Quote:
Originally Posted by GTJ
I'll go ahead and mention this:
My grandfather fought in Germany in WWII in a tank brigade. Now, just before the bombs dropped, he and his platoon along with hundreds of others were stationed on the west coast US, ready to go off on what was called D-Day +3. This entailed a full-on invasion of the main island, Honshu. The projected casualty rate by the US Military was 90%. That means the military was willingly sending 90% of however many thousands of soldiers were meant to go there, to their deaths. Reason being, the war would be brought to the doorsteps of families, who would defend their home till their last breath.
Why do I know this? Because he won't stop telling me every time he sees me. It's like now because I live in Japan, I'm the Japan Guy, and everyone feels they need to relate to that. It's not like I had a life before that or anything... god, I feel awful every time he tells me that story.
Anyway, that's my contribution to the topic. If the bombs hadn't dropped, it would've gotten pretty hairy. Like, wookie orgy hairy. The bombs dropped, the Japanese surrendered, the war ended on that front.
And, to the OP: Seriously? You really felt the need to bring this up? It happened, there's no way to go back and make it not have happened, and it remains a pretty touchy subject for many. I think a modicum of tact would have been in order.
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My grandfather also fought against the Japanese in the Pacific. He was one of the handful that left the Philippines with General MacArthur.
Many people here have no idea what the world was like during the war. It's easy enough now to say what could or should have been done, but it's as pointless as crying over spilled milk.
Japan was not an honorable enemy. The Japanese Army raped, killed, and plundered on an unprecedented scale. Anyone here can look up the "rape of Nanking) and see pictures taken by Japanese soldiers.
Allied prisoners of war suffered terribly under the Japanese. The Japanese had signed the Geneva and Hague conventions concerning the treatment of prisoners, but unlike Germany, chose not to obey them. Countless thousands of prisoners died of starvation and neglect, or were simply worked to death. More than 100,000 died as slave laborers constructing the Thailand/Burma railway (made famous by the movie "Bridge on the River Kwai".
The Japanese performed medical experiments on prisoners of war and Chinese civilians which made the acts committed by Hitler and the Nazi SS seem tame.
The mood of America in 1945 toward Japan was pure and simple hatred, and the Japanese at the time did much to earn that hatred.
BTW, it addition to the 107,000 Japanese soldiers who died during the battle of Okinawa, more than 140,000 civilians also perished. The atomic bombs killed only a fraction of that many people. Does anyone still think that dropping the bombs was a bad idea?