To the question "What caused the surrender of Japan?" There are two popular answers. Option A - atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Option B - Manchurian operation of the Red Army.
Then the discussion begins: what turned out to be more important - the dropped atomic bombs or the defeat of the Kwantung Army.

Both proposed options are wrong: neither the atomic bombings nor the defeat of the Kwantung Army were of decisive importance - these were only the final chords of the Second World War.

A more balanced answer assumes that Japan's fate was determined by four years of fighting in the Pacific. Oddly enough, but this answer is also the truth with a "double bottom". Behind the landing operations on tropical islands, the actions of aircraft and submarines, heated artillery duels and torpedo attacks on surface ships, there is a simple and obvious conclusion:

The Pacific War was planned by the US, initiated by the US, and fought in the interests of the US.

The fate of Japan was predetermined in the early spring of 1941 - as soon as the leadership of Japan succumbed to American provocations and began to seriously discuss plans for preparing for the coming war. To a war in which Japan had no chance of winning.

The Roosevelt administration had calculated everything in advance.

The inhabitants of the White House were well aware that the industrial potential and resource base of the United States many times exceeded those of the Japanese Empire, and in the field of scientific and technological progress, the United States was at least a decade ahead of its future enemy. The war with Japan will bring huge benefits to the United States - if successful (the probability of which was considered equal to 100%), the United States will crush its only rival in the Asia-Pacific region and become absolute hegemons in the expanses of the Pacific Ocean. The risk of the enterprise was reduced to zero - the continental part of the United States was completely invulnerable to the Imperial army and navy.

The main thing is to force the Japs to play by American rules and get involved in a losing game. America should not start first - it should be a "people's war, a holy war", in which the good Yankees smash the evil and vile enemy who risked attacking America.

Fortunately for the Yankees, the Tokyo government and the General Staff turned out to be overly arrogant and arrogant: the dope of easy victories in China and Indochina caused an unjustified feeling of euphoria and the illusion of one's own strength.
Japan successfully spoiled relations with the United States - back in December 1937, aircraft of the Imperial Air Force sank the American gunboat Panay on the Yangtze River. Confident in its own power, Japan did not look for compromises and defiantly went into conflict. War was inevitable.

The Americans hastened the process, taunted the enemy with patently impracticable diplomatic notes and choked with economic sanctions, forcing Japan to make the only solution that seemed acceptable to her - to go to war with the United States.

Roosevelt did everything possible, and achieved his goal.

"how we should maneuver them into the position of firing the first shot without allowing too much danger to ourselves"
"... how do we get Japan to fire the first shot without exposing ourselves to significant danger"

- entry in the diary of US Secretary of War Henry Stimson dated 11/25/1941, dedicated to a conversation with Roosevelt about the expected Japanese attack

Yes, it all started with Pearl Harbor.

Whether it was a "ritual sacrifice" of American foreign policy, or the Yankees were the victims of their own slovenliness - we can only speculate. At least the events of the next 6 months of the war clearly indicate that Pearl Harbor could have happened without any interference from the "dark forces" - the American army and navy at the beginning of the war demonstrated their complete incapacity.

However, the "Great Defeat at Pearl Harbor" is an artificially inflated myth in order to provoke a wave of popular anger and create the image of a "formidable enemy" to unite the American nation. In fact, the losses were minimal.

Japanese pilots managed to sink 5 ancient battleships (out of 17 available at that time in the US Navy), three of which were returned to service in the period from 1942 to 1944.
In total, as a result of the raid, 18 of the 90 US Navy ships anchored in Pearl Harbor that day received various damage. Irretrievable losses among the personnel amounted to 2402 people - less than the number of victims of the terrorist attack on 09/11/2001. The infrastructure of the base remained intact. - All according to the American plan.

It is often said that the main failure of the Japanese is due to the absence of American aircraft carriers in the base. Alas, even if the Japanese managed to burn the Enterprise and Lexington, along with the entire Pearl Harbor naval base, the outcome of the war would remain the same.

As time has shown, America could DAILY launch two or three warships of the main classes (aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers and submarines - minesweepers, hunters and torpedo boats do not count).
Roosevelt knew about it. The Japanese are not. Desperate attempts by Admiral Yamamoto to convince the Japanese leadership that the existing American fleet is just the visible tip of the iceberg and an attempt to solve the problem by military means will lead to disaster did not lead to anything.

The capabilities of American industry made it possible to instantly compensate for ANY losses, and growing by leaps and bounds, the US Armed Forces literally “crushed” the Japanese Empire like a powerful steamroller.

The turning point in the war in the Pacific came already in late 1942 - early 1943: having gained a foothold in the Solomon Islands, the Americans accumulated enough strength and began to destroy the Japanese defensive perimeter with all their fury.

The sinking Japanese cruiser Mikuma

Everything happened as the American leadership expected.

Further events are a pure "beating of babies" - in the conditions of the absolute dominance of the enemy at sea and in the air, the ships of the Japanese fleet died en masse, not even having time to approach the American one.

After a multi-day assault on Japanese positions with the use of naval artillery, not a single whole tree remained on many tropical islands - the Yankees literally erased the enemy into powder.

Post-war research will show that the ratio of casualties between the US and Japanese Armed Forces is described by a ratio of 1:9! By August 1945, Japan will lose 1.9 million of its sons, the most experienced fighters and commanders will die, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the most sensible of Japanese commanders, will “leave the game” (killed as a result of a US Air Force special operation in 1943, a rare case in, when killers are sent to the commander).

In the autumn of 1944, the Yankees kicked the Japanese out of the Philippines, leaving Japan practically without oil, along the way, the last combat-ready formations of the Imperial Navy were defeated - from that moment on, even the most desperate optimists from the Japanese General Staff lost faith in any favorable outcome of the war. Ahead loomed the prospect of an American landing on the sacred Japanese land, with the subsequent destruction of the country of the Rising Sun as an independent state.

Landing on Okinawa

By the spring of 1945, only the charred ruins of cruisers remained from the once formidable Imperial Navy, which managed to avoid death on the high seas, and now slowly dying from wounds in the harbor of the Kure naval base. The Americans and their allies almost completely destroyed the Japanese merchant fleet, putting island Japan on a "starvation ration". Due to the lack of raw materials and fuel, Japanese industry practically ceased to exist. The major cities of the Tokyo agglomeration, one by one, turned into ashes - massive raids by B-29 bombers became a nightmare for residents of the cities of Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Kobe.

On the night of March 9-10, 1945, the most devastating conventional raid in history took place: three hundred Super Fortresses dropped 1,700 tons of firebombs on Tokyo. More than 40 sq. kilometers of the city, more than 100,000 people died in the fire. Factories shut down
Tokyo experienced a mass exodus of the population.

“Japanese cities, being made of wood and paper, will catch fire very easily. The army can self-praise as much as it wants, but if the war starts and there are large-scale air raids, it’s scary to imagine what will happen then. ”

- Admiral Yamamoto's prophecy, 1939

In the summer of 1945, carrier-based aircraft raids and massive shelling of the Japanese coast by US Navy battleships and cruisers began - the Yankees finished off the last pockets of resistance, destroyed airfields, once again “shaken up” the Kure naval base, finally finishing off what the sailors did not have time to finish off during battles on the high seas .

This is how Japan of the August 1945 model appears before us.

Kwantung pogrom

There is an opinion that the crooked-legged Yankees squabbled with Japan for 4 years, and the Red Army defeated the "Japs" in two weeks.

In this, at first glance, an absurd statement, both truth and fiction are plainly intertwined.
Indeed, the Manchurian operation of the Red Army is a masterpiece of military art: a classic blitzkrieg on a territory equal in area to two Western. Europe!

Breakthroughs of motorized columns through the mountains, daring landings on enemy airfields and monstrous cauldrons in which our grandfathers "boiled" the Kwantung Army alive in less than 1.5 weeks.
No less great were the South Sakhalin and Kuril operations. It took our paratroopers five days to take the island of Shumshi - for comparison, the Yankees stormed Iwo Jima for more than a month!

However, for each of the miracles there is a logical explanation. One simple fact speaks about what the “formidable” 850,000-strong Kwantung Army was like in the summer of 1945: Japanese aviation, due to the combination of many reasons (lack of fuel and experienced pilots, outdated materiel, etc.), did not even try to rise into the air - the offensive of the Red Army was carried out with the absolute dominance of Soviet aviation in the air.

In the units and formations of the Kwantung Army, there were absolutely no machine guns, anti-tank rifles, rocket artillery, there was little RGK and large-caliber artillery (in infantry divisions and brigades as part of artillery regiments and divisions, in most cases there were 75-mm guns).

- "History of the Great Patriotic War" (vol. 5, pp. 548-549)

It is not surprising that the Red Army of the 1945 model simply did not notice the presence of such a strange enemy. Irretrievable losses in the operation amounted to "only" 12 thousand people. (of which half was claimed by illness and accidents). For comparison: during the storming of Berlin, the Red Army lost up to 15 thousand people. in one day.
A similar situation developed in the Kuril Islands and South Sakhalin - by that time the Japanese did not even have destroyers left, the offensive came with complete domination of the sea and the air, and the fortifications on the islands of the Kuril ridge were little like what the Yankees encountered on Tarawa and Iwo Jima.

The Soviet offensive finally put Japan to a standstill - even the illusory hope of continuing the war disappeared. The further chronology of events is as follows:

August 9, 1945, 00:00 Trans-Baikal time - the Soviet military machine was put into action, the Manchurian operation began.

August 10 - Japan officially announced its readiness to accept the Potsdam terms of surrender with a reservation regarding the preservation of the structure of imperial power in the country.

September 2 - The signing of the Act of Surrender of Japan took place aboard the battleship USS Missuori in Tokyo Bay.

Obviously, the first nuclear bombing of Hiroshima (August 6) could not change the decision of the Japanese leadership to continue senseless resistance. The Japanese simply did not have time to realize the destructive power of the atomic bomb, with regard to severe destruction and losses among the civilian population - the example of the March bombing of Tokyo proves that no less victims and destruction did not in any way affect the determination of the Japanese leadership "to stand to the last." The bombing of Hiroshima can be viewed as a military action to destroy a strategically important enemy target, or as an act of intimidation against the Soviet Union. But not as a key factor in the surrender of Japan.

As for the ethical moment of the use of nuclear weapons, the bitterness during the years of World War II reached such proportions that anyone who had such a weapon - Hitler, Churchill or Stalin, without blinking an eye, would give the order to use it. Alas, at that time only the United States had nuclear bombs - America incinerated two Japanese cities, and now, for 70 years, it has been justified for its actions.

The most difficult question lies in the events of August 9 - 14, 1945 - what became the "cornerstone" in the war, which finally forced Japan to change its mind and accept the humiliating terms of surrender? Repetitions of the nuclear nightmare or the loss of the last hope associated with the possibility of concluding a separate peace with the USSR?

I am afraid that we will never know the exact answer about what was going on in the minds of the Japanese leadership in those days.

Tokyo on fire

The article was written by political scientist and Japanologist Vasily Molodyakov

On September 2, 1945, on board the American battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, representatives of the victorious Allied Powers and the defeated Japan signed the Act of Unconditional Surrender to Japan. World War II is over - in the Pacific and everywhere.

Peace has come, but questions remain. Why did the Japanese, who fought with selfless, sometimes insane courage, lay down their arms in a disciplined manner? Why did Tokyo first reject the Allied Potsdam Declaration and decide to continue senseless resistance, and then agree to its terms? And, perhaps, the main one: what played a decisive role in the decision to surrender - the American atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki or the entry of the USSR into the war with Japan?

The question is not only historical, but also political. If the former, then the Americans saved one hundred million Japanese at the cost of the lives of several hundred thousand, and the Soviet Union behaved like a "thief in the fire", to put it mildly, taking advantage of the neighbor's predicament. If the second, then our country had every right, at least, to its share of war trophies and to participate in the management of defeated Japan. American and Japanese propaganda under its control adhered to the first point of view, Soviet propaganda - the second.

The American historian of Russian origin George Lensen wittily remarked: “Naturally, the history of the Pacific War for the American reader will include a photograph of General MacArthur when he signs the Japanese Surrender Act on the deck of the Missouri, while a similar story for the Soviet The reader will be shown the same scene, but with Lieutenant General Kuzma Derevyanko signing the Act, while MacArthur and everyone else will stand in the background.

To answer this question, we will have to go back a little more than a month from the events described - to the Potsdam Conference of the Big Three. On July 26, the Potsdam Declaration of the United States, Great Britain and China (Chiang Kai-shek signed "by telegraph") demanded the unconditional surrender of Japan. “The following are our conditions. We will not back down from them. There is no choice. We will not tolerate any delay ... Otherwise, Japan will face a quick and complete defeat. The declaration, which had been spoken in advance by the Americans, in one of the variants provided for Stalin's signature. President Harry Truman announced that he was going to Potsdam in order to ensure the participation of the USSR in the war with Japan, but, as the nuclear project approached a successful conclusion, he had more and more doubts about the need to share the laurels of the winner with "Uncle Joe".

The Potsdam Declaration, in the form in which it was adopted and published, left little hope that Japan would accept it: it did not say a word about the fate of the emperor and the political system, which was the most preoccupied by those in power in Tokyo. Consequently, it untied the hands of the United States for the use of nuclear weapons. At the same time, it confronted the Soviet Union with the fact that such an important decision was made without its participation and without the possibility of influencing it.

Secretary of State James Byrnes' explanation that Truman did not want to put the USSR in an "embarrassing position" as a country not at war with Japan angered Stalin. As early as May 28, 1945, discussing Far Eastern affairs in Moscow with the White House Special Envoy Harry Hopkins, he stated that he preferred a compromise peace with Japan on the terms of the complete destruction of its military potential and the occupation of the country, but softer than in Germany, explaining, that the demand for unconditional surrender would force the Japanese to fight to the last. Stalin announced that the Soviet Union would not be ready to enter the war until August 8 (the army command insisted on a later date to complete the preparations), and raised the question of participating in the occupation of Japan. Hopkins offered to present an ultimatum to Tokyo on behalf of the US and the USSR. The General Secretary agreed and advised to put this issue on the agenda of the conference. He even brought with him to Potsdam a draft statement of the four powers, but its text, which sounded softer than the American one, remained unclaimed.

On July 28, at the beginning of the next meeting, Stalin informed Truman and British Prime Minister Clement Attlee that "we, the Russian delegation, have received a new proposal from Japan." "Although we are not properly informed when any document is drawn up about Japan," he noted emphatically, "however, we believe that we should inform each other about new proposals." Then, as stated in the minutes, the English translation of the "Japanese Note on Mediation" was read out. What is this document?

On July 13, the Japanese ambassador in Moscow, Naotake Sato, handed over to Deputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Solomon Lozovsky the text of the message of the Japanese emperor, explaining that former Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe would like to come to Moscow to formally present it as a special envoy and confidant of the monarch. Here is a translation of this document from the Russian Foreign Policy Archive:

“His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, deeply concerned about the disasters and casualties of the peoples of all the warring countries, which are increasing day by day as a result of the current war, expresses his will to end the war as soon as possible. Since the United States and England insist on unconditional surrender in the East Asian War, the Empire will be forced to bring the war to the end, mobilizing all forces and means, for the honor and existence of the Fatherland. However, as a result of this circumstance, increased bloodshed among the peoples of both belligerents is inevitable. His Majesty is extremely concerned about this thought and expresses the wish that peace be restored for the benefit of mankind as soon as possible.

Lozovsky noticed that the message had no addressee and it was not clear to whom it was directed. The ambassador, according to the protocol of the conversation, replied that it “is not addressed to anyone in particular. It is desirable that the head of state, Mr. Kalinin, and the head of the Soviet government, Stalin, get acquainted with it. The leadership of the "country of the gods" - as always - wanted to first find out if Konoe would be accepted in the Kremlin, and only then open the cards. In Tokyo, the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War continued to discuss what could be offered to the Soviet Union for help in getting out of the war. South Sakhalin, the Kuriles, Manchuria as a sphere of influence, renunciation of fishing rights and even the surrender of the Kwantung Army as a prisoner, which the Japanese, for obvious reasons, do not like to remember, were in Konoe's "suitcase".

Stalin was not going to receive the envoy from Tokyo "in advance". On July 18, Lozovsky replied to the ambassador: “The considerations expressed in the message of the Emperor of Japan are of a general form and do not contain any specific proposals. It also seems unclear to the Soviet Government what the tasks of Prince Konoe's mission are. In view of the foregoing, the Soviet Government does not see the possibility of giving any definite answer regarding the mission of Prince Konoe. Having received this polite refusal, Sato immediately sent a telegram to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shigenori Togo, in which he offered to agree to surrender without delay. Togo resolutely replied that Japan would resist to the last, and ordered to obtain Moscow's consent to the arrival of the Konoe mission. Fulfilling the order of the chief, the ambassador on July 25 again tried to persuade Lozovsky. But it was too late.

“There is nothing new in this document,” Stalin remarked, informing Truman and Attlee of the Emperor's message. - There is only one proposal: Japan offers us cooperation. We think to answer them in the same spirit as it was last time, that is, a polite refusal.

Having learned about the Potsdam Declaration from a BBC radio broadcast, Ambassador Sato concluded that such a document could not have appeared without prior notification and consent from the Soviet side. He immediately informed the Foreign Ministry that this was the answer to the proposal to send the Konoe mission. Confusion reigned in Tokyo. The army did not allow the declaration to be adopted, but Togo convinced him not to officially reject it, so as not to aggravate the situation. The newspapers got the word mokusatsu - "kill with silence" or "ignore" - which began to determine the position of the government.

On August 5, Stalin and Molotov returned to Moscow. On August 6, the first American atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Truman could not hide his joy and announced the incident to the whole world. The Minister of War of Japan, General Koretika Anami, turned to physicists with the question of what an "atomic bomb" is. The Soviet leader did not ask such questions. While still in Potsdam, he learned that the United States had nuclear weapons, but did not expect such a rapid use of them. Stalin realized that this was a warning not only to the Japanese, and decided not to hesitate.

On August 8, at 5 p.m. Moscow time, Molotov received the Japanese ambassador, who had been asking for a long time. There was no need to talk about Konoe's mission. The People's Commissar immediately interrupted the guest, saying that he had to make an important statement: from midnight on August 9, i.e. just an hour later Tokyo time, the USSR and Japan are at war. The motivation is simple: Tokyo rejected the demands of the Potsdam Declaration; the allies turned to the USSR with a request to enter the war, and he, "true to allied duty", accepted the offer.

The assertion that the Allies asked Moscow to enter the war follows from the minutes of the Potsdam Conference published by the USSR Foreign Ministry. However, in the published minutes of Molotov's conversation with Truman on July 29, a note was made, restored by historians only in 1995: “Molotov says that he has proposals related to the situation in the Far East. It would be a convenient excuse for the Soviet Union to enter the war against Japan if the allies asked it to do so (emphasis mine - V.M.). It could be pointed out that, in connection with the rejection by Japan of the demand for surrender ... "and so on, as later in the Soviet statement.

When did the Soviet leadership decide to go to war with Japan? The political decision on this was first announced by Stalin - in deep secrecy - in October 1943 at the Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers of the Anti-Hitler Coalition, and got into the protocols at the Tehran Conference of the "Big Three" in late November - early December of the same year. The Japanese, of course, did not know about this. They consoled themselves with the absence of Chiang Kai-shek in the Iranian capital, which made it possible to consider the conference as a military council against Germany. The absence of Soviet representatives at the Cairo Conference was similarly interpreted when Roosevelt and Churchill met Chiang Kai-shek on their way to Tehran. It was there that a declaration was adopted demanding the unconditional surrender of Japan, published on December 1, 1943.

When did Moscow make the tactical decision to enter the war in the Far East? It is difficult to say for sure, but at the Yalta Conference in February 1945 it was formalized. Under a secret agreement of February 11, the Soviet Union received South Sakhalin and the Kuriles for this; Dairen became an international port with preferential rights of the USSR; Port Arthur was being returned to the Soviet Union as a leased naval base; The CER and SUMZhD came under Soviet-Chinese control with the provision of the predominant interests of the USSR and the full sovereignty of China in Manchuria; the state of Manchukuo was liquidated and became part of China, which, in turn, renounced any rights and claims to Outer Mongolia (MPR). On July 26 and 27, a joint meeting of the Politburo and the Headquarters finally confirmed the decision on the entry of the USSR into the war, which the next day was brought to the attention of the executors by three directives signed by Stalin.

Just after midnight on August 9, the Soviet army attacked Japanese positions in Manchuria and Korea. A few hours later, a second American bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. In the evening of the same day, the Imperial Conference took place in the palace bomb shelter in Tokyo - a meeting of the monarch, the chairman of the Privy Council, the prime minister, key ministers and chiefs of the army and navy general staffs. There was only one question: to accept or not to accept the Potsdam Declaration. Realizing that the war was lost, the emperor resisted unconditional surrender, counting to the last on the mediation of Moscow. Now there was nothing to hope for, as Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki said directly. The resolution prepared by the Foreign Ministry provided for the adoption of the terms of the declaration, "understanding them in the sense that they do not contain a requirement to change the status of the Japanese emperor established by state laws." Under pressure from the Minister of War and the Chiefs of Staff, the Supreme Council for the Management of the War agreed to surrender under the following conditions: “1) it does not affect the imperial family; 2) Japanese troops outside the country are demobilized after their free withdrawal from the occupied territories; 3) war criminals will be subject to the jurisdiction of the Japanese government; 4) occupation will not be carried out in order to guarantee (fulfillment of the conditions of surrender - V.M.)”. The Minister of Foreign Affairs proposed to confine ourselves to the first point. The military insisted on all four. The emperor approved the MFA project, but Washington rejected it, not wanting to hear about any reservations.

Only on August 14 was the cabinet able to work out the text of the rescript on surrender. The emperor decided to address the people by radio with an appeal to "endure the unbearable." On the night of August 14-15, a group of officers from the capital's garrison tried to raise a rebellion, seize the original recording of the august appeal made the day before in order to prevent it from being broadcast, and destroy the "surrenders" from the government. The performance failed due to lack of support, and its instigators committed suicide. On August 15, for the first time in history, the Japanese heard the voice of a divine monarch. It is this date that is considered in the Land of the Rising Sun as the day the war ended.

The American historian Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, of Japanese origin, has written the best, to date, comprehensive study of this issue, “Race with the Enemy. Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan,” published in 2005. Its verdict, based on Japanese, Soviet, and American sources brought together for the first time, reads: “The entry of the USSR into the war shocked the Japanese more than the atomic bombs, because it put an end to all hopes come to an agreement even slightly different from unconditional surrender ... (It) played a greater role than the atomic bombs in forcing Japan to surrender.

Of course, scientists still have much to do in this matter. But if you approach the problem comprehensively and without prejudice, the verdict is unlikely to be different.

On September 2, 1945, the attention of the whole world was riveted on the events in Tokyo Bay. Japan's surrender was signed aboard the USS Missouri. This was preceded by a speech by General Douglas MacArthur. “Let blood and death remain in the past, and the world be based on faith and mutual understanding,” the military leader said. On the ship were representatives of the delegations of the USA, Great Britain, the USSR, France, China, Australia, Canada, Holland, New Zealand, and numerous journalists. The official part lasted 30 minutes.

Japanese Surrender Act

We, acting by order and on behalf of the Emperor, the Japanese Government and the Japanese Imperial General Staff, hereby accept the terms of the Declaration issued on July 26 in Potsdam by the Heads of the Governments of the United States, China and Great Britain, to which the USSR subsequently acceded, which four powers will hereafter be called Allied Powers.

We hereby declare the unconditional surrender to the Allied Powers of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, all Japanese military forces, and all military forces under Japanese control, no matter where they are located.

We hereby order all Japanese troops, wherever located, and the Japanese people to cease hostilities immediately, to preserve and prevent damage to all ships, aircraft and military and civilian property, and to comply with all demands that may be made by the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers or organs of the Japanese Government on its instructions.

We hereby order the Japanese Imperial General Staff to immediately issue orders to the commanders of all Japanese troops and troops under Japanese control, wherever located, to surrender unconditionally in person, and also to ensure the unconditional surrender of all troops under their command.

All civil, military and naval officials shall obey and carry out all instructions, orders and directives which the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers deems necessary to effect this surrender and which may be issued by him or by his authority; we direct all these officials to remain at their posts and continue to carry out their non-combat duties, unless they are relieved of them by special decree issued by or under the authority of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers.

We hereby undertake that the Japanese Government and its successors will honestly carry out the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and give such orders and take such actions as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers or any other representative appointed by the Allied Powers shall require for the implementation of this Declaration.
We hereby direct the Imperial Japanese Government and the Japanese Imperial General Staff to immediately release all Allied prisoners of war and civilian internees now under Japanese control and ensure their protection, maintenance and care, and their immediate delivery to the designated places.

The authority of the Emperor and the Government of Japan to govern the state shall be subordinated to the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, who shall take such steps as he deems necessary to carry out these terms of surrender.

Shigemitsu Mamoru
(Signature)

By order and on behalf of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese Government
Umezu Yoshijiro
(Signature)

Bonded at Tokyo Bay, Japan at 09:08 am, September 2, 1945, on behalf of the United States, the Republic of China, the United Kingdom and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and on behalf of the other United Nations at war with Japan.

Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers
Douglas MacArthur
(Signature)

United States Representative
Chester Nimitz
(Signature)

Representative of the Republic of China
Xu Yongchang
(Signature)

Representative of the United Kingdom
Bruce Frazier
(Signature)

USSR Representative
Kuzma Derevianko
(Signature)

Commonwealth Representative
C. A. Blamey
(Signature)

Representative of the Dominion of Canada
Moore Cosgrove
(Signature)

Representative of the Provisional Government of the French Republic
Jacques Leclerc de Hautecloc
(Signature)

Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
K. E. Helfreikh
(Signature)

Representative of the Dominion of New Zealand
Leonard M. Issitt
(Signature)

On September 2, 1945, the Japanese Empire surrendered unconditionally. The hotbed of war in the Asia-Pacific region was extinguished. World War II is over. Russia-USSR, despite all the intrigues of obvious enemies and "partners", has confidently entered the phase of restoration of the Empire. Thanks to the wise and resolute policy of Joseph Stalin and his associates, Russia successfully restored its military-strategic and economic positions in the European (Western) and Far Eastern strategic directions.

At the same time, it should be noted that Japan, like Germany, was not the real instigator of the world war. They performed the role of figures in the Great Game, where the prize is the entire planet. The real instigators of the world massacre were not punished. Although it was the masters of the United States and Great Britain that unleashed a world war. The Anglo-Saxons nurtured Hitler and the Eternal Reich project. The dreams of the “possessed Fuhrer” about the New World Order and the dominance of the “chosen” caste over the rest of the “subhumans” were just a repetition of the English racial theory and social Darwinism. Britain has been building the New World Order for a long time, where the metropolis and colonies, dominions existed, it was the Anglo-Saxons who created the world's first concentration camps, and not the Germans.

London and Washington sponsored the revival of German military power and gave her almost all of Europe, including France. For Hitler to lead the “crusade to the East” and crush the Russian (Soviet) civilization, which carried the principles of a different, just world order, challenging the shadow masters of the Western world.

The Anglo-Saxons pitted the Russians and the Germans for the second time in order to destroy the two great powers, whose strategic alliance could establish peace and prosperity in Europe and a large part of the world for a long time. At the same time, an elite fight took place within the Western world itself. The Anglo-Saxon elite dealt a powerful blow to the old Germanic-Roman elite, seizing a leading position in Western civilization. The consequences for Europe were dire. The Anglo-Saxons still control Europe, sacrificing its interests. The European nations are condemned, they must assimilate, become part of the "global Babylon".

However, not all the global plans of the owners of the Western project were realized. The Soviet Union not only was not destroyed and survived in the most difficult battle with the united forces of Europe, but also became a superpower that thwarted the plans to establish the "Eternal Reich" (New World Order). Soviet civilization for several decades became a beacon of Goodness and Justice for mankind, an example of a different path of development. The Stalinist society of service and creation was an example of a future society that can save humanity from the impasse of a consumer society that leads people to degradation and planetary catastrophe.

Chief of the General Staff, General Umezu Yoshijiro signs the Japanese Surrender Act. Behind him is Japanese Foreign Minister Shigemitsu Mamoru, who has already signed the Act.

General Douglas MacArthur signing the Japanese surrender

Lieutenant General K. N. Derevyanko, on behalf of the USSR, signs the Japanese Surrender Act aboard the American battleship Missouri

Japanese surrender

The crushing offensive of the Soviet Army, which led to the defeat and surrender of the Kwantung Army ( ; ; ), dramatically changed the military-political situation in the Far East. All plans of the Japanese military-political leadership to drag out the war collapsed. The Japanese government was afraid of the invasion of Soviet troops on the Japanese islands and a radical change in the political system.

The strike of Soviet troops from the north and the threat of a consistent invasion of Soviet troops through the narrow straits into the Kuriles and Hokkaido was considered more significant than the landing of Americans on the Japanese islands proper after they had crossed by sea from Okinawa, Guam and the Philippines. The American landing hoped to drown in the blood of thousands of suicide bombers, and in the worst case scenario, to retreat to Manchuria. The blow of the Soviet Army deprived the Japanese elite of this hope. Moreover, the rapid advance of the Soviet troops deprived Japan of bacteriological stocks. Japan has lost the opportunity to strike back at the enemy, to use weapons of mass destruction.

At a meeting of the Supreme Military Council on August 9, 1945, the head of the Japanese government, Suzuki, stated: "The entry of the Soviet Union into the war this morning puts us completely in a hopeless situation and makes it impossible to continue the war." At this meeting, the conditions under which Japan agreed to accept the Potsdam Declaration were discussed. The Japanese elite was practically unanimous in the opinion that it was necessary to preserve the imperial power at all costs. Suzuki and other "peace advocates" believed that in order to preserve imperial power and prevent a revolution, it was necessary to capitulate immediately. Representatives of the military party continued to insist on the continuation of the war.

On August 10, 1945, the Supreme Military Council adopted the text of a statement to the Allied Powers proposed by Premier Suzuki and Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo. The text of the statement was supported by Emperor Hirohito: “The Japanese Government is ready to accept the terms of the Declaration of July 26 of this year, to which the Soviet Government has also joined. The Japanese Government understands that this Declaration does not contain requirements that would infringe on the Emperor's prerogatives as the sovereign ruler of Japan. The Japanese Government requests specific notice on this matter." On August 11, the governments of the USSR, the USA, Great Britain and China transmitted a response. It stated that the power of the emperor and the government of Japan from the moment of surrender would be subordinate to the supreme commander of the allied powers; the emperor must ensure that Japan signs the terms of surrender; the form of government in Japan will ultimately, in accordance with the Potsdam Declaration, be established by the freely expressed will of the people; the armed forces of the Allied Powers will remain in Japan until the goals set out in the Potsdam Declaration are achieved.

Meanwhile, disputes continued among the Japanese elite. And in Manchuria there were fierce battles. The military insisted on continuing the fight. On August 10, Army Minister Koretic Anami's address to the troops was published, emphasizing the need to "bring the holy war to the end." The same appeal was published on 11 August. Tokyo Radio on August 12 broadcast a message that the army and navy, "carrying out the highest order commanding the defense of the homeland and the highest person of the emperor, everywhere went over to active hostilities against the allies."

However, no orders could change reality: the Kwantung Army was defeated, and it became pointless to continue resistance. Under pressure from the emperor and the "peace party," the military were forced to reconcile. On August 14, at a joint meeting of the Supreme Military Council and the government, in the presence of the emperor, a decision was made on the unconditional surrender of Japan. In the emperor's decree on the acceptance by Japan of the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, the main place was given to the preservation of the "national state system."

On the night of August 15, supporters of the continuation of the war rebelled and occupied the imperial palace. They did not encroach on the life of the emperor, but wanted to change the government. However, by the morning of August 15, the rebellion was crushed. On August 15, the population of Japan for the first time in their country heard the speech of the emperor on the radio (recorded) about unconditional surrender. On this day and later, many soldiers committed samurai suicide - seppuku. So, on August 15, the Minister of the Army Koretika Anami committed suicide.

This is a characteristic feature of Japan - a high level of discipline and responsibility among the elite, which continued the traditions of the military class (samurai). Considering themselves guilty for the defeat and misfortune of their homeland, many Japanese chose to commit suicide.

The USSR and the Western powers differed in their assessment of the Japanese government's announcement of surrender. The United States and Great Britain considered that August 14-15 were the last days of the war. August 14, 1945 became the "day of victory over Japan." By this point, Japan had indeed ceased hostilities against the US-British armed forces. However, hostilities still continued on the territory of Manchuria, Central China, Korea, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. There, the Japanese resisted in a number of places until the end of August, and only the offensive of the Soviet troops forced them to lay down their arms.

When it became known that the Empire of Japan was ready to capitulate, the question arose of appointing the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in the Far East. His functions were to include acceptance of the general surrender of the Japanese armed forces. On August 12, the American government proposed General D. MacArthur for this position. Moscow agreed with this proposal and appointed Lieutenant General K. N. Derevyanko as the representative of the USSR to the Supreme Commander of the Allied armies.

On August 15, the Americans announced the draft "General Order No. 1", which indicated the areas for accepting the surrender of the Japanese troops of each of the allied powers. The order provided that the Japanese would surrender to the Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Forces in the Far East in Northeast China, in the northern part of Korea (north of the 38th parallel) and in South Sakhalin. The surrender of Japanese troops in southern Korea (south of the 38th parallel) was to be accepted by the Americans. The American command refused to conduct a landing operation in South Korea in order to interact with the Soviet troops. The Americans preferred to land troops in Korea only after the end of the war, when there was no longer any risk.

Moscow as a whole did not object to the general content of General Order No. 1, but made several amendments. The Soviet government proposed to include in the area of ​​surrender of Japanese forces to the Soviet troops all the Kuril Islands, which, under the agreement at Yalta, passed to the Soviet Union and the northern part of the island of Hokkaido. The Americans did not raise serious objections to the Kuriles, since the issue of them was resolved at the Yalta Conference. However, the Americans still tried to negate the decision of the Crimean Conference. On August 18, 1945, the day the Kuril operation began, Moscow received a message from American President Truman, which stated that the United States wanted to obtain the rights to create an air base on one of the Kuril Islands, presumably in the central part, for military and commercial purposes. Moscow decisively rejected these claims.

As for the question of Hokkaido, Washington rejected the Soviet proposal and insisted that Japanese troops on all four islands of Japan proper (Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu) surrender to the Americans. At the same time, the United States did not formally deny the USSR the right to temporarily occupy Japan. "General MacArthur," the American President reported, "will use symbolic Allied military forces, which will of course include Soviet military forces, to temporarily occupy such part of Japan proper as he deems necessary to occupy in order to implement our Allied terms of surrender." But in fact, the United States staked on unilateral control in Japan. On August 16, Truman spoke at a conference in Washington and declared that Japan would not be divided into occupation zones, like Germany, that all Japanese territory would be under the control of the Americans.

In fact, the United States abandoned allied control in post-war Japan, provided for by the Potsdam Declaration of July 26, 1945. Washington was not going to let Japan out of its sphere of influence. Japan before the Second World War was under the great influence of Britain and the United States, now the Americans wanted to restore their positions. The interests of American capital were also taken into account.

After August 14, the USA repeatedly tried to put pressure on the USSR in order to stop the offensive of Soviet troops against the Japanese. The Americans wanted to limit the zone of Soviet influence. If Russian troops had not occupied South Sakhalin, the Kuriles and North Korea, then American forces could appear there. On August 15, MacArthur gave the Soviet Headquarters a directive to stop offensive operations in the Far East, although the Soviet troops were not subordinate to the Allied command. The Allies were then forced to admit their "mistake". Like, they passed the directive not for “execution”, but for “information”. It is clear that such a position of the United States did not contribute to the strengthening of friendship between the allies. It became clear that the world was heading for a new clash - now between former allies. The United States tried to stop the further spread of the zone of Soviet influence with quite severe pressure.

This US policy was in the hands of the Japanese elite. The Japanese, like the Germans before, hoped to the last that a major conflict would occur between the allies, up to an armed clash. Although the Japanese, like the Germans before, miscalculated. At this point, the US was banking on Kuomintang China. The Anglo-Saxons first used Japan, provoking her to start hostilities in the Pacific Ocean, to aggression against China and the USSR. True, the Japanese dodged and, having received tough military lessons, did not attack the USSR. But in general, the Japanese elite lost, drawn into the war with the United States and Britain. The weight classes were too different. The Anglo-Saxons used Japan, and in 1945 the time came to put it under complete control, up to the military occupation, which continues to this day. Japan became first a practically open colony of the United States, and then a semi-colony, a dependent satellite.

All the preparatory work for organizing the official Act of Surrender was carried out at MacArthur's headquarters in Manila. On August 19, 1945, representatives of the Japanese headquarters arrived here, headed by the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Imperial Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Torashiro Kawabe. Characteristically, the Japanese sent their delegation to the Philippines only when they were finally convinced that the Kwantung Army had been defeated.

On the day the Japanese delegation arrived at MacArthur's headquarters there, a "denunciation" from the Japanese government was received by radio from Tokyo about the Soviet troops, who had begun an operation in the Kuriles. The Russians were accused of violating the "ban on hostilities" allegedly in place after 14 August. It was a provocation. The Japanese wanted the allied command to intervene in the actions of the Soviet troops. On August 20, MacArthur stated: "I sincerely hope that, pending the formal signing of the surrender, a truce will prevail on all fronts and that a surrender can be effected without the shedding of blood." That is, it was a hint that Moscow was to blame for the “shedding of blood”. However, the Soviet command was not going to stop the fighting before the Japanese ceased resistance and laid down their arms in Manchuria, Korea, South Sakhalin and the Kuriles.

The Japanese representatives in Manila were handed the Instrument of Surrender agreed upon by the Allied countries. On August 26, General MacArthur notified the Japanese headquarters that the American fleet had begun moving towards Tokyo Bay. The American armada included about 400 ships, and 1300 aircraft, which were based on aircraft carriers. On August 28, an advanced American force landed at Atsugi Airfield, near Tokyo. On August 30, a mass landing of American troops began in the area of ​​​​the Japanese capital and in other regions of the country. On the same day, MacArthur arrived and took control of the Tokyo radio station and set up an information bureau.

For the first time in the history of Japan, its territory was occupied by foreign troops. She had never had to capitulate before. On September 2, 1945, in Tokyo Bay, on board the American battleship Missouri, the ceremony of signing the Act of Surrender took place. On behalf of the Japanese government, the Act was signed by Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu, and on behalf of the Imperial Headquarters, the Chief of the General Staff, General Yoshijiro Umezu, signed the act. On behalf of all the allied nations, the Act was signed by the Supreme Commander of the Allied Armies, General of the US Army Douglas MacArthur, from the USA - Admiral of the Fleet Chester Nimitz, from the USSR - Lieutenant General Kuzma Derevyanko, from China - General Xu Yongchang, from Britain - Admiral Bruce Fraser. Representatives of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Holland and France also put their signatures.

Under the Act of Surrender, Japan accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and announced the unconditional surrender of all armed forces, both its own and those under its control. All Japanese troops and the population were ordered to immediately cease hostilities, to save ships, aircraft, military and civilian property; the Japanese government and the General Staff were instructed to immediately release all allied prisoners of war and interned civilians; the power of the emperor and the government was subordinate to the supreme allied command, which must take measures to implement the terms of surrender.

Japan finally stopped resistance. The occupation of the Japanese islands by American troops began with the participation of British forces (mostly Australians). By September 2, 1945, the surrender of the Japanese troops, which opposed the Soviet Army, was completed. At the same time, the remnants of Japanese forces in the Philippines capitulated. The disarmament and capture of other Japanese groups dragged on. On September 5, the British landed in Singapore. On September 12, the Act of Surrender of the Japanese Armed Forces in Southeast Asia was signed in Singapore. On September 14, the same ceremony was held in Malaya, on September 15 - in New Guinea and North Borneo. On September 16, British troops entered Xianggang (Hong Kong).

The capitulation of Japanese troops in Central and North China proceeded with great difficulty. The offensive of the Soviet troops in Manchuria created favorable opportunities for the liberation of the remaining regions of China from the invaders. However, Chiang Kai-shek's regime stuck to its line. The Kuomintang now considered the main enemy not the Japanese, but the Chinese Communists. Chiang Kai-shek made a deal with the Japanese, giving them the "duty of maintaining order." Meanwhile, the People's Liberation Forces were successfully advancing in the regions of North, Central and South China. Within two months, from August 11 to October 10, 1945, the 8th and New 4th People's Armies destroyed, wounded and captured more than 230 thousand soldiers of Japanese and puppet troops. The people's troops liberated large territories and dozens of cities.

However, Chiang Kai-shek continued to stick to his line and tried to forbid accepting the surrender of the enemy. The transfer of Kuomintang troops on American planes and ships to Shanghai, Nanjing and Tanjing was organized under the pretext of disarming the Japanese troops, although these cities had already been blockaded by popular forces. The Kuomintang were transferred to increase pressure on the people's armies of China. At the same time, Japanese troops participated in hostilities on the side of the Kuomintang for several months. The signing of the capitulation on October 9 in Nanjing by the Japanese troops was of a formal nature. The Japanese were not disarmed and until 1946 they fought as mercenaries against the people's forces. Volunteer detachments were formed from Japanese soldiers to fight the communists and were used to protect the railways. And three months after the surrender of Japan, tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers did not lay down their arms and fought on the side of the Kuomintang. The Japanese commander-in-chief in China, General Teiji Okamura, was still sitting at his headquarters in Nanjing and was now subordinate to the Kuomintang government.

Modern Japan should remember the lesson of September 2, 1945. The Japanese should be aware that the Anglo-Saxons pitted them in 1904-1905. with Russia, and then set Japan against Russia (USSR) and China for decades. That it was the United States that subjected the Yamato race to an atomic bomb and turned Japan into its semi-colony. That only friendship and a strategic alliance along the Moscow-Tokyo line can ensure a period of long-term prosperity and security in the Asia-Pacific region. The Japanese people do not need to repeat the old mistakes in the 21st century. The enmity between the Russians and the Japanese only plays into the hands of the owners of the Western project. There are no fundamental contradictions between Russian and Japanese civilization, and they are doomed to creation by history itself. In the long run, the Moscow-Tokyo-Beijing axis could bring peace and prosperity to much of the Eastern Hemisphere for centuries to come. The union of the three great civilizations will help keep the world from chaos and catastrophe, to which the masters of the West are pushing humanity.

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The surrender of the Japanese Empire marked the end of World War II, in particular the Pacific War and the Soviet-Japanese War.

On August 10, 1945, Japan officially announced its readiness to accept the Potsdam terms of surrender with a reservation regarding the preservation of the structure of imperial power in the country. On August 11, 1945, the US rejected the Japanese amendment, insisting on the formula of the Potsdam Conference. As a result, on August 14, 1945, Japan officially accepted the terms of surrender and informed the Allies about it.

The official signing ceremony of the Japanese Surrender Act took place on September 2, 1945 at 09:02 Tokyo time aboard the American battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

Signatories of the act: Empire of Japan - Shigemitsu Mamoru, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Umezu Yoshijiro, Chief of the General Staff, Supreme Commander of the Allied Armies, General of the US Army Douglas MacArthur. Also, the act was signed by representatives of the United States - Admiral of the Fleet Chester Nimitz, Great Britain - Admiral Bruce Fraser, USSR - Lieutenant General Kuzma Derevyanko, "Free France" - General Jean Philippe Leclerc of the Republic of China - General First Class Xu Yongchang, Canada - Colonel Lawrence Cosgrave, Australia - General Thomas Blamy, New Zealand - Air Vice-Marshal Leonard Isitt, Netherlands - Lieutenant Admiral Emil Helfrich.

1. We, acting on the orders and in the name of the Emperor, the Japanese Government and the Japanese Imperial General Staff, hereby accept the terms of the Declaration issued on July 26 at Potsdam by the Heads of Government of the United States, China and Great Britain, to which the USSR subsequently acceded, which four powers will later known as the Allied Powers.

2. We hereby declare the unconditional surrender to the Allied Powers of the Imperial Japanese General Staff, all Japanese military forces and all military forces under Japanese control, no matter where they are located.

3. We hereby order all Japanese troops, wherever located, and the Japanese people to cease hostilities immediately, to preserve and prevent damage to all ships, aircraft and military and civilian property, and to comply with all demands that may be made by the Supreme Commander the Allied Powers or by organs of the Japanese government on its instructions.

4. We hereby order the Japanese Imperial General Staff to immediately issue orders to the commanders of all Japanese troops and troops under Japanese control, wherever located, to surrender unconditionally in person, and also to secure the unconditional surrender of all troops under their command.

5. All civil, military and naval officials shall obey and carry out all instructions, orders and directives which the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers deems necessary for the implementation of this surrender and which may be issued by him or by his authority; we direct all these officials to remain at their posts and continue to carry out their non-combat duties, except when they are relieved of them by special decree issued by or under the authority of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers.

6. We hereby undertake that the Japanese Government and its successors will faithfully carry out the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, issue such orders and take such actions as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers or any other representative appointed by the Allied Powers, in order to implement this declaration, requires.

7. We hereby direct the Imperial Japanese Government and the Japanese Imperial General Staff to immediately release all Allied prisoners of war and civilian internees now under Japanese control, and ensure their protection, maintenance and care, and their immediate delivery to the designated places.