the war situation has developed -not necessarily to Japan's advantage

[Colin]

"the war situation has developed -not necessarily to Japan's advantage"


The above quote, which I guess many of you will know, comes from Emperor Hirohito's surrender speech broadcast in Japan following the detonation of 2 atom Bombs and the Russian declaration of war and invasion of Manchuria.

My challenge is can anyone find another WW2 quote that is similarly out of touch with what is really happening, (by say understatement or overstatement) or if not please feel free to make one up as long as you are honest about it

 

[lionhead]

Well one quote which is clearly not in line with what is really happening always stayed with me though its not from WW2.

"The great duel, the mother of all battles has begun.… The dawn of victory nears as this great showdown begins!" - Saddam Hussein January 17th, 1991 at the dawn of Operation Desert Storm.

btw, this thread should be in chat. its not about AH

 

[Citizen Samuel]

Well one quote which is clearly not in line with what is really happening always stayed with me though its not from WW2.

"The great duel, the mother of all battles has begun.… The dawn of victory nears as this great showdown begins!" - Saddam Hussein January 17th, 1991 at the dawn of Operation Desert Storm.

btw, this thread should be in chat. its not about AH

That pales in comparison with: "The American soldiers are committing suicide at the walls of Baghdad".

 

[Orry]

I should say that for my enemies, not for our soldiers. For the speed with which our soldiers have now traversed territory is gigantic. Also what was traversed this year is vast and historically unique. Now I do not always do things just as the others want them done. I consider what the others probably believe, and then do the opposite on principle. So if Mr. Stalin expected that we would attack in the center, I did not want to attack in the center, not only because Mr. Stalin probably believed I would, but because I didn't care about it any more at all. But I wanted to come to the Volga, to a definite place, to a definite city. It accidentally bears the name of Stalin himself, but do not think that I went after it on that account.

Indeed, it could have an altogether different name. But only because it is an important point, that is, there 30 million tons of traffic can be cut off, including about 9 million of oil shipments. There all the wheat pours in from those enormous territories of the Ukraine, of the Kuban territory, then to be transported to the North. There the manganese ore was forwarded. A gigantic terminal was there; I wanted to take it. And do you know, we're modest: that is, we have it; there are only a couple of very small places left there.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/hitler110842.html

Go to the master gaffer......

 

[Colin]

Well one quote which is clearly not in line with what is really happening always stayed with me though its not from WW2.

"The great duel, the mother of all battles has begun.… The dawn of victory nears as this great showdown begins!" - Saddam Hussein January 17th, 1991 at the dawn of Operation Desert Storm.

btw, this thread should be in chat. its not about AH

I take your point but with a statement like that it seems to me that Hirohito was living in a somewhat different reality to everyone else, an alternate reality therefore an alternate history.

 

[Tyr]

I wouldnt say thats out of touch, its just being very careful with what is being said.

 

[tallthinkev]

'go back to your constituencies and prepare for goverment' A little over obtimistic, to say the least.

 

[Lleibi]

"the war situation has developed -not necessarily to Japan's advantage"


The above quote, which I guess many of you will know, comes from Emperor Hirohito's surrender speech broadcast in Japan following the detonation of 2 atom Bombs and the Russian declaration of war and invasion of Manchuria.

My challenge is can anyone find another WW2 quote that is similarly out of touch with what is really happening, (by say understatement or overstatement) or if not please feel free to make one up as long as you are honest about it

I thought that it was in the surrender speech that Hirohito had ordered the Japanese to "submit to the worst" on the upcoming American occupation... seems a bit incoherent, or my quote is wrong.

 

[lionhead]

I take your point but with a statement like that it seems to me that Hirohito was living in a somewhat different reality to everyone else, an alternate reality therefore an alternate history.

Okay, then its fine i guess(i don't make the rules though)

Well there are a good few people who where disillusioned once they where loosing. Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito mostly in WWII. But same goes for Hussein, Kaddafi and even now Assad.

 

[nbcman]

"We have only to kick in the front door and the whole rotten Russian edifice will come tumbling down" Hitler

"My good friends, this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And now I recommend you to go home and sleep quietly in your beds." Chamberlain

 

[lionhead]

Oh yeah, Chamberlain's quote is a good one.

 

[sharlin]

Also wasn't Hirohito's way of speaking in that annoucement basically the Japanese version of ye olde English which makes an already vague language even more vague.

 

[mcdo]

Also wasn't Hirohito's way of speaking in that annoucement basically the Japanese version of ye olde English which makes an already vague language even more vague.

Yes, basically the "courtly Japanese" he spoke was almost incomprehensible to the ordinary Japanese man or woman on the street. Immediately afterwards, it was followed by another person explaining what the Emeror had just said.

That being said, I agree with Tyr. What he said wasn't delusional or out of touch at all. Japanese is still a language of polite understatement, and it was much more so back then. Any Japanese speaker who heard that line (in modern Japanese) would immediately understand that the Empire of Japan had been totally defeated. It's like when a British person thanks you for "your interesting proposal". They aren't lying, they are just being polite. It's expected that you will understand what it being said.

 

[basileus]

Just the same kind of passage was in the last one of Wehrmachtberichte, the daily radio war bulletins, on May 9, 1945. It was something like "the war brought us great victories, but also heavy defeats", which sounds a truism, if it wasn't so tragic when one thinks about the, ahem, sorry state of Germany and Europe in general in those days.

 

[Magnum]

Just the same kind of passage was in the last one of Wehrmachtberichte, the daily radio war bulletins, on May 9, 1945. It was something like "the war brought us great victories, but also heavy defeats", which sounds a truism, if it wasn't so tragic when one things to the, ahem, sorry state of Germany and Europe in general in those days.

I just looked that up. Pretty neat historical document. It also staits that the situation was "hopeless".

 

[Bob in Pittsburgh]

I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this government: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat." We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival. Let that be realized; no survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for the urge and impulse of the ages, that mankind will move forward towards its goal.

Would have been right up there with Hirohito if the outcome had been different.

 

[Ivir Baggins]

Then there's what he said afterwards:

"And we'll fight with broken beer bottles because that's bloody well all we've got!"