from developing a Bomb, and never really worked on it very hard, esentially abandoning the project in 1942.

[Mike Darancette]

However, your claim that the Army wanted to invade Russia is at least debatable. They had fought a full-scale battle against the Red Army in 1939 at Nomonhan and got their head handed to them.

In 1939 the Germans weren't attacking from the west. In 1941 just a demonstration in the East would have held up the Soviet Army long enough that Stalingrad and Moscow might have been lost.

[Sherman Logan]

True enough. My comment was on the Jap Army desire to actually invade and conquer Eastern Russia. I suspect they got that knocked out of them in 1939.

As others have pointed out, the Japs believe bushido and courage would defeat tanks and artillery.

Turned out not to be true. The Japanese have been accused of many things in WWII, most of them true. But they’ve never been accused of not being brave.

[LouAvul]

I have read that Midway truly was a miracle.

Given the small size of our army in 1941, our lack of weapons, lack of armor, lost initial battles, etc, I believe the fact we won the war at all was largely due to God's providence.

[MattinNJ]

Great info -thanks. I will delve into it. Perhaps when Stalin was informed about it, he made the remark. I will let you know-thanks.

[MattinNJ]

Germans?. Never mind. You are on a roll.

[tanknetter]

The fatal flaw in all the Japanese plans was the idea that after being attacked the US would eventually agree to some form of peace treaty short of unconditional surrender.

That's it exactly. Japan's war aims were not to "defeat" the US. They were to seize territory and damage US forces to an extent where the US would enter into negotiations for a peaceful end to hostilities.

Coming from a "war is another form of diplomacy", they didn't understand the US (or Western) view of total war, which is that when engaged you attempt to DEFEAT the other side.

Yamamoto, who had spent time in the US attending Harvard (I think) and liaising (playing poker) with US Naval Officers, knew this difference, and also knew what US industrial might could do. His comment about needing to march into DC and force terms upon the President in the White House was deliberately absurdist, designed to show the futility of trying to win against the US. But few (if any) on his side were willing to listen. So he did his duty.

This was especially true due to the botched entry into war with the Pearl Harbor attack. The plan was to declare war a short (minutes or an hour) BEFORE the attack was launched. Instead the Japanese Embassy in DC couldn't decrypt the war message fast enough, so the declaration came AFTER the attack. Instead of just fighting a more capable US, the Japanese were faced with fighting a US that was ALSO incredibly P*SSED about having been sucker-punched.

[SunkenCiv]

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	Gods Graves Glyphs	Thanks Saije. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who planned the Pearl Harbor attack, predicted in 1941, "We are going to war for oil, and we will lose the war because of oil." Gosh, I wonder why the article author brings that up? /sarc He warned Japan could only fight for one year and called for peace talks with the U.S. soon after Pearl Harbor. American P-38 fighters shot down Yamamoto's aircraft in 1943, killing the Japanese officer best placed to overthrow the militarist regime. Obviously this was part of the plan by the American war-mongers to make sure peace didn't come about too soon. /sarc Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
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[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks,...I was around when this started.,...young though!

[GOPJ]

The South “blundered” too.

[tanknetter]

I have read that Midway truly was a miracle. War colleges have re-enacted the battle on computers tens of thousands of times and they cannote generate a US victory.

The reason why those computer models fail is that it's impossible to quantify traits such as improvisation and initiative that were (are) part of the American character and therefore exemplified by our servicemen. In the case of Midway, while there are lots of examples, the two critical ones are John Waldron deciding to take Torpedo 8 in against the Japanese decks immediately, rather than waiting for the "textbook" coordinated attack with dive bombers, and Wade McClusky's hunch-based search with the Enterprise SBD force.

Same thing showed true in the ETO as well. The initiative and improvisation by the scattered US airborne forces and the initial-waves landing forces at Omaha Beach on D-Day.

[Mike Darancette]

Germans?.

My favorite line of "Animal House".

[Jack Hammer]

Back in those halcyon, ancient days - now forever lost - when men were men, and women were happy about it.

Oh, Brave, New World!