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(More customer reviews)I totally disagree with Professor Takaki. I am a Japanese American like he is and I was subjected to racial discrimination just after Pearl Harbor perhaps not as much as he had (if he was born then) because I lived in Hawaii and not sent to internment camp. Nevertheless I felt the sting of discrimination. I was a military member of the military intelligence service assigned to ATIS a division of General MacArthur's G2 or Intelligence Section.
We saw many highly classified documents at the headquarters and involved in numerous translations of enemy documents. We were also sent on temporary duty assignment on special missions to the frontline units and engaged in scouting and capturing enemy soldiers and interrogating them. I had experience at the lowest and the highest level. Therefore, I have my own perspective of why the A bomb was dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The casualties for both cities exceeded 210,000 people. The strategic bombing of Japan in six months exceeded 300,000 casualties and millions homeless. Invasion planners stated blockade of Japan chokes but does not kill. The bombing destroys cities but not the army. General Eisenhower agreed. General MacArthur was for the invasion and use of the A bomb for tactical purpose. Subsequent data showed he was wrong.
Operation Olympic the invasion of Kyushu was to be launched in November 1945. I was scheduled to be assigned to the 1st Corps to invade Miyasaki, Kyushu by the 6th Army under Gen. Krueger. The XI Corps to land at Ariake Bay to the South and the Marine V Amphibious Corps to land on the southwestern shore. We would have faced 790,000 Japanese versus our 550,000 troops. Operation Coronet was the invasion of Kanto Plain near Tokyo with an invasion force twice as large as Olympic and scheduled for April 1946.
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Postwar: I read Ketsugo the Japanese defense plan. The Japanese had not only the kamikaze aircraft, but piloted bombs, piloted torpedoes, suicide speedboats in the thousands, mini suicide submarines and four thousand scuba divers to blow up the troop transports . The beaches were mined, spiderweb network of machine gun nests, hidden artillery behind 50 meter high hills. There were 12700 kamikaze aircraft to be launched from partially hidden runways from underground installations. The Japanese estimated about 50% of our troops to be killed. Our estimate was between 20% and 30% but postwar information revealed it to be much higher. The cave networks were designed from lessons learned in the Pacific war. General Marshall estimated a million Americans would perish. Omaha World Herald in their editorial stated, "These plans that called for the invasion of Japan paint a vivid description of what might have been the most horrible campaigns in the history of man." Prince Fumimaro Konoye said Japan would be a nation without cities. A whole nation and culture would vanish.
The Supreme Council of Japan felt that unconditional meant the elimination of the Emperor. The Emperor also felt that he would be eliminated. President Truman felt less than unconditional would result in future problems if the Japanese armed forces were not eliminated. They may rise again like the Germans. The bomb also saved Japan from being divided into north and south like Korea with Russian participation.
I was one of the first to occupy Japan. I saw caves and caves everywhere and other fortifications. Civilians began to appear two weeks later and I asked what are those caves for? They all said to hide in them and attack us at night. I asked with what? They showed me bamboo spears, bows and arrows, pitchforks, knives, samurai swords, sickles, etc., etc. There were 28 million civilians in a unit called the National Volunteer Combat Force. They were trained in guerilla warfare and attack at night. Women and children ages 15 to 50 were recruited. Everyone I interviewed told me that they will fight for the Emperor and not for the military. They consider him a descendent of God. The history of Japan would show this. This sentiment to save the Emperor was unanimous. Millions of Japanese would have died and that is not counting the suicides expected like in Okinawa. President Truman was concerned with history repeating itself. His decision was based on saving lives both Americans and Japanese and not based on racial prejudice. President Truman and his cabinet although not perfect were honorable men. It is incomprehensible that racial hatred was the basis for dropping the bomb. I was there, I saw and talked to the people. The bomb saved me and my fellow soldiers and millions of Japanese. Takaki is dead wrong including those that said the bomb should not have been dropped. These are people who were not involved and based their conclusions on assumptions and had not read Ketsugo nor saw the fortifications and talked to the people.
This review is concise because of limitation on number of words; otherwise, it would have filled five pages.
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The bombing of Hiroshima was one of the pivotal events of the twentieth century, yet this controversial question remains unresolved. At the time, General Dwight Eisenhower, General Douglas MacArthur, and chief of staff Admiral William Leahy all agreed that an atomic attack on Japanese cities was unnecessary. All of them believed that Japan had already been beaten and that the war would soon end. Was the bomb dropped to end the war more quickly? Or did it herald the start of the Cold War? In his probing new study, prizewinning historian Ronald Takaki explores these factors and more. He considers the cultural context of race - the ways in which stereotypes of the Japanese influenced public opinion and policymakers - and also probes the human dimension. Relying on top secret military reports, diaries, and personal letters, Takaki relates international policies to the individuals involved: Los Alamos director J. Robert Oppenheimer, Secretary of State James Byrnes, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, and others... but above all, Harry Truman.
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