{"id":53555,"date":"2015-08-14T08:11:36","date_gmt":"2015-08-14T13:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=53555"},"modified":"2015-08-14T08:11:36","modified_gmt":"2015-08-14T13:11:36","slug":"the-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=53555","title":{"rendered":"The End"},"content":{"rendered":"

On August 14th, 1945, the Second World War had but hours to go.<\/p>\n

Since the atomic bombings and Soviet invasion of Manchuria just days earlier, Japan had begun secret communications through the neutral powers of Switzerland and Sweden to accept the Allies’ demands for unconditional surrender. \u00a0Unbeknownst to all but a few within the government and military, Emperor Hirohito had already recorded a radio address to accept the Potsdam Declaration. \u00a0The recording would be played on August 15th and subject Japan to an unknown fate in the hands of the Allied powers.<\/p>\n

Major Kenji Hatanaka knew of the Emperor’s recording on the night of August 14th as he and a group of fellow officers entered the Imperial Palace. \u00a0Hatanaka burst into the office of\u00a0Lt. General Takeshi Mori, the commanding general of the\u00a01st Imperial Guards Division whose troops were responsible for defending the Palace and royal family. \u00a0Hatanaka made his intentions plainly known – he and his co-conspirators intended to stop the Emperor’s broadcast and continue the war. \u00a0Mori was horrified; Hatanaka and his men were violating an explicit order from their superiors. \u00a0Mori immediately demanded that Hatanaka return to his barracks.<\/p>\n

But Kenji Hatanaka was not going to be following orders on this night – he was going to be giving them. \u00a0Hatanaka and his officers quickly shot Mori and Mori’s visiting brother-in-law. \u00a0Using Mori’s official stamp, Hatanaka forged\u00a0Strategic Order No.\u00a0584 – an order to surround the Palace and prevent anyone from coming or going. \u00a0The 1st Imperial Guards Division was now at Hatanaka’s disposal and the Emperor was, in essence, his prisoner.<\/p>\n

The end of World War II rested upon Japan’s ability to withstand a coup.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\"\"

Major Kenji Hatanaka – the mastermind of the August 14th coup. He was only 33 years old and managed to convince older, higher-ranking officials to take his orders<\/p><\/div>\n

Just days earlier, Tokyo had seen two different conferences attempt to address the end of war –\u00a0each with very different conclusions. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the night of August 12th, well into the morning of August 13th, Japan’s\u00a0Supreme Council for the Direction of War had continued to debate whether acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration meant the removal of the Emperor. \u00a0The Declaration had been vague on specifics on the Emperor’s fate, noting that not only would war criminals be subject to punishment but that the “authority and influence of those who have deceived and misled the people of Japan into embarking on world conquest” would be permanently eliminated. \u00a0Coupled with the Allies’ military occupation of Nazi Germany as a model, many senior Japanese officials were hesitant to agree to anything that might result in the end of the Japanese Imperial system of government.<\/p>\n

At midnight, the debate was no longer theoretical. \u00a0The Allies broadcast from San Francisco a message to Japan – the Emperor’s authority would be\u00a0subordinated to that of the Allied powers in the event of an occupation. \u00a0The Japanese monarchy, in existence since 660 BC, would be rendered powerless if Japan accepted the Potsdam Declaration.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Gen. Korechika Anami – the Minister for War and the “most powerful figure in Japan besides the Emperor himself.” Anami refused to support the coup but did nothing to discourage it either<\/p><\/div>\n

The Supreme Council for the Direction of War had already wrestled with the weight of the decision. \u00a0The debate was over – Japan would accept the Declaration and surrender.<\/p>\n

The decision was far from unanimous. \u00a0That same night, a small group of younger officers, including\u00a0Hatanaka, held their own make-shift conference with the most influential member of the Supreme Council, War Minister\u00a0Korechika Anami. \u00a0Deemed the second most powerful man in Japan to the Emperor himself, Anami had been a passionate advocate for Japan’s war of expansion. \u00a0Even in the wake of the atomic bombings (Anami proclaimed the Americans could only have one bomb, so Japan shouldn’t overracted to Hiroshima), Anami had dutifully recited the Japanese military line that the war could only end with a massive, decisive battle on Japanese soil. \u00a0Hatanaka and his allies rightly assumed Anami would aid them in an effort to overthrow the government.<\/p>\n

Instead, Anami demurred. \u00a0With the Supreme Council’s decision fresh in his mind, Anami would neither support nor oppose Hatanaka’s course of action. \u00a0It wasn’t the response Hatanaka expected, nor needed, but in his mind it had left the door open to a coup. \u00a0Perhaps once Hatanaka and his supporters took action, Anami might join them to lead the effort.<\/p>\n

Anami believed he had deflected the question; Hatanaka believed Anami had given him his silent consent. \u00a0Both were tragically wrong.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\"\"

Prime Minister Kantar\u014d Suzuki – taking over the post at the age of 77 following Okinawa, Suzuki would resign following the announcement of the surrender<\/p><\/div>\n

On the night of August 14th, as Hatanaka and his small band of rebels tore apart the Palace frantically searching for the Emperor’s recording, another wing of the coup plot attempted to assassinate the man they believed responsible for forcing the Emperor to surrender – Prime Minister\u00a0Kantar\u014d Suzuki.<\/p>\n

The rebel officers hoped to catch Suzuki by surprise at his office. \u00a0They discovered nothing more than paperwork and an empty chair behind his desk. \u00a0In their frustration, they machine-gunned the office and then burned Suzuki’s home. \u00a0The effort to behead the government had failed, but had nevertheless terrified the authorities. \u00a0Suzuki would spend the following weeks before the formal surrender in hiding.<\/p>\n

The effort to recruit the support of the Japanese Army was failing as well. \u00a0Little did Hatanaka know that a number of other senior officers had foreseen such a coup attempt just the night before. \u00a0In a tense meeting, the key military members of the Supreme Council and War Ministry had signed a pledge to honor their Emperor’s orders to surrender – including Anami. \u00a0The support of the highest ranking members of the Army undercut any effort by Hatanaka or others to enlist support of a coup. \u00a0And as Anami took his own life that night out of shame for losing the war, stating in his suicide note “I\u2014with my death\u2014humbly apologize to the Emperor for the great crime,” any hope that the military would change it’s position vanished.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\"\"

Hirohito records his acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration: “We have resolved to pay the way for a grand peace for all generations to come by enduring the unendurable and suffering what is unsufferable.”<\/p><\/div>\n

By 3am on the morning of August 15th, the last threads on\u00a0Major Kenji Hatanaka’s coup were unraveling.<\/p>\n

Informed that the Eastern District Army was marching on the Palace, Hatanaka desperately pleaded with the District’s Chief of Staff to allow him to go on the radio. \u00a0Perhaps if he could broadcast his message to the people, they’d rise up against those in favor of surrender. \u00a0Or at worst, perhaps Hatanaka could justify to the public at large his disobeying of orders and reduce the dishonor his actions had put upon his family. \u00a0Not surprisingly, the Chief of Staff refused.<\/p>\n

As the sun rose that morning, the coup attempt was over. \u00a0The Eastern District Army retook the Palace without a fight, amazingly letting Hatanaka and his co-conspirators go free. \u00a0A despondent Hatanaka jumped on a motorcycle, bizarrely driving around Tokyo throwing leaflets explaining his reasons. \u00a0By 11am, Hatanaka had taken his own life with his pistol; a note on a his body stating\u00a0“I have nothing to regret now that the dark clouds have disappeared from the reign of the Emperor.”<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\"\"

Gen. Takeshi Mori – despite killing the head of what was in essence the Palace Guards, the coup ringleaders were let free. Whether the authorities knew that Mori had been murdered when they did so was unknown<\/p><\/div>\n

Hirohito’s broadcast occurred without incident. \u00a0The recording had been hidden in a laundry basket and transported out of the Palace right past the rebelling soldiers.<\/p>\n

The message, known in Japanese as the\u00a0Gyokuon-h\u014ds\u014d<\/i> or “jewel voice broadcast” was not only the first time the Japanese public had heard their Emperor’s voice, but was likely the first time any Japanese civilian had heard any previous Emperor speak. \u00a0Spoken in a classic Japanese dialect, and strangely obtuse in it’s message, few who heard the broadcast could immediately understand the significance. \u00a0“How\u00a0are we to save the millions of our subjects, or to atone ourselves before the hallowed spirits of our Imperial ancestors?,” Hirohito asked before stating – “we have resolved to pave the way for a grand peace for all the generations to come by enduring the unendurable and suffering what is unsufferable.”<\/p>\n

As soon as Hirohito’s recorded message concluded, another voice followed, explaining what the Emperor had intended to say – Japan was surrendering to the Allies. \u00a0The shock of the Japanese public is difficult to convey. \u00a0Since the early 7th Century, Japan’s emperors had been viewed as\u00a0tenshi\u00a0<\/i>or a “son of heaven.” \u00a0While the power of the individual emperors varied, each had been a part of a 2,600 year\u00a0lineage from rulers, according to Japanese legend, that descended from heaven. \u00a0Thus in a brief few minutes, the people of Japan had heard for the first time from a being they were taught to view as a deity, and that message included the deity proclaiming the nation’s first defeat by a foreign power in 1,500 years.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\"\"

The second angle of Alfred Eisenstaedt’s famous “V-J Day in Times Square” photo – only captured by photographer Victor Jorgensen. Multiple people have tried to claim an identity as one of the kissers, but most accounts have been challenged<\/p><\/div>\n

The reaction of the Allied governments was one of cautious optimism. \u00a0While the general public of the Allied powers rejoiced at the prospects that the bloodiest war in human history was finally ending, the Allies were unsure what an occupation of Japan would entail. \u00a0Would elements of the military conduct a guerrilla war once Allied troops were ashore? \u00a0Would the monarchy work with Allied authorities to establish a new government? \u00a0After all, in the surrender address, Hirohito had brazenly described Japan’s war on America and Britain as one “out of our sincere desire to ensure Japan’s self-preservation and the stabilization of East Asia, it being far from our thought either to infringe upon the sovereignty of other nations or to embark upon territorial aggrandizement.” \u00a0Could Japan be trusted to act in good faith in peace when they most certainly hadn’t in war?<\/p>\n

There was still tremendous work – and political conflict – ahead. \u00a0But on August 15th, 1945, World War II was over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On August 14th, 1945, the Second World War had but hours to go. Since the atomic bombings and Soviet invasion of Manchuria just days earlier, Japan had begun secret communications through the neutral powers of Switzerland and Sweden to accept the Allies’ demands for unconditional surrender. \u00a0Unbeknownst to all but a few within the government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":425,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105,112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-first-ringer","category-ww2-fact-and-myth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53555"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54806,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53555\/revisions\/54806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}