UNWILLING SURRENDER
I commend Alexander Izza on his excellent article on Okinawa (MHM 119, October/November 2020) but would take issue with a couple of points.
Firstly, he asserts that ‘… in reality Japan was not planning to fight into
oblivion.’ Whilst this is probably correct, there were still substantial elements in the military hierarchy that were fully willing and prepared to fight on indefinitely in spite of the two atomic bombs. The Supreme War Council was split equally and it was only the personal intervention of Emperor Hirohito that decided the issue.
Even then the outcome was thrown into doubt by the Kyujo incident, the attempted palace coup of 14-15 August 1945. Had the coup succeeded, the Emperor’s declaration of surrender would not have been broadcast, and the
two million trained soldiers and airmen in the home islands and the three million still in the Pacific and Asia would have fought on under the orders of the War Minister, General Anami.
When was Hadrian’s Wall built?