Re: [sixties-l] Hiroshima as military target

From: Jerry West (record@island.net)
Date: Sat Jun 24 2000 - 19:20:25 CUT

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    jo grant wrote:

    I do not; however, I recall charts of the destroyed areas of Hiroshima
    and the military and industrial, along with the naval facilities--to the
    best of my recollection--were either spared or suffered only moderate
    damage.

    Pentagon and Defense Dept public relations painted a convincing
    picture--to the general public--that the bombs "saved millions of
    American lives." but those were the acts of a terrorist government.

    JW reply:

    I agree with your thought that "those were the acts of a terrorist
    government." There was no military need to invade Japan in 1945, a
    naval blockade would have been sufficient although political pressure
    may have been applied for a more decisive action.

    As for the military aspect of Hiroshima, in my recollection it was a
    major army headquarters and I have no idea how the command, supply,
    communications and intelligence functions were spread throughout the
    city, and I wonder if the US really knew what kind of damage one bomb
    would do. I am assuming that they were not thinking of it as some sort
    of precision weapon. The naval facilities were (and are) at Kure across
    the bay. How much destroying Hiroshima affected Kure, I have no idea.
    There was also a naval air base at Iwakuni, about 30 miles south and out
    of the blast range. What effect cutting the cord at Hiroshima had on
    the air base is also something which I do not know. Destruction in
    central Hiroshima on the delta was massive.

    -- 
    Jerry West
    Editor/publisher/janitor
    ----------------------------------------------------
    THE RECORD
    On line news from Nootka Sound & Canada's West Coast
    An independent, progressive regional publication
    http://www.island.net/~record/
    



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