Posted on 12/28/2018 10:29:46 AM PST by Captain Peter Blood
“who was worse, the Germans or the Japanese”
One big difference was that there was not a majority among the Germans who would commit war crimes (execute unarmed civilians who were not guilty of any crime or act of war). Among the Japanese, almost every single soldier was willing to do it. They were very reliably willing to kill themselves as well.
The Shinto cult of the Japanese race bound together with the divine emperor, along with with the totalitarian indoctrination of the whole society for many years before the war, made them arguably more fanatical than ISIS, and their killing was on a much broader scale.
Manila (where 14,000 Japanese military were ordered to execute the entire civilian population of that major city) was just one example - not an anomaly.
My father, a Marine Corps veteran of Okinawa, was scheduled to be in that first wave. He never had a bad word to say about Harry Truman.
I always found it fascinating that while the Japanese were considered the fanatics they surrendered before a single inch of the Home Islands was touched by an enemy soldier. While the more “reasonable” Germans didn’t give up until virtually their entire country was overrun.
“The Allies should have simply bypassed the Philippines.”
Unlike the rest of the Islands, the Philippines was American territory, and the Filipinos as much Americans as Puerto Ricans - awaiting rescue.
Atomic Bombs will do that!
The Germans hadn’t been nuked twice.
But the lefties would counter with. “But we interred Japanese right here in the states.” Yes, they are that stoopid. Sort of like them comparing illegal immigrants to Christ.
As was two of my uncles. Both said there was a hell of a party after they dropped those bombs and the war ended. They had been issued envelopes to put their personal belongings in before the invasion. Iwo and Okinawa confirmed what it was going to be like going into the mainland Japanese Island.
58 of their 60 biggest cities were effectively burned to the ground. They were also touched with a couple of nukes, the same week that Stalin declared war on them.
It all boiled down to the boss making the call. Hirohito survived the war, as a result of his call.
The Japanese fanatics had prepared to die down to the last school girl.
Have to agree that in the very early days of WW II, General MacArthur did not perform well. His evacuation of Manila was badly botched and his plan to retreat and hold on Bataan/Corregidor could not succeed since food, munitions and equipment were never preplaced. Also MacArthur is an excellent example of how a flamboyant, politically well connected officer can rise quickly and achieve undeserved power and rank. Still happens today. Yet after the Philippines disaster most military historians are complimentary of MacArthur’s tactics in New Guinea. He achieved much and had a casualty rate far below other Commanders. His desire to liberate the Philippines was opposed by the other area commanders but President Roosevelt understanding the politics overruled Marshall and the other area commanders and allowed MacArthur to mount his invasion. MacArthur then became synonymous with victory in the Pacific and the “American Caesar” legend was firmly established.
There is little doubt he was a complex, troubled man and many felt he had a death wish taking inordinate risks for a Commander. The Dugout Doug moniker was very unfair. His role pacifying post war Japan was indeed a triumph. His military strategy in Korea is of course debatable but if he indeed conceived and planned Inchon, it was brilliant and demonstrated the value of his West Point military education where Civil War battles and tactics were studied extensively. Probably a lost art in today’s service Academies.
MacArthur left America with a pearl of wisdom and insight that unfortunately thus far has been ignored. The United State should never get involved in a land war on the Asian continent.
We didn’t need the Philippines for that. Once we took Iwo and Okinawa, Japan was finished. All we needed to do was get within bomber range and we did that from Mariana Islands
Walter Krueger (26 January 1881 – 20 August 1967) was an American soldier and general officer in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his command of the Sixth United States Army in the South West Pacific Area during World War II. He rose from the rank of private to general in the United States Army.
Born in Flatow, West Prussia, Krueger emigrated to the United States as a boy.
And yet we put both of them on the road to prosperity within a few years after their defeat. That did lead to a pretty good movie, though. Remember "The Mouse That Roared"? Lose a war to the US and get stuff!
Had a couple of German cities been nuked early on, they would have done the same as the Japs. They didn't know that we only had a couple of the bombs.
Iwo Jima is tiny and not in the right place to effectively interdict Japanese shipping coming from the East Indies.
Okinawa would have been a much tougher fight if the oil coming up from the Indies had not been interdicted months before the invasion with all that extra gas for kamikazes.
I have that book. Pretty ugly stuff.
I really feel for any American who fell into Japanese hands. The Japanese considered themselves superior to all others but were the most bestial “civilized” people on the face of the earth.
These were not humans. They were Japs.
True, MacArthur had first hand knowledge of the vast distances and populations of Asia. He also accomplished a number of other important tasks and his farewell address was and is one for the ages.
My point about the Philippines campaign is that with Krueger running his army and Kenney running his air force he had two of the best generals of the war and had the good sense to let them do their jobs.
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