tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post5999431206774604757..comments2023-11-03T09:36:22.100-04:00Comments on In From the Cold: Getting it RightGeorge Smileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07049707648660651119noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-14684727826860190022007-08-07T11:06:00.000-04:002007-08-07T11:06:00.000-04:00Oh, even after HST dropped 2 bomb on Japan (he pro...Oh, even after HST dropped 2 bomb on Japan (he promised one bomb a month after that, but US have already used up all of their on hand material, and would've been at least months more before he can lived up to that threat), part of the Japanese Army was still not willing to surrender. There was a failed coup staged by some of the junior officers to stop the surrender broadcast, and to hold Emperor hostage. Had more senior Army officers join the effort, history might have been different.BigFirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08691686124373392635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-76994098092256805892007-08-07T08:55:00.000-04:002007-08-07T08:55:00.000-04:00John/Corky/Boinky--You all raise excellent points,...John/Corky/Boinky--You all raise excellent points, that are typically forgotten in the annual "remembrance" of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks. <BR/><BR/>The bombs clearly did save lives--on both sides. My father fought his way across Europe with the 3rd Armored Division during World War II, and even though Germany was defeated, their training continue. Most veterans of the ETO fully expected to be deployed to the Pacific (at some point) to participate in the invasion of Japan. Germany surrendered three months before Japan, but my father said that he "finally" realized that he would survive the war when he heard about the atomic bombs. <BR/><BR/>HST made the right decision, and "spared" millions of lives, on both sides, in the process. Without the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I can easily envision a conflict that would have stretched into late 1946 or early 1947, and created millions of additional casualties--on both sides. <BR/><BR/>Boinky, your comment about Japanese atrocities highlights a point that is almost always forgotten in discussion of the atomic bombing of Japan. The weapons were intended to bring an end to the murderous regime of Imperial Japan, which had brought war and devastation to much of the Pacific. And, ironically, the atomic bombing of Japan is actually celebrated in some parts of Asia to this day, mostly among surviving members of the WWII generation. <BR/><BR/>A friend of mine was stationed at Osan AB, Korea, in the early 1980s. During the first week of August, she noticed a number of elderly Koreans wearing their finest clothes, and ceremonial laterns were hanging outside many businesses near the base. My friend wasn't aware of any Korean holidays that fell during tha period, so she finally asked a local shop owner what the celebration was about. <BR/><BR/>The Korean looked at her dumbstruck. "Don't you know what today is," he asked? It's the day you dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. After living under a brutal Japanese occupation for decades before (and during the war) the Koreans cheered the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, even if it claimed the lives of Koreans who had been taken to Japan, and forced to work in defense plants, or serve as "comfort women" for Japanese soldiers.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12712369389411084085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-25391060073811674162007-08-06T23:42:00.000-04:002007-08-06T23:42:00.000-04:00Well, my cousin who was on leave after his ship wa...Well, my cousin who was on leave after his ship was kamakazi'd got drunk and broke his leg shortly before the bomb was dropped.<BR/>The reason he got drunk was because he figured his new ship would be in the invasion, and the next time he'd be killed.<BR/><BR/>He was happy they dropped the bomb.<BR/><BR/>As for deaths, probably just as many Pinoys were killed in the Japanese "retreat" from Manila, when they massacred civilians in revenge. But of course no one remembers that atrocity.Nancy Reyeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14910134058143426327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-54590099213429611702007-08-06T21:41:00.000-04:002007-08-06T21:41:00.000-04:00One can also imagine the political repercussions a...One can also imagine the political repercussions against Truman if he hadn't used the bomb. One can imagine the reactions of 2 or 300,000 God Star Moms who had lost their sons in a protracted invasion, when we had been sitting on the "Weapon to End All Wars".<BR/><BR/>Indeeed Truman had no choice but to use the bomb. <BR/><BR/>Another little factoid: The three weapons detonated, Trinity, Little Boy and Fat Man were all we had at the time. There were no spare weapons to do a demonstration drop.Corky Boydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16363812378536729410noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-70831814242772578952007-08-06T21:05:00.000-04:002007-08-06T21:05:00.000-04:00Ever read Richard Frank's "No Bomb, No End," in th...Ever read Richard Frank's "No Bomb, No End," in the essay collection What If 2? He makes a convincing case for tens of millions of Japanese casualties as the USN and USAAC undertake a strategy of bombardment and blockade (both the USN and USAAC opposed carrying out Olympic and Coronet, the planned invasions of Kyushu and Honshu, in favor of a blockade and bombardment strategy). Particularly telling is his remark that the official ration in Tokyo in May 1946 was less than 1100 calories per day, and that was with 8 months of peace. Had the war continued, with the transportation disruptions caused by Allied efforts, starvation would have been widespread in southwest Honshu by spring 1946.<BR/><BR/>The bombs, horrific as they were, truly saved lives.Who Struck Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359715705053814488noreply@blogger.com