| From: | Paul J. Adam Paul@********.demon.co.uk |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Spirits of War |
| Date: | Thu, 15 Jul 1999 00:55:29 +0100 |
IronRaven <cyberraven@********.net> writes
> As for the bomb, Truman is on record as believing that he was going to
>hell for it. War is ugly. But how ugly would it have been to take the
>home islands. Don't read the US work of the time, and just burn the
>revisionist pipe dreams. Read stuff written by the Japanese at the time.
Japanese planning was to meet the invaders on the beaches with waves of
women and children armed with bamboo spears. Once the invaders had
expended their ammunition on those comparitively expendable targets,
the _real_ soldiers would counterattack into the confusion.
It is quite terrifying to read how the Japanese planned to defend the Hoe
Islands.
>A few thousand dead, as opposed to a few million if the Allies had been
>forced to invade.
> I've always been amazed that the bombs even worked- surrender is not
>part
>of bushido, either the true form or the romanticised/basterdized version
>practiced by the Japanese military at the time.
The third A-bomb would have hit Tokyo and killed the Emperor.
The Japanese military derived its entire legitimacy from its defence of the
Emperor, who was basically considered a divine personage. The US was
very astute in using nuclear weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki: the
power of their new weapon was demonstrated, as was the ability to
conduct repeated attacks: and the Japanese military had no way to
guarantee the destruction of every single B-29 that approached Tokyo.
>>To be honest, I think War of these days is almost always toxic. If not
>>ever. Has it really ever been "honourable"?
>
> You've never had to defend the lives of those who you love, have you, lad?
> Starting a war is never honorable, but defense of home and clan is, even
>if that defense requires a pre-emptive move.
My MTQ2 precis has a number of quotes from "18 Platoon" by Sydney Jary,
but one seems especially appropriate here. The context is a WW2 rifle
platoon: Lt. Jary commanded it from 1944 to demobilisation. Here,
they're enjoying their victory.
"The battalion settled down to the immediate post-war problems of life in
defeated Germany. The rifle companies were billeted in four small hamlets
adjoining a village with a Norwegian name, of which we knew nothing:
Bergen-Belsen.
After cholera inoculations, we were led into the world of Frankenstein.
Nothing had prepared us for what we now experienced: not Hill 112, Mont
Pincon, Elst or Hoven could compete with this horror... Private Macy, 'D'
Company's Jeep driver, aptly summed it up: 'There is no doubt that we
have fought a just and proper war.'"
--
Paul J. Adam
