Stalin had agreed in principle but had put off releasing any details. As historian Tsuyoshi Hasegawa puts it, “The Soviet entry into the war played a much greater role than the atomic bombs in inducing Japan to surrender because it dashed any hope that Japan could terminate the war through Moscow's mediation.”. But that approval did not come, infuriating the Kwantung Army leaders. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of the Terms and Conditions, The lives of Hitler and Stalin: Two sides of the same coin, Historic Photographer of the Year Award Winners - 2020. Yet, despite this nationwide inferno, surrender wasn’t forthcoming. More than one million Japanese soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians were killed or captured in a month’s bitter fighting in a far-off land that even today remains somewhat mysterious. They knew they’d have to give in eventually, but they wanted to surrender on the most favourable terms, in a way that would preserve their internal power structure, save their military leaders from war crimes trials, and avoid being a puppet state of the Allies. Some historians certainly think so. Japan still stood firm, seemingly determined to fight to the bitter and bloody end. The Japanese believed the issue settled. The Western Allies, therefore, were anxious for some assistance in defeating Japan once Germany surrendered. Indeed, during this crisis the leaders of the Kwantung Army seriously discussed prospects of bringing down the current Japanese government should it interfere with their operations. There had already been a rain of ruin, and it hadn’t changed the Japanese game-plan. That’s the … The city was utterly obliterated, as was Nagasaki in a second nuclear attack just days later. That enemy indeed appeared as a result of the several Allied political leaders’ meetings during the course of the war. The Imperial Japanese Army was particularly interested in showcasing its skills. So when President Truman, hinting at the nuclear attacks to come, said that the Japanese could “expect a rain of ruin from the air” if they didn’t surrender, it wasn’t really much of a threat. Between 1940 and 1945, the Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria, which also had responsibility for Korea, remained relatively static. What many people forget is that huge swathes of the country had already been utterly obliterated by the most extensive bombing raids the world had ever seen. The Soviets could focus on taking on the Nazis without worrying about being attacked on the other side by Japan, while the Japanese were free to concentrate on their brutal battles with the US. Tokyo, for example, had been completely incinerated, with around 100,000 people killed. Cowed by such a show of force, and facing their own complete demise, the Japanese finally surrendered. And that man was Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. In mid-1945, the Kwantung Army contained 24 infantry divisions, two tank divisions, five air squadrons, and totaled 780,000 officers and men. As the Declaration bluntly put it, “the alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction”. And it is their contention that the consensus on the end of World War Two completely ignores what really happened in 1945. Although it had no official name to the Japanese, it has become known in the West as Operation August Storm. Until 9 August, they held out hope that the Soviets, as a neutral party, could help them negotiate the best deal with the US. Others argued for a strike to cut off all avenues of resources to China, starving her into submission. “The Hiroshima bomb did not make the Japanese ruling elite feel as though their backs were to the wall. As a result, he agreed to declare war on Japan within three months after Germany surrendered. Finally, it … If Japan’s leaders were going to surrender because of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, you would expect to find that they cared about the bombing of … The Russians countered, sending more troops as well. Repeated clashes between border-guard units finally erupted into open warfare on May 11, 1939. Many requests—at Tehran, Yalta, and most recently at Potsdam—had been made for Russia to enter the war against Japan. On top of that, when people think of the Soviet Union in World War Two, it’s not the Pacific theatre that comes to mind, but the savage skirmishes against Hitler’s forces, the massacres meted out by the SS in Russian towns and villages, the hellish confrontation in Stalingrad and the pivotal Nazi defeats that eventually turned the war against Hitler. Trained and equipped forces should any enemy suddenly appear was moved up when the first atomic bomb dropped! 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