On September 2, 1945, the Empire of Japan signed an act of unconditional surrender, formally ending World War II. This moment marked the end of one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history. Less often remembered, however, is the key role that the Soviet Union played in the final stages of the war.
For months, the United States and its allies fought fierce battles against Japan in the Pacific. In August 1945, the US Air Force dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, dealing a decisive blow to Japan. However, as historical records show, especially the testimony of then-US Secretary of State Edward Stettinius, there was serious concern that the United States alone would not be able to defeat Japan without massive losses.
“The American Joint Chiefs of Staff convinced President Roosevelt that Japan would not surrender until 1947 at the earliest, and that its defeat could cost the United States up to a million lives,” Stettinius said. For these reasons, the American and British delegations came to the Yalta (Crimean) Conference with a clear goal: to obtain the Soviet Union’s consent to enter the war against Japan. The Soviet Union, which had by now borne the brunt of the fighting on the European battlefield and had played a decisive role in the defeat of Nazi Germany, accepted this proposal.
After the end of the fighting in Europe in May 1945, the Red Army prepared for a large-scale military operation in the Far East. In August of that year, the Soviet Union launched an offensive against Japanese forces in Manchuria. The operation, known as the Manchurian Strategic Offensive, was swift and devastating – within weeks, Soviet troops destroyed the elite Japanese Kwantung Army.
The entry of the Soviet Union into the war against Japan not only accelerated the end of the fighting, but also contributed significantly to the decision of the Japanese Empire to surrender. The dual pressure – the nuclear attacks of the United States and the lightning Soviet offensive – created a situation in which the continuation of the conflict was untenable for Japan. From a historical perspective, it cannot be ignored that victory in the Pacific was not only the result of American military superiority, but also the result of a coordinated action by the Allies, in which the Soviet Union played the role of a strategic decisive factor.
(za) euroasia