August 1945

(Liberated Europe)

In the Soviet Union occupied German city of Potsdam, the Potsdam Conference ended on the 2^nd August 1945. The reason for the conference was to administer a defeated Germany after VE–Day and ultimately force Japan to agree to the terms of an unconditional surrender. The participants of the conference were British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, President Harry Truman of the United States and General Secretary Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union. After a general election in Britain Churchill was replaced by Clement Attlee, as prime minister, on the 26^th July 1945, the same day the Potsdam Declaration was released.

Historically, Russian-Japanese relations were marked by antagonism since the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 ending with Russia being defeated. The Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact, signed in 1941, allowed the Soviet Union to concentrate on defeating Germany rather than face the war on two fronts. When Germany was defeated the possibility of Soviet participation in the Pacific War seriously began to be considered by both Allies and Soviet leadership. Before engaging in the war against Japan, the Soviet Union aimed to maximise its gains in East Asia. The Soviet Union’s declaration of war on the 8^th August 1945 was not coincidental. The United States had dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and the Soviet Union wished to enter the war before the bombing of Nagasaki. By doing so before the inevitable defeat of Japan they would capitalise in the post-war settlement.

(Pacific)

Heavy Cruiser USS Indianapolis was given the top-secret mission to deliver to Tinian Island in the Pacific, the components for the atomic bombs.  After delivering the bombs she continued enroute to Guam. On the 30^th July 1945 she was struck by two torpedoes fired from a Japanese submarine. Within twelve minutes Indianapolis sank taking with her 300 crew members. With too few lifeboats and many without life jackets the remaining 890 crew members were adrift in shark infested waters.      For whatever reason U.S. Navy command knew nothing of the tragedy until survivors were spotted three days later. On the 2^nd August 1945 a routine patrol flight of a PV-1 Ventura and Catalina flying boat spotted the survivors and the Ventura immediately dropped a life raft and radio transmitter. Immediately all air and surface units were despatched to the scene. First to arrive was an amphibious Catalina flying boat, whose captain disobeyed orders not to land in the open ocean after dropping off life rafts to the survivors. The Catalina was rendered unflyable after taking on board as many survivors as possible. Seven rescue destroyers arrived after nightfall and the first used its searchlight for the picking up the remaining survivors. The Catalina was destroyed as it could not be recovered. Only 316 of the 890 men set adrift survived. Many were injured, all were suffering from lack of food and water and many died from exposure to the elements. Hundreds of sharks were drawn to the wreck and after picking off the dead and wounded they began to attack the survivors. The number of deaths attributed to shark attacks range from a few dozen to 150.

U.S. Navy command kept operations plotting boards which monitored all ships in the area. It was assumed ships as large as Indianapolis would reach their destination on time unless otherwise informed. Indianapolis was removed from the operations board on the 31^st July 1945 when she should have arrived at Leyte, therefore her position was based on predictions not on actual facts. There was no report made that she was overdue.

The navy, in the first official statement, said that possibly distress calls were keyed by radio operators and transmitted. However, there is no evidence that any distress message from Indianapolis was received by any ships. One of the 316 survivors of the sinking was Charles B McVay III, commander of Indianapolis. In November 1945 McVay was Court-Martialled on two charges. The first was failing to order the crew to abandon ship, but as one of the last to abandon the ship he was cleared of the charge. The second charge was for “hazarding the ship by failing to zigzag”. McVay had been ordered to zigzag at his discretion but Naval headquarters had failed to inform him of Japanese submarine activity in the vicinity. McVay was convicted of the charge but eventually the charge was overturned and he was restored to active service. McVay was the only captain to be Court-Martialled for the loss of his ship due to enemy action in combat.

The Japanese Field Service Code of 1941 adopted the “Do not surrender” policy which forbade soldiers to surrender, thereby stiffening Japanese resolve to fight to the death. Japanese culture during the Second World War was that surrender was dishonourable. When called upon all military personnel were expected to die in battle or return home victorious. Japan was a defeated nation on all fronts but still they wouldn’t surrender. The Potsdam Declaration was issued on the 26^th July 1945, and among other points regarding the reshaping of Europe, Japan was required to unconditionally surrender. U.S. President Harry Truman was aware many American lives would be lost during an amphibius attack against mainland Japan. Even women and children were taught how to fight with basic weapons and, if necessary, die for the emperor. The Japanese did not respond to the Potsdam Declaration and on the 5^thAugust 1945 Truman ordered that the atomic bomb was to be dropped on Hiroshima.

With the decision taken to attack Hiroshima with an atomic bomb, three separate Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers took off from Tinian Island and rendezvoused over Iwo Jima. The B-29 first was the Enola Gay, named after the pilot’s mother, and transported the unarmed atomic bomb, codenamed Little Boy. The second B-29 was there to film the Little Boy being dropped and the third B-29 for weather reconnaissance. At approximately 07.45 hrs on the 6^th August 1945, Little Boy was armed and Enola Gay ascended from a cruising height of 8,000 ft to a bombing height of 31,000 ft When released over Hiroshima at 08.15 hrs it took Little Boy 53 seconds to fall to the predetermined detonation height of 1,968 ft. Enola Gay had travelled about 11.5 miles before she felt the shock waves of the blast. Although buffeted by the blast the first two B-29s were undamaged and landed safely. The third B-29 was damaged but still landed safely. The blast from Little Boy destroyed about three-quarters of the city and approximately 75,000 people were killed with another 70,000 injured. When Enola Gay landed her captain, Colonel Fred Tibbets, was presented with the Distinguished Service Cross immediately after descending from the aircraft. Japan still did not surrender after the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima therefore a second atomic bomb attack was deemed necessary. Almost everything went wrong on the Nagasaki bomb attack whereas the Hiroshima bomb attack everything went right, “the perfect mission”. The mission of B-29 Superfortress Bockscar was brought forward two days to the 9^th August 1945 ln order to miss the forecasted bad weather. Bockscar took-off from Tinian Island at 03.47 hrs with the atomic bomb Fat Man loaded and partially armed, but  a few minutes after take-off the arming was completed. The flight engineer of Bockscar discovered a fuel transfer pump was not working whilst conducting a pre-flight inspection. This meant fuel carried as reserve could not be used but changing the pump could take many hours. Moving Fat Man into another B-29 would take just as long, it was also dangerous as the bomb was fully armed. The decision was taken to fly with the inoperable pump. Instead of flying separately as they did on the Hiroshima raid, accompanying Bockscar were the two B-29s acting as observer and weather reconnaissance. Despite assurance the weather over the prime target, the city of Kokura and secondary target of Nagasaki were clear, the three aircraft ran into thunderstorms. On the bomb control panel of Bockscar, unexpectantly a white light came on which turned out to be misplaced switch. This light only illuminated when the bomb was about to be released. Upon arrival off the coast of Japan one B-29 failed to make the rendezvous. The two B-29s circled the rendezvous area for forty minutes whilst waiting for third to appear, but with fuel running low they proceeded to Kokora approximately thirty minutes away. The delay meant clouds had developed over the city and black smoke from a previous B-29 firestorm raid obscured the bombing area. After the third attempted bomb run Japanese anti-aircraft guns were getting too close. With fuel conditions becoming critical the secondary target of Nagasaki was selected. When approaching Nagasaki low cloud had obscured the city, but a last-minute break in the clouds and flying at the prescribed height for dropping Fat Man, Bockscar visibly sighted the target. The bomb was dropped at 11.01 hrs and exploded 47 seconds later. The major portion of the city was protected by intervening hills and the blast was confined to the Urakami Valley. It was later estimated that 39,000 people were killed and a further 25,000 injured. Bockscar arrived unannounced at Okinawa and repeatedly attempted to contact the control tower that they were almost out of fuel. Not receiving an answer and with only enough fuel for one landing attempt they came in too fast. The control tower was alerted to the emergency landing by Bockscar firing off every flare on board. On the final approach one engine died from fuel starvation and by reversing the remaining three propellers coupled with the two pilots standing on the brakes, the aircraft came to a stop after a 90 degree turn to avoid running off the runway. The fuel situation was so critical a second engine ran out of fuel before the plane came to a stop and as they were not expected there was nobody there to greet them.                                                 

Prior to nuclear weapons being used the Japanese government considered adopting the Potsdam Declaration. They received the translation of the initial English radio transmission and concluded the acceptance of the terms were unavoidable. However, it was thought further negotiations should be sought regarding the form of Japanese government and the status of “Emperor Hirohito”. After meeting with the emperor, the prime minister stated Hirohito deemed the Declaration acceptable in principle. On the 10^th August 1945 the government replied their willingness to agree to the terms subject to further negotiations.          

A military coup was attempted on the night of the 14^th August 1945 just before the unconditional surrender of Imperial Japan to the Allies. The coup was attempted by the Staff Office of the Ministry of War of Japan and many from the Imperial Guard. Their aim was to prevent the surrender of Japan and place “Emperor Hirohito” under house arrest. The rebel army officials wished to destroy “Emperor Hirohito’s” pre-recorded surrender speech and assassinate Japan’s present Prime Minister Kantara Suzuki. However, the destruction of the pre-recorded speech and Suzuki’s assassination did not happen. Over 18,000 rebels and officers failed to convince the remaining 25,000 soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army to oust the Imperial House of Japan. The four rebel leaders committed suicide. As a result, the recorded speech of “Emperor Hirohito” continued as planned.            

The pre-recorded speech of “Emperor Hirohito’s” unconditional surrender was by way of a radio broadcast on the 15^th August 1945. For the majority of the population of Japan they had never heard “Hirohito’s” voice before even though they pledged their allegiance to him. Britain and approximately 70% of the American public wanted “Hirohito” tried as a war criminal. U.S. General Douglass MacArthur did not approve of the idea. He reasoned that “Hirohito’s” cooperation would help to establish a peaceful Allied occupation regime in Japan. Eventually “Hirohito” was absolved as a war criminal. From the time of the surrender “Hirohito” remained as Emperor until his death in 1989.

15^th August ’45 – Victory Over Japan Day (VJ-Day)

VJ- Day was the day that Imperial Japan finally surrendered and effectively ended the Second World War. The whole world recognises the victory as being the 15^th August 1945. However, America recognises the 2^nd September 1945 as being VJ-Day when the formal surrender was signed on board USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

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