On this day in military history…
By 14 August 1945, the Second World War had reached its final extraordinary hours. Germany had surrendered three months earlier, Japan’s navy had been largely destroyed, its cities had been devastated by months of conventional bombing and Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been struck by atomic bombs on 6 and 9 August. The Soviet Union had also entered the war against Japan, launching a massive offensive into Japanese-held Manchuria. Yet even with the military situation collapsing around them, powerful figures within the Japanese armed forces still believed the country should continue fighting rather than accept surrender.
The Allied Potsdam Declaration had demanded Japan’s unconditional surrender, warning that refusal would bring complete destruction. For days Japan’s leadership remained divided over whether to accept. Senior military commanders feared occupation and the destruction of the Imperial system, while others understood that continuing the war could only lead to further devastation and enormous civilian and military losses. Emperor Hirohito eventually intervened personally, deciding that the war had to end.
On 14 August the Emperor met senior government and military leaders and confirmed that Japan would accept the Allied terms. Among those who had resisted surrender were some of the most senior figures in the Japanese armed forces, including Army Minister General Korechika Anami and senior Army and Navy commanders who believed Japan should continue resisting in the hope of obtaining better terms. Hirohito overruled the opposition and ordered that his decision be followed. The Japanese government then prepared a formal Imperial Rescript announcing acceptance of the Allied terms.
News that Japan intended to surrender was reaching the Allies, but the fighting did not immediately stop. Until a recognised surrender and ceasefire order had been received, Allied commanders could not simply assume that Japanese forces across the vast Pacific would lay down their weapons. Combat operations therefore continued during 14 August.
American B-29 Superfortresses carried out some of the largest bombing operations of the entire Pacific War that day. More than 1,000 B-29s were sent against targets across Japan, attacking oil facilities, industrial centres and other military objectives. Among the targets was the Nippon Oil refinery at Tsuchizaki near Akita, one of Japan’s remaining important oil installations. These missions were already under way while political messages concerning Japan’s surrender were passing between Tokyo and the Allied governments.
The remarkable result was that Japanese civilians and soldiers were living through bombing raids while their Emperor was preparing to announce that the war was finished. Allied naval forces were also prepared to resume carrier attacks against the Tokyo region if Japan’s surrender failed to materialise. It demonstrated just how uncertain the situation remained. Until orders were confirmed, no commander could be certain whether surrender negotiations would succeed or whether Japanese forces would continue fighting.
Inside Japan the situation was even more dangerous. A group of fanatically determined Army officers believed surrender was a betrayal of Japan, its military traditions and the Emperor himself. They hoped that if Hirohito could be prevented from making his announcement, the armed forces might still continue the war. Their actions during the night of 14–15 August became known as the Kyūjō Incident.
At the centre of the attempted coup was Major Kenji Hatanaka of the Imperial Japanese Army, supported by several other officers who were desperate to prevent surrender. The conspirators attempted to persuade senior commanders to join them, believing that the Army could take control of Tokyo, isolate the Emperor and prevent his surrender message from being transmitted.
One particularly important figure was Lieutenant General Takeshi Mori, commander of the 1st Imperial Guards Division, whose troops protected the Imperial Palace. Hatanaka desperately needed Mori’s support because without the Guards the conspirators had little chance of controlling the palace. Mori refused to cooperate. During the confrontation he was shot and killed, after which the rebels used his authority to issue false orders to Imperial Guard units.
Late that evening Hirohito had already recorded his surrender message onto phonograph records so that it could be broadcast across Japan the following day. This recording was immensely important. For most Japanese citizens it would be the first time they had ever heard the Emperor’s voice. The broadcast was scheduled for noon on 15 August.
The rebels therefore had one overriding objective: find the recording and destroy it.
Soldiers occupied parts of the Imperial Palace complex, blocked entrances and attempted to cut communications. Officers and troops searched rooms, corridors and government offices throughout the enormous palace grounds looking for the records containing Hirohito’s speech. Palace officials who knew where the recordings had been hidden refused to reveal their location despite threats.
The search became chaotic. Tokyo was under blackout conditions, partly because American bombers were still operating against Japan, and the vast palace complex was difficult to search in darkness. The Emperor’s recording had been carefully concealed by trusted palace staff. The rebels searched desperately but failed to locate it.
Elsewhere conspirators attempted to seize the headquarters of Japan’s national broadcaster, NHK, believing they could stop the planned transmission or broadcast their own message demanding continued resistance. They also targeted leading politicians regarded as supporters of surrender. Prime Minister Kantarō Suzuki narrowly escaped attempts against him, while his residence was attacked.
The coup gradually collapsed because the conspirators could not gain the support of Japan’s senior Army commanders. General Shizuichi Tanaka, commander of the Eastern District Army responsible for the Tokyo area, confronted the rebels and ordered them to abandon the uprising. Without wider military backing there was no possibility that Hatanaka and his followers could overthrow the government or reverse the Emperor’s decision.
By the morning of 15 August the rebellion had effectively ended. Hatanaka later killed himself. The surrender recording which the conspirators had searched so desperately for remained intact and was transported safely to the broadcasting station.
At noon the Japanese people gathered around radios across the country. Emperor Hirohito’s voice was transmitted nationwide. Speaking in formal language unfamiliar to many ordinary Japanese, he explained that the war situation had developed “not necessarily to Japan’s advantage” and that Japan would accept the Allied declaration. He never directly used the simple word “surrender”, but there could be no doubt about what had happened.
For millions of Japanese citizens the announcement was almost unimaginable. Japan had spent years telling its population that surrender was dishonourable and that the nation would fight until the end. Soldiers and civilians had been prepared for an Allied invasion of the home islands, with expectations of catastrophic casualties on both sides. Instead, the Emperor himself had ordered resistance to cease.
Across Britain, the United States and other Allied nations, celebrations erupted as news of Japan’s surrender spread. In Britain, 15 August became known as Victory over Japan Day, or VJ Day. Crowds filled London and other cities celebrating the end of nearly six years of global warfare. In the United States enormous crowds gathered in Times Square and other major cities.
The war was effectively over, although the formal surrender documents would not be signed until 2 September 1945 aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Japanese representatives signed the Instrument of Surrender in front of General Douglas MacArthur and representatives of the Allied powers, formally bringing the Second World War to an end.
The events of 14–15 August remain one of the most extraordinary episodes of the entire conflict. At almost the same moment that Allied bombers were carrying out their final major raids over Japan, rebel Japanese soldiers were running through the Imperial Palace searching for a hidden phonograph recording that could end the war. Had they found and destroyed it, they might have delayed the announcement and created enormous confusion, although Japan’s military position was by then almost hopeless.
Instead, the recording survived, the coup failed and Hirohito’s voice was broadcast across Japan. After years of war stretching from China and Southeast Asia to the islands of the Pacific, the order had finally been given to stop fighting. The Second World War had reached its end.
