The Squamata Report: Greetings to the Emperor from the men of the Indianapolis

Saturday, August 06, 2005

Greetings to the Emperor from the men of the Indianapolis

"I realize the tragic significance of the atomic bomb...having found the bomb, we have used it. We have used it against those who attacked us without warning at Pearl Harbor, against those who have starved and beaten and executed American prisoners of war, against those who have abandoned all pretense of obeying international laws of warfare. We have used it in order to shorten the agony of young Americans. We shall continue to use it until we completely destroy Japan's power to make war. Only a Japanese surrender will stop us." - President Truman

The satin night sky above the Marina Island of Tinian, at 2:45 the morning of August six, nineteen and forty five, concealed a secret known only to a few men. It was a secret that would change the course of the second world war.
As dawn broke the gray B-29 bomber nicknamed the 'Enola Gay',(after the American pilot's mother) sliced through the air above the quiet city of Hiroshima, Japan.

Within the Enola Gay's belly lay the representation of America's strength and superiority. A ten foot long eight thousand pound giant named 'Little Boy' packed the power of twelve thousand tons of dynamite. The sailors of the SS Indianapolis gave the world's first Atomic bomb it's nickname in reference to their Commander in Chief, Harry S. Truman. Later they would name the bomb destined for Nagasaki, 'Fat Man' to honor Sir. Winston Churchill.

At precisely 8:16 AM the bomb doors opened and a parachuted Atom Bomb descended towards the Japanese city. Just before impact (1,885 feet above ground) the bomb exploded sending out a fire ball and heat waves for three quarters of a mile. Little boy killed more than a quarter of a million Japanese and destroyed 76,000 buildings as far as 5 miles from the hypocenter.

This all took place 60 years ago today. It is the position of the Leftist anti-war crowd that this was an un-called for murder of innocent people. They would say that there was 'NO' need for such an evil act perpetrated by America. Later today the mainstream media will try to convince you that we caused the Cold War when we bombed Hiroshima and then Nagasaki two days later. It is their contention that the outcome of America's retaliation was nothing but negative. Their terror techniques will draw your attention to pictures of Japanese desolation and misery, playing on your emotions. Guard your heart, do not be swayed.

We must remember that it was Emperor Hirohito's insatiable appetite for power and oppression that forced America's hand. Japan had invaded China and other Asian nations, mercilessly slaughtering millions of innocent civilians in a quest to rule all of Asia. In 1937 the Japanese army murdered 350,000+ Chinese men, women and children in what became known as the Rape of Nanking. We saw the Bataan Death march, The Sandakan Death march, the murdered American pilots at Midway, the slaughter of Australian medical staff and patients after the fall of Hong Kong, and the mass slaughter of American war wounded in the Aleutians.

Yet, in response, America only levied embargoes on raw materials to Japan in hopes to force them to cease their blood mission. Hirohito became infuriated at America and launched secret attacks on Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, Wake Island, Guam, Malaya, Thailand, Shanghai and Midway. It was then, and only then, that we went to war with Japan. We did not, however, rush to use the ultimate weapon against them. You see, it was our objective to attack their industrial facilities to hobble their military. However, this was NO Germany. Japanese cities integrated their industrial ' war machine' buildings amongst the civilian population in hopes to dissuade the emotionally sensitive westerners from using weapons of mass destruction.

At that time the B-29's could not use precision bombing techniques that are common today. The allied forces had tried conventional bombings of Tokyo and four other major cities but it did not shake the resolve of Japan's Emperor. America knew that ground assaults could return American casualties of more than one million. We had taken control of Iwo Jima and the Ryukyu Island of Okinawa, but suffered mass casualties. Should Truman have traded more American and Allied soldiers to stop this mad man? Or should he have backed down and allowed all of Eastern Europe and Asia to come under the control of the megalomaniacal Japanese rule?

The perceived American invasion encouraged the Suzuki government to implement a war policy called Ketsugo. The plan called for all people to be psychologically prepared to sacrifice their own lives to retain Japanese control of the islands. The implementation of such a policy saw very young school children learn how to fashion weapons from bamboo and if necessary, how to kill large groups of allied forces by committing suicide. Ketsugo trained civilians to use guided HUMAN torpedoes and suicide boats packed with explosives. If this wasn't enough, the Allied forces would have to contend with skilled ground suicide units carrying explosives, and citizens trained in guerilla tactics.
When we saw the Kamikaze suicide attacks in Okinawa sink 34 warships and kill 4,900 Allied Sailors, Truman knew we could not afford to fight a conventional war. It was not possible for us to bring Hirohito to his knees without the two Atomic bombs.

The left says that it was not worth the loss of these Japanese civilians. What do you think? Was the sacrifice of 250,000+ innocent lives worth preventing an eventual death toll of multiple millions of Asian, American, and Australian lives? I think it was. I think the bombings were not only justified, but necessary.

I ask you to take a little time today to reflect on the bombing of Japan, and what it means to Global life today. Please, take a young boy or girl aside and teach him that what we did on Aug.6, 1945 (and V-J Day) very well could have determined wither or not they were even born! Let them know that the revised version of history that they are taught in their Social Studies class in High School and College does not take into consideration the fact that although innocence were indeed lost, the future of the world was secured on this day sixty years ago!

6 Comments:

Patty-Jo said...: Frequently the right decision is not the easy decision. Wonderful post. I'll be sharing it with my fourteen year old.; 8/06/2005
Unknown said...: It's so good to have you stop by Patti-Jo. Thank you for the kind words. MM, WOW, what an amazing 1st hand account. You are exactly right, it is nessisary at times to kill to defend that that comes under attack by God's enemies. You ladies are special friends and I hope you had a wonderful weekend.; 8/07/2005
Alnot said...: Leftists simply cannot hide from the facts. The bombs saved many American and providentially Japanese lives.; 8/14/2005
Unknown said...: You are right Alnot. What the left fails to openly admit is that they place a higher value on the lives of those who oppose America and it's Allies than they do the latter. How long until America realizes that Liberalism is as dangerous to Democracy as Communism and Socialism, and Radical Islam! I long for the day when we consider Liberalism our official enemy. Thanks for stopping by bro. Sorry about the Peter Jennings thing, I was feeling generous in the wake of his passing. The time for reverent respect has passed so I removed the post.; 8/14/2005
Anonymous said...: Dont just pat the us on the back human lives were lost "NO GOD told the US to Bomb Japan"
The bombing of Hirshima

Hiroshima, in the aftermath of the bombing.Hiroshima was the primary target of the first U.S. nuclear attack mission, on August 6, 1945. The B-29 Enola Gay, piloted and commanded by Colonel Paul Tibbets, was launched from Tinian airbase in the West Pacific, approximately 6 hours flight time away from Japan. The drop date of the 6th was chosen because there had been cloud formation over the target previously. But at the time of launch, the weather was good, and the crew and equipment functioned properly. Navy Captain William Parsons armed the bomb during the flight, since it had been left unarmed to minimize the risks during takeoff. In every detail, the attack was carried out exactly as planned, and the bomb, with a 60 kg (130 pounds) core of uranium-235, performed precisely as expected.

About an hour before the bombing, the Japanese early warning radar net detected the approach of some American aircraft headed for the southern part of Japan. The alert had been given and radio broadcasting stopped in many cities, among them Hiroshima. The planes approached the coast at a very high altitude. At nearly 08:00, the radar operator in Hiroshima determined that the number of planes coming in was very small—probably not more than three—and the air raid alert was lifted. The three planes present were the Enola Gay (named after Colonel Tibbets' mother), The Great Artiste (a recording and surveying craft), and the Necessary Evil (the photographing plane). The normal radio broadcast warning was given to the people that it might be advisable to go to shelter if B-29s were actually sighted, but no raid was expected beyond some sort of reconnaissance. At 08:15, the Enola Gay dropped the nuclear bomb called "Little Boy" over the center of Hiroshima. It exploded about 600 meters (2,000 feet) above the city with a blast equivalent to 13 kilotons of TNT, killing an estimated 80,000 civilians.

Hiroshima during World War II
At the time of its bombing, Hiroshima was a city of industrial significance. Some military camps were located nearby such as the headquarters of the Fifth Division and Field Marshal Hata's 2nd General Army Headquarters, which commanded the defense of all of southern Japan. Hiroshima was a major supply and logistics base for the Japanese military. The city was a communications center, a storage point, and an assembly area for troops. It was chosen as a target because it had not suffered damage from previous bombing raids, allowing an ideal environment to measure the damage caused by the atomic bomb. The city was mobilized for "all-out" war, with thousands of conscripted women, children and Koreans working in military offices, military factories and building demolition and with women and children training to resist any invading force.The center of the city contained a number of reinforced concrete buildings as well as lighter structures. Outside the center, the area was congested by a dense collection of small wooden workshops set among Japanese houses; a few larger industrial plants lay near the outskirts of the city. The houses were of wooden construction with tile roofs. Many of the industrial buildings also were of wood frame construction. The city as a whole was highly susceptible to fire damage.

The population of Hiroshima had reached a peak of over 380,000 earlier in the war but prior to the atomic bombing the population had steadily decreased because of a systematic evacuation ordered by the Japanese government. At the time of the attack the population was approximately 255,000. This figure is based on the registered population, used by the Japanese in computing ration quantities, and the estimates of additional workers and troops who were brought into the city may not be highly accurate.

Japanese realization of the bombing

The Tokyo control operator of the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation noticed that the Hiroshima station had gone off the air. He tried to re-establish his program by using another telephone line, but it too had failed. About twenty minutes later the Tokyo railroad telegraph center realized that the main line telegraph had stopped working just north of Hiroshima. From some small railway stops within ten miles (16 km) of the city came unofficial and confused reports of a terrible explosion in Hiroshima. All these reports were transmitted to the Headquarters of the Japanese General Staff.

Military headquarters repeatedly tried to call the Army Control Station in Hiroshima. The complete silence from that city puzzled the men at Headquarters; they knew that no large enemy raid could have occurred, and they knew that no sizeable store of explosives was in Hiroshima at that time. A young officer of the Japanese General Staff was instructed to fly immediately to Hiroshima, to land, survey the damage, and return to Tokyo with reliable information for the staff. It was generally felt at Headquarters that nothing serious had taken place, that it was all a terrible rumor starting from a few sparks of truth.

The staff officer went to the airport and took off for the southwest. After flying for about three hours, while still nearly 100 miles (160 km) from Hiroshima, he and his pilot saw a great cloud of smoke from the bomb. In the bright afternoon, the remains of Hiroshima were burning.

Their plane soon reached the city, around which they circled in disbelief. A great scar on the land still burning, and covered by a heavy cloud of smoke, was all that was left. They landed south of the city, and the staff officer, after reporting to Tokyo, immediately began to organize relief measures.

Tokyo's first knowledge of what had really caused the disaster came from the White House public announcement in Washington, sixteen hours after the nuclear attack on Hiroshima [7].

Radiation poisoning and/or necrosis caused illness and death after the bombing in about 1% of those who survived the initial explosion. By the end of 1945, it is estimated that 60,000 more people died due to radiation poisoning, bringing the total killed in Hiroshima in 1945 to 140,000. Since then several thousand more people have died of radiation-related causes.[8]

According to the city of Hiroshima, as of August 6, 2004, the cumulative death toll of atomic-bomb victims was 237,062, [9] but it remains uncertain how many of them exactly died of the effects of the bombing. There are about 270,000 hibakusha, "bomb affected people," still living in Japan.

Survival of some structures
Some of the reinforced concrete buildings in Hiroshima were very strongly constructed because of the earthquake danger in Japan, and their framework did not collapse even though they were fairly close to the center of damage in the city. As the bomb detonated in the air, the blast was more downward than sideways, which was largely responsible for the survival of the Prefectural Industrial Promotional Hall, designed and built by the Czech architect Jan Letzel, which was only a few meters from ground zero.

Nagasaki during World War II

The city of Nagasaki had been one of the largest sea ports in southern Japan and was of great wartime importance because of its wide-ranging industrial activity, including the production of ordnance, ships, military equipment, and other war materials.

In contrast to many modern aspects of Nagasaki, the residences almost without exception were of old-fashioned Japanese construction, consisting of wood or wood-frame buildings, with wood walls (with or without plaster), and tile roofs. Many of the smaller industries and business establishments were also housed in buildings of wood or other materials not designed to withstand explosions. Nagasaki had been permitted to grow for many years without conforming to any definite city zoning plan; residences were erected adjacent to factory buildings and to each other almost as closely as possible throughout the entire industrial valley.

Nagasaki had never been subjected to large-scale bombing prior to the explosion of a nuclear weapon there. On August 1, 1945, however, a number of high-explosive bombs were dropped on the city. A few of these bombs hit in the shipyards and dock areas in the southwest portion of the city. Several of the bombs hit the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works and six bombs landed at the Nagasaki Medical School and Hospital, with three direct hits on buildings there. While the damage from these few bombs were relatively small, it created considerable concern in Nagasaki and a number of people—principally school children—were evacuated to rural areas for safety, thus reducing the population in the city at the time of the nuclear attack

The Manhattan Project had originally been conceived as a counter to Nazi Germany's atomic bomb program, and with the defeat of Germany, several scientists working on the project felt that the United States should not be the first to use such weapons. One of the prominent critics of the bombings was Albert Einstein. Leo Szilard, a scientist who played a major role in the development of the atomic bomb, argued: "If the Germans had dropped atomic bombs on cities instead of us, we would have defined the dropping of atomic bombs on cities as a war crime, and we would have sentenced the Germans who were guilty of this crime to death at Nuremberg and hanged them."

Their use has been called barbaric as several hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed, and the target areas were known to be heavily populated by civilians. In the days just before their use, many scientists (including American nuclear physicist Edward Teller) argued that the destructive power of the bomb could have been demonstrated without the taking of lives.

It has been argued that the use of atomic weapons against civilian populations on a large scale is a crime against humanity and a war crime. The use of poisonous weapons (due to the effects of the radiation) were defined as war crimes by international law of the time. Some have argued that Americans should have done more research into the effects of the bomb, including radiation sickness and the terrible burns that followed the explosion.

Some have claimed that the Japanese were already essentially defeated, and therefore use of the bombs was unnecessary. General Dwight D. Eisenhower so advised the Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson, in July of 1945. The highest-ranking officer in the Pacific Theater, General Douglas MacArthur, was not consulted beforehand, but said afterward that he felt that there was no military justification for the bombings. The same opinion was expressed by Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy (the Chief of Staff to the President), General Carl Spaatz (commander of the U.S. Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific), and Brigadier General Carter Clarke (the military intelligence officer who prepared intercepted Japanese cables for U.S. officials) ; Major General Curtis LeMay ; and Admiral Ernest King, U.S. Chief of Naval Operations, and Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet .

Eisenhower wrote in his memoir The White House Years:
"In 1945 Secretary of War Stimson, visiting my headquarters in Germany, informed me that our government was preparing to drop an atomic bomb on Japan. I was one of those who felt that there were a number of cogent reasons to question the wisdom of such an act. During his recitation of the relevant facts, I had been conscious of a feeling of depression and so I voiced to him my grave misgivings, first on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary, and secondly because I thought that our country should avoid shocking world opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives. (pg. 312-313)"
The United States Strategic Bombing Survey, after interviewing hundreds of Japanese civilian and military leaders after Japan surrendered, reported:

"Based on a detailed investigation of all the facts, and supported by the testimony of the surviving Japanese leaders involved, it is the Survey's opinion that certainly prior to 31 December 1945, and in all probability prior to 1 November 1945, Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the war, and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated."
However, it should be noted that the survey assumed that continued conventional attacks on Japan—with additional direct and indirect casualties—would be needed to force surrender by the November or December dates mentioned.

Others contend that Japan had been trying to surrender for at least two months, but the U.S. refused by insisting on an unconditional surrender. In fact, while several diplomats favored surrender, the leaders of the Japanese military were committed to fighting a "decisive battle" on Kyushu, hoping that they could negotiate better terms for an armistice afterward—all of which the Americans knew from reading decrypted Japanese communications. The Japanese government never did decide what terms, beyond preservation of an imperial system, they would have accepted to end the war; as late as August 9, the Supreme Council was still split, with the hardliners insisting Japan should demobilize its own forces, no war crimes trials, and no occupation. Only the direct intervention of the Emperor ended the dispute, and even after that a military coup was attempted to prevent the surrender (although it was easily suppressed).

Another criticism is that the U.S. should have waited a short time to gauge the effect of the Soviet Union's entry into the war. The U.S. knew, as Japan did not, that the Soviet Union would declare war on Japan three months after V-E Day, on August 8, 1945. The loss of any possibility that the Soviet Union would serve as a neutral mediator for a negotiated peace, coupled with the entry into combat of the Red Army (the largest active army in the world), might have been enough to convince the Japanese military of the need to accept the terms of the Potsdam Declaration (plus some provision for the emperor). Because no U.S. invasion was imminent, it is argued that the U.S. had nothing to lose by waiting several days to see whether the war could be ended without use of the atom bomb. As it happened, Japan's decision to surrender was made before the scale of the Soviet attack on Manchuria, Sakhalin Island, and the Kuril Islands was known, but had the war continued, the Soviets would have been able to invade Hokkaido well before the Allied invasion of Kyushu. Other Japanese sources have stated that the atomic bombings themselves were not the principal reason for capitulation. Instead, they contend, it was the swift and devastating Soviet victories on the mainland in the week following Stalin's August 8 declaration of war that forced the Japanese message of surrender on August 15, 1945.

Sadako Sasaki, a young victim of the bombing, became a well-known symbol of nuclear war and is now commemorated by a statue in Hiroshima, carrying a paper crane (a symbol of peace).Many critics believe that the U.S. had ulterior motives in dropping the bombs, including justifying the $2 billion investment in the Manhattan Project, testing the effects of nuclear weapons, exacting revenge for the attacks on Pearl Harbor, and demonstrating U.S. capabilities to the Soviet Union. Scientists who had worked on the project later noted that they were pressured to finish the bomb by a set schedule, one which was timed to coincide with the Russian entrance into the Pacific theater, and one which additionally implied that the war would be potentially over very soon.

Some believe that more effort to reduce casualties should have been made. Further, some claim this could have been done without affecting the stated purposes of the bombing. "No evidence has ever been uncovered that leaflets warning of atomic attack were dropped on Hiroshima. Indeed, the decision of the Interim Committee was 'that we could not give the Japanese any warning.'" However, after the Hiroshima bombing, President Truman announced, "If they do not now accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air the likes of which has never been seen on this earth." On August 8, 1945, leaflets were dropped and warnings were given to Japan by Radio Saipan. (The area of Nagasaki did not receive warning leaflets until August 10, though the leaflet campaign covering the whole country was over a month into its operations. An English translation of that leaflet is available at PBS

The decision to bomb Nagasaki only a few days after Hiroshima raises separate issues. Some people hold that most of the arguments for the use of the atomic bomb do not justify dropping the second one on Nagasaki. In his semi-autobiographical novel Timequake, Kurt Vonnegut said that while the Hiroshima bomb may have saved the lives of his friends in the U.S. armed forces, Nagasaki still proved that the United States was capable of senseless cruelty.

Leaflets
TO THE JAPANESE PEOPLE:
America asks that you take immediate heed of what we say on this leaflet.
We are in possession of the most destructive explosive ever devised by man. A single one of our newly developed atomic bombs is actually the equivalent in explosive power to what 2000 of our giant B-29s can carry on a single mission. This awful fact is one for you to ponder and we solemnly assure you it is grimly accurate.
We have just begun to use this weapon against your homeland. If you still have any doubt, make inquiry as to what happened to Hiroshima when just one atomic bomb fell on that city.
Before using this bomb to destroy every resource of the military by which they are prolonging this useless war, we ask that you now petition the Emperor to end the war. Our president has outlined for you the thirteen consequences of an honorable surrender. We urge that you accept these consequences and begin the work of building a new, better and peace-loving Japan.
You should take steps now to cease military resistance. Otherwise, we shall resolutely employ this bomb and all our other superior weapons to promptly and forcefully end the war.
The bombing
On the morning of August 9, 1945, the crew of the American B-29 Superfortress Bockscar, flown by Major Charles W. Sweeney and carrying the nuclear bomb nicknamed "Fat Man," found their primary target, Kokura, to be obscured by clouds. After three runs over the city and having fuel running low due to a fuel-transfer problem, they headed for their secondary target, Nagasaki. At about 07:50 Japanese time, an air raid alert was sounded in Nagasaki, but the "all clear" signal was given at 08:30. When only two B-29 Superfortresses were sighted at 10:53 the Japanese apparently assumed that the planes were only on reconnaissance and no further alarm was given.

A few minutes later, at 11:00, the observation B-29 (The Great Artiste flown by Capt. Frederick C. Bock) dropped instruments attached to three parachutes. These instruments also contained messages to Prof. Ryukichi Sagane, a nuclear physicist who studied with three of the scientists responsible for the atomic bomb at the University of California, urging him to tell the public about the danger involved with these weapons of mass destruction. The letter was not found until after the end of World War II.

At 11:02, a last minute break in the clouds over Nagasaki allowed Bockscar's bombardier, Capt. Kermit Beahan, to visually sight the target as ordered. The weapon, containing a core of 8 kg of plutonium-239, was dropped over the city's industrial valley. It exploded 469 meters (1,540 feet) above the ground almost midway between the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works, in the south, and the Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordnance Works (Torpedo Works), in the north, the two principal targets of the city. According to most estimates, some 75,000 of Nagasaki's 240,000 residents were killed, followed by the death of at least as many from resulting sickness and injury. However, another report issues a different residential number, speaking of Nagasaki's population which dropped in one split-second from 422,000 to 383,000, thus 39,000 were killed, over 25,000 were injured. Including those who died from radioactive materials causing cancer, the total number of residents killed is believed to be at least 100,000.; 9/20/2005
Unknown said...: Mr. or Mrs. Hachiya (as if that were your Reeeeal name)I normally don't keep excessively long comments, especially when you copy and paste long paragraphs of other's work to make your point. I am going to leave this one because I like having some of the facts that I omitted due to brevity requirements. However, I warn you, if you don't write in 75% of your own words, I will delete the comment.
Thanks for the opinion. Even if it was nearly lost in the long ramblings. I never thought that the bombing of Japan was ordered by God. (it was however, ordered by a Liberal/Democrat) I wish there were a peaceful solution to the war in Japan and against Germany. Since there was not, the bombing was all that was left. It was time that all of the slaughter of our men come to a close. It was also time that the innocent people of Japan, Germany, Russia, France, England, Australia, Spain, and others stop being killed for the sins of a few evil men. WWII would still be killing the men of Earth to this day had it not been for the determination of good men and the use of a superior weapon. God bless the souls of the innocent men and women who fought on both sides. The Japanese people as a culture, are better now to be rid of their evil rulers. I too am sad for their loses. I hope it never has to come to that again. Hopefully, evil will just lie down and die. Since I do not see that happening, I am sad to know it is just a matter of time until the next more powerful/deadly attack comes.; 9/20/2005