ushernet Chapter 795 Signing of the Surrender Agreement
Chapter 795 Signing of the Surrender Agreement
As soon as Japanese Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo finished speaking, Japanese Army Minister General Anami Korechika, Chief of the General Staff General Umezu Yoshijiro, and Japanese Navy Minister General Toyoda Soemu immediately expressed their opposition, and everyone at the cabinet meeting began to argue again.
When everyone had finished arguing, Japanese Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki waved his hand, signaling everyone to be quiet, and then turned his attention to Japanese Emperor Hirohito.
Emperor Hirohito of Japan had been listening to the debate silently since the beginning of the cabinet meeting. At this time, Emperor Hirohito murmured: "In the past few days, I have heard confidence in victory, but the plan and reality are not consistent. As things stand now, it seems that there is no hope of victory against the Allied forces now."
Japanese Emperor Hirohito waved his hand feebly and continued, "At this point we have no choice but to accept the conditions proposed by the Allies. We have decided as Prime Minister Suzuki Kantaro said."
On August 10, the U.S. government listened to the broadcast that the Japanese government accepted the Potsdam Declaration of China, the United States and Britain urging Japan to surrender. After consulting the governments of England, the Soviet Union and China, the U.S. government issued a reply to the Japanese government.
It is required that from the moment of surrender, the Japanese Emperor must obey the Supreme Commander of the United States, and the final form of the Japanese government will be determined by the will expressed by the Japanese people themselves.
On August 12, planes of the United States Air Force dropped Japanese leaflets over Tokyo, Japan, containing the Japanese government's acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration of China, the United States and Britain urging Japan to surrender and the Allied powers' reply. For a time, the news that the Japanese government had accepted the unconditional surrender of the Allies spread among the Japanese people.
On August 14, Emperor Hirohito of Japan convened another imperial conference. At the conference, General Anami Korechika, the Japanese government's Army Minister, said to those who opposed Japan's surrender in tears: "Your Majesty, the Allied reply to the note is unclear about the system of protecting His Majesty the Emperor. We beg Your Majesty to allow you to submit another note to the Allies. If the Allies do not allow us to protect the system of His Majesty the Emperor, we will have no choice but to continue the war and survive."
When Japanese Army Minister General Anami Korechika finished his speech while crying, everyone in the cabinet meeting fell silent in response to this question.
Finally, Emperor Hirohito of Japan broke the silence in the meeting and said feebly: "My decision has not changed."
After Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced his decision, sobbing and crying were heard in the cabinet meeting. Finally, Japanese Emperor Hirohito ordered the cabinet to begin drafting an edict to accept the unconditional surrender of the Allies, and to record the edict for broadcast the next day.
When a group of young guards officers in the Japanese army who were in favor of war learned the news from the cabinet meeting, they decided to stage a coup to prevent the Japanese cabinet government from surrendering.
That night, young pro-war officers in the Japanese army broke into the Japanese Imperial Palace and began searching everywhere, trying to steal the recording of Emperor Hirohito for broadcasting the imperial edict, and prevent Emperor Hirohito from broadcasting his acceptance of surrender to the whole country.
However, the guard troops in Tokyo, Japan quickly suppressed the rebellion organized by the young officers. Subsequently, the surrender edict read by Emperor Hirohito of Japan was immediately broadcast on the radio. After the radio station broadcast the surrender edict read by Emperor Hirohito of Japan, the leader of the pro-war faction, Japanese government Army Minister General Anami Korechika, committed suicide by disembowelment in his official residence.
On August 28, planes of the American Air Force landed at Tokyo Airport, and large numbers of British and American troops began to land on the coast of Japan, thus occupying Japan.
On the morning of September 2, the sky in Tokyo Bay, Japan was clear and the sea was vast, and the American Navy battleship "Missouri" ushered in a solemn moment.
At nine o'clock in the morning, Japan's new Foreign Minister Shigemitsu Mamoru and Japan's Chief of the General Staff General Umezu Yoshijiro signed the surrender document on behalf of the Japanese government. Subsequently, representatives of the Allied Powers who accepted the surrender of the Japanese government, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces General MacArthur, Admiral Nimitz of the United States, Admiral Xu Yongchang of the Chinese government, Admiral Fraser of England, Lieutenant General Derevyako of the Soviet Union, as well as representatives of Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand and other countries signed the surrender document of the Japanese government in turn.
At this point, Japan's war of aggression ended in complete failure, and the whole of China was immersed in a sea of joy. However, another battle without the smoke of gunpowder was about to begin.
On January 19, 1946, the Supreme Command of the Allied Powers in the Far East, with the authorization of the Allies, promulgated the "Charter of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East" and announced the establishment of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, preparing to try Japanese war criminals in Tokyo.
In order to form the Chinese government delegation to the Tokyo Trial, the Chinese government also appointed Mei Ruoyu as the judge of the Chinese government delegation, Fang Fushu, Luo Jiyi, and Yang Shoulin as the judges' secretaries, Xiang Zhejun as the prosecutor, Qiu Shaoheng, Liu Zijian, Zhu Qingru, and Gao Wenbin as the prosecutors' secretaries, Ni Zhengyu as the chief advisor, Wu Xueyi, E Sen, and Gui Yu
He served as consultant, and Zhou Xiqing, Zhang Peiji, Gao Wenbin, Zheng Luda and Liu Jisheng served as translators.
After the Chinese delegation was formed, it boarded a plane from the United States and embarked on a journey to Japan. Compared with the United States, the Soviet Union and other countries that had a large lineup of prosecutors, the members of the Chinese government delegation were very small.
Moreover, the biggest dilemma faced by the Chinese delegation in Tokyo was that the Chinese government delegation lacked solid evidence to accuse the Japanese invaders. This sounds incredible.
In the war between China and Japan, it seemed that there was no need to prove the crimes of the Japanese army. These were all very obvious things, and all that was needed was to punish the Japanese war criminals. However, in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, there must be conclusive evidence to convict war criminals. It was impossible to simply declare someone a "known" war culprit and sentence him accordingly.
The task of collecting evidence of war crimes committed by Japanese war criminals in China was also very difficult, as the Chinese government did not pay attention to collecting and preserving evidence of Japanese war criminals during the war, and the Japanese Expeditionary Force in China destroyed a large amount of evidence after Japan's surrender under the pretext of keeping military secrets.
At the same time, the situation in China is not peaceful, which makes it increasingly difficult for the Chinese delegation to collect evidence of Japanese aggression in China.