The 6th of August 1945.

[MD]

Another thought to ponder is, did they need to drop the first 2 bombs on populated cities to make their point- our guns bigger than your's, so give up.

They could have equally scared the fight out of the Japanese by dropping the bombs a few miles out of the cities, but close enough to get the message across. A few million people witness a bomb capable of destroying their entire city, rather than a few million dead bodies to make the statement.

I guess the risk with that approach would have been that the Japanese might have assumed that the Yanks wouldn't actually have the guts to drop one on a populated city. Or, more likely the reason, you alert the Japanese to keep Yank boats and planes beyond striking distance.

Can't say I've heard much about the life of the crew of the Enola Gay after that day? Were they treated as heroes? I do remember seeing something once about the captain being proud of his involvement in bringing the war to an end.

[Pussy]

The captain of Enola Gay only recently died. Col.Paul Tibbets. He had no public regret for carrying out his orders

[Oakie]

I admire the Japanese for the way they picked themselves up (after the war), dusted themselves off, and got stuck in to it.

I heard a quote regarding that a few years back. It was to do with the re-industrialisation of Japan post 1945 and it's effect on American industry (think the growth of Honda and Toyota cars vs the struggles of Chrysler and Ford for example). It went something along the lines of "America won the war but Japan won the peace".

[Pussy]

I heard a quote regarding that a few years back. It was to do with the re-industrialisation of Japan post 1945 and it's effect on American industry (think the growth of Honda and Toyota cars vs the struggles of Chrysler and Ford for example). It went something along the lines of "America won the war but Japan won the peace".

I often use that quote myself. Good on them, too!

[98tls]

Another thought to ponder is, did they need to drop the first 2 bombs on populated cities to make their point- our guns bigger than your's, so give up.

They could have equally scared the fight out of the Japanese by dropping the bombs a few miles out of the cities, but close enough to get the message across. A few million people witness a bomb capable of destroying their entire city, rather than a few million dead bodies to make the statement.

I guess the risk with that approach would have been that the Japanese might have assumed that the Yanks wouldn't actually have the guts to drop one on a populated city. Or, more likely the reason, you alert the Japanese to keep Yank boats and planes beyond striking distance.

Can't say I've heard much about the life of the crew of the Enola Gay after that day? Were they treated as heroes? I do remember seeing something once about the captain being proud of his involvement in bringing the war to an end.

Methinks anything less than what happened would have achieved nothing,the mindset instilled in the Japanese soldier was no surrender and i cant imagine anything less from the civillan population unless it was made obvious that anything but was futile.Hitler instilled the same mindset in various Waffen SS units with some sucess but i think the Japanese to some degree were born with it.

[xwhatsit]

Methinks anything less than what happened would have achieved nothing,the mindset instilled in the Japanese soldier was no surrender and i cant imagine anything less from the civillan population unless it was made obvious that anything but was futile.Hitler instilled the same mindset in various Waffen SS units with some sucess but i think the Japanese to some degree were born with it.

I'm not sure if I agree completely with that. Within the Japanese civilian population, they still believed right up until the end that they were winning and beating them and were going to win the war. People in other cities were shocked to hear that Japan had surrendered, and shocked to hear of what had happened with the bombs. Essentially they were being fed shitloads of propaganda.

However, drop a bomb outside the city, how can you keep that quiet? You don't need to be inhumane and wipe out a whole city of people, but just show them what the bomb could do. Enough civilians learn about that, they realise the true nature of the war, the leadership also learns what sort of power was being wielded against them... Well it would be worth a try first, wouldn't it? But no, let's shoot first and ask questions later, hooray USA!

It's amazing how little we're taught about it at school when we're growing up etc. We hear all about the evil things Hitler did, but what happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki is quickly brushed over and written off. What they did was almost as evil, in my book.

[Pussy]

Things would be QUITE different if we'd come second in the '39-'45 conflict

[Timber020]

The japanese tortured, starved, experimented on, massacred, mutilated, used chemical and biological weopons on civilians that were in their way.

What they did to our men, women and children who were captured by them dwarfed the karma of fat man and little boy.

If they had won, if they had the bomb, the rest of the world would have either been enslaved or executed without discussion of whether it was right or not. The firebombing killed more, and yet they didnt surrender then.

Even when the second bomb was dropped the imperial army didnt want to surrender. The last japanese soldier surrendered in 1975 ffs. A near miss would have meant NOTHING but more of our guys killed with the prolonging of the war.

For all the suffering they caused, and still cause (people in china still die from the plagues they dropped there) and deny in there own history books, (as a people and nation they take next to no responsibility for what they did) I wonder if 2 wasnt getting off lightly.

[98tls]

I'm not sure if I agree completely with that. Within the Japanese civilian population, they still believed right up until the end that they were winning and beating them and were going to win the war. People in other cities were shocked to hear that Japan had surrendered, and shocked to hear of what had happened with the bombs. Essentially they were being fed shitloads of propaganda.

However, drop a bomb outside the city, how can you keep that quiet? You don't need to be inhumane and wipe out a whole city of people, but just show them what the bomb could do. Enough civilians learn about that, they realise the true nature of the war, the leadership also learns what sort of power was being wielded against them... Well it would be worth a try first, wouldn't it? But no, let's shoot first and ask questions later, hooray USA!

It's amazing how little we're taught about it at school when we're growing up etc. We hear all about the evil things Hitler did, but what happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki is quickly brushed over and written off. What they did was almost as evil, in my book.

Also very easy to have a crack at the US.......never understood that at all.Personally i dont give a fuck about Hiroshima etc its spoken of because its recent history fair enough but the in the big picture its nothing more than a memorable moment of many.The world sat up and cried foul when they confronted the death camps but said nothing as millions died in German cities,not long before and during said nothing when Stalin disposed of millions for no other reason but political insecurity.Funny that on Internet forums recent tragic events are often taken to pieces and put right but seldomly are just as tragic events happening beneath our very eyes given any more attention than "2 sugars please" followed by the smug smile only someone camouflaged behind a billion interweb wires and a keyboard could smile..

[fatzx10r]

the japs got of light in ww2 i believe, they started the damn thing in the pacific. all the cruel shit they did to first the chinese, then all the rest of the population of the countries they invaded, not to mention our boys serving over there. so many of them that got off facing any war crimes is bullshit. would you all be so sympathetic if the fuckers had invaded NZ? they had already lost the war well before the a bombs were dropped, but they were bloody fanatic that they had no plans of surrender, instead they were getting ready for one last mass suicide battle on there there home land. dropping the bomb ended the war and saved more lives than it took

[98tls]

the japs got of light in ww2 i believe, they started the damn thing in the pacific. all the cruel shit they did to first the chinese, then all the rest of the population of the countries they invaded, not to mention our boys serving over there. so many of them that got off facing any war crimes is bullshit. would you all be so sympathetic if the fuckers had invaded NZ? they had already lost the war well before the a bombs were dropped, but they were bloody fanatic that they had no plans of surrender, instead they were getting ready for one last mass suicide battle on there there home land. dropping the bomb ended the war and saved more lives than it took

So your saying the Maori actually have a case?

[fatzx10r]

So your saying the Maori actually have a case?

no, i was just adding my 2cents on the whole dropping of the abomb

[Clockwork]

I heard a quote regarding that a few years back. It was to do with the re-industrialisation of Japan post 1945 and it's effect on American industry (think the growth of Honda and Toyota cars vs the struggles of Chrysler and Ford for example). It went something along the lines of "America won the war but Japan won the peace".

I understood that both Japan and Germany benifited enormously from post war reparations paid to them by the US. Conversly the UK was almost bankrupted repaying loans that the US had extended them before joining tha war in '41.

[nodrog:Me]

What would the world be like today if the events of this day never happened?.

id be sick of eating fuckin rice for one.

[alley cat]

The captain of Enola Gay only recently died. Col.Paul Tibbets. He had no public regret for carrying out his orders

Who needs regrets, just doin his job. bullseye.