MovieChat Forums > Fat Man and Little Boy (1989) Discussion > Japan ready to capitulate?

Japan ready to capitulate?

posted 15 years ago by guy_lazarus
12 replies | jump to latest

I see the movie plays on the peace overtures that Japan made, as if that made the atomic bombings unnecessary to get them to accept unconditional surrender (and they never did surrender unconditionally, as they kept their Emperor -- a war criminal who actually was a conscious patron of the poison gas unit commiting atrocities on Chinese).

The U.S. dropped the bombs on August 6th and 9th. JAPAN SURRENDERED ON SEPTEMBER 2nd. That was three weeks later! Between August 9th and the surrender, the U.S. continued its fire bombings of Japanese cities (one USAF general said that if they left one paper *beep* left standing in Tokyo, he should be shot; it wasn't Curtis LeMay). The country also ran out of oil, as the U.S. submarines had sank all its merchant shipping. The opportunistic Soviets also came into the war.

Those two bombs didn't stop the war. Isn't that incredible? They might have helped Japan be nudged along towards surrender, but even after those two bombings, they kept the war going. (So much for dropping a demonstration bomb.)

Truman, who made the decision, knew that dropping Atomic Bombs on North Korea and China wouldn't have done a f-----' thing, and that's one of the reasons he called General Dugout Doug MacArtnur, who wanted to use nukes in Korea, a dumb SOB and sacked him. (He relieved him because he defied the Commander-in-Chief, but he did that as he was a dumb SOB.)

[–] Mannlaw99 15 years ago

I am not sure what point(s) you are trying to make. My points:

1. These two bombs ended the war. Based on the information we have, we would have been required to invade Japan, had we not used the bombs. Invasion casualties have been estimated to be in the range of 1 million.

2. President Truman indicated that we had no problem with Japan keeping its Emperor, so this was not a condition of surrender. A condition of surrender was that the Emperor would be subject to our authority. That condition was met. President Truman felt this was the most beneficial arrangement for us.

3. If Japan had wanted to surrender, before we dropped our two bombs, they could have done so.

4. A lesson to be learned: If anybody attacks the United States of America, if we can find them, we will nuke them. Therefore, it is a really, really, really bad idea to attack the United States. The former Soviet Union, and others, understood this well.

5. I can't feel sorry for Japan after what they did in China. When you, among many other evil things, use live human beings for bayonet practice, you deserve to get nuked.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] rroach50 15 years ago

guy lazarus wrote, "The U.S. dropped the bombs on August 6th and 9th. JAPAN SURRENDERED ON SEPTEMBER 2nd."

September 2, 1945 is when the terms of surrender were actually signed. President Truman announced on August 14, 1945, that Japan had surrendered.

The U.S. didn't fire bomb any Japanese cities after August 14, 1945.

[–] schuhj 15 years ago

Many in th Army who wanted to keep on fighting argued that we did not have more atomic weapons, and a faction even tried to kidnap the Emperor to keep him from surrendering. The fire-bombing you mentioned had been going on from some time and had killed many more civilians than the two atomic blasts.

[–] D_vd_B 15 years ago

I always believed that the dropping of the two bombs are the largest terrorist attacks ever. From what I think. a group within the United States were afraid of the rest of the world; a way stream that might still be active many years later.

Did both the a-bombs even have effect in the end? In retrospective; the rest of the world could produce them only a few years later, it didn't bring peace and gave the world a paranoia bigger even then before.

Maybe I don't get it, but from a political point of view, the world is just covered with potential enemies. Now, years later it has been proven that the main political streams of all sides of the second world war have fallen on their asses.

But to come back to the core; I don't think that a war has ever been resolved by a weapon. The world was tired of the war already, but the weapons had to be used. A stupid thing, only if you look to the first world war and how it started (weapons that are created are almost always used someday) you can consider that some people or factions within a country never learn anything.

This film leaves room for debate, which I like. Good movie

[–] timgdx 14 years ago

"I always believed that the dropping of the two bombs are the largest terrorist attacks ever."

So what?

"Did both the a-bombs even have effect in the end?"

Yes, the war was over in September of 1945, not 1947.

"In retrospective; the rest of the world could produce them only a few years later, it didn't bring peace and gave the world a paranoia bigger even then before."

You'll also notice that there have been no major wars either since then.

"Maybe I don't get it"

There's no "maybe" about it.

"Now, years later it has been proven that the main political streams of all sides of the second world war have fallen on their asses."

Back to what you were saying about "not getting it."

"But to come back to the core; I don't think that a war has ever been resolved by a weapon."

The war in the Pacific was.

"The world was tired of the war already, but the weapons had to be used."

Smartest thing you've said, but also blindingly obvious.

"A stupid thing, only if you look to the first world war and how it started (weapons that are created are almost always used someday)"

Can we be a bit more nebbishy about it?

[–] SpikeHat 14 years ago

"...the largest terrorist attacks ever. From what I think. a group within the United States were afraid of the rest of the world; a way stream that might still be active many years later." --Rudolf

Work on your writing skills, as well as your research. Otherwise you will continue your own waste stream.

"You are cluttering up my Mile!"

[–] jdown-1 12 years ago

Perhaps English is not your first language - I couldn't make much sense of your post.

[–] Kieselguhr 12 years ago

"I always believed that the dropping of the two bombs are the largest terrorist attacks ever."

It is three years since these words wer written but the DvdB character must be an idiot. There ought to be a law convicting all those who would second-guess the decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki to death. The sentence should be carried out by forcing the proponents to watch film footage of Japanese atrocities in WWII until they committed suicide, which is what the entire Japanese nation would have done if they had any pride whatsoever. They still should; it is never to late to rip your own guts out with a knife. Make it a blunt one Dvd B and do it slowly.

The allies should have built a monument to Paul Tibbets and all Japanese should be made to kiss it and beg for forgiveness for being Janaese. Then they should be given the ceremonial knife with which to commit seppuku.

Don't mind me, I am just trying to be horrid.

[–] lousvr 9 years ago

Doesn't anybody read 'REAL HISTORY'... JEZ

The 'bombs' weren't enough.. the last straw was the declaration of war by the Russia against Japan and so so ally... That shook the beejezus out of the military... and the *beep* emperor-creep...

Ok

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] lousvr 9 years ago

His imperial lowness the emperor thought .. hey.. maybe .. just maybe I've tortured my people long enough.. perhaps I might cut them some slack.. The guy deserved the noose...