SAAR BATTLE WON, GERMANS IN FLIGHT TO RHINE; 300 B-29’S SET 12 SQUARE MILES OF KOBE AFIRE (3/17/45)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 3/17/45 | Drew Middleton, Bruce Rae, Robert Trumbull, Lindesay Parrott

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

About the time we were going through the reports of the 22,000 defenders on Iwo Jima and reading about the carnage they inflicted on the Marines I made a trip to the library and came across a later news item reporting that the emperor was ordering 20,000,000 Japanese to prepare to resist the American invasion.

That could have been really bad and killed far more Japanese than the nukes did.

[colorado tanker]

Excellent point, Homer. The critics of the bombing don’t take into account that they saved Japanese lives too. Yes, a few hundred thousand died, but that saved millions of Japanese lives. Just do the math and extrapolate the Japanese deaths on Okinawa to populations the size of Honshu and Kyushu.

[Ecliptic]

If we had not used the BOMB and invaded Japan, probably no one would be speaking Japanese today. We would have had to kill them all. Russia would have invaded some of the Japanese Islands after the War.

[PAR35]

Russia would have invaded some of the Japanese Islands after the War.

They did grab some Jap land at the end of the war. They never did sign a peace treaty.

[HenpeckedCon]

“Watch to see how long it takes Patton to cross, once the Third Army reaches the Rhine...”

Just long enough for the General to relieve himself as I recall from the photo.

[EternalVigilance]

Yes, there was that one little pit stop.

[PAR35]

Just noticed the global warming story on page 1. Hottest March 16...

[EternalVigilance]

I saw that too. Thought if notable because it hit 87 degrees here in the middle of the country yesterday.

[Steven Scharf]

“EUROPE: Eisenhower orders Patton not to advance toward Czechoslovakia, although there is nothing to stop him reaching Prague before the Russians.”

This is a strange notation in the daily list of activity. Had Patton been giving orders to go due east as opposed to going to Berlin? Weren’t the Russians a lot closer to Prague at this point?