Occupying Japan 1945 - The First Uncertain Days of Peace

[Music] the empire of japan was eventually defeated after three and a half years of unremitting war since its attacks on pearl harbor and advances into british and dutch colonies in asia in december 1941. in addition japan had been waging a cruel and barbarous war in china since 1937 where millions of mostly civilians had been killed brought to its knees by the usb-29 bombing campaign which reduced almost every city in japan to rubble and ashes a naval blockade by u.s british and dutch submarines that led to starvation in the japanese home islands and industrial ruin and successive military defeats on islands and territories from the pacific to burma in august 1945 the u.s had unleashed atomic warfare on japan at hiroshima and nagasaki in an attempt to make japan's surrender the combination of industrial ruin food shortages military defeats and atomic war had finally convinced emperor hirohito to accept the terms of the potsdam declaration and surrender japan to avoid complete annihilation another important factor that helped hirohito make up his mind was stalin's invasion of manchuria and korea and fears of soviet landings in northern japan almost all of japan's defenses were in the south of the country on the island of kyushu ready to fend off the expected amphibious invasion by combined allied forces an invasion the allies were keen to avoid due to the expected very high casualties against fanatical japanese troops and kamikaze aircraft [Music] the japanese government accepted the surrender terms on the 14th of august 1945. arrangements are now being made for the formal signing of the surrender terms at the earliest possible moment general douglas macarthur has been appointed the supreme allied commander to receive the japanese surrender great britain russia and china will be represented by high-ranking officers meantime the allied armed forces have been ordered to suspend offensive action the proclamation of v.j day must await upon the formal signing of the surrender terms by japan there were massive celebrations as world war ii finally came to an end next day on the 15th of august hirohito gave a famous radio address to the japanese people announcing the surrender to them many were dumbfounded and a mass wave of suicides followed the allies faced several immediate problems concerning japan unlike nazi germany whose territory had been invaded and occupied before hitler's death and the german surrender and its army completely defeated in the field mainland japan remained inviolate japan still had some 3 million troops at home and abroad and occupied territories such as hong kong singapore malaya french indochina and many other islands across the pacific as well surrender was complete anathema to the hardline military mindset and would the armies actually obey the order to surrender importantly someone was going to have to go to japan to take the formal surrender of the nation and begin the process of occupying the country it would be a touch and go mission requiring the immediate deployment of naval air and land forces into a deeply hostile and well-armed japan japanese officials flew to manila in the philippines on the 19th of august to meet general douglas macarthur supreme commander of the allied powers he briefed them on his plans as the new military governor of japan the us third fleet 400 ships led by the battleship uss missouri was steaming towards japan the missouri would have a special role to play in the forthcoming surrender ceremony at the recently captured island of okinawa the us 11th airborne division was prepared to be flown into japan directly an advanced unit of just 150 u.s personnel led by the 11th airborne divisions commanding officer major general swing and lieutenant general eichelberger commanding the us eighth army flew into atsugi air base in kanagawa prefecture near tokyo and were met by japanese military representatives the air base was strewn with japanese military aircraft the us immediately enlisted the help of japanese military police until more substantial u.s forces could be brought in within a few hours relays of transport planes were flying from okinawa bringing the rest of the 11th airborne division to the tokyo area the first american flag raised over japanese soil was in place at atsugi then admiral halsey's us third fleet moved through uraga strait to yokosuka yokohama and tokyo to begin the occupation japanese harbour pilots boarded the cruiser uss san diego to guide the ships through the oraga strait the san diego led task force 31 a special squadron carrying the us fourth marines due to go ashore in an amphibious landing in tokyo bay as the americans steamed in they took over the damaged japanese battleship nagato in the harbor party of u.s sailors took control of the crew and the immobilized battleship but some of her guns may still be dangerous ship and crew are taken in custody by the navy [Music] the nagato is turned over to her new captain thomas flynn former executive officer of the uss iowa once one of the most powerful ships in the world the nagato now flies the stars and stripes u.s marines then conducted some of the last amphibious operations of the war storming ashore to capture a heavily defended fort opposite yokosuka naval base meeting no resistance the marines carry out their assignment with flawless timing more marines also landed at the yokosuka naval base itself the imperial japanese navy's main facility in total some ten thousand marines came ashore this base with its approaches was one of the most heavily armed bastions of the whole pacific the uss san diego then docked at yokosuka the first u.s ship to tie up in japan since 1941. a brief surrender ceremony was held and the base became u.s property haratsugi the landings by the 11th airborne division continued with thousands soon on the ground the division was heavily outnumbered the area contained 300 000 recently disarmed japanese troops they were still around many were extremely surly and hostile and plenty of weapons were still lying around the countryside the paratroopers immediately boarded requisitioned japanese army trucks and were driven out to begin the slow process of occupying the area heavily outnumbered as they were ready to spread out and make secure the allied hold around tokyo american prisoners of war taken by the japanese in the philippines in 1942 are a glad reception committee they'll be going home now then a special plane touched down the appropriately named bataan the personal aircraft of general macarthur incoming military governor of japan he was greeted by the eighth army commander general eichelberger whose troops would provide the first occupation force in japan was the 30th of august 1945 16 days since hirohito had surrendered macarthur immediately decreed several new laws no allied personnel were allowed to assault japanese people no allied personnel were to eat the scarce japanese food and the rising sun flag the hinamaru was severely restricted in its use the formal surrender ceremony occurred in tokyo bay on the 2nd of september 1945 when the representatives of the japanese government and military signed the instrument of surrender in front of the representatives of the allied powers aboard the uss missouri president truman declared the 2nd of september to be vj day or victory over japan day the long process of occupying japan prosecuting war criminals and repatriating japanese servicemen would now begin as more u.s british australian and other commonwealth troops arrived in the country thanks for watching please subscribe and share and also help support my channel at paypal and patreon details in the description box

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 1,051,204

Rating: 4.9470243 out of 5

Keywords: Occupying Japan 1945, Mark Felton Productions, Emperor Hirohito, General MacArthur, Surrender of Japan

Id: -x1d-K2l6oU

Length: 10min 9sec (609 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 11 2019