The Defeat of Japan (Hardcover)

Following the Pearl Harbor attack Imperial Japanese contingents overran large areas of Southeast Asia and the Pacific until checked by U.S. forces at Midway and Guadalcanal. This book demonstrates how America and the British Commonwealth were able to evolve and apply a victorious strategy in very difficult military circumstances. The Pacific struggle is put in its full international context. Events in China, Anglo-American diplomatic efforts to bring Russia into the war against Japan, and the development and decision to use the atomic bomb are all described. The Japanese response to strategic reverses during 1944-45 is related, as is the way that Emperor Hirohito personally intervened with his militarist government in August 1945 to end the Pacific War. The result of all these converging events was the "Journey to the Missouri" made by the Japanese government and High Command on 2 September 1945 when the instrument of surrender was signed in Tokyo Bay. An epilogue describes how this uniquely bitter struggle had a successful sequel in the occupation of Japan.