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Homework Help: Social Studies: World History: The Defeat of Japan
by Alex Fluker
Although Japan's position was hopeless by early 1945, an early end to the war
was not in sight. The Japanese navy would not be able to come out in force
again, but the bulk of the army was intact and was deployed in the home islands
and China. The Japanese gave a foretaste of what was yet in store by resorting
to kamikaze (Japanese, "divine wind") attacks, or suicide air attacks, during
the fighting for Luzon in the Philippines. On January 4-13, 1945, quickly
trained kamikaze pilots flying obsolete planes had sunk 17 U.S. ships and
damaged 50. See Kamikaze.
Iwo Jima and Okinawa
While the final assault on Japan awaited reinforcements from Europe, the
island-hopping approach march continued, first, with a landing on Iwo Jima on
February 19. That small, barren island cost the lives of over 6000 U.S. Marines
before it was secured on March 16. Situated almost halfway between the Marianas
and Tokyo, the island played an important part in the air war. Its two airfields
provided landing sites for damaged B-29s and enabled fighters to give the
bombers cover during their raids on Japanese cities.
On April 1 the U.S. Tenth Army, composed of four army and four marine divisions
under General Simon B. Buckner, Jr., landed on Okinawa, 500 km (310 mi) south of
the southernmost Japanese island, Kyushu. The Japanese did not
defend the beaches. They proposed to make their stand on the southern tip of the
island, across which they had constructed three strong lines. The northern
three-fifths of the island were secured in less than two weeks, the third line
in the south could not be breached until June 14, and the fighting continued to
June 21.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The next attack was scheduled for Kyushu in November 1945. An easy
success seemed unlikely. The Japanese had fought practically to the last man on
Iwo Jima, and hundreds of soldiers and civilians had jumped off cliffs at the
southern end of Okinawa rather than surrender. Kamikaze planes had sunk 15 naval
vessels and damaged 200 off Okinawa.
The Kyushu landing was never made. Throughout the war, the U.S.
government and the British, believing Germany was doing the same, had maintained
a massive scientific and industrial project to develop an atomic bomb. The chief
ingredients, fissionable uranium and plutonium, had not been available in
sufficient quantity before the war in Europe ended. The first bomb was exploded
in a test at Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945.
Two more bombs had been built, and the possibility arose of using them to
convince the Japanese to surrender. President Harry S. Truman decided to allow
the bombs to be dropped because, he said, he believed they might save thousands
of American lives. For maximum psychological impact, they were used in quick
succession, one over Hiroshima on August 6, the other over Nagasaki on August 9.
These cities had not previously been bombed, and thus the bombs' damage could be
accurately assessed. U.S. estimates put the number killed in Hiroshima at 66,000
to 78,000 and in Nagasaki at 39,000. Japanese estimates gave a combined total of
240,000. The USSR declared war on Japan on August 8 and invaded Manchuria the
next day.
The Japanese Surrender
On August 14 Japan announced its surrender, which was not quite unconditional
because the Allies had agreed to allow the country to keep its emperor. The
formal signing took place on September 2 in Tokyo Bay aboard the battleship
Missouri. The Allied delegation was headed by General MacArthur, who became the
military governor of occupied Japan.
Homework Help: Social Studies: World History
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