The act of unconditional surrender of Japan was signed: dates, history and interesting facts. Who and why signed the act of unconditional surrender of japan 2 surrender of japan
ACT OF UNCONDITIONAL SURPRISE OF JAPAN
Signed on September 2, 1945 in Tokyo Bay aboard the American battleship Missouri, on behalf of the emperor and the government of Japan, Foreign Minister M. Shigemitsu and General Y. Umezu (on behalf of the General Staff), and on behalf of all allied nations that were at war with Japan: Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General D. MacArthur (USA) and from the USSR - Lieutenant General K. N. Derevyanko. The signing of the Japanese Surrender Act meant the victory of the anti-Hitler coalition and the end of the Second World War of 1939-1945.
Japanese Surrender Act
/Extract/
1. We, acting on the orders and in the name of the Emperor, the Japanese Government and the Japanese Imperial General Staff, hereby accept the terms of the Declaration issued on July 26 at Potsdam by the Heads of Government of the United States, China and Great Britain, subsequently acceded to by the Soviet Union, which four Powers shall later known as the Allied Powers.
2. We hereby declare unconditional surrender Allied Powers of the Japanese Imperial General Staff, all Japanese military forces and all military forces under Japanese control, no matter where they are located.
3. We hereby order all Japanese troops, wherever located, and the Japanese people to cease hostilities immediately, to preserve and prevent damage to all ships, aircraft and other military and civilian property, and to comply with all demands that may be made by the supreme Commander of the Allied Powers or organs of the Japanese government on his instructions.
4. We hereby order the Japanese Imperial General Staff to immediately issue orders to the commanders of all Japanese troops and troops under Japanese control, wherever located, to surrender unconditionally in person, and also to secure the unconditional surrender of all troops under their command.
6. We hereby undertake that the Japanese Government and its successors will honestly carry out the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, issue such orders and take such actions as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers or any other representative appointed by the Allied Powers, in order to implement this declaration, requires.
8. The authority of the Emperor and the Japanese Government to govern the State shall be subordinated to the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, who shall take such steps as he deems necessary to carry out these conditions of surrender.
Potsdam Declaration 1945, July 26
POTSDAM DECLARATION 1945- a declaration containing a demand for the unconditional surrender of Japan - one of the participants in the fascist bloc in the 2nd World War of 1939-1945; published in Potsdam on July 26 during the Potsdam Conference of 1945 on behalf of the heads of government of Great Britain, the United States and China, who were at war with Japan. The Potsdam Declaration, which was an ultimatum, provided for: the elimination of the power and influence of the militarists in Japan; occupation of Japanese territory; fulfillment of the Declaration of the Governments of the USA, Great Britain and China, adopted at the Cairo Conference of 1943, and the limitation of Japan's sovereignty to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku; punishment of war criminals; removal of all obstacles to the revival and strengthening of democratic traditions in the country, the transfer of the Japanese economy to a peaceful track, etc. The declaration demanded that the Japanese government immediately proclaim the surrender of all Japanese armed forces. The leaders of the United States, Great Britain and China declared that they would not deviate from the terms of surrender. Establishing the need for the occupation of Japanese territory, the authors of the Potsdam Declaration simultaneously declared that the Allied occupation troops would be withdrawn from Japan as soon as a series of demilitarization measures were implemented in that country and a peaceful and responsible government was established in accordance with the freely expressed will of the Japanese people.
Statement by the Heads of Government of the United States, the United Kingdom and China
(Potsdam Declaration)
1. We, the President of the United States, the President of the National Government of the Republic of China, and the Prime Minister of Great Britain, representing hundreds of millions of our compatriots, have conferred and agreed that Japan should be given the opportunity to end this war.
2. The vast land, sea, and air forces of the United States, the British Empire, and China, reinforced many times over by their troops and air fleets from the West, were prepared to deliver the final blows to Japan. This military power supported and inspired by the determination of all allied nations to wage war against Japan until she ceases her resistance.
3. The result of Germany's fruitless and senseless resistance to the might of the risen free peoples of the world is presented with terrible clarity as an example to the people of Japan. The mighty forces that are now approaching Japan are immeasurably greater than those which, when applied to the resisting Nazis, naturally devastated the lands, destroyed industry and disrupted the way of life of the entire German people. Full application of our military force reinforced by our determination, will mean the inevitable and final destruction of the Japanese armed forces, the equally inevitable complete devastation of the Japanese metropolis.
4. The time has come for Japan to decide whether she will continue to be under the rule of those stubborn militaristic advisers whose unreasonable calculations have brought the Japanese empire to the brink of annihilation, or whether she will follow the path of reason.
5. Below are our terms and conditions. We will not back down from them. There is no choice. We will not tolerate any delay.
6. The power and influence of those who deceived and misled the people of Japan, forcing them to follow the path of world conquest, must be removed forever, for we firmly believe that new order peace, security and justice will not be possible until irresponsible militarism is expelled from the world.
7. Until such a new order is established, and until there is conclusive proof that Japan's ability to wage war has been destroyed, the points on Japanese territory which the Allies will designate will be occupied in order to ensure the implementation of the main goals that we set out here.
8. The terms of the Cairo Declaration will be fulfilled and Japanese sovereignty will be limited to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and such smaller islands as we indicate.
9. The Japanese armed forces, after they are disarmed, will be allowed to return to their homes with the opportunity to lead a peaceful and working life.
10. We do not want the Japanese to be enslaved as a race or destroyed as a nation, but all war criminals, including those who have committed atrocities against our prisoners, must be severely punished. The Japanese government must remove all obstacles to the revival and strengthening of democratic tendencies among the Japanese people. Freedom of speech, religion and thought will be established, as well as respect for basic human rights.
11. Japan will be allowed to have an industry that will support her economy and collect just reparations in kind, but not those industries that will allow her to arm herself again for war. For these purposes, access to raw materials will be allowed, as opposed to control over them. Eventually, Japan will be allowed to participate in world trade relations.
12. Allied occupying forces will be withdrawn from Japan as soon as these objectives are achieved and as soon as a peaceful and responsible government is established in accordance with the freely expressed will of the Japanese people.
13. We call on the Government of Japan to declare now the unconditional surrender of all Japanese military forces and to give proper and sufficient assurances of their good intentions in this matter. Otherwise, Japan will face a quick and complete defeat.
ACT OF THE SURDEN OF JAPAN, See Art. Japanese surrender... Great Patriotic War 1941-1945: Encyclopedia
JAPANESE SURRENDER ACT 1945- 2.9, Joint Document of the Allied Powers on the Unconditional Surrender of Japan, presented. its representatives. Signed on board Amer. battleship "Missouri" by representatives of Japan, USA, USSR, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, China, France, ... ... Encyclopedia of the Strategic Missile Forces
- ... Wikipedia
Japan's Unconditional Surrender Act- signed on September 2, 1945, deprived Japan, which was defeated in World War II, of all the lands it had ever captured: South Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, Manchuria, Korea, Taiwan, etc. Glossary of terms (glossary) on the history of the state and law of foreign countries
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On September 2, 1945, the event that ended fighting in World War II. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy lost its combat readiness, and there was a threat of an Allied invasion of Japan. While ... ... Wikipedia
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It was signed on September 2, 1945. Having made a preliminary decision and received the emperor’s approval for armistice negotiations, the Japanese government, overcoming internal difficulties, tried to contact the governments of the USSR, the USA and England in order to ... ... All Japan
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Books
- When cherry blossoms..., Alexey Voronkov. September 2, 1945 on board the American missile cruiser"Missouri" signed an act of unconditional surrender of Japan. Second World War ended, the armies returned to their places ...
- When the cherry blossoms, Voronkov A.A. On September 2, 1945, an act of unconditional surrender of Japan was signed on board the American missile cruiser Missouri. The Second World War is over, the armies have returned to their places...
SOVIET-JAPANESE RELATIONS IN THE SPRING OF 1945
Immediately after the end of the Yalta Conference and the publication of his communique, the Japanese side, realizing that before the defeat of its main ally in World War II - Nazi Germany only a few months remain, as a result of which, if the USSR enters the war with Japan, its situation may become critical, tried to find out if the prospects for a war in Japan were discussed at this conference. Far East, and began to probe the ground in relation to the mediation of the Soviet Union in the matter of its termination. For this purpose, on February 15, 1945, the Consul General of Japan in Harbin, F. Miyakawa, visited the Soviet plenipotentiary in Japan, and on February 22, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR V.M. Molotov was visited by the Japanese Ambassador to the Soviet Union, N. Sato.
In our time, there are accusations against Soviet diplomacy, which, according to some historians, insidiously deceived Japan by not telling the truth about the Yalta meeting ...
Let us refer to the excerpts from the report of this meeting: “The conference discussed quite a lot of issues. His, Molotov's, task is made easier by the fact that the communiqué covers in detail the questions that were discussed in the Crimea, and provides a lot of material on how the three great powers, including the Soviet Union, view the international situation. This communiqué also reflects, of course, the point of view of the Soviet Government... Of course, relations between the Soviet Union and Japan differ from those relations that England and America have with Japan. England and America are at war with Japan, and the Soviet Union has a Neutrality Pact with Japan. We consider the question of Soviet-Japanese relations a matter for our two countries. So it was and so it remains ... As for certain conversations during the conference, you never know what conversations are about in such cases ... "Further in the recording of this conversation it is noted that" Molotov, listened with satisfaction to the statement of the ambassador on the position of the Japanese Government on the issue about the Neutrality Pact, and he had in mind a little later a special talk on this issue with the Japanese ambassador. Molotov says that he could not do this earlier, because in recent times he, and not only him, was distracted by business, in particular, by the conference in the Crimea.”
In our opinion, the answers given by V.M. Molotov is not confirmed by the accusations against him, since he did not directly deny that the questions international position in the Far East were not considered in Yalta, on the contrary, he said that the conference discussed quite a lot of issues and, as for Soviet-Japanese relations, "you never know what there is talk about in such cases."
Thus, V.M. Molotov, having shown diplomatic skill, evaded a direct answer to the question of the Japanese side, citing the fact that representatives of Kuomintang China did not take part in the Yalta Conference, as in Tehran in 1943, and also that, as it and in fact, the neutrality pact between the USSR and Japan formally retained its force. Whether the Soviet Union would extend it for the next five years or denounce it a year before the expiration of this treaty, as provided for by its terms, the Soviet People's Commissar promised to inform the Japanese ambassador later, before April 25, 1945, i.e. one year prior to termination in the event of denunciation of its validity, counting from the date of ratification, and before the first UN conference in San Francisco scheduled for that date. Molotov was to take part in its work, in particular, to approve the UN Charter, the main provisions of which were adopted in Yalta, providing for collective sanctions against any aggressor, which was Japan, even if the UN members had treaties or agreements with the aggressors that contradicted its Charter. (Art. 103, 107). To assert that V.M. Molotov had to disclose to the Japanese aggressor in advance the content of the agreement on the joint struggle of the allies against him, is not only absurd from the point of view of common sense, but would also constitute a violation of such fundamental documents of modern international law as the United Nations Declaration of 1942 and the provisions of the future of the UN Charter, agreed in Yalta by the three great powers - the USSR, the USA and Great Britain, which bore the main responsibility for the fight against the aggressors in the Second World War.
April 5, 1945 V.M. Molotov, as he promised, received the Japanese ambassador to the USSR, N. Sato, and made him a statement about the denunciation of the neutrality pact between the USSR and Japan. This statement read: “The neutrality pact between the Soviet Union and Japan was concluded on April 13, 1941, that is, before the German attack on the USSR and before the outbreak of war between Japan, on the one hand, and England and the United States of America, on the other.
Since that time, the situation has changed radically. Germany attacked the USSR, and Japan, an ally of Germany, helps the latter in the war against the USSR. In addition, Japan is at war with the United States and England, which are allies of the Soviet Union.
In this situation, the Neutrality Pact between Japan and the USSR lost its meaning, and its extension became impossible.
In view of the foregoing and in accordance with Article 3 of the said pact, which provides for the right to denounce one year before the expiration of the five-year term of the pact, the Soviet Government hereby declares to the Government of Japan its desire to denounce the pact of April 13, 1941.
N. Sato assured his interlocutor that he would immediately bring this statement to the attention of his government. In connection with the statement made, N. Sato expressed the opinion that, according to the text of the neutrality pact, it would remain in force for five years from the date of its ratification, that is, until April 25, 1946, and that the Government of Japan hoped that this condition will be fulfilled by the Soviet side.
In response to this, V.M. Molotov said that "in fact, Soviet-Japanese relations will return to the position in which they were before the conclusion of the pact."
Legally, from the point of view of this treaty, this statement would correspond to reality if the USSR did not denounce, but annulled the neutrality pact with Japan. And in accordance with the Paris Pact of 1928 on the prohibition of aggression, the Soviet Union had every right to do this. But, given the fact that this could alert Tokyo and create an additional threat to the Far Eastern borders of the USSR, the Soviet government limited itself to a statement about the denunciation of the said treaty. Soviet People's Commissar his non-contradictory international law the assertion that Soviet-Japanese relations would return to the position before its conclusion (with the potential consideration that Japan had become an aggressor and the neutrality pact with the USSR was in conflict with the Paris Pact) was retracted, agreeing with N. Sato that with the point of view of the pact itself on the neutrality of its provision, since it has only been denounced (and not annulled), will legally remain in force until April 25, 1946.
K.E. Cherevko. Hammer and sickle vs samurai sword
“THIS ATTACK IS ONLY A WARNING”
The world should know that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. This was done because we wanted to avoid killing civilians as much as possible in this first attack. But this attack is only a warning of what may follow. If Japan does not surrender, bombs will fall on its military industry and, unfortunately, thousands of human lives will be lost. I call on the civilian population of Japan to immediately leave the industrial centers and save themselves from destruction
In 1945 I was 16 years old. On the morning of August 9 this year, I rode a bicycle 1.8 km north of the site that became the epicenter of the explosion atomic bomb. During the explosion, I was burned from the back by heat rays from the fireball, which had the same high temperature at 3000-4000 degrees, like the one in its center, and melting stones and iron, and also affected by invisible radiation. In the next moment, the shock wave threw me along with the bike about four meters and hit the ground. The shock wave had a speed of 250-300 m / s, and demolished buildings and deformed steel frames.
The ground shook so violently that I lay down on its surface and held on so as not to be knocked down again. When I looked up, the buildings around me were completely destroyed. Children playing nearby were blown away as if they were just dust. I thought that a large bomb had been dropped nearby, and I was struck by the fear of death. But I kept telling myself that I shouldn't die.
When everything seemed to calm down, I got up and found that my left arm was completely burned and the skin was hanging from it like tattered rags. I touched the back and found that it was also burned. She was slimy and covered in something black.
My bike was bent and twisted out of shape, body, handlebars and everything like spaghetti. All the houses nearby were destroyed, and flames broke out in their place and on the mountain. The children in the distance were all dead: some had been burned to ash, others seemed unwounded.
There was a woman who was completely deaf and whose face was swollen to such an extent that she could not open her eyes. She was wounded from head to toe and screamed in pain. I still remember this scene as if I saw it only yesterday. I could not do anything for those who were ill, and who desperately called for help, and I deeply regret this, even now ...
From the memories of Taniguchi Sumiteru
POET'S EYES
Float, calm in the morning current,
Silent waves, like the smoke of the ruins.
Who threw them like a sacrifice,
A bouquet of purple-red dahlias?
Only August will come - sobs are heard,
Hearts contract painfully.
And sad memories flow
And there seems to be no end to them.
The bells are ringing and ringing praise
A mighty life is a quivering dawn.
The river flows ... to whom it will deliver
Her bouquet floating on the waves?
Shosuke Shima. floating bouquet
JAPANESE SURRENDER SIGNING
From the memoirs of the Soviet Vice-Consul M.I. Ivanova
Everything is ready for the ceremony to begin. Main characters located on the upper deck of the battleship. General MacArthur stood at some distance from the others, deliberately keeping his distance. The Soviet delegation included five generals and a political adviser. The victors and the vanquished were separated by a long table covered with green cloth, on which lay documents. In the Japanese group ahead former minister Foreign Affairs Mamoru Shigemitsu and the Chief of the General Staff of Japan, General Yoshijiro Umezu, followed by the accompanying persons. We were interested in the question, why are Shigemitsu and Umezu here? Apparently, because they were the last heads of the diplomatic and military departments of Japan.
General MacArthur opens the ceremony. He is stingy with words: in a military way, briefly, in one phrase outlined the essence of what is happening. The first to approach the table, dragging the prosthesis and leaning on a stick, was Shigemitsu. He is in a tailcoat, his face is pale, motionless. Shigemitsu slowly sat down and made an entry in the act of unconditional surrender: “In the name of the emperor and the government and by their order. Mamoru Shigemitsu." Having put his signature, he thought for a while, as if weighing the significance of the act he had committed, then with difficulty got up, bowed towards the generals and hobbled to his place.
Then General Umezu did the same. The note left by him, like that of Shigemitsu, relieves him of personal responsibility, because it reads: “On behalf of the Stavka and by its order. Yoshijiro Umezu. General in military uniform, with orders, but without the traditional samurai sword: the American authorities forbade him to carry a weapon, so he had to leave the sword on the shore. The general is more cheerful than Shigemitsu, but he also looks mournful.
General MacArthur is the first to sign the act on behalf of the United States, then the representative of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant General K. N. Derevyanko, puts his signature, then the representatives of Great Britain, China, Australia, Canada, France, Holland and New Zealand sign. The document of surrender has been drawn up, now it's up to the execution. At the end of the ceremony, General MacArthur invites those participating to the salon of the ship for a glass of champagne. The Japanese delegation stands alone on deck for some time. After some time, they are handed a black folder with a copy of the signed act and are taken down the ladder, where a boat is waiting for them ...
To the question "What caused the surrender of Japan?" There are two popular answers. Option A - atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Option B - Manchurian operation of the Red Army.
Then the discussion begins: what turned out to be more important - the dropped atomic bombs or the defeat of the Kwantung Army.
Both proposed options are incorrect: neither the atomic bombings nor the defeat of the Kwantung Army had crucial- these were only the final chords of the Second World War.
A more balanced answer assumes that Japan's fate was determined by four years of hostilities in pacific ocean. Oddly enough, but this answer is also the truth with a "double bottom". Per landing operations on tropical islands, the actions of aircraft and submarines, heated artillery duels and torpedo attacks of surface ships hide a simple and obvious conclusion:
The Pacific War was planned by the US, initiated by the US, and fought in the interests of the US.
The fate of Japan was predetermined in the early spring of 1941 - as soon as the leadership of Japan succumbed to American provocations and began to seriously discuss plans for preparing for the coming war. To a war in which Japan had neither single chance to win.
The Roosevelt administration had calculated everything in advance.
The inhabitants of the White House were well aware that the industrial potential and resource base of the United States many times exceeded those of the Japanese Empire, and in the field scientific and technological progress The US is at least a decade ahead of its future adversary. The war with Japan will bring huge benefits to the United States - if successful (the probability of which was considered equal to 100%), the United States will crush its only rival in the Asia-Pacific region and become absolute hegemons in the expanses of the Pacific Ocean. The risk of the enterprise was reduced to zero - the continental United States was completely invulnerable to Imperial Army and .
The main thing is to force the Japs to play by American rules and get involved in a losing game. It is unsuitable for America to start first - it should be "a people's war, Holy war”, in which the good Yankees smash the evil and vile enemy who risked attacking America.
Fortunately for the Yankees, the Tokyo government and the General Staff turned out to be overly arrogant and arrogant: the dope of easy victories in China and Indochina caused an unjustified feeling of euphoria and the illusion of one's own strength.
Japan successfully spoiled relations with the United States - back in December 1937, aircraft of the Imperial Air Force sank the American gunboat Panay on the Yangtze River. Confident in its own power, Japan did not look for compromises and defiantly went to the conflict. War was inevitable.
The Americans sped up the process, taunted the enemy with deliberately impossible diplomatic notes and choked with economic sanctions, forcing Japan to make the only solution that seemed acceptable to her - to go to war with the United States.
Roosevelt did everything possible, and achieved his goal.
"how we should maneuver them into the position of firing the first shot without allowing too much danger to ourselves"
"... how do we get Japan to fire the first shot without exposing ourselves to significant danger"
- entry in the diary of US Secretary of War Henry Stimson dated 11/25/1941, dedicated to a conversation with Roosevelt about the expected Japanese attack
Yes, it all started with Pearl Harbor.
Whether it was a "ritual sacrifice" of American foreign policy, or the Yankees were the victims of their own slovenliness - we can only speculate. At least the events of the next 6 months of the war clearly indicate that Pearl Harbor could have happened without any intervention of "dark forces" - american army and the fleet at the beginning of the war demonstrated their complete incapacity.
However, the "Great Defeat at Pearl Harbor" is an artificially inflated myth in order to provoke a wave of popular anger and create the image of a "formidable enemy" to unite the American nation. In fact, the losses were minimal.
Japanese pilots managed to sink 5 ancient battleships (out of 17 available at that time in the US Navy), three of which were returned to service in the period from 1942 to 1944.
In total, as a result of the raid, 18 of the 90 ships of the US Navy that anchored in Pearl Harbor that day received various damage. Irretrievable losses among the personnel amounted to 2402 people - less than the number of victims of the terrorist attack on 11.09.2001. The infrastructure of the base remained intact. - All according to the American plan.
It is often said that the main failure of the Japanese is due to the absence of American aircraft carriers in the base. Alas, even if the Japanese managed to burn the Enterprise and Lexington, along with the entire Pearl Harbor naval base, the outcome of the war would remain the same.
As time has shown, America could DAILY launch two or three warships of the main classes (aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers and submarines - minesweepers, hunters and torpedo boats do not count).
Roosevelt knew about it. The Japanese are not. Desperate attempts by Admiral Yamamoto to convince the Japanese leadership that the existing American fleet is just the visible tip of the iceberg and an attempt to solve the problem by military means will lead to disaster did not lead to anything.
The capabilities of American industry made it possible to instantly compensate for ANY losses, and growing by leaps and bounds, the US Armed Forces literally “crushed” the Japanese Empire like a powerful steamroller.
The turning point in the war in the Pacific came already in late 1942 - early 1943: having gained a foothold in the Solomon Islands, the Americans accumulated enough strength and began to destroy the Japanese defensive perimeter with all their fury.
The sinking Japanese cruiser Mikuma
Everything happened as the American leadership expected.
Further events are a pure "beating of babies" - in the conditions of the absolute dominance of the enemy at sea and in the air, ships Japanese fleet died en masse, not even having time to approach the American fleet.
After a multi-day assault on Japanese positions using naval artillery, not a single whole tree remained on many tropical islands - the Yankees literally wiped the enemy into powder.
Post-war research will show that the ratio of casualties between the US and Japanese Armed Forces is described by a ratio of 1:9! By August 1945, Japan will lose 1.9 million of its sons, the most experienced fighters and commanders will die, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the most sensible of Japanese commanders, will “leave the game” (killed as a result of a US Air Force special operation in 1943, a rare case in, when killers are sent to the commander).
In the fall of 1944, the Yankees kicked the Japanese out of the Philippines, leaving Japan practically without oil, along the way the last combat-ready formations of the Imperial Navy were defeated - from that moment on, even the most desperate optimists from the Japanese General Staff lost faith in any favorable outcome of the war. Ahead loomed the prospect of an American landing on the sacred Japanese land, with the subsequent destruction of the country of the Rising Sun as an independent state.
Landing on Okinawa
By the spring of 1945, from the once formidable Imperial Navy only the burnt ruins of cruisers remained, which managed to avoid death on the high seas, and now slowly dying from wounds in the harbor of the Kure naval base. The Americans and their allies almost completely destroyed the Japanese merchant fleet, putting island Japan on a "starvation ration". Due to the lack of raw materials and fuel, Japanese industry practically ceased to exist. Big cities Tokyo agglomerations turned into ashes one after another - massive raids by B-29 bombers became a nightmare for residents of the cities of Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Kobe.
On the night of March 9-10, 1945, the most devastating conventional raid in history took place: three hundred Super Fortresses dropped 1,700 tons of firebombs on Tokyo. More than 40 sq. kilometers of the city, more than 100,000 people died in the fire. Factories shut down
Tokyo experienced a mass exodus of the population.
“Japanese cities, being made of wood and paper, will catch fire very easily. The army can self-praise as much as it wants, but if the war starts and there are large-scale air raids, it’s scary to imagine what will happen then. ”
- Admiral Yamamoto's prophecy, 1939
In the summer of 1945, carrier-based aircraft raids and massive shelling of the Japanese coast by US Navy battleships and cruisers began - the Yankees finished off the last pockets of resistance, destroyed airfields, once again “shaken up” the Kure naval base, finally finishing off what the sailors did not have time to finish off during battles on the high seas .
This is how Japan of the August 1945 model appears before us.
Kwantung pogrom
There is an opinion that the crooked-legged Yankees squabbled with Japan for 4 years, and the Red Army defeated the "Japs" in two weeks.
In this, at first glance, an absurd statement, both truth and fiction are plainly intertwined.
Indeed, the Manchurian operation of the Red Army is a masterpiece of military art: a classic blitzkrieg on a territory equal in area to two Western. Europe!
Breakthroughs of motorized columns through the mountains, daring landings on enemy airfields and monstrous cauldrons in which our grandfathers “boiled” the Kwantung Army alive in less than 1.5 weeks.
No less great were the South Sakhalin and Kuril operations. It took our paratroopers five days to take the island of Shumshi - for comparison, the Yankees stormed Iwo Jima for more than a month!
However, for each of the miracles there is a logical explanation. One simple fact speaks about what the “formidable” 850,000-strong Kwantung Army was like in the summer of 1945: Japanese aviation, for a combination of many reasons (lack of fuel and experienced pilots, outdated materiel, etc.), did not even try to rise into the air - the offensive of the Red Army was carried out with the absolute dominance of Soviet aviation in the air.
In the units and formations of the Kwantung Army, there were absolutely no machine guns, anti-tank rifles, rocket artillery, there was little RGK and large-caliber artillery (in infantry divisions and brigades as part of artillery regiments and divisions, in most cases there were 75-mm guns).
- "History of the Great Patriotic War"(vol. 5, pp. 548-549)
It is not surprising that the Red Army of the 1945 model simply did not notice the presence of such a strange enemy. Irretrievable losses in the operation amounted to "only" 12 thousand people. (of which half was claimed by illness and accidents). For comparison: during the storming of Berlin, the Red Army lost up to 15 thousand people. in one day.
A similar situation developed in the Kuriles and South Sakhalin - by that time the Japanese did not even have destroyers left, the offensive came with complete domination of the sea and the air, and the fortifications on the islands of the Kuril ridge were little like what the Yankees encountered on Tarawa and Iwo Jima.
The Soviet offensive finally put Japan to a standstill - even the illusory hope of continuing the war disappeared. The further chronology of events is as follows:
August 9, 1945, 00:00 Trans-Baikal time - the Soviet military machine was put into action, the Manchurian operation began.
August 10 - Japan officially announced its readiness to accept the Potsdam terms of surrender with a reservation regarding the preservation of the structure of imperial power in the country.
September 2 - The signing of the Act of Surrender of Japan took place aboard the battleship USS Missuori in Tokyo Bay.
Obviously, the first nuclear bombing of Hiroshima (August 6) could not change the decision of the Japanese leadership to continue senseless resistance. The Japanese simply did not have time to realize the destructive power of the atomic bomb, with regard to severe destruction and losses among the civilian population - the example of the March bombing of Tokyo proves that no less victims and destruction did not affect the determination of the Japanese leadership "to stand to the last." The bombing of Hiroshima can be viewed as a military action to destroy a strategically important enemy target, or as an act of intimidation in relation to Soviet Union. But not as a key factor in the surrender of Japan.
As for the ethical moment of the use of nuclear weapons, the bitterness during the years of World War II reached such proportions that anyone who had such a weapon - Hitler, Churchill or Stalin, without blinking an eye, would give the order to use it. Alas, at that time nuclear bombs only the United States had - America incinerated two Japanese cities, and now, for 70 years, it has been justified for its actions.
Most complex issue concluded in the events of August 9 - 14, 1945 - what became the "cornerstone" in the war, what finally forced Japan to change its mind and accept the humiliating terms of surrender? Repetitions of the nuclear nightmare or the loss of the last hope associated with the possibility of concluding a separate peace with the USSR?
I am afraid that we will never know the exact answer about what was going on in the minds of the Japanese leadership in those days.
Tokyo on fire
Day of the end of World War II. Japan's Unconditional Surrender Act signed
Signing of Japan's Unconditional Surrender aboard the USS Missouri
The surrender of Japan, the Act of which was signed on September 2, 1945, marked the end of World War II, in particular the Pacific War and the Soviet-Japanese War.
On August 9, 1945, the Soviet government declared a state of war between the USSR and Japan. On the final stage During the Second World War, the Manchurian strategic offensive operation of the Soviet troops was carried out with the aim of defeating the Japanese Kwantung Army, liberating the northeastern and northern provinces of China (Manchuria and Inner Mongolia), the Liaodong Peninsula, Korea, and eliminating Japan's large military and economic base on the Asian continent. Soviet troops launched an offensive. Aviation struck at military facilities, areas of concentration of troops, communication centers and communications of the enemy in the border zone. The Pacific Fleet, entering the Sea of Japan, cut the communications linking Korea and Manchuria with Japan, and delivered air and naval artillery strikes against the enemy's naval bases.
August 18-19 Soviet troops reached the approaches to the most important industrial and administrative centers of Manchuria. To hasten the capture of the Kwantung Army and prevent the enemy from evacuating or destroying material values, an airborne assault was landed on this territory. On August 19, the mass surrender of Japanese troops began. The defeat of the Kwantung Army in the Manchurian operation forced Japan to capitulate.
World War II ended completely and finally when, on September 2, 1945, on board the American flagship battleship Missouri, which arrived in the waters of Tokyo Bay, Japanese Foreign Minister M. Shigemitsu and chief General Staff General Y. Umezu, General of the US Army D. MacArthur, Soviet Lieutenant General K. Derevyanko, Admiral of the British Fleet B. Fraser on behalf of their states signed the “Act of Unconditional Surrender of Japan”.
Representatives of France, the Netherlands, China, Australia and New Zealand were also present at the signing. Under the terms of the Potsdam Declaration of 1945, the terms of which Japan accepted in full, its sovereignty was limited to the islands of Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku and Hokkaido, as well as the smaller islands of the Japanese archipelago - at the direction of the allies. The islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Khabomai went to the Soviet Union. Also, according to the Act, hostilities on the part of Japan ceased immediately, all Japanese and Japanese-controlled military forces surrendered unconditionally; weapons, military and civilian property were preserved without damage. The Japanese government and the General Staff were instructed to immediately release allied prisoners of war and internees civilians. All Japanese civil, military and naval officials pledged to obey and carry out the instructions and orders of the Supreme Command of the Allied Powers. In order to control the implementation of the Act, by decision of the Moscow Conference of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain, the Far Eastern Commission and the Allied Council for Japan were created.