I'm not sure why you expect it to be so controversial, though - considering that I can't think of any Japanese site members.
The argument about the atomic bombs shortening the war and ultimately saving lives has been made often - it has a certain plausibility, I can't claim to know enough about the details of that part of the war to have a strong opinion about it either way. Or wasn't that the controversial point you meant? The part about the Yamato was, well, I can't really say their conclusion is that shocking or surprising... the Japanese military leadership has done a number of things American military leadership would never do during that war, I dare say.
The argument about the atomic bombs shortening the war and ultimately saving lives has been made often - it has a certain plausibility, I can't claim to know enough about the details of that part of the war to have a strong opinion about it either way. Or wasn't that the controversial point you meant? The part about the Yamato was, well, I can't really say their conclusion is that shocking or surprising... the Japanese military leadership has done a number of things American military leadership would never do during that war, I dare say.
Mostly exactly that - that a soldier on the other side could have felt, even at the time, that blasting cities with atom bombs was actually needed.
Usually any kind of claim to that effect gets pooh-poohed as a hindsight excuse or an unjustifiable claim.
Here is someone on the other side of the fence, someone very nearby, someone who lost thousands of comrades and undoubtedly some friends to US action saying, "It had to be done." That's what I found interesting. In all the years of reading about that topic, I'd never heard such an opinion expressed by a person with that kind of context.
And yes, fascinating.
May God stand between you and harm in all the empty places you must walk.
Old Egyptian Blessing
Old Egyptian Blessing
This will be controversial in the extreme, I expect -
- 04/03/2010 09:01:16 PM
381 Views
Fascinating is the word.
- 04/03/2010 09:09:21 PM
190 Views
I liked it.
- 04/03/2010 09:19:16 PM
164 Views
Re: Fascinating is the word.
- 04/03/2010 09:53:26 PM
176 Views
An interesting tidbit
- 04/03/2010 10:02:32 PM
175 Views
Makes sense; I've always heard invasion casualty estimates were 3 million dead.
- 04/03/2010 10:40:11 PM
171 Views
That estimate sounds like what they told us. Not 100% on it though. *NM*
- 04/03/2010 10:54:35 PM
55 Views
Look at the casulities just from Okinawa and you can get an idea of what would have happened
- 04/03/2010 11:43:00 PM
175 Views
Agreed.
- 05/03/2010 01:14:13 AM
165 Views
I'm not sure why it should be controversial. It was a great insight and one man's opinion.
- 04/03/2010 09:26:19 PM
196 Views