January 21, 2005
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN EASIER?:
Curtis LeMay had experienced the bombing of cities in Germany as the leader of the 8th Air Force. Now in the Pacific theatre, he was convinced of one thing – that any city making any form of contribution to Japan’s war effort should be destroyed.As the Allies had advanced through the Pacific Islands using MacArthur’s ‘island hopping’ tactic, they captured Saipan, Tinian and Guam. These islands became bases for the B-29’s of 21st Bomber Command. The bases for the B-29’s had to be huge. At Saipan the airstrips were 200 feet wide and 8,500 feet long and they were served by 6 miles of taxiways and parking bays. The runways at Tinian were 8,000 feet long and 90 miles of roads were built just to serve the bomber base there. The runways on Saipan and Tinian were ready by October 1944, just 2 months after the fighting on the islands had finished.
The first bombing raid against Tokyo occurred on November 24th. The city was 1,500 miles from the Marianas.
Pick one: Cities located close to Moscow Posted by Orrin Judd at January 21, 2005 10:54 PM
In 1945, the Japanese had an airforce that numbered barely in the hundreds - with virtually no trained pilots. The Soviet Union had over 10,000 aircraft and veteran pilots. While I agree that the US could have defeated the Soviets militarily in the late 1940's, it would not have been "easy".
Posted by: Brandon at January 22, 2005 09:06 AMThere is no way that the US could have defeated the Soviets militarily in the 1940s. The strength of the postwar Communist forces in Western and Central Europe would have made the maintenance of supply lines a virtual impossibility.
Posted by: Bart at January 22, 2005 02:54 PMYes, it's impossible to see how the Soviets could have maintained supply lines in hostile territory with us fighting them to liberate those countries and their own people. Folks easily get why Hitler overreached but then their common sense implodes when they consider the reverse.
Posted by: oj at January 22, 2005 03:12 PMOur problems would have been in Britain, the Benelux, France, Germany and Italy, not in Poland or Hungary. There was also no shortage of people who were sympathetic to Stalin in America, as the Wallace vote in 1948 showed. Combine that with the natural return of isolationist sentiment in Germano-America and there are real problems.
Posted by: Bart at January 22, 2005 03:33 PMVichy, the Nazis, and Mussolioni's boys would have been happy to help.
Posted by: oj at January 22, 2005 03:38 PMWhich would have made the war really popular in the States?
Posted by: Bart at January 25, 2005 04:16 PMAmericans had no problem with the Germans.
Posted by: oj at January 25, 2005 05:11 PM