Dove of Peace over Tokyo Bay: How was the Japanese Surrender act signed?
On September 2, 1945, with the signing of the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Japan, World War II ended. Izvestia recalled how it was.
Japan's Burden
Emperor Hirohito, who had ruled since 1926, had no universal ambitions, but relied on strengthening the army, which was supposed to solve the problem of expanding the borders of Japan, extending the emperor's power to the countries of mainland Asia. Like the German Nazis, the Japanese chauvinists considered themselves "superhumans" whose mission was to subjugate neighboring peoples.
Signing of the Tripartite Pact
In 1940, representatives of Germany, Italy and Japan signed a 10-year military alliance in Berlin. It said that Tokyo "recognizes and respects the leadership of Germany and Italy in creating a new order in Europe," and Germany and Italy are giving the Japanese carte blanche to create the same "new order" in Asia. Tokyo, like Berlin, has its own satellites — Thailand, Manchukuo and the puppet government of Wang Jingwei in China. The ideology of that phenomenon, which remained in history as Japanese militarism, assumed active expansion with the destruction of the recalcitrant. The ethnic cleansing they carried out in China is not inferior in scale and brutality to the deeds of the Nazis in Europe. For example, during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-1938, the Japanese killed at least 300,000 Chinese prisoners of war and civilians.
Japan proclaimed the so-called Great East Asian Sphere of Co-prosperity, which tried to include China and many Asian countries. In this territory, the Japanese considered themselves entitled to act like masters, feeling their own superiority.
The peoples of Asia launched a struggle against the Japanese invaders, and Mongolia, thanks to the support of the Red Army, remained an impregnable fortress for the Japanese. This played a significant role in the defeat of the Kwantung Army in August 1945.
"One hundred million will die together"
Part of the Japanese elite was thinking about capitulating. Back on August 15, all Japanese radio stations recorded the appeal of Emperor Hirohito, who called on the troops to surrender. Despite the long tradition of deifying the monarch, most of his subjects did not obey this decision. Combat-ready units of the Japanese army did not cease fire. The samurai cry "One hundred million will die together!" was popular among the Japanese, who were inflamed by propaganda.
The end of the summer of 1945 was a time of peace enforcement for Japan. On August 9, at 00:10 a.m., the Red Army troops crossed the state border and, with the assistance of the Mongolian army, launched the Manchurian strategic offensive operation. The fighting unfolded along the front line with a length of over 5,000 kilometers. Powerful and lightning strikes against a large group of Japanese troops concentrated near the borders of the Soviet Union and Mongolia, as well as operations on Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, led to the rapid defeat of the enemy. Tokyo lost control of Manchuria, Korea, South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. And most importantly, he lost his army. Japan has lost the ability to resist. All that remained was to admit defeat.
Day of Surrender
The act of surrender was drawn up in accordance with the provisions approved at the Potsdam Conference and during consultations between Soviet, American and British diplomats. By early September, the Japanese had agreed to all the provisions of this document and expressed their willingness to sign it. According to this agreement, all Japanese civilian, military, and naval officials were obligated to obey and follow the instructions and orders of the Supreme Command of the Allied Powers. The emperor and the government were obliged to obey the victors. Japan returned South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands to the Soviet Union and abandoned its conquests on the mainland — in China and Korea.
The supreme commander of the Allied forces in Asia was the American General Douglas MacArthur. It was he who became the main character on the battleship Missouri on the morning of September 2, 1945. The leaders of the victorious powers discussed MacArthur's candidacy in correspondence, and the Kremlin agreed with her.
On behalf of the Soviet Union, the act of surrender of Japan was signed by the Soviet representative at the headquarters of the Commander-in—Chief of the Allied Forces, Lieutenant General Kuzma Derevyanko, an honored staff officer and intelligence officer who knew English and Japanese. Besides him, Aviation Major General Nikolai Voronov, Rear Admiral Alexander Stetsenko, and Senior Lieutenant Boris Odud, an interpreter from the Japanese Guard, were present on the cruiser. According to the memoirs of the latter, the signing ceremony began with the fact that funeral music was played in complete silence for five minutes. Most likely, the initiator of this symphonic pause was MacArthur, who decided to emphasize the solemnity of this ceremony.
Many people remember that the Japanese, as luck would have it, refused to write pens one after another... Then MacArthur got hold of some American pens and, not without irritation, handed them over to the Japanese. The first to sign the act of surrender was Japanese Foreign Minister Shigemitsu Mamoru. The act was signed by the Chief of the General Staff, General Yoshijiro Umezu, from the Imperial Headquarters of Japan.
Douglas MacArthur signs the Japanese Surrender Act
In addition to representatives of Japan, the USA and the USSR, the document was signed by envoys from several other countries. From China, General Xu Yongchang, from Great Britain, Admiral Bruce Fraser, from France, General Philippe Leclerc, from Australia, General Thomas Blamey, from the Netherlands, Lieutenant Admiral Konrad Helfrich, from New Zealand, Air Vice Marshal Leonard Izitt, from Canada— Colonel Lawrence Cosgrave.
The ceremony lasted 23 minutes. In the final, those gathered on the cruiser looked up and saw the planes of the winners flying over Tokyo Bay and Fujiyama.
US Air Force planes fly in formation over the aircraft carrier Missouri during the Japanese surrender ceremony
On the same day, a large press conference was held, at which, among other things, a speech was made about the future tribunal of Japanese war criminals. However, the Japanese stipulated the immunity of Emperor Hirohito after the surrender.
The legacy of victory
After the ceremony on the Missouri cruiser, shots were still heard in the Far East for several days. Some Japanese units continued to resist. But it was clear that these pockets would be suppressed. The bloodiest war in the history of mankind has ended, which lasted six years in Europe, and if we count from the beginning of the expansion of Nazi Germany into Czechoslovakia, then a year longer. In Asia, the war, which had been fading and flaring up with renewed vigor, had been going on since September 1931, when Japan began the occupation of Chinese territories. Now the dove of peace was hovering over Tokyo Bay, and no one could interrupt its flight.
...The next evening, on September 3, a salute was fired in Moscow — 24 volleys from 324 guns. The Kremlin chimes began counting down peacetime.
American historiography tries to ignore the military and political role of the Soviet Union in defeating Japanese militarism. For them, there were only one winners on the Missouri cruiser — the Americans. Back in 1945, no one would have dared to make such a one-sided statement. This is a deep misconception, but rather a biased position aimed at an American audience. They assess the situation in China much more objectively.
The population of the city of Port Arthur (Dalian) meets Soviet tankers
China retains the memory of how the liberation warriors managed to destroy the fascist aggression in these parts. The exploits of our pilots, the contributions of military advisers and even railway workers are covered in Chinese history textbooks.
Eight decades later, we remain the heirs of that great victory. But in order for Nazism not to raise its head again, it is necessary to remember about its crimes, its ideology, and the methods of manipulating mass consciousness used by candidates for world hegemony.
The author is the deputy editor—in-chief of the magazine "Historian"
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
