Thanx T.A.!

Got any idea how much faster the war in the Pacific would have ended if Roosevelt had decided "Japan first!"? Or would that have changed much the situation except for Europe of course?

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Thanks for the responses, Bill and T. A.

Think the results could have been a little worse than at Pearl, but as we all know, Japan was fighting a country with twice its population, 15 times its industrial power and 25 its economics. How on earth could Japan have won?

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"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun

It actually makes me doubt. When you see the amount of men and matériel that the US used in the 'secondary' theatre of operations that was the Pacific, then you must reconsider what the term 'secondary' means…

The US' sea power was mostly concentrated in the Pacific, though its forces deployed in Europe were of great strenght as well. So, you could call the ETO a 'secondary' theatre for the USN.

As long as the Lend & Lease programme was continued and even increased, the British and Soviets could have gone on fighting the Germans, though a full-scale invasion of Europe and a daylight bombing campaign on Germany weren't possible with full American support.

The British could have ended the North African campaign on their own and even invade Sicily without the Americans, but I doubt they could have kept going through the harsh Italian fighting. And of course Great Britain couldn't have a D-day on her own and deploy and supply 100 divisions at France.

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"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun

[/quote]It actually makes me doubt. When you see the amount of men and matériel that the US used in the 'secondary' theatre of operations that was the Pacific, then you must reconsider what the term 'secondary' means…

The US' sea power was mostly concentrated in the Pacific, though its forces deployed in Europe were of great strenght as well. So, you could call the ETO a 'secondary' theatre for the USN.
[/QB][/quote]

Welll it helped that the naval war in the Atlantic was essentially a war against an enemy who at that point was pretty much limited to submarines. This allowed the US to concetrate the majority of its heavy carriers to the Pacific Ocean as the CVE's were more than capable of leading the hunter-killer groups used to combat the submarine menace of the German Navy.

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Bill Murray
Why do we press harder on the remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?

Some Pearl Harbor pics:








These were of Japanese origin acording to the site. More from both sides on:

http://www.de220.com/Pearl%20Harbor/Pearl%20Harbor.htm

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Thanks for the site Kai. [img]smile.gif[/img] I'd seen most of the photos there before but their were a few that were new to me, especially the color photos of the Arizona, and the sequence of the Nevada trying to sortie.

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Bill Murray
Why do we press harder on the remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?

The carriers were here http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/dawk/CarrierChartE.jpg, Enterprise and Lexington, anyway. Saratoga was en route from Seattle to San Diego to complete an overhaul.

Enterprise had been scheduled to enter port on Dec. 6th but was delayed due to difficulty refueling the tin cans (heavy seas). Her planes were fired upon between the first and second waves. Enterprise really did want to get in on Saturday, she had big softball game scheduled for Sunday. With Arizona.

(Gee, my firstest post. )

Larry J (Yes, that "Larry J")

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WWII Resources. Primary sources.
The Myths of Pearl Harbor. Demythologizing the attack.
Hyperwar. Hypertext history of the Second World War.
Veteran: USN, 1969-1989