Quote:
Originally posted by Thomas McCall@Aug 12 2004, 12:48 PM
Was the landing of troops on the Hawaiian islands ever considered by the japanese high command as after the attack Pearl harbour was turned into an impreganble fortress. The ja[anese would never have had a better oppurtunity to land troops than they did on December 7th 1941.
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It was considered, but not in detail. The Japanese believed that maintaining the necessary occupation and defense force would be beyond their abilities. They did believe they could blockade the islands and neutralize them, however.
The greatest mistake? I don't think there's one single mistake: there's a bunch of them for the Axis alone:
1) German delays before Dunkirk.
2) Hitler's delays after the Fall of France.
3) German failure to organize a war economy (despite being a totalitarian state)
4) Nazi anti-Semitism, which denied them some great scientific services.
5) Hitler rushing into war before completion of air and naval construction plans
6) German invasion of Russia.
7) Failure to conquer Malta.
8) Inability to properly handle logistics.
9) Declaration of war on the United States (that was fatal).
10) Frittering away of manpower on private armies.
11) Decision to hold Stalingrad instead of withdrawing.
12) Kursk offensive.
13) Investment of time and energy in bizarre weapons, like the Do 335, Mistel, "super-tanks," and guided missiles.
14) Failure to safeguard communications.
15) "No retreat" orders as the war went on.
16) Hitler's hirings and firings of generals, which led to vacillation in times of crisis.
17) Hitler's micromanagment, which made it worse.
18) Belief that slave labor would successfully fuel war machine.
19) Nazi misunderstanding of strengths of democracies (moral, leadership, and economic).
20) Nazi credo, which worshipped destruction, sadism, kleptomania, and violence, which created moral leadership vacuums that supported wasteful and self-destructive policies.
21) Misreading of strength of Allied coalition.
22) Misreading of America by Japanese in planning war.
23) Divisions between Imperial Army and Navy that led to chaotic supreme command structure.
24) Failure to address sinkings of merchant ships and tankers by Japanese.
25) Misuse of powerful Japanese submarine arm.
26) Japanese over-reliance on "spirit" which led to overly aggressive operations and tactics.
27) Japanese arrogance in planning Midway and other actions, which also led to stereotyped operations.
28) Japanese failure to enlist Asians in war to create "Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere."
29) Japanese belief in "single decisive battle."
30) Failure of Japanese to train replacement aviators for those lost after first 100 days of war.
31) Mussolini's decision to enter "parallel war."
32) Italian pre-war failures to develop economy and military.
Those should do for a start.