Posted on 07/31/2018 11:28:01 AM PDT by Jagermonster
A used bookshop owner in Japan found the memo tucked away in a journal. The document gives the first glimpse into conversation between Emperor Hirohito and Prime Minister Hideki Tojo on the eve of the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Tokyo –– A newly released memo by a wartime Japanese official provides what a historian says is the first look at the thinking of Emperor Hirohito and Prime Minister Hideki Tojo on the eve of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that thrust the United States into World War II.
While far from conclusive, the five-page document lends credence to the view that Hirohito bears at least some responsibility for starting the war.
At 8:30 p.m. in Tokyo, just hours before the attack, Tojo summoned two top aides for a countdown to war briefing. One of them, Vice Interior Minister Michio Yuzawa, wrote an account three hours after the meeting was over.
"The emperor seemed at ease and unshakable once he had made a decision," he quoted Tojo as saying.
To what extent Hirohito was responsible for the war is a sensitive topic in Japan, and the bookseller who discovered the memo kept it under wraps for nearly a decade before releasing it to Japan's Yomiuri newspaper, which published it last week. Hirohito was protected from indictment in the Tokyo war crimes trials during a US occupation that wanted to use him as a symbol to rebuild Japan as a democratic nation. Hirohito died in 1989 at age 87 after 62 years on the throne.
"It took me nine years to come forward, as I was afraid of a backlash," said bookshop owner Takeo Hatano, who handled the document carefully as he showed it to Associated Press journalists. "But now I hope ...
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
I am glad to know you have insight into the emperors mind.
I should probably just ignore historical books then?
Or not spread information that listening to ass-kissers is bad?
for not informing GI’s that their enemy played by a different, very different set of rules;
MacArthur utterly sucked as a general. One of America’s very worst. But he was masterful in the way he handled the occupation and Rehabilitation of Japan.
I don’t think they had the ability to take away. One, on their best day, they never had the amphibious assault capability the United States had. It’s one thing to land 1500 Japanese Marines on Wake Island facing six 5 inch guns. It’s a whole other kettle of fish to take enormous Hawaii, with the remainder of a very pissed-off u.s. Fleet, Battleship sized Coast defense guns strategically arranged on High Ground around the island. And a fairly large US Army Force. Add in that it was beyond the range of any land-based bombers for support. Taking hawaii was never in the cards for them.
If at least two of our carriers had been in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japanese decision-making on that day would have been much, much different. Nagumo would have ordered the third strike, destroying our fuel and maintenance facilities. With little capability to repair and sustain our forces, we would have been forced to withdraw what was left of the fleet to the west coast, leaving Hawaii wide open to invasion. Our first major amphibious operation would have been the retaking of Oahu, not Guadalcanal. Under that scenario, it’s easy to envision the war stretching into 1947 or 1948, with far greater casualties on both sides.
It’s also interesting to speculate how an even greater disaster at Pearl Harbor would have impacted our “Europe first” strategy. There would have been a tremendous clamor (publicly and politically) to beef up military forces on the west coast, in preparation for a Japanese invasion that was never a real possibility. The need to defend the coast and begin preparations to retake Hawaii would have delayed our timetable in Europe as well.
Japanese had about 5000 walking infantry that would have to wade ashore since they would have to unload 100’s of yards from the beach at the reef surrounding Midway.
http://www.historynet.com/midway-islands-undaunted-defenders-may-96-world-war-ii-feature.htm
Alerted by his code-breakers that the Japanese planned to seize Midway, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, commander in chief, PacificCommand, flew to the atoll on May 2, 1942, to make a personal inspection.
Following his inspection, Nimitz took Simard and Shannonaside and asked them what they needed to defend Midway. They told him their requirements.
“If I get you all these things, can you hold Midway against a major amphibious assault?” Nimitz asked the two officers.”
Yes, sir!” Shannon replied.
It was good enough for Nimitz, who returned to Oahu. On May 20,Shannon and Simard received a letter from Admiral Nimitz, praising their fine work and promoting them to captain and full colonel, respectively.
Then Nimitz informed them that the Japanese were planning to attack Midway on May 28; he outlined the Japanese strategy and promised all possible aid.
All the while the Marines continued digging gun emplacements, laying sandbags and preparing shelters on both islands.
Barbed wire sprouted along Midway’s coral beaches. Shannon believed that it would stop the Japanese as it had stopped the Germans in World War I.
He ordered so much strung that one Marine exclaimed: “Barbed wire, barbed wire! Cripes, the old man thinks we can stop planes with barbed wire!”
The defenders also had a large supply of blasting gelatin, which was used to make anti-boat mines and booby traps.
On May 25, while the work continued, Shannon and Simard got some good news. The Japanese attack would come between June 3 and 5,giving them another week to prepare.
That same day, the light cruiser St. Louis arrived, to deliver an eight-gun, 37mm anti-aircraft battery from the Marine 3rd Defense Battalion and two rifle companies from the 2nd Raider Battalion.
On May 26, the ferry USS Kittyhawk arrived with 12 3-inch guns,5 M-3 Stuart light tanks.
By June 1, both Sand and Eastern islands were ringed with coastal defenses. Six 5-inch guns, 22 3-inch guns and four old Navy 7-inchguns were placed along the coasts of both islands for use as anti-aircraft and anti-boat guns.
As many as 1,500 mines and booby traps were laid underwater and along the beaches.
Ammunition dumps were placed all around the islands, along with caches of food for pockets of resistance and an emergency supply of 250 55-gallon gasoline drums.
Midway had practically everything it needed for its defense. Along with the 121 aircraft crowding Eastern Island’s runways,Midway had 11 PT-boats in the lagoon to assist the ground forces with anti-aircraft fire.
A yacht and four converted tuna boats stood by for rescue operations, and 19 submarines guarded Midway’s approaches.
“A used bookshop owner”...
Owner of a used bookshop?
Owner of a shop that sells used books?
slightly used owner of a bookshop?
Oh, and the article’s interesting, too...
Thanks, but I’ll pass. I don’t have as much time to read as I used to, and I tend to use it to savor new (or old) stuff from my favorite authors, like Jack Vance, Steven Brust, Bujold, Niven, Liaden books, etc.
I’m tempted to revisit Asimov’s Foundation one last time, but I’m afraid I’d find it insipid.
The years have not been kind to a lot of things, including SF, and while I may still enjoy a romp with Telzey Amberdon, when I read Dune post 9/11, I just couldn’t get past the arabic imagery and mumbo jumbo. Blecch.
I think I’ll go find some clouds to yell at now.
You forgot to mention:
The Hawaiian Operation was not the primary focus of the war, the goal of the war was to take the Southern Resource Area.
Japan did not have the troops available to take Oahu, the Army only allocated about 10 or 11 Divisions worth of troops for the entire Pacific war, the rest were needed in China.
Japan did not have the shipping to carry troops and supplies to invade Hawaii. Indeed Japan started the war with a shortage of shipping.
Japan had no fleet train to keep the IJN in Hawaiian waters for more than a few days.
Invading Hawaii was impossible for Japan, because they did not have the resources and foolish because it would have lost them the war.
“My only question about the Pearl Harbor attack is what did Hillary Clinton get out of it?”
well, that and how much did the attack contribute to “climate change” ...
“wait a minute, I thought the Germans bombed pearl harbor??!”
you’ve been listing to Bluto too much ...
“US Government for not informing GI’s that their enemy played by a different, very different set of rules”
it didn’t take the GIs very long to figure it out ... which is why the GIs didn’t take Jap prisoners, just like the Japs didn’t take prisoners either ...
Oahu had the 24th and 25 infantry divisions plus the 34th engineer regiment, all full strength regular army formations in Dec 41'
There was no stronger American army garrison anywhere.
“Everything should have been immediately aimed at Midway and Hawaii”
well, they pretty much did that at Midway and got blown out of the water ... literally
Very true, and the Japanese never executed an opposed landing against a well defended beach during the entire war.
Hope they kept Tojo’s false choppers after he assumed room temperature. Engraved in Braille.
Tojo had attempted suicide using the Colt .32 pistol that Homma took from Gen. Wainwright when Corregidor was surrendered in 1942. Samurai code sez suicide is OK using a gun but only if aimed at the heart. Tojo missed; he would not get to cheat the hangman like Goering did.
A similar thing happened to the Luftwaffe. In July of 1944 the Germans produced, either newly manufactured, or depot level refurbished, something like three times as many single engine fighters as they deployed on any one day during the Battle of Britain. But looking at the combat effectiveness of the Luftwaffe, you would think that in the Summer of 44 that it had only a small fraction of the fighters it had in the Summer of 40. Because the highly trained pre-war pilots of 1940 were dead, POWs, maimed, or moved up the chain of command.
Faced with overwhelming pressure to get bodies into the new aircraft, and into action, immediately, and facing fuel shortages so crippling that planes were towed to and from the runway with oxen, to save the fuel consumed by taxiing, the Luftwaffe cut flight training to almost nothing. These scarcely trained pilots tended to have VERY short operational careers, and the Luftwaffe was never able to break out of the vicious cycle.
Bingo!
My step Grandfather whom was originally from Switzerland taught a young Hirohito French lessons, I believe in the 1920’s. They continued to correspond over the years. After both he and my Grandmother passed away and their personal items sorted through my Mom / Aunt found a hand written letter from Hirohito to my Grandfather from the 1930’s lamenting among other things that he thought there was the possibility of War. The letter stayed with my Aunt. My side of the Family, and now mine since my Mom passed last Month includes an official Wedding Portrait that Hirohito sent to my Grandfather.
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