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To: snippy_about_it; SAMWolf
Good Morning Snippy...Sam

Wake Island is a defiant yell at the Japanese...

"We will not go meekly and quietly into your grasp"

The days following Pearl Harbor found this defiant Spirit break out

The Dutch and the British began to blow the oil installations and info structure which the Japanese overconfidently calculated would be theirs.

The fight was one of withdrawl..but with a strong sense of gratification and morale.

Wake Island could not be seen as anything but a costly chess move by Japan.
If this is what resulted by limited resources of the enemy...what would it cost when they could put equal strength into battle.

Japans plans to obtain a outcome which would see a deal cut with the U.S. Government were beginning to go wrong.

In so many ways..the aftermath of battle saw the Japanese demonstrate their cruelty...in a sense..a national tantraum..and a marker as to what these people were made of.

Japans command structure revealed petty contention and rivalry....the Army looking to zenith the Navy as per the Glory that was supposed in their twisted minds.

Wake Island hurt the Naval commands voice before the Emperor...the Army garnering the nod to go out and secure Glory for the Empire.

Hong Kong..Singapore,

The Army would bring a better prize before their Emperor and bolster the Nations momentum or sense of Superiority over the Allies.

Yet from this early period..Japans doom was to be seen in the unfolding.

Bizarre thinking saw military asset and strength assigned to useless Islands and atolls.

"Their confused....we've got them"!

Late 42 and early 43 would see a high percentage loss ratio for the U.S. in the Pacific...mostly old Naval assets and battle outcomes managed by Commanders whose thinking was not up to par with the fluidity of modern war.

Yet in a few months ..the new thinking would appear...The carrier Battle Group...the Jeep carrier and aviation projection.

America would smash Japan at every turn...and rout them were ever they stood.

Keeping Japans population decieved as to what was occuring was the margin now for the Emperor.

His guts would turn at every report comming in.


29 posted on 12/20/2003 9:23:43 AM PST by Light Speed
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To: Light Speed
Good morning Light Speed. Good post.
40 posted on 12/20/2003 9:45:32 AM PST by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: Light Speed
Good post Light speed.

The Japanese were able to pretty much run rampant over the Pacific for about six months after Pearl Harbor, until the US stopped them cold at Midway. It was our stands at Bataan, Wake and other places that put crimps in their plans. Once again we we underestimated by an enemy.

Their plans were to grab as much as they could as fast as they could, set up a "perimeter" and then make it so costly to take back that we'd negotiate an agreement. They forgot that Americans were always willing to "pay the price".

It infuriates me to think that if the events of WWII happened the same way today, that there are those would would be willing to give up and let the Japanese keep their gains. And these people are in our Congress, and State Legislatures and City governments.

The rivalry between the IJN and the Army definately worked to our advantage on occasions. Resources needed were held back because of this rivalry, and at times the Japanese were pushed into operations by one service that the other wasn't ready or willing to support.
41 posted on 12/20/2003 9:55:23 AM PST by SAMWolf (Support your local medical examiner: die strangely!)
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