65 Years On

[Jav_NE]

Practically all of my chinese students have no idea about the Tiananmen Square masacre, its disgusting how little they know about their own country.

 

As for the anniversary, i can only hope it reminds us not to go repeating mistakes again.

[Dante]

 

Also Operation Downfall

 

Operation Downfall was the overall Allied plan for the invasion of Japan near the end of World War II. The operation was cancelled when Japan surrendered after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet Union's declaration of war against Japan.

 

Operation Downfall had two parts: Operation Olympic and Operation Coronet. Set to begin in October 1945, Operation Olympic was intended to capture the southern third of the southernmost main Japanese island, Kyūshū, with the recently captured island of Okinawa to be used as a staging area.

 

Later, in spring 1946, Operation Coronet was the planned invasion of the Kantō plain, near Tokyo, on the Japanese island of Honshū. Airbases on Kyūshū captured in Operation Olympic would allow land-based air support for Operation Coronet.

 

Japan's geography made this invasion plan obvious to the Japanese as well; they were able to predict accurately the Allied invasion plans and accordingly adjust their defensive plan, Operation Ketsugō. The Japanese planned an all-out defense of Kyūshū, with little left in reserve for any subsequent defense operations.

 

Casualty predictions varied widely but were extremely high for both sides: depending on the degree to which Japanese civilians resisted the invasion, estimates ran into the millions for Allied casualties and tens of millions for Japanese casualties.

[Emasher]

It essentially saved everyone what would have without question been a long gruesome campaign. Its likely that the death toll would have been higher during such a campaign considering what the japanese though of surrendering. While the Nuclear bomb was not necessary for victory in the pacific, it most likely saved a huge number of lives.

 

Its not as if they Japanese didn't do horrible things during the war either.

 

During the war, the Japanese practiced vivisection on many of the chinese people they had captured, this was basically dissecting them while they were still alive.

 

 

As for the whole education issue, I'd love to know what we don't learn about here in Canada, if anything. We do learn about a lot of the sort of stuff other governments might censor though, Biological warfare against the aboriginals, Japanese imprisonment during the war, and aboriginal residential schools, are all subjects they not only teach here, but in most schools make a big deal about, especially that last one.

[Ashley]

I wasn't trying to suggest it should be remembered due to the death toll number but rather first usage of nuclear weapons and what not. I doubt anyone thinks of it in terms of "x died, thus its monumental" but rather how they died (or continue to be affected as is the case with some).

[Wesley]

People seem to forget even worse atrocities in WWII: the bombings of Tokyo, Dresden, the Siege of Leningrad, the rape of Nanking to name a few.

 

It's not that people forget these...

 

It's just that the dropping of two atomic bombs that (essentially) ended the second world war are very significant.

 

Not only because what they did, but also because of all the repercussions we have to face as humans.

 

Should blanket kills be used on such a large scale, is it right to not only kill but destroy the lives of survivors in the surrounding areas, to have innocent children born with life threatening problems for years to come, etc.

 

Also the fact that people dismiss it as necessary because more people would have died if an all out invasion occurred sits uneasy with some.

 

The idea that so many innocent people were killed without warning, because of casualties that were predicted to occur is stunning.

 

Thinking about what was going on at that precise moment when the bomb hit, kids in school, a woman giving birth in a hospital... just, people being people, all suddenly gone.

 

It's also particularly disturbing that so many survivors left Hiroshima after the bombing for Nagasaki, only to be hit in the second bombing.

 

I dunno.

 

It's never sat right with me to be honest.

 

I don't think that the bombs should have been dropped.

 

It's terrifying to think about the amount of bombs that were planned to be dropped if they hadn't surrendered.

[The fish]

They were somewhat essential to the swift ending of the war. That said, I feel the use of them on civilians was difficult to justify - at worst, a military target should have been hit. Ideally, a show of force by using one on an atoll would have been a better idea.

[Iun]

Practically all of my chinese students have no idea about the Tiananmen Square masacre, its disgusting how little they know about their own country.

 

Age quod agis, have a care who is in earshot when you mention "TNMN" a former colleague of mine was told politely to leave the country for speaking of "The Incident" to the wrong person.

 

Hiroshima was a tragedy, the question is: was it avoidable? A little part of me says "talk would have solved it" but the bigger part of me, the part that has spent so long in Asia around people for whom saving face is more important than their own or other people's lives, says there was never and would never have been another answer.