Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Box Ox" data-source="post: 4258752" data-attributes="member: 48469">From the same article above: &quot;The Difference Between Defeat And SurrenderThe invasions and battles at Okinawa and Iwo Jima were ruinous for the Japanese, but Giangreco describes how the Americans and the Japanese derived completely different conclusions from the same conflicts. The Americans extrapolated that the battles were bloody and costly — but in the end it was worth it because they thought the Japanese understood that the U.S. would prevail. The Japanese looked at those same casualties and felt the loss of life was worth it because it sent a message to the Americans that the Japanese were prepared to suffer casualties at a rate the Americans were not.Some historians argue that Japan was already essentially defeated in 1945, even if it didn&#039;t know that. Giangreco says there is a lot to that argument but that &quot;defeat and surrender are two very different things.&quot;Giangreco suspects it would have been much harder to convince the Japanese to surrender than it was to convince the Germans.&quot;The Germans at least surrendered in very large numbers when they saw a hopeless situation,&quot; he says. The only time large numbers of Japanese troops laid down their arms was in Manchuria, when Emperor Hirohito ordered them to surrender.&quot;</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Box Ox, post: 4258752, member: 48469"] From the same article above: [B]"The Difference Between Defeat And Surrender[/B] The invasions and battles at Okinawa and Iwo Jima were ruinous for the Japanese, but Giangreco describes how the Americans and the Japanese derived completely different conclusions from the same conflicts. The Americans extrapolated that the battles were bloody and costly — but in the end it was worth it because they thought the Japanese understood that the U.S. would prevail. The Japanese looked at those same casualties and felt the loss of life was worth it because it sent a message to the Americans that the Japanese were prepared to suffer casualties at a rate the Americans were not. Some historians argue that Japan was already essentially defeated in 1945, even if it didn't know that. Giangreco says there is a lot to that argument but that "defeat and surrender are two very different things." Giangreco suspects it would have been much harder to convince the Japanese to surrender than it was to convince the Germans. "The Germans at least surrendered in very large numbers when they saw a hopeless situation," he says. The only time large numbers of Japanese troops laid down their arms was in Manchuria, when Emperor Hirohito ordered them to surrender." [/QUOTE]

Verification