BELFAST RB BOOKLET 2020 - Flipbook - Page 112
Ci t y of Belf ast Grand Bl ack Chapt er - Dem onst rat i on Bookl et 2020
there. At the same time a further American
Moreover, the next day and incensed by the
bombardment dropped a second atomic bomb Emperor's accedance, Major Kenji Hatanaka
on the coastal city of Nagasaki.
attempted a military coup with the rebels
Then just before midnight the next day, at temporarily seizing control of the imperial
a convention and after a long, emotional palace and setting fire to Prime Minister
debate, the Japanese supreme war council Suzuki’s residence. However the short lived
finally backed a proposal by Prime Minister uprising was soon crushed within hours
Suzuki, that Japan would accept the thereby allowing Hirohito to hold a high noon
Potsdam Declaration but at the same time radio announcement to broadcast the
sought a promise that any demand would country's formal surrender to the Nation.
not prejudice the authority of 'His Majesty
But in what was unfamiliar court
Hirohito as the sovereign ruler.'
language the Emperor tried to conceal his
The war council's acceptance of peace was humiliation by telling his subjects .. 'we
immediately relayed to the United States; have resolved to pave the way for a grand
however in its response early on August 12th, peace for all the generations to come by
the Allied leadership retorted that the authority enduring the unendurable, and suffering
of the Japanese Emperor and his government what is the insufferable.'
to rule the country would be subject to the
In acceptance, President Truman appointed
Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers.
Five-Star General Douglas MacArthur as
Two more days of debate by the Japanese Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, to
leaders ensued to determine just what the head the occupation; at the same time he
statement implied. However Hirohito chose the site of the formal surrender, on
brushed the nuances in the text aside and board the battleship USS Missouri that had
declared to the Nation that peace was seen considerable action in the Pacific and
preferable to destruction and ordered the also named after Truman’s native state.
Japanese government to accept the
Being officially instructed to preside over
conditional surrender as the Emperor had the entire surrender MacArthur decided to
been advised through his own intelligence hold off the ceremony until Sunday,
services, that America had three more September 2nd thus allowing time for
atomic bombs waiting and ready to be representatives of all the major Allied
dropped, with six more nearing final powers to arrive; on that day more than
production and the United States not two hundred and fifty Allied warships lay at
contemplating any swift end to the conflict. anchor in Tokyo Bay.
Japan’s diplomats within Europe had been
Just after 9am Tokyo time, as the flags of
openly shocked by the devastation inflicted the United States, Britain, Soviet Union and
upon Germany during the war and conveyed China fluttered above the deck of the Missouri,
their own concerns about the failure of Hitler’s Japan's Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu
fighting to the finish strategy, warning against signed the formal surrender on behalf of his
any similar actions by
government followed by
implicitly advising that a
General Yoshijiro Umezu
total Japanese surrender
for the armed forces;
would be in the interest
with many of his aides
of the country, though
openly crying as he
trying to find a dignified
made his signature.
exit strategy would soon
Accepting Japan's
prove more difficult.
capitulation, General
IN MEMORY OF THE FALLEN - 110 - AND THE FUTURE OF THE LIVING