Posted on 08/10/2015 4:22:03 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
John Toland, The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/7/10.htm
August 10th, 1945 (FRIDAY)
MANCHUKUO: Soviet forces have advanced 120 miles since declaring war on Japan.
KOREA: A Soviet Yak-9 of 50 ORAP claims a Kawanishi H6K ‘Mavis’ flying boat over Najin, northeast Korea.
A defensive gunner of a 37 ShAP Il-2 claims an A6M Zero. (Mike Yared)
JAPAN: The Japanese Imperial Conference begins just prior to midnight.
After much discussion by various cabinet members, they are still unable to make a decision. At 2:00 am, PM Suzuki addresses Hirohito and asks, “Your Imperial decision is requested as to which proposal should be adopted, the foreign minister’s or the one with the four conditions.”
This was the first time in recorded Japanese history that the Emperor had been asked to make a decision. The military had expected the conference was for discussion and would then disperse. Now, the living god whose every command they had sworn to uphold was about to speak.
“I agree with the foreign minister.” is the beginning of his answer. He then reviews events of the past several months. Then he goes on: “Some advocate a decisive battle in the homeland as the way to survival. In past experience, however, there has always been a discrepancy between the fighting services’ plans and the results.”
The military had demanded death before dishonour for Japan. Hirohito, the God-sent Ruler of the Great Japanese Empire (his official title) favoured dishonour, if need be, as the price of life for his countrymen and survival of Japan.
At 3:00 am the cabinet meeting is resumed. The Emperor’s decision is ratified. At 7:00 am General Yoshizumi, Chief of the Military Affairs Division of the War Ministry goes to the foreign ministry to derail sending the notice of the decision, he is too late.
During the day, the military are working at cross purposes. The Senior Officers are trying to comply with the Emperor’s decision. The junior officers are confused, disillusioned and ready to revolt.
The conditional Japanese acceptance of the terms of the Potsdam Declaration is announced on Japanese Radio.
The Japanese radio announces the Japanese desire for peace and US Army Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific (USASTAF) limits operations to precision missions. 104 Twentieth Air Force B-29s fly 2 missions against Japan without loss.
- Mission 323: During the day, 70 B-29s, escorted by 2 groups of P-51s, bomb the arsenal complex at Tokyo; 3 others hit alternate targets.
- Mission 324: During the night of 10/11 August, 31 B-29s mine Shimonoseki Strait, Nakaumi Lagoon, and waters at Sakai and Yonago, Japan and Wonsan, Korea.
In Japan:
US and British battleships bombard steel works at Kamaishi.
- 80 B-24s, 118 B-25s, and 220+ P-47s and P-38s of the US Far East Air Force (FEAF) pound the Kumamoto area; 20+ B-24s bomb the Oita area; 39 P-51s provide cover over both targets; nearly 40 B-25s attack destroyers, cargo ships, and small vessels during a shipping sweep between Kyushu Island and Korea; P-47s bomb Sasebo Harbor; and P-51s hit various targets of opportunity on Honshu and Kyushu.
- Carrier-based aircraft from the RN’s Task Force 37 and USN’s Task Force 38 attack shipping, airfields and railways in the Hokkaido and northern Honshu area; they claim the destruction of 720 aircraft on the ground.
Participating in this attack, are Corsair Mk IVs of the RCN’s No. 1841 Squadron in HMS Formidable.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Japanese prisoner of war, Second Lieutenant Minoru Wada guides a USMC formation of PBJs (B-25 Mitchells) and F4Us (Corsairs) onto the headquarters of the 100th IJA Infantry Division commanded by General Harada, at Upian, Mindanao Island. (Gordon Angus MacKinlay) from Time magazine. More...
CANADA: Cruiser HMCS Uganda arrived Esquimalt for refit.
HMC ML 051 paid off.
U.S.A.: Dr. Robert H. Goddard, the father of modern rocketry, dies in Baltimore, Maryland, at age 62. On 16 March 1926, Goddard launched the first liquid-fuelled rocket at Auburn, Massachusetts and on 8 March 1935, he was the first to launch a liquid-propellant rocket that attained a speed greater than that of sound. Between 1942 and 1945, he was Director of Research, US Navy Department, Bureau of Aeronautics developing jet-assisted takeoff and variable-thrust liquid-propellant rockets, at Roswell, New Mexico and Annapolis, Maryland. He also served as a consulting engineer with the Curtiss-Wright Corporation at Caldwell, New Jersey, between 1943 and 1945.
The Red Army’s 120 mile advance into Manchuria makes Operation Bagration look like a warm up.
August 10, 1945
Japan accepts Potsdam terms, agrees to unconditional surrender
On this day in 1945, just a day after the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan submits its acquiescence to the Potsdam Conference terms of unconditional surrender, as President Harry S. Truman orders a halt to atomic bombing.
Emperor Hirohito, having remained aloof from the daily decisions of prosecuting the war, rubber-stamping the decisions of his War Council, including the decision to bomb Pearl Harbor, finally felt compelled to do more. At the behest of two Cabinet members, the emperor summoned and presided over a special meeting of the Council and implored them to consider accepting the terms of the Potsdam Conference, which meant unconditional surrender. “It seems obvious that the nation is no longer able to wage war, and its ability to defend its own shores is doubtful.” The Council had been split over the surrender terms; half the members wanted assurances that the emperor would maintain his hereditary and traditional role in a postwar Japan before surrender could be considered. But in light of the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, Nagasaki on August 9, and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, as well as the emperor’s own request that the Council “bear the unbearable,” it was agreed: Japan would surrender.
Tokyo released a message to its ambassadors in Switzerland and Sweden, which was then passed on to the Allies. The message formally accepted the Potsdam Declaration but included the proviso that “said Declaration does not comprise any demand which prejudices the prerogatives of His Majesty as sovereign ruler.” When the message reached Washington, President Truman, unwilling to inflict any more suffering on the Japanese people, especially on “all those kids,” ordered a halt to atomic bombing, He also wanted to know whether the stipulation regarding “His Majesty” was a deal breaker. Negotiations between Washington and Tokyo ensued. Meanwhile, savage fighting continued between Japan and the Soviet Union in Manchuria.
THE JAPANESE SURRENDER DOCUMENTS
http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1945/450729a.html
(2) OFFER OF SURRENDER FROM JAPANESE GOVERNMENT
(Department of State Bulletin, Vol. XIII, No. 320, Aug. 12, 1945)
August 10, 1945
Sir; I have the honor to inform you that the Japanese Minister in Switzerland, upon instructions received from his Government, has requested the Swiss Political Department to advise the Government of the United States of America of the following:
“In obedience to the gracious command of His Majesty the Emperor who, ever anxious to enhance the cause of world peace, desires earnestly to bring about a speedy termination of hostilities with a view to saving mankind from the calamities to be imposed upon them by further continuation of the war, the Japanese Government several weeks ago asked the Soviet Government, with which neutral relations then prevailed, to render good offices in restoring peace vis a vis the enemy powers. Unfortunately, these efforts in the interest of peace having failed, the Japanese Government in conformity with the august wish of His Majesty to restore the general peace and desiring to put an end to the untold sufferings entailed by war as quickly as possible, have decided upon the following.
“The Japanese Government are ready to accept the terms enumerated in the joint declaration which was issued at Potsdam on July 26th, 1945, by the heads of the Governments of the United States, Great Britain, and China, and later subscribed to by the Soviet Government, with the understanding that the said declaration does not comprise any demand which prejudices the prerogatives of His Majesty as a Sovereign Ruler.
“The Japanese Government sincerely hope that this understanding is warranted and desire keenly that an explicit indication to that effect will be speedily forthcoming.”
In transmitting the above message the Japanese Minister added that his Government begs the Government of the United States to forward its answer through the intermediary of Switzerland. Similar requests are being transmitted to the Governments of Great Britain and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics through the intermediary of Sweden, as well as to the Government of China through the intermediary of Switzerland. The Chinese Minister at Berne has already been informed of the foregoing through the channel of the Swiss Political Department.
Please be assured that I am at your disposal at any time to accept for and forward to my Government the reply of Government of the United States.
Accept (etc.)
Grassli,
Charge d’Affaires ad interim of Switzerland
The Red Army’s 120 mile advance into Manchuria makes Operation Bagration look like a warm up.
BTW, does anyone know why when the Soviets invaded Korea, they stopped at the 38th parallel? Was it an agreement with the US, or did they outrun their supply lines?
The prime unit of the Red Army slicing into Manchuria is the 6th Guards Tank Army, victor of several campaigns in Ukraine and the Balkans. They are professionals who gained their experience in hard fighting against the Germans.
The Japanese Kwantung Army is no match for their mobility, firepower or cohesion.
Los Angeles Times, August 10, 1945
Los Angeles Times, August 9, 1945
While the Soviets are pretty much carving up the Kwantung Army, and their forces are large, Manchuria is huge. And the transportation/communication structure along the Soviet-Manchurian border isn’t very well developed.
Most of the Soviet effort is being expended in seizing Manchuria. Korea was a sideshow, to which they only devoted the limited spare change of their operation. While they penetrated into the Korean peninsula, they didn’t have the ability to take the whole thing. Not immediately, anyway.
The 38th parallel was agreed upon at the time of Japan’s surrender as an occupation dividing line. The Soviets didn’t mind, as they were busy occupying Manchuria, which is what they really wanted above all. And they were bringing the commisssars with them, just as they had done in Eastern Europe.
3 million leaflets dropped.
A little wordsmithing with the use of “honorable” surrender instead of “unconditional” surrender.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_of_Korea
On August 10, 1945 two young officers – Dean Rusk and Charles Bonesteel – were assigned to define an American occupation zone. Working on extremely short notice and completely unprepared, they used a National Geographic map to decide on the 38th parallel. They chose it because it divided the country approximately in half but would leave the capital Seoul under American control. No experts on Korea were consulted. The two men were unaware that forty years before, Japan and Russia had discussed sharing Korea along the same parallel. Rusk later said that had he known, he “almost surely” would have chosen a different line.[8] Regardless, the decision was hastily written into General Order No. 1 for the administration of postwar Japan.
On August 10, 1945 two young officers – Dean Rusk and ...........
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Rusk
............and Charles H. Bonesteel .......
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_H._Bonesteel_III
With the surrender of Japan imminent, Bonesteel, General George A. Lincoln, and Colonel Dean Rusk of the Strategy Policy Committee at the Pentagon were tasked with drawing up General Order No. 1 to define the areas of responsibility for American, Soviet and Chinese forces. On August 10, 1945 with Soviet forces already moving through Manchuria into northern Korea, Bonesteel proposed the 38th parallel as the Division of Korea. The draft General Order was cabled to the Soviets on 15 August and accepted by them the following day.[5]
President Harry Truman
Aug. 10 ‘45
Up at six and ready for business. Saw Snyder, Ross, Rosemann, Connelly, Vaughan, Hassett, Vardaman, Ayers at the usual 9 A.M. conference. Nothing unusual to discuss.
Snyder had met me at Norfolk on Tuesday evening when we returned from Berlin and had discussed certain bad situations developing between War Pro. Bd. [War Production Board] and Of. Pr. Adm. [Office of Price Administration] At 9:30 got Krug in and gave him a job on reconversion, making the W.P.B. the Reconversion Board and then called in Bowles and made peace between them.
At 10:15 had the scientists, Bush and Conant and Geo. L. Harrison, Gen. Groves, Secs. State, War and Navy in to discuss the Atomic Bomb and how much could be published about it. A very interesting meeting. Ordered a press release for Sunday, covering its main features because so many fake scientists were telling crazy tales about it.
Senator Tom Connolly came in to urge the appointment of his friend as a Federal Judge for one of the Texas Districts and to give me his opinion of Pappy O’Daniel. He considers Pappy rather small potatoes. Tom was also interested in a hospital at Marlin to be built by the Navy. He called me later in the week to tell me I was making a mistake in appointing Dugout Doug as Allied Commander in Chief to accept the Jap. surrender. Said Doug would run against me in 1948 if I built him up. I told Tom I didn’t want to run in ‘48 and that Doug didn’t bother me that way.
Barkley tells a story about Tom Heflin running for re-election to Congress in an Alabama District when he and Barkley were in the House of Representatives. Barkley said the House was having a night session on the last day for filing in Heflin’s District and that about 11:30 old Tom began calling his secretary at Montgomery to see if a certain man in his district had filed against him. He’d call about every ten minutes and the conversation at Tom’s end would go something like this. “Hello: is that you Jim? Did he file? You say he did or he didn’t? Oh! He hasn’t filed yet. Goodbye.”
At one minute after midnight the same conversation took place and Tom was finally assured by his secretary that the other fellow had not filed. Tom had carried on his conversation in the cloak room and a dozen members had heard each phone conversation. After the last one at 12:01 when old Tom was sure his supposed opponent had not filed and couldn’t file, he turned around to his audience and said “I wish the so and so had filed-I’d have beaten hell out of him!
Sen. Denis Chavez came in to recommend a Maj. Gen. in the Marine Corps for Gov. of Puerto Rico and to make a date for a committee of Italians to see me to talk about Italy. I succeeded in getting him to cut the number to one and I agreed to see Dennis and the one on Monday.
Monday Friday, Aug 10th
Cong. Mike Mansfield came in to ask for a trip to China. He was once a resident over there and seems to know a great deal about the country. I postponed decision on it. Sen. Hayden of Ariz. came in and gave me some excellent and practical ideas on the Philippines and their recovery from the war. Col. Heller & Mr. Hurley came in to resign from the Surplus Property Board and I persuaded them to stay.
Sen. Magnuson talked to me about a road to Alaska through British Columbia and his bill on scientific research. Had a nice visit.
Sen. O’Mahoney made a recommendation of a man for District of Columbia Court of Appeals and told me how to run the country generally.
Various Ambassadors & a Minister presented credentials and then the Sec. Labor came in. We reorganized and set up a real Labor Department and that’s what we intend to do. Schwellenbach is a real guy and will make me a wheel horse on the team.
Minton came to see me about an appointment to the Supreme Court.
Ate lunch at my desk and discussed the Jap offer to surrender which came in a couple of hours earlier. They wanted to make a condition precedent to the surrender. Our terms are “unconditional.” They wanted to keep the Emperor we told ‘em we’d tell ‘em how to keep him, but we’d make the terms.
Had a Cabinet meeting after lunch which was a very satisfactory one. Getting a team together. Took them into my confidence and told them all about the Jap situation. They kept the confidence! An unprecedented thing in the immediate past.
While all this has been going on, I’ve been trying to get ready a radio address to the nation on the Berlin conference. Made the first draft on the ship coming back. Discussed it with Byrnes, Rosenman, Ben Cohen, Leahy and Charlie Ross. Rewrote it four times and then the Japs offered to surrender and it had to be done again. As first put up it contained 4500 words and a thousand had to be taken out. It caused me a week of headaches but finally seemed to go over all right when it was said over the radio at 10 P.M. tonight.
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