M. Bates Posted December 4, 2000 Share Posted December 4, 2000 Just had a good laugh at the History Channel today. The hour long programme was looking at the build up to the Japanese surrender, and the decisive factor of American air power in that surrender. Every so often a whimpish Japanese voice over would enter, and his typical sayings were, "Hiroshima was full of military installations and much of the civilian population had been evacuated." "Thank you for atom bombing us, with the civilian area which was central to our military effort being obliterated, we are able to produce excellent consumer electronic products." (Okay, I made that one up). Our voice of Japan also had this to say about the incident in Nagasaki: "The bomb landed close to two large aircraft factories." Obviously I am drawing from memory, but the tone of the programme was ridiculous, and it was obviously intended for Western digestion to clear our conscience over the atom bomb attacks following the conference of Truman, Stalin and Churchill. When the programme is repeated I'll endeavour to provide proper transcipts. [This message has been edited by M. Bates (edited 12-04-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terence Posted December 4, 2000 Share Posted December 4, 2000 Mister Bates, Sometimes the History Channel (having a shortage of original content) broadcasts documentaries/propaganda films that were actually made during the time period in question. Was this one of those? I only ask because these days it sure would be hard to characterize Hiroshima and Nagasaki as military targets and justify the atomic bombing that way. (Perhaps you can justify it some other way, I'm no expert on the period or the issue.) However, if the piece in question was shot in 1946 (for example), the context is a little different.. Terence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spook Posted December 4, 2000 Share Posted December 4, 2000 History Channel UK or US? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terence Posted December 4, 2000 Share Posted December 4, 2000 had no idea there was a uk history channel. my comments apply only to us version thereof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Bates Posted December 4, 2000 Author Share Posted December 4, 2000 Terence, It was the UK History Channel, but with all these things, I suspect that the UK and US History Channels share a lot of programming between themselves. The programme was modern (late 90s?), with voice overs by actors. So the American commentary has a little stars and stripes in the corner, and the Japanese commentary has a little Japanese flag. The commentary wording was all made up, but was obviously written to be representaive of each side's viewpoint at that time 55 years ago. ------------------ Great Quotes Maximus: "And what's that Rob? The rest of the world doesn't care? I can assure you that when Boris Yeltsin stepped down in Russia last New Years, the world cared. Oh wait, you live in Canada. That's right, Canada only cares 'aboot' Canada. The whole world could be on the brink of destruction and as long as Canadian soil isn't involved, they could care less. Does the phrase, "Isolationist China" mean anything to ya?" Rob/1: Lets just say I dont like americans ok... if you have a prolbem with that Minumis is one of the resions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maj. Bosco Posted December 5, 2000 Share Posted December 5, 2000 Never seen that peice on the history channel. What I've seen about the bombings on the history channel focused more on the American lives that would be lost had an invasion of the Japanese home islands. Wouldn't put it past them though. I saw one documentary on the history channel where they made it seem like once shermans were equipped with those attachments for ramming through boccage they never lost an engagement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maj. Bosco Posted December 5, 2000 Share Posted December 5, 2000 Hrm.. I guess this should've occured to me before I posted. Anyway... I'll bet the reason why the UK version focuses on the "military" value of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is that it's easier to justify it that way. I know that at least in America there isn't a lot of empathy for other countries. So, when Americans try to justify the bombings they focus on the American lives it saved, and when the Brits try to they focus on the war ending. Just my two cents of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manx Posted December 5, 2000 Share Posted December 5, 2000 Yeah...i saw it too. Think it was produced in 1996. Much of the documentary footage on The "History Channel" is shared with The "Battlefield" series. Do you guys in the US/Canada get either of these?. p.s. - did anyone in the UK see "The Third Reich In Colour" doc last night on Channel 5??. ------------------ COMBAT MISSIONS - CM News, Supplies & Resources WWW.COMBATMISSIONS.CO.UK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mord Posted December 5, 2000 Share Posted December 5, 2000 I keep hearing people saying things about justifying Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Why would anyone need to justify it? Both the US and the Brit viewpoint of the situation are correct I think, I don't see it as justification, it saved American lives and it ended the war, that's exactly what it did. If it's because there wasn't much of a military presence in either city, so what, it's war and not one that Britain nor America started. Not trying to pick an argument or make anyone mad just laying out how I see it. I never understood why the US had to give Japan a formal apology over that either, the situation called for the bomb and that's what was used. No one twisted the Japanese's arm into fighting. (Something that always made me wonder is how the Japs fit into the whole scheme of things with Germany. The Third Reich never struck me as a place for orientals. So if the Axis had won would Japan and Germany eventually have come to blows? The Japanese don't exactly fit the Aryan master race model)Anybody have any comments? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sitting Duck Posted December 5, 2000 Share Posted December 5, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Manx: p.s. - did anyone in the UK see "The Third Reich In Colour" doc last night on Channel 5??. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I was in London a couple of weeks ago and saw a whole series of these on the television in my hotel very late one evening. It's an amazing thing to see the color footage. BTW - I also stopped by the Imperial War Museum and spent a number of hours there. Did not have the time to get to Bovington. Being able to see and touch this equipment is also an amazing experience. [This message has been edited by Sitting Duck (edited 12-04-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saru3000 Posted December 5, 2000 Share Posted December 5, 2000 (Something that always made me wonder is how the Japs fit into the whole scheme of things with Germany. The Third Reich never struck me as a place for orientals. So if the Axis had won would Japan and Germany eventually have come to blows? The Japanese don't exactly fit the Aryan master race model)Anybody have any comments? Yeah,how about we stop using the word "Jap" on the board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest KwazyDog Posted December 5, 2000 Share Posted December 5, 2000 Hi Guys, Im going to lock this one up becuase it is a sensitive subject and will probably end up upsetting one side of the discussion or the other, and is also rather off topic. Interesting post though M Bates. I think in this day and age people should be very careful to read between the lines when watching such subject matter, especially with such media. There are always two sides to every story. Dan [This message has been edited by KwazyDog (edited 12-04-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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