Did the Japanese deserve the Atomic Bomb?

After the surrender of Japan on August 15, the angered Japanese commander of Malaya still planned to fight the arriving British and French forces. When his superior found out about this, he found this unacceptable and ordered him to cancel all plans of engaging the allied forces in combat. The night before the they arrived, the Japanese officers drank the traditional, ceremonial sake at a Singapore hotel and then committed suicide. I can just imagine them shouting "banzai" over and over again and lifting their arms up as they said it.

 

I am sincerely sorry to hear of your grandmother's early death, 人生は不公平ことができます。There seems to be a very strong consensus that Japan did not deserve such an attack but it resulted in saving many many lives, Japanese as well as Allies as well as spared Japan from partial occupation by the then Soviet Union and the sesession of firebombing. I would concur with that view. What all people and countries, I certainly include mine, can learn is to guard against too much power in the hands of too few. Terrible results often happen.

with kind regards,

Gaines

 

There seems to be a very strong consensus that Japan did not deserve such an attack but ...

No? If you say so.

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/war-against-japan/13736-sergeant-l-g-siffleet-m-special-unit-beheaded.html



Describing his work, one scientist in the plague unit at Unit 731 later said, "I inserted the scalpel directly into the log's neck and opened the chest. At first there was a terrible scream, but the voice soon fell silent." One employee at Unit 731 not directly involved in. the experiments told Newsweek, "From the start, we were taught not to see, not to inquire, not to speak." Explaining why he cut out the eyes of victims one Japanese worker said, "I received an order."
There were reports of three-year-old children being jabbed with needles and submerged in icy water and screaming women cut open so their reproductive organs could be examined. Some victims had their stomachs removed and their esophagus connected to intestines. Others who had their arms amputated and reattached on opposite sides.
In one experiment a victim was taken outside when the temperatures were -40°C and tied to a post. Water was poured on the lower arm until it froze solid. The doctors then tested their frostbite treatment and the lower arm was amputated. The same process was repeated on the upper arms and then the legs. When victim was reduced to a head and torso he was then turned over to disease divisions for experiments there.

Etc, etc, etc, etc...

 

。There seems to be a very strong consensus that Japan did not deserve such an attack

Must admit not sure where you get that idea. Id have nuked Japan till it glowed. I make no apologies for that.

 

It is hard for me to feel sorry for the atomic bombings. Sure, war is a horrible thing, but things need to happen to fix what have gone wrong. I know the American (allied) cause was just, and Japan at that time was filling the Far East with tyranny and oppression. If they want to pretend like they did nothing wrong and not teach their children about the horrible atrocities that empire performed back then, than they should not be blaming us for the atomic bombings.

 

Za Rodinu & Gliderrider, I stand corrected. I am new to this forum, 2 days in, and I did not realize this thread was 40 pages long, I read only the first page and on the basis of that came to my conclusion. After reading the rest I know see that my statement is far from correct. In reading the OP's post I was responding to did the Japanese people deserve.....etc. I distinguish between the Japanese people and the military actions of the their armed forces. As to the latter I have no sympathy. I can not even imagine human beings committing those kinds of atrocities. I have no doubt the bombs should have been dropped to save lives and for the reasons given on page one. Many people do not separate a nation and their leaders, that is personal to all of us. I see North Korea and fully believe that most of it's citizens would prefer to be a prosperous nation like the South except for the few dictators in the North so no I do not think the OP's grandmother was evil but fully agree the 2 bombs were a necessary decision to help end the war.

I apologise for not catching the extend of all the post but my personal view is as above, a decent people with a terrible government, same as the Nazis. I have many German and Japanese friends, some tormented by their history, some wanting to live their lives in peace. I would hate to have all that on my conscious. I am 70 and grew up with the veterans and widows, the maimed and fatherless of WW2. As a young man I dated a girl who's father was a quadriplegic, thanks to a 8X57 and another whose grandmother survived the camps complete with serial number, they over came their hatred. I never understood how until I had a terrible experience and time helped solve it. If I grew up in an occupied or heavily bombed country I probably would feel different. Pardon my verbosity but bomb yes, people deserved no. My humble view.

Kindly,

Gaines

 

No apologies needed here, welcome to the forum, Gaines. Everybody has a place on the soapbox

 

Glad to have you with us, Gaines. The vast majority of posts on this thread support your view of the bombings as having been the right decision at the time. There is probably more variance of opinion on the question of whether the bombings were deserved, but of course what matters isn't what we all collectively think but what you think (otherwise we'd all just be parroting each other and there wouldn't be much point in that!).

I think, in fact, that your own position as expressed in your last post above will strike a chord with a great many people here. Welcome to the forum!

 

Thanks guys, I first visited Hyde Park in 1960 and think this forum may be related!!!LOL, which makes it all the better. As a young man I was fascinated to hear all the differing views and agree how dull it would be if we all agreed. I have a great love for the UK and feel quite at home already. My English may be rusty as I have been on American forums too long

I meant to add that the enlarged fonts were totally unintentional, I was not trying to be emphatic, an electronic glitch. and under no circumstances do I think America did any thing wrong aqnd owes no apology. The Japanese government owes the world an apology for starting the war. But I hope I never reach a point in which I want to see women and children incinerated. They may have to be to save even more lives but they do not "deserve" it. We are better than that.

Kindly.

Gaines

 

No? If you say so.

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/war-against-japan/13736-sergeant-l-g-siffleet-m-special-unit-beheaded.html



Etc, etc, etc, etc...
You always get your point across well. Keep it up as usual. Too many minds filled with liberal PC mush these days that can't handle the truth.

 

Are people going to reproduce that lovely photograph every time they agree with Za?

 

I will, every time, without hesitation. He has more in his collection too, and he breaks them out from time to time when liberal, short memory, anti-US atom-bombing apologists start with all that "oooooh poor Japan, look what the war-mongering Imperialist Yankee Devils did to those peace loving peoples when they were on the verge of surrender" crapola.

 

I will, every time, without hesitation. He has more in his collection too, and he breaks them out from time to time when liberal, short memory, anti-US atom-bombing apologists start with all that "oooooh poor Japan, look what the war-mongering Imperialist Yankee Devils did to those peace loving peoples when they were on the verge of surrender" crapola.

I whole-heartedly share your sentiments - just not sure how many times I can take the photo. The last time I vomited all over my laptop it cost me and arm and a leg to get it fixed, and I don't know if I can face having to go though that all over again.

 

Ok, I will post a warning next time. All you have to do is back away from the keyboard a bit, look to the left or right, and fire away. Problem solved.

 

Ok, I will post a warning next time. All you have to do is back away from the keyboard a bit, look to the left or right, and fire away. Problem solved.

That should work!

On a more serious note, though, I can tell you that I am as infuriated by the "America should apologise" brigade as anybody. I have previously stated my personal reasons for this on a different thread but, as I think that thread has now run its course (and this one looks like being near-permanent), I would like to record it here too for those who did not see the other one.

To cut a long story short, there is now conclusive documentary evidence that all Japanese POW camp commandants were under strict orders to annihilate all their prisoners in the event of an Allied invasion of the Japanese-occupied territories. A (poorly) translated copy of the preliminary such order issued to a camp in Taiwan can be found at Doc 2701-Exhibit "O" Text. If I could just quote from this order:

"Whether they are destroyed individually or in groups, or however it is done, with mass bombing, poisonous smoke, poisons, drowning, decapitation or whatever, dispose of them as the situation dictates. In any case it is the aim not to allow the escape of a single one, to annihilate them all, and not to leave any traces."


In the Philippines, such a massacre had already happened, and the details of how these helpless men were butchered (kindly provided by Canuck) are truly horrifying: American Prisoners of War: Massacre at Palawan » HistoryNet .

A similar order (in the event of an Allied invasion) had been issued in Japan, and the equally chilling annihilation plans at Batu Lintang camp in Borneo extended not only to POWs but to civilian women and children internees too: Batu Lintang camp - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . (Thank you, Sol, for providing that one.)

My own father was at this time a POW in Thailand, where the prisoners had been forced some months before the end of the war to dig huge trenches (10 feet deep and 10 feet wide) all around their camps; huge machine guns were then placed at the outside corners of each such camp, pointing inwards at the prisoners. It emerged after the war (as the prisoners had suspected, but largely closed their eyes to for the sake of their own sanity) that they were to be exterminated in the event of an Allied invasion of that area.

The Japanese were (correctly) expecting an Allied invasion of Thailand on or around 21 August 1945, and were set to annihilate the prisoners on that date. Had the war rumbled on for just another couple of weeks, there is no doubt that my father would have met the same terrible fate that had been meted out earlier to the prisoners at Palawan (see the second link above). It was only the atomic bombings - which forced the Japanese surrender on 15 August and rendered an Allied invasion of Thailand unnecessary - which prevented this (saving more than 100,000 POW lives alone).

As I type this, and think about the incessant demands for an American apology, I feel my blood pressure rising and fear that I am about to go into one of my rants ... but I won't. Here, at least, I would be preaching to the converted.

 

This causing quite a stir in conservative circles!

US joins Hiroshima ceremony for 1st time, mayor seeks disarmament on A-bomb 65th anniversary - Arts - Canada - World - The Telegram

The Japanese have never acknowledged let along apologized for many WW2 atrocities so many are questioning the wisdome of this representation.

 

My own father was at this time a POW in Thailand

Where was he captured? What was some other experiences he had in the camp? I am sure he liked the movie The Bridge on the River Kwai.

 

This causing quite a stir in conservative circles!

US joins Hiroshima ceremony for 1st time, mayor seeks disarmament on A-bomb 65th anniversary - Arts - Canada - World - The Telegram

The Japanese have never acknowledged let along apologized for many WW2 atrocities so many are questioning the wisdome of this representation.

Does he have a visit to Yasukuni scheduled as well?

 

I do think there is something wrong when posts more than suggest that the reason we should 'nuke' someone or other is because they were more than savage to us in the first place. Don't misunderstand me, to use any means necessary to kill and defeat an enemy I very much agree with but I'm not sure simply wanting to kill others because they 'started it' is the right reason. I suppose it could and will be argued that it doesn't matter a damn what the reason is as long as you kill them but if you want to claim, as many apparently do, the moral high ground then the many statements simply wanting to exact revenge should change. I do agree completely that the 'apologists' should shut up and go back to watching hollywood fight wars, much more civilised!

 

As was fairly obvious from the word go, this thread is going to run & run, certainly for as long as the forum exists.

As new members join, they will add their comments, but before they do so, may I repeat something I said on 18/10/09:

Back in October 2007 an almost identically headed thread started on the another ww2 forum.

I looked back to what I had said to say on the subject at that time and I doubt if my opinion has changed at all since then.

"Unfortunately, when one is in the process of literally fighting a war for survival one does not have the gift of hindsight.

Consider then the situation with which we were faced in May 1945.

After six terrible years of deprivation and much loss of life the war in Europe had come to an end but we were still faced with the major problem of dealing with Japan.

Many families, including my own, had lost kith and kin.

Along came the Bomb with its promises of speeding the conclusion of the war and coping with a people who would never have considered surrender as it went against their very code of honour.

Was I personally glad that the bomb was dropped ?

You're damn right I was !

Do I think that everyone else thought as I did?

The same answer, in spades !

Ron


I have reached an age that suggests that my input on this subject will eventually, just like the Monty Python parrot, cease and be no more.

May I, in all seriousness, ask that whoever is still around on this site in the distant future and who also believes that I was right, re-prints this article occasionally so that one of my generation's views may still be heard ?

With many thanks

Ron