01x19 - Endgame

[bunniefuu]

TOM: For almost four years,

American soldiers and Marines
in the Pacific

have struggled across beaches,
through jungles

and atop mountains to subdue
a nation that refuses to surrender.

The effort has been immense.

More is required.

In the spring of 1945,

the United States
will start the final push

to defeat the Japanese empire.

All wars changed the world,

but none of them changed the world
like the Second World w*r did.

Japan's on the march,
Germany's on the march.

No one can imagine the nightmare
they're about to unleash.

The most destructive w*r
in human history.

Suddenly the world
is turned upside down

and all hell is let loose.

The West is stunned by
the speed of the advance.

You get the allies
led by the big three:

Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin.

Men who are dealing with immensely
complicated questions.

It's the biggest military
operation of human history.

The allies have to come together,
not just militarily,

but industrial scale.
It's a global perspective.

HISTORIAN: They have to fight
in every climate,

from the Arctic
to the jungles of the Pacific,

to the deserts of Africa
and the depths of the ocean.

But there was no certainty of victory.

It was going to be
a horrific bloodbath.

We see humans at their absolute worst,

how they treat other human beings,

and we see them at their absolute best,

willing to give their lives
that others might live.

World w*r II was a struggle
in which there could be one victor

and one vanquished.

[b*mb exploding]

[sirens wailing]

[radio static crackling]

RADIO:
With the Rhine's west bank secured,

Britain expects other crossings
of Germany's river of destiny,

after a law to build up
our own strength,

and after that, the end of the
European w*r should not be far off.

TOM: In America in the spring of 1945,

there is hope that the w*r
in Europe is nearing its end.

Husbands and fathers,

boyfriends and brothers

might finally be coming home.

It is front and centre
on the American mind.

How quickly can we get to Berlin

and get the soldiers home?

The public get this sort of
an attitude that,

you know, hey, the w*r's almost over.
They'll be coming home,

but it's almost like a marathon

and you see the finish line
in the distance,

and so you know you
can give one last kick

and then somebody says,

"Actually there's another
three miles to go."

TOM: Victory in Europe
seems within reach.

Victory over Tokyo
remains on the far horizon.

For months, hundreds of B-29s
have been striking Japanese cities

to marginal effect.

The army air forces believed

that a sufficient amount of
pinpoint bombing from high altitude

would take out Japanese industry

and make it impossible for them
to continue the w*r.

It didn't work.

Bombing from 30,000 feet,
the winds were too strong,

blew the bombs all over the place.

TOM: Under the command
of General Curtis LeMay,

the Air Force alters its tactics.

On March 9th, 1945,

LeMay's B-29s will attack Tokyo from
only 5,000 feet using a new weapon.

Bombs filled with napalm.

Napalm is this gel combined with
gasoline that will stick to things

and then it catches fire and it
makes it very, very hard to put out.

It's for starting fires that are
designed to just go out of control.

And the reason it's gonna be
so destructive is that Tokyo is

mostly made of wooden paper
and this is just going to explode.

It'll be incredibly inflammable.

CRAIG: The argument was that

if you destroy the housing units
of the Japanese workers,

they wouldn't be able to go to work
and build the planes and tanks.

They needed to continue the conflict.

But the outcome
was absolutely horrific.

[bombs whirring]

[fire crackling]

HISTORIAN: It is just complete
devastation in Tokyo.



SAUL: We think of Dresden as
being the worst single moment

in the European Theatre of Operations.

The fire storm at Dresden,



but in Tokyo

there's a 100,000 k*lled
in a single operation.

The whole city was a sea of fire.

CHRIS: It was so hot
that canals start to boil

and the fires eat up so much of
the oxygen that a lot of the people

who die asphyxiate
because there's no oxygen left.

A huge proportion of the city
is simply gone in one night.

TOM: The destruction is immense.

16 square miles of Tokyo
are obliterated.

After this one raid, a million
Japanese no longer have a home.

It's unprecedented.

General LeMay later I recall that

he would've been tried
as a w*r criminal

if United States lost in the w*r.

TOM: To survey the damage,

Emperor Hirohito emerges from his
bunker beneath the Imperial Palace.

Emperor Hirohito has been pretty
isolated throughout the w*r,

but he does have a sense
that the w*r is not exactly

going as his generals
and admirals are telling him.

So when the fire bombing
in Tokyo happened,

that only intensifies his desire

to start looking for ways
to end the w*r.

CHRIS: For Emperor Hirohito,
the big concern is not what might

happen to the ordinary Japanese people,

but if the Americans
make it onto Japanese soil,

what might happen to him?

What might happen to the imperial line

that goes back centuries in Japan?

He says,
"I can't possibly face my ancestors

having sacrificed the throne."

TOM: The emperor of Japan
is considered to be divine

with immense authority over his people.

But Hirohito rarely
exerts that authority

in political or military matters.

There's the committee for the
supreme direction of the w*r,

which is six people,
two people from the army,

two people from the navy, the prime
minister and the foreign minister.

Those six are the only six that
had any real say within Japan.

The civilian leaders understood
they couldn't win the w*r,

but the military
are determined to fight on.

Japanese military leaders
have lived their whole life

under a professional code.

That surrender is so dishonourable
you would rather die,

no matter what the suffering,
the warrior does not surrender.

JON: For all the firebombing,
for all the destruction

already rained on Japan,
there's no sign of surrender.

CRAIG: The American high command
now believes that the Japanese

would not surrender
short of an invasion

and occupation of the Japanese
home islands.

TOM: The United States is gathering
its forces for the next phase

of its as*ault on Imperial Japan.

[boat whirring]

The capture of Okinawa,

the largest island on the Ryukyu chain.

Okinawa is just 400 miles
south of Kyushu,

which is the most southerly
of the Japanese home islands,

and therefore can be used
to launch an invasion fleet.

So Okinawa is absolutely
vital to the Americans.

CRAIG: Okinawa would be defended

by about 100,000
Japanese frontline troops

and also native Okinawan
militia forces.

They know that the Americans
have overwhelming superiority

in the air and at sea.

CHRIS: The plan for the defence
of Okinawa

is don't go for a Banzai charge.

Instead, they will prepare
these defensive fortifications,

let the Americans come to them
and take them out that way.

TOM: Using native
Okinawans as forced labour,

the Japanese build a network
of bunkers and tunnels.

CRAIG: And the idea
was k*ll four, five Americans

before you are k*lled yourself.

The Japanese overall strategy
is to make the Americans pay

so much for Okinawa that an invasion
of the Japanese home islands

would be unthinkable.

SAUL: The garrison on Okinawa
is only half the Japanese strategy

for defending the island.

The other element of the plan
is to use kamikaze,

but in far greater numbers
than ever been used before.

The Japanese recognise that
when the Americans conduct

these amphibious landing operations,
the ships offshore are the lifeline

that's keeping the battalions ashore
in the fight.

So they came up with this idea
of these organised waves

of kamikaze attacks.

DAN: And if you launch 300
kamikaze at the American fleet

and you take out seven aircraft
carriers or something,

that is a w*r-changing thing.

[bombs exploding]

TOM: The Battle of Okinawa
starts with the largest invasion

of the w*r in the Pacific.

A massive effort combining
naval, air and ground support.

60,000 soldiers and marines are
bound for Okinawa's western beaches.

The invasion force
will land on Hagushi Bay,

then the Marines will sweep north,
and the army south,

to take control of the entire island.

[g*ns firing]

SAUL: The biggest danger
in an amphibious operation

is the actual landing because
you are incredibly vulnerable.

You are out in the open.

The combat troops going up first.

Both Marine and Army have been
told to expect up to 80% casualties.

So if you've drawn the unlucky straw
of being one of the first units,

you're pretty convinced not
many of you're gonna survive.

They get to the beaches
start walking up it,

body's tense waiting
for the b*ll*ts to come...

...and there is nothing.

MARTIN: They're experiencing
virtually no opposition.

And so there was a thought that

hey, maybe Okinawa's not gonna turn
out to be a big bloodbath after all.

[fast-paced music]

SAUL: The first few days go
very well for the landing forces.

They cut across all the way
to the other side of the island

against minimal opposition.

It's looking too good
to be true at this stage.

YUKI: Military leaders believed
that Japan must fight to protect

the honour of the country.

And these kamikaze pilots
are the chosen ones

to go to this divine mission
to protect their homeland.

They really believe that that
would turn the tide of the w*r.

CRAIG: The pilots are young,
many of them are teenagers,

they're ill-trained.

They don't even have enough fuel to come
back from this flight if they wanted to.

They know they're going to die.

So when they get to the first
American ship they see,

they attack.

TOM: For the first five days
of the invasion of Okinawa,

there's no opposition to the massive
US fleet surrounding the island.

But just after noon on April 6th,
the Japanese arrive in force.

[signals beeping]

Imagine we're on the bridge
of one of these destroyers



The kamikaze come from starboard,
from port, from high, from low.

[planes whirring]

So you feel like you're in a boxing
ring with about five other boxers

attacking you from every direction.

[planes whirring]

Hundreds of kamikaze at a time
thrown against the invading fleet.

They thought with the sheer numbers,

they could take out the capital ships;

that's battleships
and aircraft carriers

and drive off the US fleet
in its entirety.

[b*mb exploding]

CRAIG: The kamikaze don't
really have much success

against aircraft carriers...

[bombs whirring]

...but 300+ ships
are targeted by the kamikazes.

More than 36 of them sink.

It is more devastating than
any conventional bombing attack

has been in the w*r so far,

but it's not enough.

What the kamikaze tells me is that
the Japanese knew the w*r was lost,

at least by conventional means.

There's nothing more dangerous
in warfare than a cornered enemy.

The Japanese
are gonna go down in flames

but will never surrender, never.

TOM: For the US Navy,

the battle against the kamikaze
at Okinawa

is bloodier than any
previous confrontation

of the entire Pacific w*r.

And American ground forces
are now facing

increasing resistance as well.

MARTIN: The force that had landed on
the beaches is pushing south toward

a place called Kakazu Ridge

where they encounter
the first line of Japanese defences.

[b*mb exploding]

SAUL: It's the first time the
Americans meet serious opposition

and it stops them dead.

The Japanese have created
a defensive system that

goes right across the whole
width of the island,

so they can't be out-flanked.

TOM: American troops endure
days of non-stop enemy fire.

[g*ns sh**ting]

SAUL: This is attritional,
grizzly, meat grinding fighting,

and that's just the first line
of defence.

There are gonna be
many more beyond this.

What we thought was gonna
be a cakewalk is anything but.

TOM: April 12th.

The American people learn
Franklin Delano Roosevelt,

the man they elected four times
is dead.

Vice president Harry S. Truman,

a former judge and senator from Missouri

is sworn in hours later.

Roosevelt had led the country
through the Great Depression

and through the w*r.

In the 82 days that Truman
had been vice president,

he met with Roosevelt all of twice.

He really knows nothing about
what's going on with the w*r effort.

He didn't think he was up to the job

and there are people
who would say he was right.

TOM: The new president
is immediately confronted

with enormous challenges.

JON: It's important for the wartime
president to demonstrate

that he has a plan for bringing
this w*r to a successful conclusion

and as rapidly as possible.

It's clear to the American
population that Germany

is on its last legs,
but Japan is still fighting hard.

The question really is,

how many American lives am
I going to lose to end this w*r?

That's the whole ball game
for Harry Truman.

TOM: Truman meets with
Secretary of w*r Henry Stimson

and Army General Leslie Groves.

The agenda is classified.

AJ: They hand Truman a document.

Truman opens it up and reads it

and the memo begins
with these dramatic words.

"Within four months, we shall,
in all probability,

have completed the most terrible weapon
ever known in human history,

one b*mb which can
destroy a whole city."

TOM: The Manhattan Project,

the top secret American program

to develop the world's
first atomic bombs.

For three years, thousands
of scientists and engineers

have worked on the most powerful
weapon in history.

It is set to be tested mid-summer.

ROB: Truman and his commanders
are ready to pay any price

to bring this w*r to an end.

But an invasion of
the Japanese home islands

will be bloody
on an unimaginable scale.

Higher losses than
any previous campaign,

either in the Pacific w*r
or in the w*r in Europe.

The Manhattan project,

the attempt to develop atomic weapons.

If that proves to be successful,

if those tests prove out,

then that is an alternative.

[bells ringing]

TOM: The w*r in Europe is over.

The n*zi Third Reich
has been destroyed.

[whistle hissing]

But for w*r-weary America
and its allies,

the w*r in the Pacific continues,

and many of the men
who helped defeat Germany

may now be required to fight Japan.

At this point,
people in the military knew

that a lot of these units are
gonna need to be transferred.

Just because the w*r in Europe
is over, don't get excited.

We're gonna need those troops
in the Pacific.

[g*ns firing]

TOM: After two months
of ceaseless combat,

Marine and Army units break through

the main Japanese defensive line
on Okinawa.

Japanese troops are forced to retreat

and attempt a last stand
on the Kiyan Peninsula.

CHRIS: By this point,
the Japanese soldiers on Okinawa

are low on ammunition,

they are starving, they're exhausted,

but they realise that the next step
for the allies after Okinawa

is the home islands.

They are all that stand between the
allies and their families, their homes.

They are the last line of defence
and everyone is depending on them.

MARTIN: Although the Americans
have gained ground...

[bombs exploding]

...the more you push and the more
terrain that has been captured,

the more dangerous and costly
the battle is becoming.

But the Americans know
we're making progress.

If w*r is a clash of wills,

the United States is a nation
willing to fight it out to the end.

TOM: Organised resistance on Okinawa
ends On June 22nd.

The Japanese army's commanding general

and his chief of staff both
commit suicide by ritual seppuku.

SAUL: 100,000 Japanese
servicemen are k*lled.

On the American side, the casualties
are 50,000 k*lled and wounded.

These are the worst of battle casualties
in the Pacific w*r for the Americans,

worse than all of that are
the number of civilians k*lled.

Up to 125,000,

which is a third of the population
caught in the crossfire.

COL. DOUGLAS: This is just Okinawa.

What happens when we
get to their home islands?

The cost is gonna be enormous.

This w*r ain't over.

It's not even close to being over.

TOM: American leaders understand
the Battle of Okinawa

is a frightening preview
of what to expect

when Japan's home islands are invaded.

Truman has a meeting
with General Marshall

and the joint chiefs of staff
on Operation Downfall;

the invasion of the Japanese
home islands.

This plan goes back to
the Roosevelt presidency.

Planning is going forward

and the most interested person
at the meeting is George Marshall.

He wants Truman to sign off on it.

Operation Downfall will be
a two-pronged operation,

the first called Operation Olympic.

The idea of Operation Olympic is to
invade the southern island of Kyushu

and seize naval bases and air bases
while pushing Japanese forces north.

The critical phase, though,
of Operation Downfall

is what's code-named Operation Coronet.

It's the invasion of Honshu,
which is where Tokyo itself sits.

So this would inevitably
end in either the destruction

or capture of the Japanese capital.

SAUL: Think about the scale of
Operation Downfall as a whole.



up to a million British
and Commonwealth troops,


and this is gonna dwarf D-Day

in the logistics and the naval of
forces that are gonna be involved.

Then the forces that
are actually gonna land

and most importantly of all is gonna
dwarf the number of casualties.

DAN: If the allies had to invade Japan,

that would be the largest amphibious
as*ault ever undertaken.

And the Americans were gonna
bear almost the entire weight of it,

and the President understood that better
than most of the American public did.

SAUL: Truman specifically
says to his chiefs of staff,

I don't want an Okinawa from
one end of Japan to the other.

JON: So Truman,
in June of '45, is looking at

a brutal final act against Japan.

But it is very important
to Harry Truman

that he always be seen as the decider.

The buck stops here.

Truman understands that this
w*r with Japan needs to end,

the invasion looks horrible.

But what's option B in this situation?

Even at this late date in June,

there's no sense that the Manhattan
Project is going to work.

They really don't know
if they have a b*mb yet.

ROB: And so Truman signs off
on Operation Downfall,

the two big invasions of Japan.

Stage one, Operation Olympic
is set for November 1st.

The clock is ticking.

NORIKO: The Japanese army's plan
is to fight to the bitter end

with a decisive and final battle
in the home islands.

CHRIS: For a while now,
the Japanese army had been planning

what they call Operation Ketsugo,
which means operation decisive.

It's a plan to defend Kyushu.
They think they've got

perhaps a million men that
they can put into the field.

They also want to put civilians
into the field.

Their idea is that they will
make things so terrifying,

that it will stop the Americans

trying to do anything anywhere else
in the home islands.

YUKI: Women and children were
going through the military drills

where everybody was
given a bamboo spear.

They are essentially mobilising
everybody older than 12 years old...

[cheering]

...to fight to the death.

TOM: In July, for the first time,
President Truman

meets with both British Prime
Minister Winston Churchill

and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin
at Potsdam,

formerly the home of Prussian kings
and the German Kaiser.

AJ: Europe is devastated.

It's a massive disaster zone.

The point of the Potsdam Conference

is for these three governments
to come together

and figure out how these countries
are gonna be rebuilt.

But Truman has his eyes on
a completely different problem.

He huddles with
Secretary of w*r Stimson,

and what are they talking about?

They're talking about the Pacific.

TOM: With Operation Downfall
months away,

President Truman seeks
assurance that the Soviets

will participate in the w*r
against Japan as pledged.

CRAIG: All this time, Japan and
the Soviet Union had been neutral.

They had not been at w*r
with one another.

ROB: Stalin promised within 90 days
of the end of the w*r in Europe,

he'll join the w*r against Japan.

He promised that to Roosevelt
back at Yalta.

So Truman hopes that's a go.

TOM: But at the start
of the conference,

Stimson receives a coded cable
from the w*r Department.

"Operated on this morning,

diagnosis not yet complete,

but results seem satisfactory.

Dr Groves is pleased."

Truman now knew that the atomic b*mb
had been detonated successfully.

AJ: In this moment,

we have this amazing window
into Truman's thinking,

because he was keeping a diary.

Truman realises this b*mb could be
a short circuit to ending the w*r.

SAUL: When Truman hears that
the atomic b*mb actually works,

he knows they have to use it,

but he wants to give the Japanese

one last chance to surrender
before he does.

TOM: President Truman, along
with Churchill and Chiang Kai-shek,

the leader of the Republic of China,
issue the Potsdam Declaration,

a warning to Japan of what awaits

if they don't surrender
unconditionally.

But Stimson suggests

they consider allowing Hirohito
to keep his throne.

SAUL: Stimson understands the
constitutional and cultural position

that the emperor plays in Japanese
life, this kind of demigod status.

So he insists on inserting
into the declaration,

assurance that they won't try
the emperor for w*r crimes.

But beyond that, it will be
unconditional surrender,

and no other terms will be acceptable.

AJ: Also in this document is wordage

that does not mention the atomic b*mb,

but it does say that if
unconditional surrender is not coming,

the destruction was
going to be historic and massive.

TOM: The Office of w*r Information
releases the Potsdam Declaration

and the Japanese receive it
via radio from San Francisco.

NORIKO: Prime Minister Suzuki
and Emperor Hirohito

are of the opinion that

the Potsdam Declaration
is not really vindictive.

They see some...

...hope.

YUKI: Emperor Hirohito himself,
at this point,

he is open to accepting it,

but he understands
his role as an emperor.

There are only certain times
for him to weigh in.

SAUL: The emperor and the Peace Party

are in an impossible position here.

I mean, if they respond
positively to the ultimatum,

the military might turn against them,

but if they completely ignore it,

there's a danger that the Americans are
actually gonna carry out what they suggest.

TOM: Two days later,

Japan's Prime Minister Kantaro
Suzuki holds a press conference.

YUKI: When press asks
about Potsdam Declaration,

Suzuki uses the word "mokusatsu."

The best translation for that
is "no comment"

or I'm not going to respond
to that question.

However, the word mokusatsu can
also mean we're going to ignore it.

CHRIS: I think the Japanese media,
they're very quick to interpret it

in the most hostile and negative way.

Then the American media pick it up,

then that becomes the view of the
American administration as well

that the Japanese are rejecting
the Potsdam Declaration.

AJ: And to Truman, the Japanese
response is plain and clear.

He believes that the Japanese
told him to go to hell.

TOM: By early 1945,

Tinian Island in the Marianas
is the largest air base on Earth.

Hundreds of B-29s have taken off

from its multiple runways
to b*mb Japan.

But there's a very mysterious
restricted area

at one part of the base.

No one really knows
what's going on up there.

It belongs to some unit called
the 509th Composite Group.

These are the preparations
for the arrival of the atomic b*mb.

TOM: Components for the atomic
bombs are delivered in late July

and carefully assembled
over the following days.

AJ: So the Manhattan Project was
able to produce enough uranium

and plutonium for three bombs.

And after the Trinity test,

the Americans only had
two bombs in the arsenal.

ROB: Truman makes
the decision to drop the b*mb.

He legitimately wants
to save US casualties

and bring this w*r to an end rapidly.

At the same time, he wants to assert
his authority as president.

JON: It is one of the most
consequential decisions that...

...any nation has ever made,

and no one knows what was gonna happen.

But President Truman did understand

that this was of a different
scale and scope.

He compares it to the biblical flood
in his diary,

"As the world was once destroyed
by water for Noah,

perhaps now it'll be destroyed
by fire and destruction."

TOM: By design, the target
of the first atomic b*mb is a city

relatively unscathed by the w*r.

American military leaders
want the Japanese to understand

the awful destructive power
of this new weapon.

That morning in Hiroshima
is an ordinary morning.

People are going about their business.

Some people are going
into the factories to work.

They're still wondering why
they've not yet been bombed

and they're expecting it
more or less any day.

And then people see
this light in the sky,

sun shining off a single aircraft.

[airplane whirring]

YUKI: The first thing is
the flashing light

as if sun explodes,

then a noise and a shock.

The people who were near
the epicentre...

evaporate.

CHRIS: The casualties mount
until you get between 90,000

and 160,000 people who've died.

The dominant image that
survivors give of Hiroshima

is of one of the Buddhist hells.

AJ: One thing really difficult
for historians to jive with

is this idea that Truman
has chosen military targets

and he writes even in his diary, the
words, "And not women and children."

We'll never really know.

Did he really feel that
this was a military target

or was he writing that in his diary
understanding that

history for generations
was gonna judge him for this?

ROB: Truman is at sea
coming home from Potsdam

when he received the news.

Later that same day,
he goes on the airwaves to address

the American people and to tell them
what has just happened.

He says it's a new type of b*mb
that America has used it

and will continue to use it
until Japan surrenders.

If they do not now accept our terms,

they may expect a rain of ruin
from the air,

the like of which has never
been seen on this earth.

TOM: Even with Hiroshima in ruins,
Japanese leaders do not surrender.

YUKI: The peace camp
pushed for immediate acceptance

of the Potsdam Declaration,

but the military side insists
on continuing the w*r.

The reasoning is that may be
the only atomic b*mb that they had.

So they're still at the stalemate.

And then the Soviet Union
declares w*r on Japan.

TOM: Just as Stalin promised,

exactly 90 days after
the surrender of Germany,

one and a half million Soviet troops

pour across the border into
Japanese occupied Manchuria.

CHRIS: The Japanese aren't
aware that for months the Soviets

have amassed their armour
on the borders with Manchuria.

But now the Russians
are rolling into Manchuria

and they're rolling over the Japanese.

And now you've got the prospect
of the Soviets,

not just making their way
into Manchuria,

but possibly across to the Japanese
home islands.

For Japan, it's a complete disaster.

TOM: On the same day the Red Army
moves into Manchuria,

B-29s appear over Nagasaki.

One carries an atomic b*mb.

DR REBECCA: The US has
just one more atom b*mb left.

But the whole idea is to give Japan
the impression

that the US has an unlimited stock

and that if Japan won't surrender,

the US will continue to unleash
atom bombs on Japan.

TOM: Between 60 and 70,000 people
are k*lled instantly.

SAUL: Prime Minister Suzuki
convenes the w*r council

and the discussion is, are we gonna
accept the Potsdam Declaration?

And the answer from the military is no.

CHRIS: You've had two atomic bombs.

You've had the Soviet
invasion of Manchuria,

and yet the Supreme w*r Council
is still split.

The w*r faction, the military,

they're absolutely not willing to
consider unconditional surrender.

YUKI: That's when Prime Minister
Suzuki makes the very important move

saying that we need to ask the emperor.

CHRIS: This is a standout moment.

This is something you
would never normally do.

There's a sense Hirohito is semi-divine

and shouldn't be troubled with
the decision making process.

It's a really extraordinary step.

BRADLEY: But Hirohito, I think,
sees the gravity of the situation.

He sees that this is a moment
where it's his responsibility

to step up as the leader effectively.

NORIKO: And he says,

"We must bear the unbearable
and suffer the insufferable.

We will end the w*r and then move on."

I have received this afternoon

a message from the Japanese government.

I deem this reply, a full acceptance
of the Potsdam Declaration,

which specifies the unconditional
surrender of Japan.

And people go nuts.

Tens of thousands of people gather
at the gate of the White House.

TOM: The world has been holding
its breath since the w*r began.

Now it is over
and there is great celebration.

ROB: One of the crucial factors
in ending this w*r is that

you have Harry Truman, an accidental
president who had to be briefed

on the wartime situation
when he enters the Oval Office.

And Hirohito, who has never
really made political decisions.

They assert themselves and bring
the w*r to an end in August of 1945.

TOM: Batan,

Guadalcanal,

Iwo Jima,

Okinawa,

once obscure points on a map,

now each place has a new meaning.

In Japan on August 15th,

Emperor Hirohito addresses a nation
that has never surrendered.

ROB: Most Japanese had never
heard the emperor's voice before,

but the Jewel Voice Broadcast
as it became known,

is essential to getting most
Japanese used to the idea

of laying their arms
and admitting surrender.

DAN: When the Japanese
hear that the w*r is over,

there has to be a combination
of feelings.

We sacrificed all these people,
all this money

and these cities of Japan, and we lost.

YUKI: Shock, sadness,

but also this incredible sense of
grief that we let the emperor down.

Our lack of effort let
the emperor down.

CRAIG: The Japanese accepted
the idea of surrender.

The allies accepted
the idea of Hirohito

remaining on the Japanese throne,
and that was the end of the w*r.

TOM: September 2nd, 1945,

on the deck of the USS Missouri
anchored in Tokyo Bay,

the Japanese sign the instrument
of surrender,

the largest conflict in world history

closes with a signature and a speech.

Douglas MacArthur marks the occasion.

"It is my earnest hope
and indeed the hope of all mankind,

that from this solemn occasion,

a better world shall emerge out of
the blood and carnage of the past."