Firing Squads and Gas Chambers

[Guy Fawkes]

This is the official story told by history and I think we all know it.

I was questioning it as a valid reason for using that much force, twice.

It hasn't been used since in hostilities between countries, even those where one side has nuclear weapons.

Putin has come out and brought up America's awful history and said he very much doubts that Russia would ever had done the same thing. In my view the cold war was Russia arming accordingly to protect themselves against America.

Who forced Japan to fight on between the 1st and 2nd bombs? There were 3 days between missions so why didn't they surrender straight after it became clear just how devastating the bombing was and that the US had already made it public that they would be releasing more of the devices in a bid to end the war?

If they hadn't dropped the 2nd one, would Japan have still surrendered at that point in history or fought on.

What is there apart from modern thinking and modern arguments to suggest that they would have laid down their arms ? especially when their culture at the time had been about surrender being a disgrace and that they should die rather than being captured, with evidence as a suggestion of proof in the form of officers who would commit Harikari (like at the Battle of Midway) even if they weren't captured but failed in their mission / goal, that civilians would commit suicide rather than live under foreign rule and soldiers would often kill themselves rather than being captured (Iwo Jima, etc)

They had been brainwashed into a certain way of thinking and it would take something this devastating to try to get them to change their thinking / beliefs.

 

[One Love]

Who forced Japan to fight on between the 1st and 2nd bombs? There were 3 days between missions so why didn't they surrender straight after it became clear just how devastating the bombing was and that the US had already made it public that they would be releasing more of the devices in a bid to end the war?

If they hadn't dropped the 2nd one, would Japan have still surrendered at that point in history or fought on.

What is there apart from modern thinking and modern arguments to suggest that they would have laid down their arms ? especially when their culture at the time had been about surrender being a disgrace and that they should die rather than being captured, with evidence as a suggestion of proof in the form of officers who would commit Harikari (like at the Battle of Midway) even if they weren't captured but failed in their mission / goal, that civilians would commit suicide rather than live under foreign rule and soldiers would often kill themselves rather than being captured (Iwo Jima, etc)

They had been brainwashed into a certain way of thinking and it would take something this devastating to try to get them to change their thinking / beliefs.

http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2011/08/07/why_did_japan_surrender/

 

[GT49er]

This is the official story told by history and I think we all know it.

I was questioning it as a valid reason for using that much force, twice.

Yes, that is the historical story, and most of us do know it, apart from a few conspiracy theorists who'll have their own versions to suit their particular agendas.

Yes, it was extreme force, so, was it justified? Yes, I believe it was - it probably saved as many lives as it killed - hand to hand fighting across mainland Japan would have been a blood-sodden horror show. More importantly, it ended the previous Japanese culture of death before dishonour or surrender. Japan was a nation of fanatics - after all, they invented suicide bombers - the kamikaze pilots were the prototype. Much of their terrible brutality to their prisoners stemmed from this belief too - in their view the prisoners should have killed themselves rather than be captured, so were not fit to be respected. Since the atomic bombs, however, Japan has re-invented itself as a nation and a culture; it now behaves impeccably on the international stage, and is no threat to anyone. It is also a prosperous manufacturing and trading nation.
A successful outcome all round, then.

 

[daveybgtt]

Chat shit (bomb Pearl Harbor)

Get hit (with a nuclear bomb)

Plus the Japanese deserved it (unit 371)

 

[Guy Fawkes]

Chat shit (bomb Pearl Harbor)

Get hit (with a nuclear bomb)

Plus the Japanese deserved it (unit 371)

Don't you mean Unit 731 ?

For those who don't know much about them.....

The Japanese military had relied on biological weaponry years before World War II broke out – the nation had a special military unit named Unit 731 created for and solely devoted to biological and chemical warfare that dated back to the early 1930s.

Unit 731 began its work in Manchukuo when Japan took control of the Chinese state. The Unit was tasked with researching potential biological and chemical weapons, and the effects they would have when unleashed on enemy populations. So, Unit 731 got to work under the leadership of Shirō Ishii, experimenting various diseases and dangerous chemicals on men, women, children, and even infants. The Japanese didn’t just conduct these cruel experiments on captured prisoners or injured enemy soldiers; instead, they ran the potentially deadly tests on anyone they could find.

Thanks to the efforts of Unit 731, the Japanese military was quickly ready to put all of the research to use and wreak biological havoc. The Second Sino-Japanese War provided the perfect opportunity: Japanese soldiers placed the bubonic plague, cholera, smallpox, botulism, anthrax, and even more varied, dangerous diseases inside bombs that were meant for use against the Chinese military.

As the war and its conflicts pitted the Japanese and Chinese against one another, Japan unleashed it’s biological weapons – and the effects were deadly. In 2002, researchers estimated the number of Chinese individuals, both in war and during Unit 731’s human experimentation, at approximately 580,000. With this astounding and effective new type of warfare, the Japanese were eager to enact similar damage upon the United States during World War II. (they planned an operation called Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night)