sandman455
Posts: 209
Joined: 7/5/2011 From: 20 yrs ago - SDO -> med down, w/BC glasses on Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Canoerebel How in the world could Japan have invaded and held the Hawaiian Islands if they barely managed to get a division ashore at Guadalcanal over an extended period - and never managed to get the division's heavy gear ashore? Guadalcanal and Pearl might not be completely similar since Japan might have been able to get more ashore at Guad had they managed to control the air, but the operation as a whole illustrated just how poor Japan was for managing a major amphibious operation. Hawaii? No way. While most of what is thread addresses much of the issues involved in attacking Hawaii, the conclusions are all based on conjecture. What is not is that the Japanese managed land a couple hundred thousand troops throughout the SRA during December 1941. The Philippines alone was over 120,000. This is indicative of what they were capable of with a few months planning. If there was a real desire to forget about the PI and put troops on the beaches of Hawaii in Dec41 they could have done it. How many and what would have been the result - who knows? Our game does a nice job of trying to figure that out. It would have been ugly no doubt but I'm not prepared to say it couldn't succeed. As for those who posted up about the civilian population - only the younger generation was all that patriotic. The elders - especially the 35-40% of Japanese decent - weren't from what heard and read. They were actually quite indifferent, and this included the elder Polynesians. These elders, while being too old to be much of a combat threat, wouldn't be so gungho to run out into the jungle and continue the fight. BTW it was this group that got interned. You got to remember this was a different era and a far different culture. You didn't dismiss the opinion of your elders so readily. If they weren't going to support your partisan activity, IMHO many of the patriotic youth might have been forced to bury their angst at least until there was just cause to start hating the enemy. Knowing the Japanese of this era - it wouldn't have been all that long.
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Gary S (USN 1320, 1985-1993) AOCS 1985, VT10 1985-86, VT86 1986, VS41 1986-87 VS32 1987-90 (NSO/NWTO, deployed w/CV-66, CVN-71) VS27 1990-91 (NATOPS/Safety) SFWSLANT 1991-93 (AGM-84 All platforms, S-3 A/B systems)
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