Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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I have to agree with karl baba above. The Japanese set out to copy the West after Admiral Perry shot his way into their consciousness, and they realized they would have to compete or become a western colony like China, Indo China and the Phillipines. They modeled their army on the Prussians and their Navy on the British. Repeatedly they were told that to be taken seriously as a world power they would need an empire. The British in particular trained them to aspire to that.
America later hypocritically set out to block their efforts decrying colonialism while we occupied the Phillipines and backed the British, French and Dutch in Indo China along with the treaty ports in mainland China. We welcomed Chinese and Japanese laborers to Hawaii and the West Coast and then passed the Oriental Exclusion Act, something they still resent.
As for Pearl Harbor, a student of mine told me over 30 years ago that her father was a sailor stationed in Honolulu just before Pearl Harbor and the rank and file were placing bets in the bars on their off time as to when they would be attacked. They were only surprised by the ferocity and thoroughness of it all.
Seeing how young our sailors on the deck of the USS Ward looked, I was reminded of teaching last term at a Marine Corps expeditionary base on Okinawa up by the jungle warfare training area. Those guys looked just as young as he WWII sailors, even though many of them have done two or three tours in the Middle East already. Some of these veterans were so easily distracted by the giggly young female Marines in the class that I had to make the girls sit on one side and the easily distracted guys on the other. Married marines occupied the middle. War heroes and kids all at the same time. It never changes.
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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I wonder how our tankers felt about this.
The M4 Sherman was known as the "Ronson" (lights every time) "Tommycooker" and "Burning Grave"
The low velocity 75 mm gun was only effective against German tanks from the side or rear.
http://www.militaryfactory.com/armor/detail.asp?armor_id=40
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Park Rat
Social climber
CA, UT,CT,FL
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 9, 2012 - 08:56am PT
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(Park Rat, with all due respect the Norden didn't increase your chances of coming back from a mission it only increased the chances that you would hit the target you were sticking your neck out for.)
The reason I mentioned the bomb site was that it did save many lives.
Each time the men went out on a mission if they failed to reach the target or the bombs were off target two things could happen.
If they failed to reach the target they would have to be sent out again on another mission. If they reached the target but failed to hit the intended target, often a rail yard or bridge they would have to go back on a second mission to complete the job.
If the the bombardier had trouble lining up his drop site, as they did before the Norten came along. The bomb group would be forced to go around the target and make his second run. It was this second runs that often proved the most fatal, as the gunners on the ground now were prepared to shoot down the incoming bombers.
Every second over a target that is shooting at you can be fatal. That is why I mentioned the Norten it really did save lives because it was so accurate that the men did not have to risk their lives on a second or third go-round.
I hope that explains why I mentioned it. If you would like to know more about my husband's bomb group. See the 320th bomb group website. His squadron was the 442. There were four squadrons stationed together to make up 320th.
I'm including some pictures from the website. The 4 ship box picture was something my husband talked a great deal about. He felt it was the safest formation to be an during the combat. The closer the planes flew together the safer they were. because they could cover each other with their guns if they were attacked by fighter planes.
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