Posted on 05/29/2016 6:29:04 AM PDT by Arthur McGowan
Much of the historical perspective on the era holds that the Japanese were prepared to fight to their very last man, and that until the horror of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been visited upon their homeland Japanese leaders had no intention of surrendering. But in fact the Japanese had sent peace feelers to the West as early as 1942, only six months after the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. More would come in a flood long before the fateful use of the atomic bombs.
In her 1956 book, The Enemy at His Back, journalist Elizabeth Churchill Brown supplied overwhelming evidence to counter the inaccurate views about the close of the war. Beginning in 1949, she plunged into dozens of wartime memoirs and congressional hearings dealing with the conflict. The wife of noted Washington Star columnist Constantine Brown, Mrs. Brown had access to many of "the men who were no longer 'under wraps,'" as she noted. She wrote, "With this knowledge at hand, I quickly began to see why the war with Japan was unprecedented in all history. Here was an enemy who had been trying to surrender for almost a year before the conflict ended."
(Excerpt) Read more at thenewamerican.com ...
And the forgotten Japanese soldiers whom remained at their field postings for decades awaiting further orders, despite all evidence contrary to the idea of a continued war, speaks of the mental conditioning to never surrender but die serving the Emperor.
Before the war, quite often Japanese naval officers attended western university and gained a different perspective of potential adversaries, relative to the indoctrination of Japanese army officers. The navy therefore had a more realistic view of what the consequences of Pearl Harbor would be, could anticipate outcomes a year or two after that attack, and predicted a necessary staged retreat from escalating US navy force as the outcome.
The army held a narrow philosophy based strictly on service to their emperor, everything and everyone expendable toward achieving the goals of the monarch. Their honor system had a concept of only living to achieve victory, or become not worthy of living. This belief is evident in their subsequent treatment of prisoners of war of that period.
Multiple factions were present within a power struggle seeking supremacy in the hierarchy responsive to the Emperor. Each applied pressures on the monarch’s administrators to become most influential in conducting the war. Many were inflexible when presented with unanticipated outcomes, tending to doggedly continue support of a failed plan. Only overwhelming evidence shifted the narrative toward a choice of negotiating a peace or face obliteration.
They still had over a million soldiers in China and Korea and had no plans to give up territory. Don’t be silly...
How about the bombing campaign anticipating up to a dozen drops based on assembling materials available at that point?
Balderdash
If it were true then Japan would have surrendered after the first bomb. It was not until the second was dropped that they were willing to unconditionally surrender
Japan had conditions that the YS would not accept. One being that the emperor could not maintain his status. Occupation was an issue as well
Wasn’t unconditional surrender defined in the Potsdahm accords? I believe it was. The Japanese knew what it meant but we’re trying to have their cake and eat it too.
Peace feeler:
“Hey, USA, now that we have dragged you into this thing, drained your treasury and killed your sons en masse, why don’t we call it a draw (at least until we can rebuild and have another go at it). Oh, and rest assured that we ever go a bomb we would never ever drop it on your cities.”
Leftist tripe indeed.
It looks like President Trump needs to root out all the Russian moles “re-educating” us at the Smithsonian...
It looks like President Trump needs to root out all the Russian moles “re-educating” us at the Smithsonian...
Did not have to read whole article. Premise is false
Many American communities were devastated by casualties among their young men.
Read “The Bedford Boys.” It is the story of 19 young men from one Virginia town that died in the first wave at Omaha. Or, the Sullivan’s..five brothers from Iowa who died together on the Juneau..
Wow. You continue to be a Nixon?
Oh, God, how awful. Imagine being shipped from Europe to fight the Japs! This, of course, is what makes our generation, generally, so adamant that the bombs were the right thing to do.
“...often Japanese naval officers attended western university and gained a different perspective of potential adversaries...”
When Harvard-trained Adm. Yamamoto learned that the Pearl Harbor raid was seen as a sneak attack, he observed,
“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant, and fill him with a terrible resolve.”
Earlier he had told the Emperor, “I can raise havoc with the Americans for a year. After that, I can promise nothing.”
Now that Obama has gone to Hiroshima, "conservative" dogma is now frozen: Dropping the bombs was heroic and noble.
The Japanese were on the offensive as late as the summer of 1944, so of what value were such "peace overtures"? If they really wanted to surrender, they could have laid down their arms and run up the white flag at anytime.
Yes, I fully agree with "frozen conservative dogma," and to me, the crews of Enola Gay and Bock's Car are heroic and noble.
Note that this is from The New American, which is published by the John Birch Society—whose founder Robert Welch claimed that President Eisenhower was a Russian spy.
Looks like the unanimous opinion on this forum is this article is FOS. I have read a dozen books on the subject and this article is the first time I have ever seen anyone suggest that Japan was ready to "surrender" before Hiroshima. We had reduced Tokyo to a smoldering ruin and they were still hell bent on defending their Island to the last man woman and child.
I think you are the one that needs to be educated.
How long did it take you to read this nonsense? I had this guy pegged after the second paragraph. "Here was an enemy who had been trying to surrender for almost a year before the conflict ended."
LOL!
What follows that has got to be nothing but Liberal BS.
As was my Dad, after having fought at Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal. If not for dropping of the two bombs, I might not be here today. That also applies to my two children and two grandchildren.
Both of our dads are now departed but my wifes a Pacific theater GI and my dad a Navy Medic landing on Normandy. They would shake their heads in disgust at this revisionist history as they were in the early stages of manhood when the endures the atrocities of war.
Those brave men, and now the few who remain, were willing to give their lives so we could live in a free world.
Impostors like Obama, only live in the world of political self satisfaction and could care less how this country was built to stand proud among the rest of the world and be respected for ensuring its own peace in addition to liberating others from the bonds of oppression.
Go Donald.... you embody the spirt of those brave men and the others like them we will remember on Memorial Day.
How about the truth to counter the fairy tales:
Excellent article with links to the reality of the cruelty and evil of the Japanese:
I remember reading that not all of the military leadership agreed with the plan to attack Pearl Harbor.
I never heard that story, it seems pretty interesting. Do you know where I could read more about it?
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