If Need be...

Winky

Winky

Well-Known Member
There's always the nuclear option.

Slide92.JPG


The three
Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicles
Of a Minuteman III over the Pacific Test Range.
 
Now this thread has a direction.

Would it have been better to kill several hundred thousand (perhaps millions) more Japanese & allied soldiers with bullets & non-nuclear bombs over a period of months or years or end the war within 72 hours??
 
Like it would be better to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against NK than it would to have LA and SF vaporized?
 
Winky said:
Like it would be better to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against NK than it would to have LA and SF vaporized?
Click to expand...

If you'd've said anyplace else... ;)
 
Gonz said:
Now this thread has a direction.

Would it have been better to kill several hundred thousand (perhaps millions) more Japanese & allied soldiers with bullets & non-nuclear bombs over a period of months or years or end the war within 72 hours??
Click to expand...

You should've ended that statement with "... with only dead Japanese and no more dead Americans."

Ask the Japanese how they feel about Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Some might tell you that they would've prefered to end the war with Chicago and New York being atom-bombed instead.
Hiroshima
Instantly Killed:
70,000
Instantly Injured:
70,000
December 1945 total death toll:
140,000
1950 total death toll:
200,000

Nagasaki
Instantly Killed:
40,000
Instantly Injured:
60,000
January 1946 total death toll:
70,000
1950 total death toll:
140,000
Click to expand...
 
It matters not one iota what they wish. Action needed to be taken & was taken. The death tolls, while horrific, were far less by every account than continuing the war. Had it been 2 American cities would we have subjugated to the Japanese? Not likely.
 
Gonz said:
It matters not one iota what they wish. Action needed to be taken & was taken. The death tolls, while horrific, were far less by every account than continuing the war. Had it been 2 American cities would we have subjugated to the Japanese? Not likely.
Click to expand...

Probably not...but would Germany have gotten the same attention if it had been Japan who'd gotten the A-Bomb instead of the Americans? Would you have left France to its own demise instead of going for D-Day? Concentrate on Japan with conventional warfare and let Hitler have Europe?

It's pure conjecture at this point. America didn't get A-Bombed and the war w/ Japan ended fast enough for D-Day to be succesful.
 
You may or may not be slying around the racial issue but I can say that there is a perfectly logical explanation why the Japanese got them & not Germany. Germany is surrounded by allies. Japan is surrounded by water. We (the allies) bombed the living shit out of Germany, killing (presumedly) far more civilians than Fat Man & Litle Boy did. The Japanese were a more viscious enemy, the Germans more technologically advanced.

Knowing what I know today & given the same cicumstances as Truman, if I were da boss, I'd ok the bombing.
 
Gonz said:
You may or may not be slying around the racial issue but I can say that there is a perfectly logical explanation why the Japanese got them & not Germany. Germany is surrounded by allies. Japan is surrounded by water. We (the allies) bombed the living shit out of Germany, killing (presumedly) far more civilians than Fat Man & Litle Boy did. The Japanese were a more viscious enemy, the Germans more technologically advanced.

Knowing what I know today & given the same cicumstances as Truman, if I were da boss, I'd ok the bombing.
Click to expand...

Actually...race didn't play into it for me at all. Neither did geography. I was just wondering hwat would've happened in Europe if a) The American's hadn't had the bomb & b) The Japanese had proved to be a more tenacious target.

Would the war with Japan have taken more resources than it did, thus leaving Europe wide open for a more succesful sweep by the Nazis?
 
MrBishop said:
Actually...race didn't play into it for me at all. Neither did geography. I was just wondering hwat would've happened in Europe if a) The American's hadn't had the bomb & b) The Japanese had proved to be a more tenacious target.

Would the war with Japan have taken more resources than it did, thus leaving Europe wide open for a more succesful sweep by the Nazis?
Click to expand...

You are aware that Germany's unconditional surrender was on May 7, 1945, 3 full months before Hiroshima was A-bombed on August 6.

Even if the war with Japan would have taken more resources, Europe was already a done deal.

The war had gone on long enough, and too many had already died, why prolong the war when a quick and final end was in sight?
 
habanero said:
You are aware that Germany's unconditional surrender was on May 7, 1945, 3 full months before Hiroshima was A-bombed on August 6.

Even if the war with Japan would have taken more resources, Europe was already a done deal.

The war had gone on long enough, and too many had already died, why prolong the war when a quick and final end was in sight?
Click to expand...

Yes...but I was playing a theoretical game with history. Lets say... in June 1943, Japan attacked mainland America, with an atomic duo of bombs in Washington state and somewhere in California, then followed up with an attempted landing of troops in Oregon or Northern California...?


BTW - Welcome back Habanero! Long time no see!
 
habenero good to see you.

NO I DID NOT RECRUIT HIS RETURN! :p

Had Japan attacked the US in June 1943 with A-bombs of course they'd have been a higher priority. Same if they had A-bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec 7. Germeny still would have fallen because we were fighting a two-front war.
 
Gonz said:
Had Japan attacked the US in June 1943 with A-bombs of course they'd have been a higher priority. Same if they had A-bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec 7. Germeny still would have fallen because we were fighting a two-front war.
Click to expand...
Yeah, what he said.

And, hypothetically, we could have expanded our march thru Europe and made a detour to the Middle East and kicked Iraq and Iran's ass, installed a puppet government and regulated oil prices for the past 60 years.

Hypothetically, of course.
:D
 
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