The Atomic Bomb: It Was Always Right

This week Major Theodore Van Kirk, the last surviving Veteran of the Enola Gay that dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan, joined the rest of his comrades. His passing is a reminder of why using the atomic bomb was the right thing.

In August 1945 the Allied Powers, led by the United States, were at war with Imperial Japan in the latter days of World War II. Japan would not give up. For every ten thousand Japanese soldiers that were killed by the Allies only a minuscule amount gave up; usually in the single digits.

We were at war because Japan launched war, first against China in 1931, then with another sneak attack against China in 1937, and finally in December 1941 with sneak Japanese attacks against the US at Pearl Harbor and sneak attacks against the United Kingdom and the Netherlands in other areas of the Pacific.

It was during the war that the United States began to develop an atomic bomb, largely in response to the urging of Albert Einstein who warned President Roosevelt, in 1939, about Germany’s attempts to make an atomic weapon.

Japan was a tough enemy. Surrender was seen as more than even disgrace; it was a dishonor to the Japanese Emperor, who was the Japanese God. The Japanese were allies of the Nazis. Comparing the two, the Nazis were evil but also methodical. The Nazis were fanatical about only one thing; the elimination of the Jews, a practice they kept up to the literal ending of the war in Europe in May of 1945. The Germans were a tough enemy but they were, by World War II standards, in their military operations, somewhat practical especially when Hitler was ignored. Germans did surrender by the hundreds of thousands years before the war ended. This was not the case of Imperial Japan and in fact Japanese non surrender got worse the closer we got to the shores of Japan. The Japanese soldier was fighting not just for their buddy, their family, or their homeland; they were fighting for their God.

The United States was inching closer to Japan in early and mid-1945. The island campaigns of Okinawa and Iwo Jima, the latter an island of mere miles, resulted in tens of thousands of casualties. The Japanese began going beyond even fanatical resistance to suicidal resistance by crashing their planes into American ships. Even then there was no hope for Japan. American submarines had nearly run out of targets, having surrounded Japan, and were reduced to shelling fishing boats and even targets on land. American planes were firebombing Japanese cities into oblivion. Japan was alone and starvation was a realistic possibility but they would not give up. Japan would have to be invaded.

Operation Downfall was the code name for the invasion of Japan. It was to be the largest and deadliest military operation of all time. If you saw Saving Private Ryan, the first stage of the invasion of Japan, Operation Olympic, was projected to be twice as large and twice as bloody as the invasion of Europe on D Day. The second stage of the invasion of Japan, Operation Coronet, was to be almost three times as large as D day and with even greater casualties than the first phase of the invasion of Japan.

Unlike D Day, the topographic composition of Japan made the landing locations obvious. Japan knew where we were going to land and they were ready for this last stand. Even children were taught in the ways of the sword and the spear so they could kill at least one American before they too would die for their Emperor. This happened with Japanese children in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and throughout Japan.

To save American and Japanese lives and end the war, President Truman ordered the first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Tens of thousands were instantly killed by the bomb dropped from the Enola Gay, the plane navigated by Maj. Van Kirk. The Japanese still did not surrender. Their military council was divided on surrendering. Three days later another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki also killing tens of thousands. More would die of radiation poisoning in years ahead.

The war council still was divided on surrendering but some Japanese officers looked to end the war and asked the Emperor to use his divine authority to stop the killing. The Soviet Union had entered the war against Japan, American planes were destroying what little was left of other Japanese cities, and an American POW told his captors that the next atomic bomb would be dropped on Tokyo.

It took the personal intervention of the Emperor to end the war. Even after their God had intervened and said to the Army that the war must end, some Japanese were not ready to give up. A group of Army officers launched a failed coup against the Emperor, ostensibly to save their God from shame. After the coup failed the Emperor spoke on radio to tell his people to surrender. It was the first time the Japanese people had ever heard his voice. Many of the Japanese soldiers who did not get the word from the Emperor continued to fight in isolated Pacific pockets until the mid-1970’s, almost 30 years after the end of the war.

Any argument from leftist leadership that we should not have used the bombs, against this fanatical an enemy, shows why leftist leadership is not fit to teach our students.

The leftists are fools when it comes to the atomic bomb debate. They argue that the bomb was dropped because of Soviet entry into the war on Japan on August 9, the day Nagasaki was bombed. What the leftists conveniently leave out is that the bomb was shipped to the Pacific before the Soviet Union entered the war against Japan and that the United States asked the Soviet Union to enter the war against Japan.

Another common leftist argument is the bombs were dropped in quick succession in order to stop the Soviet Union from invading Northern Japan. This argument is laughable because the bombs were dropped three days apart and then Truman put a halt on further usage after August 9, leaving five days between the dropping of the second bomb and the end of the war.

Finally, leftists say how could you kill so many people? This is a typical argument from those who have never had to make such a decision as Truman did or other decisions of life and death. Truman was faced with kill now and hopefully end the war or have even more killed on both sides by not using the bomb. (Leftists apparently forget that even their beloved Soviet Union entered the war against Japan. Soviet lives were saved too by Truman.)

This is what leftism does; it plants seeds in people leading them to believe that America is somehow responsible for all the evils in the world, even when America has achieved victory and done well. They will even do it even with World War II, which no sane person can argue with our participation in. They are shameful and are a disgrace to the generation that made it through the Depression and fought, and won, World War II.

Knowing leftist emotion, if the bomb had not been used on Japan, and millions of American casualties occurred, along with tens of millions of Japanese casualties, the leftists would say that we should have used the bomb to alleviate the suffering of the war. Such as the argument of those who were protected by the Enola Gay.

Ask any living soldier from the Pacific, and those were ready to be shipped there from Europe and the USA, who is still alive whether they were happy the bomb was dropped they will respond with “Thank God the bomb was dropped.”

President Truman was an independent thinker and not a man to be pushed around. His desegregation of the armed forces and recognition of the new State of Israel were evidence of that. He was also a combat veteran. He knew the carnage of war and understood that hard decisions need to be made in war.

It will be interesting to see where the history books, backed by their common core allies and government employee teachers, go with teaching the atomic bomb in years ahead. Before all the Veterans of World War II had even begun to die in large numbers, the leftist jargon against usage of the bomb began. They have spared not even Truman, though Truman was a democrat, for their blind rage knows no bounds. It will get worse once all of the generation that made it through the Depression, and won the war, have passed away.

This is why we should, loudly and boldly, teach that it was right to drop the bomb and why. This is why we should honor the military service of Theodore Van Kirk and those who dropped the atomic bombs. They saved the lives of many of our readers, in America, Japan, and elsewhere.

To Major Theodore Van Kirk we say thank you. It was a tough mission, but you can rest well. You saved countless lives. Welcome home from your final mission. Your comrades are waiting.

By the lefties that edit Wiki. The occupation force found a different story. Your way means the POWs die. Fixed fortified defenses like in Iwo were impervious to bombs and shell.. They Japs didn't have to attack, just defend, just like Iwo. 21000 Japs accounted for 26000 Americans. The casualty estimate was likely too low. And food water are pre-positioned in defensive positions, the Japs knew about logistics too. It was the proximate cause of the war absent Jap aggression in general.

Yes, Japan treated POWs with particular evil, I have despised that treatment since reading about Bataan as a young child. I still hate it.

However, POWs died all over the place even though we used the atomic bombs and carpet bombing of civilian targets.

The primary concern in the order for massive, horrific attacks on civilian targets was not POWs, it was to induce Japan to surrender by discouraging the populace and to reduce its production capacity and thereby make its leadership perceive that they did not have the capability to carry on the war and thus opt for surrender. It was done to "hammer them" into submission. The primary concern was not the rescue of POWs. So "my way means the POWs die" does not reflect the fact that POWs were dying no matter what and of course the US leadership was aware of that and did not consider the primary strategic goal to be having POWs survive, though it was one small part of the mix of motivations and certainly played up far beyond that in historical accounts.

All the defensive moves were taken, yes, but they were limited by reality, which was eventual defeat. Patient careful rooting out of them is far less costly in lives of our guys as opposed to immediately throwing men into their guns; Allied ground commanders all know this and typically try to avoid throwing their men into suicide missions unless they are forced to. I personally don't like it when they are forced into such situations unless it is really necessary, which ultimately it rarely is, it usually comes down to politics or propaganda.

We were sending over 800 b-29s at a clip. So if you send in 2,000 dive bombers and ground attack planes outfitted with ground attack rockets to concentrate on one area... a) they have radios and can communicate (no need for tin cans and string b) they attack in groups, one ofter the other, not all at once c) the groups can be not far behind, only minutes and they can talk on those radio thingies

Your lack of knowledge is brighter than the fireball over Hiroshima. How did the 2000 (Impossible number BTW) dive bombers get directed to this target area, what intel drove the decision? Once there, I guess they referenced the GPS for follow up attacks.

We were sending over 800 b-29s at a clip.

How often? Yeah, that matters.

Amerian war production could keep on building even more and more and more planes and traing pilots by the thousands cuz Kansas, etc., were not harmed at all by the Japanese

The accident rate for B-29 was 40%. (The B-29 was even worse at 40; the world’s most sophisticated, most capable and most expensive bomber was too urgently needed to stand down for mere safety reasons. The AAF set a reasonably high standard for B-29 pilots, but the desired figures were seldom attained. WWII aircraft Facts.)

I'd hate to be opposing hundreds of ground attack planes roving around attacking military targets; the gun camera footage from that era is pretty nasty looking from the defender's perspective

Down to hundreds now. In order to roam, they would have to come from carriers, what is the sustained sortie rate from a carrier in WWII?

How else will we introduce sheeple

Yeah it was the Bilderbergers. Dumber than Ventura.

You're right, it was an atomic weapon. It matters to those folks on the ground, I need to get that right.

There was a schedule like all things in war. Your lack of understanding not withstanding. It was the bomb or invasion, the war wasn't run by pussies at that time.

As an aside, my conscience is not bothered in least by any of this since I was not born yet.

What a surprise! Yet your stance never fails to denigrate the efforts of those who handed you your present.

In no way do I denigrate their efforts, I'd simply like the truth to be known. It pains me daily that so many sacrificed so much due to the machinations of a few globalist elites. I find the sacrifices our soldiers, sailors and airmen made to be worthy of eternal gratitude - and certainly the truth.

John 15:13 "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

There is always going to be 'something left' Douhet. What part of impervious to bomb and shell did you miss?

Then it was foolish to waste much of our ordnance on area bombing of civilians.

All that ordance should have been targeted towards military targets.

Our manufacture was churning out more war materiel every month. There was only victory in the future, no defeat for us. The more conservative we were in our tactics, the less American lives we would lose in total. This was the concern in many battles at the end of the war, saving American GIs from getting needlessly slaughtered in a war we were going to win.

However, POWs died all over the place even though we used the atomic bombs and carpet bombing of civilian targets.

They did, your plan would have finished the survivors.

Patient careful rooting out of them is far less costly in lives of our guys as opposed to immediately throwing men into their guns;

As soon as they land, the casualty count grows, dicking around waiting for the next 'carpet bombing' sortie means more men die. Every one of those positions would have to be taken by the ground troops,...every one...thousands.

It was done to "hammer them" into submission.

No kidding! What war is about. They didn't submit, we needed a bigger hammer. Had we not had the bomb, we would have systematically killed them into submission by fire and close combat. Millions more dead, on both sides, a foolish choice with the option (bomb) available. Had the first two bombs not convinced them to surrender, I imagine the invasion would be on hold until we made more. The American people wouldn't have countenanced an invasion while we could devastate the enemy like that with only a small risk to the crews. I also imagine that small B-29 formations would be opposed from then on. Once the bomb became operational, its use was inevitable. To deny that it to deny history.

So the b-29 high-altitude carpet bombings had no aerial recon and no intel to work with ?

They were bombing cities, remember, tough to move them. BDA showed where the next strike need to be, again against FIXED targets.

B-25s can't hit Japan ?

350 miles to Japan from Oki, about 6k in bomb load, vulnerable to fighters. Sure, they could hit it but have the same intel problem as the 29s, where are the military forces now, since its been 2 hours since I launched. If higher HQ could know, which they couldn't, how would this be communicated in time to change the plan. You overrate the comm systems available.

Dive bombers can't navigate ?

Of course, but to where? How did you generate your target list? Yesterday's AARs? Lol

Then it was foolish to waste much of our ordnance on area bombing of civilians. All that ordance should have been targeted towards military targets.

Again, what intel system is going to ID those targets? Hint, there wasn't any system that could do what you propose, there was but the 'globalists hampered its intro to prolong the war for the 'sheeple'. LOL

http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/articles/airrecon.aspx

From the article:

"The first true US strategic reconnaissance capability in the Pacific began in April of 1942 when Capt. Karl L. Polifka established the 8th Photographic Squadron at Port Moresby in New Guinea. Polifka had been allocated five F-4’s specially modified with additional fuel tanks. Unfortunately, due to weather and mechanical failure only one F4 made it beyond a staging base in Australia, but with his lone F-4 Polifka almost single-handedly mapped the area surrounding New Guinea and New Britain. It was an extremely grueling mission due to the long distances and unpredictable weather, but the results were invaluable during MacArthur’s New Guinea campaign of 1943. [52] Later in the war, the USAAF introduced the F-13, a modified Boeing B-29 Superfortress designed specifically to conduct long range aerial reconnaissance. On Nov. 1, 1944, an F-13 flew a 14 hour mission from Saipan to Tokyo at an altitude of 32,000 feet, the first US aircraft to fly over Tokyo since the Doolittle raid in April of 1942. Once the US established air supremacy in the Pacific, F-13s flew hundreds of missions over the Japanese mainland, and mapped virtually every significant target in Japan. [53] "

Once the US established air supremacy in the Pacific, F-13s flew hundreds of missions over the Japanese mainland, and mapped virtually every significant target in Japan. [53] ",p. LoL X 2! And just what do you think these targets were? Troop concentrations, AA sites? No, they were fixed sites, factories, suspected HQ buildings, airstrips, and cities.

Aerial recon products had to Return to Base (RTB), be developed from film, make copies from film after the relevant cell had been located and analyzed and annotated etc. Like today, they would have built target folders, unlike today the folders wouldn't be available the same day. Unlike today, these target folders would have only been of targets with a 'dwell time' of days. Which means a fixed target. Not mobile ones.

BTW, all this talk of the global banking elites, is that code for 'Jews'? Is that why the bomb wasn't held back by this all powerful bunch, because it was significantly made by 'Jews'?

LoL X 2! And just what do you think these targets were? Troop concentrations, AA sites?

If Japan had large troop elements, they're going to move them around on a daily basis all over Japan to avoid aerial recon from finding where they are ?

You can't move whole divisions all over constantly and successfully avoid detection. A division can only move so far in a day and it's huge.

This is all nonsense. Those divisions could not be successfully moved around willy nilly to avoid detection on a daily basis on a continual basis for months.

Repeated aerial recon missions wind up producing intel. It's dangerous (and gallant) work, but it winds up producing results.

AA sites must be in the vicinity of the attack target they are protecting. If that is a fixed target, then the AA is going to be right in that vicinity.

If the AA is protecting a mobile large force, the large force and the AA need to pack up and move, which is not so simple - and uses valuable fuel. I doubt that large forces would be frequently moved just to hide them given their fuel situation. I would think that they simply were forming up in the defensive positions they were going to be in and waiting.

If Japan had large troop elements, they're going to move them around on a daily basis all over Japan to avoid aerial recon from finding where they are ?

Daily? Searching for and ID'ing troops from the air is a challenge today. Searching an area 3/4 the size of California daily with the assets and limitations of WWII means you wouldn't have any strike aircraft at all. The intel when produced would be so old as to be useless. If they enemy ground forces move daily, how will you effectively target them? Answer: Very difficult today with day old intel, impossible absent the blind squirrel condition in 1945. There was no real time intel gathering available, nor a communications system to exploit such a system had it been.

Repeated aerial recon missions wind up producing intel. It's dangerous (and gallant) work, but it winds up producing results.

No it doesn't, because against anything besides a fixed position, it isn't predictive. You will have the capability of producing and printing some nice maps in a few years.

If that is a fixed target, then the AA is going to be right in that vicinity.

Once you quit targeting fixed site because you might be killing civilians, there won't be any fixed sites, so NO way to predict where the AA is. Now you can troll hoping for activity, but fuel becomes the problem. The Japs were very disciplined and smart. Why shoot and get shot? This wasn't the Iraqis.

I doubt that large forces would be frequently moved just to hide them given their fuel situation. I would think that they simply were forming up in the defensive positions they were going to be in and waiting.

Exactly right in fortified camouflaged positions along and astride the few invasion routes. You wouldn't be able to see them with the camera technology nor would you be able to affect them with the air dropped ordnance available at the time. AA is a wasted target, the valuable target is what the AA defends. At one plane/AA gun, that means between 3-4000 sorties if you can find them.

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