The Information War in the Pacific, 1945(Hmm is this True?)

https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/docs/v46i3a07p.htm ^ | Josette H. Williams

[ventanax5]

"Read this carefully as it may save your life or the life of a relative or friend. In the next few days, some or all of the cities named on the reverse side will be destroyed by American bombs. These cities contain military installations and workshops or factories which produce military goods. We are determined to destroy all of the tools of the military clique which they are using to prolong this useless war. But, unfortunately, bombs have no eyes. So, in accordance with America's humanitarian policies, the American Air Force, which does not wish to injure innocent people, now gives you warning to evacuate the cities named and save your lives. America is not fighting the Japanese people but is fighting the military clique which has enslaved the Japanese people. The peace which America will bring will free the people from the oppression of the military clique and mean the emergence of a new and better Japan. You can restore peace by demanding new and good leaders who will end the war. We cannot promise that only these cities will be among those attacked but some or all of them will be, so heed this warning and evacuate these cities immediately."

[gbs]

Cause they and the whole world knew we were coming. No big secret!

[Lancey Howard]

One interesting aspect of the atomic bombings of Japan is the fact that we experimented with uranium on Hiroshima and with plutonium on Nagasaki. I once read that the incidence of leukemia was significantly higher in Hiroshima versus Nagasaki during the 15 years following the bombings. Then I read somewhere else that that was a myth.

[tophat9000]

You ask if this is true. I remember that we didn’t have an “air force” at that time I think.

The average Japanese civilian at the time wound not care about the formal title we use for our forces but just know them by the genric "American Army, Navy, Air Force"....

This is no different then us in not using the formal title for there forces

[Mike Darancette]

FWIW: Until 1947 it was called the “United States Army Air Force”.

[Eastbound]

Yup, I knew, but forgot. I used to sing it. thanks.

[caveat emptor]

Sorry for hi-jacking this post, but....

The purpose of the bombs was not to "punish" people but to stop the war. To intensify the shame Gray insists we feel, he seems willing to fiddle the facts. The Hiroshima bomb, he says, was dropped "without any warning." But actually, two days before, 720,000 leaflets were dropped on the city urging everyone to get out and indicating that the place was going to be (as the Potsdam Declaration has promised) obliterated.
...snip...

The invasion was definitely on, as I know because I was to be in it. When the atom bomb ended the war, I was in the Forty-fifth Infantry Division, which had been through the European war so thoroughly that it had needed to be reconstituted two or three times. We were in a staging area near Rheims, ready to be shipped back across the United States for refresher training at Fort Lewis, Washington, and then sent on for final preparation in the Philippines. My division, like most of the ones transferred from Europe, was to take part in the invasion of Honshu.

From an article THANK GOD FOR THE ATOM BOMB, by Paul Fussell, author of a book by the same name.

[ought-six]

I know that we dropped leaflets warning of the imminent destruction of certain cities, and telling the people to evacuate. The leaflet contained a list of cities to be bombed. After the first city on the list was hit, there was no discernible evacuation from any of the other cities. After the second city was hit, there was scattered and isolated evacuation of other cities. After the third city on the list was hit, the Japanese seemed to get the message, as evacuation picked up exponentially. The bombings were incendiary in nature, creating tremendous firestorms. It was part of General Curtis LeMay's strategic bombing campaign.

[goldfinch]

I scanned the whole article and did not see any factual errors. In the WWII time-frame, the Air Force was part of the Army and was called the Army Air Force. The United States did drop leaflets warning citizens in cities that were bombed. On a quick first reading, I would say this article is indeed true.

[Grut]

The bombings were incendiary in nature, creating tremendous firestorms. It was part of General Curtis LeMay's strategic bombing campaign.

As a point of interest, LeMay said in "Mission With LeMay" that the firebombing campaign stopped only because they ran out of incendiary bombs (IIRC, in May or early June): he speculated that if they hadn't run out, the war might have ended before the atomic bombs were used.

[Beckwith]

Correction — It was the U. S. Army Air Corps until 1947 — the U. S. Air Force was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947.

[USMCVet]

This is an excellent article and illustrates some of the many facets of the efforts finally beat the Japanese and ended the Pacific War.

The only disconcerting thing about this particular set of responses is the painfully low level of education of the American public these days about the war and many other things:

- Of course this article is accurate; most people know about the critical role the seizure of the Marianas had for the bombing campaign against Japan. The other supporting facts within the article are also accurate - so why would anyone doubt its accuracy?

- We had our usual chorus of twits that didn't know that the title for our air forces at that time of the war was the "U.S. Army Air Forces"... And subordinate units - such as the Tenth Air Force - were referrred to as air forces.

- The word is "corps" not "corp" as in the French word for body. What are they teaching in school these days?

[CHEE]

The old Army Air Corps song as I remember it from WWII (very popular):

Off we go into the wild blue yonder,
Climbing high into the sun;
Here they come zooming to meet our thunder,
At ‘em boys, Give ‘er the gun! (Give ‘er the gun now!)
Down we dive, spouting our flame from under,
Off with one helluva roar!
We live in fame or go down in flame. Hey!
Nothing’ll stop the U.S. Air Corps

I think the current version of the USAF replaces “Corps” with “Force”.

[iopscusa]

Dropping the A bombs saved a Million US casualties and we gave them explicit warnings as opposed to our enemies attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Japanese were well aware of this weapon and the Nazi’s were trying to get the makings of the bomb to Japan when the European war was closing...do you think the Japanese would warn an enemy before they would use this weapon?
Shoulda used them during the Korean War

[Calpernia]

We did.

[mad_as_he$$]

We did.

[Calpernia]

http://www.centcom.mil/sites/uscentcom2/Lists/Current%20Press%20Releases/DispForm.aspx?ID=164
COALITION FORCES DROP LEAFLETS IN SOUTHERN IRAQ

2/23/2003

SOUTHWEST ASIA – Coalition aircraft dropped informational leaflets over southern Iraq today.Coalition forces dropped leaflets at approximately 3:45 p.m. EST at several locations near Umm Qasr, Safwan and Al Faw. All locations are situated on and around the Al Faw Peninsula, located approximately 290 miles southeast of Baghdad. The Coalition dropped a total of 180,000 leaflets over the locations.The types of leaflets dropped today referred Iraqis to radio frequencies where Coalition forces are broadcasting information about United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441, United Nations weapons inspectors in Iraq, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s reign and other topics. To see a picture of the leaflets dropped today, along with radio scripts broadcast recently, follow the links below.

[ken21]

the thing that strikes me odd about the paragraph is the syntax,

a bit complex.

the receivers are emotionally charged, so simple sentences would work easier.

[lentulusgracchus]

I once read that the incidence of leukemia was significantly higher in Hiroshima versus Nagasaki during the 15 years following the bombings. Then I read somewhere else that that was a myth.

Interesting. Although there are a couple of points:

• The Hiroshima bomb was delivered squarely on target, while the Nagasaki bomb, because of cloud cover, was delivered inaccurately and landed in the outskirts of the city, some five miles from the target. Much of the city of Nagasaki remained intact, and its inhabitants were much less affected.
• The radiotoxicity effects would be only indirectly tied to the original fissionable materials used, and more directly tied to the variety and proportions of fission products injected into the bombs' fallout -- this would include the radiation types and intensity, which last would also be related to range effects, and in turn carry us back to the first point above, the aimpoint accuracy discrepancy.

[mware]

I too believe it was called the US Army Air Force. Obviously their were Navy and Marine fighter planes too.

[Calpernia]

Arabic Version

Gallary of Leaflets