Microsoft Close Combat manual World War II ends-and the Cold War begins

Chapter 7 The Big Picture: A Short History of World War II 161

advance of the Fourth Guards Tank Army. This force reaches Prague to find the Germans have gone.

The Russians finally bring Army Group Center to bay on May 10. Over the next two days, the Soviets pound German positions with every available weapon; those Germans not killed begin to surrender. On May 12 it is official: Army Group Center surrenders, and the last major German fighting force is no more. The war in Europe is over.

With the end of hostilities in Europe, the Allies turn their focus to defeating Japan. By May 1945, the Americans have already captured Iwo Jima and made strides toward capturing Okinawa. Although Japanese resistance in the Philippines continues, the battle there is no longer in doubt.

By late July, President Harry S Truman issues a surrender demand through the Japanese Embassy in Moscow. The Japanese respond with conditions that the Allies interpret as a refusal. Truman has already decided that if the Japanese fail to surrender, he will use America’s most powerful and most secret weapon the atomic bomb.

On August 6, the Enola Gay (a B-29 bomber named after the pilot’s mother) drops the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The resulting explo- sion has the force of over 18,000 metric tons of TNT, destroying 60 percent of the city and killing 80,000 inhabitants. When Japan again fails to surrender, Truman orders a second bomb to

be dropped.

Three days after the first atomic bomb is dropped, another B-29 (Bock’s Car) drops the second bomb on Nagasaki. The result is the same: devastation and death on the ground. Still Japan’s military leaders refuse to surrender. They insist that the Emperor’s sovereignty must be maintained; the Allies refuse. Finally, Emperor Hirohito himself orders that the war end. He records a message for broadcast that asks the people of Japan to “. . .

bear the unbearable . . .” When it is broadcast on August 15, it is the first time the vast majority of Japanese citizens hear their emperor’s voice.

World War II is over.

World War II ends—and the Cold War begins