I don’t buy it. The Japanese were FANATICS when it came to their homeland and their emperor. They would have fought to the death against ANYONE.

The allies had to agree not to remove Hirohito as a condition of Japans surrender, which still puzzles me. The dude should have been tried for war crimes.
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I'm not an expert on the Pacific theatre but my understanding is that at that point in the war Japanese high command was under no illusions about their chances. Their idea was to make a US invasion of the mainland sound so unpalatable to the US that they could negotiate favorable terms with the help of the Soviets (who had been neutral in the Pacific). After Stalin, who wanted more influence in the Pacific, declared war and the Red Army invaded Manchuria that went out the window. Couple that with the bomb and I'm sure both played a big role.

I've always heard that Hirohito was largely a puppet of the military but you're right about a lot of Japanese war criminals getting off.
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Don't ever fuck with the Russians. They don't give a shit. The war will either end in your annihilation or every last one of them will die trying to kill you.
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Didnt seem to be the case in Afghanistan.
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The Afghanis didn't invade Russia.
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Or Finland. They did take the richest part of Finland, Karelia, and managed to run it into the ground so fast that Finland doesn't want it back. They however failed to take the rest of the country.
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Finally saw this. Phew. Powerful stuff. I was brought to tears twice.
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I was texting dad during this and out of the blue he tells me our scottish godparents gave tea and toast to the brits getting off the civilian ships after the evacuation.

Where the hell was that story 30 years ago? :-)
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