‘As the defeat of the fascist imperialists was reaching its dénouement, decolonization via armed struggle was beginning.’
EVEN a Filipino imprisoned for collaborationism knew that Tokyo was toast: “Japan is already beaten. With the hundreds of super fortresses, her annihilation or almost complete destruction is assured. Furthermore, due to her own fault, her dream of union among the countries of Greater East Asia has been blasted. Because of her record in these countries, it will take a century before her nationals will be welcomed in these countries. Not only did she disqualify herself to be the leader of any union to be organized here, but she will probably not even be admitted until she shows that she can treat other people as civilized people do. China may want to be the leader.” [Diary of Antonio de las Alas, July 23, 1945, Monday] He even got the sequence correctly: “Russia declared war against Japan. This is now practically a war by the whole world against Japan. Taking into consideration the military strength of Russia, the Pacific War cannot last much longer. For the first time the Americans dropped in Hiroshima, Japan, an atom bomb. Its destructive power is beyond classification. It is said that it is equal to bombs thrown by 2,000 super fortresses. It kills everything and lays waste to an area covering a radius of seven miles. With Russia’s entry and this new bomb, Japan will have to surrender.” [https://philippinediaryproject.com/1945/08/09/august-9-1945-thursday-2/]
That trajectory had been set 11 February 1945 when Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston S. Churchill had agreed that in “two or three months after Germany has surrendered and the war in Europe is terminated, the Soviet Union shall enter into war against Japan on the side of the Allies on condition that…the Kurile Islands, the southern part of Sakhalin as well as the islands adjacent to it shall be returned to the Soviet Union” and reiterated on July 26, 1945 when the Presidents of the United States and the Republic of China plus the Prime Minister of Great Britain had already given the Potsdam Ultimatum: “The time has come for Japan to decide whether she will continue to be controlled by those self-willed militaristic advisers whose unintelligent calculations have brought the Empire of Japan to the threshold of annihilation, or whether she will follow the path of reason.” [https://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/e/etc/c06.html] [https://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/yalta.asp]
Thus, 09 August 1945, the “Soviet Union, fulfilling its obligations to the allies of the anti-Hitler coalition, joined the war against Japan, launching military operations against the Kwantung Army in Manchuria and Korea. On the territory of the Korean Peninsula, nine powerful Japanese divisions were opposed by the 25th Army of the 1st Far Eastern Front with the support of the Korean National Liberation Movement. On August 14, the day the main phase of the Soviet operation in Manchuria ended, Japanese Emperor Hirohito recorded a radio message announcing Japan’s acceptance of unconditional surrender.” [https://news-pravda.com/world/2024/08/15/689779.html] That was the Gyokuon-hōsō, (Broadcast of the Emperor’s Voice): “We have ordered our government to communicate to the governments of the United States, Great Britain, China and the Soviet Union that our empire accepts the provisions of their joint declaration.”
What was the reaction in the Japanese capital? A Filipino reported: “Till yesterday, till even noon this day, they had believed, with a faith beyond all doubt, that in this holy war of theirs there could be no surrender, and that without surrender, there could be no defeat. Now the imperial rescript might speak obliquely of ‘a settlement of the present situation by an extraordinary measure’, of a war situation developing ‘not necessarily to Japan’s advantage’, of a benevolent solicitude for ‘innocent lives’ and ‘human civilization’. But not the most polished and elegant circumlocutions could hide the fact of defeat.” [Leon Ma. Guerrero, 15 August 1945]
Be that as it may, in the United Kingdom and across the British Empire, August 15 was declared Victory over Japan Day: “Japan has today surrendered. The last of our enemies is laid low…with an ever-increasing speed and violence as the mighty forces of the United States and of the British Commonwealth and Empire and of their allies and finally of Russia were brought to bear.” — Prime Minister Clement Attlee, Address To The British People, 15 August 1945 [https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/victory-over-japan]
For the people of the Dutch East Indies, V-J Day was the curtain-raiser for Proklamasi Kemerdekaan Indonesia and the Indonesian National Revolution. And the people of Indochina launched Cách-mạng tháng Tám — the Total Uprising to seize power in August led by the Việt Minh against the Nguyễn dynasty and the puppet state of Japan. As the defeat of the fascist imperialists was reaching its dénouement, decolonization via armed struggle was beginning.
Thus, on the 80th V-J Day, we relearn the lessons of World War II and recall this supposed Napoleon Bonaparte quote: “The greatest danger occurs at the moment of victory.”
