"50 Days of War and Peace or Why Harry Dropped the Atomic Bomb! is a two volume book.
"Between the moment the atomic bomb was tested on July 16, 1945 (Chapter 1) and the peaceful mass surrender of the 2,500,000 Japanese military servicemen on outlying Pacific Islands on September 3, 1945 (Chapter 50), tens of thousands of people were being killed. Japanese military officers were constantly debating heatedly about surrendering or fighting until the last Japanese died. Each day (50 days-50 chapters) there were constant meetings, and many of them included the presence of Emperor Hirohito. The confrontations are detailed each day, and they led to the killing of a Japanese general and a lieutenant colonel on the Palace grounds by other Japanese officers during the coup d'etat attempt.
"Every Battle report and secret intercept discloses the intensity of the air, land, and sea battle each day. They reveal what every combatant nation knew; what they thought they knew; and what they did not know! More than 20,000 Japanese soldiers were killed in Burma during the last 11 weeks, and the location of the individual military units and their commanders are identified in the South-East Asia Command Battle Reports of Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten. Scores of battles continued daily throughout China, including the beginnings of the Chinese civil, the Viet Nam, and the Korean Wars. The invasion of Manchuria on August 9, 1945, is followed each day as 1,000,000 Russians stormed from the West, North, and East to occupy the Manchurian territory and take over 1,000,000 Japanese soldiers and civilians as prisoners.
"Detailed are all the naval battles in which the American and British ships were participating when they were crashed by the Kamikazes. The damage and sinking, the sailors who were killed or wounded, and the activities of more than 1,630 ships are revealed from documents released by the archives of the United States Navy. The complete naval battle of Leyte Gulf is detailed ship by ship and shot by shot, and identified are each of the heroic smaller ships who won. The tragic sinking of CA Indianapolis after she delivered the atomic bomb at Tinian. Fly with the planes who were on regular missions, and become aware of the internal activities before and during the dropping of the two atomic bombs by two different B-29's.
"Revealed are the minutes of meetings conducted by President Harry Truman which involve the decision to drop the bomb and the subsequent orders to make the drop after Truman left Potsdam. There are more than 1,730 persons in this book, and there are scores of stories about them- some tragic, some humorous, but always interesting. All the activities of the communist spies are revealed from their confessions.
"An enlightening research section of 60 pages is FOR YOUR INFORMATION which explains to the reader the difference between military ranks; types of warships and planes; abbreviations used; location of 2,500 cities, towns, and villages in the book; the activities and positions held by the 1,730 persons; and, a great deal of other information.
"About the Author: Dr. Edgar Leo Anderson, Ph.D. served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He is the son of Sgt. Gerald Anderson who served in World War II in the U.S. Army. His son, Sgt. Gerald Anderson, served in the U.S. Marines during the Vietnam War."
1 comment:
Thank you for this review! I look forward to reading this book. Regardless of one's political stance, it is refreshing to see someone examine this issue within the actual context it occurred. Too often, one reads accounts of the atomic bombings as though they were some sort of impromptu decision (as if the U.S government woke up one morning and just decided to drop nuclear weapons on Japanese cities). What is left out is what was going on daily in the still-unfinished Pacific War that had been raging since the end of 1941. As critics of the decision don't always acknowledge, a Japanese surrender prior to August 6th would have prevented the entire tragic episode. (A surrender AFTER the sixth would have prevented Nagasaki, as well).
WWII buffs might want to check out my new novel, THE FUHRER VIRUS. It is a spy/conspiracy/thriller for adult readers and can be found at www.eloquentbooks.com/TheFuhrerVirus.html, www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, and on Google Review. Read a recent review on PODBRAM.
Thank you!
Paul Schultz
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