Posted on 03/14/2010 9:36:52 AM PDT by 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 historys most glorious battles.
A leading Japanese newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, has been running a fascinating re-examination of Japans 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 Japans 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 Yamamotos 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 Hitlers foes, failed.
(Excerpt) Read more at torontosun.com ...
“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!!!
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.
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.
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.
See? SEE?!!
IT'S JUST ANOHTER CONSPIRACY BY BIIIIIG OIIIIILLLL!!!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Germans?. Never mind. You are on a roll.
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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? /sarcHe 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 |
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Thanks,...I was around when this started.,...young though!
The South “blundered” too.
My favorite line of "Animal House".
Back in those halcyon, ancient days - now forever lost - when men were men, and women were happy about it.
Oh, Brave, New World!
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