i thought this thread was about the game pearl harbor i play with my wife
it's where i lay back and she blows the shit out of me
it's where i lay back and she blows the shit out of me
pearl harbor
- Thread starter the addict
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Ahh So! Puh-habor!
or visit the Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber (only one of two in existence) and tour the U-Boat at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, see lots of German tourists
I heard good story once by a survivor of the sneak attack.
True, if "fighting on the main islands" were the only other option, but it wasn't. Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet: "The Japanese had, in fact, already sued for peace. The atomic bomb played no decisive part, from a purely military point of view, in the defeat of Japan."
The U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey (written by Paul Nitze, 1946) reported, "Certainly prior to 31 December 1945, and in all probability prior to 1 November 1945, Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped."
The official British history, The War Against Japan, reports that the Russians entering war against Japan "brought home to all members of the Supreme Council the realization that the last hope of a negotiated peace had gone and there was no alternative but to accept the Allied terms sooner or later."
Actually, the Japanese peace overtures had a number of conditions attached to them. The Allies wanted an unconditional surrender. This turned out to be the best thing for the Japanese people, as it led to an amazing Constitution and one of the true economic miracles of all time. No way this happens like it did if the Allies allowed the Emperor's bullshit divine right to stand.
Oh, and playing the waiting game while the the Japanese civilians were starving and soldiers were fighting elsewhere and holding hundreds of thousands of prisoners of war would have cost far more lives than the bombs.
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if the nukes were never dropped,it`s very possible that a few involved in this discussuion might not be here to discuss the issue...
if the nukes were never dropped,it`s very possible that there may be a few more people here to discuss the issue...
Unless there are some older members here that might have been part of the invasion of Japan if it came to that then you are really stretching it with that comment GW. :shrug:
Damn crazy Irish, lol. Marine or army? Japanese were quite fanatical in their fighting in the island battles.
good point...
some might not realize that japan was a nation of fanatical totalitarians who gave total allegiance to their supreme leader(the emperor)....
they were willing to martyr themselves for their nationalistic death cult(sounds like our current issues)........
they also subjected their enemies to some of the most brutal and horrific atrocities in history....
they didn`t play around....
He told me when they reached Manila, the Japanese had destroyed the city knowing they had lost it. The Japanese were randomly killing Phillipine civilians as a final act of retaliation. Many Japanese killed themselves as well.
my dad was with the Merchant Marines thru the war, and that service suffered a higher casualty rate than the US Navy. He crossed the international date line the day Japan surrendered, so when folks asked him "where were you when the war ended" he truthfully answers "nowhere".
Details of what happened may make you return that Toyota!
General Yamashita didn't want to waste civilian lives or cause futhur damage to Manila and ordered all his men out as US approached. But some 10K of his soldiers disobeyed and stayed under Vice Admiral Iwabuchi.
US was obliged to bomb the hell out of "the Pearl of the Orient", and these Jap soldiers looted and burned blew up stuff, bayonetted, decapitated, raped men, women and children. They executed priests, mutilated patients in hospitals, Red Cross people, etc. Estimates are that 100,000 citizens of the city died. It became the most destroyed city in WWII, after Warsaw.
General Yamashita was executed after the war for this, being held responsible for all the men under his command (this is known among war crimes folks as The Yamashita standard)
I drive a Toyota that is cunningly re-badged by GM as a Chevy Geo, ha!
Details of what happened may make you return that Toyota!
General Yamashita didn't want to waste civilian lives or cause futhur damage to Manila and ordered all his men out as US approached. But some 10K of his soldiers disobeyed and stayed under Vice Admiral Iwabuchi.
US was obliged to bomb the hell out of "the Pearl of the Orient", and these Jap soldiers looted and burned blew up stuff, bayonetted, decapitated, raped men, women and children. They executed priests, mutilated patients in hospitals, Red Cross people, etc. Estimates are that 100,000 citizens of the city died. It became the most destroyed city in WWII, after Warsaw.
General Yamashita was executed after the war for this, being held responsible for all the men under his command (this is known among war crimes folks as The Yamashita standard)
I drive a Toyota that is cunningly re-badged by GM as a Chevy Geo, ha!
He didn't talk about it much but when he drank, the memories would flow out of him. Some , as you mentioned, would detail (graphically I might add) the horrific brutality of the Japanese. My mother would usually have to stop him.
Interesting how different the Japanese are today. Industrious and peaceful. nothing resembling what they were.
had an uncle that was in the navy...had real memory problems as he got older....my aunt used to tell us that sometimes he couldn`t remember what he ate for dinner....
but he could tell you about what he did and what happened to him in ww II.....right up until he passed...
i guess that kind of traumatic stuff stays with you...
