Yes, admiral nagumo certainly did have a dilemma. I like how this is done and it is worth a watch for those that enjoy watching accurate information about historical events.
Especially, the way he gives us the Japanese perspective.
Worth a watch.
Watched that the other day.
It was a dizzying round of events that led to a U.S. victory but it could of gone the other way if things hadn't played out like they did.
They were kicking our ass in the early stages of the clash.
Yes. and there would have been a distinct possibility if things went differently here or there that they would have won. Closer than we may think. For instance, IF the carriers were in Pearl Harbor, they ALL would have targeted them.
Then the subsequent battles and IF their plan had gone they wanted it to (which was to win it within a very short time) they would have won it. They would not have "invaded America" but all of those trading routes would have been entirely theirs.
Fortunately for us, fate was on our side. They really lost the war, when the carriers were not in Pearl Harbor. Battleships were proven out to be rather obsolete after WWII and there has been rather little need for them since. That, was their biggest victory at Pearl Harbor, which as it turned out, not to be a big victory at all from strictly a strategic stand point.
After Midway and the Coral Sea failures of the Japanese, it was all inevitable. From the Sun Tzu, the war was lost, essentially before it even began.
Yes, the Japs were scumbags, and their atrocities in a lot of ways made the nazis look like pious Saints essentially. I personally could not give a shit less about any of them.
The bombs, however, were not for Japan. That was to prevent a prolonged drawn out war with the USSR, which this country did not have a stomach for. While we would have had all of the logistical advantages over the commies (liberal heroes), the American losses would have been too substantial. England did not have the stomach to be our allies in it, so we would have gone alone.
The bombs were to force Stalin to back the **** off.