09 August 2007

Nagasaki, Japan

62 years ago today -


9 August 1945 - 11:02 AM

Fatman bomb, dropped by the U.S. B-29 Bock's Car, explodes with the force of 22 kilotons of explosives.

Within a mile, most people were dead, most buildings were destroyed. The survivors waited for death as emergency services were minimal. The cremation fires burned day and night, mixing with the fallout.


Sounds terrible. But that is what war is. And that is what war should be, so Man will be less inclined to turn to it as a continuation of diplomacy by other means.

But it was also necessary. President Truman made the decision to use the bombs after he was presented with reports that the closer U.S. Forces got the the Japanese mainland, the more viciously the Japanese fought. He was also informed that the civilians in Japan were taking up whatever arms they could and were preparing for a last stand fight to the death against U.S. Forces on their home soil.

That information coupled with the projections that an invasion of the Japanese mainland would lead to tens, if not hundreds of thousands of Allied casualties, and Japanese military and civilian casualties numbering in the millions tipped the balance.

But neither bombing was a sneak attack. The Japanese government was warned before Hiroshima was bombed that we had a new "Super Weapon" that we would use unless they surrendered. They ignored the warning. We destroyed Hiroshima.

We warned them again. We dropped leaflets over their cities asking them to ask their leaders to surrender. The first was dropped right after Hiroshima:
TO THE JAPANESE PEOPLE:

"America asks that you take immediate heed of what we say on this leaflet.

"We are in possession of the most destructive explosive ever devised by man. A single one of our newly developed atomic bombs is actually the equivalent in explosive power to what 2000 of our giant B-29's can carry on a single mission. This awful fact is one for you to ponder and we solemnly assure you it is grimly accurate.

"We have just begun to use this weapon against your homeland. If you still have any doubt, make inquiry as to what happened to Hiroshima when just one atomic bomb fell on that city.

"Before using this bomb to destroy every resource of the military by which they are prolonging this useless war, we ask that you now petition the Emperor to end the war. Our President has outlined for you the thirteen consequences of an honorable surrendor: We urge that you accept these consequences and begin the work of building a new, better, and peace-loving Japan.

"You should take stops now to cease military resistance. Otherwise, we shall resolutely employ this bomb and all out other superior weapons to promptly and forcefully end the war."

EVACUATE YOUR CITIES


The government ignored the warning. They ignored their citizens. Radio Tokyo told the country of the destruction of Hiroshima. We warned them again. This time we dropped leaflets over target cities BEFORE the second bomb was used:

"ATTENTION JAPANESE PEOPLE" EVACUATE YOUR CITIES

"Because your military leaders have rejected the thirteen part surrender declaration, two momentous events have occurred in the last few days.

"The Soviet Union, because of this rejection on the part of the military has notified your Ambassador Sato that it has declared war on your nation. Thus, all powerful countries of the world are now at war against you.

"Also because of your leaders' refusal to accept the surrender declaration that would enable Japan to honorably end this useless war, we have employed our atomic bomb.

"A single one of our newly developed atomic bombs is actually the equivalent in explosive power to what 2000 of our giant B-29's could have carried on a single mission. Radio Tokyo has told you that with the first use of this weapon of total destruction, Hiroshima was virtually destroyed.

"Before we use this bomb again and again to destroy every resourse of the military by which they are prolonging this useless war, petition the Emperor now to end the war. Our President has outlined for you the thirteen consequences of an honorable surrender; We urge that you accept these consequences and begin the work of building a new, better, and peace loving Japan.

"Act at once or we shall resolutely employ this bomb and all our other superior weapons to promptly and forcefully end the war."

EVACUATE YOUR CITIES


Again they ignored the warnings. We bombed Nagasaki. Damage was not as extensive as it was at Hiroshima, due to the geography of the area. The area around Ground Zero is surrounded by hills, and this served to protect the civilian areas of the city from the blast.

On 10 August 1945, planning for more atomic attacks continued in the U.S., and The Emperor of Japan ordered the military to offer surrender to The Allies. This order resulted in a split between those wanting to surrender for the good of Japan, and those wanting to continue the war for the glory of Japan.

The emperor recorded a message in which he personally accepted the Allied surrender terms, to be broadcast over Japanese radio. This way everyone in Japan would know that surrender was the emperor's personal will. Some within the Japanese military actually attempted to steal this recording before it could be broadcast, while others attempted a more general military coup in order to seize power and continue the war.

On August 15, 1945, the emperor's broadcast announcing Japan's surrender was heard via radio all over Japan. For most of his subjects, it was the first time that they had ever heard his voice. The emperor explained that "the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage," and that "the enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb." Over the next few weeks, Japan and the United States worked out the details of the surrender, and on September 2, 1945, the formal surrender ceremony took place on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri.

8 Comments:

Blogger MadDogBV said...

There's a Japanophile liberal at my school. If I show him this, he'll go ape mad.

09 August, 2007 21:16  
Blogger MOMinuteMan said...

You may wanna restrain/sedate him before hand...

We imposed the best ideals of America upon Japan, and they eventually took off and ran with it and became one of a VERY exclusive club of major players on the planet.

Most of what they are today, they owe to us for kicking their asses

10 August, 2007 00:06  
Blogger Steve said...

The only explanation I can think for all this machismo is that you must have a very small dick.

10 August, 2007 17:54  
Blogger MadDogBV said...

Would you like to provide a constructive rebuttal, sir?

10 August, 2007 22:46  
Blogger MOMinuteMan said...

Yo, D.,

First, (and without any sarcasm at all) thanks for stopping by, and feel free to continue to do so. Your $0.02 is always welcome here.

Secondly, not "machismo", just the facts of the matter. You can track down the info the same as I did, and unless you are into revisionist history, you will see that I did not fold, spindle, or mutilate the facts in any way, shape or form. I try my best to post plain FACTS without errors here, but if you have verifiable evidence that proves me wrong, please feel free to let me know.

I know you are probably used to getting your info through the filter of the Main Stream Media outlets, who couldn't report the unbiased, undistorted, unspun truth if you held a gun to their heads.

And before you accuse me of watching Faux News, FYI, I don't watch ANY TV news. I think they ALL have some twist, one way on the other. When a "news" story strikes my fancy, I peruse several sites on the web to get a more undistilled version of it.

The info in this post is taken from historical websites and from personal knowledge gained in school. And as a frame of reference, I started First Grade in 1970, so I am probably from the last generation to get an education from Public Education.

My personal opinion of the use of nukes on Japan can best be summed up by Gene Hackman as Capt. Frank Ramsey in the movie Crimson Tide:

"Yes. By all means. Drop that fucker. Twice."

As I said in the post, the two bombings saved more lives than they took. Hell, the fire bombings of Tokyo took more lives than BOTH Fatman and Little Boy. Not to mention Dresden, Germany. But I don't hear you bitchin' 'bout them...

And lastly, my dick is 7" long, 5.5" in circumference, and 1.75" wide, so while it ain't a baseball bat, I haven't had any unsatisfied customers. I used to be a QC guy, so those measurements are accurate.

Not that I'm obsessive about penis size or anything, but show me a guy who hasn't measured his cock, and I'll show you a mushroom dick.

11 August, 2007 18:45  
Blogger Steve said...

I've never measured my cock, honestly. But I know it's very big. As far as the stuff you said, we have way more in common than you might think. I'm sorry for the comment I left last night. It's really not like me (although you don't know me from Adam). I was just riled up from Dick's place, saw your comment you made to me there; and clicked on over to your blog. Was kind of fed up at being a punching bag at that point. But things are smooth at Dick's Place now. But there is documented information in racism, when it comes to the choice of dropping a bomb on Tokyo. Hey we only used flamethrowers on the Japanese, never on the whities. But give me a hot minute and i'll find that info for ya if you dispute it.

Cheers, and have a good weekend.

12 August, 2007 00:17  
Blogger Steve said...

Sorry not Tokyo, but I think you knew what I meant :)

12 August, 2007 00:19  
Blogger MOMinuteMan said...

No apologies needed. I prefer folks that speak their mind.

RE: Racism. All a person has to do is look at the propaganda posters from the era to see it. It was worse on the Pacific front, where the Japanese were portrayed as sub-human animals, but can also be seen in the european theater where the Germans are seen as monsters.

And regarding flamethrower use...

As loathe as I am to use Whack-u-peepee-a as a reference, it was the first to pop up to a google search to confirm that we also used flamethrowers against whitey.

"The U.S. Army used flamethrowers in Europe to clear out German bunkers, notably during Operation Overlord."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamethrower

There are others that will show up for a Google, but that was the first, and I'm hungover, so I don't have the motivation to dig up more references right now. You seem to have some grey matter holding your ears apart, so I'm sure you can find some more on your own, if you are so inclined.

RE: Nuking Tokyo and/or Germany.

I knew what you meant. As close to perfect as I am, I still make the occasional fuck-up like mere mortals do, which is why I welcome correction when needed.

And if we had developed The Bomb before Germany got it's ass whupped, we'd have used it on them as well. That was back when we fought a war to WIN. Not PC win hearts and minds crap, but kill them fast enough and hard enough to make them not want to play anymore.

The way we should be waging war in The Sand Box right now. But that is another arguement for another time.

Thanks again for stopping by, and y'all come back now, y'hear...

12 August, 2007 14:59  

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