During World War II, the US Air force developed the B-29, which could bomb from high altitudes and was thought to destroy targets much more efficiently and effectively. McNamara analyzed the bombing operations to make them more efficient. The B-29 could get above the fighter aircrafts and above air defenses so the loss rate would be much less, but accuracy also declined. With that in mind, the planes were lowered down from 23,000 feet to 5,000 feet and it was decided to bomb the cities with firebombs. In a single night, 67 Japanese cities were burned and 100,000 Japanese civilians were killed. From what I have seen, McNamara does believe that those actions constituted war crimes. He himself admitted that he believed General LeMay was right when he said that if they had lost the war, they would have all been prosecuted as war criminals as they were behaving as war criminals. When speaking about the plan devised to firebomb Japanese cities, he tries to almost absolve himself of blame. When he spoke about making the planes more efficient, he said that they were made to be more efficient in terms of weakening the enemy, not in the sense killing more people. Additionally, he doesn't want to admit to having suggested the plan to LeMay and having put it in his mind for him to use. …show more content…
Someone of his caliber and his position should have known that there are clearly written rules regarding war and there have been for centuries. The Just War Theory has been around for centuries and has specific principles that must be met and followed for a war to be justified and McNamara most likely knew that these principles, especially those concerning proportionality and discrimination between civilians and combatants, were not being followed when they bombed
However, because of the unreliability of bomber commands performance the Nazis managed to quickly control the situation. They ensured that no photographs or news reports were published from the bomb stricken reports meaning that the rest of Germany could only gather information from stories and tales. On top of this only a small part of Germany was bombed as the allied forces simply did not have the technology to reach the majority of the Reich. That it was relatively easy for the country to regroup, resulting in heavy retaliation and a continuous growth in German production. However, in the last years of the war bombing technology drastically improved and the attacks were relentless. As opposed to less than one quarter of bombs dropping within five miles of the target, each bomb now hit their target and inflicted maximum damage due to new aiming technology. Bombing raids were now performed twenty-four hours a day, in the night by Bomber Command and in the day by the heavily armoured bombers in the American 8th squadron. 1,500 bombers were now available after a huge increase in production speed, each with the
My first reason for agreeing on the bombing is because Japan had attacked the United States first. Japan wanted to gain territory from the Pacific because “they thought that once they had conquered all that territory that we would be unable
“In order to good, you may have to engage in evil,” - Robert McNamara. Robert McNamara was a lieutenant in the the U.S. armed forces during World War 2 and played a key role alongside General Curtis Lemay in the decision to firebomb Japanese civilians. The firebombing of Japan during World War 2 was one of the most deadly attacks during the war, killing about 213,000 people compared to the 80,000 of the atomic bombs. In almost every other situation the decision to order the killing of people by bombing them would be completely immoral and unacceptable and even McNamara says that he and Lemay would've been processed as war criminals if they had lost the war. So why did he decide to firebomb Japan? First, after the bombings, Japan was left in a state where they could no longer make any offensive advances and were forced into the position of trying to repair themselves. Second, if we hadn't had done it, the war with Japan would have certainly gone on much longer and more lives would have been lost. The firebombing of Japan was a strategic military decision that helped the U.S. end the war. If we hadn't have firebombed Japan then then the war would have gone on longer and even more lives would have been lost.
On 18 April 1942, 16 B-25 Mitchell medium bombers and their 6 man crews took off from the deck of the USS Hornet. Their objective, a daring, nearly suicidal bomb run on Tokyo. This would be the first air raid on the Japanese homeland. After.
This quote shows that President Truman made the wrong decision by dropping the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki because it was illegal to bomb a civilian area where innocent families died on August 6, 1945, and August 9, 1945, and it sets examples to other countries that it's fine to break the law. In fact, “Any attack on legitimate objectives must be carried out in such a way that civilian populations in the neighborhood are not bombed through negligence;” (Document B). This shows that dropping the atomic bombs on Japan was wrong because any attack has to be on a military base and not a civilian area where innocent children and adults could get hurt like in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
On August 5th, 1945, while a conventional bombing of Japan was going on the Little Boy atomic bomb was load onto Colonel Paul Tibbet’s B-29. The conventional bombing of Japan started as early as 1942 the mission didn’t start until 1944 it was estimated that over 300,000 people were killed in the firebombing runs in Japan. In 1945, the United States launched a single firebombing run against Tokyo where an estimated 80,000 people were killed and despite the heavy losses Japan still refused to surrender it was then when Truman found out that the conventional bombing was not effective. Truman however had a few
I think killing hundreds and thousands of innocent people is unjustified. Among the hundreds and thousands, there were innocent little children and helpless elderly. Even today there is still disagreement about Truman’s decision to use the bomb.
On April 18, 1942, the Japanese capitol city of Tokyo and the nearby cities of Nagoya, Osaka and Kobe were bombed by sixteen United States Army B-25 bombers. In these attacks the United States damaged ammunition factories and steel plants. These small bombings did not really do much damage, but they did do their job, however, boosting the confidence of the American people. Captured Americans flying in the B-25 bombers were not considered Prisoners or War, but criminals, and went to trial. The Americans were put to death in some cases. Japan continued to build up a massive fleet that included four aircraft carriers, seven battleships, thirteen cruisers, forty destroyers, sixteen submarines and many troop transport ships (McGowen 24). The Japanese sailors had great morale and felt
There are many more details where the Michael Bay decided to stretch the truth. For instance; when you’re watching the movie that is based in Hawaii, do you ever happen to notice that the island is lacking the natives of Hawaii? “One noticeable omission is the absence of native people on the Hawaiian Islands” (Biodrowski). The movie is based on a naval base but there are scenes that are off the base and the movie lacks the native Hawaiians. The ironic part about this all is that at the time of the attack Hawaii wasn’t even a US state. It didn’t become a state until 1959 eighteen years after the attack. “That Hawaii was not one of the United States at the time of the attack, and would not be until years after the war. In fact, one could perhaps not unreasonably make the argument that the American forces were the equivalent of Imperialist invaders, occupying the territory by force of arms” (Biodrowski).
Many see the bombings of Japan as a mistake while others still believe that it was the best course of action available to the military leaders. Despite this, it is not truly a matter of serious contention whether or not it was the necessary option. The public has been told that it saved thousands of American soldiers by making it unnecessary for the army to invade Japan. However, this is simply untrue, as explained by the commander in chief of the U.S. Fleet and chief of Naval Operations during the war, Ernest J. King. “The President in giving his approval for these [atomic] attacks appeared to believe that many thousands of American troops would be
The documentary, ‘The Fog of War,’ discussed former Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, and his actions under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Throughout the documentary, McNamara elaborated on certain events, such as the bombing in Japan, to emphasize the meaning behind the concept of ‘Total War.’ The fire bombings McNamara mentioned that he played a part of is a clear example in the documentary that portrays the concept of ‘total war.’ While talking about the destruction in each Japanese city, he compared the death and destruction to how much damage would have to result in American cities.
On August 9th, 1945 at 11:02 A.M., another B-29 bomber, Bock’s Car, piloted by Charles Sweeney was sent by the United States to drop over Nagasaki. The bomb, called Fat Man, was dropped because of the devastation at Hiroshima being insufficient in persuading the Japanese War Council to accept Potsdam Conference’s demand for unconditional surrender. Planning to drop the atomic bomb on August 11th, the United States had to push forward the date to August 9th because of bad weather. At 1:56 A.M., Bock’s Car took off, dropping the bomb at 11:02 A.M. at 1650 feet above the city. The equivalent force of the atomic bomb explosion was equal to 22,000 tons of TNT. Although the surrounding hills around Nagasaki contained a good amount of the destructive force, about 60,000 to 80,000 people were killed.
In addition to the desire to end the war and thus the casualties to the American troops, Truman had other reasons for considering the approval of the atomic attacks. Truman was enlightened by Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson in a meeting on April 25, 1945 on the capability of the bomb, and the enormous expense incurred in developing it. This was one reason that Truman’s conclusion was to use the bomb against Japan, as there had to be a justifiable explanation for the expense incurred. Also, if he had not employed the use of the atomic bomb, he would not be able to justify to the American people why he had chosen not to do so, as there were so many American lives lost. It was alleged after the
Generals of War at that time were classical realism oriented, which stands for the principle of national interest and main role is to achieve and preserve power. General Dwight Eisenhower, that later became the thirty-fourth president of the United States knew and understood the awful things the U.S should declare itself guilt of. Prisoners of war from Japan that were in different courts around the world, many, were discharged of them, nothing was comparable to the mass murder of children, women, and families the barbarous genocide war crime the U.S. should be blame for.
In 1945, two atomic bombs were dropped over Japan on Hiroshima and Nagasaki which resulted in thousands of civilian deaths and a detrimental impact on the environment.