Posted on 08/06/2020 1:52:10 PM PDT by Pelham
Arthur T. Hadley said recently that those for whom the use of the A-bomb was wrong seem to be implying that it would have been better to allow thousands on thousands of American and Japanese infantrymen to die in honest hand-to-hand combat on the beaches than to drop those two bombs. People holding such views, he notes, do not come from the ranks of society that produce infantrymen or pilots.
And theres an eloquence problem: most of those with firsthand experience of the war at its worst were not elaborately educated people. Relatively inarticulate, most have remained silent about what they know. That is, few of those destined to be blown to pieces if the main Japanese islands had been invaded went on to become our most effective men of letters or impressive ethical theorists or professors of contemporary history or of international law. The testimony of experience has tended to come from rough diamonds--James Jones is an example--who went through the war as enlisted men in the infantry or the Marine Corps.
Anticipating objections from those without such experience, in his book "WWII" Jones carefully prepares for his chapter on the A-bombs by detailing the plans already in motion for the infantry assaults on the home islands of Kyushu (thirteen divisions scheduled to land in November 1945) and ultimately Honshu (sixteen divisions scheduled for March 1946). Planners of the invasion assumed that it would require a full year, to November 1946, for the Japanese to be sufficiently worn down by land-combat attrition to surrender. By that time, one million American casualties was the expected price. Jones observes that the forthcoming invasion of Kyushu was well into its collecting and stockpiling stages before the war ended.
Not true. It was about 3 Kilotons which is larger than some tactical nukes and about 1/5th the yield of Little Boy.
” You can’t make war without fuel.”
Try looking at Iwo Jima or Okinawa and show us where the Japanese were burning up fuel. They weren’t using armor columns or fleets of aircraft in these fights. There weren’t convoys of trucks moving around the island.
These were bitter hand to hand battles that the Japanese excelled at with their warren of underground tunnels. And their home islands were riddled with them. The closer we got to their home islands the fiercer was their resistance.
Didn’t think about it, but my Dad’s carrier group was in the task force that helped liberate the Phillipines with McArthur. So, in a way, my Dad helped come to your Dad’s rescue.
So sorry that he had to endure that evil.
My mom and dad got married on this day in 1947. The date was no accident.
In addition to the B-29 runways Tinian also featured the largest military hospital ever built.
This was constructed for the huge number of casualties expected when we invaded Japan’s Home Islands.
Can you cite a source, please?
I’ve tried to find out how many they had.
Like I said upthread, zero moral qualms about doing what we did, but I almost never see honest and accurate discussion of the blockade alternative. I actually consider it more cruel.
I read just recently that 70,000 Japanese died instantly at Hiroshima. Instantly!
And that’s not counting the radiation casualties.
Interesting that the fertilizer is almost as powerful as TNT. I read 2700 tons.
IIRC they estimated that blast to be about 1 ti 1.5 kilotons.
Excellent question.
The Chinese WILL produce another strain of disease this winter, as they do EVERY FRIGGIN' winter, and the world stands by with thumb up the butt.
It HAS to be all about MONEY.
I used to get the chance to read Rafu Shimpo, an English language Japanese newspaper out of Los Angeles. On one of the anniversaries of the Bomb they ran an article on the reaction of the Japanese military to Hiroshima. They convened a meeting the next day and wanted to know how soon they could have their own bomb.
It wasn’t until Nagasaki that the Emperor decided it was enough. We had been killing more with fire bombing than we did with the two atomic bombs, but the nukes were different. Japan could surrender without losing face because these bombs weren’t simple weapons of war, they were forces of nature like a typhoon or an earthquake.
The children in our public schools are not told about what really happened in the war in the Pacific. Their teachers only tell them how bad our country is.
Smoke on the Water--Boyd Heath (1945)
Atomic Power--Fred Kirby (1946)
Atomic Cocktail--Slim Gaillard (1946)
I guess I am comparing what I see. pretty damaging and ghastly.
But yeah Hiroshima was magnitudes larger and more widespread.
Thats what it says in the third paragraph. Bold call there!
We already controlled the Skies over Japan and we could Bomb them day and night until Kingdom Come. Well, Kingdom Come came early.
I have an essay covering the necessity of dropping the bombs of over 2,800 words, which I will not post again. I posted it on July 17. But out of 25 plus references I listed, probably the best one is Hell to Pay, by D. M. Giangreco.
They asked us to the dance never forget that one fact
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