By:
vivian
on quarta-feira, setembro 02, 2015
General Yoshijiro Umezu signs the surrender document (MacArthur stands to the left)
The atomic bomb explodes in Nagasaki
Crowds in Times Square, NYC celebrate Japanese surrender on August 14th
September 2nd 1945: Japan surrenders
On this day in 1945, Japan officially surrendered to US military representatives, thus ending the Second World War. After four years of bloody warfare, the Japanese were forced to surrender to the Allies on August 15th 1945, in the aftermath of the devastating use of atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Surrender became official on September 2nd, when Japanese envoys boarded the American battleship the USS Missouri, and, in the presence of fifty Allied officials (led by General Douglas MacArthur), signed the surrender document. The document was signed by Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu on behalf of the Japanese government, and by General Yoshijiro Umezu for the Japanese armed forces, whose aides wept as he signed the surrender. Official surrender involved Japan agreeing to end all hostilities, release prisoners of war, and accept US authority. Less than an hour after the signing, 13,000 US troops landed in Japan and began the post-war occupation of the country which would last until 1952.
“It is my earnest hope and, indeed, the hope of all mankind, that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past; a world founded upon faith and understanding, a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish, for freedom, tolerance and justice.”
- General MacArthur upon Japanese surrender
70 years ago today
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