Japanese Refused to Surrender (July - September 1945) World War II

foreign [Music] on May the 8th 1945 the news that the world had been waiting for was announced war in Europe that had begun with Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland almost six years earlier was over and the Allied Nations could finally celebrate their hard-earned victory it had been a long and devastating conflict and with its clothes a wave of relief swept across the towns and cities of Europe and Beyond from Moscow to London the streets were transformed as people poured from their homes to rejoice and while the Roars of cheering crowds filled the air the leaders of the Victorious Nations looked on satisfied their Endeavors had restored order and Harmony to a troubled world [Applause] Hitler's Third Reich had finally been defeated and by the summer of 1945 it was now up to three great Powers America Britain and the Soviet Union to decide what the future held for post-war Europe without a common enemy the warm comrade ship displayed between the Allies on the fields of battle would begin to fade and the rift between the Western democracies and communist Russia would grow ever greater foreign continued to rage in the Pacific there was still no end in sight for the battles of the Far East for the Japanese to surrender was a faint worse than death and driven by ancient Traditions they were determined to fight to the very last man as Allied casualties continue to rise and the United States prepared for their invasion of the Japanese home Islands there was soon grave decisions to be made and in the final stage of the global conflict steps would be taken to defeat the Eastern enemy which would transform the face of War forever thank you [Music] this episode in the countdown to Victory brings us to the conclusion of a conflict which would prove to be the most destructive in the history of mankind soon find out the events of July to September 1945 would not only Mark the end of the second world war but the beginning of a brave and dangerous new world foreign [Music] 1939 Adolf Hitler had rallied his Nation to war with the promise of a Thousand-Year Reich a new Empire with boundless economic wealth and territory after the invasion of Poland the first years of conflict had indeed been marked by breathtaking victories on the part of Nazi Germany and it appeared that the new German Empire would be as glorious as Hitler had promised foreign were conquered from the Volga River in the Soviet Union to northwest Africa and Nations across Europe were seized and occupied by enemy forces with the collaboration of fascist Italy and its leader Benito Mussolini soon almost the entire European continent had fallen beneath the shadow of the axis and a reign of tyranny engulfed the Western Hemisphere it seemed that nothing could stop the Nazi war machine but as the Allied Forces grew stronger and America and the Soviet Union joined Great Britain in the battle for victory the demise of Hitler's Empire soon became inevitable since 1944 Allied troops led by General Dwight D Eisenhower landed on the beaches of Normandy in one of the most celebrated episodes of the second world war D-Day will be the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany as American British and Canadian Forces forked their way into northern France and claimed the decisively the live sacrifice during the invasion of Normandy would give the Allies a foothold in occupied Europe and as the troops plunged deeper into France soon the Germans were being pushed all the way back to their fatherhood meanwhile the soldiers of the Red Army were thundering towards Germany from the east and by 1945 the race for Berlin was on American and British forces would not Venture much further than the river Rhine however as Allied commanders were ordered to leave the fate of the Nazi Capital to the armies of Joseph Stalin Eisenhower Fiat that too many lives would be lost in the fight for Berlin and indeed the battle for the city would be one of the most brutal conflicts of the war though vastly outnumbered German forces fought fiercely to defend every street and building less Russian troops had soon encircled Berlin and by the end of April the Soviets were swarming into every corner of the city surrounded with no hope of Escape Adolf Hitler took his own life on April the 30th in a bunker beneath the ruins of the right Chancellor fearing he would share the same fate as his ally the Italian dictator Mussolini whose mutilated body had been hung on public display just days earlier Hitler had given strict orders for his body to be burnt and all that was left when the Russians arrived were his child remains they had arrived too late to wreak revenge on the man responsible for the death of 20 million Russians and it would be the German people who were left to face the Wrath of the Communists the suicide of the Nazi leader and the suicides of some of the most prominent figures in Nazi Germany Hitler's minister of propaganda Joseph Goebbels and the head of the Gestapo Heinrich Himmler among others brought the reign of the Nazis to a decisive close [Music] foreign by the beginning of May the red flag was flying from the shattered rooftop of the reichstag and there could be no clearer sign that Hitler's new order was no more early on May the 7th 1945 the German Representatives General yodel and field Marshal Keitel signed the instrument of final unconditional surrender at Eisenhower's headquarters in France it was agreed that at 2301 hours Central European Time on the 8th of May all forces under German control would stop fighting [Music] foreign [Music] European history all that was left of the Third Reich was a nation of crumbling cities and a population of bitterly disillusioned with the leaders who'd driven their country into complete and utter ruin on July the 17th 1945 the leaders of the Victorious Nations met in Potsdam just a few miles west of Berlin to discuss the future of post-war Germany among those attending was the British prime minister Winston Churchill whose future in office was by now far from assured not long after VE Day the British wartime Coalition had broken up and a general election would soon decide whether Churchill was re-elected as prime minister or replaced by the labor leader clementatley the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin also attended the Potsdam Conference was by now reaping the rewards of Germany's defeat as he laid claim to territory in Central Europe foreign and there was also a new face in the political Arena Harry S Truman Truman had taken the place of the American president Franklin D Roosevelt after his death in April and would prove to be considerably less sympathetic towards the Communists than his predecessor with political turmoil looming on the horizon these three men had much to contemplate but despite their differences they still shared a common goal to ensure that Germany should never wage war again [Music] with this goal in mind during the Potsdam Conference it was agreed that Germany should be split into four occupation zones what eventually became known as West Germany would be divided between Britain America and France whereas East Germany would be occupied by the Soviets the capital Berlin which was within the Eastern Soviet sector would also be divided between the allies with the United States and Great Britain controlling the west and the Russians controlling the east the Soviet soldiers had set about occupying Berlin after their victory in May by July they were joined by the first American British and French occupation troops as they moved into the Western sectors of the city foreign those who observed Berlin in the aftermath of the war were taken aback by the state of the capital where they found much of the population suffering from starvation and attempting to live amongst the rubble of devastated buildings almost all transport in and out of Berlin was now inoperative and adding to the problem of food shortages bombed out sewers had contaminated the city's Water Supplies the Allied bomb attacks of the past few years had clearly taken their toll and combined with the large artillery pounding from the Soviets during the Battle of Berlin up to a third of the city had been destroyed [Music] foreign early July Churchill was among those who witnessed the damage to the city first hand as he walked through the devastated streets and passed the wrecked government buildings Churchill was clearly moved by what he saw and later said that his hate for the Germans had died along with their surrender but despite any sympathy Churchill may have had for the German population the Allied leaders were eager to deal Justice to those responsible for the Nazi regime and its crimes Hitler's war of aggression had led to an immense loss of life with over 20 million dead in the Soviet Union alone tragically the greater proportion of War casualties in Russia and most European nations had been civilian rather than military and as the end of the war approached the Allies began to discover the true horror of how so many people had died during the Advance on Berlin American and Soviet commanders had discovered concentration camps filled with victims from all over Europe and Russia in some camps none of the inmates had been left alive and only piles of bodies remained in others those who had survived the horrors of their internment were severely malnourished and in a desperate state [Music] soon evident that not thousands but millions of people had been systematically murdered by the Nazis including Soviet civilians and soldiers ethnic poles Gypsies and those who'd been opposed to the Nazi regime above all the Nazis had targeted the Jews and around two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population had been killed in what would later be called the Holocaust [Music] as the war crimes mounted at Potsdam it was decided that an international Military Tribunal on behalf of the American British Russian and French governments should be formed this body would conduct the most famous of all war trials at Nuremberg a town renowned for hosting Nazi rallies and considered the ceremonial birthplace of the party thank you it was felt that this was a Fitting Place to Mark the Nazi symbolic demise and the trial to punish the major war criminals of the European Axis countries would at least see some justice served for the horrors of Hitler's unforgiving regime [Music] among the highest ranking Nazi officials sentenced at Nuremberg was Hermann guring the commander of the luftwaffe and seconding command to Adolf Hitler [Music] he was sentenced to death for being a leading political and Military aggressor in the war and for his role in the extermination of the Jews but guring would fought the Nuremberg judges when he committed suicide the night before his public hanging others to be sentenced at Nuremberg were Rudolf Hess who'd been Hitler's Deputy before he was captured in Britain in 1941. Hess was given a life sentence and would remain in Spandau prison Berlin for the remainder of his days Carl Donuts the initiator of the U-Boat campaign and president of Nazi Germany in the days after Hitler's suicide was given a 10-year sentence and Wilhelm Keitel the head of the Vermont was sentenced to death by hanging many of the doctors who'd performed medical experiments in Nazi concentration camps were also sentenced at Nuremberg but as Justice was dealt out to the Nazis the Allies were well aware that the second world war was far from over and although Nazi Germany was now defeated their allies the Japanese were still at large the Empire of the Rising Sun had begun the war with the west back in December 1941 when they bombed the American Naval Base at Pearl Harbor and their conquests across southeast Asia and the islands of the Pacific had been as every bit as successful as the German Advance across Western Europe but as American Naval forces recovered their strength bit by bit the Allies had began to oust the enemy from their conquered Terrain [Music] foreign [Music] New Guinea to the Philippines the Japanese were soon fighting defensive battles by the summer of 1944 the island hopping campaign of Admiral Chester Nimitz commander-in-chief of the U.S Pacific Fleet and brought Allied Forces to the Mariana Islands and closer than ever to Japanese home territory during campaigning the Marianas U.S Marines had seized the islands of Guam Saipan and tinya would be of immense strategic importance in the Final Phase of the Pacific War as from here the bombardment of Japan itself could commence [Music] although the Americans had first launched bomb attacks on Japan as far back as 1942 during the carrier-based Doolittle raids and had also begun to fly bombers from China and India the missions were proving impractical it was difficult to get supplies to the air bases and the planes had to cover such long distances that bomb loads had to be traded for extra fuel although building runways on the rugged terrain of the Marianas would be no small task it was clear of having air bases closer to Japan would be a great advantage not only could the Marianas easily be supplied by ship but planes launched from the islands could carry their full Bond loads and it was hoped that this would make a considerable impact on Allied bombing strategy destroying vital Industries and military bases [Music] after much work by November 1944 the first of the new runways was ready to be put into action and the air war on Japan could begin Earnest giant B-29 super fortresses had arrived from America to deliver the first attacks from the Marianas and on November the 24th the first mass strike against the heart of Japan took place [Music] foreign was perhaps the most sophisticated bomber aircraft of its generation capable of flying up to 40 000 feet at 350 miles per hour this made it relatively safe from anti-aircraft fire nevertheless Japanese fighter pilots fiercely defended their cities and were inevitably some casualties during the raids [Music] foreign as well as risks posed to the bombers soon the air bases themselves were under attack as the enemy struck back with a vengeance considerable damage was inflicted on the U.S base at Saipan at the end of November 1944 and even so the raids on Japan continued relentlessly while b-29s continued to launch from the Marianas the Navy prepared additional raids from aircraft carriers just a few hundred miles from Japan carrier-based Pilots were assigned Targets in the heart of the enemy's industrial area and their Precision bombing would destroy a number of vital factories the airfields were also important strategic targets as the planes flown by Fearless Japanese Pilots were taking their toll on American ships and their Crews [Music] after completing their attacks further Inland the Allied planes fired at Harbor installations and shipping as they headed back to the carriers fortunately for the pilots who didn't make it back by plane Allied submarines would routinely pick up Airmen who had to bail out in fact during the war around 500 Pilots would be rescued from the murky Waters of the Pacific by American submarines although the carrier-based naval attacks were successful it soon became evident that the impressive B-29 super fortresses launching from Land bases were not living up to expectations though they'd been highly successful during the raids on Germany dropping the high explosives from high altitude did not have the same effect on the paper and wood structures of Japan the b-29s were repeatedly failing to hit their targets [Music] casualties began to rise and planes were lost during the course of the campaign allied strategy was becoming rather costly it was decided that urgent changes needed to be made early in 1945 General Curtis LeMay was brought in to direct the bombing operations on Japan suggested loading the aircraft with incendiaries rather than bombs and promoted low-level nighttime raids instead of high altitude daytime bobbing Precision bombing would now be replaced by area bombing and the results on the Japanese home Islands would be devastating on February the 24th the first raid was launched with 174 b-29s heading for Tokyo they dropped their lethal payloads the resulting fires succeeded in destroying one square mile of the city [Music] two weeks later an even more destructive mission was launched on March the 8th this time 335 bombers were sent to Tokyo all loaded with magnesium bombs white phosphorus bombs and napalm thank you as the bombardment began strong winds meant the fires spread quickly and before long a giant Firestorm had engulfed the Japanese capital [Music] the attack was the most destructive bombing raid of the second world war destroying 16 square miles of Tokyo and leaving over a million people homeless many were trapped by the fires and it's believed that around 100 000 people died in the raid many considered such tactics little short of mass murder but General Lemay was of the opinion that if the war was shortened by a single day the attack on Tokyo would have served its purpose [Music] as the bombing campaign went on American Marines continued to Edge closer to the Japanese Homeland in February 1945 the fight for a tiny island called Iwo Jima which lay to the south of the Japanese Mainland had begun Japanese zero planes were based there it was hoped that seizing the island would remove the threat to b-29s heading for Japan and American airbases in the Marianas conquered Iwo Jima would also provide a useful stopping off point for Allied planes to refuel but the battle for the craggy aisle would not be eaten [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] was heavily fortified the enemy had dug it with no intention of retreating the battle weary Marines had to fight for Iwo Jima inch by inch struggling through the volcanic sand under a barrage of fierce enemy fire one reporter described the situation on the island as a nightmare from Hell combat was brutal and by the time the Stars and Stripes had been raised on the island there were around 28 000 American casualties the Japanese 23 000 strong Garrison only one thousand had survived as Iwo Jima was declared secure on March the 26th the efforts of the Marines had nonetheless made a difference to lemay's bombing campaign 29s flying from the Marianas were now supplied with vital fighter air cover and Mustangs better equipped to cope with enemy attacks in the Skies over Japan would accompany them from the Iwo Jima on their bombing missions throughout the spring of 1945 the drive towards enemy home territory continued an American Joint Chiefs of Staff began to discuss the final Invasion plans for Japan codenamed operation downfall Japan was an Archie peligo made up of thousands of mountainous and volcanic islands which made its Invasion a daunting Prospect of the four main islands Honshu Hokkaido Kyushu and shikoku there were few areas suitable for invasion only the beaches on the Kanto plain of Honshu Southwest and southeast of Tokyo and the beaches of Kyushu presented suitable attack zones the Allies decided that a two-stage Invasion should be launched the first of which codenamed operation Olympic would attack Southern Kyushu the building air bases here cover would then be provided for the next step operation Coronet which was the attack on Tokyo bay on honchu operation Olympic was scheduled for November the 1st 1945 and the combined Naval Armada would be the largest ever assembled in the history of warfare 14 U.S divisions were scheduled to take part in the initial Landings once the invasion of Honshu was underway 25 divisions would be involved [Music] the main concern was the potential for huge casualty rates the Japanese had demonstrated that they were willing to fight to the death if necessary and there were also fears of biological warfare which the Japanese have used during their war with China was estimated that there could be over a million U.S casualties during the attack in April 1945 the extremes to which the Japanese would go to protect their Homeland took an even more Sinister turn the heavily fortified island of Okinawa which lay 340 miles from Japan was to be used as a staging post for the invasion of horseshoe and on April the 1st British and American ships delivered marine and Army divisions to its Shores but as the Marines struggled to root out the enemy the Allied invasion Force were to encounter Japan's most Lethal Weapon the Japanese had turned to the ancient myth of the Kamikaze to save their empire and had set in motion their last great attack operation chrysanthemum [Music] wave after wave of Pilots plunged towards the Allied ships and to their deaths to the horror and disbelief of the Marines in battle in the next three months 36 Allied vessels were sunk and hundreds more were damaged while the battle to wrestle Okinawa from the enemy continued although the Allies finally prevailed and won the bitter struggle by the time the campaign was over on June the 22nd there were more than 50 000 American casualties with at least 12 000 fatalities even the mission's commander General Buckner had been killed in the first six months of 1945 U.S casualties in the Pacific had exceeded those suffered during the previous three years put together and put Allied commanders in no doubt in any attempt at invading the home Islands would indeed lead to not thousands but possibly millions of casualties but despite Allied convictions that Japanese military and civilians alike would fight to The Bitter End to defend their Homeland by the summer of 1945 many people in Japan were desperate for peace since February over 60 cities around the country had been bombarded by lemay's Terror attacks and Tokyo was in Ruins the diet building where the Japanese government gathered was soon one of the few structures left standing as the death toll roads and industries vital to the Japanese war effort were destroyed a situation in the country became desperate [Music] millions of people began to flee from the cities and those that stayed faced a dismal existence foreign to the bomb attacks General Lemay had also launched operation starvation in which vital water routes and ports were mined to disrupt enemy shipping or long there were desperate Fuel and food shortages and Wildlife deteriorated in the home Islands first time Japanese civilians began to turn against the military all across the country people called for peace desperate to end the war as the American bombers continued to destroy everything in their path changes in Japanese leadership also began to reflect the country's hopes for peace warmongering prime minister Tojo who'd LED Japan into war in 1941 had been forced to resign after the fall of Saipan in the summer of 44. his replacement kuniaki koiso was in office for less than nine months after his fall from government in April 1945 Baron cantaro Suzuki had been elected to govern the country prime minister Suzuki was a retired Admiral and an aged hero of the russo-japanese war and unlike the more militant members of the Japanese government he didn't believe that his country should go down fighting his presence in government was a clear indication that the peace party was prevailing in Japan and by now even the Japanese emperor Hirohito began to press for concrete plans to end the war realizing that his Empire had no hope of surviving against the American non-slaught foreign [Music] to a close in May 1945 the call for peace became more urgent than ever as the full weight of American forces were now focused on the Pacific the aim of prime minister Suzuki's cabinet was to secure any peace terms short of unconditional surrender and to do this Suzuki turned to an unlikely Ally back in April 1941 Chan had signed a neutrality pact with Russia and although the Japanese were also bound to Nazi Germany after signing The tripartite Pact they'd made the decision not to join Hitler when he began his war on the Soviets in June 1941. with the agreement with Russia still standing in 1945 the Japanese cabinet hoped that the Soviets could act as mediators for a negotiated surrender with the allies Suzuki and his officials decided to send Prince fumimaro kunowe to Moscow to head to the peace delegation but nowhere had tried desperately to prevent Japan from going to war with America back in 1941. it's hoped that he could now somehow secure a peaceful future for his country [Music] however the Japanese had no idea that Stalin had already made arrangements with the British and Americans concerning the future of Japan during the Yalta Conference in February 45 with little consideration of the treaty made with the Japanese four years earlier the Soviet leader agreed to participate in the war against Imperial Japan three months after the defeat of Nazi Germany return he was promised attractive territorial concessions including Japanese occupied Manchuria the curiel islands and Port Arthur in Korea which were all beneath the Japanese sphere of influence it's hardly surprising therefore that when Suzuki's delegates contacted the Soviets to negotiate peace they were met with Silence from Moscow and soon fears began to grow that the Soviets could pose as much of a threat as the Americans on the day the Potsdam Conference commenced on July the 17th U.S and British warships fired 200 000 tons of shells into the coastal area Northeast of Tokyo as the build-up to Invasion continued soon after the Soviet Union recalled all Embassy staff and families from Japan hinting that they also intended to attack the future was looking decidedly Bleak for the Land of the Rising Sun but there was soon another unexpected twist in the entangled intricacies of world Politics as Truman and Churchill became increasingly concerned with what appeared to be aggressive expansionism on the part of the Soviets by July the Red Army controlled the Baltic states Poland Czechoslovakia Hungary Bulgaria and Romania and refugees fearing a communist takeover were fleeing in their Millions Soviet leader defended his actions insisting his control of Eastern Europe was a defensive measure against possible future attack as communist influence grew in Europe America and Great Britain were beginning to fear that the Japanese were the least of their worries Truman harbored deep suspicions of the Communists and was anxious that in East Asia as elsewhere Russia should make as little Headway as possible as far as the American president was concerned the less the Soviet Union was involved in the last stages of the war the better and it was with great relief that he received news that there might be an alternative to Russia's involvement [Music] this Ray of Hope was the Manhattan Project a secret U.S scheme to develop Albert Einstein's research in nuclear fission scientists had been quietly developing Einstein's theories at Chicago University and on July the 16th a breakthrough was made in New Mexico scientists successfully tested the deadliest and most powerful weapon on Earth the atom bomb with this weapon at their fingertips the Americans realized they could shorten the war and reduce American casualties without the aid of the Communists [Music] foreign began to make all attempts to exclude the Soviet Union as an invading Force the race for Japan was on at 20th Air Force Headquarters in the Marianas Curtis LeMay and his staff worked around the clock to devise a plan for the use of the new top secret weapon against the enemy the Soviets in the meantime were gathering forces on the border with Manchuria in southeast China in preparation for their agreed invasion of Japanese territory scheduled for August the 8th exactly three months after the surrender of Nazi Germany as tensions mounted back in Potsdam there were sudden changes in the political Arena Winston Churchill had left the conference on July the 25th to hear the outcome of the British election but he had not been re-elected foreign returns to Germany in his place as the new British prime minister and to join Truman and Stalin in the final decision making of the war [Music] together they made a last plea for Japan to surrender in the Potsdam Declaration on July the 26th Allied terms when those responsible for the policies that had led to war were to be forever eliminated the war criminals should be punished and Japan occupied back in Japan Suzuki still waiting and hoping for a response from the Soviet Union to their pleas for a peace agreement gave a seemingly inscrutable reply perhaps due in some part to the ambiguities of the Japanese language for the Allies this was a final gesture of defiance and on August 6 1945 the history of warfare was changed forever Truman ordered the atom bomb to be loaded onto a B-29 plane named after the Pilot's mother Inola gay foreign runway on the island of tinian and set off for its Target an important military Center called Hiroshima With a Civilian population of over 300 000. it was a calm sunny Monday morning and the city was bustling with activity when at 8 15 am the bomb was suddenly dropped [Music] foreign [Music] the devastation spread over four square miles killing 30 percent of the population instantly humans and buildings alike disintegrated in the explosion and The Firestorm that ensued claimed many more lives foreign all that was left of Hiroshima by the time the smoke had cleared was a wasteland of flattened streets many of its inhabitants now nothing but Shadows burnt into crumbling Walls by the blast of white light four hours after the attack the Japanese government didn't know what had happened and were only given some indication when a plane was dispatched to survey the city a huge cloud of smoke was still Rising above Hiroshima but the true horror of the situation was only just beginning the Japanese soon realized that the death toll was Rising as survivors began dying from radiation sickness [Music] foreign [Music] from the attack President Truman made the announcement that the atomic bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima and stonely warned if the Japanese do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of Ruin from the air the like of which has never been seen on Earth foreign Hiroshima the Soviets began to storm across the borders into Manchuria on August the 8th ending all hopes the Americans had of keeping the Soviets out of the Pacific Theater but Tokyo still failed to respond to the call for an unconditional surrender and on August the 9th Truman carried out his Threat by dropping another bomb mod Japan this time on the city of Nagasaki as another city crumbled into ruin the Japanese government and the emperor realized they no longer commanded the fate of their country faced with further nuclear attacks Emperor Hirohito was forced to put aside any hopes of an honorable end to the war the endurable must be endured he announced and finally on August 14th Japan accepted the Potsdam declaration and agreed to unconditional surrender one day later President Truman made the speech the world had been waiting for that government by the Secretary of State on August 11th iodine this reply a full acceptance of the pups Dam declaration which specifies the unconditional surrender of Japan in the reply there is no qualification [Music] when the news of surrender arrived a surge of relief swept across the American forces who'd been battling against Japan for almost four years Bloodshed was finally at an end and the Pacific War was over [Applause] on August the 30th U.S troops of the sixth Marine Division landed on a beach south of Tokyo marking the beginning of America's occupation of Japan and as U.S command was firmly established the Stars and Stripes were triumphantly raised over the Japanese Homeland foreign later that same day the commander of U.S forces in Southwest Pacific Theater general Douglas MacArthur flew into atsugi Airfield in Tokyo and prepared to take control over the conquered Empire foreign 1945 the Japanese delegation boarded the U.S battleship Missouri in Tokyo bay to make the unconditional surrender official MacArthur who was to take on the role of new supreme commander of Allied Forces in Japan directed the ceremony which marked the end of the Pacific conflict and his speech to the onlookers reflected the hopes of millions of people around the world that finally peace would be restored it is my Earnest hope and indeed the hope of all mankind from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and Carnage of the past representing the Emperor Hirohito the Japanese foreign minister shigamitsu formally surrendered for his country and committed Japan to the complete disarmament and surrender of all military forces and when all the nations that had taken part in the Pacific battles had signed the document MacArthur drew the war to a poignant close by saying I pray that peace he now restored the world and that God will preserve it always these proceedings are closed the second world war officially came to an end at eight minutes past nine on September the 2nd 1945. across the Pacific and Southeast Asia the Japanese now lay down their arms September the 4th Imperial forces surrendered on Wake Island three years and four months after the Americans had been driven from its Shores in Malaya and throughout southeast Asia command British Commonwealth forces accepted the surrender of the Japanese troops soon the Union Jack was flying proudly over the British colonial city of Singapore once more almost four years after its invasion in the Philippines the once known tiger of Malaya General Yamashita surrendered the remainder of his army to General Jonathan Wainwright who'd led the battle to defeat the island nation back in 1942. the general had been held in prison camps since surrendering to the enemy 40 months earlier and the moment to deal Justice to the man responsible for so many American and Filipino deaths had come not a moment too soon for Wainwright just as the Nuremberg trials had judged those in Nazi Germany those deemed responsible for the war in the Far East would be punished for their part in the bloodshed along with Yamashita the wartime Premier General Tojo who'd been so eager to lead his country into battle against the West would be given a harsh judgment and sentenced to death for his crimes meanwhile as all dreams of Empire Building gradually disappeared the Japanese would learn to live alongside the Americans as the occupation of their country began Japan would now evolve into a new nation where foreigners infiltrated every Walk of Life and ancient laws and customs were adapted to suit a very different existence although many years of struggle lay ahead as the horrors of War slowly started to fade away Japan like Germany would emerge transformed from the ruins of conflict the second world war had raged for six bitter years and claimed millions of lives from Europe to Asia and Beyond but as it drew to a close Humanity could finally hope for a better future as the dawn of a new era in world history was about to begin [Music]

Channel: Best Documentary

Views: 591,538

Keywords: japan, hiroshima, nagazaki, documentary, series, second world war, history, war, historical, hitler, germany, conflict, countdown to victory, europe, allies

Id: tDCU_vNCpDc

Length: 53min 41sec (3221 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 07 2023