Tag: Japan

U-boats Slaughtered Americans in 1942

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Soon after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, a bigger naval defeat killed twice as many Americans. After war was declared, the Germans quickly dispatched 20 submarines to American waters to sink commercial ships. During the first six-months of 1942, German U-boats sank 225 American merchant vessels along the Atlantic coast. As defenses improved, U-boats sailed into the Gulf of Mexico to slaughter ships. More than 4600 American merchant sailors and civilians perished, while Germany lost just eight small U-boats and 332 crewmen. The US Navy was unprepared to defend American waters, so U-boats slaughtered 397 defenseless American ships while President Roosevelt kept this disaster secret.

U-boats Slaughtered Americans in 1942

At the Start of World War II Imperial Japan Was on a Roll

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Key Point: After six months, Tokyo would suffer great losses at Midway. However, before that happened the situation looked grim for the Allies.

Both sides needed reinforcements. For the Japanese and the Americans in October 1942, the battle for Guadalcanal was turning into a bottomless pit, demanding more and more scarce resources—in the air and at sea and, most importantly, on the ground. Control of the malarial, jungle-clad island and its airfield might determine the fate of the war in the Pacific.

At the Start of World War II Imperial Japan Was on a Roll

Almost every charge leveled at China today was leveled at Japan in the 1980s and 1990s.

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

It is worth noting that on the economic front, almost every charge leveled at China today—forced technology transfers, unfair trade practices, limited access for foreign firms, regulatory favoritism for locals—was leveled at Japan in the 1980s and 1990s. At the time, Clyde Prestowitz’s influential book Trading Places: How America Is Surrendering Its Future to Japan and How to Win It Back explained that the United States had never imagined dealing with a country in which “industry and trade [would be] organized as part of an effort to achieve specific national goals.” Another widely read book of the era was titled The Coming War With Japan. As Japanese growth tapered off, so did these exaggerated fears.

Fareed Zakaria