THE GREAT PACIFIC WAR: U.S. v. JAPAN, 1940-1945 1 October 2020: FACTORS OF WAR Dr. Joe Fitzharris Professor Emeritus of History The University of St. Thomas
OVERVIEW • DISTANCE • LOGISTICS • KNOWLEDGE & TECHNOLOGY • STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE • TACTICAL INTELLIGENCDE • CULTURE • WILL TO FIGHT
DISTANCE • Physical Distance • Distance Matters • Modified by Technology SWAsia • Impact on War Fighting Mountbatten POA Nimitz • Speed and range of movement • Surprise and “Fog of War” • Command, control, communications SWPA MacArthur • Conceptual Distance • Continental v. Insular Society
SOME RELEVANT DETAILS • For the US, we have to GO to the enemy • US & UK armies mechanized • Despite interchangeable parts, the truck, plane, gun must be made in North America • For the UK, and our forces abroad, food, etc. have to COME to them • The wise enemy interdicts Lines of Supply - IJN submarine warfare doctrine
DISTANCE
Global Shipping Lanes
Sea Lines of Supply
World Airway Routes
“Halsey’sTyphoon” Cobra, 14 -19 Dec. 1944 • TF 38 sailed directly into eye of typhoon - court of inquiry ruled Halsey made “error of judgment” (no sanctions) • 3 DD capsized & sank - 790 men • 9 warships damaged 146 aircraft lost - communications and radar antennae damaged or destroyed • Meteorology an art trying to become a science and the met people got it wrong, but “Bull” made the decision
Warships in Typhoon Cobra, Dec. 1944
Oil was not the most critical item
Every vehicle, every Rubber was more critically short gasket, every hose than oil
DISTANCE IMPACTS OPERATIONS • Both IJN and USN developed fleet oilers, USN also added underway replenishment of food, ammunition, and other stores. • Cargo ships, oilers, and transports were developed to move, land, and supply troops. Hospital ships too. • Massive supply depots, repair bases, and hospital complexes were build all over the Pacific Area of Operations to reduce the need to return to either Pearl Harbor or the mainland for repairs or medical care.
DISTANCE • Physical Distance • Distance Matters • Modified by Technology SWAsia • Impact on War Fighting Mountbatten POA Nimitz • Speed and range of movement • Surprise and “Fog of War” • Command, control, communications SWPA MacArthur • Conceptual Distance • Continental v. Insular Society
MATERIEL OF WAR • DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT, AND PRODUCTION • CONSTRUCTION OF INFRASTRUCTURE • MAINTENANCE, REPAIR, AND REPLACEMENT • MANPOWER: RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING
Production • 1940 maneuvers: trucks as tanks, flour sacks as bombs, broomstick rifles • ~8.9 mil unemployed, factories - 40 hr/wk av utilization • 1944 - added 18.7 mil workers, factories at 90 hrs wk utilization • 1944- US produced 18k tanks, 16.3 mil ton ships (av tons ~12k - 2.5x 1940), 96k aircraft • Liberty Ship and T10 tanker - 3 mo av build time, launch 3/day
• Agriculture - fed allies too • US on rationing - higher food standard than during 1939! • Natl 35 mph speed limit and gas rationing - to save tires (rubber) • Standardized, pre-assembled, modular components, welded not riveted • Assembly line, not craftsman • Germ productivity 50%, Jpn 20% of US
I-40 Submersible Aircraft Carrier (3 Mar 1945 - Planned attack on planes) Panama Canal in late ‘45
KNOWLEDGE AND TECHNOLOGY • Quality of Secondary and Higher Education - rote learning or thinking • Scientific and engineering proficiency • Mechanical aptitude & “tinkering” • Does Technology supplement (hand-craft) or replace labor
Pre-war American Science was Provincial • the best minds were trained in Europe • Research was poorly funded • After 1938 (Krystallnacht) many German (especially Jewish) scholars fled, and many came to Einstein & Szilard the US Oppenheimer & Groves • 1939 Einstein’s letter to FDR about nuclear weapons led by 1942 to the “Manhattan Project” • We were really good at applied and developmental work and became good at basic research
Science Goes to War • K- and C-rations • Practical Psychology - PTSD • Winter gear • Sulfa drugs • Improved vehicles • dried blood & plasma • Jet aircraft • Surgical techniques • Radar, etc (metal plates) • Synthetic rubber and • board certified MDs POL • efficiency got higher rank
74th USN CB INFRASTRUCTURE IN A MARITIME ENVIRONMENT
Consider what the 74th ALL finished goods had to come CB needed to do its job from the mainland US
STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE • Essential to developing national grand strategy and the component strategies (economic, military, diplomatic,…) • Need to know values and goals: yours and theirs • Need to know political structure, economic strengths & weaknesses, social problems, etc. resources, of enemy and your own • Identify your “Center of Gravity” (the source(S) of national strength [your weakness(es) are often mirror images]
TACTICAL INTELLIGENCE • Supporting the Planning and Execution of Operations (Campaigns) • Supporting Battle Planning and Execution • Denial of tactical intelligence to the enemy is essential and you ideally want to know what the enemy does not know about you
CODE BREAKING • All codes are culturally referenced analysts must understand culture • ULTRRA - UK led against Germans - overall name too • MAGIC in the Pacific - Japanese codes: Midway, assassination of Yamamoto • Navy Cryptography group kept together by William Parker - in warehouse in St. Paul his company formerly used to build CG4 gliders • Engineering Research Associates - basis for MN TECH
Military Intelligence Language School - Camp Savage and Fort Snelling, 1942-1946.
CULTURE • Population: Size, Composition, Unity — RACISM? • Moral and Religious Values • Defer to authority/seniority? Hierarchical? • Inventive, Innovative, or Imaginative • Individualistic, Family, Group • Competitive v. Co-operative • Tolerance for Ambiguity and Risk • Planning horizon: long v. short term • Views of “the other” - stereotypes
US Cartoons
Japanese Cartoons
WILL-TO-FIGHT • National • Type of government and Responsiveness to public opinion • Ideological unity - Bushido • Group/Family and Individual • Identification w. society, Tolerance of Risk • Minority status • Dissenter status
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