A year after the fall of Nazi Germany, the war in the Far East was not over.

Although the accession of the Soviet Union dealt a major blow to Japan, which not only caused Japan to lose the northeastern part of China, but also seized Korea, the Kuril Islands and the southern part of Sakhalin from the Japanese invading forces.

For the Japanese, the loss of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands was not a big deal, but the loss of Northeast China and Korea reduced Japan's strength a lot.

At that time, Northeast China was an important supplier of materials to Japan and one of the most important industrial centers of the Japanese Empire. Because of the abundant resources and the fact that labor costs are lower than those in Japan, many Japanese companies have set up factories in Northeast China one after another, and even some production lines for armaments and munitions have been moved there.

The DPRK is not only an important industrial base and a supplier of raw materials to Japan, but also an important supplier of troops to Japan.

As early as 1910, Korea became part of the Japanese invasion empire. After the "Japan-Korea Merger", Japan began to develop industry in Korea, built railways, improved the level of industrialization and infrastructure in Korea, and also built schools, and promoted imperialist brainwashing education to strengthen the Korean people's sense of identity with them as "Japanese".

Under Japanese rule, North Korea's economy grew to a certain extent, and its GDP growth even surpassed that of Western Europe and Japan (both of which were affected by the Great Depression).

However, the purpose of the Japanese industrialization of Korea was not to benefit the Korean people, but to serve the Japanese mainland. In addition, the economy of the DPRK was strictly controlled by Japan, so that a large number of the Korean people were oppressed by the Japanese government and capitalists in the process of industrialization, and the development of national capital in the DPRK itself was also brutally suppressed.

But in any case, Japan's development of Korea has caused Korea to contribute a lot of resources and wealth to Japan. After many years of education, a large number of Koreans began to identify themselves as "sons of the Emperor of Japan" and were willing to serve the Japanese invaders.

A large number of Koreans (including Syngman Rhee, the first president of the Republic of Korea), began to serve the Japanese invaders, joined the Japanese invading army, and committed countless evil deeds in the war of aggression against China.

But while Korean men were helping to abuse, Korean women were persecuted by Japanese imperialism. A large number of Korean women were dragged to the battlefield area to serve as "comfort women" for Japanese soldiers, and were forced to provide free *** to Japanese soldiers to meet the physiological needs of Japanese soldiers and improve military morale.

The Koreans were undoubtedly victims of Japan's war of aggression, but at the same time they were helpers of the Japanese invading army. After the occupation of the peninsula by the Soviet Union, the national and revolutionary forces of Korea, with the acquiescence of the Soviet Civil Affairs Department (the Soviet agency that administers Korea), began to retaliate against the "Korean soldiers" who aided and abetted the abuse, the Korean officials of the Japanese government, and their families.

In the Chinese battlefield, revolutionary anti-Japanese organizations such as the Anti-Japanese Federation and the Eighth Route Army, with the help of the Soviet Red Army, recovered large areas of Chinese land from the Japanese invaders.

At the beginning of 1945, the Soviet Red Army, which liberated the entire Northeast China and Inner Mongolia's Chahar, Suiyuan, Xing'an and other regions, joined forces with the Chinese anti-Japanese revolutionary forces to launch the Pingjin Campaign, successfully defeating the Japanese army and liberating Beiping, Zhangjiakou, Tianjin and other important towns in Hebei.

Subsequently, a large-scale campaign was launched against Shanxi, liberating Datong, Taiyuan and other important towns in Shanxi, freeing the people of most of Shanxi and Hebei provinces from the brutal rule of Japan.

After that, in order to prevent the Soviet army from continuing to move south, Japan had to mobilize more troops from the frontal battlefield in China to go north to take precautions, but in doing so, they gave the Chinese government army an opportunity, taking advantage of the reduction of the Japanese army's strength in the frontal battlefield, taking advantage of the situation to launch a large-scale counteroffensive to liberate Hunan, Hubei, Guangxi, and parts of Henan, but because the equipment and combat quality of the government army were not as good as Japan's, their progress was limited, and the casualties were relatively heavy.

While the Chinese people were bravely resisting the Japanese invaders, the American and British troops also launched attacks on the Japanese-controlled islands and colonies in Southeast Asia, and later captured Japan's Okinawa and Iwo Jima, posing a great threat to the Japanese mainland.

However, in the face of successive setbacks, Japanese imperialism did not have the slightest intention of surrendering. They still have the idea of fighting the Allies to the end, and they are still trying to expand their armies in every possible way, preparing for a decisive battle with the Allies on the Japanese mainland and on the land of China.

Fortunately, Japan's plan has not been realized and will not have a chance to be implemented. While the Japanese were actively preparing for war and preparing to give it a go, the United States and the Soviet Union, the two allied powers, were concentrating their efforts on concocting the atomic bomb, Japan's weapon of mass destruction.

In terms of the progress of the development of the atomic bomb, the Great American Empire, which has stronger research and development strength and more resources (throwing money), is naturally ahead of the Soviet Union, but the progress of the Soviet Union is actually not slow, and the investment is also a lot, and with the help of Manturov, a 21st century traveler, some unnecessary research and development steps have also been saved.

It's just that the R&D team on the Soviet side is not as strong as the Great American Empire, and although the funds invested are sufficient, they can't be compared with the local tyrants of freedom and democracy. If Manturov hadn't used the memories of later generations to point out the right direction of development, I am afraid that the Soviet Union's atomic bomb would have to be delayed until 1947 at the earliest.

Fortunately, the progress of the two countries is actually not slow, and no matter who tests the explosion first, the effect is the same.

On July 16, 1945, the first U.S. atomic bomb was successfully tested in the desert of New Mexico, with an explosive yield of about 21,000 tons of TNT.

Subsequently, the United States issued an ultimatum to Japan, demanding that Japan surrender unconditionally, otherwise it would retaliate against Japan with weapons of mass destruction, but the Japanese side did not respond.

On August 5, the Soviet Union's first atomic bomb was tested on a Siberian wasteland, and a similar ultimatum was issued to Japan, but no reply was received from the Japanese side.

On August 6, 1945, the United States, which had been holding back for a long time, finally dropped an atomic bomb called "Little Boy" on Hiroshima, destroying the city of Hiroshima and killing more than 100,000 residents of Hiroshima. But the Japanese, who had suffered heavy losses, were still tough and still refused to surrender.

Three days later (August 9), the U.S. military dropped an atomic bomb called "Fat Man" on Nagasaki, killing another 6-80,000 people, but the Japanese side was still hesitant and had not yet announced its surrender.

On August 10, a Soviet bomber took off from North Korea's Pusan airfield, flew over Fukuoka under the protection of several Yak long-range fighters, and dropped the Soviet version of the "Little Boy" atomic bomb on the city of Fukuoka, destroying most of the city.

The Japanese were so frightened that they were on the verge of running away after the major blow, and had no choice but to announce their unconditional surrender on August 11, the day after the Fukuoka bombing, and on August 15 they signed the Instrument of Surrender with representatives of the United States, the Republic of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, the Provisional Government of the French Republic, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.

This was the end of World War II, which lasted for nearly six years and caused tens of millions of casualties.