The war ended in surrender

 

On this day 79 years ago, the war stopped. Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945. World War II ended on this day. After war comes peace. But horrible memories remain. Today is the 15th of August. Let us look back at the days of attacks, war, destruction, the horrors of Hiroshima-Nagasaki and the surrender of Japan today.

In the name of Emperor Hirohito's imperial expansion, Japan began attacking various parts of Asia. The occupation begins. Japan joined hands with Germany and Italy in 1940 to build a single power zone. Then the fierce battle started. Let's start from December 7, 1941.

December 7, 1941: Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the US naval base on the island of Hawaii, with bombs and warplanes. 2 thousand 300 Americans were killed in this attack. 1 thousand 200 people were injured. 21 US ships sunk. Hundreds of planes were destroyed. The United States did not sit down after this attack. He declared war the next day. Germany also came forward to retaliate. Three days later, Germany declared war on the United States. Shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor, however, Japanese troops landed on the east coast of West Malaya. He occupied a large area south of Singapore.

15 January 1942: There were no major attacks for the next five weeks. However, another major attack took place on January 15. Japanese ground forces from Thailand crossed the border and attacked the south of present-day Myanmar. British troops counter-attacked. But Japan's war tactics had to be defeated. Myanmar fell in late May.

15 February 1942: Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, Commander of the British Commonwealth Forces in Singapore, surrendered to Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita of Japan on this day after prolonged fighting. Until 1945, Singapore had to bear the brunt of this. Singapore was occupied by Japan till this time.

April 1942: Battle rages for three months in Bataan Province, Philippines. As a result, US and Philippine prisoners of war were forced to walk about 100 kilometers under very bad conditions. Many died on the way due to physical abuse, dysentery and other diseases. Such death marches can also be seen in the Sandakan area of ​​the Malaysian state of Sabah on the northeast coast of Borneo. Later these two incidents were tried as war crimes.

August 1942: In the Pacific, Japanese and American troops were fighting from island to island. The Battle of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands lasted six months. The 'Battle of Midway' is considered one of the biggest naval battles in the Pacific Ocean. Here Japan's allies won a major victory.

October 1944: Philippines on the brink of defeat by US forces. The Japanese Air Force's special wing 'Kamikaze Special Attack Unit' carried out the first attack on Leyte Island. At this time, suicide attacks were carried out on the enemy's targets with airplanes. These kamikaze attacks caused great losses for Japan. About four thousand kamikaze pilots were killed. 34 US ships sunk.

February 1945: Japan's farewell to war begins. On the island of Yo Jima, more than 30,000 US troops and 21,000 Japanese troops were fighting that day. This is the first attack on Japanese territory. Almost all the Japanese soldiers stationed there lost their lives in the 36-day war. Seven thousand US Navy personnel were also killed.

6 August 1945: The terrible day came. The US dropped the 'Little Boy' atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan's main island Honshu. The deluge started instantly. The number of people killed by the end of the year due to the attack and its terrible radioactivity stood at 140,000. At that time, the population of Hiroshima was 350,000. Three days later, the United States dropped another atomic bomb called 'Fat Man' on the city of Nagasaki. More than 70 thousand civilians were killed that day. In the long run the number of people killed stood much higher.

15 August 1945: After the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki nothing was left of the devastation. Emperor Hirohito of Japan realized that. So he announced his surrender in a radio broadcast. World War II ends.

2 September 1945: What follows is a mere formality. A Japanese delegation led by Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signed the instrument of surrender on board the USS Missouri. US General Douglas MacArthur was present there.