EDIT: Indeed, this is getting off topic, and I am willing to stop for my part.
Quote:
I don't buy the "just doing their job" nonsense.
|
Neither do I - especially on command level. I am not defending people directly involved in war crimes, but I am not taking part in a crusade against tens of millions veterans on the Axis side who literally were doing their job - fighting for their country, and fighting for his country was not something that you can be accused of according to laws.
Quote:
The japanese didn't sign any treaties regarding rules for warfare anyway
|
Right, they did not, but that doesn't give the right to accuse millions of soldier in the country's armed forces. To blame the entire military is absurd and makes things black and white.
One could also accuse the entire United States military, along with her Allies, of all crimes committed during the liberation of Europe (in which one of her Allies, the Soviet Union occupied several countries and annexed territory from Finland - which had been dragged into war by Soviet agression)
Quote:
more than 50% of the japanese merchant marine was officially military (owned outright by the IJA and IJN).
|
There's still that another 50% along with a large number of privately owned fishing vessels.
Quote:
The notion that people didn't know what was going on in Germany is plainly wrong, they did
|
To some extent, yes, but to claim that 90 million Germans knew about what exactly was going on is absurd. They knew that people were being persecuted - they did not know in masses that people were being gassed, only a handful, thousands of people out of 90 million knews what was going on. If you would hear of reactions of German people who had been told that the camps were "secret military factories and installations" and were later asked by the Allies for help at the liberated camps you would be suprised. Propaganda worked in Germany as it did in other countries, including the United States.
In any case, belive as you will if you really wish to.