# Question regarding the attack on Pearl Harbor **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2013, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor/666628 "2013-08-19T10:26:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 146
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor/666628/146 "2013-08-30T03:41:45Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Nope, no rubber, no oil, nothing. Just the only method of winning the war. Based upon your experience playing wargames. The reality is that Japan had to secure sources of oil and rubber or its economy was going to collapse. Attacking Siberia would gain nothing for Japan. Before you say ‘but the Axis would have won the war’ your basic assumptions are based on fiction. That Milton Bradley, GDW, Avalon Hill, SPI or whatever game designer allows for an action to be possible within the confines of a game has nothing to do with what actually was possible. That a game allows for such actions reveals flaws in the game, not possibilities in reality. For example, take a look at your idea that Japan would be able to do among other things “push into India”. It may seem very plausible when pushing counters around on a map, but a look at what happened in reality when Japan tried doing this in [Operation U-Go](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_U-Go) is illustrative. They starved to death. > [@](#): > > Mutaguchi continued to order fresh attacks, but by late June it was clear that the starving and disease-ridden Japanese formations were in no state to obey. When he realised that none of his formations were obeying his orders for a renewed attack, Mutaguchi finally ordered the offensive to be broken off on 3 July. The Japanese, reduced in many cases to a rabble, fell back to the Chindwin river, abandoning their artillery, transport, and soldiers too sick to walk. > > … > > The Japanese suffered 60,643 casualties, including 13,376 dead.[2] Most of these losses were the result of starvation, disease and exhaustion. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor/666628)._