Search results

  1. How well prepared were the Japanese for Operation Downfall?

    American KIA would have been a minimum of 250K, maybe more. Japanese regular force somewhere around 700K, irregulars, easy 1.5 million, more if the Kempeitai has its way (and it usually did) just for Kyushu (i.e. Olympic). It would have put a cultural scar on every country involved for at least...
  2. How well prepared were the Japanese for Operation Downfall?

    Actually much better prepared than the Allies gave them credit for. Even with upward revision the Allies had underestimated the number of Japanese aircraft by up to 125% (Army estimates were 5,600, actual was 12,700, the Navy was closer at 10,000). Allied ground force estimates were 545,000...
  3. If they will not meet us on the open sea (a Trent TL)

    Enough with the grave dancing. The band has stopped playing.
  4. WI/AHC: Unsuccessful post-WWII Japanese Occupation

    It was more a matter of Marshall selecting him and Truman signing off on it. MacArthur was already in place as Supreme Allied Commander once the invasion began (although the lines between him and Nimitz were, at best, blurry), something that had been decided by FDR before his death. In addition...
  5. WI/AHC: Unsuccessful post-WWII Japanese Occupation

    No Emperor address means the U.S. has either invaded, which would have killed at least 1,000,000 Japanese civilians, devastated half of Kyushu and a good third of Honshu (maybe more, depending on how long the IJA can hang on) or the U.S. decided on the blockade and burn campaign that was gaining...
  6. WI/AHC: Unsuccessful post-WWII Japanese Occupation

    MacArthur was virtually the ONLY choice. He prevented the occupation from becoming a political issue in '46 & '48. He was perfect for the role of Shogun (one of his biographers called him "the American Shogun", he was IMO dead on) it was a perfect fit for his personality. MacArthur was smart...
  7. WI/AHC: Unsuccessful post-WWII Japanese Occupation

    Seriously? After word gets back about how PoW were treated, after American troops get back and tell their stories about what they saw in combat? IOTL the biggest issue was how gently the Japanese were treated. The only reason it didn't become a massive political issue is the Republicans didn't...
  8. WI/AHC: Unsuccessful post-WWII Japanese Occupation

    Why not? They would almost certainly send in a Five Star (equal in rank to Field Marshall). Ike and Marshall were busy. Arnold is a possibility, but unlikely. That leaves Halsey and Nimitz. Nimitz was CNO. That leaves Halsey. Other alternative would be getting Spruance his fifth star (so NOT...
  9. WI/AHC: Unsuccessful post-WWII Japanese Occupation

    In early 1945 the IJA was SURE that they could stop the U.S. When they finally accepted that they couldn't they planned to have every Japanese fight to the last, including using grade school age kids with bamboo spears against armored formations to absorb fire. Mass self sacrifice and national...
  10. WI/AHC: Unsuccessful post-WWII Japanese Occupation

    Complete impossibility. MacArthur fails they send in someone else, Nimitz if the Japanese are fortunate, Halsey if they are not. Push comes to shove it is always better to be the one pushing with a couple thousand strike aircraft you can whistle up. This question fails to take into account...
  11. Why the nazis hated Communists ?

    Actually it isn't hard to track, not if you sort of understand Hitler (not sure ANYONE, including his biographers completely understand that evil bastard, but I digress..) Jews were human vermin Some Jews were Communists. Jews controlled the Communists. Therefore - Jew = Communist. The...
  12. If the Nazis won would they have been able to accomplish Generalplan Ost?

    Waffen SS divivisions, as late as mid 1944, before they started assigning conscripts ran around 15,000 men. I can't think of any reason why they would be smaller before the bloodbath on the Eastern Front. I can think of any number of reasons that they would actually be larger, in the 18-20K...
  13. If the Nazis won would they have been able to accomplish Generalplan Ost?

    100 million, at the same time? Unarmed except for farm implements and kitchen knifes vs the Waffen SS and Luftwaffe? Yes, although it would be extremely costly. Problem is it wouldn't be 100 million. It would be a few thousand at a time, maybe the survivors of a city, call it 100,000 trapped...
  14. If the Nazis won would they have been able to accomplish Generalplan Ost?

    I disagree on this point rather strongly. Those who believe the Reich couldn't be successful underestimate what can be done with just a few thousand utterly ruthless men against a helpless population. The Reich had many more than a few thousand such men. The Waffen SS (not the entire...
  15. Different IJN submarine types during WW 2

    Before or after the senior officer who dared to question the Decisive Battle doctrine was given command of a floating dry dock? Japanese subs would have been very effective raiders as is. It simply violated 35 years of Japanese naval doctrine to "waste" them on anything but preparing the...
  16. Reagan gets his 600 ship navy

    True, but those are the non-VLS ships with the Mark 26 launcher and 88 missile load-out. It was decided that it was too expensive to more or less completely rebuild the ships to handle VLS cells.
  17. What would Asia look like under a victorious Japan's rule?

    A lot of the brutality can be accounted for by the way the average IJA enlistee was treated. Their NCOs and Officers treated them about 1/3 of a step better than Western prisoners were treat in IJA PoW camps. Beating, not just a couple punches or a swat with a scabbard, but outright beating with...
  18. What would Asia look like under a victorious Japan's rule?

    There examples of all of these heinous acts being committed by the Nazis, excepting the forced rape by family members (which may well have happened, I have just been fortunate enough to never encounter a report). Einsatzgruppen early in Barbarossa particularly liked to tie two people together...
  19. What would Asia look like under a victorious Japan's rule?

    Numbers vary by source. There are other sources that use different criteria. The quote from the source he used is accurate, but it is only one way of measuring economic and war-making potential. He can't respond because he finally forced me to Ban him.
Top