76 years ago today, on August 5, 1945, the first atomic bomb used in war was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan (enemies, politicians)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
MacArthur was also responsible for gathering data on biological warfare, which was obtained through human experimentation. The US government offered full political immunity to high-ranking officials who were instrumental in perpetuating crimes against humanity, in exchange of the data about their experiments. Among those was Shiro Ishii, the commander of Unit 731. During the cover-up operation, the U.S. government paid money to obtain data on human experiments conducted in China, according to two declassified U.S. government documents.[5]
The total amount paid to unnamed former members of the infamous unit was somewhere between 150,000 yen to 200,000 yen. An amount of 200,000 yen at that time is the equivalent of 20 million yen to 40 million yen today. [6]
1) You're omitting how the US "recruited" a whole division of Japanese scientist war criminals engaged in researching biochemical weapons.
Yes, many Japanese war criminals did evade justice after the war. In addition to wanting the Japanese medical research (obtained through experiments on prisoners) the US Gov. was concerned about Russia attempting a land grab.
The Japanese Navy had been destroyed but the J- Army was still strong. MacArthur wanted to rearm and mobilize these troops if necessary.
Nobody was interested in looking too close at who did what during the war.
Unlike some of the Nazi doctors who conducted experiments on prisoners and concentration camp inmates, none of those involved with the experiments at Unit 731 were ever punished for their crimes. Instead, after war’s end, many re-entered society and went on to have very successful careers in their fields. American forces, chiefly General Douglas MacArthur, decided not to put workers of Unit 731 on trial. MacArthur granted those involved immunity in exchange for the information they had gathered while doing their experiments. He believed that pursuing trials against these people would get in the way of the Americans receiving the medical information that had been documented from these experiments. Because of this decision, justice was never served. https://www.atomicheritage.org/histo...their%20fields.
Instead, after war’s end, many re-entered society and went on to have very successful careers in their fields.
I can't remember the title but I read a book on that. After the war many did end up working for major J-companies.
76 years ago today, on August 5, 1945, the first atomic bomb used in war was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. (In Japan it was August 6, since they are across the International Date Line from us.)
Three days later, the second atomic bomb used in warfare was flown to its primary target of Kokura, Japan. They found the city obscured by clouds and smoke, and so flew to the secondary target of Nagasaki instead and dropped the bomb there.
Shortly afterward, Japan realized they had no way to stop the Americans from dropping bomb after bomb, wiping out city after city until the Japanese islands became uninhabitable. It also helped that Russia declared war on Japan that day. Japan surrendered, and WWII was over.
Japan didn't know at the time, that those were the only two complete atomic bombs the Americans had been able to produce at that time (plus one more set off in July as a test in New Mexico). They could eventually produce more of the needed fissile material, but it would have taken a while, so the Americans kept quiet. The head of the Manhattan Project, Gen. Leslie Groves expected to have another "Fat Man" (plutonium, as was dropped on Nagasaki) atomic bomb ready for use on 19 August, with three more in September and a further three in October; a second Little Boy bomb (using U-235, the typed dropped on Hiroshima) would not be available until December 1945.
The Army estimated that those two bombs, which killed approx. 150,000 Japanese, saved the lives of between 500,000 and 1 million Americans who would no longer have to invade the Japanese home islands to force a surrender, plus saving a million or more Japanese who would have defended their homes to the death.
President Truman made the right call the horrors of Okinawa, Iwo Jima and the Kamikaze attacks convinced him that the Japanese would fight to the last man the atomic bomb convinced them otherwise
I saw a documentary on it and the military still wanted to fight even after the bombs. In fact there was concern they would not comply with the surrender.
.
I deal with the reality of atomic bombs annihilating folks that were going about there day...
The firebombing of Tokyo killed 100000 Japanese in a single night. World War II was total war. War is hell.
Potsdam Declaration
Quote:
“We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces, and to provide proper and adequate assurances of their good faith in such action. The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction.”
I saw a documentary on it and the military still wanted to fight even after the bombs. In fact there was concern they would not comply with the surrender.
But they did.
That was the point and the reason.
Thank God for the U.S.A.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FreezeDrop95
The whole point was to show how gruesome it was to use it in civilians.
That is a good point, one with which I partly agree.
Here's a point I agree with fully; the Japanese army and people who sided against the United States of America were wrong.
The Bombs were right.
Last edited by McGowdog; 08-05-2023 at 07:05 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
