In reading through Final Entries 1945: The Diaries of Joseph Goebbels, I was thankful I only had to make my way through a few months of his mindless ramblings instead of being forced to read his many years of diaries...It might be interesting to read a summary of his earlier entries to compare how his worship of Adolf Hitler further poisoned his limited thinking, but there's not enough Alka-Seltzer in Texas to neutralize the acid that would have eaten my stomach...
Goebbels is said to have always been blessed with an absorptive mind capable of retaining data and information, and that shows in his ability to concentrate on multiple tasks, but I see no creative or analytical thinking as he just peddles the products of others...However, he was capable of devotion, loyalty and fealty as he never wavered from what he viewed as the Nazi ideology...
His loyalty to Hitler's flawed philosophies, and his constant reassurance to him that the Nazi failures were always the result of conspiracies from imaginary shadowy Jewish figures and bungled schemes by his own military staff, made him the perfect toady to Hitler's megalomania...He never wavered in believing Hitler was the divine guide to a perfect world, but had no problem in assigning blame, doubt and criticism to those chosen by Hitler for high posts in his regime...
I give credit to Hugh Trevor-Roper for his intrepid efforts to assemble this melange of twisted thought without inserting his own usual sarcastic criticism...I suppose he knew Goebbels' flaws were evident enough on their own...By contrast Samurai! by Saburo Sakai was a real delight to read...
In comparing the motivations of Goebbels with those of Sakai strictly within the confines of the reasons for war of their respective nations, it seems both were true believers in their causes, although Germany's were political and rooted in hatred, while Japan's were more nationalistic, and based on greed...Goebbels was willing to kill millions regardless of who they were, as long as he wasn't compelled to watch; Sakai faced death as a warrior willing to kill whoever stood in the way of victory, accepting the knowledge that his own body might lie among the dead as the smoke cleared...
It became obvious immediately by reading his words that Sakai entered the war strictly for patriotic reasons and devotion to country, without regard to political philosophy, or hope of personal gain...Throughout the book he expressed no animosity over never being recognized for his achievements by way of military awards or promotion, although he knew he was widely known as an airborne warrior...
Sakai originally entered service in the JIN as a youth, primarily as an escape from poverty, and a way to provide for his mother and siblings left at home to scratch out a living on a subsistence farm...He accomplished that goal, but quickly learned he had the basic talents needed by pilots, and gratefully accepted a chance at flight training as a way of escaping the harsh, brutal treatment meted put to lower ranking seamen...
Contrary to many accounts I've seen in other first-hand tellings of the hatred displayed between Axis and Allied opponents in WWII, nowhere in his book does he display the personal acrimony demonstrated by some warriors who felt the need to loathe the enemy to justify his destruction...Rather Sakai looked at death as an impersonal result of battle meant as a way of convincing the enemy to sue for peace...He even lauded the skill and bravery of Allied flyers as they opposed his own forces...
One insight I picked up concerning the fight for Iwo Jima was that the American forces could have had the island just by walking ashore in the summer of 1944, as it was practically defenseless...The Japanese naval command was deeply stung and confused by what they saw as a crushing defeat of their own forces in the Marianas Campaign...They saw the Allied forces as free to roam the Pacific at will, and knew that Iwo Jima, with its strategic airfield, must be a high-value target...
Sakai's wing was ordered immediately to establish an air defense with all the aircraft they could muster, which was no more than 30 Zeroes manned by mostly inexperienced pilots, added to the remaining handful already there...At this time, Sakai was blind in one eye from battle wounds, and was ordered to Iwo Jima strictly as an operations planner...Knowing the critical need for combat-savvy flyers, he also assumed the role of flight leader, despite orders grounding him...
The expected air battle took place during which American fighters decimated the Japanese air forces until less than half a dozen flightworthy planes remained in the first week of July...But the invasion was withheld for seven months as General Tadamachi Kuribayashi moved 23,000 additional troops onto the island, and rebuilt its defenses...
In woulda-shoulda hindsight, had the American invasion commenced the previous July with the forces available to the allies at that time, untold thousands of lives might have been spared, and the war might have ended sooner...But then Joe Rosenthal would have had to wait for another Pulitzer Prize opportunity...And Douglas MacArthur might have been denied his photo op wading ashore at Leyte that October...
As I replace both these books on my shelves, I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to study both first-hand accounts of a terrible lesson in which humanity's survivors should have learned the value of peace...But as I read the headlines everyday, the evidence is clear that the price was paid, but the buyers were cheated...
EDITORIAL NOTE: Many thanks to the Wannabe Literary Council for recommending "Samurai!" which is now on the Truckman Highly Recommended list...
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