The Balloon Offensive
One of the commenters to the previous asked, how could the Japanese seriously believe that nostalgia would win the war?
The Japanese completely believed their image of the enemy. My favorite examples of how far this belief went are Fu-Go (hydrogen automatic-balloon bombs)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_balloon
http://www.airpower.au.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1968/jan-feb/conley.html
and submarine air carriers.
Fu-go were mulberry bark balloons equipped with a 15 kg bomb; these balloons were carried by the jet stream over the Pacific to attack coastal cities in the US and ignite forest fires. About 3% of such balloons actually reached the mainland and one of them killed a family of six. The balloon "offensive" started in the fall 1944 and lasted about a year. Seven of the balloons were recovered in Nevada, Colorado, and Texas. One of these balloons made it as far as Detroit! The expectation was civilian panic and distraction for the military.
Another queer project was I-400 class submarines (two of them were, actually, built).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-400_class_submarine
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/episodes/japanese-supersub-watch-the-full-episode/591/
...it was capable of carrying 144 people through 37,000 miles, it was three times the size of modern submarines. Japan wanted to use these ships to launch aerial attacks in the continental United States. To do this, it used four Aichi attack bombers, each capable of carrying an 800-kilogram bomb. When their mission was complete, the bombers returned to the submarine, landing on the water using floats.
To dream that the course of war against the US (especially, in its late stages) can be won with paper balloons or submarine-laucnhed hydroplanes, you have to believe your own nonsense. They were absolutely convinced that the support for the war in America was very thin and even the slightest "demoralizing action" would tip the balance, with the US government collapsing and America leaving the Empire alone. Reality did not make the slightest dent in this belief.
What I find surprising is that people make the same mistake over and over again: they refuse to believe in pathological thinking even when they see it in all of its glory. They think that the other guy is rational, more-or-less like themselves, it is just playing a card. The theory is always that one is not dealing with lunatics with whom negotiations are useless in any sense of the word.
Insanity has all of the strategic advantage.
The Japanese completely believed their image of the enemy. My favorite examples of how far this belief went are Fu-Go (hydrogen automatic-balloon bombs)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_balloon
http://www.airpower.au.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1968/jan-feb/conley.html
and submarine air carriers.
Fu-go were mulberry bark balloons equipped with a 15 kg bomb; these balloons were carried by the jet stream over the Pacific to attack coastal cities in the US and ignite forest fires. About 3% of such balloons actually reached the mainland and one of them killed a family of six. The balloon "offensive" started in the fall 1944 and lasted about a year. Seven of the balloons were recovered in Nevada, Colorado, and Texas. One of these balloons made it as far as Detroit! The expectation was civilian panic and distraction for the military.
Another queer project was I-400 class submarines (two of them were, actually, built).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-400_class_submarine
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/episodes/japanese-supersub-watch-the-full-episode/591/
...it was capable of carrying 144 people through 37,000 miles, it was three times the size of modern submarines. Japan wanted to use these ships to launch aerial attacks in the continental United States. To do this, it used four Aichi attack bombers, each capable of carrying an 800-kilogram bomb. When their mission was complete, the bombers returned to the submarine, landing on the water using floats.
To dream that the course of war against the US (especially, in its late stages) can be won with paper balloons or submarine-laucnhed hydroplanes, you have to believe your own nonsense. They were absolutely convinced that the support for the war in America was very thin and even the slightest "demoralizing action" would tip the balance, with the US government collapsing and America leaving the Empire alone. Reality did not make the slightest dent in this belief.
What I find surprising is that people make the same mistake over and over again: they refuse to believe in pathological thinking even when they see it in all of its glory. They think that the other guy is rational, more-or-less like themselves, it is just playing a card. The theory is always that one is not dealing with lunatics with whom negotiations are useless in any sense of the word.
Insanity has all of the strategic advantage.