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How the US wanted to dismember Japan

How the US wanted to dismember Japan

Truman sought to turn Japan into an outpost of the fight against communism in Asia

At the Tehran Conference of the Big Three in November 1943 g. Stalin for the first time officially answered the requests of Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill "Help in the war against Japan". "We, Russian, - Stalin said, - we welcome success, who were and are being possessed by Anglo-American troops in the Pacific. Unfortunately, we cannot yet join our efforts to the efforts of our Anglo-American friends because, that our forces are occupied in the west and we do not have enough forces for any operations against Japan… This may be the case, when we make Germany surrender. Then - a common front against Japan ".

If in Tehran, Stalin agreed in principle to enter the war against Japan "Six months after the end of the war in Europe", then at the Yalta conference in February 1945 g. this period was cut in half.

The prospect of the USSR's participation in the defeat of Japan prompted the United States to accelerate work on preparations for the occupation of this country.. Ten months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the US Department of State established a committee for post-war programs chaired by Secretary of State Cordell Hull.. One of the main questions, who stood before the committee, was related to the imperial system of government in Japan.

Two groups were defined: supporters of hard and soft course in relations with Japan. The hardliners said: “To ensure peace and security in the Pacific, it is necessary to take measures, excluding Japan's repetition of aggressive wars. The very reasons for such a policy must be eradicated, namely, the imperial system should be eliminated as a structure for the centralization of power…"Supporters of the" soft world "presented their arguments: “It would be wrong to consider the imperial system and aggressive war as inseparable… The war did not start at the initiative of the emperor, it was only used to untie it… The emperor is necessary as a psychological basis for the post-war reconstruction of Japan ".

Finally, in May 1944 g. the committee decided: the imperial system will be preserved, the territory of Japan will not be dismembered, and the Japanese government will independently exercise leadership of the country. However, the generals had their own views on the occupation policy..

Soon after the surrender of Germany, the Joint Chiefs of Staff began to deal with the problems of the occupation of Japan. (OKNSH) USA, where the "White Team" was created. The generals and officers who entered it were worried, first of all, troop use. When planning a landing in southern Kyushu 1 November 1945 g. (Operation Olympic), and then next March on the east coast of Honshu (operation "Coronet") the developers of these operations proceeded from the probable prospect of loss from 500 thousands to 1 million American military personnel. From their calculations it followed, what would it take to occupy Japan 23 division, or 800 thousands of people.

The problem was, how it will be perceived by American society. And the inner circle of the new US President Harry Truman began to speak out in favor of the joint occupation of Japan by all members of the coalition.. OKNSH accelerated the development of the occupation plan. This time, the Americans had in mind the dismemberment of Japan into occupation zones..

In addition to Great Britain, China was supposed to be involved in the occupation.. It had that plus in the eyes of Americans, that Japan justified its aggression by the ideology of the struggle of the yellow race against "white imperialism" and the occupation of a part of Japanese territory by the Chinese army would weaken the impression of the "racial nature" of the occupation.

And the biggest disagreement was caused by the question of using Soviet troops to occupy part of the Japanese islands.. About, that from a political point of view, the participation of the USSR in hostilities in the Far East is unprofitable for the United States, stated by many American politicians and diplomats. Nevertheless, military considerations prevailed.

On Berlin (Potsdam) conference Truman emphasized, what "The USA expects help from the USSR". Stalin assured, what "The Soviet Union will be ready to go into action by mid-August.". By this time, the OKNSH had already prepared a plan for the occupation of the Japanese metropolis by the armed forces of four states - the United States, Great Britain, USSR and China. The concept of the metropolis included four main islands - Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku - and about a thousand adjacent islands excluding Sakhalin, Kuriles and Okinawa.

American developers proceeded from the fact, that the central region of the main Japanese island of Honshu with developed infrastructure should be controlled by the United States. The industrially sufficiently developed island of Kyushu was supposed to be allocated for occupation by British troops. Backward agricultural areas of Shikoku Island were allocated to accommodate Chinese troops. And the proposed zone of Soviet occupation in terms of area even surpassed the American; The Soviet Union was to place its troops on the island of Hokkaido and occupy the northeastern part of Honshu.

How the US wanted to dismember Japan

The OKNSH plan provided for the admission of troops of other powers to Japan not immediately, and as the American troops withdraw. In the first three months after the surrender, it was planned to place 23 US divisions (800 thousands of people). Over the next nine months, the following forces were to be stationed in Japan: US - 8,3 division (315 thousands of people), UK - 5 divisions (165 thousands of people), China - 4 division (130 thousands of people), THE USSR - 6 divisions (210 thousands of people). At the final stage of the occupation in Japan, it was supposed to leave 4 US divisions, 2 British divisions, 2 divisions of China and 3 Soviet divisions.

There is no evidence in the historical literature that, that Stalin knew about the existence of the American plan to dismember Japan into occupation zones. There are only indications that, that the Soviet leader 28 May 1945 g. in a conversation with Harry Hopkins, he expressed a desire to conclude a special agreement with the governments of the United States and Great Britain to determine the areas of occupation of Japan after victory before the USSR entered the war.

Although there were no specific questions about the conditions of the occupation of Japan between the allies, Stalin believed, that participation in the war in the Far East gives the USSR the right to have a zone of presence of Soviet troops on the territory of the Japanese metropolis. The proposal to allocate such a zone for the USSR on the northern half of the island of Hokkaido was brought to Truman by Stalin after the Japanese emperor announced his surrender.. However, the explosion of the atomic bomb in Alamogordo prompted Truman to abandon the OKNSh plan.. In his memoirs, he admitted: “Although at first I fervently wanted to involve the USSR in the war with Japan, then, based on the hard experience of Potsdam, strengthened his opinion not to allow the Soviet Union to take part in the administration of Japan. In my heart I decided, that after the victory over Japan, all power in this country will be transferred to General MacArthur ".

Why the original American plan to occupy Japan provided for such a vast area for the deployment of Soviet troops? This "generosity" was explained by the desire to use Soviet troops as cannon fodder in case, if a guerrilla war breaks out in Japan. However, no war broke out. The psychological shock from the atomic bombings and the rapid defeat of the Kwantung Army by Soviet troops was so strong, that the Japanese resigned themselves to the inevitable occupation. To a certain extent, the nature of the surrender contributed to this.; it was not unconditional - the imperial system of government was formally preserved in the country.

Truman, already at the first stage of the occupation, sought to turn Japan into an outpost of the fight against communism in Asia., that's why the decision was made "Make the occupation of Japan a purely American enterprise", not allowing the armed forces of other states to enter the Japanese islands, primarily the USSR and China.

Anatoly Koshkin

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