260 ENDGAME AND AFTERMATH 194 4 –1955
While Japan’s surrender is often attributed
to the bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki (see pp.258–259), there were
other elements involved. The Potsdam
Declaration (see pp.230–231) had demanded
unconditional Japanese surrender, and
Japan’s Supreme Council for the Direction
of the War, or “Big Six,” appealed to the
USSR—secretly and unsuccessfully—to
negotiate a surrender on more favorable
terms. On August 6, the US dropped an
atom bomb on Hiroshima, and a few days
later they dropped another on Nagasaki.
On August 8, the USSR declared war on
Japan; the following day, Soviet forces
began their invasion of Manchuria.
As the odds stacked up against Japan,
Emperor Hirohito ordered the “Big Six” to accept the Allies’ terms
of surrender. A failed coup d’etat by pro-war factions ensued, and
on August 15 Hirohito issued a radio broadcast declaring surrender.
It was a crushing blow to the nation, and a few military personnel
refused to accept it, fighting on for months and even years. US forces
began occupying Japan on August 28, and the surrender ceremony
took place on September 2.△ Hot news
The Stars and Stripes, the US
military newspaper, splashes news
of Japan’s unconditional surrender
and the end of the war.△ Laying down of arms
Japanese officers surrender their ceremonial samurai swords to soldiers of the 25th Indian
Division at Kuala Lumpur, Malaya. In his capitulation speech, Emperor Hirohito had declared that
if the Japanese continued to fight “it would not only result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration
of the Japanese nation, but would lead to the total extinction of human civilization.”PE ACE IN
THE PACIFIC
Japan surrendered to the Allies on August 15, 1945,
around three months after the capitulation of Axis forces
in Europe. It brought World War II to an end, and
prevented a US invasion of Japan’s home islands that
would almost certainly have cost many more lives.
US_260-261_F_The_japanese_surrender.indd 260 04/03/19 10:47 AM