Operation Downfall: The Allies Secret Plan To Invade Japan | Secrets Of War | Timeline

one of the great privileges of working at history here and making films together with our team at timeline is the access we get to extraordinary historical locations like this one stonehenge i'm right in the middle of the stone circle now it is an absolutely extraordinary place to visit if you want to watch the documentary like the one we're producing here go to history hit tv it's like netflix for history and if you use the code timeline when you check out you'll get a special introductory offer see you there [Music] here on the first of april 1945 united states marines approached the japanese-held island of okinawa vulnerable landing craft bombed like ducks in a shooting gallery wide-eyed soldiers plunged ahead into the foaming surface endless waves of japanese bullets hoping for nothing more than to feel dry earth beneath their feet one more time many would die before they reached the shore the war in the pacific had been raging for over three years the americans had the upper hand but as they hopped from island to island each advance was more costly than the last one thing that surprised americans very quickly uh in the second world war in the pacific was that the the japanese were so very reluctant to surrender the only way to get them out was using flamethrowers and hand-to-hand combat and in hand-to-hand combat uh casualty figures start to mount up very very quickly the social factors that led to this sort of fanaticism were difficult for the west to understand centuries of tradition and a religious devotion to the emperor had created an army of almost unerring loyalty the warrior code of the samurai dated to the 11th century but its principles of loyalty and honor served the modern japanese warlords well she said japanese people had been indoctrinated in bushido since their early childhood this spirit was developed under the imperial government the lessons of austerity and personal denial prepared the entire nation to make any sacrifices necessary during these difficult years of war the bloody fighting on okinawa finally ended after 82 days of the 120 000 japanese defenders barely 10 000 survived a mortality rate of more than 90 percent there was no word in the japanese military code for surrender the american casualties were lower but still much worse than most of the battles in europe 50 000 dead missing or wounded u.s military leaders shuddered to think how many of their men would die in the invasion of the japanese mainland that they were now secretly planning some estimates predicted as many as a million american casualties the experience of the united states fighting forces in the pacific proved to us that as we drew closer and closer to the japanese home islands they were going to put up one hell of a fight for the homeland if they fought so forcefully in the south sea islands you can magnify that many times over and anticipate what sort of confrontation the americans would have using conventional means to bring about a japanese surrender in their homelands in the spring of 1945 conventional weapons were still the only means available american and british scientists were still struggling to unlock the secrets of the atom since no actual tests had been performed the atomic bomb was just a theoretical possibility it wasn't america's ace in the hole rather it was a wild card they might never be able to draw us military strategists continued to plan for what would be the most colossal amphibious operation in history more than twice as large as the d-day landings in normandy if okinawa was any indication the invasion of japan would be the most horrific campaign in u.s history victory in the spanish-american war in 1898 gave the united states control of the philippines japan was now a potential enemy in the pacific in the closing years of the 19th century american military strategists at the naval war college in newport rhode island began to speculate on the possibility of a war with the land of the rising sun in 1909 american military strategists completed the top secret war plan orange which took its name from the color codes the united states assigned to different world powers at that time the us fleet was based in virginia on the east coast of the north american continent even with the opening of the panama canal in 1914 it was a journey of nearly 12 000 miles to reach the philippines ten times as far as it was from japan to the philippines the trip would take the american fleet more than two months the vast distance meant that u.s holdings in the pacific would be extremely vulnerable in the early stages of any war with japan war plan orange postulated that the japanese could successfully land in the philippines that we were incapable of preventing a japanese landing the idea was that when the japanese landed war plan orange would kick in and our fleet loaded with troops and guns would then scurry to the philippines drive the japanese off and then turn probably north to meet the great japanese main fleet in a knockdown drag out final battle u.s naval strategists updated and refined their secret war plans in the years following the first world war but it remained unchanged in many respects warplane orange was foreseen as a three-phased operation the initial phase envisioned a rapid japanese expansion as it invaded the chinese mainland and captured many islands for military bases and raw materials phase two saw the american fleet mobilizing and heading west it would refuel in hawaii reinforce its own bases in the pacific and then seize small remote japanese outposts to secure its own supply lines phase three called for the american forces to capture the bases closer to japan and then establish new bases along the coast of asia to isolate the japanese choking off their supplies and economy orange did not call for the invasion and occupation of japan the plan assumed that the bombing of its cities and the blockading of its harbors would force japan to surrender with japan's invasion of manchuria in 1931 and china in 1937 war appeared inevitable and warplan orange seemed prophetic in 1939 orange was superseded by the rainbow war plans rainbow referred to the fact that america and its allies would very likely be fighting multiple enemies in any upcoming conflict in may of 1940 over the objections of fleet commander admiral james richardson president franklin roosevelt ordered the u.s pacific fleet to relocate from california to hawaii to discourage further japanese aggression in september of that same year the axis powers of germany japan and italy signed the tripartite pact binding them in an alliance that confirmed the logic of the rainbow plans in may of 1941 rainbow war plan number five was completed it was the first of the war plans to address the possibility of the united states fighting a war against japan and germany it also stressed that in the event of such a conflict germany must be the first to be vanquished december 7 1941 a date which will live in infamy despite more than 30 years of planning the united states found itself ill-prepared for war the mighty fleet that was to prosecute war plan orange was in shambles suddenly war in theory was war in brutal reality following the attack on pearl harbor japanese conquests in the pacific proceeded very much the way warplane orange had predicted at the height of its expansion japan controlled more than 17 million square miles of ocean with a web of fortified island bases but many american military leaders had already dismissed orange and its successor as unworkable as early as 1930 general douglas macarthur had called orange totally useless he felt that america could make a stand in the philippines at the first hint of hostilities he would rush men and materiel from the united states to those islands making them america's primary base in the pacific in 1940 admiral richardson then the commander-in-chief of the u.s navy echoed macarthur's sentiments if not his strategy he also questioned the practicality of the different versions of orange saying that they had never been feasible war plans his objections were based on an unrealistic timetable and a lack of man and material [Music] part of the problem stemmed from the fact that the plan called for amphibious assaults on a chain of well-fortified islands and atolls amphibious landings are people intensive business and we had to use every weapon in our arsenal big bombers first to try to soften up the islands then carrier-based aircraft and then naval bombardment and finally bring a short tanks and heavy weapons as soon as you can to support the troops amphibious warfare was manpower intensive and it was costly the top secret american war plans called for dozens of such assaults on beaches honeycombed with caves and bunkers against an enemy more fierce and determined than the planners had ever imagined [Music] the united states had attempted to take the war to the japanese homeland as early as 1942 using aircraft carriers to bring b-25s within range lieutenant james doolittle staged a daring daylight raid over tokyo it was a tremendous morale boost for the us but the attack had little military effect [Music] the allies continued such raids throughout the war but with the introduction of the larger longer range b-29s in 1944 the large-scale bombing of japan became practical and effective in march 1945 major general curtis lee may had his b-29s reduce their altitude from 25 000 to 5000 feet and replaced their high explosive payloads with incendiary bombs a devastating weapon for the mostly wood residences of the japanese capital that one night i believe it was 12 square miles of tokyo was burned out and more than 60 thousand people died more damage than a dozen or more conventional raids could have imposed once they realized how effective the firebomb rate had been lemay continued them city after city these were slowly burning out the factories and the population centers of japan in all american b-29s dropped almost 170 000 tons of firebombs on japanese cities leveling not only large sections of tokyo but also osaka and yokohama killing hundreds of thousands and leaving millions homeless but even the widespread devastation of these cities failed to break japan's resolve it appeared that an invasion of the japanese main islands would be the only way to end the war in the spring of 1943 general george marshall u.s army chief of staff presented a top-secret strategy for the invasion of the japanese homeland the plan was codenamed downfall but the invasion itself was only the last part of marshall's far-reaching plan initially america would increase aid to china in an attempt to drive the japanese from the mainland or force them to commit more troops to the fight next the british would take burma and the united states would liberate the philippines with these countries as staging areas the allies would tighten the noose around japan heading north the chinese coast would be the next target once secured allied air bases would be established there to conduct a massive bombing campaign on the japanese home islands japan consists of some 3 000 islands but four islands make up 98 of its total area kyushu shikoku hokkaido and the main island of honshu honshu holds most of japan's major cities including tokyo the capital the first phase of operation downfall called named olympic was a three-pronged attack on the southernmost island kyushu marines of the fifth amphibious corps were to land on the southwest coast while the army's eleventh corps took ariaki bay and the army's first corps landed in the southeast olympic was scheduled for the 1st of november 1945 and would involve nearly 800 000 american troops 2000 ships and more than 2500 carrier-based aircraft the idea is to take the southern part of kyushu and make it into a staging area for the bombing of honshu which is the northern island where tokyo is located olympic was a massive undertaking more than twice the size of the allied invasion of normandy and far more complex whereas for the normandy invasion the troops had traveled from england to 100 miles at most in the pacific troops were coming from okinawa iwo jima the philippines even from pearl harbor thousands of miles also in normandy there had been numerous diversionary operations employed in an attempt to deceive the germans as to the allied point of attack but there would be no confusing the japanese you don't have the same choice in kaiusha that you have between calais and normandy on the french coast i mean pretty much there's only one place we can go and and that's where they're putting everybody they can put you cannot attack central japan if southern japan has kamikaze airstrips still held by the japanese so the island of kyushu is clearly going to be a necessity for us to take the problem is this is pretty obvious to everyone who studied the situation so the idea that we would invade kyushu is fairly much accepted by the japanese once air bases had been established on kyushu preparations for operation coronet the invasion of the main island of honshu could begin the largest of the japanese islands honshu was even more heavily defended than kyushu but coronet at least provided the us with an opportunity to use diversionary tactics one of the more elaborate deceptions was designed to convince the japanese that an invasion of korea was imminent korean gorillas in exile in china would slip over the border into korea and transmit weather reports and engage in other pre-invasion activities in april of 1946 news would be leaked that korean-american interpreters had departed from the united states and red cross officials would be told to prepare to send people to korea knowing that japanese agents remained in u.s occupied territories an american officer on an inspection tour of one such area would purposely lose papers detailing plans for landings in korea false radio traffic and the naming of a commander helped complete the picture a similar deception plan was designed to convince the japanese that the allies intended to invade shikoku american troops would be told that they were invading the small island and shown films on the area one scenario called for an army truck in manila to crash spilling documents and maps that showed shikoku as a destination coronet called for the u.s first and eighth armies to squeeze tokyo in a classic pincer maneuver diversionary tactics could help but they could not overcome the fact that the tokyo plane the area that surrounded the japanese capital was the most heavily defended area in all of japan almost as contentious as the battles themselves was the infighting in the american military over who would command the invasion the joint chiefs of staff debated the issue into the spring of 1945. the two names at the forefront of the discussions were general douglas macarthur and admiral chester nimitz nimitz's supporters argued that the invasion would be primarily amphibious and that nimitz had commanded numerous such operations including those against the solomons the marshals iwo jima and okinawa macarthur's supporters argued that the army would be the primary invasion force in the operation after a very lengthy and politically very bloody debate between the army and navy general macarthur was named to command the overall assault admiral nimitz who was the naval commander in the pacific during the war was named to command all of the naval forces in the invasion at west point macarthur had graduated at the top of his class and went on to be appointed the army's chief of staff he retired in 1934 and became a military advisor to the philippines he returned to active duty for the u.s army in 1941 just before hostilities broke out with japan he had made a valiant stand in the philippines as he'd said he would but was driven from the islands by the japanese early in the war just as warplan orange predicted it took him two years to make good in his bold promise to return but now he faced what was without a doubt the most demanding task of his long and illustrious career [Music] by all estimates the allied invasion of japan was a grim proposition early projections had estimated the number of enemy troops on kyushu to be in the neighborhood of 80 000 and despite a u.s naval blockade reinforcements continued to pour into the island by the time that the planning starts in earnest in june of 45 the intelligence indicator says that there are 350 000 japanese troops on kaioshin by august of 1945 the build-up of japanese troops is approaching 900 000 but these troops were only a portion of the total fighting force on kyushu the japanese people were also to be involved in the defense of their homeland the civilian population in japan always uh contributed a hundred percent to the war effort and the people in kyushu upwards to 28 million of them were prepared to oppose the invading allied forces by any means possible the people would defend their villages and houses it's possible they would serve as cannon fodder also to prepare for the great battle that was to come the japanese government printed the people's handbook of resistance combat a pamphlet instructing civilians on how to fight the american invaders millions of the booklets were distributed in the cities towns and villages of the main islands it says you're short they're tall you can kick them in the groin you can use pitchforks you can use fire axes you can strap explosives which will be provided to you in packets and you can dive under their tanks and ignite the explosives they're preparing their civilians to be kamikazes women and children were even recruited to fight the japanese called these civilian forces volunteer home defense units a hundred million fiery bullets against the enemy was what the civilian population was called by the government [Music] when the americans landed they would find themselves fighting not only an army but an entire nation if the allied forces had occupied the japanese were ready to go on the ikiyoku toku mission there was no damage to be considered all of them were to be in suicide tactics the japanese had also developed a special class of suicide weapons which they hoped would kill half of the american invaders while they were still at sea kamikaze meant divine wind and referred to a legend from the 13th century when invading fleets were twice turned back from japanese shores by sudden changes in the weather ginsei what's known as kamikaze nowadays was a special attack unit born during the leyte golf attack it was done voluntarily by the pilots it was not something that the government forced them to do however one thing led to another and a reserve of kamikaze forces was born by the time the allied forces closed in in the japanese mainland these suicide planes had been refined into a devastatingly effective weapon and unlike the naval battles where the primary targets had been aircraft carriers and destroyers an invasion would provide the kamikaze with a variety of vulnerable targets the concentration of these kamikazes for the invasion of japan will be on the transports carrying american troops the medical corps has three ships designated to carry blood for the invasion if you knock out one of those ships you've knocked out one-third of the blood that they think they're going to be able to use coded messages intercepted by naval signal intelligence revealed that the japanese had as many as 5 000 of these suicide planes in reserve for the american invasion of kyushu with another 5500 on the main island in the battle for the philippines one in six kamikazes found their target [Music] at okinawa only one in nine but even at that rate more than 500 planes packed with high explosives would slam into american troop transports aircraft carriers medical ships and battleships as they approached the beaches of kyushu there's a great deal of planning on the japanese park for the kamikazes to be the best defense that they're going to have because they're going to make americans bleed that's their defense in addition to conventional propeller driven aircraft the japanese had secretly developed a rocket-powered suicide bomb they called the oka or cherry blossom these manned suicide craft which the allies codenamed bacca the japanese word for fool were released from bombers and could reach speeds up to 600 miles an hour it made its debut on okinawa and the japanese war machine had since built more than 700 of them there's a whole kamikaze or suicide element that starts starts to grow in the whole japanese military they not only have kamikaze aircraft they have kamikaze submarines they have kamikaze scuba guys who are going to be underwater at the invasion sites and swim toward invasion crafts and blow themselves up they've got little torpedo boats that are just essentially going to drive torpedoes into the invasion force at a secret base in manchuria known as unit 731 japanese scientists were working on weapons that could inflict more casualties than all of their suicide tactics combined the japanese employed biological and chemical weapons from the outbreak of war in 1937 throughout china to give you some idea of the extent of the japanese activities in in these areas at war's end the japanese abandon hundreds of thousands of chemical weapons just in manchuria alone in the one province of g-lean the japanese in 1999 have conceded that there are at least 700 000 bombs canisters barrels of chemicals left over from world war ii [Music] if the japanese used these horrible weapons american casualties might well have exceeded the already appalling estimates the geneva accord had banned this type of warfare following the slaughter of the first world war but japan had not signed it the japanese knew they had almost no hope of winning the war their strategy was to make a stand on these beaches here the americans would meet a foe more massive and fanatical than it had ever faced hundreds of thousands of japanese soldiers and civilians trained to kill and unafraid to die the japanese warlords believed that if enough americans died in the surf and on the sands of kyushu the american people wore weary and thousands of miles from these beaches would demand an end to the fighting they would force their leaders to negotiate allowing japan to keep the islands it had taken japanese of course underestimated the outrage that pearl harbor produced and of course the strength of american nationalism to see this thing through to the bitter end in the spring of 1945 with d-day in the pacific looming ever nearer american scientists were on the verge of a breakthrough that might change the course of the war entirely on the 12th of april 1945 america's beloved four-term president franklin roosevelt died his successor harry truman had been vice president for only eight months when the weight of the greatest conflict in the history of the world was thrust upon he had served as an artillery captain on the western front in the first world war and had witnessed firsthand the horrors of war but nothing could prepare him for the decisions that lay ahead the period of mourning after the death of one of america's most popular leaders was followed less than a month later by the elation at the end of the war in europe germany surrendered and a wave of jubilation and relief swept over the united states unfortunately the conclusion of the european battle does not establish the peace for which we have been fighting a bitter struggle is now in progress in the pacific in the pacific u.s marines were embroiled in the bloodiest battle of the war so far on a small island called okinawa you look at the situation in the summer of 45 we had won the war in europe millions of troops were coming home being demobilized released from active duty the economic situation at home was tremendous at this stage yet we had several million troops still at war in the pacific for political reasons truman had to end the war as soon as possible after germany's surrender the us initiated a massive reallocation of men and materials from europe to the pacific nearly 400 000 american troops were to be shipped directly from the battlefields of france and germany to staging areas for operation downfall another 500 000 men were to be sent to the pacific after a short retraining phase in the united states this operation sparked near mutiny on some transports soldiers who had served valiantly in the fight against hitler felt their job was done many doubted they would survive another large battle in june of 1945 truman quietly sought the council of ex-president herbert hoover at truman's request hoover prepared a memo in which he outlined what he saw as truman's options hoover advises truman to end the war with negotiations including possibly letting japan keep korea for instance and he says you've got to do this because nothing is worth the price of 500 000 to 1 million american boys lives truman released the memo to the joint chiefs of staff as a top secret report and asked for a meeting to discuss hoover's observations in particular he wanted to know about the appalling casualty estimates both general macarthur who's been designated the overall commander of the of the invasion and general marshall want to tell truman it's going to be tough but they there's a there's not a clear-cut message about what the invasion casualties are going to be even marshall is a little bit reluctant to start putting numbers on the table because everyone connected on the planning level analysis is going to be horrendous from the beginning the allies recognized the possibility of casualties on a scale unheard of in previous campaigns macarthur's earliest projections estimated losses from between 150 to 200 000 men in the invasion of kyushu alone president truman was very concerned about what the casualty count would be the army was put in a peculiar situation that they wanted to tell the president the truth that the casualties would be very high but they didn't want the estimates to be so high the truman wouldn't go forward with the invasion marshall then asked macarthur to recalculate his estimates in his next report macarthur cited ratios of american to japanese casualties rather than hard numbers of dead and wounded so ratios become part of the system for really masking the totals we're going to kill seven japanese for every american who's killed that's the saipan ratio that's a tough ratio if you've got a if you got 900 000 defenders that means a lot of americans going to be killed in addition macarthur attempted to convince truman that with he macarthur in command the allies would suffer even fewer casualties this did little to ease the president's concerns three days after the meeting the battle for okinawa was over the americans had won but the casualties were staggering nearly 50 000 men were dead wounded or missing almost 40 percent of the troops engaged in the fighting despite the terrible casualties in the horror they foreshadowed truman decided not to take uber's advice the defeat of japan must be complete he said and her surrender unconditional the invasion was on and every weapon in the american arsenal would be needed to vanquish the japanese as early as 1943 after the bloody slaughter on terror the united states army secretly planned for the use of a specialized weapon to combat deeply entrenched japanese emplacements well the argument was of course that the japanese would use the same defensive tactics that they had used in iwo jima in okinawa and i think you have to remember that every island operation as we approach japan was costing us more and more lives the argument was that gas would be the ideal weapon to eliminate the japanese and their caves roosevelt had promised to use gas only in retaliation but recently declassified secret documents reveal a drastic change in policy after his death in june of 1945 american war planners considered a proposal from the chemical warfare service to use massive gas attacks on the island of kyushu as a prelude to invasion entire cities not just front line tunnel complexes were identified as targets so the chemical warfare service which had been chomping at the bit really to use gas carried out a number of tests and wanted to use gas uh in the invasion of japan uh they uh converted general marshall to this proposal and he brought up the issue with the joint chiefs of staff this declassified orientation film illustrates the level to which the united states was preparing for chemical warfare belong to one of the finest technical services in the world when the gas warfare phase comes it will produce tremendous casualties on the enemy and at the same time prevent excessive casualties to our own troops good luck the united states already had enormous stockpiles of poisonous gas in hawaii and australia by the time of the invasion they would have more than 144 000 tons of gas available 25 cities were cited as especially suitable for gas attacks some 60 000 tons of gas were to be dropped in the 15 days leading up to the landings it was estimated that as many as 5 million japanese would be killed by these attacks [Music] so by 1945 our determination to finish the war quickly and hold our casualties down had led us to the brink of chemical biological and gas warfare despite having helped draft the geneva accord the united states like japan had never signed the agreement there were also suggestions from within the ranks that the japanese use of gas in china would allow the u.s to use gas in retaliation in july of 1945 truman traveled to germany for the potsdam conference the meeting that would abolish nazism and divide germany and its capital for the next 45 years he'd been in office barely three months when he sat down with churchill and stalin while there he learned of the first successful test of the weapon that might finally bring japan to her knees a final ultimatum known as the potsdam declaration was beamed to tokyo by radio japan must surrender unconditionally two days later the japanese premier dismissed the proclamation and said that the japanese would continue to fight until the war was won the die for a final battle had been cast in the summer of 1945 japan was preparing for what it called the decisive battle a confrontation that would bathe the japanese coasts in blood and force the americans to accept japan's terms for peace u.s intelligence saw a nation girding for a horrifying conflagration intercepted diplomatic communications revealed that japan was negotiating for peace with china in an attempt to free up a million troops stationed in china and for the defense of the home islands at the same time decoded messages showed the japanese diplomats were secretly looking for a means to end the conflict near the end of the war it is true that japanese diplomatic communications showed that some of the japanese representatives abroad particularly in the neutral countries of europe and also in the soviet union were seeking to find a broker for peace between the allies in japan it was also clear from our decrypts of japanese military communications that the japanese were going to fight to the end on july 16 1945 the end had never been so near with the first successful test of an atomic bomb at alamogordo new mexico the secret manhattan project had produced a weapon of unimaginable power the project had been so secret that among the american military leadership just a few selected officers had known of its existence part of the lore and legend of the atomic bomb is how harry truman was supposed to have learned about it only after he became president and we have this scene roosevelt dies april 12 1945 truman is sworn in as president he's taken aside by the secretary of war henry stimson who explains to him that the government is engaged in the development of a super secret weapon of indescribable destructive power but there is evidence that well before that roosevelt may have explained to truman about the bomb and it was when truman was still a u.s senator and it appears that at a small private luncheon at the white house roosevelt told truman about the bomb this would have been about eight months before the president's death in a full year before the bomb was actually dropped but even among those who'd known about it few understood the power of the new weapon one scientist suggested that the dazzling flash of the atomic blast could be used to blind the enemy as american troops came ashore major general leslie groves the director of the manhattan project suggested that if atomic bombs were dropped on enemy lines american troops would be safe as long as they were at least six miles away and wearing protective glasses at the time of detonation even general george marshall speculated on the tactical use of atomic weapons he's wondering if he can't use atomic bombs on the beach heads to soften up the beachheads the whole idea of radiation and a bunch of troops going through a radiation zone is not something that he is even aware of at that point the question is to whether or not to use the atomic bomb weighed heavily on truman every day that the war dragged on more americans were dying in the jungles and on the beaches of the pacific the atomic bomb was just one more tool in the american arsenal the idea that there is going to be either an invasion or a bomb is really a post-war conceit by people who are opposed to the use of the bomb by truman it's not in his mind at that point in the mind of anyone a war ending weapon it's just another weapon truman made his decision on the morning of august 6 1945 a lone b-29 bomber flew over the japanese city of hiroshima and the world learned of the power of the atom the city was destroyed more than 78 000 people were killed almost immediately tens of thousands more suffered from radiation burns and poisoning dying slow and painful deaths frantically the japanese leaders petitioned russia for a treaty in response russia delivered a declaration of war and invaded manchuria making good on its promise to the united states to enter the pacific war within three months of the end of the war in europe the war and the planning for the invasion continued unabated 131 b-29s firebombed tokyo and warships from the american third fleet pounded hokkaido in pre-invasion maneuvers but still the japanese refused to surrender another bomb was available another target was chosen on the 9th of august a second atomic bomb was dropped on nagasaki more powerful than the first it had the power of 21 000 tons of dynamite the mountainous terrain of nagasaki limited the casualties nevertheless forty thousand were killed still the warlords who controlled the japanese government were determined to fight the decisive battle but the emperor now says the war must come to an end and it's the emperor who makes the decision and it's pretty much the only decision he makes in the whole war but they listen to him and it gives them an excuse to end the war after an emotional address to his cabinet japanese emperor hirohito recorded a message to be broadcast on national radio informing his people that the war was over the emperor when he recorded the announcement took into consideration that the japanese people mustn't suffer any further in an attempt to destroy the emperor's message before it could be broadcast a small faction of military zealots stormed the palace in the early hours of august 15th but loyal palace troops rounded up the conspirators and thwarted the attempted coup at noon the emperor's address was transmitted to the war-weary japanese populace it's the first time the japanese people public in general had heard the emperor's voice and that's what it took it seems to me for the japanese nation as a whole to surrender and and to surrender completely japan was developed under the imperial system for over 2 000 years therefore his word was absolute so when people heard his announcement they accepted the feat without resisting in his recorded speech the emperor stated that the war had not developed to japan's advantage and cited america's use of a new and most cruel bomb but he never uttered the words surrender or defeat he simply declared the war over the war officially ended on the morning of september the second on board the battleship missouri more than a thousand american soldiers and sailors along with hundreds of journalists and photographers crowded the deck as the articles of surrender were signed [Music] from the time allied troops landed in normandy until germany surrendered 11 months later some 140 000 american servicemen lost their lives in the war in europe had the americans invaded japan even more than this would likely have died in the single assault on kyushu alone it's ironic that the most horrible weapon of the second world war very likely saved millions of lives the lives of american servicemen charged with taking the japanese islands and the lives of japanese soldiers and civilians who would have met them on those invasion beaches warplane orange which had been dismissed is unworkable by most of america's military leaders in the second world war had been devastatingly effective orange had stated that japan could be vanquished by a combination of a blockade and bombing little did the planners know that just two bombs would lead to that victory and secure the invasion of japan a place in history as the invasion that never was

Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries

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Keywords: History, Full Documentary, Documentaries, Full length Documentaries, Documentary, TV Shows - Topic, Documentary Movies - Topic, 2017 documentary, BBC documentary, Channel 4 documentary, history documentary, documentary history, operation downfall, world war ii, invasion of japan, hell to pay, world war 2, military history, world war, okinawa, vj day, pacific theatre

Id: VZfObRnZiw0

Length: 51min 26sec (3086 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 02 2020