Status Updates From Downfall: The End of the Im...

‘It is far too early to say that Japan has lost the war’ -Japanese Minister of War Korechika Anami, August 9th 1945

lmao

The morning of August 9th 1945 was wild. At 4am the Japanese leaders learn the Soviet Union has just declared war on them and launched a surprise invasion of Manchuria, at 10:30am the leaders meet in a panic to discuss how to deal with this new threat, and literally halfway through that meeting they get news that Nagasaki has just been hit by a second atomic bomb

I don't think this war is going super well for Japan

Continually losing my mind over the insanity of Japan’s military strategy in 1945

"By mustering millions of erstwhile civilians into the area swept by bombs, artillery, and small-arms fire, Japan's military masters willfully consigned hundreds of thousands of their countrymen to death. They would compel Americans to treat all Japanese as combatants or fail to do so at their peril. It was a recipe for extinction."

My continuous experience with this book so far:

*finishes a page*

'Wow, I don't see how the war situation can get much worse for Japan right now'

*flips to next page*

'Oh, that's how'