What do you think?
Rate this book
Shadows of Hiroshima
Book by Burchett, Wilfred G.
124 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
1 person is currently reading
68 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 23, 2019
An important book to read now, from someone who not only saw firsthand the devastation of the first atomic bomb but also spoke to many of the people on many levels of decision making subsequent to the attack. The relevance is as to how lies become the reality that sustain generations of people - like the lie that bombing Japan was a *necessity* to end the war - Burchett clearly and succinctly debunks this murderous myth.
He also managed to shed light on the psychological not to mention physical destruction as well as path to healing and redemption.
This slim volume was so dense with information, historical analysis, drama and insight that it took a long time to digest. This is a powerful book that I’m sure many wanted to see suppressed.
He also managed to shed light on the psychological not to mention physical destruction as well as path to healing and redemption.
This slim volume was so dense with information, historical analysis, drama and insight that it took a long time to digest. This is a powerful book that I’m sure many wanted to see suppressed.
January 1, 2020
My 63rd read on the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, hands down, the worst. While it is fair to say that there will be those who will always question the justification for the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, journalist Wilfred Burchett makes some ludicrous claims to support his contention that the use of these weapons were not necessary to ensure Japan's surrender. By early 1945 Japan indeed was a defeated nation, it had lost the air war, the sea war, Japanese ground forces throughout the Pacific were defeated, the American naval blockade had choked Japan's capacity to make war, Japan was defeated economically. All of this is undeniably true, and yet Japan refused to surrender. By April 1945 the Japanese Suzuki government embraced a war policy called Ketsugo whereby the home islands would be defended to the last man, woman, and child.
While repeatedly stressing the misery visited on the civilian population, Mr. Burchett does not assess Japan's lingering military capabilities. Richard Frank ("Downfall") and D.M. Giangreco ("Hell to Pay) have demonstrated that these capabilities were formidable. Burchett claims that the fears of mass casualties of Americans in an invasion of Japan were not made until after the war, and were made simply to justify the atomic bombings. This is utter nonsense. Based on the massive American casualties incurred in the capture of Okinawa, American military leaders expected severe casualties with the invasion of Japan's home islands. Staff working for Adm Nimitz calculated that the first 30 days of Olympic alone would cost 49,000 men. MacArthur's staff concluded that America would suffer 125,000 casualties after 120 days. Admiral Leahy estimated that the invasion would cost 268,000 casualties. Personnel at the Navy Department estimated that the total losses to America would be between 1.7 and 4 million with 400,000 to 800,000 deaths. The same department estimated that there would be up to 10 million Japanese casualties.
In his Preface Burchett writes that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki totally “dwarfed” the serial blitzes of the rest of the war. Seriously? What about the Allied bombings of Hamburg and Dresden? The fire bombing of Tokyo March 9-10, 1945 killed over 100,000 Japanese. General Curtis Lemay’s fire bombing of 67 Japan cities killed over 300,000, wounded over 400,000, wiped out one quarter of all housing in Japan, leaving 19 million homeless.
In Chapter 1 Burchett provides a memorandum from the Swiss Legation in Tokyo sent to the US State Department on 11 August 1945 that states “the city of Hiroshima (is) a provincial town without any protection or special military installations of any kind, but also none of the neighboring region of this town constitutes a military objective." In actuality, at the time of the atomic bombing, Hiroshima was a city of industrial and military significance. It was the Headquarters of the Second General Army which commanded the defense of all of southern Japan. Also present in Hiroshima were the headquarters of the 59th Army, the 5th Division and the 224th Division. The city was defended by five batteries of anti-aircraft guns of the 3rd Anti-Aircraft Division. An estimated 40,000 Japanese military personnel were stationed in the city (20,000 of whom would die in the atomic blast). Hiroshima was in fact a supply and logistics base for the Japanese military, a communications center, a key port for shipping, and an assembly area for troops. At the time of the attack, the population was approximately 340,000–350,000. Hiroshima was not a “provincial” town.
In Chapter 2 Burchett writes of his time on HMS King George V during the battle for Okinawa. This battleship served as the flagship for the “ token” British contingent. Token? The British Pacific fleet participants in Task Force 57 included 5 fleet carriers, 2 battleships, 7 light cruisers, 14 destroyers, and 70+ auxiliary vessels.
I did not understand the purpose for Chapter 7, Hiroshima and the Cold War, until I stopped to learn that Burchett was a communist sympathizer and propagandist and most likely, a paid KGB agent. He defended the post-war Stalinist show trials in Eastern Europe, supported the Stalinist purges in Bulgaria and the Soviet Army's brutal crushing of the anti-communist uprising in Hungary. He had much praise for Mao's Great Leap Forward where up to 40 million Chinese starved to death. During the Korean War Burchett reported from "the other side" and falsely alleged that the US was engaged in germ warfare against North Korea. His journalism there was directed and paid for by the Chinese government. He was possibly the world's most influential anti-Vietnam journalist reporting the war from behind communist lines for more than ten years. Reporting from Cambodia he wrote that the new Pol Pot government was "one of the most democratic and revolutionary constitutions in existence anywhere". During the four year period of this communist Khmer Rouge government an estimated 1.5 to 2 million Cambodians died of starvation, execution, disease or overwork.
To end this with a brief summation, this is just another revisionist look at history. No one will dispute that the atomic bombings were horrible. I’ve come to believe that while the bombing of Hiroshima was needed to bring the Japanese to surrender, the bombing of Nagasaki was not justified. Peace was imminent and forthcoming without this killing action. That said, I find it despicable that Burchett ends his book with the likening of Hiroshima to Auschwitz.
While repeatedly stressing the misery visited on the civilian population, Mr. Burchett does not assess Japan's lingering military capabilities. Richard Frank ("Downfall") and D.M. Giangreco ("Hell to Pay) have demonstrated that these capabilities were formidable. Burchett claims that the fears of mass casualties of Americans in an invasion of Japan were not made until after the war, and were made simply to justify the atomic bombings. This is utter nonsense. Based on the massive American casualties incurred in the capture of Okinawa, American military leaders expected severe casualties with the invasion of Japan's home islands. Staff working for Adm Nimitz calculated that the first 30 days of Olympic alone would cost 49,000 men. MacArthur's staff concluded that America would suffer 125,000 casualties after 120 days. Admiral Leahy estimated that the invasion would cost 268,000 casualties. Personnel at the Navy Department estimated that the total losses to America would be between 1.7 and 4 million with 400,000 to 800,000 deaths. The same department estimated that there would be up to 10 million Japanese casualties.
In his Preface Burchett writes that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki totally “dwarfed” the serial blitzes of the rest of the war. Seriously? What about the Allied bombings of Hamburg and Dresden? The fire bombing of Tokyo March 9-10, 1945 killed over 100,000 Japanese. General Curtis Lemay’s fire bombing of 67 Japan cities killed over 300,000, wounded over 400,000, wiped out one quarter of all housing in Japan, leaving 19 million homeless.
In Chapter 1 Burchett provides a memorandum from the Swiss Legation in Tokyo sent to the US State Department on 11 August 1945 that states “the city of Hiroshima (is) a provincial town without any protection or special military installations of any kind, but also none of the neighboring region of this town constitutes a military objective." In actuality, at the time of the atomic bombing, Hiroshima was a city of industrial and military significance. It was the Headquarters of the Second General Army which commanded the defense of all of southern Japan. Also present in Hiroshima were the headquarters of the 59th Army, the 5th Division and the 224th Division. The city was defended by five batteries of anti-aircraft guns of the 3rd Anti-Aircraft Division. An estimated 40,000 Japanese military personnel were stationed in the city (20,000 of whom would die in the atomic blast). Hiroshima was in fact a supply and logistics base for the Japanese military, a communications center, a key port for shipping, and an assembly area for troops. At the time of the attack, the population was approximately 340,000–350,000. Hiroshima was not a “provincial” town.
In Chapter 2 Burchett writes of his time on HMS King George V during the battle for Okinawa. This battleship served as the flagship for the “ token” British contingent. Token? The British Pacific fleet participants in Task Force 57 included 5 fleet carriers, 2 battleships, 7 light cruisers, 14 destroyers, and 70+ auxiliary vessels.
I did not understand the purpose for Chapter 7, Hiroshima and the Cold War, until I stopped to learn that Burchett was a communist sympathizer and propagandist and most likely, a paid KGB agent. He defended the post-war Stalinist show trials in Eastern Europe, supported the Stalinist purges in Bulgaria and the Soviet Army's brutal crushing of the anti-communist uprising in Hungary. He had much praise for Mao's Great Leap Forward where up to 40 million Chinese starved to death. During the Korean War Burchett reported from "the other side" and falsely alleged that the US was engaged in germ warfare against North Korea. His journalism there was directed and paid for by the Chinese government. He was possibly the world's most influential anti-Vietnam journalist reporting the war from behind communist lines for more than ten years. Reporting from Cambodia he wrote that the new Pol Pot government was "one of the most democratic and revolutionary constitutions in existence anywhere". During the four year period of this communist Khmer Rouge government an estimated 1.5 to 2 million Cambodians died of starvation, execution, disease or overwork.
To end this with a brief summation, this is just another revisionist look at history. No one will dispute that the atomic bombings were horrible. I’ve come to believe that while the bombing of Hiroshima was needed to bring the Japanese to surrender, the bombing of Nagasaki was not justified. Peace was imminent and forthcoming without this killing action. That said, I find it despicable that Burchett ends his book with the likening of Hiroshima to Auschwitz.
January 24, 2024
Fascinating firsthand account of the aftermath with an ominous warning to the world… a short, devastating read. My heart breaks for them.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews