this week in WWII

[ViPER]

This week in 1940

Politics - Hitler issues directive 17, designed to set a deadline on the preparations for the invasion of England to be complete by mid Sept




This week in 1941

Ukraine - German forces begin a 73 day siege on Odessa




This week in 1942

Hitler moves the 4th Panzer Army back to Stalingrad







Pacific - US first marine division lands on Guadalcanal








This week in 1943

Air War Germany - Massive British bombing raids on Hamburg last 4 days leaving Hamburg a pummelled firestorm






This week in 1944

Eastern Front Poland - Warsaw uprising begins






This week in 1945

Air War Japan - On the 6th the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay drops an Atomic Bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshama killing 70,000 and injuring 70,000

[Jimmy]

Ok, what the heck was I going to say ..............oh ya, Thank you :cheeks:

[ViPER]

Today is August 6th - On this day in 1945 "little boy" was dropped on Hiroshima in an attempt to force the unconditional surrender of Japan.

For more specific info ive added the wikipedia link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bom ... d_Nagasaki

[Jimmy]

It is interesting though, if we knew then what we know now, the (2) A-bombs could have been avoided. The Japan Army and Navy were depleted of ammunition, they were cut off of any resources of materials for making more bullets, bombs and projectiles even gunpowder and many of their troops were starving. Hind site? No, it was the right decision at the time, they could have lasted maybe 6 more months but at the time we knew they would fight to the last man standing, the Japanese honor would not allow defeat.

[ViPER]

The attack on mainland Japan was underway with the massive use of B-29s firebombing Japan industry and cities - the US strategy over Japan was brutal compared to US strategy over Europe. In Europe the US bombing campaigns focused on German industry and war machine. There was US sympathy for the German people that was not shared by the Brits who focused their bombing campaigns on major German cities. This is clearly retaliatory - "payback" if you will, for the offenses against the British mainland that the US would adopt over Japan in kind for Pearl Harbor.

When the pending invasion of Japan was being planned it was estimated several hundred thousand US troops would be lost. The Japanese would fight to the end that was clear, so it was necessary to drop the first bomb to save those hundreds of thousands of US lives. The Japanese did not immediately submit to unconditional surrender, but they were negotiating surrender through the Russians. Given 1 or 2 more weeks the Japanese would likely have surrendered unconditionally as the power of the A-bomb was realized.

I believe the second bomb was used as more of a statement then anything else, but it did force an immediate unconditional surrender.