HIST-1103, W13: WW2 in Asia, Dawn of the Atomic Age, Final Considerations

Last class! Class of July 30th.

RR: Hal Gold (editor) Japan’s Infamous Unit 731 – Testimonies

What was the purpose of Unit 731 and what do the interviewees say about it? Do their testimonies surprise you?

• Underground Japanese organization (didn’t wear imperial chrysanthemum crest) 

Testimony from soldier stationed at Pingfang

• Educated for 16 hours a day, less meals, on disease prevention & human anatomy

• Basically, they were testing biological warfare? Ex Chinese spies sent to Unit 731 for “medical experiments”

• Eventually told to stop, evacuate, and destroy the facilities (Soviets attacking)

  • Post-evac, goal is to spread bacteria into American forces (bacteriological bombs) but it was dissolved

• Eventually, worked on Japan National Railways, coworkers find out he was a part of Unit 731 and was ostracized until 1951 (peace treaty in San Fran, postwar period settled)

Soldier attached to Unit 731 (Ohara Takeyoshi)

• Knew nothing, transferred to epidemic prevention/water supply unit headquarters

• Observed bacteriological bomb tests w/ maruta (details extreme disinfecting routine)

Nurse attached to Unit 831 (Sakumoto Shizui)

• Hospital for treating Unit 731 members. Treated possibly the son of an important general, sounded bad. 

• “During that month, we all worked with the feeling that we never knew who among us might be the next one to be sacri- ficed. We couldn't eat. And, when we had night duty, we had to stay in the same room with the patient. Thinking about it now, that was fearful work. But I came through it, and I've lived a long life.” (p. 235)

Intelligence officer (Ogura Yoshikuma)

• Basically a spy. Nomonham incident (bacteriological warfire, used typhus germs in water)

• Wore civilian clothes to blend in. Trained Manchurians to do intelligence in Soviet Union; backfired, Soviets used them for counterintelligence, better at that + code-breaking

• Participated in carrying bacteria, doing tests, and injecting people. + “Q” operations (bacteria bombs tied to balloons)

• Interesting - Japanese didn’t realize they were losing. “Looking back at it now, it seems like a joke.” (p. 238)

Army major/pharmacist attached to Unit 731 (anonymous)

• Tests on 100 maruta, tested “canisters of liquefied phosgene gas” that they threw into boxes w/ people and tested vital signs, death time

• Nobody survived, bodies dissected

RR: “33 Haunting Photos from the Firebombing of Tokyo in 1945” (*These photos include

picture of dead and burned bodies)

What was the justification for the firebombing of Tokyo and other Japanese cities in the spring and summer of 1945? Can this bombing and the subsequent nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki be in any way justified?

• Way the people who positioned themselves in a “for the firebombing” were hailed as heroes (photo 1)

• 1500 tons of firebombs, for reference… 100,000 Japanese killed in one night, and tens of thousands injured, probably more. Left a million homeless, destroyed Tokyo

• Crazy photos of Tokyo, with barely any buildings standing. Maximum damage by strategically using napalm-filled firebombs near areas with many wooden buildings (as was Tokyo at the time)

• Firebombing of Tokyo, codenamed “Operation Meetinghouse” and now known as “the Great Tokyo Air Raid”

• "Killing Japanese didn't bother me very much at that time," said General LeMay. "I suppose if I had lost the war, I would have been tried as a war criminal." 

  • Rewarded with medals and a promotion

Referring to the points covered in our class, what were the key reasons for the Allied victory and the German defeat in World War II? See: Total War & Tide Turns

Total War

• German offensive in 1942 into North Africa. Outnumbered by British 10x. General Rommel unable to break through General Montgomery. Mines/air support, British win. Battle of El-Almain, turning point #1

• USSR southern offensive, 1942. “Plan Blue” German push to Stalingrad, massive war of attrition. Nov 2942, Soviets surround Germany 6th army, then surrender Jan 1943

  • Psychological boost (Germans not invincible, start to question Hitler.) Germans lose 300k men. 

Tide Turns

• Allies turn tide 1943:

• Battle of Kursk (900k Germans, 1.1M Soviets) Summer ‘43. Losses are too much to handle

• Allied land in Italy, summer ‘43

Spring/Summer ‘44 - D-day/liberation of France by Allies + operation Bagration: Soviets destroy German army group central

• Germany defeat certain after mid-1944 (Battle of the Bulge, Dec 1944: last German offensive in the West). Final Allied offensive spring 1945, Nazis surrender May

Controversies - civilian bombing. “Evil vs lesser evil”

War in Asia, 1942-45
Were the Allies justified in their use of heavy, firestorm-inducing bombing raid and the use of the atom bomb in World War II? What are some arguments for and against?

• Stalemate: Japanese have coastal/northern China, Chinese resist (Gurilla & Kuomintang under Chang Kai-shek have central China). Need Allied support

• Operation Ichigo: Japanese offensive. Damaged Kuomintang forces, communist forces grew. US wanted Kuomintang forces under Stillwell’s control, Chang Kai-shek not happy, bad for long-term US/China relations

• 14M dead. Civil conflict continues. Communists successful 1949, Nationalists retreat to Taiwan

American offensive employed “island-hopping” advanced west toward the Japanese. Difficult fighting, heavy losses. Battles of Iwo Jima & Okinawa, 1945

• 1945, American firebombing of Tokyo (March 9/45)

• 100-130k people killed

Cue Manhattan project, tests in July 1945. August, Hiroshima & Nagasaki bombed, over 200k killed/injured. Japan surrenders.

• Possible Operation Downfall (that never happened)-land invasion of Japanese homelands

• Controversy - thought casualties of allied invasion between 25-46k. Eisenhower feels uneasy about bomb, scientists divided