In Memoriam
 

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/i...00/h72273k.jpg

tater

You know, i totally forgot what day was today, other then it being a payday friday. :shifty:

This civilian appreciates the men and women protecting our country--then, and now!

<o :salute:

Remembering
 

I overheard the following conversation today

Younger woman: What is the date today, is it the 7th?
Older gent: Yes it is the 66th anniversary

He then went on to explain his answer to the confused woman and her colleague.

As someone who spent the majority of his life in England, I am only just starting to appreciate the impact of attack on PH. I Had been living here for 6 months when the attacks of 9/11 occured and I can only imagine that the national pshcye was impacted in a similar way back in 1941.

Thank you to everyone who has, or is serving to protect our freedoms.

I was wondering who would put up the first post. Nice one Tater. Salute to all the young guys and gals who put life on hold Dec 7th 1941!

The WWII generation is still the best in my opinion (27, served in combat,Iraq 2003).

*salute
to the fallen

Salute!
 

A view I have never seen anywhere, but worth a thought or two:

The Japanese, by attacking Pearl Harbor and killing 2,350 and sinking (if only temporarily in some instances) our battleship fleet, prevented a much more devastating Japanese victory which could have shaken US resolve in the Pacific, resulting in a negotiated settlement of the dispute.

Our strategy was "Showdown at the OK Corral." We were to locate the Japanese navy and force a decisive battle between capital ships. It wouldn't have been close. The Japanese would have slaughtered 10,000 and sent many more ships to the bottom in thousands of feet of water where no salvage would have been possible.

Pearl Harbor was a small price to pay. It taught us the lessons that won the Pacific war. We were forced from a strategy for humiliating defeat to a submarine strategy for victory. We were forced to exploit our advantage in aircraft and pilots. Pearl Harbor forces us to win the war. It was a collosal blunder on the part of the Japanese.

Has anyone ever read or heard any idea close to this? I haven't and it seems so obvious.

Rest in Peace.

Actually, I'd say it was even simpler, RR. The Japanese required a short war with a negotiated peace. Changes in US doctrine (out of necessity post PH) would not have changed the fact that the RAGE over the attack meant that there was zero possibility of a negotiated peace.

The Japanese lost the war that very morning since their plan required such a negotiated settlement, and they prevented it by their own actions.

The timing of their defeat was up for grabs based on tactics/strategy afterwards, but it was a foregone conclusion.

tater

To All Those on Eternal Patrol, our Thanks for your selflessness, bravery and sacrifice.

One thing ive always wondered is, if the japanese had never attacked pearl harbor, would we still have entered the war? ( i think social opinion at the time was highly divided, much as it is today) And if we would have still entered the war, when?

As sometimes cited, the attack on pearl harbor was a tactical victory, but a horrible strategic mistake.

Whatever happend to 'infamy' the only place I see even a passing mention of this tragic moment in human history is on a game forum. :oops:

<Bows head in silent prayer>

The Japanese convinced themselves that they had to take out the US, because the Philippines commanded their sea lanes to the NEI. The NEI (and its oil) was the entire point of the war. It's certainly possible they might have been able to avoid the US for a time, but we might have had no choice but to go in. Also, they know that by 1943 we'd start to be impossible to beat (just based on our already announced and funded naval increases that were public).

Willmott makes a very good argument that they would have had the best chance had they persued the Indian Ocean with more than just raids. India was dicey, and it could have gone either way. Unlike the germans, they IJN was a real navy, they could have possibly taken the Suez Canal since they could actually project real force.

An interesting what-if.