Victory over Japan (V-J) Day
Victory over Japan (V-J) Day marks the occasion when Japan formally surrendered, ending World War II in the Pacific. Although the official surrender occurred on September 2, 1945, aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, the day most widely recognized as V-J Day is August 14, 1945, when Japan's capitulation was announced. This event followed a series of significant military actions, including the U.S. strategic bombing campaigns that devastated Japanese cities and the use of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early August 1945. The surrender was largely influenced by Japan’s dire situation following these bombings and the Soviet Union's entry into the war against Japan.
When the surrender announcement was made, it ignited massive celebrations across the United States, particularly in Times Square, where millions gathered to express their relief and joy. The day symbolizes not just the end of conflict but also the beginning of a challenging post-war period, as the Allies prepared to oversee Japan's transition into a new political landscape. V-J Day carries significant memories and meanings, reflecting both the triumph of Allied forces and the complex history of the war's impact on Japan and its people.
Victory over Japan (V-J) Day
Since the actual and official conclusions of wars are seldom identical, it is not surprising that there is some confusion as to the exact end of World War II in the Pacific arena. The formal act of surrender by Japan took place aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945 (Tokyo time; it was September 1 in Washington, D.C.). President Harry S. Truman proclaimed the following day, namely September 2 (Washington, D.C., time) as Victory over Japan (V-J) Day. However, Japan's capitulation had already been announced on August 14, and it is this date that is generally remembered as V-J Day.
As the war in Europe was drawing to a close in April 1945, the Pacific Allied forces were reorganized in expectation of a major push against the chief remaining enemy: the Japanese. General Douglas MacArthur was made commander of all United States Army forces in the Pacific. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz had command of all United States Navy units. The Eighth Air Force under Lieutenant General James H. Doolittle and the 20th Air Force under Lieutenant General Nathan F. Twining were joined to form the United States Strategic Air Forces under General Carl Spaatz. Lieutenant General George C. Kenney commanded the United States Far Eastern Air Force.
During the spring and summer of 1945, the Japanese home islands were subjected to intensive air attacks, among them the massive firebombing raid on Tokyo on March 9-10, 1945, in which it is estimated that more than eighty thousand people were killed. B-29 Superfortresses and other bombers based on islands or on navy aircraft carriers carried out systematic bombing attacks on an intensifying scale. They included both high-altitude precision bombing and low-altitude incendiary bombing on Japanese urban centers such as Osaka, Nagoya, and Kobe, and on individual industrial targets. The Japanese home islands were also subjected to naval bombardment by American and British units, and American submarines took a mounting toll of Japanese merchant vessels and warships. On May 25, 1945, the Joint Chiefs of Staff laid plans for an invasion of Kyushu, one of the main islands of Japan, on November 1, 1945. The Tokyo plains area of Honshu was scheduled for invasion on March 1, 1946.
In mid-July 1945, while attending the Potsdam Conference in Europe with the leaders of Great Britain and the Soviet Union, President Truman learned of the successful detonation of the world's first atomic device during a test conducted on July 16 near the Alamogordo air base in New Mexico. On July 26 the heads of state of the United States and Britain, with the concurrence of Nationalist China, issued the so-called Potsdam Declaration or Proclamation calling upon Japan to proclaim the “unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces, and to provide proper and adequate assurances of their good faith in such action.”
Earlier, on May 8, 1945, Truman had already announced that unconditional surrender involved the end of military rule in Japan. However, he stressed that it did not signify the “extermination or enslavement” of the Japanese. Although by the summer of 1945 Japanese leaders, with the exception of a few militant diehards, were seeking means of ending the war, they were not yet prepared to accept unconditional surrender. Further, neither Truman's May statement nor the Potsdam Declaration made it clear what the future status of the Japanese emperor or empire would be. Thus, on July 28 the Japanese rejected the Allies' ultimatum. In the meantime the leaders of Japan continued to search for an honorable way to surrender.
The United States proceeded to use atomic bombs against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and August 9, 1945, respectively. The Japanese were unable to cope immediately with the meaning of the new weapon. Faced with utter ruin, they could hardly believe their helpless position. Moreover, on August 8 the Soviet Union declared war against Japan, a step agreed upon earlier by the Allies and reaffirmed at the Potsdam conference.
On August 9 the divided members of the Japanese Supreme Council for the Direction of War convened and became deadlocked on the course of action, an impasse which even the news of the Nagasaki bombing failed to break. They prevailed upon Emperor Hirohito to summon an imperial conference. This was an unprecedented step since the emperor, albeit the titular ruler of the Japanese empire, normally played a passive role in government and only received word of policy decisions that had already been made. Shortly before midnight on August 9, Japan's chief political and military leaders gathered in an underground air raid shelter adjoining the Imperial Library. There, Hirohito, when asked for an opinion, approved the proposal for seeking peace. He stated “I cannot bear to see my innocent people suffer any longer.” His prestige carried enough weight to settle the deadlock.
On August 10 the Japanese government made known its willingness to accept an unconditional surrender based on the Allies' Potsdam Declaration, provided that the emperor was retained. The Allies raised no serious objection to this request, with the one proviso that “from the moment of surrender the authority of the Emperor and the Japanese Government to rule the state shall be subject to the Supreme Commander for the Allied powers who will take such steps as he deems proper to effectuate the surrender terms.” After intense debate, the Japanese accepted the Allied proviso on August 14. General Douglas MacArthur was then appointed Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers to oversee the occupation of Japan.
At 7:00 P.M. Eastern War Time, August 14, 1945, the moving electric sign on the Times Tower in New York City flashed the words “Official-Truman announces Japanese surrender.” It set off an unparalleled demonstration. The terrific roar that greeted the announcement on the Times Tower lasted for 20 minutes and literally deafened the participants. People began pouring into Times Square from the subways and buses and on foot, and in a short time they were packed so solidly that individual movement was impossible. By 10:00 P.M., the Manhattan police estimated that two million people were in the Times Square area, setting an all-time record.
Nomiyama, Ken. "Rhode Island Loses When It Celebrates Victory Day." Rhode Island Current, 14 Aug. 2023, rhodeislandcurrent.com/2023/08/14/rhode-island-loses-when-it-celebrates-victory-day/. Accessed 1 May 2023.
Rath, Arum and Marilyn Schairer. "Why Is Rhode Island the Only State That Commemorates V-J Day?" WGBH, 9 Aug. 2023, www.wgbh.org/news/local/2021-08-13/why-is-rhode-island-the-only-state-that-commemorates-v-j-day. Accessed 1 May 2024.