A number of the decisions our government made during WW2 didn't age well. Others are unfairly maligned by modern day historians who have the luxury of hindsight and not having to deal with consequences in their present of wrong decisions.
its simply not necessary anymore. Any military capable of reaching US Shores would have IR capabilities on par with our own. Certainly more than enough to conduct night attacks without needing shore lights for reference.
There are many ways to guide something to a target. You have satellite guided, Lazer guided, Radar guided, Infrared and optical guided and advanced guidance. It doesn't matter if it's pitch black, they can still hit there target
The one thing you never hear enough about from ww2 is the impact of nature on operations. Outside of the bitter cold at the battle of the bulge, stuff like this, typhoons, earthquakes, rarely get any mention in history books, or if they do only in passing. Thank you for this oft overlooked piece of history
What history books are you reading? One of the most infamous incidents in WW2 was "Halsey's Folley" where he steered his critically low on fuel fleet straight into Cat 5 Typhoon Cobra. It did more damage to the fleet than the Japanese had done in 1944. Several destroyers were sunk and the light carriers Monterey and Langley were very badly damaged. Monterey had several planes break free and start a massive aviation fire, as the ship lost power in the storm. Halsey had ordered her Captain to abandon ship. But he looked at the storm and decided that would be certain death, whereas staying and fighting the fire would only be likely death. The ships Navigator nearly got swept overboard. A youngish officer named Gerald R Ford. Believe it or not Halsey would repeat this screw up again in 1945. Where 2 fleet carriers lost portions of their flight decks. 2 escort carriers lost most of their flight decks. And the Cruiser Pitsburg lost it's bow. Somehow both ship and bow survived and were grafted back together. There was also the eruption of Mount Vesuvious in 1944 which wiped out all of the 340th bomber groups B-25's at Pompei Airfield.
@@jonathonschott Yeah there are some things they don’t really talk about. I recently got the question “why didn’t America keep Iwo Jima after all the Marines died taking it?” Ummmm… Because it’s an active volcano that regularly erupts. I don’t mean it’s an island that has a volcano on it. I mean the whole thing is volcano. We often hear about Rabaul as this massive Japanese naval fortress. Dozens of airfields, hundreds of planes, etc. what nobody mentions is it was the worst posting for Japanese Troops. Because Rabaul was an actively erupting volcano. Showering the base in ash, horrible gasses, and the occasionally terrifying blast. Similarly the two Aleutian Islands, actual American territory, that Japan invaded Attu and Kiska are best described as the most hellish and inhospitable places on earth. Often involving both Arctic Conditions and volcanic activity. With a surface much too soft and damp for aircraft or vehicles, nothing to eat except rocks, and no place to hide from the scouring winds. When Congress demanded to know why Admiral Nimitz had not removed the Japanese from Attu and Kiska? His response was “Why would I want to do anything nice for the Japanese?”
Absolutely the right call. Most countries involved in wars forbid the publicity of natural disasters because those disasters can offer targets of opportunity for both physical attacks and propaganda.
As a Japanese, it remind me of Fuji radar site in WW2, which had the largest detection range among any other mainland Japanese radar facilities and our primary asset to detect allies' air raids in order to intercept them, but also it had very serious side effect that it had so strong radar output that US bombers used it as a convenient beacon to plot their raid courses into the targets in mainland Japan. I agree that it was right decision for US to cover up Mauna loa eruption. Giving enemy air raids just a single reference point would've had serious consequences
@@kneau The story itself would make a good movie: A Zero pilot from the IJN Aircraft Carrier Kaga attacks Pearl Harbor, his plane is damaged during the battle and he crash lands on the small island of Ni'ihua. He finds some poor Japanese-American farmers and basically performs a _religious conversion_ on them on how Japan Stronk! The farmers try to get the pilot off the island, mess up, they end up shanking the island's one cop and another man who were trying to stop them, which sets off a manhunt which ends badly for them. Between this and the Black Bart Incident and other acts of German sabotage in US East-coast ports during WWI; Japanese-Americans were seen as a very real security threat which lead, rightly or wrongly, to their internment during WWII.
As a WWII history enthusiast, I find this information fascinating as I had never heard if this before. Thank you for this piece of information. It filled in a gap in history that was previously unknown to me.
I love volcanoes, I love WWII history, when the two met, my day is happy, thank you for this... IIRC, Vesuvius also erupted while the war was on Italy, I don't remember exactly if that area was already at Allied control, but it was close to the fighting there.
@@ElmiraMarx in all fairness, they would have been doing a lot of training and dropping a lot of bombs at that time. Dropping bombs on a lava flow would have the same training value as dropping them somewhere else.
I have loved and studied geology and WWII history separately for many years but never knew of this. Fascinating! Thank you so much for this video. I was so drawn in that the video seemed over in 3 seconds.😂 Keep up the great work. Thank you Timothy
@@jcraigie They did have a choice. There were plenty of ways to get that information out and the Japanese were still hanging around the area. They said nothing as a matter of national pride and loyalty, concepts you clearly do not possess.
Great stuff, thank you! This is onevof many reasons why we need the best minds in top military positions. With a wise and competent Commander In Chief appointing the best people. Also a fully funded USGS. The choice this November should be clear and is relevant to the topics on this channel.
Have any specific videos/photos you can link me to of it? :D Haven’t seen a closeup view yet of the 1942 vents. Assuming you mean the cone inside the summit caldera.
@@GeologyHub, I got my years mixed up. It's the huge 1940 cone. The 42 eruption was more of a fissure event. The trail used to go through parts of it, but that may have been destroyed by the previous eruption in 2022. Or earlier ones like 1984.
Well that escalated quickly... I loved the video, and enjoyed pretending that you had footage of a WWII era Japanese Submarine. For those whose pearls were clutched during the entirety of the video. The locals were well aware of the eruption. Everyone was under an evacuation watch already due to the war. There's a big difference between cover up and black out. Local media worked in cooperation with the war department in hopes of preventing another large scale attack on the very isolated Island.
Loose lips sink ships. Absolutely the right call. The locals were not in danger and some emotive people on here are conflating the necessary actions then with a major eruption now. The government absolutely would warn people and encourage its reporting. You know, like they did with Mt St Helens......
*It is the scientific community's duty to warn of an impending danger...and the scientific community's duty to stay silent when a warning could cause a far greater danger.* You can outrun most lava flows on the Big Isle. You cannot outrun rapidly falling munitions.
I have a good question: The eruption was censored in the news, but did they have plans drawn up for an emergency evacuation of Hilo just in case the worst outcome was imminent? Thank you for yet another very interesting subject. 🙂
Still isn't. $700 per household 😂. While everyone else gets billions upon billions. And highly suspect fire given the comments beforehand by billionaires.
Hmm You might have a point there. Perhaps the thought was that public opinion on the mainland wouldn’t be so bad considering Hawaii’s status. Though the people there were certainly still citizens.
@@TheGuruStud You realise that the 700 figure is blatant misinformation? 700 is given BEFORE your application has a chance to be reviewed, to cover the extremely basic needs like food cloths and medicine. It is basically free money. After that, your application for damages gets accessed and you are rewarded the appropriate amount that can go many digits over. Keep your braindead conspiracies to yourself next time.
People try to ignore or forget the fact in WW2, tech was super limited, the lava flow could have easily illuminated the island enough to see targets in the pitch black of night, also the US like many nations tried to give as few grounds for enemy propaganda as possible. Any nation like Japan would have definitely used it for both propaganda and as a wartime strategy. Everyone on the big island was aware, what they did not want was the news spreading to other islands, evacuation orders were already in place too, though for air raids and shelling it was ready for a lava flow. Media would have spread the information too quickly to be contained easily as they would use radio and that could get intercepted as that was basically a giant "Listen to me" sign. 1940s were a era there was no safeguards in information outside of physically blocking the info they do not want escaping into the eyes and ears of their enemies, lest it be used against them.
I don't understand the logic yet - was the idea that the glow of the lava would look like Honolulu? But wouldn't it be identified very quickly as a lava eruption rather than a city? And might not the outline of the Big Island still be sufficiently illuminated?
The eruption would be visible as an eruption, and the bomber could calculate the position of targets from the known location of the volcano, i.e. direction and distance.
Do you think you could maybe make a video on comparing underground atomic tests to shallow earthquakes? It's hard to tell the difference between them and I believe this would be useful information to know with current world events.
I think the falling bomb depicted at 1:47 and 2:53 are shots of the Russian Tsar Bomba, 50 MT hydrogen bomb. A little too big for a P-51 Mustang to carry.
This is an interesting question. In Iceland they have recently had eruptions of that type every few months since 2021 - people are actually getting used to it - but the Icelandic media do keep the public informed so that they know which roads they are still allowed to use and where they are blocked. Icelanders don’t panic easily, so they are able to concentrate on actually dealing with the situation in a sensible way. The panic comes later when they realize they will never see their home again, but even then steps are taken to minimize their loss. That said, I will admit that a volcano erupting in the middle of Chicago would take some dealing with at every level, but honestly, who today would be able to hide that from the public…?
As soon as you said the year I knew exactly what you were talking about. Still remember growing up watching Bugs Bunny cartoons and he'd yell at someone at night for having a candle lit
1942 was certainly at the heart of more than complicated times and Hawaii was in the "front row" facing the Japanese. This type of otherwise aberrant decisions can be understood because of the period. On the other hand, I heard about a US bomber who in Italy in 1944 "would have" dumped its load in the crater (apparently calm) of Vesuvius!! The volcano apparently did not appreciate "the gift" and would have erupted (the inhabitants of the region did not appreciate it either: the war and its misfortunes + an eruption is a bit much) Now that this eruption was caused ONLY by "the gift" or that the volcano "on its own initiative" decided to wake up at THIS time, the question remains up for debate.
That was awsome love your channel been watching for long time live just outside Prineville Oregon which is a very large caldera or central Oregon volcanic wonder land
There was a fear that the Japanese would return with a carrier strike force and attack the Hawaiin Islands after Pearl Harbor, this never materialized and after the Battle of Midway was very unlikely do to the losses the Japanese sustained in that battle. But air attacks were still planed using float planes ferried to positions by submarines where they could be launched to reach the Hawaiin Islands. To my knowledge there were no Japanese land based aircraft attacks on the Hawaiin Islands, only ones launched from carriers on December 7, 1941, and later from submarines. The Japanese also used night time float plane raids on Guadalcanal. Nighttime carrier operations were either do to emergency conditions or very limited, because they were extremely dangerous not only for the air crews but for the carriers.
The moment I saw the date, I was like ahhh, that makes perfect sense! Even if there wasn't a blackout in action and the subsequent risk of bombing if the Japanese knew, I'd imagine they simply wouldn't have wanted natural disasters broadcasted that would make them appear vulnerable and give the enemies a target to create more weakness and confusion, or to further panic citizens. I'd imagine many governments would have made the same call back then (and likely did with many natural disasters). It was a very different world then technologically and socially compared to what we live in today on top of being a time of great fear and uncertainty.
I'm actually curious how much the ash would have effected the planes. They would have flown into the plume completely blind. I believe piston engines are more susceptible to damage from ash intake.
Do you have any ideas for other geology and war videos? I know there was the Italian volcano that erupted during WWII. Any other times when there was a volcanic eruption, earthquake, or tsunami?
Yah proper thing to cover up, such an extensive (linear for multiple kms) eruption would be a foolproof navigation aid for bombing missions, once it was mapped by Japan.
The narration accurately states that the date of “Operation K” was 4 March 1942. Note, however, that the map of “Imperial Japanese Attacks on Hawaii during WWII” incorrectly displays a date of •7• March 1942 for Operation K (see at 2:39).
Indeed, I may not like cover-ups but when it is done to save lives, it is fine. If word got out, the eruption's illumination would have backlit a lot of targets the Japanese would have struck if they knew. A lot of lives would have been taken.
Do you want to comment on the recent earthquakes in IRAN. There is some speculation that these represent a weapons test. From what I've seen on the USGS website they all look like normal tectonic earthquakes.
Is there any evidence Japan knew about the eruption? They had aircraft, too. They dropped bombs on the lava tubes to no effect. People in Hilo were aware of the danger?
When a cover-up happens because you did not want your active enemy to know, and the info leaking can take lives, then I will agree but not like it. There is a clear difference between censorship and keeping spies from knowing something that would harm you or get innocents killed, active war is a brutal reality if it is total war.
1942. Hawaii not part of the USA until 1959! Afraid your opening statement is inaccurate then. Don’t mean to criticise your fabulous channel but thought you should be accurate. Thanks
You don't really mention whether the locals were actually informed and how. I imagine they knew full well, especially with the glow, but that seems like an important element to talk about.
Definitely the correct call. We had a similar incident here in NZ during the war. There were a couple of large earthquakes in the Wairarapa (north-east of Wellington) in 1942 IIRC. However, the NZ govt censored coverage of the quakes for morale reasons - they didn't want our men serving overseas to know about the bad news.
Have volcanoes ever been used as "lighthouses" of sorts? I would imagine the long term stable eruptions of Yasur and the now quiet but likely once very stable cone of Pico would have made for truly excellent beacons in a time before modern technology.
I know exactly what this happened. This happened during World War II because if we were talking about the eruptions, the Japanese would’ve used the glowing lava of the eruption to do a sneak attack.
So, do you agree or disagree with the decision that was made in 1942?
Most definitely. WW2 had just started for us and we needed to protect our assets and population.
Yes
No. Keep licking boots though. 🤷♂️
Completely agree
A number of the decisions our government made during WW2 didn't age well. Others are unfairly maligned by modern day historians who have the luxury of hindsight and not having to deal with consequences in their present of wrong decisions.
This is an instance that is unlikely to happen again, given global satellite coverage. It was fit for its time.
its simply not necessary anymore. Any military capable of reaching US Shores would have IR capabilities on par with our own. Certainly more than enough to conduct night attacks without needing shore lights for reference.
Is it impossible to suppose the Japs had subs around the Islands to monitor our fleet?
That could see the eruption from the sea?
There are many ways to guide something to a target. You have satellite guided, Lazer guided, Radar guided, Infrared and optical guided and advanced guidance. It doesn't matter if it's pitch black, they can still hit there target
The one thing you never hear enough about from ww2 is the impact of nature on operations. Outside of the bitter cold at the battle of the bulge, stuff like this, typhoons, earthquakes, rarely get any mention in history books, or if they do only in passing. Thank you for this oft overlooked piece of history
This wasn't the only eruption to impact WWII. Vesuvius erupted as well, damaging several Allied planes as they sat on the airfield.
What history books are you reading? One of the most infamous incidents in WW2 was "Halsey's Folley" where he steered his critically low on fuel fleet straight into Cat 5 Typhoon Cobra. It did more damage to the fleet than the Japanese had done in 1944. Several destroyers were sunk and the light carriers Monterey and Langley were very badly damaged. Monterey had several planes break free and start a massive aviation fire, as the ship lost power in the storm. Halsey had ordered her Captain to abandon ship. But he looked at the storm and decided that would be certain death, whereas staying and fighting the fire would only be likely death. The ships Navigator nearly got swept overboard. A youngish officer named Gerald R Ford. Believe it or not Halsey would repeat this screw up again in 1945. Where 2 fleet carriers lost portions of their flight decks. 2 escort carriers lost most of their flight decks. And the Cruiser Pitsburg lost it's bow. Somehow both ship and bow survived and were grafted back together.
There was also the eruption of Mount Vesuvious in 1944 which wiped out all of the 340th bomber groups B-25's at Pompei Airfield.
@@polygon-viewer came here to mention Vesuvius 1944
@@andrewtaylor940 well, thank you for that, I will admit, I'm not a WW2 scholar, but either way, these are things I'm more recently finding out
@@jonathonschott Yeah there are some things they don’t really talk about. I recently got the question “why didn’t America keep Iwo Jima after all the Marines died taking it?” Ummmm… Because it’s an active volcano that regularly erupts. I don’t mean it’s an island that has a volcano on it. I mean the whole thing is volcano. We often hear about Rabaul as this massive Japanese naval fortress. Dozens of airfields, hundreds of planes, etc. what nobody mentions is it was the worst posting for Japanese Troops. Because Rabaul was an actively erupting volcano. Showering the base in ash, horrible gasses, and the occasionally terrifying blast.
Similarly the two Aleutian Islands, actual American territory, that Japan invaded Attu and Kiska are best described as the most hellish and inhospitable places on earth. Often involving both Arctic Conditions and volcanic activity. With a surface much too soft and damp for aircraft or vehicles, nothing to eat except rocks, and no place to hide from the scouring winds. When Congress demanded to know why Admiral Nimitz had not removed the Japanese from Attu and Kiska? His response was “Why would I want to do anything nice for the Japanese?”
Moment I saw the date I knew why it was covered up. Wartime conditions are something else.
Absolutely the right call. Most countries involved in wars forbid the publicity of natural disasters because those disasters can offer targets of opportunity for both physical attacks and propaganda.
stfu. you can only say it was correct call because the lava didnt engulf the Hilo city which would give the blame of the massacre to US goverment.
Fascinating. In 1944 Mount Vesuvius in Italy erupted during WWII as well.
My father saw Vesuvius erupt during the war in 1944
As a Japanese, it remind me of Fuji radar site in WW2, which had the largest detection range among any other mainland Japanese radar facilities and our primary asset to detect allies' air raids in order to intercept them, but also it had very serious side effect that it had so strong radar output that US bombers used it as a convenient beacon to plot their raid courses into the targets in mainland Japan.
I agree that it was right decision for US to cover up Mauna loa eruption. Giving enemy air raids just a single reference point would've had serious consequences
Well done. You even showed the Ni'ihua Incident. Wasn't expecting to see that.
Yeah, I hadn't even known of the niihua til a couple years ago, it's pretty obscure
@@steventhompson399 Its weird how obscure it is, considering it was the incident that led to the famous internment camps
The Ni'ihua Indecent destroys a certain Racial Grievance Narrative which is why it gets memory holed.
Very few Americans even know about it.
@@Theranthrope color me intrigued
@@kneau The story itself would make a good movie:
A Zero pilot from the IJN Aircraft Carrier Kaga attacks Pearl Harbor, his plane is damaged during the battle and he crash lands on the small island of Ni'ihua. He finds some poor Japanese-American farmers and basically performs a _religious conversion_ on them on how Japan Stronk!
The farmers try to get the pilot off the island, mess up, they end up shanking the island's one cop and another man who were trying to stop them, which sets off a manhunt which ends badly for them.
Between this and the Black Bart Incident and other acts of German sabotage in US East-coast ports during WWI; Japanese-Americans were seen as a very real security threat which lead, rightly or wrongly, to their internment during WWII.
What a cool crossover into history. As a historian and a veteran, I thought you did a good job covering the reasons why. Great video.
As a WWII history enthusiast, I find this information fascinating as I had never heard if this before.
Thank you for this piece of information. It filled in a gap in history that was previously unknown to me.
As a fan of WWII history I’m surprised this was the first time I ever heard about this. Thanks for this interesting segment.
Academic Agent has been doing some excellent deep dives into buried/covered up WW2 era history.
As an old submariner, thank you for the little note with the submarine. :)
I always learn something new when I watch your videos.
Thanks as always, Geology Hub!
You should do more of these... historical videos that have geological tie ins
Great work!
A very interesting historical article! Thanks for sharing this! 🙏🏻
I love volcanoes, I love WWII history, when the two met, my day is happy, thank you for this...
IIRC, Vesuvius also erupted while the war was on Italy, I don't remember exactly if that area was already at Allied control, but it was close to the fighting there.
Can you do a video on the 1692 Jamaica earthquake that hit Port Royal, a pirate city, and destroyed it? It's quite a crazy story. Day 3 of requesting
Didnt that area get attention from Time Team? Need to check.
Yeah I like hearing about great historical disasters, that was one of the most notorious quakes in recent times
There's some interesting activity around the Platanar volcano in Costa Rica. Thanks for all the hard work.
Awesome as a geology and a history nerd I never heard of this. Thank you so much for bringing this piece of history and geology to light.
Wow who would have thought that the Americans would try to bomb the volcano as a solution to stop lava flow.
did not work, but they tried lol
I'm pretty sure explosives have been used by other nations too in an attempt to divert lava flows.
That gave me a chuckle when mentioned. Of COURSE we tried to bomb it, lol.
@@ElmiraMarx in all fairness, they would have been doing a lot of training and dropping a lot of bombs at that time. Dropping bombs on a lava flow would have the same training value as dropping them somewhere else.
They didn't try bombing the volcano, they tried bombing the lava flow to try to divert it, not "stop it".
I have loved and studied geology and WWII history separately for many years but never knew of this. Fascinating! Thank you so much for this video. I was so drawn in that the video seemed over in 3 seconds.😂 Keep up the great work. Thank you Timothy
Props to the people of Hilo for preparing for the worst while still keeping quiet about it.
Like they had a choice lol
@@jcraigie They did have a choice. There were plenty of ways to get that information out and the Japanese were still hanging around the area. They said nothing as a matter of national pride and loyalty, concepts you clearly do not possess.
Thanks for all the hard work on these videos!
Great stuff, thank you!
This is onevof many reasons why we need the best minds in top military positions.
With a wise and competent Commander In Chief appointing the best people.
Also a fully funded USGS.
The choice this November should be clear and is relevant to the topics on this channel.
I _ALWAYS_ find your presentations interesting.
The 1942 cone inside of Mauna Loa is quite large. I've hiked up it a few times. Edit. I meant the 1940 cone.
Have any specific videos/photos you can link me to of it? :D
Haven’t seen a closeup view yet of the 1942 vents. Assuming you mean the cone inside the summit caldera.
Ever tour the lava tubes? Very cool places.
@@GeologyHub, I got my years mixed up. It's the huge 1940 cone. The 42 eruption was more of a fissure event. The trail used to go through parts of it, but that may have been destroyed by the previous eruption in 2022. Or earlier ones like 1984.
@@ladyeowyn42 I have lava tube exploration videos on my channel. I don't post everything I do. Not even 50%. There are many others that I explore.
Well that escalated quickly... I loved the video, and enjoyed pretending that you had footage of a WWII era Japanese Submarine. For those whose pearls were clutched during the entirety of the video. The locals were well aware of the eruption. Everyone was under an evacuation watch already due to the war. There's a big difference between cover up and black out. Local media worked in cooperation with the war department in hopes of preventing another large scale attack on the very isolated Island.
This was a cool story I’ve never heard of! Thanks for sharing 🙏
I did find this very interesting. Thank you for a great fact based channel.
Loose lips sink ships. Absolutely the right call. The locals were not in danger and some emotive people on here are conflating the necessary actions then with a major eruption now. The government absolutely would warn people and encourage its reporting. You know, like they did with Mt St Helens......
Fascinating. I hated history in school, because we never learned cool stuff like this.
a good teacher will dig that stuff up and make the lectures more interesting.
and most of the history you're taught in school is blatantly falsified, especially pertaining to the second world War.
*It is the scientific community's duty to warn of an impending danger...and the scientific community's duty to stay silent when a warning could cause a far greater danger.*
You can outrun most lava flows on the Big Isle. You cannot outrun rapidly falling munitions.
Yes, that was a good call in an era where enemies could have used it as a beacon.
I have a good question: The eruption was censored in the news, but did they have plans drawn up for an emergency evacuation of Hilo just in case the worst outcome was imminent? Thank you for yet another very interesting subject. 🙂
Hawaii was not a state until 1959. I'm sure that colored their decision as well.
Still isn't. $700 per household 😂. While everyone else gets billions upon billions.
And highly suspect fire given the comments beforehand by billionaires.
Hmm You might have a point there. Perhaps the thought was that public opinion on the mainland wouldn’t be so bad considering Hawaii’s status. Though the people there were certainly still citizens.
@@TheGuruStud You realise that the 700 figure is blatant misinformation? 700 is given BEFORE your application has a chance to be reviewed, to cover the extremely basic needs like food cloths and medicine. It is basically free money. After that, your application for damages gets accessed and you are rewarded the appropriate amount that can go many digits over. Keep your braindead conspiracies to yourself next time.
Fascinating! Also, LOL - thanks for the chuckle at 2:50
People try to ignore or forget the fact in WW2, tech was super limited, the lava flow could have easily illuminated the island enough to see targets in the pitch black of night, also the US like many nations tried to give as few grounds for enemy propaganda as possible. Any nation like Japan would have definitely used it for both propaganda and as a wartime strategy. Everyone on the big island was aware, what they did not want was the news spreading to other islands, evacuation orders were already in place too, though for air raids and shelling it was ready for a lava flow. Media would have spread the information too quickly to be contained easily as they would use radio and that could get intercepted as that was basically a giant "Listen to me" sign. 1940s were a era there was no safeguards in information outside of physically blocking the info they do not want escaping into the eyes and ears of their enemies, lest it be used against them.
Wow! I did not know this. Thanks. Geology and history in one video.
Imagine having to deal with lava flows AND unexploded ordinance!
I had never heard about the other Japanese bombings on Hawaii. Thank you for this information. 🖖❤️
I don't understand the logic yet - was the idea that the glow of the lava would look like Honolulu? But wouldn't it be identified very quickly as a lava eruption rather than a city? And might not the outline of the Big Island still be sufficiently illuminated?
The eruption would be visible as an eruption, and the bomber could calculate the position of targets from the known location of the volcano, i.e. direction and distance.
Do you think you could maybe make a video on comparing underground atomic tests to shallow earthquakes? It's hard to tell the difference between them and I believe this would be useful information to know with current world events.
Now you can cover the 1944 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.
It was like when the icelandic volcanos erupted I had to go to people who were posting streaming the event. :/
So interesting and understandable
I think the falling bomb depicted at 1:47 and 2:53 are shots of the Russian Tsar Bomba, 50 MT hydrogen bomb. A little too big for a P-51 Mustang to carry.
I was wondering if anyone else had picked that up. It'd perhaps have stopped the lava flow :P
@@thhseeking or increased it, blowing a bigger hole in the earth's crust.
This is an interesting question. In Iceland they have recently had eruptions of that type every few months since 2021 - people are actually getting used to it - but the Icelandic media do keep the public informed so that they know which roads they are still allowed to use and where they are blocked. Icelanders don’t panic easily, so they are able to concentrate on actually dealing with the situation in a sensible way. The panic comes later when they realize they will never see their home again, but even then steps are taken to minimize their loss. That said, I will admit that a volcano erupting in the middle of Chicago would take some dealing with at every level, but honestly, who today would be able to hide that from the public…?
Very very interesting!! Thank you.
Never knew Mauna Loa erupted during WW2. The only volcano we know that erupted during WW2 was Mt. Vesuvius.
As soon as you said the year I knew exactly what you were talking about. Still remember growing up watching Bugs Bunny cartoons and he'd yell at someone at night for having a candle lit
Very interesting!!!! I now have another historic story to share.
That was interesting.
Thank you for enlightening me.😮
What a different world technologically and socially in the '40s
Yes it was a good call to protect Hawaii. who would doubt that?
1942 was certainly at the heart of more than complicated times and Hawaii was in the "front row" facing the Japanese.
This type of otherwise aberrant decisions can be understood because of the period.
On the other hand, I heard about a US bomber who in Italy in 1944 "would have" dumped its load in the crater (apparently calm) of Vesuvius!!
The volcano apparently did not appreciate "the gift" and would have erupted (the inhabitants of the region did not appreciate it either: the war and its misfortunes + an eruption is a bit much)
Now that this eruption was caused ONLY by "the gift" or that the volcano "on its own initiative" decided to wake up at THIS time, the question remains up for debate.
I love that you note which video and photos are only examples; I only wish it were as large as your 'pretend it is one' message here! 😆
That shows somebody was thinking intelligently after the attack on Pearl Harbor preventing another attack by Japan.
That was fascinating, thank you.
Ww2 had a lot of influence on history things. The darking of cities was also in europe the case.
as someone who loves star gazing, i wish they'd bring that back a bit.
That was awsome love your channel been watching for long time live just outside Prineville Oregon which is a very large caldera or central Oregon volcanic wonder land
This was very interesting 🤔 indeed thanks for the 🔥 🌋 info 👍
There was a fear that the Japanese would return with a carrier strike force and attack the Hawaiin Islands after Pearl Harbor, this never materialized and after the Battle of Midway was very unlikely do to the losses the Japanese sustained in that battle. But air attacks were still planed using float planes ferried to positions by submarines where they could be launched to reach the Hawaiin Islands. To my knowledge there were no Japanese land based aircraft attacks on the Hawaiin Islands, only ones launched from carriers on December 7, 1941, and later from submarines. The Japanese also used night time float plane raids on Guadalcanal. Nighttime carrier operations were either do to emergency conditions or very limited, because they were extremely dangerous not only for the air crews but for the carriers.
Nice piece of geologic history. Do more.
The Japanese would have most absurdly taken advantage of this.
Did you mean "assuredly"?
@@Izumi-sp6fp Nah lol. But that works too ;)
The moment I saw the date, I was like ahhh, that makes perfect sense!
Even if there wasn't a blackout in action and the subsequent risk of bombing if the Japanese knew, I'd imagine they simply wouldn't have wanted natural disasters broadcasted that would make them appear vulnerable and give the enemies a target to create more weakness and confusion, or to further panic citizens. I'd imagine many governments would have made the same call back then (and likely did with many natural disasters). It was a very different world then technologically and socially compared to what we live in today on top of being a time of great fear and uncertainty.
Don’t know what else they could have done. Telling Pele to get with the program wasn’t going to do any good.
I'm actually curious how much the ash would have effected the planes. They would have flown into the plume completely blind. I believe piston engines are more susceptible to damage from ash intake.
Do you have any ideas for other geology and war videos? I know there was the Italian volcano that erupted during WWII. Any other times when there was a volcanic eruption, earthquake, or tsunami?
Totally makes sense.
Thanks for the history
Dude, that was some interesting volcanic shit.
Yah proper thing to cover up, such an extensive (linear for multiple kms) eruption would be a foolproof navigation aid for bombing missions, once it was mapped by Japan.
At 1:46, I'm pretty sure that's not a "300 to 600-pound bomb"--it looks like a hydrogen bomb to me!
The biggest ever. Would have made a big "Boom!!" :P
The narration accurately states that the date of “Operation K” was 4 March 1942. Note, however, that the map of “Imperial Japanese Attacks on Hawaii during WWII” incorrectly displays a date of •7• March 1942 for Operation K (see at 2:39).
This was interesting! Makes total sense and probably saved some lives.
Indeed, I may not like cover-ups but when it is done to save lives, it is fine. If word got out, the eruption's illumination would have backlit a lot of targets the Japanese would have struck if they knew. A lot of lives would have been taken.
Do you want to comment on the recent earthquakes in IRAN. There is some speculation that these represent a weapons test. From what I've seen on the USGS website they all look like normal tectonic earthquakes.
Yes, please do GH - I am sure I am not the only one here who would very much value your calm fact-basef analysis of the evidence.
Does USGS publish seismic waveforms?
It's hard to cover up a volcanic eruption. Usually it's the eruptions that do the covering-up.
Very interesting, thank you. I live on the Big Island and had no knowledge of this.
Is there any evidence Japan knew about the eruption? They had aircraft, too. They dropped bombs on the lava tubes to no effect. People in Hilo were aware of the danger?
That wasn’t a good bomb falling video to choose. Tsar Bomba?…?
Thanks.
A very good call.
I learned 2 things, thanks.
Fascinating!
Awesome history to know! TY
Very interesting indeed. 👍👍👍
At 1st I disagreed because hpw close it was to a town till I heard the reason why. That's very understandable
When a cover-up happens because you did not want your active enemy to know, and the info leaking can take lives, then I will agree but not like it. There is a clear difference between censorship and keeping spies from knowing something that would harm you or get innocents killed, active war is a brutal reality if it is total war.
"Hawaii" "1942"
Me: o it's a WWII thing
Those of us who live on Hawai’i island know all too well about this. Not a secret here. 🌋🌈🌺 Aloha
Excellent video! Thank you!
Bombing a lava vent.
sigh..good thing we didn't have another commander at that time.
At least they tried lol
1942. Hawaii not part of the USA until 1959! Afraid your opening statement is inaccurate then. Don’t mean to criticise your fabulous channel but thought you should be accurate. Thanks
Not a state until 1959, but still part of the USA, like Puerto Rico, American Samoa and other possessions.
Awesome....
You don't really mention whether the locals were actually informed and how. I imagine they knew full well, especially with the glow, but that seems like an important element to talk about.
They were aware, just not telling anyone outside of the city. At the time there was a real fear of Japanese spies.
great story
New meaning of Lava bombs.
Definitely the correct call.
We had a similar incident here in NZ during the war.
There were a couple of large earthquakes in the Wairarapa (north-east of Wellington) in 1942 IIRC.
However, the NZ govt censored coverage of the quakes for morale reasons - they didn't want our men serving overseas to know about the bad news.
Have volcanoes ever been used as "lighthouses" of sorts? I would imagine the long term stable eruptions of Yasur and the now quiet but likely once very stable cone of Pico would have made for truly excellent beacons in a time before modern technology.
I do not think so, but they do light up a pretty wide area if they erupt a lot of lava, so maybe?
Stromboli has been called the "lighthouse of the Mediterranean" for time out of mind.
I know exactly what this happened. This happened during World War II because if we were talking about the eruptions, the Japanese would’ve used the glowing lava of the eruption to do a sneak attack.