The Bombs of August by Howard Zinn

[EFerrari]

The Bombs of August
by Howard Zinn
The Progressive magazine, August 2000

Near the end of the novel The English Patient there is a passage in which Kip, the Sikh defuser of mines, begins to speak bitterly to the burned, near-death patient about British and American imperialism: "You and then the Americans converted us.... You had wars like cricket. How did you fool us into this? Here, listen to what you people have done." He puts earphones on the blackened head. The radio is telling about the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Kip goes on: "All those speeches of civilization from kings and queens and presidents . . . such voices of abstract order . . . American, French, I don't care. When you start bombing the brown races of the world, you're an Englishman. You had King Leopold of Belgium, and now you have fucking Harry Truman of the USA."

You probably don't remember those lines in the movie made from The English Patient. That's because they were not there.

Hardly a surprise. The bombing of Hiroshima remains sacred to the American Establishment and to a very large part of the population in this country. I learned that when, in 1995, I was invited to speak at the Chautauqua Institute in New York state. I chose Hiroshima as my subject, it being the fiftieth anniversary of the dropping of the bomb. There were 2,000 people in that huge amphitheater and as I explained why Hiroshima and Nagasaki were unforgivable atrocities, perpetrated on a Japan ready to surrender, the audience was silent. Well, not quite. A number of people shouted angrily at me from their seats.

Understandable. To question Hiroshima is to explode a precious myth which we all grow up with in this country-that America is different from the other imperial powers of the world, that other nations may commit unspeakable acts, but not ours.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/Bombs_August.html

[Ken Burch]

1. Thank you for posting that on this, the 65th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima

The only thing I can think of to post in response are these lyrics from the late, great Utah Phillips:



Look out, look out from your schoolroom window!
Look up, young children, from your play!
Wave your hand at the shining airplane,
Such a beautiful sight is Enola Gay.

High above the clouds in the sunlit silence,
So peaceful here, I'd like to stay.
There's many a pilot who'd swap his pension
For a chance to fly Enola Gay.

What is that sound high above my city?
I rush outside and search the sky.
Now we are running to find the shelters,
Hearing sirens start to cry.

What will I say when my children ask me,
Where was I flying up on that day?
With trembling voice I gave the order
To the bombardier of Enola Gay.

Look out, look out from your schoolroom window;
Look up, young children, from your play.
Your bright young eyes will turn to ashes
In the blinding light of Enola Gay.

I turn to see the fireball rising.
"My God, My God," all I can say.
I hear a voice within me crying,
"My mother's name was Enola Gay."

Look out, look out from your schoolroom window;
Look up, young children, from your play.
Oh, when you see the warplanes flying,
Each one is named Enola Gay.

[happyslug]

4. And growing evidence it had no effect, except as an excuse, on the Japanese Surrender

Hiroshima Bombing: August 6, 1945
Soviet Invasion: August 8, 1945
Nagasaki Bombing: August 9, 1945

Japan Offers to talk about Surrender August 10, 1945 (But this was JUST an offer to talk NOT an offer to surrender)
Surrenders: August 14, 1945. This is when Japan finally accepted defeat and surrendered. Note is is FIVE days after the Second Bombing, EIGHT days after the First bombing and 6 days after the Soviet Invasion.

The real reason Japan Surrender was the Soviet Invasion of Manchuria. Up until that invasion Japan had the hope that the US and USSR would get into a fight over Europe and each would than negotiate with Japan for assistance against the other. In such a situation Japan could pull something out of their total defeat.

People tend to forget HOW many people died in the March 1945 Tokyo Fire bomb raid. The deaths clearly exceeds the number of people killed do to the Nagasaki bombing and probably exceeds Hiroshima (Do to propaganda since WWII, the Fire bomb raid deaths tend to be discounted and Hiroshima’s deaths magnified to magnify the effect of the atomic bombing. Both Japan and the US have BOTH adopted this policy for different reasons. Japan to show its suffering from being bombed, and the US to show the power of Atomic Weapons).

In reports from early 1945 the US had already decided that Japan would NOT surrender until the USSR invaded Manchuria and destroyed the myth of a war occurring between the US and USSR. This is AFTER the US already knew it had the Uranium bomb and would have the Plutonium bomb by August 1945. The US even rushed a Plutonium bomb to be shipped out BEFORE it was tested in July 1945 (Both the Uranium and Plutonium bombs were shipped out on the same ship). Thus the US was planning to drop both Bombs BEFORE the Soviet Invasion and thus before the expected surrender of Japan do to the Soviet Invasion of Manchuria (The US knew it would take the Russians at least three months to move their army from Germany to Japan. Germany surrendered May 7, 1945, three months later was August 7, 1945).

One of the problems the US Air Force had in August 1945 was the fact it had no more targets to hit with its firebombs. The Commander of the Air Force attacking Japan asked permission to bomb the five cities he had been forbidden to Bomb (These had been reserved for Atomic Bombing but no one told the Air Force units attacking Japan of that fact). The main reason for this restriction was that the Pentagon wanted to be able to show the full effect of the atomic bombs without having to consider previous damage caused by previous conventional bombings. Five Japanese cities were reserved as targets (The other three would have been hit in November when the next three A-bombs would be ready, in time for the invasion of the Japanese Home Islands, those atomic bombings would occur as another fire bomb raid on Tokyo which the US had already decided to drop Gas bombs with the firebombs).

Even after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks, many Japanese leaders did NOT want to surrender. Many Japanese leaders believed that Japan could endue these additional A-bombing. Furthermore the Japanese had used Gas in China, and knew that some American Commanders wanted to use Gas on Japan for neither the US nor Japan had signed the treaty banning gas warfare. The Japanese high command actually told its troops NOT to use gas, even if the US used gas on them. This order seems to have been issued knowing US Allies had signed a treaty banning gas warfare and could object to US use, but the treaty permitted Gas to be used by a nation that had signed the treaty as a retaliatory weapon. Thus the Japanese High Command was counting on British and French resistance to the us of Gas and thus the order NOT to use gas even if gas was used on Japanese troops.

Lets also remember that by August 1945 Japan was already under heavy attack. Japan was being bombed with firebombs by B-29s. It was being attacked by Carrier based Airplanes. Even US Battleships (Including battleships that had been at Pearl Harbor) were firing at coastal installations (and anything within range of the Battleships 16 inch guns i.e. 20 miles). This was occurring all summer long BEFORE the Atomic bomb dropping. Collectively these attacks were killing more people, and doing more damage then the two atomic bombs did. The US Invasion plan was to land on or about November 1945 and then take just 1/3 of the southern most Japanese main islands and then mass B-17s, B-24s, B-25s, B-26s, British Lancasters and any other Allied medium to long range bomber to bomb everything between the 1/3 of the island the US would take and Tokyo. Three more atomic bombs would be dropped (if finished by then), Tokyo would be gassed all at the same time. Then around March 1946 the US would invade the Main island.

The US plans did not count on Korean being Soviet occupied (and by October 1, 1945 it would have been, The Soviets were traveling that fast through Manchuria, they would have had to stop on the Korean Border for their supplies to catch up, but that was in their plans and as soon as they were re-supplied the Red Army would have moved into Korea where it had massive level of support). The US plan also did not take into consideration the Soviet plan to invade the northern most Japanese main island on or about November 1, 1945 (It was the weakest held of the five main islands).

Thus the Atomic Bombing had little impact on the reasons Japan Surrender, the Soviet Invasion of Manchuria meant that the US and USSR would work together in the post-war era and Japan could not play one against the other and stay free from both. Furthermore by August 15, 1945 it was clear nothing but the Japanese Sea was going to stop the Russian advance. The Japanese were seeing their worse nightmare coming true, a communist run Japan. Japan had had an effective Communist party till the early 1930s, when the right wing in Japan started to suppress them (and kill off their leaders by assassination). The communist party had been suppressed but not destroyed and as the only surviving party/political group, it was in the best position to take over if the Russian Army reached the Tokyo. This was clear by August 15th and the only way out was to surrender to the Americans at that point, agreeing to an American Only occupation. Japan and the US even agreed to this as to Korea, but the Japanese Commander in Korea told the Americans he could NOT maintain order given the Koran hatred of the Japanese and that the US would have to send troops to occupy Seoul within days of the Surrender, so US troops were landed at Inchon to hold Inchon and Seoul and what later became South Korea, the Red Army was permitted to take the rest of Korea for they were going to do so anyways.

As I wrote, during the 1930s the Japanese had adopted a severe form of Fascism. They thought nothing of killing any and all opposition. Thus by the time of WWII the only organized opposition within Japan was the Communists and their Cell organization. The Head of the Japanese Communists was living in Moscow. Thus the Japanese right wing Government was looking at Soviet Troops across the strait separating Japan from Korea by no later than the First of October (The Red Army reached Port Arthur by September 1st and was entering Korea by that date). If the Japanese Government did not Surrender on August 14th, 1945 they were looking at Soviet Troops in the Home Islands in any invasion set for November (Which the Japanese Military also calculated when the US would invade). If Japan surrendered in August Soviet Troops would be tied up in Manchuria till October and thus the US would be the sole country to occupy Japan. The US hated Communists as much as the Japanese Right Wing so the US would NOT put the Japanese Communist party in charge of Japan (But the Soviet Union would, or at least in the Soviet Occupied sections of Japan). Thus the WWII Japanese Government preferred occupation by the US than a joint US-USSR occupation. To get a US Only Occupation that meant surrendering in August (Which the Japanese did).

My point here is that the real cause for the Surrender of Japan was the Soviet Invasion of Manchuria. Even if NO A-bombs had been dropped the Japanese would still have surrendered on August 15, 1945. If the Japanese waited the Japanese were facing an joint US-USSR occupation when the Japanese preferred sole Occupation by the US. Thus the fact that the US dropped TWO bombs is meaningless, the US did not have to drop even one AND THE US KNEW IT. The sole purpose of the A-bombing was to impress the Russians of the Power of the US not to get the Japanese to surrender.

Thus come August 1945, the only Japanese leader in opposition to the then ruling military clique was staying in Moscow, and the subsequent invasion of Manchuria by Russia, starting on the 90th day after the end of the war in Europe (Stalin had promise to do so to FDR). It is an interesting History, the US dropped the A-bomb on Hiroshima on August 8th, 1945, the Russians started their invasion on August 9th, the US Dropped the Second bomb on August 10th, and it still took the Japanese Government till August 15th to Surrender. The traditional western view was Japan surrendered do to the A-bombing, the Russian moved in after the Japanese had already decided to give up. The problem the facts do NOT support such history, even the US Army thought it would be tough for Stalin to move enough units from Europe to Manchuria within 90 days. We dropped the A-bomb on the 89th day to try beat the Russians, the Russian launched their attack the next day, but it is clear it had been planned over the previous 90 days, including getting the troops, equipment and supplies to support the invasion. Thus the Soviet Invasion was NOT the Soviets just moving into as Japan was defeated by the US, but a full scale movement planned while BEFORE the A-bombing.

A good argument can be made that the invasion of Manchuria killed any remaining hoped of Japan against the US (i.e. the US and the USSR would come to blows in Europe and Russia could give Japan the two things it needed in 1945, fuel and pilots). This was more an hope then anything actually planned on, for once you view the situation the stupidity of it becomes clear, but by 1945 the Japanese leadership was looking at desperate situation and grasping any any straw it could image. The Russian Invasion killed most of those hopes, more so then the A-bombing. Once it became clear Russia would enter what is now North Korea by September 1st, and take all of Korea by October 1st, Japan was looking at a combined US-USSR invasion (OR worse, dual invasions) by November 1st, 1945. Given that the only Japanese leader NOT tied in with the Military Rulers of the 1930s and 1940s was sitting in Moscow, the Japanese Leaders were looking at a Communist future, so they surrendered to the Americans to prevent that from happening. Russians were still in Manchuria on August 15th, but the Japanese Army had already been destroyed and they was nothing Japan could do to stop the Russian short of the Japanese sea, and not even there without American Assistance.

http://www.emayzine.com/lectures/JAP1930.html

1921 Assassination of a Japanese Prime Minster:
http://www.ndl.go.jp/modern/e/cha3/description10.html

1931 attempted assassination of the Japanese Prime Minster:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamaguchi_Osachi

March 5th, 1932 Assassination of a left wing political leader:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Takuma

The May 15, 1932 Assassination of the Japanese Prime Minster by the Japanese Right Wing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_15th_Incident

1936 Assassination of a former Prime Minster, but by 1936 Fiance Minster:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takahashi_Korekiyo
This was part of the February 26, 1936 incident, where many politicians were killed:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_26_Incident

The "League of Blood Incident" a 1930 incident:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Blood_Incident

More on the 1930s and Japan:
http://books.google.com/books?id=yadHD-aCo_cC&pg=PA268&...

[denbot]

9. The Japanese Military would have never allowed foreign soldiers on Japanese soil.

They would not have unconditionally surrendered until their ability to resist was smashed. Until that point was reached the Japanese population would have been doomed to resist with all they had.

[happyslug]

10. The Japanese ability to fight by August 1945 was questionable

The main Japanese Army was still the army in Manchuria and the Russian had gone through them like a knife through hot butter. Japanese merchant men were refusing to go on merchant ships, do to the massive mining of the Japanese Harbors by the B-29s of the US Air Force, this mining was found to have a greater effect then the bombing of the cities. The mining shut down transportation. Without transportation what the military leaderships wanted to do was unimportant. According to what we know today, Japan southern and northern most islands would have been invaded about November 1, 1945. The Russians would have taken the Northern most Island for it was weakly defended, and be able to use it as a base to invade the northern part of the Main Island by March 1946. The US would have had 1/3 to 1/2 of the southern most Japanese Island, and with Korea under Soviet Control, the rest of Japan would have come under massive air assault. The Harbors would have had been mined so between the air bombing and the mining of the Harbors (Remember Japan is an island) the cut off of all oil (and the only active coal mine today and then is in the Northern Most Island, thus the Soviet invasion would have cut that off). No oil, no way to ship food to the cities, harbor mined, people staving, HOW could the Japanese Military maintain control over their own soldiers let alone the people themselves (And the Japanese Communist party had a good set of followers in the Cities, so the Soviets would have had an advantage).

One of the side affect of the previous three years of fighting is that the most fanatical Japanese Officers and enlisted had volunteer for service in the island campaigns and the massive 1944 offensive in China. The 1944 Offensive was to drive back the bases for the B-29s further from Japan. In response the B-29s were moved to the Marianas once those islands were taken. Another side affect was troops viewed as less loyal stayed in Manchuria. This reduced the fighting level of the Japanese army in Manchuria (Which was one of the reason the Russians went through that army so quick). A story that has been repeated since that time period is how did the Red Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) was able to use and maintain the Japanese trucks, tanks and artillery piece their inherit from the Soviet defeat of the Japanese Army. The story was and is that a huge number of Japanese army mechanics and others of what are called support troops, many from working back backgrounds, seems to have volunteer for service in the PLA. if true (And the fact that the PLA used Japanese Equipment till well into the Korea war supports that fact) that can tell how "committed" the remaining Japanese troops were by August 1945.

My point is that the Japanese Military leadership may have wanted to fight to the death, in fact one Japanese Military leader said the Japanese could defeat one Invasion by launching a massive counter attack, including massive turn out by the Civilian population. If all that occur, the Japanese could defeat one invasion, then the US and the USSR could launch another within six months and by that time the Japanese population would be almost zero. The worse part is this was a SERIOUS proposal, he added, people would be talking of the Japanese people for thousands of years later.

While the right wing wanted to do the above, it seems NOT to be shared by massive sections of the Japanese people (as seen above with the story of the Japanese Merchant Sailors and the story of the PLA possible Japanese support troops). If you believe the right wing propaganda, then yes, the Japanese would have fought to the death. If, on the other hand, you see people worried about their families and their own lives, who were seeing society breaking down and seeing the only political group NOT tied in with the Right wing Government being the Communists. Thus we have the propaganda of the time period saying the Japanese would fight to the death, but the facts do NOT support that situation. The Right wing wanted to fight to the death, but not the people and definitely not the working class. Even the Japanese Government realized this and thus surrender so to prevent Soviet forces on the Japanese Main Islands. US Occupation was preferred to fighting to the death and finding the working class deserting to the Soviets.

[nosmokes]

2. K&R

[leftstreet]

3. K&R

[Vinnie From Indy]

5. I like Zinn, but I disagree with him on a few points

The Japanese would not have surrendered IMHO. Invading the home islands would have taken a huge toll of both American and Japanese lives. I am a bit perplexed as to how Zinn can call the a-bombs "unforgivable atrocities" without also mentioning the horrific death toll from conventional fire bombing of Japanese cities. Lastly, I think Zinn gives very short consideration to the tens of thousands (if not millions) of Americans that are alive today because their fathers or grandfathers were not killed invading the Japanese home islands.

[Artie Bucco]

6. Also

He overlooks the tens of thousands of Indonesians and Vietnamese who were dieing due to preventable famine and forced labor under the Japanese occupation.

[EFerrari]

8. He's not overlooking them. He's making a very specific point

about the place of those two bombs in American culture. A running tally of war crimes on both sides is not the area of his speech.

[EFerrari]

7. The question isn't would Japan have surrendered, they were already

negotiating. At bottom, the argument that dropping the bomb saved lives is exactly what Howard says it is, the plausible rationale for a monstrous act. I'm more inclined to agree with the historians who point out that dropping the bomb was the opening move of the Cold War and not about Japan at all.

[leveymg]

11. I argued with Howard about this.

Made the point that in the long-run the demonstration of the unspeakable horror of nuclear weapons on living human beings was probably the only reason they weren't used to much greater deadly effect later in the Cold War.

I recall his response was whether numbers equaled right or wrong. My response was that numbers count to those immediately impacted. He was arguing pacifist principle, and I from a conventional Utilitarian calculus -- and, that he helped me to understand and question the morality of that sort of 19th Century liberal reduction of moral choices to numbers and sensations.

Both sides of this question need to be vigorously argued, and that's why I valued having him as a professor. Perhaps, I was a good student and a worthy sounding board for his positions. He was a tolerant and open-minded man, even if very sure of his own opinions.

[Overseas]

12. K&R. //nt