Navy Lieutenant Ridge Alkonis: American in Japanese Prison (1 Viewer)

[El Caliente]

What's cowardly about it?

I don’t know, I’m only assuming he meant PH. I wouldn’t call it cowardly, I would call it a miscalculation.

 

[Goatman Saint]

Off topic, but Any thoughts on Pattons desire to continue on after Germany into Russia?

Patton was a tactical genius. However, strategically he was a bit weak and politically he had no idea. Even if the Allie’s attacked and overran Russia, what would we do with it? Also, the Allies were tired. Britain was completely broke, France was broken. It was literally the US, and at that point nobody wanted to extend it. While yes it could be said that the US dropped the bomb on Japan to show Russia what it had, they also looked at the potential casualty lists and tried to end the war without invasion. I mean it was after 2000 when the US used up the last of the Purple Hearts made in anticipation of the massive casualties involved. In 1945, no one wanted any part of another long and bloody war.

 

[Saintman2884]

I’m not sure they are any more of a racist culture than any other. Also, you cannot change a culture in 50-100 years. They went from Shogun to possibly the third most powerful military in less than 100 years. They were the first non white country to win a war against a western country (against Russia) and that I’m sure continued their thinking of being better.

Now, the fascist argument is much more of a military, ultranationalist approach rather that true fascism. Japan has had a long and not very happy history with China and Korea, so as Japan grew in power, it looked at its traditional enemies. The initial takeover of Manchuria was for natural resources to power its economy, and really the whole basis of the Pacific war was around natural resources for the Japanese economy. Oil from the indies, iron and coal from Manchuria, scrap steel from the US all of that. If you step back and really look at the Japanese thinking during this time, it very much makes sense what they were doing and how they were thinking. Japan has little natural resource, so by expanding they were able to get what they needed.

And yes, the US bases and the military there have had some issues which does infuriate the Japanese at times. Public drunkenness, lack of having respect (in the Japanese sense) the rapes and other crimes which have been committed are a sore spot. And when the stance of the military for years was too bad, you can see where this clash has become an issue on Okinawa and overall in Japan. .

There were some crude elements of fascism

Off topic, but Any thoughts on Pattons desire to continue on after Germany into Russia?

Its called Operation Unthinkable, and as much as we revere, admire, respect, or with some people quietly wonder or question Patton's state of mind, motives, often rumored professional instability, weird psuedo-occult private religious beliefs (he belived in a version of the old Norse "warrior heaven" of Valhalla, even though he supposedly read the Bible assiduously and was a committed Christian), despite all of his WWII achievements, if any of Patton's ideas or proposals to attack Russia or push them back were to have been seriously considered, more then likely, they'd up in abject failure just like Napoleon's Grande Armee and German Wehrmacht's Barbarossa before them.

 

[Saintman2884]

Patton was a tactical genius. However, strategically he was a bit weak and politically he had no idea. Even if the Allie’s attacked and overran Russia, what would we do with it? Also, the Allies were tired. Britain was completely broke, France was broken. It was literally the US, and at that point nobody wanted to extend it. While yes it could be said that the US dropped the bomb on Japan to show Russia what it had, they also looked at the potential casualty lists and tried to end the war without invasion. I mean it was after 2000 when the US used up the last of the Purple Hearts made in anticipation of the massive casualties involved. In 1945, no one wanted any part of another long and bloody war.

Goat, since you raised the specter of how vicious, bloody and potentially costly in terms of losses of life, wounded and injured if wed invaded Japan in October 1945(officially code-named X-Day), we likely get bogged down to intense, extreme Japanese military attacks and from locals in areas like Kyushu, because any American invasion of Japan would've been two-pronged: first, have large forces of U.S. Marines, Army personnel land in Kyushu, the southernmost prefecture of Japanese homeland, try and fight upwards with constant reinforcements and air and sea power to try and conquer the Kyushu region, then invade around central Japanese cities like Kobe, Yokohama and link up with advancing American troops coming up from Kyushu region.

My questions that I pose to you are these: How likely do U.S. forces if they'd invade Kyushu in October 1945, how plausible is it that they bogged down with overwhelming air and sea power, by fanatical Japanese resistance and can't advance, strategically maybe more then 50 miles up into southern Japan.

My other question is: if any U.S. invasion of Japan occurred, and got bogged down on multiple fronts, how very real is the possibility of Soviets intervening militarily after recently over running Manchuria, northern Korea that they use the pretext of trying to help their U.S. ally end the invasion of Japanese homeland more efficiently and quickly by invading northern Japan via Hokkaido, conquering a large share of the northern sections of the nation, and then U.S. and Soviet forces take part in capturing Tokyo, and dividing the city itself into different spheres of influence or zones similar to how Berlin was broken up and administered by four victorious Allied powers after WWII, and this power-sharing arrangement stayed in place for the next 45 years, even after the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 and building more of the "inner-German" border surrounding East Berlin from Western sections.

 

[Goatman Saint]

Goat, since you raised the specter of how vicious, bloody and potentially costly in terms of losses of life, wounded and injured if wed invaded Japan in October 1945(officially code-named X-Day), we likely get bogged down to intense, extreme Japanese military attacks and from locals in areas like Kyushu, because any American invasion of Japan would've been two-pronged: first, have large forces of U.S. Marines, Army personnel land in Kyushu, the southernmost prefecture of Japanese homeland, try and fight upwards with constant reinforcements and air and sea power to try and conquer the Kyushu region, then invade around central Japanese cities like Kobe, Yokohama and link up with advancing American troops coming up from Kyushu region.

My questions that I pose to you are these: How likely do U.S. forces if they'd invade Kyushu in October 1945, how plausible is it that they bogged down with overwhelming air and sea power, by fanatical Japanese resistance and can't advance, strategically maybe more then 50 miles up into southern Japan.

My other question is: if any U.S. invasion of Japan occurred, and got bogged down on multiple fronts, how very real is the possibility of Soviets intervening militarily after recently over running Manchuria, northern Korea that they use the pretext of trying to help their U.S. ally end the invasion of Japanese homeland more efficiently and quickly by invading northern Japan via Hokkaido, conquering a large share of the northern sections of the nation, and then U.S. and Soviet forces take part in capturing Tokyo, and dividing the city itself into different spheres of influence or zones similar to how Berlin was broken up and administered by four victorious Allied powers after WWII, and this power-sharing arrangement stayed in place for the next 45 years, even after the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 and building more of the "inner-German" border surrounding East Berlin from Western sections.

I really don’t know. Japan couldn’t have made it through the winter of 45 without massive food supplies from the US. So that is a huge factor, but with the Japanese mentality they would’ve fought until they died anyway. The death would’ve been horrid.

I’m not sure how well it would’ve worked having to kill women and children. US troops were hard core at this point in time, but wholesale killing of women and children I dunno. I do know in Vietnam my friend John was talking how he got to the point he didn’t care, if it seemed a child or woman came towards his squad in a threatening way he shoot them with little remorse. So I suppose in the end they would, but a lot of these guys were already mentally scarred and the European troops were stressed about fighting the Japanese.

So, I’m not sure. I’m certain the Russians would’ve come in, and I can see them doing exactly as you say.

This is one area I suppose I should do some more research on, learning about what the military thinking was.

 

[El Caliente]

Navy officer imprisoned in Japan over deadly car crash freed from US custody, family says | Fox News

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