Pacific · Japan vs the Allies
Japanese Surrender Announced
15 August 1945
At noon on 15 August the Emperor's recorded broadcast told the Japanese people that the government had accepted the Potsdam Declaration. An attempted coup by junior officers to seize the recording had been put down in the palace during the night. Fighting stopped across the Pacific and Asia over the following days, although the Soviet advance in Manchuria continued.
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Day by day
The Kyujo incident: rebel officers occupy the palace grounds overnight searching for the recording, and the revolt collapses by dawn.
The Emperor's broadcast is heard at noon, the first time most Japanese have heard his voice.
Truman announces the surrender in Washington, where it is still the evening of 14 August; the Suzuki cabinet resigns.