The tragedy is that we needed the Russians to defeat the Germans it was one of those “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” kind of things, the bastards never were our allies, as has been obvious ever since. They should have listened to Patton and allowed him to push the Russians back into Russia, he got it and so do I, I have Russian iron…
The tragedy is that we needed the Russians to defeat the Germans it was one of those “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” kind of things, the bastards never were our allies, as has been obvious ever since. They should have listened to Patton and allowed him to push the Russians back into Russia, he got it and so do I, I have Russian iron in my leg and a broken back to go with it, I have had it for over 50 years. I am very clear about Russia, as a social order they have been unspeakably evil and have been so for over a century. Putin is just the latest manifestation of how inhumane they continue to be. Monday should be interesting, the bastard is loosing and he knows it, as do more and more Russians.
Someone told me the reason the US was forcing the war on Japan in the end, was that Stalin was ready to revenge Russia for the defeat in the Russian - Japanese war, and take over Japan. Don't know if there is, or would have been, any truth to that; but in case, the US did it right in the East anyway.
The Soviet entry into the Pacific War was another of the promises Stalin made during the war that he kept - he had promised at Yalta that the USSR would engage in Manchuria 90 days after the end of the war in Europe - which was August 9. Japan did not surrender due to the A-bombs. On August 9, the day the Nagasaki bomb was dropped, there was no mention of that fact in the records of the Supreme War Council. They spent the entire day talking about the Soviet invasion of Manchuria that happened that day. The Soviets went 130 miles the first day, because the vaunted "Kwantung Army" was a shell of itself, with all the best units having been transferred to Kyushu for deployment to meet the expected American invasion. Outside of Kyushu, there were no defenses anywhere in the rest of Japan, most notably in the north. The Soviets planned to have Sakhalin Isand retaken by the end of August and the invasion of Hokkaido was planned for mid-September, with the invasion of northern Honshu by the first week in October. By the time the Americans would have invaded Kyushu in November, the Soviets would probably have controlled all of Honshu.
I have spoken to Marines who were to have invaded Kyushu. In early September, after the surrender, the officers of the Sixth Marine Division - commander down to platoon leaders - visited the beach they were to have landed on, and spoke to the Japanese Army leaders who were still there, and looked at the defenses. It was their considered opinion that they would never have gotten off the beach.
The Japanese surrendered to us because they knew what the Russians had done in Germany following the surrender. They have used the A-bombs to cast themselves as victims ever since. The "official" Japanese history of the Pacific War is they went to war to liberate Asia from the white man, that they won every battle but were forced to make "strategic retreats," and then - A-bombs! This is a country whose government still refuses to apologize for the Rape of Nanking and the Korean Comfort Women. And whose national war memorial at Yasukuni Shrine contains the ashes of convicted and executed war criminals, which were brought in covertly - and which is has been secretly visited by every Japanese prime minister. The "Liberal Democratic Party" was founded by the leadership of the war (the prime minister before the current one was the son of one of the planners of the Pacific War) - it was as if the Nazis were allowed to re-enter the government after 1945. All done by the Great Reformer, General MacArthur, because "the alternative is the socialists and communists."
but Tom, isn't it the case that, in fact, plenty of Nazis did in fact enter the postwar German government? it obviously wasn't public knowledge and wasn't talked about for a long time, but they were there. or at least that's my understanding. of course, this is aside from the fact that thousands of Nazi war criminals were allowed HERE via Operation Paper Clip, along with other varieties of onerous postwar phenomena (McCarthy, etc.).
But not as a matter of government policy, and when they were discovered, they were dealt with. Not so with Japan. The Nazis didn't stay in the government at the same level they had been when they were running things.
The tragedy is that we needed the Russians to defeat the Germans it was one of those “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” kind of things, the bastards never were our allies, as has been obvious ever since. They should have listened to Patton and allowed him to push the Russians back into Russia, he got it and so do I, I have Russian iron in my leg and a broken back to go with it, I have had it for over 50 years. I am very clear about Russia, as a social order they have been unspeakably evil and have been so for over a century. Putin is just the latest manifestation of how inhumane they continue to be. Monday should be interesting, the bastard is loosing and he knows it, as do more and more Russians.
Someone told me the reason the US was forcing the war on Japan in the end, was that Stalin was ready to revenge Russia for the defeat in the Russian - Japanese war, and take over Japan. Don't know if there is, or would have been, any truth to that; but in case, the US did it right in the East anyway.
The Soviet entry into the Pacific War was another of the promises Stalin made during the war that he kept - he had promised at Yalta that the USSR would engage in Manchuria 90 days after the end of the war in Europe - which was August 9. Japan did not surrender due to the A-bombs. On August 9, the day the Nagasaki bomb was dropped, there was no mention of that fact in the records of the Supreme War Council. They spent the entire day talking about the Soviet invasion of Manchuria that happened that day. The Soviets went 130 miles the first day, because the vaunted "Kwantung Army" was a shell of itself, with all the best units having been transferred to Kyushu for deployment to meet the expected American invasion. Outside of Kyushu, there were no defenses anywhere in the rest of Japan, most notably in the north. The Soviets planned to have Sakhalin Isand retaken by the end of August and the invasion of Hokkaido was planned for mid-September, with the invasion of northern Honshu by the first week in October. By the time the Americans would have invaded Kyushu in November, the Soviets would probably have controlled all of Honshu.
I have spoken to Marines who were to have invaded Kyushu. In early September, after the surrender, the officers of the Sixth Marine Division - commander down to platoon leaders - visited the beach they were to have landed on, and spoke to the Japanese Army leaders who were still there, and looked at the defenses. It was their considered opinion that they would never have gotten off the beach.
The Japanese surrendered to us because they knew what the Russians had done in Germany following the surrender. They have used the A-bombs to cast themselves as victims ever since. The "official" Japanese history of the Pacific War is they went to war to liberate Asia from the white man, that they won every battle but were forced to make "strategic retreats," and then - A-bombs! This is a country whose government still refuses to apologize for the Rape of Nanking and the Korean Comfort Women. And whose national war memorial at Yasukuni Shrine contains the ashes of convicted and executed war criminals, which were brought in covertly - and which is has been secretly visited by every Japanese prime minister. The "Liberal Democratic Party" was founded by the leadership of the war (the prime minister before the current one was the son of one of the planners of the Pacific War) - it was as if the Nazis were allowed to re-enter the government after 1945. All done by the Great Reformer, General MacArthur, because "the alternative is the socialists and communists."
but Tom, isn't it the case that, in fact, plenty of Nazis did in fact enter the postwar German government? it obviously wasn't public knowledge and wasn't talked about for a long time, but they were there. or at least that's my understanding. of course, this is aside from the fact that thousands of Nazi war criminals were allowed HERE via Operation Paper Clip, along with other varieties of onerous postwar phenomena (McCarthy, etc.).
But not as a matter of government policy, and when they were discovered, they were dealt with. Not so with Japan. The Nazis didn't stay in the government at the same level they had been when they were running things.
right.