Actually we invaded Okinawa and the civilians had been so heavily
propagandized to believe the USA would rape and murder every person they
came upon that many threw themselves from cliffs - I think it was
something over 1000 that did so. There is video showing people doing
this and it is very disturbing. Also, the civilians in Japans - down
to 6 year olds were being armed with sticks and grenades to use when the
Americans arrived. They estimated the US would lose 1 million or more
men with 2-3 times that many Japanese killed. The use of nuclear
weapons saved many lives - millions actually.
You are certainly right about Iwo Jima being a killing field for the US
- the sand was like quicksand and the Japanese had pre-sighted all the
landing areas so they had no trouble hitting American targets - also,
the beach head was narrow as they had trouble moving off the beach so
the US had a lot of soldiers in a small area which the Japanese shelled
at will. I suspect the landing beaches on Japan itself would have
been as bad or worse...
LarryT
On 9/9/2013 11:01 AM, Mitch Haley wrote:
Curt Raymond wrote:
Chinese didn't seem so thrilled with Japanese occupation...
I went to college with a girl whose Chinese born grandparents refused to
sit in a Toyota 40 years later.
On the subject of nuking Japanese cities, isn't it still commonly
accepted that taking Japan and Okinawa inch by inch like giant
versions of Iwo Jima would have been far bloodier than dropping a
couple of low yield nukes?
Mitch.
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