Wich was the worst nation in the war?

[plan_D]

CBI was a side-show? Genius ...where did Japanese war material come from? And there were more Japanese troops fighting in China than against the U.S.

Why do you think Japan invaded all those areas? For the sheer hell of it? The PTO was fought over islands of strategic signifcance because of their position in relation to Japan. The CBI was fought for because it was the war heart of Japan, without it Japan wouldn't have lasted more than a year.

And good luck to the USN blockaded the entire pacfic ocean ...before you go mentioning "but we mighty Americans would blockade Japan."

[evangilder]

Originally Posted by syscom3

I didnt mean to denigrate their contributions, I was just pointing out that it was only 6 battalions as compared to a dozen US divisions.

That was only ONE example of many contributions. If you look at the link I provided, it shows the different regions and how much the British and commonwealth nations contributed.

[plan_D]

It must be anti-U.S propaganda, evan. Don't believe it!!!

[syscom3]

The weak point in the Japanese war machine was all their critical raw materials had to be shipped back to Japan by the maritime routes. It wasnt sent back there by truck, but by boat.

It wasnt the allied armies or air forces in CBI that shut down the flow of raw materials, but the USN. Once the choke points between China-Formosa-Luzon were patrolled regulary (and with torpedo's that worked) the Japanese war machine ground to a halt fast.

When there was a setback in CBI, did that have any effect in the political scene in Tokyo? Nope! But what happened when the Mariana's were taken? Tojo resigns. Thats cause even the Japanese leaders knew where the strategic battlefields were.

For the Japanese to win in CBI, all they had to do was keep the allies out of Burma and keep access to the raw materials. This they did successfully for quite some time. But once their maritime trade was interrupted, thats when they lost. In fact, its conceivable that just with submarines alone, the USN could have won the war.

Now what about all those millions of troops in CBI the Japanese had? It meant nothing because the main area of operations was in the SW Pacific and Central Pacific. The IJN did not have the shipping to move them to the area, and keep them supplied. Just having a single wolf pack operating in the South China Sea put more fear into the Japanese than all the allied troops in CBI.

I would say that in the summer of 1944, when we had the Mariana's, every allied unit in the CBI and the SW Pacific became irrelevant. Of course MacArthur saw it differently due to political concerns, but thats a different story.

One last comment. In 1944 when Gen Marshall and Adm King were planning their moves in the PTO, The Brits offered a plan for them to invade Burma. They thought so highly of that idea that they politley ignored it. They knew where the main battlefields were.

[plan_D]

It is quite obvious to me that you're looking at this from the sole U.S point of view. The Japanese thought of the CBI as a highly important theatre of war and it caused a lot of concern whenever the Allied forces in India and Burma made any kind of come back.

The Japanese GHQ staff were in deep trouble when they failed to take Imphal. It was paramount for Japan to hold Burma to shield their takings, and war heart in the South-West Pacific. The United States Navy never completely cut-off Japan from it's holdings. There was no one-hundred percent blockade so the CBI was always important.

And then let's look at those troops in the CBI fighting the U.S Marines landing on all those little islands. Not a pretty idea for the U.S to be attacking across islands that are manned by hundreds of thousands more men. There were more Japanese fighting in the CBI than in the PTO.

Had a priority been given to Burma then the Japanese war material heart would have been open to complete destruction by land forces. But the U.S was too busy making the war theirs alone. Even then Stilwell was constantly pressured by the U.S government to get the Ledo Road and Burma Road open as quickly as possible to put more pressure on the Japanese, in both China and Burma.

The USN would have had to divert forces a long way to invade Burma. Plus the invasion of Burma was already under-way in 1944. That hardly says anything about the CBI. After all, Mark Clark of the U.S 5th refused to cut off the German 10th Armee in Italy. Does that mean cutting off the 10th Armee was unimportant?

And let us remember what happened straight after Pearl Harbor that gave the United States Navy a vital breathing space. The IJN attacked India and Ceylon with five of the six aircraft carriers involved in Pearl Harbor. These carriers could have gladly kept up the pressure on the U.S and the U.S would have been struggling to keep them off.

Just because very few U.S troops didn't fight in the CBI it doesn't make it unimportant, syscom, no matter how much you want to believe it.

[evangilder]

Let's also not forget that the CBI was important for supplying the Chinese forces. There was the hump operation that was pretty successful there.

[102first_hussars]

syscom3 wrote:
I like looking at the face of a Canadian when an American team wins the Stanley Cup. Its priceless


Well technically for every American team in the Nhl, there are about 2-7 canadian players on each team so even though it was an american team that won the cup CANADA STILL WON THE CUP!!!

[Nonskimmer]

Yeah! I like that logic!

[evangilder]

Plus Russian players as well. Hard to call any team Canadian or American anymore.

[Nonskimmer]

Half the Canadian teams are Russian or Czech anyway these days.

[evangilder]

Yep, quite of few of them in the NHL these days. I remember when the guys with funny accents in interviews were the Canadians.

[Nonskimmer]

You mean les canadienne.

[FLYBOYJ]

1971 Montreal Canadiens....

Dryden
Richard
La Pointe
Lefleur
Mahovolich
Tremblay
Cournoyer
Beliveau
Robinson

[102first_hussars]

Nonskimmer said "You mean les canadienne"

Pardon my french but i think you meen Le Habitents

[102first_hussars]

syscom3 said
I stand by what I said. The US single handidly won the war in the PTO.

That is pure bull,

the Russians had put the largest contribution into pushing the Japanese out of china, British Military advisors taught Guerilla warfare to the People of Indochina, Im not sure but I think the Brits ended up taking Singapore back, what about the Strafings and Bombings done by the Canadian/U.S. Airforce on Japanese Shipping around the Aloutian Islands Huh?

And The Manhattan Project? the team of Scientists were a Mix of Canadians and Americans who developed the A-Bomb, also the Enriched Uranium ore that were used came from Canada,

So it was a like everyone says it was a team effort, and that arrogance is exactly what I had posted about earlier.