Hotlips Hoolihan wanted to root him though.
At least thats something.
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They could have dropped the bomb in a unpopulated area to demonstrate itâs power to encourage surrender.
But no they straight up dropped it on a large city.
Pure evil.
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The Americans were caught off guard by how early the USSR attacked the Japanese in Manchuria, and how quickly they were advancing towards Korea.
The nukes were as much a political message to the USSR as they were an attempt to extract for themselves the surrender of the Japanese before the Soviets could get a seat at that table.
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Twice, and very nearly a third time just to be sure.
MacArthur evacuated in March. The Japanese didnât land there until May.
The did bomb the island for 3 months though.
Submarines, boats and flying boats were still able to run shuttle service through April.
There was actually no fighting in Darwin. True it was bombed - anniversary 19 February - but there was no invasion.
Back to Japan, I have visited Peace Park in Hiroshima. The presentation says there were 12 proposed targets and Hiroshima was chosen because of its location in a shallow basin and they could see clearly the extent of destruction.
It was an administrative centre and not a military target. So it was basically an experiment.
In my opinion, should go down as one of the worlds worst war crimes.
Still the nazis were also working on the bomb and if they had been successful would not have hesitated using it. So luckily for the free world Hitler, focussed his resources elsewhere.
Tokyo had been firebombed to the loss of 100,000 people, the Japanese were literally fighting to the death for every metre in the advance on Japan, they were spending 90% of their GDP just to stay in the war with soldiers under orders in the lead up to fight to the death just to slow the advance.
All of this after the last days of Berlin (just one city) had already been witnessed.
I doubt a demonstration would have had the desired effect.
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What do you think it would have achieved? Apart from SFA!
They didnât surrender after Hiroshima so they certainly wouldnât have surrendered if it had been dropped in the middle of nowhere.
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Was it MacArthur that came up with the Brisbane line? If the Japanese invaded, we were going to write off the northern part of Oz and concentrate on defending the southern part.
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From the Australian War Memorial site:
The âBrisbane lineâ was an alleged plan to abandon Northern Australia in the event of a Japanese invasion. The allegation was made during an election campaign in October 1942 when Edward Ward, the Minister for Labour and National Services accused the previous government of planning this strategy.
The accusation was unsubstantiated by Ward and firmly denied by Menzies and all members of the previous government. Curtinâs initial failure to dismiss the allegation and General Douglas MacArthurâs mention of it at a press conference in March 1943 led to the controversy gaining much momentum. Ward made repeated charges against the Menzies-Fadden government throughout 1943 and backed up his assertions by referring to a missing document.
The allegations created much public controversy and led to a Royal Commission of Inquiry in June 1943. Mr Justice Lowe was appointed Royal Commissioner. The terms of the commission were to focus on whether any document concerning the so called âBrisbane Lineâ was missing from the official files and if so what was the nature of this document.
The Royal Commission found the documents to be complete and that no such plan had been official policy under the Menzies government.
While Wardâs allegations were unfounded the War Cabinet had put in place strategies prioritising defence for vital industrial areas in time of war. The plans were well known to members of parliament and while they were not connected to Wardâs charges they did form part of his belief in the existence of a Brisbane Line. Wardâs allegations were constructed from these ideas as well as evacuation policies and existing plans for a scorched earth policy.
https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/homefront/brisbane_line
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So the books say, but they were surrounded and the Japanese were on the island. Thats why they were hiding in the hollowed out âmountainâ From memory the Phillipine president was with them.
Good onya Doug, catch you guys later, Iâm out.
A PT boat that close to shore was dead in the water.
There are two barraks on corrigedor, one American and one Filipino.
The American one has been bombed almost to the ground, the Filipino one, just a few.
Apparently an attempt to âfree the pinoys from their oppressorsâ
Attempting to shoot down / ward off japanese bombers and fighters around the harbour and town, whilst under fire, very very definitely qualifies as fighting. Really not sure what youâre trying to suggest there.
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Iâm no fan of MacArthur but he was actually ordered to leave by Roosevelt.
They didnât want to risk such a high profile commander being captured.
I believe that is true also.
I also believe he denied other orders beforehand when he wanted to, when it served his purpose.
He was a right prick
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My grand father fought in Darwin in WW2 as well. He didnât talk about it though. Passed away when I was in grade 2.
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My grandfather made it out of Gallipoli and was promptly sent straight to the Somme.
All of a sudden I feel old.
One things for sure, this bullshit never changes for us.
I have no issue with looking for the next super power to hitch our wagon to.
Unless we regrow our balls.
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Soldiers serving one nation speaking poorly of soldiers from another nation isnât new (unless itâs the enemy, sometimes they get talked up a bit).
Dad fought in North Africa for the Greeks. Everyone loved the Aussie soldiers. Fearless but kept morale up being funny bastards. Itâs why he chose to come here after the war.
Add:
He was 15.
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If youâre about to be shot, you might as well have a laugh.
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He use to tell stories that Aussies would always make fun of and playing jokes on the poms.
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