On 9 July, when the U.S. military was clearing up the Japanese puppet army in Changchun, Li Junhao received a telegram from Washington: A summit meeting of the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union was scheduled to be held in Potsdam near Berlin on the 17th, and the topic was to discuss the post-war handling of Germany and the final attack on Japan to prompt its surrender.

Li Junhao thought about it, but still refused. He knew what the conference was discussing and what it was about in history, but when he thought of holding an international conference and the heads of state and diplomats were constantly arguing and arguing for the interests of their respective countries, he felt that he could not adapt to it, so he just waited to see the result! ——

From July 17 to August 2, the heads of state and foreign ministers of the United States, Stalin, and Churchill of the United Kingdom held a final war disposition conference in Potsdam, Germany, at which they agreed on the final disposition of Germany and the decision to urge Japan to surrender unconditionally.

An important episode occurred during the meeting: on May 23, Churchill resigned because the British Conservative Party demanded an early general election, presided over the transitional government under the king's entrustment, came to the meeting until July 25, rushed back to London to wait for the results of the general election, but the result of the general election was confirmed the next day that the Labour Party won!

Therefore, starting on the 26th, the new prime minister was replaced by Clement Richard Attlee of the Labor Party!

On this day, the "Potsdam Proclamation of the United States, Britain and China," drafted by the United States, agreed by the United Kingdom, and approved by Chairman Chiang Chiang of China, who did not attend the meeting, was published.

There are 13 announcements in total, the main contents of which are:

The Allies would deliver a final blow to Japan until they ceased to resist;

The Government of Japan should immediately declare the unconditional surrender of all armed forces;

Reaffirming that the conditions of the Cairo Declaration must be implemented, that after the surrender of Japan, its sovereignty will be limited to Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and the islands designated by the Allies, that the army will be completely disarmed, and that war criminals will be brought to trial;

The Japanese government must respect human rights and guarantee freedom of religion, speech, and thought; not to retain industries which can be rearmed for warfare, but to allow them to maintain their economic needs and to be able to pay reparations for goods, and to allow them to acquire raw materials and resources and to participate in international trade;

As soon as the above objectives were achieved and a responsible government for peace was formed, the Allied occupation forces withdrew.

Subsequently, from 27 July to 1 August, Allied aircraft distributed 1.5 million leaflets and 3 million Potsdam Proclamations over Japanese cities. The Japanese government made its refusal.

——

On August 3, the Japanese army and the main puppet forces in northeastern China were basically wiped out, and the follow-up work will be carried out by the 300,000 underground party troops who have already left the customs and have been armed, and the US troops will retreat to Harbin, Changchun, Shenyang, Lushun and other major cities to garrison.

On the same day, before returning home from Europe, Roosevelt informed Stalin that the Japanese Kwantung Army in northeastern China had been completely annihilated by the American army, and that there was no need for the Soviet army to intervene again......

This result made Stalin's face change greatly, and he wanted to say what he wanted but couldn't say - who made him repeatedly delay declaring war on Japan because he was afraid of army losses, and he couldn't say anything at this time!

Before boarding the plane and returning home, Roosevelt telegraphed Li Junhao, asking him to return to Washington together to discuss important matters.

On the evening of the 4th, the White House advisers and the Joint Chiefs of Staff held an emergency joint meeting, and President Roosevelt asked: After the Japanese government refused to surrender unconditionally, did the US military organize troops to attack its homeland, or did it use secret weapons to strategically deter it and force it to surrender?

In order to make everyone understand the nature and power of the secret weapon, Roosevelt invited experts from the National Academy of Sciences to explain it......

After some discussion, the meeting decided: use the secret weapon! ——

On August 6, a B-29 bomber of the 509 group of the U.S. military dropped the first atomic bomb "Little Boy" used in actual combat on Hiroshima, Japan, with an explosive yield of about 15,000 metric tons of TNT!

According to later estimates, about 70,000 Japanese died directly from the atomic bombing of Little Boy, and about the same number were injured; This will be followed by a large number of deaths from cancer caused by nuclear fallout radiation, and the final number may exceed 200,000!

I don't know if the Japanese were confused or thought that the United States did not have many atomic bombs as claimed, and after suffering in Hiroshima, they still refused to surrender!

The Soviet Union was really frightened, they were also developing nuclear weapons, but they really didn't expect it to be so powerful, so in order to fulfill their promise, they declared war on Japan on the 8th and joined the "Potsdam Proclamation", but unlike the original history, at this time they had no excuse to send troops to Northeast China! ——

On August 9, in the face of Japan, which was still stubborn, the U.S. military dropped a second atomic bomb "Fat Man" on Nagasaki, Japan, this time with an explosive yield of more than 20,000 metric tons of TNT!

Due to Nagasaki's mountainous terrain, the damage caused was lower than that of flat Hiroshima – about 40,000 people died as a direct result of the atomic bombing, about 25,000 people were injured, about 70 million square meters of buildings were razed, and tens of thousands more would die of cancer caused by nuclear fallout radiation.

——

On August 14, Emperor Hirohito of Japan announced his acceptance of the Potsdam Proclamation, effectively surrendering unconditionally to the Allies.

At 12 noon on the 15th, Japan broadcast Hirohito's speech on the radio, announcing that it would accept the Potsdam Proclamation of the United States, Britain and China, implement unconditional surrender, and end the war.

On the 16th, Li Junhao ordered the U.S. Joint Command stationed in the Huhai Concession to notify the Japanese forces in the Huhai Strait, demanding that they surrender to the U.S. forces.

On the same day, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the Allied forces in the Far East, he announced that the US Far East Command would be responsible for the overall surrender of the Far East and the Pacific region, that the Japanese mainland and the Japanese forces on the Pacific islands and the Korean Peninsula would be under the responsibility of the US military, that China's Bay Island, Qiongdao, Hong Kong Island, Huhai, Luda, Qindao, and Jinmen would be entrusted by the US military, and that the rest of China would be surrendered by the nearby Kuomintang troops and underground party troops.

On the same day, the Kuomintang protested to Hurley, the new US ambassador to China, saying that the Kuomintang government should be responsible for all the surrender work in China, and that the US military should not overstep its responsibilities and not grant the surrender qualification to the underground party.

Patrick Jay Hurley took over as ambassador to China at the end of 1944, having previously served at the Far East Command, serving as Marshall's personal adviser and chief of staff, and then came to China as Roosevelt's personal representative to mediate the relationship between the Kuomintang and the underground party, advocating the establishment of a two-party coalition government in China.

At this time, Hurley had already received a telegram from Li Junhao, and of course he complied with the order, telling the Foreign Minister Wang Shijie, who had come to negotiate with the Kuomintang: The affairs decided by the Commander-in-Chief of the Far East, General Pan Sen, are the will of the United States and the will of the Allies!

(End of chapter)