VJ Day - or Victory over Japan Day - on 15 August 1945 ended one of the worst episodes in British military history, during which tens of thousands of servicemen were forced to endure the brutalities of prisoner of war camps. It is estimated that there were 71,000 British and Commonwealth casualties of the war against Japan, including more than 12,000 prisoners of war who died in Japanese captivity. More than 2.5 million Japanese military personnel and civilians are believed to have died over the course of the conflict. The fighting in Europe had ended in May 1945, but many Allied servicemen were still fighting against Japan in east Asia. Japan rejected an ultimatum for peace, and the US believed that dropping a nuclear bomb would force them to surrender. The US dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, killing an estimated 214,000 people, and two weeks later Japan surrendered.
I know a guy who's grandfather worked on the Manhattan project. He told me that he'd said that Japan tried to surrender after Hiroshima, but the US ignored it because they wanted to test the second bomb...
I had an "uncle" who was a prisoner of war in Japan. He returned home safely but was, as I remember painfully thin for the rest of his life. The other thing that I remember about him was that he bought a Datsun Cherry when they were first introduced into the UK, which zi found strange.
My father served in Burma 105 RTR came home Aug 45 pictures of him very thin my mother said he woke at nights screaming and shouting. Never said much about it If you want a film that brings home the suffering they went through watch The Railway Man with Colin Firth
I’ve been reading an article this very morning and apparently the bomb dropped on Hiroshima failed to go off properly. 98.62 percent of the uranium had failed to undergo nuclear fission Apparently the USA had told conventional bombers to spare Hiroshima and Nagasaki as they wanted to assess the full effects of the A bomb. Strangely (to me) the guy who dropped the bomb said he never worried about the morality of it as he was a military man and following instructions. He did feel that lives were saved by the ending of the war. You’d think you would be pleased about ending the war earlier but still think to kill so many people in such a way is immoral. I think VJ Day should be more celebrated to honour the people who had such awful treatment as prisoners of war and to not forget that the war hadn’t finished and people were still in captivity and dieing.
Read where? I've read lots and have seen several documentaries on the topic, and a lot of it is contradictory. If you have a source I'm all ears (eyes).
They would have, no doubt. Not only because they were ruthless but their infantry losses were incredible. They probably would have had more motivation to use them than the US did.
Wife's grandfather spent years in Changi prison from the time Singapore fell - he was a manager for Standard Charter Bank out there, but stayed on for some reason - maybe no choice to get home? Wife's mother never celebrated VE day but always did for VJ day.
Long time ago - read many books on Manhattan Project and end of WW2 - unfortunately can't remember exact titles - but non mentioned the possibility that Japan may have tried to surrender before the Nagasaki bomb. Indeed USA were apparently worried that they may have not surrendered after the 2nd bomb - as there were no more left ready (there were only 3 at the time - 1 tested in USA plus the 2 on Japan) . That of course is the official account - who knows what politicians and military leaders had in mind at the time - there are many stories about Churchill wanting to prolong the war as he was enjoying it so much - perhaps we will never know the exact truth.
There was more condemnation for the bombing of Dresden (deaths 22,700 - 25,000) than the bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki (deaths 129,000 - 236,000)
My father fought the Japanese in Burma, gladly never captured. Never spoke about what happened but me being an inquisitve little git wouldn't stop asking. He told me some things that wouldn't upset a teenager too much so I never pushed it.
My wife’s grandad,Alec, watched the bomb drop on Hiroshima, from his naval ship. After the dust cleared, he walked around taking photos, which my mother in law still has. He got cancer from it, but was cured in Haslar hospital by drugs sent from America. He was a ‘guinea pig’ for them. He came down with cancer again, 5 years ago, but again, beat it. He died last year at 96, of old age. He still had malaria. We don’t know we’re born...
Don't upset the little snowflakes, some are too busy working out which statues to pull down of those who helped to form this country.
