What is Digg?81 Comments
- Eastlygod, on 10/12/2007, -1/+28They're pretty amazing. It just gives you a feel of the horror and devastation that people must have been feeling when it happened all those years ago. Good Digg.
- 1111, on 10/12/2007, -0/+23real photographs, inaccurate description says snopes
http://www.snopes.com/photos/military/pearlharbor.asp - Thumpster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/g10000/g19948.jpg
Original photo from the Navy archives.
The version on this page has been edited to try to recover some of the blown out areas. - thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13It's not ESP.
He's just been around Digg too long... sadly. - Arkonnan, on 10/12/2007, -6/+18Cue tinfoil hat tards who believe the President had advance knowledge of the attack and allowed it to happen so the US would have an excuse to join the war.
- slothlovechunk, on 10/12/2007, -4/+14How is that a reminder of 9-11? One is an attack on our military by another military, and the other is an attack on our civilians by a bunch of religious morons.
- thatsmyaibo, on 10/12/2007, -8/+18Absolutely stunning pictures. To see this historical event some 40 years before i was born really gives you a sense of the devastation. It is very much a reminder of 9-11.
- shadekeiko, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Wow, those are truly impressive shots. I hope these photos will help encourage people to always remember Pearl Harbor and the people who lost their lives.
- ZackRabbit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9http://www.digg.com/users/ZomgMana/commented
Always with the "Pics or it didn't happen" - AlphaEta, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Christ Almighty man! Do you have ESP or something? You come along with this comment, then sure enough a couple of minutes later people start talking about how it wasn't a surprise attack. I've gotta say...I'm impressed!
- stonebear, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I see you are getting into the spirit of the occasion with a pre-emptive strike. I hope you aren’t Japanese.
- Conwaysb0718, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Boy when you are right you are right somebitches. IMMEDIATELY following the attack on Pearl Harbor the U.S. Dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I despise you.
- iOsiris, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Its amazing how much of an advantage of a first strike has
- mathmanjeffy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6It's not an issue of whether or not the United States knew an attack was coming, it was an issue of whether or not the United States knew an attack was coming to Pearl Harbor.
Pearl Harbor was ruled out fairly early by military strategists for various reasons. The two primary ones: it was too remote to hit with the short-range aircraft used at the time by the Japanese navy and the waters of Pearl Harbor were too shallow for traditional Japanese drop-torpedoes (torpedoes that were dropped by the aforementioned short range Japanese aircraft).
There were message intercepts using the JN-25B/PURPLE cryptographs which stated a few things that would have made Pearl Harbor a much more likely target:
1.) The Japanese were routing thousands of barrels of aircraft fuel to seemingly remote carriers in the mid-Pacific (these were for refueling the short-range Japanese aircraft).
2.) The Japanese were modifying their dropped torpedoes with "wings" so that it would travel at much shallower depths than previously required.
Unfortunately, due to the concentration on the German codes at the time, there was really only one permanent scientist/mathematician working on decoding the Japanese codes. Because we were not at war with Japan, most of the fluctuating team's focus was placed on the Japanese civilian codes used by trade ships in the South Pacific and the codes used by the Japanese diplomats in Washington. All this meant JN-25B was not adequately cracked until after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Quite simply, we knew an attack was coming but we didn't know where. - thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7@silencer
If your selected quotes are both accurate and all-encompassing of the situation, FDR made one of the most brilliant military decisions of the war.
Meeting the Japanese fleet at that time was not going to put an immediate stop to the fighting. They still had dozens of islands to re-take in the pacific and being able to read the Japanese codes is INVALUABLE. It probably saved millions of lives in the Pacific. Both on our side and the Axis.
At the best case, the Navy moved their carriers off on very believable missions that protected our MAJOR defense of the West coast of the USA. So, call it what you may. Surprise attack, Ignored warnings. It came down to one thing. We saved our major military assets for the long fight to come and we motivated the American public to do something about a war that WOULD eventually come to our shores.
If Hitler and the Axis HAD won over and controlled all of EurAsia, where do you think they would come next? Also, how could we hope to beat the onslaught of two full CONTINENTS of materials and men? - Silencer7, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6The 'surprise attack' story is, I am afraid, a very hard sell.
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/pearl/www.geocities.com/Pentagon/6315/pearl.html
Excerpts:
"# 5 Dec. - At a Cabinet meeting, Secretary of the Navy Knox said, "Well, you know Mr. President, we know where the Japanese fleet is?" "Yes, I know" said FDR. " I think we ought to tell everybody just how ticklish the situation is. We have information as Knox just mentioned...Well, you tell them what it is, Frank." Knox became very excited and said, "Well, we have very secret information that the Japanese fleet is out at sea. Our information is..." and then a scowling FDR cut him off. (Infamy, Toland, 1982, ch 14 sec 5)
# 5 Dec. - Washington Star reporter Constantine Brown quotes a friend in his book The Coming of the Whirlwind p 291, "This is it! The Japs are ready to attack. We've broken their code, and we've read their ORDERS."" - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5The 9/11 of its day.
- Shirk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4That first pic looks like it was Google Earth'd on December 7th, 1941
- thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Unlike what is happening now.
- thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4why not supply your own reasoning?
- andrewry, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Absolutely amazing pictures of great quality.
It was a great tragedy in our history, but we never gave up. - thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4@RRJackson
Tell that to everyone in Israel.
Or better yet... tell that to any surviver of Auschwitz. - SpeKopuZ, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3awesome pictures ;)
- Asianwaste, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5@ somebitches
As opposed to throwing more of our troops into a gradual but costly victory? I've been to Hiroshima at Memorial Park and Museum. You'd be surprised that even many Japanese felt that the atomic bomb was the correct choice. - mathmanjeffy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3""This is it! The Japs are ready to attack. We've broken their code, and we've read their ORDERS."""
This more than likely is with regards to orders from Japan to their diplomats in Washington. We had broken those codes with fairly good success. The messages sent to the diplomats were more along the lines of stall tactics and last-minute efforts to keep us out of the war long enough for the Japanese to be ready to respond to the US Fleet.
The Japanese Navy was a very strong contender in the war basically until the Battle of Midway. The only problem Japan was truly having was supply problems, particularly with fuel oil. Delay was required for various reasons, but getting enough fuel to power all its ships and aircraft was one of them. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@ITDefPat
"Evil Empires"...heh...are only as strong as the willingness of their populations to live under them. We aren't talking about China or Russia. We're talking about Europe. Europe, particularly western Europe, wouldn't have tolerated a dictatorship.
It's worth pointing out that Hitler, as ***** insane as he might have been, was more protective of European interests than any major European leader of the last century. He was beyond xenophobic. He looked at the trade routes that had been established during the crusades as bringing an unwelcome middle-eastern element into Europe and he wanted to reverse that trend. That was really obvious with his treatment of Jews and gypsies, but it was also apparently one of the reasons he persecuted representatives of Christian religions as much as he did. It's been suggested that he saw Christianity as a middle-eastern religious philosophy that had trampled over native European history and philosophy. So, even though he was patently nuts, his dedication to a strong Europe was really beyond question. It's hard to see any of the real historical significance of those events now because we've all been indoctrinated to see WWII in simple terms of good vs. evil, which it really wasn't. - sundancekid503, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Seems like in this case it had the advantage of really pissing everyone off...
- BAAAAD2749024, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2By planning his attack on a Sunday, the Japanese commander Admiral Nagumo, hoped to catch the entire fleet in port. As luck would have it, the Aircraft Carriers and one of the Battleships were not in port.
At a range of 230 miles north of Oahu, he launched a two-wave attack. Beginning at 6am his First wave consisted of 183 fighters and torpedo bombers The second strike, launched at 7:15am, consisted of 167 aircraft, - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Oh my, I'm sorry, I accidentally dug your comment *up* instead of down. My apologies to the rest of the universe.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"Nazi Europe" would have been infinitely better than a Europe torn in half and living through decades of cold war with the Soviet Union. Eventually political reforms would have removed the Nazi party from power and left behind an united Europe.
- ikiryou, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I couldn't go so far as to say it was akin to 9/11. Pearl Harbor was a military target, after all.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@thcobbs
That's a nice card to play. "But we saved the Jews!" The common number thrown around is six million Jews who died during the war. Of course, by dividing up Europe with Russia we allowed around 20 million Russians to be killed as part of the Soviet ethnic cleansing program. We also killed about five million Germans in the process of winning the war. Yes, ethnic cleansing during the war was a mess, but a lot of people died as a result of that war. It wasn't just Jews. - Dankness, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Imagine the feeling of knowing something massive was going to go down. At the same time having not the slightest clue as to when. This day was a, now familiar, example of mis-communication between agencies. Luckily there has only been a few honest mistakes in American history, outside the blunders, that have lead to such disasters.
Good reminders of an event near forgotten. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2BTW, this is allegedly the political boundaries Germany had in mind.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6b/WorldMap12.JPG
Red areas belonging to Germany, Green areas to Italy, Blue areas to Britain, and yellow areas belonging to Japan. It's a pity it didn't work out that way. - pw1388, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1damn i never seen these pic and i live in hawaii. lol
- phrawgh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1They did, check it out
http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=245 - polyGone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Still accomplishes the same thing.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@thcobbs
Heh...yeah, 'cause getting hit on some remote Pacific island was enough to send "the pacifists" running into a cave. This stuff is hilarious. Hawaii didn't even become a state until 1959. Most people had no idea where it was in '41. It would be like hearing that Tutuila had been attacked. "They've bombed Tutuila! We should surrender!" It was an American naval outpost from the days of the big battleships when you had to maintain ports all over the world where you could refuel and rearm. It was of strategic value only if you planned to carry out a campaign in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It isn't like the Japanese invaded California. - thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@RRJackson
Yes, it would be. - shyguy01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It's a shame black and white was all they had, because some of those (like the fireball) would have looked spectacular in colour.
- kazuhima, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5@chriskzoo
im half japanese. ***** you dude. - da_bradler, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3I had no idea there were that many ships in port during the attack Dugg for the pictures and the facts at the bottom, was that the entire american pacific fleet?(besides the noted ships not in). crazyness
- Cl1mh4224rd, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Yeah, I wouldn't really call two nukes to the face an advantage for the Japanese... :-/
- thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Correction,
It was not SUPPOSED to be a surprise attack. It's just that the Japanese ambassador was late in delivering a letter. - mathmanjeffy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3...
Except "disillusionment" under Bush won't require a Civil War killing millions of more people in the process to get rid of him... There is infrastucture in place and, at the very least, 2 more years total that he can be a "threat to the world." No such infrastructure existed to any real intent under Nazi Germany. I would assume this would extend into "Nazi Europe" as well. - rampancy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Lest We Forget.
- zip000, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Crap, A dugg "somebitches" before I actually looked at the pictures he linked to...
I do think the dropping of atomic bombs was wrong - but I also think linking to those pictures is distasteful to say the least. - kazuhima, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@thcobbs
k, that totally doesnt make sense and doesnt justify him bringing that word up >_>;
when some dude uses the n-bomb in a digg comment, people complain about it. so i dont see why i cant complain about it without having some guy like you stopping me. - bluenash, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1History should remember (it should but it doesn't) what happens when you piss America off.
- Makaveli, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Those photos are amazing indeed, 2000 dead,that ***** is whack.
Surprise attacks are for pussies -
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