August 1945: ‘An Eventful Month in World History’

American Thinker ^ | Aug 12, 2022 | Barrett Tillman

[Conservat1]

In a 1945 summary, a U.S. Army Air Forces unit on Okinawa described August as “an eventful month in world history.”  That understatement holds up 77 years later. Events had accelerated in the spring and summer of 1945. 

Germany surrendered on May 8 but Russia already was shipping massive amounts of men and materiel eastward.  Moscow and Tokyo had a non-aggression treaty that Soviet premier Joseph Stalin cancelled on August 9.  That night a massive Russian assault into Japanese-held Manchuria opened the Far East end game, briefly overlapping impending Japan’s surrender to the Allies. American forces began deploying from Europe and the continental United States, anticipating the two-phase Operation Downfall invasion of Japan’s home islands.  The first assault, on the southern island of Kyushu, was slated for November.  The second, on the main island of Honshu, was due in March 1946. Meanwhile, the atomic age had dawned with a 20-kiloton flash in the New Mexico desert on July 16.  The three-year Manhattan Project yielded awe-inspiring results, and Tokyo’s refusal of the Allies’ Potsdam demand for unconditional surrender ensured that the atoms would be loosed.  B-29 Superfortresses from the Mariana Islands 1,500 miles southeast of Japan were prepared to conduct “special missions” beyond conventional methods.  An A-bomb destroyed Hiroshima on August 6 and, lacking any reply from Tokyo, a second weapon leveled Nagasaki three days later. Even then, Japan’s war cabinet remained evenly divided between surrender and continued war.  Finally, on August 15, Emperor Hirohito exerted unprecedented personal involvement in government affairs.  His decision “to bear the unbearable” was met with fierce resistance in the palace guard but the plotters were quickly overcome.  In his announcement Hirohito credited the A-bombs with his decision, citing “a most cruel new weapon.”