Of course it isn't true you imbecile. But some Japanese thought or hoped it was. After all, ceremonial seppuku costume was white.
"If we could have three million bamboo spears we could conquer Russia easily," War Minister Anami is reputed to have said in the Diet. p.447
"The full horror of their effects would not be known for months, or even years; and it was possible for some military leaders to convince themselves , and even others, that the damage had not been overwhelming. People who had been wearing white, it was claimed, had been only slightly burned." (p. 453)
"It was the blow that had fallen between the two atomic explosions that finally stopped the Japanese army - a blow from a direction long expected." (USSR attacked Manchuria on August 8, 1945 with 80 divisions, 26,000 tanks, 3,700 tanks, and 500 planes.) p. 454
From M & S Harries, Soldiers of the Sun Random House New York 1991. |
