The Desperation of Germany and Japan in World War II
...r established bases in Japan to oversee postwar development. This period became known as the “occupation.” Life, thus, was drastically different for the citizens of Japan and of Germany. The beginning of the end of Nazi Germany began with the Allied invasion of Normandy (D-Day) on June 6, 1944. Next came Germany’s last ditch effort at victory which was, The Battle of the Buldge, in December of 1944. This last chance for the Nazi’s failed to stop the Allied advance into Germany. It is interesting to point out that during his ‘reign of terror’, Adolf Hitler always had a tendency to over-emphasize the power of the will to master difficult situations. In the end, this greatly hurt his own military’s capabilities. They were always forced to do more than they were capable of and this greatly affected effort and morale. The military operations in the first three months of 1945 “had been devastating for the Germans (Dickson, 2001).” The losses in killed, wounded, and captured soldiers mounted into the hundreds of thousands. The German army appeared to be in a state of utter collapse. Many soldiers deserted by wearing civilian clothes and simply disappearing. Still many others, not wanting to fight or die for a losing cause did not obey orders and surrendered at the earliest opportunity. Adolf Hitler wanted to continue to lead his troops by commanding them from his bunker reducing his commanding generals to the status of “highly paid N.C.O.’s (Gilbert, 1970). Still the penalties suffered by commanders who surrendered or ordered withdrawals on their own accord were “barbarous” (Gilbert, 1970). Hitler’s plans for controlling the world had fallen apart. His plans for a miracle coming to save the Third Reich did not happen. On April 29, German commanders decided to negotiate a cease-fire and surrender their forces – in complete defiance of Hitler’s orders (Dickson, 2001)”. The unconditional surrender took effect on May 2, 1945. Germany would now be a divided country and it would have to pay billions of dollars in reparations. “Germany was to be demilitarized, de- Nazified, and divided (Dickson, 2001).” As the Western Allies negotiated with Stalin for Soviet intervention against Japan the planning for the Japanese homeland had begun. With the continued development of the atomic bomb, Japan was faced with the reality that it had all but lost the war. Because of the situation in Japan at that time, any public admission of defeat was impossible. There seemed to be no alternative for Japan, but to fight on. But during late 1944 and 1945 the war continued to go badly for Japan. They were fighting hard on all fronts, but the losses were great. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were devastated by the first deployment of the atomic bomb. The estimates of casualties varied greatly, but it is estimated that between 100,000 and 200,000 people were killed. There was also much destruction. After the bombing of Nagasaki, the news was all bad for the Japanese leadership (Dickson, 2001). The Japanese leadership had a meeting in Tokyo after the bombing. The Supreme War Council, which was running the Japanese war was divided evenly. Three men wanted to continue the war, and the other three wanted to make peace and submit to the allied terms, but with one exception, The Emperor of Japan, looked upon as a God-man for centuries could not be affected. The Japanese sent that proposal of peace to the allies, which was rejected. The Ja...