August 1945

August

• 01

  • The UPA attack on BaligródOn 1 August 1945 a UPA company attacked the Citizens' Militia post in Baligród. The defenders held out until morning; the attackers burned several houses.
• 02

  • Key eventThe end of the Potsdam ConferenceOn the night of 1–2 August 1945 Truman, Stalin and Attlee signed at Potsdam a protocol and communiqué on Germany, reparations and the Oder–Neisse frontier.
• 06

  • Key eventThe atomic bombing of HiroshimaAt 8.15 a.m. on 6 August 1945 the B-29 Enola Gay dropped the uranium bomb Little Boy on Hiroshima – the first nuclear weapon used in war.
• 08

  • Key eventThe USSR declares war on JapanOn 8 August 1945 Molotov handed Japan's ambassador a declaration of war. A few hours later, on 9 August local time, the Red Army entered Manchuria.
• 09

  • Key eventThe atomic bombing of NagasakiOn 9 August 1945 the B-29 Bockscar dropped the plutonium bomb Fat Man on Nagasaki. Estimates put the deaths by the end of the year at 40,000–74,000.
• 10

  • Japan accepts the Potsdam Declaration with a reservationOn 10 August 1945 Japan agreed to accept the Potsdam Declaration on one condition: that it did not prejudice the Emperor’s prerogatives as sovereign ruler.
• 14

  • The Kyūjō incidentOn the night of 14–15 August 1945 War Ministry officers seized the Imperial Palace to stop the surrender broadcast. The coup collapsed by morning.
  • The last raids on JapanOn 14 August 1945 over a thousand US aircraft struck Japan in the last great B-29 operation; air combat still went on on 15 and 18 August.
  • The Sino-Soviet treatyOn 14 August 1945 in Moscow China and the USSR concluded a treaty of friendship and alliance that put into effect the Yalta concessions at China's expense.
• 15

  • Key eventHirohito's broadcastAt noon on 15 August 1945 radio aired Hirohito's recorded address accepting the Potsdam Declaration. The Japanese first heard their Emperor's voice.
  • Victory over Japan DayOn 14–15 August 1945 news of Japan's surrender brought joy to New York, London, Sydney and Chongqing. For Poles it was the end of a war that brought no freedom.
• 16

  • The ceasefire orderOn 16 August 1945 Imperial General Headquarters ordered Japanese forces to cease fighting at once. Three princes were sent to the commands overseas.
  • The Polish–Soviet border agreementOn 16 August 1945 Poland’s Provisional Government and the USSR signed a Curzon Line border deal, leaving Lwów and Wilno in the USSR, and a reparations pact.
• 17

  • The proclamation of Indonesian independenceOn 17 August 1945 in Jakarta Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaimed Indonesia’s independence, forestalling the return of Dutch colonial rule.
  • General Order No. 1On 17 August 1945 Truman approved General Order No. 1: to whom Japanese forces were to surrender, including the division of Korea at the 38th parallel.
• 19

  • The August Revolution in HanoiOn 19 August 1945, after a mass rally in Hanoi, the Việt Minh took the city without a fight. The Japanese stood aside as Bảo Đại’s government collapsed.
  • Communist–Nationalist clashes in ChinaIn August 1945 the Kuomintang and the Communists raced to accept the Japanese surrender. At the end of the month the first clashes broke out in Shanxi.
• 20

  • The trial of QuislingOn 20 August 1945 the trial of Vidkun Quisling, charged with treason and complicity in murder, opened in Oslo. On 10 September he was sentenced to death.
• 22

  • The surrender of the Kwantung ArmyBy 22 August 1945 the Kwantung Army had surrendered to the Red Army; the Soviets took Manchuria down to Port Arthur and sent over 500,000 POWs to the USSR.
• 27

  • The Japanese surrender in BurmaOn 27 August 1945 talks with Field Marshal Terauchi’s envoys went on in Rangoon; overnight a preliminary agreement on the Japanese surrender was signed.
• 30

  • The British return to Hong KongOn 30 August 1945 Rear Admiral Cecil Harcourt’s squadron entered Victoria Harbour, ending three years and eight months of Japanese occupation of Hong Kong.
• 31

  • MacArthur in JapanOn 30 August 1945 MacArthur landed at Atsugi and settled in Yokohama. On 31 August he welcomed there Generals Wainwright and Percival, freed from captivity.