DK - World War II Map by Map

246 ENDGAME AND AFTERMATH 1944–1955

DEFEAT OF JAPAN

By 1945, the eventual outcome of the war with Japan seemed inevitable. However, it was

unclear how Japan’s leaders could be brought to acknowledge defeat. In the end, the planned

invasion of the Japanese mainland proved unnecessary, since the Allies’ nuclear destruction

of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was followed by Japan’s surrender a few days later.

By any objective measure, Japan had already lost the war

by spring 1945. US aircraft based on Pacific islands were

carrying out mass raids against Japanese cities, and a naval

blockade both starved the civilian population and crippled

the nation’s war machine

through a lack of fuel and

other supplies. Japan’s

overseas armies were

giving up territory that

they had conquered in

Burma, the Philippines,

and New Guinea.

When Germany

surrendered in May 1945, it meant that the military

resources of the Allies could now be transferred to the

Pacific theater. However, the Japanese continued to show

every sign of determination to fight to the last man, as

exhibited in the fierce battles for Iwo Jima and Okinawa;

indeed, America believed that the war against Japan could

continue well into 1946. In June 1945, the US Army planned

to land in Japan the following November, with follow-up

landings in March 1946. The expectation was of heavy

losses in prolonged campaigns.

Japan faces up to defeat

The Japanese leadership finally faced up to the certainty of

defeat after the fall of Okinawa in June. Knowing the war

was lost, the Japanese war council split into two factions

known as the “peace” and “war” parties. The peace party

sought some way to end the conflict that would leave

Japan independent and unoccupied—a prospect that

the Allies would probably never have accepted. The war

party favored a fight to the death, devising a plan for

△ Display of might

A propaganda poster boasts of

Japanese air power. In reality, by 1945

Japan’s aircraft were outnumbered and

outclassed by those of their opponents.

▽ Targeting cities

A US Army Air Forces map designates

a key industrial target in Osaka, Japan.

Over 200,000 Japanese were killed in

non-nuclear strategic bombing.

Feb 19, 1945

Landings by 30,000 US

troops on Iwo Jima

Apr 1, 1945 First

American landings

on Okinawa

Mar 16, 1945 US

wins the Battle

of Iwo Jima

Apr 12, 1945

Harry S Truman

becomes US President

on death of Roosevelt

Apr 8, 1945 Japan

adopts plan for

Operation Ketsu to

defend the homeland

against invasion

FEB 1945 MAR APR MAY

ALLIED ACTIONS

JAPANESE ACTIONS

Mar 9–10, 1945 US

incendiary raid on Tokyo

causes firestorm killing

around 80,000 people

Apr 6, 1945 Launch

of mass kamikaze attacks

on Allied invasion

fleet at Okinawa

Mar 20, 1945

British troops take

Mandalay in Burma

May 3, 1945 In

Burma, British

occupy Rangoon

ENDGAME IN THE

PACIFIC WAR

In the first half of 1945, the US

suffered mounting casualties in

fighting against resolute Japanese

troops. Some 26,000 Americans

were killed or wounded in the

battle for the small island of Iwo

Jima, and the subsequent capture

of Okinawa cost the US over

50,000 casualties. In August,

however, the dropping of atomic

bombs on two Japanese cities,

and a Soviet invasion of

Manchuria, propelled the

Japanese government into

surrendering at last.

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