Wes, fascinating and excellent (as usual). Here’s a bit more: Max Hastings’ superb Retribution recounts that even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it was touch-and-go whether Japan would unconditionally surrender. They dithered for a week (I’d thought it was only 48 hours) because no one could bear to accept responsibility for that decision, and fanatical junior officers tried to mount a coup and capture the emperor. Only Hirohito’s firmly worded message quieted the dissent; the defense minister committed seppuku (ritual disembowellment) and many others killed themselves in shame - such was the fanaticism of the bushido cult. The bombs killed about 130,000 Japanese civilians. Millions would have died in an invasion, along with over a million Japanese soldiers and half a million Allied soldiers. However appalling, dropping the bombs was a mercy.
I found the background information for the postulations of losses, extremity and logistics to be something seldom spoken of or revealed. Knowing I was going to learn some detailed qualified history about a subject hardly anybody is familiar with made my decision very easy to watch the entirety of the presentation. A quality dissertation on the aspects of a barely known contingency operation, the decisions on which video footage would be the background must have been a painful one. This work should not be judged on any criterion other than the facts presented as actual historical specifics, within reason. There are things that are buried so deep that only those present would ever know of them at all. I am the son of a decorated WW II combat engineer and my father would never speak on it at all. My mother was the one who explained the circumstances of his scars to me. I have always had a fascination for this type of information and I guess that's why. I believe you did correctly by staying away from the carnage and destruction endemic to the subject. As a thesis for and advanced understanding of Operation Downfall, my hat's off to you Wes. Scholarly, but not so much as to burden the audience with minutia, you pulled off a grounded and clear exposition of a complicated situation. I look forward to your further work in the future. Always entertaining and seriously factual, that's a combination that can't be beat Wes. Thanks for the work you put in for this, and you are due congratulations on a job well done.
I have a hard time understanding those who condemn the use of nuclear weapons on Japan. Much of what you showed in your video should be much more commonly known. Yes, the dead and wounded toll was terrible. The casualty rate for both sides, as you pointed out, would have been an order of magnitude higher if Olympic had gone ahead. I reluctantly agree with Will that the horrendous result of using nuclear weapons would have been dwarfed by the indescribable carnage of the invasion.
Wes, fascinating and excellent (as usual). Here’s a bit more: Max Hastings’ superb Retribution recounts that even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it was touch-and-go whether Japan would unconditionally surrender. They dithered for a week (I’d thought it was only 48 hours) because no one could bear to accept responsibility for that decision, and fanatical junior officers tried to mount a coup and capture the emperor. Only Hirohito’s firmly worded message quieted the dissent; the defense minister committed seppuku (ritual disembowellment) and many others killed themselves in shame - such was the fanaticism of the bushido cult. The bombs killed about 130,000 Japanese civilians. Millions would have died in an invasion, along with over a million Japanese soldiers and half a million Allied soldiers. However appalling, dropping the bombs was a mercy.
I didn’t know that level of detail. I was aware there was some delay after Nagasaki, but this is fascinating.
I found the background information for the postulations of losses, extremity and logistics to be something seldom spoken of or revealed. Knowing I was going to learn some detailed qualified history about a subject hardly anybody is familiar with made my decision very easy to watch the entirety of the presentation. A quality dissertation on the aspects of a barely known contingency operation, the decisions on which video footage would be the background must have been a painful one. This work should not be judged on any criterion other than the facts presented as actual historical specifics, within reason. There are things that are buried so deep that only those present would ever know of them at all. I am the son of a decorated WW II combat engineer and my father would never speak on it at all. My mother was the one who explained the circumstances of his scars to me. I have always had a fascination for this type of information and I guess that's why. I believe you did correctly by staying away from the carnage and destruction endemic to the subject. As a thesis for and advanced understanding of Operation Downfall, my hat's off to you Wes. Scholarly, but not so much as to burden the audience with minutia, you pulled off a grounded and clear exposition of a complicated situation. I look forward to your further work in the future. Always entertaining and seriously factual, that's a combination that can't be beat Wes. Thanks for the work you put in for this, and you are due congratulations on a job well done.
Thank you for the kind words. Notes like this are fuel that keeps me going.
I have a hard time understanding those who condemn the use of nuclear weapons on Japan. Much of what you showed in your video should be much more commonly known. Yes, the dead and wounded toll was terrible. The casualty rate for both sides, as you pointed out, would have been an order of magnitude higher if Olympic had gone ahead. I reluctantly agree with Will that the horrendous result of using nuclear weapons would have been dwarfed by the indescribable carnage of the invasion.