cause in their own words, they woke a sleeping giant... but what do did they knowWe could not win a world war as we stand today…. flame away
When the war started we still had guys on horseback, practicing with brooms instead of guns and trucks that said “I am a tank” on them.
The real production shot up AFTER the war started.
They thought they could shock the US out of fighting at Pearl Harbor and they lost the gamble.
Interesting comparison of the war production capabilities of the U.S. vs. Japan.
I’ve read that the biggest mistakes that made at Pearl Harbor was not destroying dry docks and the oil farm.
With US might on his side victory was assured against the Nazi. As for Japan they would "be ground to powder".
John Parshall co-wrote, with Anthony Tully, “Shattered Sword, the Untold Story of the Battle of Midway.” I consider this one of the most exhaustive, well-researched books to come out in the last 20 years. And it is in a very readable style as well.
He hosts the “Nihon Kaigun” website, one of my top internet resources regarding the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Fewer than 1 or 2% of the American public really know why Japan surrendered. Yes, their shipping was gone and two cities blown away —very impressive military blows. But that is STILL not the reason why they quit:
Part of the Yalta Agreement was that within a short time of the end of the war in Europe Stalin was required to aid in the defeat of the Japanese, and no Japanese decision maker expected that Soviet conquerers would permit the Emperor system to continue:
At the time of that signing of Yalta the Americans and Japanese both had front row seats see theing way the Soviets were snapping up conquered lands in Europe and the suspicion was that they’d never be in a move to leave those lands —evar.
That is the reason why Germany ended up divided (food had to be flown into a surrounded Berlin by air). That is the reason Korea was divided and is divided to this day —because of the special nature of losing to the *Soviet Union*.
1. The Japanese knew if the Soviets were major players in the defeat of Japan that the Emperor and his family would probably have to be hung.
2. The Americans realized Japan would end up a divided country (the only pre-1900 lands that Japan lost and are still lost are those she lost to the Soviets).
Japan lost because we took the war to them and destroyed their ability to make war. Then we nuked them.
For later
And at the other end of the war, there is an excellent documentary, “The Last Bomb”, featuring Curtis LeMay, showing all the planning and logistics that went into a B29 raid.
http://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/70299227?trkid=2361637
I was born just before that awakening. I do remember the fury. If you are going to war what sense does it make to give into the enemies within and do anything less than apply every ounce of our tremendous strength with a cold, methodical fury against both enemies foreign and domestic.
BTW, a couple of years ago John Batchelor interviewed an author of a new book about how (I am trying to remember exactly) the GNP measurements won W.W.II.
The whole measurement of our economy's output was developed to tell the generals what they would have in 1943, 1944, and beyond. The numbers were almost exact it turned out and the generals planned with confidence.
I used to read news articles from back then. One I remember well, late in the war, was a complaint that our aircraft production was simply too high. LOL.
A successful D-Day probably saved millions of German and Japanese lives as well. If our invasion had failed, we'd have re-grouped in England, the B-29's would've firebombed Germany into the Stone Age, and we would've carpet-nuked our way to Berlin. Japan would've ceased to be a race (Bull Halsey once said the only place the Japanese language would've been spoken "was in Hell").
Economics? That is true but there other reasons Japan could
not defeat the US. Japanese war strategy sucked in many ways. For
example often the US would rotate fighter pilots home so they could
help to train new pilots and provide up to date tactical information
Japanese pilots stayed in combat zone and perished with their
unshared experience.
The Japanese soldiers were mostly fanatical but stupid. My paratrooper
dad and his division pursued the Japanese thru the mountain Jungles
of Leyte. When the Japanese became hungry they would stop beside
a creek, start a fire, and boil rice. Of course the fire would mark their
position. Their leather belt and other gear would acquire a nasty odor
in the jungle humidity. This would also betray their position. The ways
that the Japanese lagged behind the Yanks are too numerous to tally.
The Japanese did pretty well by losing to us. They still have the 3rd largest economy in the world.
Japan lost the war as soon as we had our new wonder weapons, the B-29, and the atom bomb. They did not have any influence on that date. The rest of the Pacific war just saved the Australians a lot of grief.
Very interesting!
Thanks for posting.
Fascinating article, thank you!
cause in their own words, they woke a sleeping giant... but what do did they knowWhat if Josef Stalin had allowed the USA to occupy and fight from Russia's Far Eastern territories?
Instead of “island hopping” America could have focused all its Pacific energy on building and maintaining a 24/7/365 railroad link to the Bering Straight.
We could have massed an American Army opposite the Japanese forces in Manchuria.
We could have seized South Sakhalin Island as a launch point onto Hokkaido.
And we could have kept B-29’s in the air over Japan 24 hours a day with a fraction of the casualties we had by launching from distant Pacific islands.