In article , "Keith Willshaw"
wrote:

"WalterM140" wrote in message
...
Hiroshima. Nothing ever even came close in effect importance or end
result.
End of story.


Gee, Art.

That just whacked a huge number of civilians.


Well no.

Hirsohima was not only the home port for much of the
Japanese Navy it was also the home of 2nd Army Headquarters,
which commanded the defense of all of southern Japan.

To avoid any confusion, it was 2nd _General_ army. A regular Japanese
"army" was more like an Allied corps, an "area army" was equivalent to a
field army (i.e., four-star command). General Army was somewhere
between Army Group and Theater Army.

There were large numbers of troops based there. At
least 3 divisions IRC

It was also a major communications center, a storage point,
and the embarkation port for most of the troops who
were sent to the Philipines, Malaya, China etc.

To quote a Japanese newspaper report, "Probably more
than a thousand times since the beginning of the war did
the Hiroshima citizens see off with cries of 'Banzai' the
troops leaving from the harbor."

Wouldn't a strategic air mission have to be something like the Dam
Busters
or
something?


Getting the enemy to surrender unconditionally is about as
strategic as it gets.

Keith