Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: P-Marlowe; Arthur McGowan

“The Japanese were NEVER ready to surrender.”

You’re right. In the pre-war years Japanese society had become dominated by an particularly virulent Bushido cult. Combined with a culture that puts immense value on ‘saving face’ and you had a very dangerous mix for both the Japanese and those fighting back against them.

The Japanese had a saying “100 million dead for the Emperor” and the increasingly hard fighting as we got closer to the Home Islands proved the willingness of even civilians to do exactly that.

In the six weeks prior to Hiroshima the battle for Okinawa had just ended. 123,000 dead in one battle, many of them American. In Hiroshima there were 140,000 dead.

The Japanese weren’t going to quit. Nothing short of a force of nature like a typhoon or massive earthquake would permit them to quit and yet save face. Well the atomic bombs did exactly that. They were like something supernatural, and after Nagasaki the ‘peace faction’ within the Japanese leadership was able to overwhelm the Bushido lunatics who were willing to sacrifice the entire Japanese people in their vision of a last glorious fight against a conventional invasion.


37 posted on 05/29/2016 6:56:34 AM PDT by Pelham (Barack Obama. When being bad is not enough and only evil will do)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies ]


To: Pelham
In Hiroshima there were 140,000 dead.

That's probably closer to the total of the4 Nagaski and Hiroshima bombs combined, IIRC. Not even the notorious John Hersey put the number that high for just Hiroshima.

67 posted on 05/29/2016 7:38:56 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson