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Why Japan did not invade Hawaii....

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Rons Toys
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Posts: 282
(7/14/01 9:20:48 am)
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Why Japan did not invade Hawaii....

In 1960, Robert Menard was a Commander aboard the USS Constellation when he was
part of a meeting between United States Navy personnel and their counterparts in
the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Forces.

Fifteen years had passed since VJ day, most of those at the meeting were WWII
veterans, and men who had fought each other to the death at sea were now
comrades in battle who could confide in one another.

Someone at the table asked a Japanese admiral why, with the Pacific Fleet
devastated at Pearl Harbor and the mainland US forces in what Japan had to know
was a pathetic state of unreadiness, Japan had not simply invaded the West
Coast.

Commander Menard would never forget the crafty look on the Japanese admiral's
face as he frankly answered the question. ?You are right?, he told the
Americans. ?We did indeed know much about your lack of preparedness. But we
also knew that probably every second home in your country contained firearms.
We knew that your country actually had state championships for private citizens
shooting military rifles. We were not fools to set foot in such quicksand.?


Thought you guys might enjoy a Navy perspective. Beach
(posted by beachmaster73 on GB)

polishshooter
Senior Chief Moderator Staff
Posts: 1253
(7/14/01 12:43:47 pm)
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Plus the fact they knew they could invade it later, which they have succeeded in doing...
Patina is an acquired taste.

17th FA Bn
V.I.P. Member
Posts: 9
(7/14/01 1:51:27 pm)
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I love "what if history".

Along the same lines why didn't Japan invade the USSR in late 1941. Most of the USSR's first line troops were tied down in the west fighting the Germans. Siberia is rich in natural resources. The U.S. would not have gone to war with Japan for invading Russia.

polishshooter
Senior Chief Moderator Staff
Posts: 1259
(7/15/01 12:29:19 am)
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Ah, what people don't realize, and really didn't until recently is that Japan DID invade Siberia...in 1939.

And they got their CLOCKS CLEANED by the Russian Armored Division and the couple of Infantry divisions facing them...

The Japs of course didn't advertise the fact they were beaten badly, didn't tell even their own people much less the world that it even HAPPENED, and the Russians kept it secret too, like Stalin did with EVERYTHING. Most of the facts of these "border incidents" have only come to light in the past 10 years or so, since the fall of the USSR. There were several major battles.

The "what if" that is even MORE pregnant, is what if Hitler knew about that "war," and the fact that the Japanese would NEVER attack Russia again, because they knew they had neither the tanks, numbers, doctrine, training, or weapons to challenge the Soviets again, EVER.

Would he have made his biggest mistake of the war on Dec. 8th? Would he have declared war on the US?

He would have been MUCH better off to let the US gear up and concentrate on the Japs. Roosevelt was beside himself trying to get into the European war, he would have had to "manufacture" an excuse, maybe the American Public wouldn't have supported a war against Germany like they did, at the very least.

Hitler played right into FDRs hands, all the time ignorant, thinking Japan would attack just like you said and take the pressure off him in the East. And the Japs kept stringing him along with the "maybe laters..." Not alot of honesty betwixt the Axis "Partners..."

Actually, not only did Stalin KNOW the Japs would not attack because of this experience, he had pretty good spies in Tokyo too, and this knowledge allowed him to strip the Siberian Frontier of TRAINED battle hardened troops and put them in Stalingrad during the height of the battle.

That is one of the "new" things historians are learning about WWII, and new stuff is coming out all the time...stay tuned...alot of what we think we know about it is simply wrong, or was "fed" to us because it was still classified on both sides because of the "Cold War."
Patina is an acquired taste.

Xracer
Moderator
Posts: 612
(7/15/01 7:58:55 am)
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It makes a nice story, Ron, but I suspect that the real reason was that the Japs would've had to invade against land-based air, and, more importantly, there's no way they could have maintained a supply line across the entire Pacific Ocean.

polishshooter
Senior Chief Moderator Staff
Posts: 1260
(7/15/01 9:39:17 am)
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Kinda like what would have happened if they won at Midway...even if they won, and took Midway, between the pounding it would have taken from Pearl, and a blockade, they would hae starved in 6 months,
Patina is an acquired taste.
 
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