In WWII, during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, Allied aircraft wreaked havoc among the Japanese ships carrying reinforcements. Many of the aircraft engaged in the attack were modified B-25’s, equipped with incredibly heavy forward firing armament. You can imagine what the effect they had on troopships and destroyers with their decks packed with infantry.

And once the slaughter should have been over, it continued. The waters were quite warm, many of the Japanese survivors were afloat in lifeboats, rafts, and debris, and the remaining distance to the islands they planned to reinforce was not great. The appropriate orders went out to Allied pilots. The Bismarck Sea turned red.

In the Atlantic, things were more gentlemanly. Or were they? The British developed a rocket that could reach out ahead of an attacking aircraft and sink U-boats. This came as a surprise to the Germans, who often would try to fight it out on the surface with attacking aircraft. And the element of surprise had to be maintained. When the first U-boat was sunk using the new rockets, a fighter plane began to strafe the German crew as they floated in the water. “Wait!” came the call over the radio. “We need some to interrogate.” The response from the fighter pilot was “Okay. How many do you want me to leave for you?”

Finally, relative to what Alexis and bobal said about the American isolationists, I was quite amused in the late 60’s to see that when the Vietnam War protests started, there were old-time WWII Isolationists who said “See! I told you so!”