The destruction in Japan at the end of WW2 - Richard Rhodes

[andrew]

I think the point being made here is more so about how destructive the firebombing were than people tend to know or understand. People seem to be interpreting it as a downplay on the scale of the atomic bomb, which I don’t think is the intent.

[dysnomiaA]

People, he specifically said the scale of the bombing, not the total effects of conventional vs nuclear. Pay attention.

[BBC]

I hope we never have a war like WW2 ever again.

[Ray-mdnr]

That's what really bugged the Soviets, not the scale of the destruction, but that the Americans were able to do it with one plane.

[TH-ludu]

My dad grew up in Kokura at that time. Kokura was the second target after Hiroshima, but was aborted because Kokura's neighboring city was just firebombed, creating too much cloud over Kokura and insufficient visibility to execute the plan. Enola Gay went for their backup target, Nagasaki, instead.

Edit: not Enola Gay, wrong plane sorry. Thanks for the correction!

[Genocidalic]

Grave of the Fireflies is one of the most powerful depictions of the firebombs devastation. A must watch for anyone who doesn’t understand the horror of war.

[davidwilliamson]

My Father, A United States Marine, Iwo Jima, said to me. “I’m glad they dropped that bomb. We wouldn’t have survived the attack on the mainland. As he said “ going into the harbor after the surrender, to occupy Japan with the 5th Marine Division . The emperor said put a white flag on all fighting positions to show surrender. It looked like snow covered mountains and inlets. I’m alive because of that bomb”

[maryhensler]

During WW2 my father was in the glider core and was slated to be part of the Million Man Invasion. Gliders made of wood and canvas were to be ferried behind planes carrying jeeps and troops across the Pacific. The casualty cost was estimated to be as high as 800, 000. His group was stationed in Memphis, and they were loaded on trains three separate times; twice getting almost to San Diego for departure before being sent back.

[dw-feww]

When you jump on the back of a tiger you don't get to pick how it eats you.

[CountArtha]

Can't remember where I read it, but the USAF studied Japanese civilian casualties and determined that an _ALARMING_ number of civilians would have lived if only the government had done more to prepare them. The United States' civil defense programs during the Cold War were supposed to improve upon Japan's supposed negligence.

[tspell]

A friend of mine was a pow in Dresden before it was fire bombed and he said we dropped leaflets beforehand warning everyone to get out of town because it was to be bombed. We did that in Nagasaki Hiroshima and Tokyo too.

[LoganKaynak-uexk]

The Atomic Bombings were definitely a big finish to one of the darkest chapters in human history.

[hjusn]

The military experienced a mutiny in Tokyo and wasn’t going to surrender. Japan’s army was mostly intact and civilians were being trained to fight to the death. Bombing never broke the civilian will to fight but unrestricted submarine warfare brought Japan to the brink of starvation. The Soviets were encouraged to invade by the US. In combination with the atomic bomb and starvation, it was the Emperor’s smuggled radio broadcast that ended the war. By the way, Japan had an atomic bomb program but it was too little too late.

[biggwillnyc]

I was in Hiroshima in 1977. I actually went to what was called Peace Park. And I went inside the museum and saw all the exhibits.

[blakebrown]

The firebombing was done because when we tried high altitude bombing we discovered the jet stream exists and that ate up all the fuel to fight against, so that meant they had to do low level bombing, and that meant they had to switch to bombing at night to avoid anti-aircraft fire as much as possible since they were now low enough to be hit, but flying at night meant they could no longer distinguish landmarks to determine their own location and thus could not see the designated targets they wanted to hit leading to the decision to burn it all knowing they used wood construction largely and that any fires would spread even if they were well off target

[MrRufusRToyota]

“Don’t start shit you can’t finish.” ~America.

[ericchase]

I listened to an interesting historian opine that the atomic bombs in Japan saved many Japanese lives. Why? By 1945 the situation in Japan was so dire that over a million Japanese had died of starvation. Had the stubborn Japanese leadership not been under nuclear threat and continued the war, millions of soldiers and civilians would have died, especially if the allies had been forced to invade the Japanese homeland. Weird but interesting analysis.

[unechaine]

Wasn't there a lot of wooden houses in these cities ?

[WaukWarrior]

They also droped leaflets warning people in the city to evacuate or tale shelter but the Japanese authorities told them to ignore it

[HarmvanderWilt]

I am not gonna downplay what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but out of the 60 somewhat large cities in Japan, there were only like 5 left standing before the 2 atomic bombs fell. 'Ordinary' bombing was just as bad for the Japanese. The fire bombing has killed tens of thousands. It is also the reason why it is questionable Japan surrendered because of the atomic bombs. Because what are two more destroyed cities? But the prospect of the Soviets attacking Japan and whiping out their culture, that might have scared them even more.