Japan announces surrender 15 Aug 1945
Emperor Hirohito's voice crackles over the radio, announcing Japan's surrender. Three and a half years of terror, ending in a single broadcast few had dared imagine.
This moment felt like a fantasy. The nightmare, somehow, once seemingly impossible, was over.
Though the Japanese seemed to have the upperhand, as the undefeatable power, in Singapore, they were struggling in their own battles elsewhere.
For years, the allied forces had been trying to take down the empire. Those were also the years where atomic bombs were first developed.
And so, in September 1945, the first ever atomic bombs were dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, amounting to a death toll of more than 200,000.
In the midst of the bombings, the Soviet Union also declared war on Japan. Japan was now essentially cornered by every power in the world. Their country was sitting in its own ruins, their people's safety was at threat. This means: parents, their own children, friends, everyone they loved back at home were at the Grim Reaper’s doorstep. They finally realised the catastrophe their own actions inflicted. A taste of their own medicine.
And so, the Japanese agreed to surrender.
On 15 August 1945, Emperor Hirohito made a radio announcement to his people, declaring the decision to unconditionally surrender to the Allies.
Following that, leaflets written in English, Chinese, Japanese, Jawi, and Tamil were dropped by Allied aircraft over places like Singapore, announcing the news of the surrender.
Ten days later, Emperor Hirohito ordered all Japanese forces everywhere, to stand down and demobilise.
