1.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
2.
Asiatic-Pacific Theater
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The Asiatic-Pacific Theater, was the area of operations of U. S. forces during World War II in the Pacific War during 1941-45. From mid-1942 until the end of the war in 1945, there were two U. S. operational commands in the Pacific. The Pacific Ocean Areas, divided into the Central Pacific Area, the North Pacific Area, the South West Pacific Area, including New Guinea, Philippines, Borneo, and the Dutch East Indies, was commanded by General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander South West Pacific Area. During 1945, the United States added the U. S. Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific, commanded by General Carl Spaatz. Because of the roles of the United States Army and the United States Navy in conducting war in the Pacific Theater. There was no command, rather, the Asiatic-Pacific Theater was divided into the SWPA, the POA. The Official Chronology of the U. S. Navy in World War II, in the Service of the Emperor, Essays on the Imperial Japanese Army. Kafka, Roger, Pepperburg, Roy L. Warships of the World, the Campaigns of the Pacific War. A History of Us, War, Peace and all that Jazz, joint Operational Warfare, Theory and Practice. Newport, Rhode Island, United States Naval War College, the Battle for Leyte,1944, Allied and Japanese Plans, Preparations, and Execution
3.
Empire of Japan
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The Empire of Japan was the historical Japanese nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 to the enactment of the 1947 constitution of modern Japan. Imperial Japans rapid industrialization and militarization under the slogan Fukoku Kyōhei led to its emergence as a world power, after several large-scale military successes during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War, the Empire also gained notoriety for its war crimes against the peoples it conquered. A period of occupation by the Allies followed the surrender, Occupation and reconstruction continued well into the 1950s, eventually forming the current nation-state whose full title is the State of Japan or simply rendered Japan in English. The historical state is referred to as the Empire of Japan or the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan in English. In Japanese it is referred to as Dai Nippon Teikoku, which translates to Greater Japanese Empire and this is analogous to Großdeutsches Reich, a term that translates to Greater German Empire in English and Dai Doitsu Teikoku in Japanese. This meaning is significant in terms of geography, encompassing Japan, due to its name in kanji characters and its flag, it was also given the exonym Empire of the Sun. After two centuries, the policy, or Sakoku, under the shoguns of the Edo period came to an end when the country was forced open to trade by the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854. The following years saw increased trade and interaction, commercial treaties between the Tokugawa shogunate and Western countries were signed. In large part due to the terms of these Unequal Treaties, the Shogunate soon faced internal hostility, which materialized into a radical, xenophobic movement. In March 1863, the Emperor issued the order to expel barbarians, although the Shogunate had no intention of enforcing the order, it nevertheless inspired attacks against the Shogunate itself and against foreigners in Japan. The Namamugi Incident during 1862 led to the murder of an Englishman, Charles Lennox Richardson, the British demanded reparations but were denied. While attempting to exact payment, the Royal Navy was fired on from coastal batteries near the town of Kagoshima and they responded by bombarding the port of Kagoshima in 1863. For Richardsons death, the Tokugawa government agreed to pay an indemnity, shelling of foreign shipping in Shimonoseki and attacks against foreign property led to the Bombardment of Shimonoseki by a multinational force in 1864. The Chōshū clan also launched the coup known as the Kinmon incident. The Satsuma-Chōshū alliance was established in 1866 to combine their efforts to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu, in early 1867, Emperor Kōmei died of smallpox and was replaced by his son, Crown Prince Mutsuhito. On November 9,1867, Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned from his post and authorities to the Emperor, however, while Yoshinobus resignation had created a nominal void at the highest level of government, his apparatus of state continued to exist. On January 3,1868, Satsuma-Chōshū forces seized the palace in Kyoto. On January 17,1868, Yoshinobu declared that he would not be bound by the proclamation of the Restoration, on January 24, Yoshinobu decided to prepare an attack on Kyoto, occupied by Satsuma and Chōshū forces
4.
Surrender of Japan
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The surrender of Imperial Japan was announced on August 15 and formally signed on September 2,1945, bringing the hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting major operations, on August 6,1945, at 8,15 AM local time, the United States detonated an atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Sixteen hours later, American President Harry S. Truman called again for Japans surrender, warning them to expect a rain of ruin from the air, later in the day, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb, this time on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. After several more days of negotiations and a failed coup détat. In the radio address, called the Jewel Voice Broadcast, he announced the surrender of Japan to the Allies, on August 28, the occupation of Japan by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers began. The role of the bombings in Japans unconditional surrender. The state of war ended when the Treaty of San Francisco came into force on April 28,1952. Four more years passed before Japan and the Soviet Union signed the Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956, by 1945, the Japanese had suffered an unbroken string of defeats for nearly two years in the South West Pacific, the Marianas campaign, and the Philippines campaign. In July 1944, following the loss of Saipan, General Hideki Tōjō was replaced as minister by General Kuniaki Koiso. After the Japanese loss of the Philippines, Koiso in turn was replaced by Admiral Kantarō Suzuki, the Allies captured the nearby islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa in the first half of 1945. Okinawa was to be an area for Operation Downfall, the American invasion of the Japanese Home Islands. The Allied submarine campaign and the mining of Japanese coastal waters had largely destroyed the Japanese merchant fleet, the destruction of the Japanese merchant fleet, combined with the strategic bombing of Japanese industry, had wrecked Japans war economy. Production of coal, iron, steel, rubber, and other vital supplies was only a fraction of that before the war, as a result of the losses it had suffered, the Imperial Japanese Navy had ceased to be an effective fighting force. Although 19 destroyers and 38 submarines were still operational, their use was limited by the lack of fuel, the only course left is for Japans one hundred million people to sacrifice their lives by charging the enemy to make them lose the will to fight. As a final attempt to stop the Allied advances, the Japanese Imperial High Command planned an all-out defense of Kyūshū codenamed Operation Ketsugō and this was to be a radical departure from the defense in depth plans used in the invasions of Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. Instead, everything was staked on the beachhead, more than 3,000 kamikazes would be sent to attack the transports before troops. The strategy of making a last stand at Kyūshū was based on the assumption of continued Soviet neutrality, a set of caves were excavated near Nagano on Honshu, the largest of the Japanese islands. In the event of invasion, these caves, the Matsushiro Underground Imperial Headquarters, were to be used by the army to direct the war and to house the Emperor and his family
5.
Allies of World War II
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The Allies of World War II, called the United Nations from the 1 January 1942 declaration, were the countries that together opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War. The Allies promoted the alliance as seeking to stop German, Japanese, at the start of the war on 1 September 1939, the Allies consisted of France, Poland and the United Kingdom, and dependent states, such as the British India. Within days they were joined by the independent Dominions of the British Commonwealth, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Poland was a minor factor after its defeat in 1939, France was a minor factor after its defeat in 1940. China had already been into a war with Japan since the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of 1937. The alliance was formalised by the Declaration by United Nations, from 1 January 1942, however, the name United Nations was rarely used to describe the Allies during the war. The leaders of the Big Three – the UK, the Soviet Union, in 1945, the Allied nations became the basis of the United Nations. The origins of the Allied powers stem from the Allies of World War I, Germany resented signing Treaty of Versailles. The new Weimar republics legitimacy became shaken, by the early 1930s, the Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler became the dominant revanchist movement in Germany and Hitler and the Nazis gained power in 1933. The Nazi regime demanded the cancellation of the Treaty of Versailles and made claims to German-populated Austria. The likelihood of war was high, and the question was whether it could be avoided through strategies such as appeasement, in Asia, when Japan seized Manchuria in 1931, the League of Nations condemned it for aggression against China. Japan responded by leaving the League of Nations in March 1933, after four quiet years, the Sino-Japanese War erupted in 1937 with Japanese forces invading China. The League of Nations condemned Japans actions and initiated sanctions on Japan, the United States, in particular, was angered at Japan and sought to support China. In March 1939, Germany took over Czechoslovakia, violating the Munich Agreement signed six months before, Britain and France decided that Hitler had no intention to uphold diplomatic agreements and responded by preparing for war. On 31 March 1939, Britain formed the Anglo-Polish military alliance in an effort to avert a German attack on the country, also, the French had a long-standing alliance with Poland since 1921. The Soviet Union sought an alliance with the powers. The agreement secretly divided the independent nations of eastern Europe between the two powers and assured adequate oil supplies for the German war machine, on 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, two days later Britain and France declared war on Germany. Then, on 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, a Polish government-in-exile was set up and it continued to be one of the Allies, a model followed by other occupied countries. After a quiet winter, Germany in April 1940 invaded and quickly defeated Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Britain and its Empire stood alone against Hitler and Mussolini
6.
Axis powers
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The Axis powers, also known as the Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, were the nations that fought in World War II against the Allied Powers. The Axis agreed on their opposition to the Allies, but did not completely coordinate their activity, the Axis grew out of the diplomatic efforts of Germany, Italy, and Japan to secure their own specific expansionist interests in the mid-1930s. The first step was the treaty signed by Germany and Italy in October 1936, Mussolini declared on 1 November that all other European countries would from then on rotate on the Rome–Berlin axis, thus creating the term Axis. The almost simultaneous second step was the signing in November 1936 of the Anti-Comintern Pact, Italy joined the Pact in 1937. At its zenith during World War II, the Axis presided over territories that occupied parts of Europe, North Africa. There were no three-way summit meetings and cooperation and coordination was minimal, the war ended in 1945 with the defeat of the Axis powers and the dissolution of their alliance. As in the case of the Allies, membership of the Axis was fluid, at the time he was seeking an alliance with the Weimar Republic against Yugoslavia and France in the dispute over the Free State of Fiume. The term was used by Hungarys prime minister Gyula Gömbös when advocating an alliance of Hungary with Germany, when Mussolini publicly announced the signing on 1 November, he proclaimed the creation of a Rome–Berlin axis. Italy under Duce Benito Mussolini had pursued an alliance of Italy with Germany against France since the early 1920s. He believed that Italy could expand its influence in Europe by allying with Germany against France, in early 1923, as a goodwill gesture to Germany, Italy secretly delivered weapons for the German Army, which had faced major disarmament under the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. General Hans von Seeckt supported an alliance between Germany and the Soviet Union to invade and partition Poland between them and restore the German-Russian border of 1914. The discussions concluded that Germans still wanted a war of revenge against France but were short on weapons, however at this time Mussolini stressed one important condition that Italy must pursue in an alliance with Germany, that Italy must. Tow them, not be towed by them, the French government warned Italy that it had to choose whether to be on the side of the pro-Versailles powers or that of the anti-Versailles revanchists. Grandi responded that Italy would be willing to offer France support against Germany if France gave Italy its mandate over Cameroon, France refused Italys proposed exchange for support, as it believed Italys demands were unacceptable and the threat from Germany was not yet immediate. In 1932, Gyula Gömbös and the Party of National Unity rose to power in Hungary, Gömbös sought to alter Hungarys post–Treaty of Trianon borders by forming an alliance with Austria and Italy, knowing that Hungary alone was not capable of challenging the Little Entente powers. At the meeting between Gömbös and Mussolini in Rome on 10 November 1932, the question came up of the sovereignty of Austria in relation to the rise to power in Germany of the Nazi Party. Mussolini was worried about Nazi ambitions towards Austria, and indicated that at least in the term he was committed to maintaining Austria as a sovereign state. Italy had concerns over a Germany which included Austria laying land claims to German-populated territories of the South Tyrol within Italy, Mussolini said he hoped the Anschluss could be postponed as long as possible until the breakout of a European war that he estimated would begin in 1938
7.
European theatre of World War II
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The Allied forces fought the Axis powers on two major fronts as well as in the adjoining Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre. Germany was humiliated in front of the world and had to pay very large war reparations, many Germans blamed their countrys post-war economic collapse and hyperinflation on the treatys conditions. After Hitler took Germany out of the League of Nations, Mussolini of Fascist Italy and Hitler formed the Rome-Berlin axis, later, Empire of Japan, under the government of Hideki Tojo, would also join as an Axis power. Japan and Germany had already signed the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1939, other smaller powers also later joined the Axis throughout the war. On September 17, the Soviet forces joined the invasion of Poland, the Polish government evacuated the country for Romania. Poland fell within five weeks, with its last large operational units surrendering on October 5 after the Battle of Kock, as the Polish September Campaign ended, Hitler offered to Britain and France peace on the basis of recognition of German European continental dominance. On October 12, the United Kingdom formally refused, despite the quick campaign in the east, along the Franco-German frontier the war settled into a quiet period. This relatively non-confrontational and mostly non-fighting period between the major powers lasted until May 10,1940, and was known as the Phoney War, several other countries, however, were drawn into the conflict at this time. By September 28,1939, the three Baltic Republics felt they had no choice but to permit Soviet bases and troops on their territory, the Baltic Republics were occupied by the Soviet army in June 1940, and finally annexed to the Soviet Union in August 1940. The Soviet Union wanted to annex Finland and offered an agreement, but Finland rejected it. In the Moscow Peace Treaty of March 12,1940, Finland ceded 10% of her territory, the Finns were embittered over having lost more land in the peace than on the battlefields, and over the perceived lack of world sympathy. Meanwhile, in western Scandinavia, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway in April 1940, sweden was able to remain neutral. Most Allied forces were in Flanders, anticipating a re-run of the World War I Schlieffen Plan, as a result of this, and also the superior German communications and tactics, the Battle of France was shorter than virtually all pre-war Allied thought could have conceived. It lasted six weeks, including the Luftwaffe bombing of Paris June 3, on June 10 Italy declared war on both France and the United Kingdom, but did not gain any significant success in this campaign. French government fled Paris, and soon, France surrendered on June 22, many French soldiers, as well as those of other occupied countries, escaped to Britain. The General de Gaulle proclaimed himself the leader of Free France. Following the unexpected victory, Hitler promoted 12 generals to the rank of field marshal during the 1940 Field Marshal Ceremony. Later, on April 24,1941, the USSR gave full recognition to the Vichy government situated in the non-occupied zone in France
8.
End of World War II in Europe
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The final battles of the European Theatre of World War II as well as the German surrender to the Soviet Union and the Western Allies took place in late April and early May 1945. Allied forces begin to take large numbers of Axis prisoners, The total number of prisoners taken on the Western Front in April 1945 by the Western Allies was 1,500,000. April also witnessed the capture of at least 120,000 German troops by the Western Allies in the last campaign of the war in Italy, in the three or four months up to the end of April, over 800,000 German soldiers surrendered on the Eastern Front. In early April, the first Allied-governed Rheinwiesenlagers were established in western Germany to hold hundreds of thousands of captured or surrendered Axis Forces personnel, Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force reclassified all prisoners as Disarmed Enemy Forces, not POWs. The legal fiction circumvented provisions under the Geneva Convention of 1929 on the treatment of former combatants, by October, thousands had died in the camps from starvation, exposure and disease. Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps and refugees, Allied forces begin to discover the scale of The Holocaust, the advance into Germany uncovers numerous Nazi concentration camps and forced labor facilities. Up to 60,000 prisoners were at Bergen-Belsen when it was liberated on April 15,1945, Four days later troops from the American 42nd Infantry Division found Dachau. Allied troops force the remaining SS guards to gather up the corpses, due to the prisoners poor physical condition, thousands continue to die after liberation. Captured SS guards are subsequently tried at Allied war crimes tribunals where many are sentenced to death, however, up to 10,000 Nazi war criminals will eventually flee Europe using ratlines such as ODESSA. Germans leave Finland, On 25 April 1945, the last Germans were expelled by the Finnish Army from Finland, Mussolinis death, On 25 April 1945, Italian partisans liberated Milan and Turin. On 27 April 1945, as Allied forces closed in on Milan, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was captured by Italian partisans and it is disputed whether he was trying to flee from Italy to Switzerland, and was traveling with a German anti-aircraft battalion. On 28 April, Mussolini was executed in Giulino, the other Fascists captured with him were taken to Dongo, the bodies were then taken to Milan and hung up on the Piazzale Loreto of the city. On 29 April, Rodolfo Graziani surrendered all Fascist Italian armed forces at Caserta, Graziani was the Minister of Defence for Mussolinis Italian Social Republic. Upper Inn river to the American General Jacob L. Devers, hitler appointed his successors as follows, Großadmiral Karl Dönitz as the new Reichspräsident and Joseph Goebbels as the new Reichskanzler. However, Goebbels committed suicide the day, leaving Dönitz as the sole leader of Germany. In the document, the Germans agreed to a ceasefire and surrender of all the forces under the command of Vietinghoff at 2pm on 2 May, German forces in Berlin surrender, The Battle of Berlin ended on 2 May. On that date, General der Artillerie Helmuth Weidling, the commander of the Berlin Defense Area, on the same day the officers commanding the two armies of Army Group Vistula north of Berlin, surrendered to the Western Allies. Lehrter Bahnhof is close to where the remains of Bormann, confirmed as his by a DNA test in 1998, were unearthed on 7 December 1972, the number of German land, sea and air forces involved in this surrender amounted to 1,000,000 men
9.
Tehran Conference
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The Tehran Conference was a strategy meeting of Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill from 28 November to 1 December 1943. It was held in the Soviet Unions embassy in Tehran, Iran and it was the first of the World War II conferences of the Big Three Allied leaders. It closely followed the Cairo Conference which had taken place on 22–26 November 1943, although the three leaders arrived with differing objectives, the main outcome of the Tehran Conference was the Western Allies commitment to open a second front against Nazi Germany. The conference also addressed the Allies relations with Turkey and Iran, operations in Yugoslavia and against Japan, a separate protocol signed at the conference pledged the Big Three to recognize Irans independence. As soon as the German-Soviet war broke out in June 1941, Churchill offered assistance to the Soviets, and an agreement to this effect was signed on 12 July 1941. Delegations had traveled between London and Moscow to arrange the implementation of this support and when the United States joined the war in December 1941, a Combined Chiefs of Staff committee was created to coordinate British and American operations as well as their support to the Soviet Union. There was the question of opening a second front to alleviate the German pressure on the Soviet Red Army on the Eastern Front, the question of mutual assistance. Also, neither the United States nor Britain were prepared to give Stalin a free hand in Eastern Europe and, lastly, communications regarding these matters between Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin took place by telegrams and via emissaries—but it was evident that direct negotiations were urgently needed. Stalin was reluctant to leave Moscow and was unwilling to risk journeys by air, while Roosevelt was physically disabled, in order to arrange this urgently needed meeting, Roosevelt tried to persuade Stalin to travel to Cairo. Stalin turned down this offer and also offers to meet in Baghdad or Basra, the conference was to convene at 16,00 on 28 November 1943. Stalin arrived well before, followed by Roosevelt, brought in his wheelchair from his accommodation adjacent to the venue, Roosevelt, who had traveled 7,000 miles to attend and whose health was already deteriorating, was met by Stalin. This was the first time that they had met, Churchill, walking with his general staff from their accommodations nearby, arrived half an hour later. The U. S. and Great Britain wanted to secure the cooperation of the Soviet Union in defeating Germany, Stalin pressed for a revision of Poland’s eastern border with the Soviet Union to match the line set by British Foreign Secretary Lord Curzon in 1920. In order to compensate Poland for the loss of territory. This decision was not formally ratified, however, until the Potsdam Conference of 1945, the leaders then turned to the conditions under which the Western Allies would open a new front by invading northern France, as Stalin had pressed them to do since 1941. It was agreed Overlord would occur by May 1944, Stalin agreed to support it by launching a concurrent major offensive on Germanys eastern front to divert German forces from northern France, Iran and Turkey were discussed in detail. In addition, the Soviet Union was required to support to Turkey if that country entered the war. Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin agreed that it would also be most desirable if Turkey entered on the Allies side before the year was out, despite accepting the above arrangements, Stalin dominated the conference
10.
Yalta Conference
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The conference convened in the Livadia Palace near Yalta in Crimea, USSR. The goal of conference was to shape a post-war peace that represented not just a collective security order, the meeting was intended mainly to discuss the re-establishment of the nations of war-torn Europe. Within a few years, with the Cold War dividing the continent, to a degree, it has remained controversial. Yalta was the second of three wartime conferences among the Big Three and it had been preceded by the Tehran Conference in 1943, and was followed by the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, which was attended by Stalin, Churchill and Harry S. Truman, Roosevelts successor. All three leaders were attempting to establish an agenda for governing post-war Germany and they wanted to keep peace between post-world war countries. On the Eastern Front, the front line at the end of December 1943 remained in the Soviet Union but, by August 1944, Soviet forces were inside Poland, by the time of the Conference, Red Army Marshal Georgy Zhukovs forces were 65 km from Berlin. Stalins position at the conference was one which he felt was so strong that he could dictate terms. According to U. S. delegation member and future Secretary of State James F. Byrnes, t was not a question of what we would let the Russians do, moreover, Roosevelt hoped for a commitment from Stalin to participate in the United Nations. Stalin, insisting that his doctors opposed any long trips, rejected Roosevelts suggestion to meet at the Mediterranean and he offered instead to meet at the Black Sea resort of Yalta, in the Crimea. Stalins fear of flying also was a factor in this decision. Each leader had an agenda for the Yalta Conference, Roosevelt wanted Soviet support in the U. S, Poland was the first item on the Soviet agenda. Stalin stated that For the Soviet government, the question of Poland was one of honor, in addition, Stalin stated regarding history that because the Russians had greatly sinned against Poland, the Soviet government was trying to atone for those sins. Stalin concluded that Poland must be strong and that the Soviet Union is interested in the creation of a mighty, free, Roosevelt wanted the USSR to enter the Pacific War with the Allies. Stalin agreed that the Soviet Union would enter the Pacific War three months after the defeat of Germany, Stalin pledged to Truman to keep the nationality of the Korean Peninsula intact as Soviet Union entered the war against Japan. At the time, the Red Army had occupied Poland completely, the Declaration of Liberated Europe did little to dispel the sphere of influence agreements that had been incorporated into armistice agreements. They also agreed to give France a zone of occupation, carved out of the U. S. also, the Big Three agreed that all original governments would be restored to the invaded countries and that all civilians would be repatriated. The Declaration of Liberated Europe is a declaration that was created by Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and it was a promise that allowed the people of Europe to create democratic institutions of their own choice. The declaration pledged, the earliest possible establishment through free elections governments responsive to the will of the people and this is similar to the statements of the Atlantic Charter, which says, the right of all people to choose the form of government under which they will live
11.
German Instrument of Surrender
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The German Instrument of Surrender ended World War II in Europe. An earlier version of the text had been signed in a ceremony in Reims in the hours of 7 May 1945. In the West,8 May is known as Victory in Europe Day, whereas in post-Soviet states the Victory Day is celebrated on 9 May, there were three language versions of the surrender document. The Russian and English versions were the only authoritative ones, by 3 January 1944, the Working Security Committee in the EAC proposed that the capitulation of Germany should be recorded in a single document of unconditional surrender. The committee further suggested that the instrument of surrender be signed by representatives of the German High Command, not everyone agreed with the Working Security Committees predictions regarding the wars ending. Ambassador William Strang, British representative at the EAC, claimed as follows, the surrender terms for Germany were first discussed at the first EAC meeting on 14 January 1944. A definitive text was agreed on 28 July 1944, and was adopted by the three Allied Powers. The agreed text was in three parts, the instrument of surrender itself followed in fourteen articles. Articles 13 and 14 specified the date of surrender and the languages of the definitive texts, while this was unresolved, there were in effect two versions of the EAC text, with and without the dismemberment clause. These guidelines formed the basis for the series of capitulations of German forces to the Western Allies in April. But that did mean that the text as signed at Reims had not been agreed in advance with the Soviet High Command. But with the fall of Berlin two days later, and American and Soviet forces having linked up at Torgau on the Elbe, the area of Germany still under German military control had been split in two. German military commanders in Italy had been conducting secret negotiations for a partial surrender, field Marshal Albert Kesselring, with overall military command for OKW-South, initially denounced the capitulation, but once Hitlers death had been confirmed, acceded to it. On 5 May 1945, all German forces in Bavaria and Southwest Germany signed an act of surrender to the Americans at Haar, outside Munich, in addition, Dönitz hoped to continue to evacuate soldiers and civilians by sea from the Hela peninsula and the surrounding Baltic coastal areas. From 5 May, Army Group Centre was also engaged in the suppression of the Prague uprising. The surrenders in the west had succeeded in ceasing hostilities between the Western allies and German forces on almost all fronts, German forces in the east were ordered instead to fight their way westwards. Dönitzs representative, Admiral Friedeburg, informed him on 6 May that Eisenhower was now insisting on immediate, simultaneous, the signing took place in a red brick schoolhouse, the Collège Moderne et Technique de Reims, that served as the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force. It was to take effect at 23,01 CET on 8 May, the unconditional surrender of the German armed forces was signed by Jodl, on behalf of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
12.
Potsdam Conference
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The Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm, in Potsdam, occupied Germany, from 17 July to 2 August 1945. Participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States, the three powers were represented by Communist Party General Secretary Joseph Stalin, Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and, later, Clement Attlee, and President Harry S. Truman. The goals of the conference included the establishment of post-war order, peace treaty issues. In the five months since the Yalta Conference, a number of changes had taken place which would affect the relationships between the leaders. Firstly, the Soviet Union was occupying Central and Eastern Europe, by July, the Red Army effectively controlled the Baltic states, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, and fearing a Stalinist take-over, refugees were fleeing from these countries. Stalin had set up a communist government in Poland and he insisted that his control of Eastern Europe was a defensive measure against possible future attacks and claimed that it was a legitimate sphere of Soviet influence. Secondly, Britain had a new Prime Minister, a general election was held in the UK on 5 July, the results of which became known during the conference, with a Labour Party majority, Labour leader Clement Attlee became the new Prime Minister. During the war and in the name of Allied unity, Roosevelt had brushed off warnings of a potential domination by a Stalin dictatorship in part of Europe, while inexperienced in foreign affairs, Truman had closely followed the allied progress of the war. With the end of the war, the priority of allied unity was replaced with a new challenge, the two leading powers continued to sustain a cordial relationship to the public but suspicions and distrust lingered between them. As the suspicion grew between the two rising powers, Stalin proposed that America will use their advantage and success in order to entices other nations into expanding their U. S. policies. Truman became much more suspicious of communist moves than Roosevelt had been, Truman and his advisers saw Soviet actions in Eastern Europe as aggressive expansionism which was incompatible with the agreements Stalin had committed to at Yalta the previous February. However, the Potsdam Conference marks the first and only time Truman would ever meet Stalin in person, at the end of the conference, the three Heads of Government agreed on the following actions. All other issues were to be answered by the peace conference to be called as soon as possible. Allied Chiefs of Staff at the Potsdam Conference decided to temporarily partition Vietnam at the 16th parallel for the purposes of operational convenience. It was agreed that British forces would take the surrender of Japanese forces in Saigon for the half of Indochina. The Allies issued a statement of aims of their occupation of Germany, Germany and Austria were to be divided respectively into four occupation zones, and similarly each capital, Berlin and Vienna, was to be divided into four zones. It was agreed that the Nazi war criminals would be put to trial, all German annexations in Europe were to be reversed, including Sudetenland, Alsace-Lorraine, Austria, and the westernmost parts of Poland. Germanys eastern border was to be shifted westwards to the Oder–Neisse line, the territories east of the new border comprised East Prussia, Silesia, West Prussia, and two thirds of Pomerania
13.
Potsdam Declaration
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The Potsdam Declaration or the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender is a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces during World War II. On July 26,1945, United States President Harry S and this ultimatum stated that, if Japan did not surrender, it would face prompt and utter destruction. On July 26, the United States, Britain, and China released the Potsdam Declaration announcing the terms for Japans surrender, with the warning, We will not deviate from them. That the Japanese military forces, after being disarmed, shall be permitted to return to their homes with the opportunity to lead peaceful. On the other hand, the declaration offered that, The Japanese Government shall remove all obstacles to the revival, freedom of speech, of religion, and of thought, as well as respect for the fundamental human rights shall be established. Japan shall be permitted to maintain such industries as will sustain her economy and permit the exaction of just reparations in kind, to this end, access to, as distinguished from control of, raw materials shall be permitted. Eventual Japanese participation in trade relations shall be permitted. The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction and it did, however, insist that the authority and influence of those who have deceived and misled the people of Japan into embarking on world conquest must be eliminated for all time. Although the document warned of further destruction like the Operation Meetinghouse raid on Tokyo and other carpetbombing of Japanese cities, a major aspect relating to the Potsdam Declaration was that it was intended to be ambiguous. It is not clear from the document itself whether a Japanese government was to remain under Allied occupation or whether the occupation would be run by a military government. In the same manner, it was not clear whether after the end of the occupation Japan was to any territory other than the four main Japanese islands. This ambiguity was intentional on the part of the US government in order to allow a hand in running the affairs of Japan afterwards. The Declaration was released to the press in Potsdam on the evening of July 26, Washington time, OWIs West Coast transmitters, aimed at the Japanese home islands, were broadcasting the text in English, and two hours later began broadcasting it in Japanese. The Declaration was never transmitted to the Japanese government through diplomatic channels, the Japanese government did not disclose the declaration to the Japanese people. However, the ultimatum was heard by some who listened to the OWI broadcasts, Japan never officially responded to the Potsdam Declaration. However, the word can mean no comment, as it was apparently intended in this case to mean. President Truman and his advisors had mulled over the meaning of mokosatsu before making a decision, one meaning was a matter of politeness among the upper classes. An unacceptable offer is made, and the person, not wanting to offend the speaker
14.
Pacific War
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The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in the Pacific and East Asia. It was fought over a vast area that included the Pacific Ocean and islands, the South West Pacific, South-East Asia, and in China. The Pacific War saw the Allied powers pitted against the Empire of Japan, the formal and official surrender of Japan took place aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945. In Allied countries during the war, The Pacific War was not usually distinguished from World War II in general, or was known simply as the War against Japan. Japan used the name Greater East Asia War, as chosen by a decision on 10 December 1941. Japanese officials integrated what they called the Japan–China Incident into the Greater East Asia War, in Japan, the Fifteen Years War is also used, referring to the period from the Mukden Incident of 1931 through 1945. The Phayap Army sent troops to invade and occupy northeastern Burma, also involved were the Japanese puppet states of Manchukuo and Mengjiang, and the collaborationist Wang Jingwei regime. The official policy of the U. S. Government is that Thailand was not an ally of the Axis, Japan conscripted many soldiers from its colonies of Korea and Formosa. To a small extent, some Vichy French, Indian National Army, Germany and Italy both had limited involvement in the Pacific War. The German and the Italian navies operated submarines and raiding ships in the Indian, the Italians had access to concession territory naval bases in China, while the Germans did not. After Japans attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent declarations of war, mexico, Free France and many other countries also took part, especially forces from other British colonies. Between 1942 and 1945, there were four main areas of conflict in the Pacific War, China, the Central Pacific, South East Asia, U. S. sources refer to two theaters within the Pacific War, the Pacific theater and the China Burma India Theater. However these were not operational commands, in the Pacific, the Allies divided operational control of their forces between two supreme commands, known as Pacific Ocean Areas and Southwest Pacific Area. In 1945, for a period just before the Japanese surrender. By 1937, Japan controlled Manchuria and was ready to move deeper into China, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on 7 July 1937 provoked full-scale war between China and Japan. In August 1937, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek deployed his best army to fight about 300,000 Japanese troops in Shanghai, the Japanese continued to push the Chinese forces back, capturing the capital Nanking in December 1937 and committed which was known as Nanking Massacre. In March 1938, Nationalist forces won their first victory at Taierzhuang, but then the city of Xuzhou was taken by Japanese in May. In June 1938, Japan deployed about 350,000 troops to invade Wuhan, the Japanese achieved major military victories, but world opinion—in particular in the United States—condemned Japan, especially after the Panay incident
15.
Burma Campaign
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The Burmese Independence Army was trained by the Japanese and spearheaded the initial attacks against British Empire forces. The campaign had a number of notable features, the geographical characteristics of the region meant that factors like weather, disease and terrain had a major effect on operations. The lack of transport infrastructure placed an emphasis on engineering and air transport to move and supply troops. The campaign was politically complex, with the British, the United States. It was also the land campaign by the Western Allies in the Pacific Theatre which proceeded continuously from the start of hostilities to the end of the war. This was due to its geographical location, the climate of the region is dominated by the seasonal monsoon rains, which allowed effective campaigning for only just over half of each year. Japanese objectives in Burma were initially limited to the capture of Rangoon and this would close the overland supply line to China and provide a strategic bulwark to defend Japanese gains in British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. The Japanese successfully attacked over the Kawkareik Pass, and captured the port of Moulmein at the mouth of the Salween River after overcoming stiff resistance and they then advanced northwards, outflanking successive British defensive positions. Troops of the 17th Indian Infantry Division tried to retreat over the Sittaung River, on 22 February, the bridge was demolished to prevent its capture, a decision that has since been extremely contentious. The loss of two brigades of 17th Indian Division meant that Rangoon could not be defended, although some units arrived, counterattacks failed and the new commander of Burma Army, ordered the city to be evacuated on 7 March after its port and oil refinery had been destroyed. The remnants of Burma Army broke out to the north, narrowly escaping encirclement, with the effective collapse of the entire defensive line, there was little choice left other than an overland retreat to India or to Yunnan. After the fall of Rangoon in March 1942, the Allies attempted to make a stand in the north of the country, having been reinforced by a Chinese Expeditionary Force. The Japanese had also reinforced by two divisions made available by the capture of Singapore, and defeated both the newly organised Burma Corps and the Chinese force. The Allies were also faced with growing numbers of Burmese insurgents, with their forces cut off from almost all sources of supply, the Allied commanders finally decided to evacuate their forces from Burma. The retreat was conducted in very difficult circumstances, starving refugees, disorganised stragglers, and the sick and wounded clogged the primitive roads and tracks leading to India. Burma Corps managed to make it most of the way to Imphal, in Manipur in India just before the monsoon broke in May 1942, having lost most of their equipment, there, they found themselves living out in the open under torrential rains in extremely unhealthy circumstances. The army and civil authorities in India were very slow to respond to the needs of the troops, due to lack of communication, when the British retreated from Burma, almost none of the Chinese knew about the retreat. After recuperating they were re-equipped and retrained by American instructors, the rest of the Chinese troops tried to return to Yunnan through remote mountainous forests and out of these, at least half died
16.
Victory over Japan Day
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Victory over Japan Day is the day on which the Empire of Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect ending the war. August 15 is the official V-J Day for the UK, while the official U. S. commemoration is September 2, the name, V-J Day, had been selected by the Allies after they named V-E Day for the victory in Europe. On September 2,1945, a surrender ceremony was performed in Tokyo Bay, Japan. In Japan, August 15 usually is known as the day for the end of the war. This official name was adopted in 1982 by an issued by the Japanese government. On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima, on August 9, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. The Japanese government on August 10 communicated its intention to surrender under the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, the news of the Japanese offer, however, was enough to begin early celebrations around the world. Allied soldiers in London danced in a line on Regent Street. Americans and Frenchmen in Paris paraded on the Champs-Elysées singing Dont Fence Me In, American soldiers in Berlin shouted Its over in the Pacific, and hoped that they would now not be transferred there to fight the Japanese. Germans stated that the Japanese were wise enough to—unlike themselves—give up in a hopeless situation, moscow newspapers briefly reported on the atomic bombings with no commentary of any kind. While Russians and foreigners alike could hardly talk about anything else, in Chungking, Chinese fired firecrackers and almost buried in gratitude. In Manila, residents sang God Bless America, on Tinian island, B-29 crews preparing for their next mission over Japan were told that it was cancelled, but that they could not celebrate because it might be rescheduled. S. President Harry S Truman via the Swiss diplomatic mission in Washington, a nationwide broadcast by Truman was aired at seven oclock p. m. on August 14 announcing the communication and that the formal event was scheduled for September 2. In his announcement of Japans surrender on August 14, Truman said that the proclamation of V-J Day must wait upon the signing of the surrender terms by Japan. In Australia, the name V-P Day was used from the outset, the Canberra Times of August 14,1945, refers to VP Day celebrations, and a public holiday for VP Day was gazetted by the government in that year according to the Australian War Memorial. In Washington, D. C. a crowd attempted to break into the White House grounds as they shouted We want Harry, in San Francisco two women jumped naked into a pond at the Civic Center to soldiers cheers. The largest crowd in the history of New York Citys Times Square gathered to celebrate. S, in the Garment District, workers threw out cloth scraps and ticker tape, leaving a pile five inches deep on the streets. A coast-to-coast frenzy of kissing occurred, with Life publishing photographs of such kisses in Washington, Kansas City, Los Angeles, one of the best-known kisses that day appeared in V-J Day in Times Square, one of the most famous photographs ever published by Life
17.
Nuclear weapon
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A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from small amounts of matter. The first test of a bomb released the same amount of energy as approximately 20,000 tons of TNT. The first thermonuclear bomb test released the same amount of energy as approximately 10 million tons of TNT, a thermonuclear weapon weighing little more than 2,400 pounds can produce an explosive force comparable to the detonation of more than 1.2 million tons of TNT. A nuclear device no larger than traditional bombs can devastate a city by blast, fire. Nuclear weapons are considered weapons of destruction, and their use. Nuclear weapons have been used twice in nuclear warfare, both times by the United States against Japan near the end of World War II, the bombings resulted in the deaths of approximately 200,000 civilians and military personnel from acute injuries sustained from the explosions. The ethics of the bombings and their role in Japans surrender remain the subject of scholarly, since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear weapons have been detonated on over two thousand occasions for the purposes of testing and demonstration. Only a few nations possess such weapons or are suspected of seeking them, israel is also believed to possess nuclear weapons, though in a policy of deliberate ambiguity, it does not acknowledge having them. Germany, Italy, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands are nuclear weapons sharing states, south Africa is the only country to have independently developed and then renounced and dismantled its nuclear weapons. Modernisation of weapons continues to occur, all existing nuclear weapons derive some of their explosive energy from nuclear fission reactions. Weapons whose explosive output is exclusively from fission reactions are commonly referred to as bombs or atom bombs. This has long noted as something of a misnomer, as their energy comes from the nucleus of the atom. The latter approach is considered more sophisticated than the former and only the approach can be used if the fissile material is plutonium. A major challenge in all nuclear weapon designs is to ensure that a significant fraction of the fuel is consumed before the weapon destroys itself. The amount of energy released by fission bombs can range from the equivalent of just under a ton to upwards of 500,000 tons of TNT, all fission reactions necessarily generate fission products, the radioactive remains of the atomic nuclei split by the fission reactions. Many fission products are highly radioactive or moderately radioactive. Fission products are the radioactive component of nuclear fallout
18.
Little Boy
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It was the first atomic bomb to be used in warfare. The Hiroshima bombing was the second artificial nuclear explosion in history, after the Trinity test, and it exploded with an energy of approximately 15 kilotons of TNT. The bomb caused significant destruction to the city of Hiroshima, Little Boy was developed by Lieutenant Commander Francis Birchs group of Captain William S. Parsonss Ordnance Division at the Manhattan Projects Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II. Parsons flew on the Hiroshima mission as weaponeer, the Little Boy was a development of the unsuccessful Thin Man nuclear bomb. Like Thin Man, it was a fission weapon. This was accomplished by shooting a hollow cylinder of enriched uranium onto a cylinder of the same material by means of a charge of nitrocellulose propellant powder. It contained 64 kg of enriched uranium, of less than a kilogram underwent nuclear fission. Its components were fabricated at three different plants so that no one would have a copy of the complete design, the Navy Bureau of Ordnance built another 25 Little Boy assemblies in 1947 for use by the Lockheed P2V Neptune nuclear strike aircraft. All the Little Boy units were withdrawn from service by the end of January 1951, according to Serber, he chose them based on their design shapes. The Thin Man was a device, and its name came from the Dashiell Hammett detective novel. The Fat Man was round and fat, and was named after Sydney Greenstreets Kasper Gutman character in The Maltese Falcon, Little Boy came last, and was named after Elisha Cook, Jr. s character in the same film, as referred to by Humphrey Bogart. Because uranium-235 was known to be fissionable, it was the first approach to bomb development pursued, as the first design developed, it is sometimes known as the Mark I. The vast majority of the came in the form of the isotope enrichment of the uranium necessary for the weapon. Enrichment was performed at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where the separation plant, known as Y-12. The first shipments of enriched uranium were sent to the Los Alamos Laboratory in June 1944. At least part of the 1,200 long tons of uranium ore, Little Boy was a simplification of Thin Man, the previous gun-type fission weapon design. Thin Man,17 feet long, was designed to use plutonium, in July 1944, almost all research at Los Alamos was redirected to the implosion-type plutonium weapon. Overall responsibility for the uranium gun-type weapon was assigned to Captain William S. Parsonss Ordnance Division, all the design, development, and technical work at Los Alamos was consolidated under Lieutenant Commander Francis Birchs group
19.
Hiroshima
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Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu - the largest island of Japan. The citys name, 広島, means Broad Island in Japanese, Hiroshima gained city status on April 1,1889. On April 1,1980, Hiroshima became a designated city, as of August 2016, the city had an estimated population of 1,196,274. The GDP in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Metropolitan Employment Area, is US$61.3 billion as of 2010, kazumi Matsui has been the citys mayor since April 2011. Hiroshima was established on the river delta coastline of the Seto Inland Sea in 1589 by powerful warlord Mōri Terumoto, Hiroshima Castle was quickly built, and in 1593 Terumoto moved in. Terumoto was on the side at the Battle of Sekigahara. The winner of the battle, Tokugawa Ieyasu, deprived Mōri Terumoto of most of his fiefs, including Hiroshima and gave Aki Province to Masanori Fukushima, after the han was abolished in 1871, the city became the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture. Hiroshima became an urban center during the imperial period, as the Japanese economy shifted from primarily rural to urban industries. During the 1870s, one of the seven government-sponsored English language schools was established in Hiroshima, Ujina Harbor was constructed through the efforts of Hiroshima Governor Sadaaki Senda in the 1880s, allowing Hiroshima to become an important port city. The Sanyō Railway was extended to Hiroshima in 1894, and a line from the main station to the harbor was constructed for military transportation during the First Sino-Japanese War. During that war, the Japanese government moved temporarily to Hiroshima, New industrial plants, including cotton mills, were established in Hiroshima in the late 19th century. Further industrialization in Hiroshima was stimulated during the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall was constructed in 1915 as a center for trade and exhibition of new products. Later, its name was changed to Hiroshima Prefectural Product Exhibition Hall, during World War I, Hiroshima became a focal point of military activity, as the Japanese government entered the war on the Allied side. About 500 German prisoners of war were held in Ninoshima Island in Hiroshima Bay, during World War II, the 2nd General Army and Chugoku Regional Army were headquartered in Hiroshima, and the Army Marine Headquarters was located at Ujina port. The city also had large depots of supplies, and was a key center for shipping. The bombing of Tokyo and other cities in Japan during World War II caused widespread destruction, there were no such air raids on Hiroshima. However, a real threat existed and was recognized, in order to protect against potential firebombings in Hiroshima, school children aged 11–14 years were mobilized to demolish houses and create firebreaks. On Monday, August 6,1945, at 8,15 a. m, by the end of the year, injury and radiation brought the total number of deaths to 90, 000–166,000
20.
Silverplate
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Silverplate was the code reference for the United States Army Air Forces participation in the Manhattan Project during World War II. The original directive for the project had as its subject line Silver Plated Project, testing began with scale models at the Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren, Virginia, in August 1943. Modifications began on a prototype Silverplate B-29 known as the Pullman in November 1943, the testing resulted in further modifications to both the bombs and the aircraft. These were followed by 28 more aircraft that were ordered in February 1945 for operational use by the 509th Composite Group and this batch included the aircraft which were used in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Including the Pullman B-29, a total of 46 Silverplate B-29s were produced during, an additional 19 Silverplate B-29s were ordered in July 1945, which were delivered between the end of the war and the end of 1947. Thus, a total of 65 Silverplate B-29s were made, the use of the Silverplate codename was discontinued after the war, but modifications continued under a new codename, Saddletree. Another 80 aircraft were modified under this program, the last group of B-29s was modified in 1953, but never saw further service. The Silverplate project was initiated in June 1943 when Dr. Norman F, prior to the decision to use the B-29, serious consideration was given to using the British Avro Lancaster with its cavernous 33-foot bomb bay to deliver the weapon. It would have required less modification, but would have required additional crew training for the USAAF crews. The first B-29 was delivered to the USAAF on 1 July 1943, Groves briefed Arnold on the Manhattan Project, and asked for his help in testing the ballistics of the Projects proposed bomb shapes. Arnold and the head of the Ordnance Division at Los Alamos, Captain William S. Parsons, arranged for tests to be carried out at the Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren, Virginia, in August 1943. No aircraft was available that could carry the 17-foot long Thin Man, the results were disappointing – the bomb fell in a flat spin – but the need for a thorough test program was demonstrated. Groves met with Arnold again in September 1943, Arnold delegated responsibility for this to Major General Oliver P. Echols. In turn, Echols designated Colonel Roscoe C. Wilson as the Project Officer, the airplane modification project fell under the purview of the Manhattan Projects Project Alberta after March 1945. The original codename for the project was Silver Plated but continued usage of the term shortened it to the one word Silverplate, for security reasons, the codename Silverplate was not officially registered. Confusion then resulted when the War Department allocated Silverplate to another project, arnolds office had to order the other agency to discontinue its use of the codename. Los Alamoss Thin Man and Fat Man code names were adopted by the USAAF for the weapons, the USAAF sent instructions to its Army Air Forces Materiel Command at Wright Field, Ohio, on 30 November 1943, for a highly classified B-29 modification project. B-29-5-BW 42-6259 was delivered to the 468th Bombardment Group at Smoky Hill AAB, Kansas, on 30 November 1943, modifications to the bomb bays were extensive and time-consuming
21.
Enola Gay
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The Enola Gay is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named for Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets, who selected the aircraft while it was still on the assembly line. On 6 August 1945, during the stages of World War II. The bomb, code-named Little Boy, was targeted at the city of Hiroshima, Japan, Enola Gay participated in the second atomic attack as the weather reconnaissance aircraft for the primary target of Kokura. Clouds and drifting smoke resulted in a target, Nagasaki. After the war, the Enola Gay returned to the United States, in May 1946, it was flown to Kwajalein for the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests in the Pacific, but was not chosen to make the test drop at Bikini Atoll. In the 1980s, veterans groups engaged in a call for the Smithsonian to put the aircraft on display, leading to an acrimonious debate about exhibiting the aircraft without a proper historical context. The cockpit and nose section of the aircraft were exhibited at the National Air and Space Museum in downtown Washington, D. C. for the bombings 50th anniversary in 1995, since 2003, the entire restored B-29 has been on display at NASMs Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. The last survivor of its crew, Theodore Van Kirk, died on July 28,2014, the Enola Gay was built by the Glenn L. Martin Company at its Bellevue, Nebraska plant, located at what is now known as Offutt Air Force Base. The bomber was one of 15 B-29s with the Silverplate modifications necessary to deliver atomic weapons, Enola Gay was personally selected by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. the commander of the 509th Composite Group, on 9 May 1945, while still on the assembly line. The aircraft was accepted by the United States Army Air Forces on 18 May 1945 and assigned to the 393d Bombardment Squadron, Heavy, 509th Composite Group. Crew B-9, commanded by Captain Robert A. Lewis, took delivery of the bomber and flew it from Omaha to the 509ths base at Wendover Army Air Field, Utah, on 14 June 1945. Thirteen days later, the aircraft left Wendover for Guam, where it received a bomb-bay modification, and flew to North Field, Tinian, on 6 July. During July, the bomber made eight practice or training flights, Enola Gay was used on 31 July on a rehearsal flight for the actual mission. Both the L-11 and projectile were dropped off at Tinian on 26 July 1945, at a time when Dad had thought I had lost my marbles, she had taken my side and said, I know you will be all right son. The name was painted on the aircraft on 5 August by Allan L. Karl, Hiroshima was the primary target of the first nuclear bombing mission on 6 August, with Kokura and Nagasaki as alternative targets. The director of the Manhattan Project, Major General Leslie R. Groves, Jr. wanted the event recorded for posterity, when he wanted to taxi, Tibbets leaned out the window to direct the bystanders out of the way. On request, he gave a wave for the cameras. After leaving Tinian, the made their way separately to Iwo Jima
22.
Paul Tibbets
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Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr. was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force. He is best known as the pilot who flew the Enola Gay when it dropped Little Boy, Tibbets enlisted in the United States Army in 1937 and qualified as a pilot in 1938. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he flew anti-submarine patrols over the Atlantic, in February 1942, he became the commanding officer of the 340th Bombardment Squadron of the 97th Bombardment Group, which was equipped with the Boeing B-17. In July 1942 the 97th became the first heavy bombardment group to be deployed as part of the Eighth Air Force, and Tibbets became deputy group commander. He flew the plane in the first American daylight heavy bomber mission against Occupied Europe on 17 August 1942. Tibbets was chosen to fly Major General Mark W. Clark, after flying 43 combat missions, he became the assistant for bomber operations on the staff of the Twelfth Air Force. Tibbets returned to the United States in February 1943 to help with the development of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, in September 1944, he was appointed the commander of the 509th Composite Group, which would conduct the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the war, he participated in the Operation Crossroads nuclear weapon tests at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946 and he commanded the 308th Bombardment Wing and 6th Air Division in the late 1950s, and was military attaché in India from 1964 to 1966. After leaving the Air Force in 1966, he worked for Executive Jet Aviation, Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr. was born in Quincy, Illinois, on 23 February 1915, the son of Paul Warfield Tibbets Sr. and his wife, Enola Gay Tibbets. When he was five years old the family moved to Davenport, Iowa, and then to Iowas capital, Des Moines, where he was raised, when he was eight, his family moved to Miami, Florida, to escape from harsh midwestern winters. As a boy he was interested in flying. One day his mother agreed to pay one dollar to get him into an airplane at the local carnival, in the late 1920s, business issues forced Tibbetss family to return to Alton, Illinois, where he graduated from Western Military Academy in 1933. He then attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, and became a member of the Epsilon Zeta Chapter of Sigma Nu fraternity in 1934. During that time, Tibbets took private flying lessons at Miamis Opa-locka Airport with Rusty Heard, after his undergraduate work, Tibbets had planned on becoming an abdominal surgeon. He transferred to the University of Cincinnati after his year to complete his pre-med studies there. However, he attended for a year and a half as he changed his mind about wanting to become a doctor. Instead, he decided to enlist in the United States Army, because he went to a military school, attended some college, and had some flight experience, Tibbets qualified for the Aviation Cadet Training Program. On 25 February 1937, he enlisted in the army at Fort Thomas, Kentucky, during his training, he showed himself to be an above-average pilot
23.
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
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The United States dropped nuclear weapons on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9,1945, respectively, during the final stage of World War II. The United States had dropped the bombs with the consent of the United Kingdom as outlined in the Quebec Agreement, the two bombings, which killed at least 129,000 people, remain the only use of nuclear weapons for warfare in history. In the final year of the war, the Allies prepared for what was anticipated to be a costly invasion of the Japanese mainland. This was preceded by a U. S. conventional and firebombing campaign that destroyed 67 Japanese cities, the war in Europe had concluded when Nazi Germany signed its instrument of surrender on May 8,1945, just after Hitler committed suicide. The Japanese, facing the fate, refused to accept the Allies demands for unconditional surrender. The Allies called for the surrender of the Japanese armed forces in the Potsdam Declaration on July 26, 1945—the alternative being prompt. The Japanese response to this ultimatum was to ignore it, orders for atomic bombs to be used on four Japanese cities were issued on July 25. Three days later, on August 9, a plutonium bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. During the following months, large numbers died from the effect of burns, radiation sickness, in both cities, most of the dead were civilians, although Hiroshima had a sizable military garrison. Japan announced its surrender to the Allies on August 15, six days after the bombing of Nagasaki, on September 2, the Japanese government signed the instrument of surrender, effectively ending World War II. The justification for the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is still debated to this day, in 1945, the Pacific War between the Empire of Japan and the Allies entered its fourth year. The Japanese fought fiercely, ensuring that U. S. victory would come at an enormous cost, December 1944 saw American battle casualties hit an all-time monthly high of 88,000 as a result of the German Ardennes Offensive. In the Pacific, the Allies returned to the Philippines, recaptured Burma, offensives were undertaken to reduce the Japanese forces remaining in Bougainville, New Guinea and the Philippines. In April 1945, American forces landed on Okinawa, where fighting continued until June. Along the way, the ratio of Japanese to American casualties dropped from 5,1 in the Philippines to 2,1 on Okinawa, although some Japanese were taken prisoner, most fought until they were killed or committed suicide. Nearly 99% of the 21,000 defenders of Iwo Jima were killed, of the 117,000 Japanese troops defending Okinawa in April–June 1945, 94% were killed. American military leaders used these figures to estimate high casualties among American soldiers in the invasion of Japan. As the Allies advanced towards Japan, conditions became steadily worse for the Japanese people, Japans merchant fleet declined from 5,250,000 gross tons in 1941 to 1,560,000 tons in March 1945, and 557,000 tons in August 1945
24.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
25.
Nuclear weapon design
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Nuclear weapon designs are physical, chemical, and engineering arrangements that cause the physics package of a nuclear weapon to detonate. There are three existing basic design types, in many existing designs, the explosive energy of deployed devices is derived primarily from nuclear fission, not fusion. Pure fission weapons were the first nuclear weapons built and have so far been the type ever used in warfare. Implosion, a mass of either material is surrounded by high explosives that compress the mass. The implosion method can use either uranium or plutonium as fuel, the gun method only uses uranium. Boosted fission weapons improve on the implosion design, the high pressure and temperature environment at the center of an exploding fission weapon compresses and heats a mixture of tritium and deuterium gas. The hydrogen fuses to form helium and free neutrons, boosting can more than double the weapons fission energy release. Staged thermonuclear weapons are essentially a chain of fusion-boosted fission weapons, the secondary stage is imploded by x-ray energy from the first stage, called the primary. This radiation implosion is much more effective than the high-explosive implosion of the primary, consequently, the secondary can be many times more powerful than the primary, without being bigger. The secondary can be designed to maximize fusion energy release, but in most designs fusion is employed only to drive or enhance fission, as it is in the primary. More stages could be added and conceptual designs incorporating up to seven have been produced, pure fusion weapons have not been invented. Such weapons, though, would produce far less radioactive fallout than current designs, pure fission weapons historically have been the first type to be built by a nation state. Most known innovations in nuclear weapon design originated in the United States, although some were developed independently by other states. In early news accounts, pure fission weapons were called atomic bombs or A-bombs, Weapons involving fusion were called hydrogen bombs or H-bombs, also a misnomer since their energy comes mostly from fission. Practitioners favored the terms nuclear and thermonuclear, respectively, the term thermonuclear refers to the high temperatures required to initiate fusion. It omits the equally important factor of radiation pressure, which was considered secret at the time the term became widespread, many nuclear weapon terms similarly obfuscate because of their origin in a classified environment. Nuclear fission separates or splits heavier atoms to form lighter atoms, Nuclear fusion combines together lighter atoms to form heavier atoms. In some ways, fission and fusion are opposite and complementary reactions, to understand how nuclear weapons are designed, it is useful to know the important similarities and differences between fission and fusion
26.
Fat Man
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Fat Man was the codename for the atomic bomb that was detonated over the Japanese city of Nagasaki by the United States on 9 August 1945. It was the second of the two nuclear weapons ever used in warfare, the first being Little Boy, and its detonation marked the third-ever man-made nuclear explosion in history. It was built by scientists and engineers at Los Alamos Laboratory using plutonium from the Hanford Site, for the Fat Man mission, Bockscar was piloted by Major Charles W. Sweeney. The name Fat Man refers generically to the design of the bomb, because it had a wide. It was also known as the Mark III, Fat Man was an implosion-type nuclear weapon with a solid plutonium core. The first of type to be detonated was the Gadget, in the Trinity nuclear test, less than a month earlier on 16 July at the Alamogordo Bombing. Two more Fat Man bombs were detonated during the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll in 1946, some 120 Fat Man units were produced between 1947 and 1949, when it was superseded by the Mark 4 nuclear bomb. The Fat Man was retired in 1950, a gun-type design was chosen, in which two sub-critical masses would be brought together by firing a bullet into a target. Tolman suggested an implosion-type nuclear weapon, but the idea attracted scant consideration, the feasibility of a plutonium bomb was questioned in 1942. Conant consulted Ernest Lawrence and Arthur Compton, who acknowledged that their scientists at Berkeley and Chicago respectively knew about the problem, the committee concluded that any problems could be overcome simply by requiring higher purity. Nonetheless, it was decided that the gun would receive the bulk of the research effort. It was assumed that the uranium gun-type bomb could be adapted from it. The gun-type and implosion-type designs were codenamed Thin Man and Fat Man respectively and these code names were created by Robert Serber, a former student of Oppenheimers who worked on the Manhattan Project. Little Boy would come last, as a variation of Thin Man and he was assisted in this work by Hugh Bradner, Charles Critchfield, and John Streib. L. T. E. Thompson was brought in as a consultant, Thompson was skeptical that an implosion could be made sufficiently symmetric. But Neddermeyers efforts in July and August at imploding tubes to produce cylinders tended to produce objects that resembled rocks, Neddermeyer was the only person who believed that implosion was practical, and only his enthusiasm kept the project alive. Oppenheimer brought John von Neumann to Los Alamos in September 1943 to take a look at implosion. The prospect of more-efficient nuclear weapons impressed Oppenheimer, Teller, and Hans Bethe, kistiakowskys name was immediately suggested, and Kistiakowsky was brought into the project as a consultant in October 1943
27.
Nagasaki
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Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Part of Nagasaki was home to a major Imperial Japanese Navy base during the First Sino-Japanese War, during World War II, the American atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki made Nagasaki the second and, to date, last city in the world to experience a nuclear attack. As of 1 January 2009, the city has an population of 446,007. The total area is 406.35 km², a small fishing village set in a secluded harbor, Nagasaki had little historical significance until contact with Portuguese explorers in 1543. An early visitor was Fernão Mendes Pinto, who came on a Portuguese ship which landed nearby in Tanegashima and his followers who remained behind converted a number of daimyōs. The most notable among them was Ōmura Sumitada, the little harbor village quickly grew into a diverse port city, and Portuguese products imported through Nagasaki were assimilated into popular Japanese culture. The Portuguese also brought them many goods from China. Thus, for a period after 1580, the city of Nagasaki was a Jesuit colony, under their administrative. It was administered by the captain of the Portuguese black ship, the highest representative of the Portuguese Crown and it became a refuge for Christians escaping maltreatment in other regions of Japan. In 1587, however, Toyotomi Hideyoshis campaign to unify the country arrived in Kyūshū, however, the expulsion order went largely unenforced, and the fact remained that most of Nagasakis population remained openly practicing Catholic. In 1596, the Spanish ship San Felipe was wrecked off the coast of Shikoku, in response, Hideyoshi ordered the crucifixions of twenty-six Catholics in Nagasaki on February 5 of that year. Portuguese traders were not ostracized, however, and so the city continued to thrive, in 1602, Augustinian missionaries also arrived in Japan, and when Tokugawa Ieyasu took power in 1603, Catholicism was still tolerated. Many Catholic daimyōs had been allies at the Battle of Sekigahara. Once Osaka Castle had been taken and Toyotomi Hideyoshis offspring killed, though, in addition, the Dutch and English presence allowed trade without religious strings attached. Thus, in 1614, Catholicism was officially banned and all missionaries ordered to leave, most Catholic daimyo apostatized, and forced their subjects to do so, although a few would not renounce the religion and left the country for Macau, Luzon and Japantowns in Southeast Asia. A brutal campaign of persecution followed, with thousands of converts across Kyūshū and other parts of Japan killed, tortured, catholicisms last gasp as an open religion and the last major military action in Japan until the Meiji Restoration was the Shimabara Rebellion of 1637. Consequently, in Tokugawa society the word Shimabara solidified the connection between Christianity and disloyalty, constantly used again and again in Tokugawa propaganda, the Shimabara Rebellion also convinced many policy-makers that foreign influences were more trouble than they were worth, leading to the national isolation policy. The Great Fire of Nagasaki destroyed much of the city in 1663, including the Mazu shrine at the Kofukuji Temple patronized by the Chinese sailors, in 1720 the ban on Dutch books was lifted, causing hundreds of scholars to flood into Nagasaki to study European science and art
28.
Bockscar
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It was assigned to the 393d Bombardment Squadron, 509th Composite Group to Wendover Army Air Field, Utah in April. Bockscar was used in 13 training and practice missions from Tinian, about 44% of the city was destroyed,35,000 people were killed and 60,000 injured. After the war, Bockscar returned to the United States in November 1945, in September 1946 it was given to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The aircraft was flown to the Museum on 26 September 1961, Bockscar is now on permanent display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, Ohio, next to a replica of a Fat Man. Bockscar, B-29-36-MO 44-27297, Victor number 77, was one of 15 Silverplate B-29s used by the 393d Bombardment Squadron of the 509th Composite Group. Bockscar was built at the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Plant at Bellevue, Nebraska, at what is now Offutt Air Force Base and it was one of 10 modified as a Silverplate and re-designated Block 36. Silverplate involved extensive modifications to the B-29 to carry nuclear weapons, the bomb bay doors and the fuselage section between the bomb bays were removed to create a single 33-foot bomb bay. British suspensions and bracing were attached for both types, with the gun-type suspension anchored in the aft bomb bay and the implosion type mounted in the forward bay. Weight reduction was accomplished by removal of gun turrets and armor plating. These B-29s also had an engine, the R-3350-41. The Silverplate aircraft represented a significant increase in performance over the standard variants, delivered to the United States Army Air Forces on 19 March 1945, Bockscar was assigned to Captain Frederick C. Bock and crew C-13, and flown to Wendover Army Air Field, Utah in April. The name chosen for the aircraft, and painted on it after the mission, was a pun on the name of the aircraft commander and it left Wendover on 11 June 1945 for Tinian, where it arrived 16 June. Bockscar was flown on 9 August 1945, by the crew of another B-29, The Great Artiste, the plane was co-piloted by First Lieutenant Charles Donald Albury, the normal aircraft commander of Crew C-15. The Great Artiste was designated as the observation, instrumentation support plane for the second mission, hopkins, Jr. as the photographic aircraft. The mission had as its target the city of Kokura. Its secondary target was Nagasaki, where two large Mitsubishi armament plants were located, the result was that the bomb was carried by Bockscar, but flown by the crew C-15 of The Great Artiste. During pre-flight inspection of Bockscar, the flight engineer notified Sweeney that a fuel transfer pump made it impossible to use 640 US gallons of fuel carried in a reserve tank. This fuel would still have to be carried all the way to Japan and back, replacing the pump would take hours, moving the Fat Man to another aircraft might take just as long and was dangerous as well, as the bomb was live
29.
Charles Sweeney
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Sweeney became an instructor in the atomic missions training project, Project Alberta, at Wendover Army Airfield, Utah. Selected to be part of the 509th Composite Group commanded by Col. Paul Tibbets, he was named commander of the 320th Troop Carrier Squadron on 6 January 1945. On May 4,1945, Sweeney became commander of the 393d Bombardment Squadron, Heavy, in June and July Sweeney moved his unit to North Field on the island of Tinian in the Marianas. In addition to supervising the training of his flight crews during July 1945. He trained with the crew of Captain Don Albury aboard their B-29 The Great Artiste and he and the crew flew five of the nine rehearsal test drops of inert Little Boy and Fat Man bomb assemblies in preparation for the missions. On 6 August 1945, Sweeney and Albury piloted The Great Artiste as the instrumentation and observation aircraft for the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima. On 9 August 1945, Major Sweeney commanded Bockscar, which carried the atomic bomb Fat Man from the island of Tinian to Nagasaki. In addition to Bockscar, the included two observation and instrumentation support B-29s, The Great Artiste and The Big Stink, who would rendezvous with Bockscar over Yakushima Island. At the mission pre-briefing, the three planes were ordered to make their rendezvous over Yakushima at 30,000 feet due to weather conditions over Iwo Jima. After takeoff from Tinian, Bockscar reached its rendezvous point and after circling for a period, found The Great Artiste. Climbing to 30,000 feet, the assigned rendezvous altitude, after exceeding the original rendezvous time limit by a half-hour, Bockscar, accompanied by the The Great Artiste, proceeded to the primary target, Kokura. No less than three runs were made, but the delay at the rendezvous had resulted in 7/10ths cloud cover over the primary target. By the time of the bomb run, Japanese antiaircraft fire was getting close. Poor bombing visibility and a critical fuel shortage eventually forced Bockscar to divert from Kokura and attack the secondary target. As they approached Nagasaki, the heart of the downtown was covered by dense cloud, and Sweeney. However, an opening in the clouds allowed Bockscars bombardier to verify the target as Nagasaki. As the crew had been ordered to drop the bomb visually if possible, Bockscar then dropped Fat Man, with a blast yield equivalent to 21 kilotons of TNT. It exploded 43 seconds later at 469 meters above the ground, the failure to drop Fat Man at the precise bomb aim point caused the atomic blast to be confined to the Urakami Valley
30.
Soviet invasion of Manchuria
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Soviet gains on the continent were Manchukuo, Mengjiang and northern Korea. Since 1983, the operation has sometimes been called Operation August Storm, the invasion began on 9 August 1945, exactly three months after the German surrender on May 8. It has also referred to as the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation. This was to be performed by the Transbaikal Front from the west and by the 1st Far Eastern Front from the east, the only Soviet equivalent of a theater command that operated during the war, Far East Command, consisted of three Red Army fronts. The Transbaikal Front was to form the western half of the Soviet pincer movement, attacking across the Inner Mongolian desert, the 36th Army was also attacking from the west, but with the objective of meeting forces of the 2nd Far Eastern Front at Harbin and Tsitsihar. The 1st Far Eastern Front, under Marshal Kirill Meretskov, included, the 1st Far Eastern Front was to form the eastern half of the pincer movement. This attack involved the 1st Red Banner Army, the 5th Army, once that city was captured, this force was to advance towards the cities of Jilin, Changchun and Harbin. Its final objective was to link up with the forces of the Transbaikal Front at Changchun and this secondary objective was to be carried out by the 25th Army. Meanwhile, the 35th Army was tasked with capturing the cities of Boli, Linkou, the 2nd Far Eastern Front, under General Maksim Purkayev, included, 2nd Red Banner Army 15th Army 16th Army 5th Separate Rifle Corps Chuguevsk Operational Group Amur Military Flotilla 10th Air Army. The 2nd Far Eastern Front was deployed in an attack role. Its objectives were the cities of Harbin and Tsitsihar, and to prevent an orderly withdrawal to the south by the Japanese forces. Once troops from the 1st Far Eastern Front and Transbaikal Front captured the city of Changchun, each front had front units attached directly to the front instead of an army. The forces totaled 89 divisions with 1.5 million men,3,704 tanks,1,852 self propelled guns,85,819 vehicles and 3,721 aircraft, approximately one-third of its strength was in combat support and services. The Soviet plan incorporated all the experience in warfare that they had acquired in fighting the Germans. In addition, the Japanese were assisted by the forces of their states of Manchukuo. The former had an army of about 170,000 to 220,000 troops, while the latter had around 10,000, Korea, the next target for the Soviet Far East Command, was garrisoned by the Japanese Seventeenth Area Army. The Kwantung Army had over 700,000 men in twenty-five divisions and these contained over 1,215 armored vehicles,6,700 artillery pieces, and 1,800 aircraft. They were also deployed against the Nationalist Chinese in Operation Ichigo, by 1945, the Kwantung Army contained a large number of raw recruits and conscripts, with generally obsolete, light, or otherwise limited equipment
31.
38th parallel north
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The 38th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 38 degrees north of the Earths equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, the 38th parallel north formed the border between North and South Korea prior to the Korean War. At this latitude the sun is visible for 14 hours,48 minutes during the solstice and 9 hours,32 minutes during the winter solstice. This parallel divides the Korean peninsula roughly in the middle, in 1948, this parallel became the boundary between the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea, both of which claim to be the government of the whole of Korea. On 25 June 1950, after a series of cross-border raids and this sparked a United Nations resolution against the aggression and the Korean War, with United Nations troops helping to defend South Korea. After the Armistice ended the Korean War in 1953, a new border was established based on the territory that each held at that point. This Military Demarcation Line is surrounded by a Demilitarized Zone and it crosses the 38th parallel, from the southwest to the northeast. The new border is often described as the 38th parallel. 37th parallel north 38th parallel structures 39th parallel north Circle of latitude Oberdorfer, the Two Koreas, A Contemporary History. 38th parallel at the Encyclopædia Britannica
32.
Japan Standard Time
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Japan Standard Time or JST is the standard timezone in Japan, and is 9 hours ahead of UTC, i. e. it is UTC+09,00. There is no daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated several times, during World War II, it was often called Tokyo Standard Time. Japan Standard Time is the same as Korean Standard Time, Indonesian Eastern Standard Time, before the Meiji era, each local region had its own timezone in which noon was when the sun was exactly at its zenith. As modern transportation methods, such as trains, were adopted, in 1886, Ordinance 51 was issued in response to this problem, which stated, Ordinance 51 - July 13,1886 The prime meridian passes through Englands Greenwich Observatory. Longitudes are calculated using the prime meridian, counting 180 degrees either east or west, positive degrees are east, negative degrees are west. On January 1,1888,135 degrees east longitude will be set as the meridian for all of Japan. According to this, the time was set 9 hours ahead of GMT. In the ordinance, the first clause mentions GMT, the second defines east longitude and west longitude, the city of Akashi in Hyōgo Prefecture is located exactly on 135 degrees east longitude and subsequently became known as Toki no machi. While Korea came under Japanese rule in 1910, Korea Standard Time of UTC+8,30 continued to be used until 1912, when it was changed to Central Standard Time. Western Standard Time, which was used in Taiwan and some parts of Okinawa, was abolished by Ordinance 529 in 1937 and replaced by Central Standard Time in those areas. Territories occupied by Japan during World War II, including Singapore and Malaya, adopted Japan Standard Time for the duration of their occupation, more recently there have been efforts to bring back DST in Japan, but so far this has not happened. The two-time-zone system was implemented in Japan between January 1896 and September 1937, From October 1937, Central Standard Time was also used in western Okinawa, the IANA time zone database contains one zone for Japan in the file zone. tab, named Asia/Tokyo. From 1948–51, Japan observed DST between May and September every year under an initiative of the U. S. -led occupation army, since then, DST has never been officially implemented nationwide in Japan. Starting in the late 1990s, a movement to reinstate DST in Japan gained some popularity, aiming at saving energy, in the early 2000s, a few local governments and commerce departments promoted unmandated hour-earlier work schedule experiments during the summer without officially resetting clocks. The Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy is expected to propose that the Japanese government begin studying DST in an attempt to combat global warming. Japanese PM Shinzo Abe made a significant effort to introduce daylight saving time, however, it is not clear that DST would conserve energy in Japan. JJY Japanese calendar UTC+09,00 Japanese clock
33.
Hirohito
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Emperor Shōwa was the 124th Emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from December 25,1926, until his death on January 7,1989. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Akihito, upon his death, although better known outside Japan by his personal name Hirohito, in Japan, he is now referred to primarily by his posthumous name Emperor Shōwa. The word Shōwa is the name of the era that corresponded with the Emperors reign, the name Hirohito means abundant benevolence. He was the head of state under the Constitution of the Empire of Japan during Japans imperial expansion, militarization, born in Tokyos Aoyama Palace, Hirohito was the first son of Crown Prince Yoshihito and Crown Princess Sadako. He was the grandson of Emperor Meiji and Yanagihara Naruko and his childhood title was Prince Michi. At the age of 3, Hirohito and his brother Chichibu were returned to court when Kawamura died – first to the mansion in Numazu, Shizuoka. In 1908, he began studies at the Gakushūin. When his grandfather, Emperor Meiji, died on July 30,1912, Hirohitos father, Yoshihito, assumed the throne, in 1914, he was promoted to the ranks of lieutenant in the army and sub-lieutenant in the navy, then to captain and lieutenant in 1916. He was formally proclaimed Crown Prince and heir apparent on November 2,1916, Hirohito attended Gakushūin Peers School from 1908 to 1914 and then a special institute for the crown prince from 1914 to 1921. In 1920, Hirohito was promoted to the rank of Major in the army, in 1921, Hirohito took a six-month tour of Western Europe, including the United Kingdom, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Belgium. After his return to Japan, he became Regent of Japan on November 29,1921, in 1923, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the army and Commander in the navy, and to army Colonel and Navy Captain in 1925. The Washington Naval Treaty was signed on February 6,1922, Japan withdrew troops from the Siberian Intervention on August 28,1922. The Great Kantō earthquake devastated Tokyo on September 1,1923, on December 27,1923, Daisuke Namba attempted to assassinate Hirohito in the Toranomon Incident but his attempt failed. During interrogation, he claimed to be a communist and was executed, the General Election Law was passed on May 5,1925, giving all men above age 25 the right to vote. Prince Hirohito married his distant cousin Princess Nagako Kuni, the eldest daughter of Prince Kuniyoshi Kuni and they had two sons and five daughters. On December 25,1926, Hirohito assumed the throne upon his father, Yoshihitos, the Crown Prince was said to have received the succession. The Taishō eras end and the Shōwa eras beginning were proclaimed, the deceased Emperor was posthumously renamed Emperor Taishō within days. Following Japanese custom, the new Emperor was never referred to by his name, but rather was referred to simply as His Majesty the Emperor
34.
Jewel Voice Broadcast
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This speech was broadcast at noon Japan Standard Time on August 15,1945, after the Battle of Okinawa, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria. The speech was probably the first time that an Emperor of Japan had spoken to the common people and it was delivered in the formal, Classical Japanese that few ordinary people could easily understand. It made no reference to a surrender of Japan, instead stating that the government had been instructed to accept the terms of the Potsdam Declaration fully. This created confusion in the minds of listeners who were not sure whether Japan had surrendered. The poor audio quality of the radio broadcast, as well as the courtly language in which the speech was composed, worsened the confusion. A digitally remastered version of the broadcast was released on 30 June 2015, the speech was not broadcast directly, but was replayed from a phonograph recording made in the Tokyo Imperial Palace on either August 13 or 14,1945. Many elements of the Imperial Japanese Army were extremely opposed to the idea that Hirohito was going to end the war, consequently, as many as one thousand officers raided the Imperial palace on the evening of August 14 to destroy the recording. The rebels were confused by the layout of the Imperial palace and were unable to find the recording, to ease the anticipated confusion, at the conclusion of the speech a radio announcer clarified that the Emperors message did mean that Japan was surrendering. The original record was later recovered but has never again been played, the rescript was translated into English by Tadaichi Hirakawa and was broadcast to overseas Allies at the same time. In the U. S. the Federal Communications Commission recorded the broadcast and he, however, did not mention the Soviet invasion of Manchuria and other Japanese-held territories that had also begun a few days before
35.
Douglas MacArthur
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Douglas MacArthur was an American five-star general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and he received the Medal of Honor for his service in the Philippines Campaign, which made him and his father Arthur MacArthur, Jr. the first father and son to be awarded the medal. He was one of five men ever to rise to the rank of General of the Army in the US Army. During the 1914 United States occupation of Veracruz, he conducted a reconnaissance mission, in 1917, he was promoted from major to colonel and became chief of staff of the 42nd Division. From 1919 to 1922, MacArthur served as Superintendent of the U. S, Military Academy at West Point, where he attempted a series of reforms. His next assignment was in the Philippines, where in 1924 he was instrumental in quelling the Philippine Scout Mutiny, in 1925, he became the Armys youngest major general. He served on the martial of Brigadier General Billy Mitchell and was president of the American Olympic Committee during the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. In 1930, he became Chief of Staff of the United States Army, as such, he was involved in the expulsion of the Bonus Army protesters from Washington, D. C. in 1932, and the establishment and organization of the Civilian Conservation Corps. He retired from the US Army in 1937 to become Military Advisor to the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines, MacArthur was recalled to active duty in 1941 as commander of United States Army Forces in the Far East. A series of disasters followed, starting with the destruction of his air forces on 8 December 1941, MacArthurs forces were soon compelled to withdraw to Bataan, where they held out until May 1942. In March 1942, MacArthur, his family and his staff left nearby Corregidor Island in PT boats and escaped to Australia, upon his arrival in Australia, MacArthur gave a speech in which he famously promised I shall return to the Philippines. For his defense of the Philippines, MacArthur was awarded the Medal of Honor, after more than two years of fighting in the Pacific, he fulfilled a promise to return to the Philippines. He officially accepted Japans surrender on 2 September 1945, aboard USS Missouri anchored in Tokyo Bay, as the effective ruler of Japan, he oversaw sweeping economic, political and social changes. He led the United Nations Command in the Korean War until he was removed from command by President Harry S. Truman on 11 April 1951 and he later became Chairman of the Board of Remington Rand. A military brat, Douglas MacArthur was born 26 January 1880, at Little Rock Barracks, Little Rock, Arkansas, to Arthur MacArthur, Jr. a U. S. Army captain, Pinkney came from a prominent Norfolk, Virginia, family. Two of her brothers had fought for the South in the Civil War, Arthur and Pinky had three sons, of whom Douglas was the youngest, following Arthur III, born on 1 August 1876, and Malcolm, born on 17 October 1878. The family lived on a succession of Army posts in the American Old West, conditions were primitive, and Malcolm died of measles in 1883. In his memoir, Reminiscences, MacArthur wrote I learned to ride and shoot even before I could read or write—indeed and this time on the frontier ended in July 1889 when the family moved to Washington, D. C. where Douglas attended the Force Public School
36.
Jonathan M. Wainwright (general)
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Jonathan Mayhew Skinny Wainwright IV was a career American army officer and the Commander of Allied forces in the Philippines at the time of their surrender to the Empire of Japan during World War II. Wainwright was a recipient of the Medal of Honor for his courageous leadership during the fall of the Philippines. Wainwright was born at Fort Walla Walla, an Army post now in Walla Walla, Washington, and was the son of Robert Powell Page Wainwright and his grandfather was Lieutenant Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright II, USN, who was killed in action during the Civil War. Congressman J. Mayhew Wainwright was his cousin and he graduated from Highland Park High School in Illinois in 1901 and from West Point, in 1906. He served as First Captain of the Corps of Cadets, Wainwright was commissioned in the cavalry. 1st Cavalry Regiment in Texas from 1906 to 1908 and in the Philippines from 1908 to 1910, Wainwright graduated from the Mounted Service School, Fort Riley, Kansas, in 1916 and was promoted to Captain. By 1917, he was on the staff of the first officer training camp at Plattsburgh, in February 1918, he was ordered to France, during World War I. In June, he became assistant chief of staff of the U. S. 82nd Infantry Division, with which he took part in the Saint Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne Offensives. As a temporary lieutenant colonel, he was assigned to duty in Germany with the 3rd Army at Koblenz, Germany. Having reverted to the rank of captain, he was promoted to major. In 1929, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and graduated from the Command and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1931, and from the Army War College in 1934. In September 1940, Wainwright was promoted to general and returned to the Philippines, in December. On 8 December 1941, he commanded the North Luzon Force, retreating from the Japanese beachhead of Lingayen Gulf, Allied forces had withdrawn onto the Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor by January 1942, where they defended the entrance to Manila Bay. Also that March, Wainwright was promoted to lieutenant general, on April 9, the 70,000 troops on Bataan surrendered under the command of Major General Edward P. King. On May 5, the Japanese attacked Corregidor and on May 6, in the interest of minimizing casualties, Sharp was now to report to Gen. MacArthur, now stationed in Australia. This was to cause as few troops as possible to be surrendered, Wainwright then agreed to surrender Sharps men. Gen. Sharp was placed in a difficult position and he knew if he ignored Wainwrights wish for him to surrender that the hostage troops and civilians at Corregidor could be massacred. Though his troops were badly mauled, they could put up a fight
37.
Prisoner of war
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A prisoner of war is a person, whether combatant or non-combatant, who is held in custody by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the prisoner of war dates to 1660. The first Roman gladiators were prisoners of war and were named according to their ethnic roots such as Samnite, Thracian, typically, little distinction was made between enemy combatants and enemy civilians, although women and children were more likely to be spared. Sometimes, the purpose of a battle, if not a war, was to capture women, a known as raptio. Typically women had no rights, and were legally as chattel. For this he was eventually canonized, during Childerics siege and blockade of Paris in 464, the nun Geneviève pleaded with the Frankish king for the welfare of prisoners of war and met with a favourable response. Later, Clovis I liberated captives after Genevieve urged him to do so, many French prisoners of war were killed during the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. In the later Middle Ages, a number of religious wars aimed to not only defeat, in Christian Europe, the extermination of heretics was considered desirable. Examples include the 13th century Albigensian Crusade and the Northern Crusades, likewise, the inhabitants of conquered cities were frequently massacred during the Crusades against the Muslims in the 11th and 12th centuries. Noblemen could hope to be ransomed, their families would have to send to their captors large sums of wealth commensurate with the status of the captive. In feudal Japan there was no custom of ransoming prisoners of war, in Termez, on the Oxus, all the people, both men and women, were driven out onto the plain, and divided in accordance with their usual custom, then they were all slain. The Aztecs were constantly at war with neighbouring tribes and groups, for the re-consecration of Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, between 10,000 and 80,400 persons were sacrificed. During the early Muslim conquests, Muslims routinely captured large number of prisoners, aside from those who converted, most were ransomed or enslaved. Christians who were captured during the Crusades, were either killed or sold into slavery if they could not pay a ransom. The freeing of prisoners was highly recommended as a charitable act, there also evolved the right of parole, French for discourse, in which a captured officer surrendered his sword and gave his word as a gentleman in exchange for privileges. If he swore not to escape, he could gain better accommodations, if he swore to cease hostilities against the nation who held him captive, he could be repatriated or exchanged but could not serve against his former captors in a military capacity. Early historical narratives of captured colonial Europeans, including perspectives of literate women captured by the peoples of North America. The writings of Mary Rowlandson, captured in the fighting of King Philips War, are an example
38.
Manchuria
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Manchuria is a modern name, first created by the Japanese, given to a large geographic region in Northeast Asia. Depending on the context, Manchuria can either refer to a region that falls entirely within the Peoples Republic of China, the definition of Manchuria can be any one of several regions of various size. These are, from smallest to largest, Northeast China, consisting of Heilongjiang, Jilin and this is the area referred to as Manchuria in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions. Inner Manchuria, the above, plus parts of modern Inner Mongolia, The above, plus Outer Manchuria, the area from the Amur and Ussuri rivers to the Stanovoy Mountains, in Russian administrative terms, Ussuri krai, southern Harbin oblast, Primorskiy kray. The above, plus Sakhalin Island, which is included on Qing dynasty maps as part of Outer Manchuria even though it is not explicitly mentioned in the Treaty of Nerchinsk. The island was included in Manchuria on maps made by the Japanese Shogunate. Despite of lines on maps and empiress political claims, the island was inhabited by Ainu people until the Soviet Union enforced a policy after 1945. Three centuries and a half must now pass away before entering upon the act of the Manchu drama. During the ensuing two hundred years the Nü-chêns were scarcely heard of, the House of Ming being busily occupied in other directions and it may be noted here that Manchuria is unknown to the Chinese or to the Manchus themselves as a geographical expression. The present extensive home of the Manchus is usually spoken of as the Three Eastern Provinces, namely, Shêngking, or Liao-tung, or Kuan-tung, Kirin, and Heilungchiang or Tsitsihar. — Herbert A. Giles, China and the Manchus,1912 Manchuria is a translation of the Japanese word Manshū, the Manchu and Chinese languages had no such word as Manchuria and the word has imperialist connotations. According to Bill Sewell, it was Europeans who first started using the name Manchuria to refer to the location, the historian Gavan McCormack agreed with Robert H. G. The Japanese had their own motive for deliberately spreading the usage of the term Manchuria, the historian Norman Smith wrote that The term Manchuria is controversial. Professor Mariko Asano Tamanoi said that she should use the term in quotation marks when referring to Manchuria, in his 2012 dissertation on the Jurchen people to obtain a Doctor of Philosophy degree in History from the University of Washington, Professor Chad D. In the 18th-century Europe, the later known as Manchuria was most commonly referred to as Tartary. However, the term Manchuria started appearing by the end of the century, in current Chinese parlance, an inhabitant of the Northeast, or Northeast China, is a Northeasterner. In China, the term Manchuria is rarely used today, and this usage is seen in the expression Chuǎng Guāndōng referring to the mass migration of Han Chinese to Manchuria in the 19th and 20th centuries. The name Guandong later came to be used more narrowly for the area of the Kwantung Leased Territory on the Liaodong Peninsula and it is not to be confused with the southern province of Guangdong
39.
Karafuto Prefecture
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Karafuto Prefecture, commonly called South Sakhalin, was the Japanese administrative division corresponding to Japanese territory on southern Sakhalin island from 1905 to 1945. Through the Treaty of Portsmouth, the portion of the south of 50°N became a colony of Japan in 1905. In 1907 the prefecture of Karafuto was established, with its capital at Ōtomari in 1905, in 1945, with the defeat of Japan in World War II, Karafuto was occupied by Soviet troops and its Japanese administration ceased to function. Karafuto Prefecture was formally abolished as an entity on June 1,1949. Since 1951, the part of Sakhalin has been a part of Sakhalin Oblast in the Soviet Union. The Japanese name Karafuto comes from Ainu kamuy kar put ya mosir and it was formerly known as Kita Ezo, meaning Northern Ezo. When Japanese administered the prefecture, Karafuto usually meant Southern Sakhalin only, for convenience, the northern part of the island was sometimes called Sagaren. In Russian, the island was named Sakhalin or Saghalien. It is from Manchu sahaliyan ula angga hada, meaning peak of the mouth of Amur River, the southern part was simply called Yuzhny Sakhalin. In Korean, the name is Sahallin or Hwataedo, with the name in use during Korea under Japanese rule. Japanese settlement on Sakhalin dates to at least the Edo period, Ōtomari was established in 1679, and cartographers of the Matsumae domain mapped the island, and named it Kita-Ezo. Japanese cartographer and explorer Mamiya Rinzō established that Sakhalin was an island through his discovery of what is now named Mamiya Strait in 1809, the 1855 Treaty of Shimoda acknowledged that both Russia and Japan had joint rights of occupation to Sakhalin, without setting a definite territorial demarcation. As the island settled in the 1860s and 1870s, this ambiguity led to increasing friction between settlers. In the Treaty of Saint Petersburg, Japan agreed to give up its claims on Sakhalin in exchange for undisputed ownership of the Kuril Islands, Russia retained the northern portion, although the Japanese were awarded favorable commercial rights, including fishing and mineral extraction rights in the north. In 1907, Karafuto Prefecture was officially established, with the capital at Ōtomari, in 1908, the capital was relocated to Toyohara. In 1920, Karafuto was officially designated an external territory of Japan, in 1943, the status of Karafuto was upgraded to that of an inner land, making it an integral part of the Empire of Japan. In August 1945, after repudiating the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact, the Soviet Union invaded Karafuto, the Soviet attack started on August 11,1945, three weeks before the surrender of Japan. Although the Soviet Red Army outnumbered the Japanese by three to one, they advanced only slowly due to strong Japanese resistance, Japanese resistance grew weaker after this landing
40.
Sakhalin
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Sakhalin is a large Russian island in the North Pacific Ocean, lying between 45°50 and 54°24 N. It is Russias largest island, and is administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast, Sakhalin, which is similar in shape to and about one third the size of Honshu, is just off the east coast of Russia, and just north of Japan. The population was 497,973 as of the 2010 census, made up of mostly ethnic Russians, the indigenous peoples of the island are the Ainu, Oroks and Nivkhs. Sakhalin was claimed by both Russia and Japan over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries and these disputes sometimes involved military conflict and divisions of the island between the two powers. Most Ainu on Sakhalin moved to Hokkaido, only 43 kilometres to the south, the island is known in Russian as Сахалин. In Chinese, it is known as Kuye, in Japanese, it is known as Karafuto or, borrowing the Russian appellation, as Saharin. The spelling Saghalien may be found in historical texts, the European names derive from misinterpretation of a Manchu name ᠰ᠊ᠠᡴᡥᠠᠯᡳᡟᠠ᠊ᠠ ᡠ᠊ᠯᠠ ᠠ᠊ᠩᡤᠠ ᡥ᠊ᠠᡩᡩᠠ sahaliyan ula angga hada. Sahaliyan, the word that has borrowed in the form of Sakhalin. Its Japanese name, Karafuto, supposedly comes from Ainu kamuy kar put ya mosir, the name was used by the Japanese during their possession of its southern part. Sakhalin was inhabited in the Neolithic Stone Age, a later population familiar with bronze left traces in earthen walls and kitchen-middens on Aniva Bay. Among the indigenous people of Sakhalin are the Ainu in the half, the Oroks in the central region. Chinese chronicled the Xianbei and Hezhe tribes, who had a way of life based on fishing, the Mongol Empire made some efforts to subjugate the native people of Sakhalin starting in about 1264 CE. According to Yuanshi, the history of the Yuan dynasty, the Mongols militarily subdued the Guwei. The Nivkhs and the Oroks were subjugated earlier, whereas the Ainu people submitted to the Mongols later, following their subjugation, Gǔwéi elders made tributary visits to Yuan posts located at Wuleihe, Nanghar, and Boluohe until the end of the Mongol Yuan dynasty in China. In the early Ming dynasty, the relationship was re-established. Chinese of the Ming dynasty knew the island as Kuyi or Kuwu, there is some evidence that the Ming eunuch Admiral Yishiha reached Sakhalin in 1413 during one of his expeditions to the lower Amur, and granted Ming titles to a local chieftain. Under the Ming dynasty, commerce in Northeast Asia and Sakhalin was placed under the system for subjugated peoples, a Ming boundary stone still exists on the island. In an early attempt, a Japanese settlement was established at Ootomari on Sakhalins southern end in 1679
41.
Korea
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Korea is a historical state in East Asia, since 1945 divided into two distinct sovereign states, North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by China to the northwest and it is separated from Japan to the east by the Korea Strait and the Sea of Japan. Korea emerged as a political entity after centuries of conflict among the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Later Silla divided into three states during the Later Three Kingdoms period. Goryeo, which had succeeded Goguryeo, defeated the two states and united the Korean Peninsula. Around the same time, Balhae collapsed and its last crown prince fled south to Goryeo, Goryeo, whose name developed into the modern exonym Korea, was a highly cultured state that created the worlds first metal movable type in 1234. However, multiple invasions by the Mongol Yuan Dynasty during the 13th century greatly weakened the nation, following the Yuan Dynastys collapse, severe political strife followed, and Goryeo eventually fell to a coup led by General Yi Seong-gye, who established Joseon in 1388. The first 200 years of Joseon were marked by peace and saw the creation of the Korean alphabet by Sejong the Great in the 14th century. During the later part of the dynasty, however, Koreas isolationist policy earned it the Western nickname of the Hermit Kingdom, by the late 19th century, the country became the object of imperial design by the Empire of Japan. Despite attempts at modernization by the Korean Empire, in 1910 Korea was annexed by Japan and these circumstances soon became the basis for the division of Korea by the two superpowers, exacerbated by their incapability to agree on the terms of Korean independence. To date, both continue to compete with each other as the sole legitimate government of all of Korea. Korea is the spelling of Corea, a name attested in English as early as 1614. It is a derived from Cauli, Marco Polos transcription of the Chinese 高麗. This was the Hanja for the Korean kingdom of Goryeo or Koryŏ, Goryeos name was a continuation of the earlier Goguryeo or Koguryŏ, the northernmost of the Samguk, which was officially known by the shortened form Goryeo after the 5th-century reign of King Jangsu. The original name was a combination of the go with the name of a local Yemaek tribe. The name Korea is now used in English contexts by both North and South Korea. In South Korea, Korea as a whole is referred to as Hanguk, the name references the Samhan—Ma, Jin, and Byeon—who preceded the Three Kingdoms in the southern and central end of the peninsula during the 1st centuries BC and AD. It has been linked with the title khan used by the nomads of Manchuria
42.
Consolidated B-32 Dominator
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It was developed by Consolidated Aircraft in parallel with the Boeing B-29 Superfortress as a fallback design should the B-29 prove unsuccessful. The B-32 only reached units in the Pacific during mid-1945, most of the extant orders of the B-32 were canceled shortly thereafter and only 118 B-32 airframes of all types were built. The Model 33 on which Consolidated based its proposal was similar to the B-24 Liberator, like the B-24 it was originally designed with a twin tail and a large Davis wing, but with a longer, rounder fuselage and a rounded nose. The powerplants were to be the same quartet of eighteen-cylinder,2,200 horsepower Wright Duplex-Cyclones, the aircraft was designed to be pressurized, and have remote-controlled retractable gun turrets with fourteen.50 in machine guns. It was to have a gross weight of 101,000 lb. The first contract for two XB-32s was signed on 6 September 1940, the day as the contract for the Boeing prototype XB-29. The Consolidated Vultee Bomber Plant assembly line was six months behind schedule, due to problems with the pressurization system, the gun turrets and landing gear doors, these items were omitted on the first prototype. The aircraft had R-3350-13 engines inboard and R-3350-21s outboard, with all four powerplants driving three-bladed propellers, the prototype was to have persistent problems with engine oil leaks and poor cooling. The B-29 had similar engine problems, the inboard propellers pitch could be reversed to shorten the landing roll or to roll back in ground maneuvers. The turrets were remotely controlled from periscopic sights in aiming stations inside the aircraft, the sights were coordinated by a sophisticated analog computer system developed by Sperry Gyroscope Company. On 17 March 1943, the contract was signed for 300 B-32-CFs. On 10 May 1943, the first XB-32 crashed on takeoff after making a total of 30 flights before the second XB-32, s/n 41-142 and this aircraft had a traditional stepped cockpit canopy. Upon examination and testing, the USAAF recommended a number of changes that included more conventional gun stations. The bomb load was increased by 4,000 pounds to 20,000 pounds, the second XB-32 continued to have stability problems. The first production aircraft was fitted with a B-29 vertical tail until a new tail was substituted, by 1944 testing of the three prototypes permitted the AAF to place orders for over 1,500 B-32s. The first production aircraft was delivered on 19 September 1944, by time the B-29 was in combat in China. The first B-32 crashed on the day it was delivered when the nose wheel collapsed on landing. Beginning on 27 January 1945,40 B-32A-5, -10 and -15 aircraft were delivered as unarmed TB-32-CF crew trainers, originally, the Army Air Forces intended the B-32 as a fallback design to be used only if the B-29 program fell significantly behind in its development schedule
43.
386th Tactical Fighter Squadron
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The 386th Tactical Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 312th Tactical Fighter Wing, based at Cannon Air Force Base and it was inactivated on 18 February 1959. Established in early 1942 as a bomb squadron, equipped with A-24 Banshees. Trained under Third Air Force in the southeast United States, also used for patrols over the Atlantic southeast coast. Deployed to Southern California in early 1943 to the Desert Training Center, re-equipped with North American A-36 Apache dive bombers and deployed to New Guinea as part of Fifth Air Force. Re-equipped with P-40s, then later A-20 Havocs, engaged in heavy fighting on Leyte, Mindoro and Luzon in the Philippines during 1944-1945. The 386th was selected to carry out field operation testing of the Consolidated B-32 Dominator in mid-1945 and made test flights over Luzon, the squadron moved to Okinawa in mid-August and after the Atomic Bomb missions had been flown. It flew several combat operations with the B-32 in spite of the de facto cease-fire that had been called following the bombing of Nagasaki, during this time, the B-32s flew mainly photographic reconnaissance missions, most of which were unopposed. However, during a mission over Tokyo on 18 August. The American gunners claimed two kills and one probable, but one aircraft was shot up and one of her crew was killed with two being injured. This was to prove to be the last combat action of World War II, after VJ-Day, the surviving B-32 aircraft were ordered to return to the United States, ending the test program. The 386th remained on Okinawa until December until returning to the United States with most personnel demobilizing and it was inactivated as a paper unit on 6 January 1946. The squadron was reactivated as a B-29 Superfortress unit in the reserves in 1947 and it transferred to Tactical Air Command in the mid-1950s and activated first with F-86 Sabres, then F-100 Super Sabres in 1958. The squadron was inactivated in 1959 when its parent 312th Tactical Fighter Wing was inactivated and redesignated as the 27th Tactical Fighter Wing, personnel and equipment of the squadron were re-designated as the 522d Tactical Fighter Squadron. A-31 Vengeance, 1942–1943 A-24 Banshee, 1942–1943 North American A-36,1943 P-40 Warhawk, 1943–1944 A-20 Havoc, 1944–1945 B-32 Dominator,1945 F-86 Sabre, 1955–1956 F-100 Super Sabre, 1956–1959. This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http, Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama, Office of Air Force History
44.
312th Bombardment Group
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The 312th Aeronautical Systems Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last active in June 2010 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, during World War II, as the 312th Bombardment Group, it operated primarily in the Southwest Pacific Theater as an A-20 Havoc light bomber unit assigned to Fifth Air Force. The group also flew the B-32 Dominator on several evaluation combat missions at the end of the war and it was awarded both the Distinguished Unit Citation and the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation for its combat service in New Guinea, the Western Pacific, Leyte, and Luzon. See, 312th Aeronautical Systems Wing for related lineage and history The 312th Bombardment Group was activated on 15 March 1942 at Bowman Field Kentucky, the unit was deployed to the Southwest Pacific, October–December 1943, and assigned to Fifth Air Force. It was again redesignated as the 312th Bombardment Group in December 1943 and it began operations in New Guinea, flying patrol and escort missions. Following its conversion to the Douglas A-20 Havoc, the group attacked airfields, troop concentrations, gun positions, bridges and it moved to the Philippines in November 1944 and provided support for ground troops and struck airfields and transportation facilities. The 312th received a Distinguished Unit Citation for actions against Japanese butanol plants in Formosa,25 March –4 April 1945, the 312th was selected to carry out field operation testing of the Consolidated B-32 Dominator in mid-1945 and made test flights over Luzon and Formosa in June 1945. The B-32 had been in development since before World War II, the first two B-32s arrived on Luzon on 2 May, with a third aircraft arriving the next day. The first combat took place on 29 May 1945. It was a strike against a Japanese supply depot in Luzons Cayagan Valley, all three of the Dominators were to take part, but one aborted on takeoff. The other two proceeded to the target, there was no enemy opposition, and bombing runs were made from an altitude of 10,000 feet, and both aircraft returned without incident. This raid was followed by a series of attacks on Japanese targets in the Philippines, in Formosa, the only opposition encountered during these missions was some rather inaccurate flak. The tests were deemed a success, and plans were made to convert the entire 386th Bombardment Squadron to B-32s. The 312th was scheduled to move to Okinawa as soon as the conversion of the 386th BS to the B-32 was completed, redesignated as the 312th Bombardment Group, Heavy in July 1945, the unit moved to Okinawa in August 1945 and received six more aircraft. After the Atomic Bomb missions had been flown, Combat operations were flown with the B-32 in spite of the de facto cease-fire that had been called following the bombing of Nagasaki, during this time, the B-32s flew mainly photographic reconnaissance missions, most of which were unopposed. However, on 17 August a group of 4 B-32s flying over Tokyo were fired on by radar-directed flak and were attacked by Japanese fighters, the American aircraft escaped with only minor damage, claiming one confirmed fighter kill and two probables. During a reconnaissance mission over Tokyo on 18 August, two B-32s were attacked by Japanese fighters, the American gunners claimed two kills and one probable, but one aircraft was badly shot up and one of her crew was killed with two being injured. This was to prove to be the last combat action of World War II, the last Dominator mission of the war was flown by four B-32s on 28 August in a reconnaissance mission to Tokyo
45.
Invasion of the Kuril Islands
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The Invasion of the Kuril Islands was the World War II Soviet military operation to capture the Kuril Islands from Japan in 1945. The invasion was part of the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation, and was decided on plans to land on Hokkaido were abandoned. The successful military operations of the Red Army at Mudanjiang and during the Invasion of South Sakhalin created the prerequisites for invasion of the Kuril Islands. The attack was made by the 87th Rifle Corps of the 16th Army from the 2nd Far Eastern Front, ships and transportation were drawn from the Petropavlovsk military base. The 128th Airborne Division also provided support, the islands were occupied by the Japanese 91st Infantry Division, 42nd Division, 41st Independent Regiment, 129th Independent Brigade, and 89th Infantry Division. The Japanese commander was Lieutenant General Tsutsumi Fusaki, initial reconnaissance was undertaken on 18 August by a detachment of the 113th Separate Rifle Brigade, carried by two mine trawlers to Rubetzu Bay on Iturup island. The landings on Iturup were continued by the 355th Rifle Division, on August 23, the 20, 000-strong Japanese garrisons on the islands were ordered to surrender as part of the general surrender of Japan. However, some of the garrison forces ignored this order and continued to resist Soviet occupation, from 22 to 28 August, troops of the Kamchatka Defense Area occupied the Kuril Islands from Urup north. On 1 September, elements of the 87th Rifle Corps were landed by boats, mine trawlers and transports on Kunashir. This was a landing against Japanese resistance. On 4 September, 87th Rifle Corps occupied five smaller islands, after September 4, Soviet forces occupied the rest of the Kuril Islands without further resistance. The islands remained part of Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, battle of Shumshu Evacuation of Karafuto and Kuriles
46.
Battle of Shumshu
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The Battle of Shumshu, the Soviet invasion of Shumshu in the Kuril Islands, was the first stage of the Soviet invasion of the Kuril Islands in August–September 1945 during World War II. It took place from 18 to 23 August 1945, and was the major battle of the Soviet campaign in the Kuril Islands. Averell Harriman, at an October 1944 meeting, even so, cooperation between the Soviets and Americans was minimal and in August 1945 the Soviets did not have the capability to mount a major sea-borne invasion of Japanese-held territory. Another Soviet goal during the offensive was the occupation of the Kuril Islands, Soviet forces first were to take Shumshu, then Paramushiro, with these two islands under control, the rest of the island chain, which was only lightly held, would fall easily. Gnechko and Pomomarev had orders to assemble a force from forces locally available on the Kamchatka Peninsula. The Imperial Japanese Armys 91st Infantry Division garrisoned both Shumshu and nearby Paramushiro, with about 8,500 troops on Shumshu and 15,000 more troops on Paramushiro, the garrisons were able to reinforce one another if necessary. The Soviets had no tanks and no major warships to commit to the operation, gnechko requested and received a 24-hour postponement, which moved the landing requirement to no later than the evening of 18 August 1945. Gnechko also feared that his force lacked sufficient artillery and naval support for its initial landing. The ships of the force had few large guns – the largest of them. On the Japanese side, the 91st Infantry Division did not expect a Soviet attack, however, the Kurils had been a Japanese possession since 1875, and Japanese forces had garrisoned them throughout World War II, giving them great familiarity with the terrain. Nearby Paramushiro had been the major Japanese base in the North Pacific during the war, the first wave of about 1,000 naval infantrymen went ashore at 0430 on 18 August 1945. By 0530, the Japanese had manned machine guns in pillboxes and foxholes, the Soviets also took too long to begin their assaults against Japanese coastal artillery positions, which the Japanese defended fiercely. At 0600, some Soviet units of the first wave finally attempted an attack on the Japanese batteries on Cape Kokutan, but were too outnumbered to breach the defenses. The Soviets held off a Japanese counterattack by infantry and 20 tanks, destroying 15 of the tanks, and then charged up the heights toward the artillery sites, Japanese coastal artillery soon found the range against Soviet ships. Almost completely lacking radio communication with the troops ashore, the Soviet ships attempts at naval gunfire support were ineffective, when the Soviet second wave headed for shore at 0530, led by 16 ex-U. S. Navy large infantry landing craft – Japanese artillery laid down heavy fire against it, by the time it had finished unloading the second wave at 0900, Japanese artillery fire had destroyed five landing ships – DS-1, DS-5, DS-9, DS-43, and DS-47. The Soviet second wave came ashore without its artillery and mortars, at 0910, Soviet forces on Shumshu – badly in need of reinforcements and supplies – finally established radio contact with the ships offshore and with the four guns on Cape Lopatka. The gunfire from Cape Lopatka was particularly effective, and the Soviet troops held out against repeated Japanese counterattacks
47.
Shumshu
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Shumshu, is the second-northernmost island of the Kuril Islands chain, which divides the Sea of Okhotsk from the northwest Pacific Ocean. The name of the island is derived from the Ainu language, Shumshu is the least elevated in the entire Kuril group with a height of 189 metres. The terrain is low-lying and covered with lakes and marshland. Is roughly oval, and has an area of 388 square kilometres, the island appears on an official map showing the territories of Matsumae Domain, a feudal domain of Edo period Japan dated 1644. Due to its proximity to the Kamchatka Peninsula, Shumshu became the first of the Kurils to be reached by Cossacks from the peninsula in the first years of the 18th century. Although the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan officially confirmed the Matsumae Domain’s claims to the island, also claimed by the Empire of Russia, sovereignty over the island was confirmed to be under Russia under the terms of the Treaty of Shimoda in 1855. In 1875, sovereignty over the Kuril Islands, including Shumshu, was transferred to the Empire of Japan per the Treaty of Saint Petersburg, a number of Japanese colonizing expeditions followed, establishing the settlement of Kataoka as the commercial center of Shumshu. As the island closest to Russia, it became an important Japanese military outpost, the island was administered as part of the Shumushu District of Nemuro Subprefecture of Hokkaidō. In 1910, a cannery was established, and the civilian population exceeded 2,000 by the early 1940s. Towards the end of World War II the island was garrisoned by both the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy. A garrison of over 24,500 men reinforced by sixty tanks was garrisoned on Shumshu in nine locations centered around Kataoka, all coastal areas convenient for landings were covered with permanent emplacements and bunkers, interconnected with underground passages and trenches. All the warehouses, power station and hospitals were up to 50 meters underground and these defenses were manned by the IJA 91st Infantry Division, with the IJA 73rd Infantry Brigade. Miyoshino Airfield was a joint Japanese Army-Navy airfield, located near the center of the Shumshu island and this airfield based several aviation units operating including IJN Nakajima B5N2 and Mitsubishi G3M and IJA Nakajima Ki-44 and Nakajima Ki-43 aircraft. Kataoka Naval Base was under the IJN 5th Fleet and had three 60 oil storage tanks and other barracks and supply buildings, the base also had a seaplane facility on the harbor, as well as a 4000-foot and a 5000-foot land runways at neighboring Imaizaki Airfield. These facilities were subject to air raids from the United States Army Air Forces. The Battle of Shumshu was one of the last battles of World War II, the Soviets forcibly deported the remaining Japanese civilian inhabitants and sent the prisoners of war, including most male civilians to labor camps. The Soviets renamed Kataoka Baikovo, and the Soviet Union annexed the island in 1946, Japan formally gave up sovereignty over the island under the terms of the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951. The island remained a part of Russia after the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union and is now administered as part of the Sakhalin Oblast of the Russian Federation
48.
Boeing B-29 Superfortress
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The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing which was flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. It was one of the largest aircraft operational during World War II and it was the single most expensive weapons project undertaken by the United States in World War II, exceeding the cost of the Manhattan Project by between 1 and 1.7 billion dollars. A manned tail gun installation was semi-remote, the name Superfortress continued the pattern Boeing started with its well-known predecessor, the B-17 Flying Fortress. Designed for the strategic bomber role, the B-29 also excelled in low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing missions. One of the B-29s final roles during World War II was carrying out the bomb attacks on Hiroshima. The B-29 served in roles throughout the 1950s. The Royal Air Force flew the B-29 as the Washington until phasing out the type in 1954, the Soviet Union produced an unlicensed reverse-engineered copy as the Tupolev Tu-4. The B-29 was the progenitor of a series of Boeing-built bombers, transports, tankers, reconnaissance aircraft, the type was retired in the early 1960s. The B-29 production total was 3,970 aircraft, dozens of B-29s remain as static displays but only two examples, Fifi and Doc, have been restored to flying status, with Doc flying again for the first time from McConnell AFB on July 17,2016. A transport developed from the B-29 was the Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter, first flown in 1944, followed by its commercial airliner variant and this bomber-to-airliner derivation was similar to the B-17/Model 307 evolution. In 1948 Boeing introduced a variant of the B-29 as the KB-29. A heavily modified line of outsized-cargo variants of the Stratocruiser is the Guppy / Mini Guppy / Super Guppy which remain in service today with operators including NASA, Boeing began work on pressurized long-range bombers in 1938, in response to a United States Army Air Corps request. Boeings design study for the Model 334 was a derivative of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress with nosewheel undercarriage. Although the Air Corps did not have money to pursue the design, in April 1939, Charles Lindbergh convinced general Henry H. Arnold to produce a new bomber in large numbers to counter the Nazi production, Boeings previous private venture studies formed the starting point for its response to this specification. Boeing submitted its Model 345 on 11 May 1940, in competition with designs from Consolidated Aircraft, Lockheed, Consolidated continued to work on its Model 33 as it was seen by the Air Corps as a backup in case of problems with Boeings design. Boeing received a production order for 14 service test aircraft and 250 production bombers in May 1941. The B-29 featured a design with circular cross-section for strength
