WWII Quiz

Major Kenji Hatanaka and Lieutenant Colonel Masataka Ida along with a few others planned a coup attempt on Emperor Hirohito on August 15, 1945. The plan was to seize the imperial palace to prevent the emperor from giving his speech. General Tanaka was asked to join the rebellion but refused. He then mobilized the Eastern District Army against the coup. The coup later failed because of this action.
 
Man, that took me a while. Here they are.

Maj. Kenji Hatanaka and Capt. Shigetaro Uehara. If you want the whole story I can now give it to you.

Dean.
 
it appears that its a bit complicating.
I was mistaken and said captain and was wrong. Mixed up with someone else.
Nevertheless, both of u got about half of it correct.
Major Kenji Hatanaka is one of them. The second was a Lt.Colonel.
sorry :D good luck!
 
The plotters were Maj. Hidemasa Koga, Lieutenant Colonel Masataka Ida, Capt. Nobuo Kitabatake, Capt. Shigetaro Uehara, Major Kenji Hatanaka and Lt. Col. Masataka Ida, Lt. Col. Masahiko Takeshita, Lt. Col. Masao Inaba, Lt. Col. Jiro Shiizaki and Col. Okitsugu Arao. There were a few others who also joined the plot, but their roles were minor. According to some sources, Col. Taro Watanabe was also involved, but the way I understand it, he was actually the victim of a forged order, and when convinced of the truth, he decided not to send his troops to reinforce those who had taken the Imperial Palace. When the plotters Maj. Kenji Hatanaka and Capt. Shigetaro Uehara saw that no more reinforcements were coming, they left the palace and committed hara-kiri. The troops were then led out of the palace and the pre-recorded surrender speech was aired. The Second World War ended at that time.
Interestingly enough, Matasaka Ida was indeed a plotter, but his role seems to have been quite minor. He did try to get others to join the plot, but failed to do so. He survived the war and went on to publish his memoirs.

Is that it is that it is that it huh huh huh?

Dean.
 
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lol @ u Dean. You gave me what? 11 names?? tisk tisk, not fair for the others :D heh.

The names are there, but I only want the major two, and they are listed, so choose only two 8)

Good Luck
 
Different sources that I have read do not say there there were two main plotters. So, I'll go out on a limb here. The one man that multiple sources give as the leader was definitely Maj. Kenji Hatanaka, and you have accepted him, so he stays. The man who did the dirty work, and paid fior it with his life was Capt. Uehara, but you said no. OK, now a bit of guesswork: you said that the other one was a Lt.Col., but ironically, most of the plotters were short colonels, so that is not a big help. So, I'll go with Maj. Kenji Hatanaka and Lt. Col. Masahiko Takeshita, who was, in fact, the senior guy, although I do not think he was the planner.

How's that?

Dean.
 
Lt. Col. Masataka Ida: He was in the Military Affairs Section of the Japanese Ministry of War. Ida was convinced for a time to help Hatanaka, by asking for support from Lt. Gen. Takeshi Mori of the 1st Imperial Guards Division, and from the Eastern District Army. As he explained his reasoning to Mori, he became more and more passionate about going through with the plot. However, after Mori's refusal to support the uprising, and subsequent murder, and Ida's inability to gain the support of the Eastern District Army, he decided that the plan could never succeed. He went to the Imperial Palace to warn Hatanaka that the Eastern District Army was on their way to stop him, and that he should give up. Ida felt that there was no longer a chance for success, and the only honorable end to it could come from suicide. Can we say he was a major plotter? No.
Lt. Col. Masahiko Takeshita: He was the senior man, but he was not the leader. He was the head of the domestic affairs section of the Military Affairs Bureau of the Imperial Japanese Army. He was also the brother in law of the war minister of the time, Korichi Anami. The plotters went to him asking him to intercede on their behalf to the minister. The minister refused to commit himself one way or the other, and in the end, did not help the potters at all. In the end, the cabinet decided to end the war, forcing the hand of the plotters. He supported the plotters in that he did not want to surrender to the Allies, but he refused to command soldiers to the palace. In the end, Hatanaka tried to convince him one last time, but he refused. He also knew that his brother in law and friend Anami would commit seppuku due to the fact that the military had lost the war. He went to Anami's house, and acted as his second, cutting off his head when the time came. Again, major plotter: No.
Lt. Col. Jiro Shiizaki: He was a member of the staff of the domestic affairs section of the Military Affairs Bureau's War Affairs Section. Shiizaki was one of the few to be involved in the climactic action; the rebels, with the help of the First Imperial Guard Division, seized the Imperial Palace, held Emperor Hirohito under, essentially, house arrest, and sought to destroy the recordings which had been made of the Emperor's surrender speech. Here is where it becomes foggy. According to another source, it was Shiizaki that went to the commander of the 2nd Infantry Regiment and convinced him to stay out of the plot. He was probably the most active of the Lt. Cols. But I still believe that Capt. Uehara was the real second plotter. He even assassinated two high ranking officers when they refused to help the plotters and committed seppuku himself when he realized all was lost.
Lt. Col. Masao Inaba: I think he must have been a spook or sombody's strange mentally retarded cousin or something like that. He is mentioned in many sources as a plotter, but I cannot find any other information on him. Go figure.
Anyhoooo, that's my weird, convoluted logic.

Final Answer:Major Kenji Hatanaka and..... wait for it....... Lt. Col. Jiro Shiizaki

Dean

Man, my fingers are tired.
 
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Finally dean.. Yep, Maj.Kenji Hatanaka and Lt.Col. Jiro Shiizaki, THAT is the guy I was looking for. You have to agree he is one of the top.

After all that Dean, u have prooved to be the most correct.

Be my guest 8) and please, we want an easier one , lol
 
I definitely agree that it will be an easier one... (he typed with a snide smile and gleeful cackling laughter!)

So, here goes. The time is October 1942. The German Army is mercilessly attacking Stalingrad, and the beseiged defenders are desperate. The ice is already forming on tthe Volga, and the ice and periodical Luftwaffe attacks make a crossing a difficult and dangerous undertaking. The 6th Army throws itself headlong at the Russian positions, yet this final assault is defeated. In fact, the attacks of the time were blunted, often before the attackers began the attack itself. Finally, the question: What new tactic did the Russians use against the Germans that broke their attacks? Oh, and Operation Uranus is not the answer.

Good Luck.

Dean.
 
Well, they did use that, but it became truly effective later on in December and January. This was far more active.

Dean.
 
OK, I guess it's clue time. This tactic depended on the neutralization of the Luftwaffe, which was achieved using huge amounts of AA artillery to protect the assets involved.

Dean.

PS: In fact, some of the AA guns in question shot out their rifling in ridiculously short times, in less that two weeks, iirc. IRonically, the German AA batteries sometimes did the same thing in Berlin fighting against the Russians. So, another example of 'what goes around comes around.'
 
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I am quite confused..

umm.. didnt u answer it? or what exactly was it? Winter, so the weather was not good and the planes had difficulty and the aa guns shot them. heh, isnt that it?

am quite lost here, forgive me
 
Sorry for confusing you. General Winter, as the Russians called him, was an ally only as long as the Germans were unprepared for it. Thankfully for the Russians, this happened quite often, however it cannot be called a tactic, so it is not the answer. Cooler King is closer to the answer, although you should re-read the clue. The AAA simply protected the asset in question, it was not a major contributor to the land battle in Stalingrad itself. As a side benefit, they did scare the Luftwaffe away from the all-important ferry landings. Reinforcements were still slow but that was the fault of Stavka, who allowed only the bare minimum required to hold the city.

Hope this helps.

Dean.
 
Did the Russians use the ice to the cross the volga, providing greater reinforcements. The Germans did not stop the reinforcements by blowing holes in the ice.

Or am going to have read Stalingrad by Beevor:cool:
 
The Russians did use the ice, but the answer to my question never crossed the river... on the surface, anyway!

By all means, do read Beevor. It is a fascinating book.

Dean.
 
what a question *scrathces head*

hmmm... they used camouflage?

disturbed the Germans by hiding and shelling them?
uhh.. snipers?

man, my question was much easier heh :)
 
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