Shadow Spy

Chapter 483 The real end of the war

On July 7, when the US military was clearing out the Japanese and puppet troops in Changchun, Li Junhao received a telegram from Washington: a summit meeting between the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union was scheduled to be held in Potsdam near Berlin on the 9th. The topic was to discuss the post-war war against Germany. In handling the final attack on Japan and prompting its surrender, the Joint Chiefs of Staff asked him if he wanted to participate?

Li Junhao thought for a while and still refused. He knew what was being discussed at this meeting and the status of this meeting in history, but when he thought of an international meeting where heads of state and diplomats from several countries were constantly arguing and wrangling for the interests of their respective countries, he felt that he could not adapt. , it’s better to just wait and see the results! ——

From July 7 to August 17, the heads of state and foreign ministers of the three countries, Roosevelt of the United States, Stalin of the Soviet Union, and Churchill of the United Kingdom, held a final war resolution meeting in Potsdam, Germany. The meeting agreed on the final handling of Germany and the decision to urge Japan to surrender unconditionally. .

An important episode that occurred during the meeting: On May 5, because the British Conservative Party called for an early election, Churchill resigned. Under the entrustment of the king, he presided over the transitional government. He came to attend the meeting until July 23 and rushed back to London to wait for the election. However, the result of the general election confirmed the next day was that the Labor Party won!

Therefore, starting on the 26th, the new Prime Minister was replaced by Clement Richard Attlee of the Labor Party!

On this day, the "U.S.-British-Chinese Potsdam Proclamation" drafted by the United States, agreed by the United Kingdom, and approved by Chairman Chiang Kai-shek of China, who did not participate in the meeting, was released.

There are 13 announcements in total, the main contents are:

The Allies will strike a final blow against Japan until resistance ceases;

The Japanese government should immediately declare the unconditional surrender of all armed forces;

Reaffirms that the conditions of the Cairo Declaration must be implemented. After Japan surrenders, its sovereignty will be limited to Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and islands designated by the allies. The military will be completely disarmed and war criminals will be brought to trial;

The Japanese government must respect human rights and protect freedom of religion, speech, and thought; it must not maintain industries that can be used for rearmament operations, but allow industries that maintain its economic needs and can pay compensation for goods, and allow them to obtain raw materials and resources and participate in international trade;

After the above objectives were achieved and a peaceful and responsible government was established, the Allied occupying forces immediately withdrew.

随后，在7月27日至8月1日，盟军飞机在日本城市上空散发150万张传单和300万张《波茨坦公告》。而日本政府明确表示了拒绝。
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On August 8, the Japanese troops and major puppet forces in Northeast China were basically eliminated. The follow-up work will be carried out by the 3 underground party troops who have been released and armed. The US military retreated to Harbin, Changchun, Shenyang, Lushun and several other big cities were stationed there.

On the same day, before leaving Europe to return to China, Roosevelt specifically informed Stalin that the Japanese Kwantung Army in northeastern China had been completely wiped out by the US military, and no further Soviet intervention was needed. He hoped that the Soviet Union would not enter China again to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings...

This result made Stalin's face change greatly, and he couldn't say what he wanted to say. Who made him delay the declaration of war against Japan because he was afraid of losing troops?

Before boarding the plane to return home, Roosevelt telegraphed Li Junhao and asked him to return to Washington with him to discuss important matters.

On the evening of the 4th, the White House advisers and the Joint Chiefs of Staff held an emergency joint meeting. President Roosevelt asked: After the Japanese government refused to surrender unconditionally, should the U.S. military organize troops to attack its homeland, or use secret weapons to strategically deter it and force it to surrender? In order to let everyone understand the nature and power of the secret weapon, Roosevelt specially invited experts from the National Academy of Sciences to explain...

After some discussion, the meeting decided: use a secret weapon! ——

8月6日，美军509小组的一架B-29轰炸机在日本广岛上空投了人类第一颗用于实战的原子弹“小男孩”，爆炸当量约1.5万公吨TNT！

According to later estimates, about 20 Japanese died directly from the "Little Boy" atomic bomb, and about the same number of people were injured; a large number of people would subsequently die from cancer caused by nuclear fallout radiation, and the final number may exceed !

I don’t know if the Japanese were confused or thought that the United States did not have as many atomic bombs as claimed. After the suffering in Hiroshima, they still refused to surrender!

The Soviet Union was really frightened. They were also developing nuclear weapons, but they really didn't expect them to be so powerful. So in order to fulfill their promise, they declared war on Japan on the 8th and joined the "Potsdam Declaration", but with The difference in the original history is that at this time they had no excuse to send troops to Northeast China! ——

On August 8, facing the still stubborn Japan, the US military dropped the second atomic bomb "Fat Man" on Nagasaki, Japan. This time the explosion yield exceeded 9 metric tons of TNT!

Due to the mountainous terrain of Nagasaki, the damage caused was lower than that of flat Hiroshima - about 40,000 people died directly from the "Fat Man" atomic bomb, about 25,000 people were injured, and about 70 million square meters of buildings were destroyed If not, tens of thousands more people will die from cancer caused by nuclear fallout radiation.
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On August 8, Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced his acceptance of the Potsdam Proclamation, effectively surrendering to the Allies unconditionally.

At 15 noon on the 12th, Japan broadcast Hirohito's speech through the radio station, announcing that it would accept the Potsdam Declaration of the United States, Britain and China, implement unconditional surrender, and end the war.

On the 16th, Li Junhao ordered the U.S. Joint Command stationed in the Shanghai Concession to notify the Japanese troops in Shanghai and ask them to surrender to the U.S. military.

On the same day, he announced in the name of the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces in the Far East that the U.S. Far East Command was responsible for the overall surrender of the Far East and the Pacific. The U.S. military was responsible for the surrender of Japan, the Pacific Islands, and the Korean Peninsula. Island, Hong Kong Island, Shanghai, Luda, Qindao, and Tianjin were managed by the US military, while other areas of China were surrendered by the nearby Kuomintang troops and underground party troops.

On the same day, the Kuomintang protested to Hurley, the new U.S. ambassador to China, arguing that all surrender work in China should be the responsibility of the Kuomintang government. The U.S. military could not overstep its authority, let alone grant surrender qualifications to the underground party.

Patrick Jay Hurley took over as ambassador to China at the end of 1944. He had previously served in the Far East Command, served as Marshall's personal adviser and chief of staff, and later came to China as Roosevelt's personal representative to mediate the Nationalist Party. Relations with the underground party, advocating the establishment of a two-party coalition government in China.

At this time, Hurley had received the telegram from Li Junhao, and of course he complied with the order. He told Wang Shijie, the foreign minister of the Kuomintang, who came to negotiate: The matters decided by the five-star General Panson, Commander-in-Chief of the Far East, are the will of the United States and the will of the Allies!

(End of this chapter)