Aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Japan formally
surrendered to the Allies, bringing an end to World War II.
By the summer of 1945, the defeat of Japan was a foregone
conclusion. The Japanese navy and air force were destroyed.
The Allied naval blockade of Japan and intensive bombing of
Japanese cities had left the country and its economy devastated.
At the end of June, the Americans captured Okinawa, a Japanese
island from which the Allies could launch an invasion of the main Japanese home islands. U.S. General Douglas MacArthur was
put in charge of the invasion, which was code-named “Operation Olympic” and set for November 1945.
General Douglas MacArthur speaks to open the surrender ceremonies on the USS Missouri.
General Douglas MacArthur signs the surrender documents. Behind him stand General Jonathan M. Wainwright and
General Arthur E. Percival.
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