tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post9119733693741686983..comments2023-11-03T09:36:22.100-04:00Comments on In From the Cold: The Unnecessary ApologyGeorge Smileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07049707648660651119noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-49948421693905800782010-08-11T16:09:39.119-04:002010-08-11T16:09:39.119-04:00Davod,
I stand corrected. Though if it had been tr...Davod,<br />I stand corrected. Though if it had been true, I think it would be a correct decision in a cruel calculus.sargonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16749708826547573370noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-33804060704881127642010-08-10T12:58:18.742-04:002010-08-10T12:58:18.742-04:00Yes, many American lives were saved as were many J...Yes, many American lives were saved as were many Japanese lives, but less well know is the fact that the Japanese Military showed it was capable of extracting a terrible toll for being forced to relinquish its conquests. They killed 100,000 in Manila unnecessarily. Without the A-Bomb they may - and we can not know this for sure - have killed many more as they left Indonesia and China and pother conquered territories in Asia. Different people died as a result of the A-Bomb, but many fewer died overall.lgudehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12774491337993415578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-91647042003764276292010-08-06T18:39:03.636-04:002010-08-06T18:39:03.636-04:00"Like Churchill not warning Coventry of the G..."Like Churchill not warning Coventry of the German raid to protect Ultra. Terrible decisions that must be made."<br /><br />Sargon, You are not alone in believing that Churchill sacrificed Coventry to protect Ultra. Fortunately this incorrect.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/news/docview.rhtm/49723033/article.html/" rel="nofollow">Bletchley Park </a> web site has a very informative entry on this subject, part of which is included here:<br /><br />"There are numerous examples of Churchill not hesitating to suppress valuable intelligence derived from Bletchley Park decrypts, when there was no other plausible source for that Intelligence, in order to preserve the vital secret that BLETCHLEY PARK was breaking the major German codes such as Enigma. The raid on Coventry on 14th November 1940 (Operation Moonlight Sonata) was NOT one of them.<br /><br />Bletchley Park frequently played its part by providing warning of forthcoming raids, but unfortunately on the occasion of 14th November, though warning that a major raid was coming on about the 14th, BLETCHLEY PARK was unable to provide evidence that the target was Coventry as the codeword ‘Korn’ had not appeared in decrypts before and so was not recognised as referring to Coventry. It was the RAF who identified the target as Coventry at about 3 pm that afternoon from the German navigation beams, once they were set-up. The defences were immediately warned..." <br /><br /><a href="http://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/myths/myths/he-let-coventry-burn" rel="nofollow">Churchill Let Coventry Burn To Protect His Secret Intelligence </a> by Peter J. McIver explains how the myth evolved and includes accounts by some of Churchill's staff.<br /><br />"...What did Churchill know and when did he know it? The most succinct summary came from one of Churchill's private secretaries, John Colville, in his book, The Churchillians (London, 1981), page 62:<br /><br />...That same afternoon, Thursday 14 November 1940, Churchill set off with [private secretary] John Martin for Ditchley, Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Tree's house in Oxfordshire, generously made available to the Prime Minister once a month when the moon was full and the PM's official residence, Chequers, was vulnerable. Just before Churchill left, word was received that "Moonlight Sonata" was likely to take place that night. In the car he opened his most recent yellow box and read the German signals in full. He immediately told the chauffeur to turn round, and went back to Downing Street.<br /><br />On arrival he decided that due precautions must be taken, for he assumed the operation to be aimed at London and to be a more massive assault than had ever been made before. He ordered that the female staff be sent home before darkness fell. He packed John Peck and me off to dine and sleep in a sumptuous air-raid shelter prepared and equipped in Down Street underground station by the London Passenger Transport Board. They made it available to the Prime Minister as well as to their own executive. Churchill called it "the burrow," but used it himself on only a few occasions.<br /><br />John Peck and I dined apolaustically in "the burrow." I commented, with a blend of gratification and disapproval, "Caviar (almost unobtainable in these days of restricted imports); Perrier Jouet 1928; 1865 brandy and excellent Havana cigars." Meanwhile Churchill, impatient for the fireworks to start, made his way to the Air Ministry roof with John Martin and saw nothing. For on their way to Coventry, the raiders dropped no bombs on London..."davodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09272330967156237637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-26333487865561791732010-08-06T12:16:55.112-04:002010-08-06T12:16:55.112-04:00Will the Japanese Ambassador be present at the ann...Will the Japanese Ambassador be present at the annual Nanjing Massacre Commemoration in December?Brianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06358349301959327747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-68744602416860922952010-08-06T09:10:07.440-04:002010-08-06T09:10:07.440-04:00Your last paragraph would make a wonderful bumper ...Your last paragraph would make a wonderful bumper sticker.planethouhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14499375793289541938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-59692547882408898682010-08-06T09:09:27.823-04:002010-08-06T09:09:27.823-04:00The bombs are also the reason why the US has not h...The bombs are also the reason why the US has not had to manufacture any Purple Hearts for the last 65+ years. We are still using the 500,000 made in anticipation of the invasion of Japan...<br /><br />BTW - please send me an e-mail - I have a story for you...owr084https://www.blogger.com/profile/01387774420107628389noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-44863630898698482152010-08-05T23:55:54.964-04:002010-08-05T23:55:54.964-04:00I would recommend to you the book Japan at War an ...I would recommend to you the book Japan at War an Oral History by Haruko Taya Cook and Theodore F. Cook. It is a series of interviews with Japanese about their experience of the war.<br /><br />An excerpt from the very last interview in the book with photographer Hayashi Shigeo who visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki with a research team:<br /><br />Eventually we travelled to Nagasaki, and repeated the same process there. One day, I went to the Mitsubishi arsenal and was photographing the torpedo plant. I was being escorted around by a Mitsubishi man. At some point he said to me, "This is where we made the first torpedoes, the ones dropped on Pearl Harbor at the onset of the Pacific War." The wrenches and other tools used by the workers were lying there, all around me, as if they'd been set down a minute ago. I could have reached out myself and picked them up. Finally he said quietly, "Mr. Hayashi, the very first torpedo was launched from here in Nagasaki, and in the end here's where we were stabbed to death. We fought a stupid war, didn't we?" The two of us just stood there in silence.fbonesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05636200338746518234noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-51878320891280079122010-08-05T18:36:27.005-04:002010-08-05T18:36:27.005-04:00Like Churchill not warning Coventry of the German ...Like Churchill not warning Coventry of the German raid to protect Ultra. Terrible decisions that must be made.sargonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16749708826547573370noreply@blogger.com