World War Wednesdays: Hiroshima Remembered, 70 Years On

     As this year of major First and Second World War anniversaries marches on, we find ourselves in solemn observance of the seventy years since the atomic bombing of the Japanese city of Hiroshima tomorrow, 6 August. In the time since this day quite literally shattered human history as we knew it, countless historians have weighed in on the numerous political, racial, ethical, and military issues it simultaneously presented. Having explored a few of these myself, I have decided that the post for this week will focus on real accounts and experiences rather than a discussion on the endless theories and arguments out of respect for those who still remember that day with horror. 

Part One: Background

     As the Second World War entered its sixth year, it saw the official surrender of Nazi Germany on 8 May following a lengthy and dramatic political and military downfall. This meant that the Allies' attention could be entirely focused on the theater of war which still raged on: the war in the Pacific against Japan. As a dangerous invasion of the Japanese mainland was being discussed, a massive firebombing campaign was directed against the people of Japan with no change in their refusal to surrender.  Together with the United Kingdom and China, the United States called for the unconditional surrender of the Japanese armed forces in the Potsdam Declaration on 26 July, 1945; this was buttressed with the threat of "prompt and utter destruction". By August, the $2 billion Manhattan Project had yielded the successful detonation of an atomic device in the New Mexico desert. On 6 August, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay dropped a uranium gun-type atomic bomb code-named "Little Boy" over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. 2,000 feet above the city, in a blast equal to 12-15,000 tons of TNT, five square miles were completely destroyed. Around half of deaths occurred on the first day, but within the first two to four months the acute effects of the bomb killed 90,000-166,000 people. In the months that followed, large numbers of civilians continued to die from the effects of burns, radiation sickness, other injuries, illness, and malnutrition. 

The Enola Gay and her crew

A man sitting on a step was instantly vaporized by the blast

A child jumping was also vaporized

     Part Two: Resilience

     I recently came across a pretty unbelievable story related to the bombing of Hiroshima that I thought would be interesting to include, courtesy of Smithsonian.com:

     On August 6, 1945, at a quarter-past 8 a.m., bonsai master Masaru Yamaki was inside his home when glass fragments hurtled past him, cutting his skin, after a strong force blew out the windows of the house. The U.S. B-29 bomber called the “Enola Gay” had just dropped the world’s first atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima, at a site just two miles from the Yamaki home. But besides some minor glass-related injuries, Yamaki and his family survived the blast, as did their prized bonsai trees, which were protected by a tall wall surrounding the outdoor nursery. 

     For 25 years, one of those trees sat near the entrance of the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum at the United States National Arboretum in Washington D.C., its impressive life story largely unknown. When Yamaki donated the now 390-year-old white pine bonsai tree to be part of a 53 bonsais gifted by the Nippon Bonsai Association to the United States for its bicentennial celebration in 1976, all that was really known was the tree’s donor. Its secret would remain hidden until 2001, when two of Yamaki’s grandsons made an unannounced visit to the Arboretum in search of the tree they had heard about their entire lives. Through a Japanese translator, the grandsons told the story of their grandfather and the tree’s miraculous survival. 

     “After going through what the family had gone through, to even donate one was pretty special and to donate this one was even more special,” says Jack Sustic, curator of the Bonsai and Penjing museum. Yamaki’s donation of this tree, which had been in his family for at least six generations, is a symbol of the amicable relationship that emerged between the countries in the years following World War II.
     In all, this day should be observed with consideration for the legacy of immense loss and destruction caused by the events of 6 August, 1945. However, the story of the bonsai is a reminder of both the strength and resilience of the Japanese people and the changes made in regard to international relations since that day. Regardless of how you feel about the bombing of Hiroshima, it was a human experience and part of history that provides so much for us to learn from. 

Thanks for reading,

     Delany

World War Wednesdays: How High Were the Stakes?

World War Wednesdays: How High Were the Stakes?

    

 

     We've all heard the phrase, "If we hadn't won the war, we'd all be speaking German". It is usually said to emphasize the contributions of our veterans in the great effort to halt Nazi Germany's conquer of foreign territory. Never once have I ever doubted the significance of our veterans in this effort, but one really cannot help but wonder if this was in fact a real possibility had their efforts been unsuccessful. I've decided to compile the absolutely true, proven with documentary evidence plans that the Axis powers had for North America during the Second World War (and exclude any conspiracy theory, "what if" history) in the hopes that we can gain a better understanding of just how high the stakes really were when it came to defending our home territory.

 

 

Hitler and his generals planning strategy

     First off, I'd like to discuss the big myth: did Hitler really want to convert North Americans into a satellite population of his sea of blonde-haired, blue-eyed followers? Were we really destined to learn German and change our way of life if he conquered our country? What is essential to remember when considering this issue is that the essence of Hitler's plans when he began conquering territory and thus beginning the war was his desire to control Eastern Europe and Eurasia. His focus was on conquering the territory in the east, exterminating its existing populations, and using the land to resettle German people in order to repopulate the German race. This is evident in the way that Hitler insisted that  forces be focussed on the Eastern Front against the Soviet Union for the majority of the war (to his detriment). Thus, western Europe did not even rank high on his scale of importance, much less North America. In typical Hitler fashion, he still made sure that his opinion was known on both Canada and America. He certainly had stronger feelings about America and actually held the American society in contempt, stating that the United States (which he consistently referred to as the "American Union") was "half Judaized, and the other half Negrified". While he had no love for America, there was never an actual plan to act on that, and geography played a major role in the fact that no plans for a German invasion of America were ever evident to have existed. However, there were naval expansions reportedly for targeting the Western hemisphere, as well as long-range bombers that were designed to reach American cities. Another interesting fact is that Hitler believed the North American aboriginals to be Aryans, and Nazi propagandists even went so far as to declare that Germany would return expropriated land to the native tribes.
     In regards to Canada, Hitler had even less of an interest than with the United States. In general, he associated the two countries as being one continent of America, though our natural resources were recognized. While none of these things are favorable to North America, there does not appear to be any reason to believe that Hitler had any plans for the U.S. or Canada.


    However, this does not mean that nobody had plans for this massive continent. It seems that most people associate the threat of the Second World War to be related to Germany, when Japan was the nation with actual plans for destruction. In the same way that Allied propaganda always portrayed the Japanese enemy as apelike, inhuman, and with poor eyesight, Japan believed themselves racially superior to the incapable Whites.

     The first stages of the war in the Pacific, after Japan  had bombed the Americans at Pearl Harbor, marked enormous and quick victories which made its leaders dizzy with success. Extravagant plans were created for a massive Pacific empire including the already-conquered Southeast Asian and South Pacific areas, as well as Alaska, the western provinces of Canada, the northwestern United States, and large portions of Central and South America. Thus, in reality, Japan was the only power whose included the conquest of North America, and specifically made mention of Canada.

     Geography again played a major role in how this was to be carried out, and the Japanese developed innovative methods to cause destruction in North America. One strategy that was developed was the harnessing of air currents to send paper balloons equipped with incendiary material which would be caught in North American forests to burn down the continent's natural resources. Experts estimate it took between 30 and 60 hours for a balloon bomb to reach North America's West Coast.

The first balloon was launched on November 3, 1944. Between then and April 1945, experts estimate about 1,000 of them reached North America; 284 are documented as sighted or found, many as fragments. Records uncovered in Japan after the war indicate that about 9,000 were launched. While the balloons failed to achieve their intended purpose of massive destruction, they did have one lethal consequence: on May 5, 1945, five children and local pastor Archie Mitchell's pregnant wife Elsie were killed as they played with the large paper balloon they'd spotted during a Sunday outing in the woods near Bly, Oregon—the only enemy-inflicted casualties on the U.S. mainland in the whole of World War II.

     The Canadian War Museum has an interesting display on these balloons, should you ever find yourself there.

 

 

     In conclusion, I take it as an extremely fortunate thing that Hitler never got the chance to make plans for North America. None of this information discounts the efforts made by Canadian veterans during the war, but instead demonstrates that they were so significant that we never truly had to fear an invasion here at home. These stories are just a fraction of the crazy and mind-boggling things which came of the Second World War.

 

         Thanks for reading,

                     Delany