On September 2, Russia and many other countries of the world celebrate the Day of the end of World War II. On this day, exactly 73 years ago, the Act of Surrender of Japan was signed on board the American battleship Missouri, which officially put an end to the worst war in the history of mankind. The surrender of Japan was signed on September 2 at 9:02 am Tokyo time (4:02 am Moscow time); on the Soviet side, the document was signed by Lieutenant General Kuzma Nikolaevich Derevyanko. For the USSR, which, together with other allies, accepted the surrender of Japan, this document became an act of implementation of the agreements of the Yalta Conference of 1945 regarding the return of South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands to Soviet sovereignty.
With the signing of the Japan Surrender Act, the war, which became the largest armed conflict in the history of mankind, officially ended. The conflict, which lasted six years - from September 1, 1939 to September 2, 1945, involved 62 countries of the world out of 73 countries that officially existed at that time, 80% of the world's population lived on the territory of these countries. During the war years, hostilities were fought in Europe, Asia and Africa, as well as in the waters of all oceans. Directly military actions were conducted on the territory of 40 states. During the war years, 110 million people were mobilized into the armed forces of the belligerent countries. The total human losses are estimated at 60-65 million people, 27 million of them died at the front. According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Soviet Union lost 26.6 million of its citizens in this terrible war, including irretrievable military losses amounting to about 12 million people.
Representative of the USSR K. N. Derevianko (standing second from left) is present at the signing of the act of surrender of Japan. General D. MacArthur at the microphone
One more fact can be added to this terrible statistical information. World War II remains the only armed conflict in which nuclear weapons were used. On August 6 and 9, 1945, the Americans dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The victims of these bombings were from 90 to 166 thousand residents of Hiroshima and from 60 to 80 thousand residents of Nagasaki.
On August 8, 1945, the USSR, in accordance with the decision of the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, officially joined the Potsdam Declaration of 1945 and declared war on Japan. At the final stage of World War II, the Red Army carried out the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation, brilliant in terms of organization and results (August 9 - September 2, 1945). The main goal of this operation was the defeat of the largest Japanese ground forces - the Kwantung Army, the liberation from the Japanese of the northern and northeastern provinces of China (Manchuria and Inner Mongolia), the Liaodong Peninsula, Korea, as well as the elimination of the bridgehead of aggression and a large military-economic base of Japan in Asia. The troops of the Trans-Baikal, 1st and 2nd Far Eastern fronts, consisting of more than 1.5 million people, were concentrated against the Japanese Kwantung Army, which numbered about 700 thousand people. They acted in cooperation with the Soviet Pacific Fleet, the Amur Military Flotilla and the troops of the Mongolian People's Republic.
Soviet troops launched an offensive on August 9, 1945, the next day Mongolia entered the war against Japan. The Soviet Air Force struck at Japanese military targets located in Girin (Jilin), Harbin and Changchun, as well as at areas of concentration of troops, communications and communication centers of the enemy in the border zone. The ships of the Pacific Fleet, having entered the Sea of Japan, were able to cut the communications that connected the territory of Manchuria and Korea with Japan. Aircraft and naval artillery of the fleet struck at the Japanese naval bases located in Yuki, Racine and Seishin.
Units and subunits of the Trans-Baikal Front were able to rapidly overcome the waterless desert steppe regions and the mountain range of the Big Khingan, defeating the enemy troops on the Kalgan, Solun and Khaylar axes. By August 18-19, 1945, they reached the approaches to the most important administrative and industrial centers of Manchuria. From 18 to 27 August, the Soviet command conducted a series of airborne assault forces, which were landed in Girin, Mukden, Port Arthur, Harbin, Changchun, Pyongyang and other cities. On August 18, the Kuril landing operation began, during which Soviet troops occupied the Kuril Islands. At the same time, the main hostilities on the continent lasted only 12 days - until August 20, when Japanese troops began to surrender en masse. A day earlier, in Mukden, Soviet troops captured the emperor of the puppet state of Manchukuo Pu Yi, this state was formed by the Japanese military administration on the territory of Manchuria.
With the defeat of the Kwantung Army and the loss of an important military and economic base in Northeast China and North Korea, Japan finally lost all the strength and capabilities to continue the war. The Red Army achieved a crushing victory in the Far East, the main hostilities ended in 12 days. In total, the Japanese and their allies lost more than 700 thousand soldiers and officers, of which up to 84 thousand were killed and more than 640 thousand were taken prisoner. Soviet casualties in battles with Japan amounted to 36, 5 thousand people, including 12 thousand killed and missing.
Today is September 2 - a memorable date for Russia - the Day of the end of the Second World War. It was established on the basis of the Federal Law of July 23, 2010 "On Amendments to Article 1.1 of the Federal Law" On Days of Military Glory and Memorable Dates of Russia "as a token of memory of compatriots who showed heroism, dedication, devotion to their Motherland and allied duty to the countries - members of the anti-Hitler coalition in the implementation of the decision of the 1945 Crimean (Yalta) Conference on Japan.
