Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Above: Map of Pearl Harbor (click map to enlarge)

United States which remained neutral in the World War II till the year 1941 was made to participate by the Japanese by attacking the Pearl Harbor on the Pacific coast. This resulted in participation of the USA in the World War II on the side of the Allied forces.

Above: Pearl Harbor during sudden attacks by Japanese

Destruction of the Pearl Harbor did not mean destruction of the military, industrial and financial might of America. This was still intact. The Allied forces gained advantage by this. They were able to advance towards Japan steadily in order to stop its advancement all over the East and also Australia.

Above: War scene during the battle of Midway

The Japanese and the Allies came face to face in two battles, Battle of Midway and Battle of Coral Sea, in both these battles Japan lost though it was more in number. Battle of Midway proved to be a decisive one. There were more battles, Battle of Guadalcanal and Battle of New Guinea; both these battles were won by the Allies.

Above: Army using artillery attack during the war of Iwo Jima

After these battles were won, the Japanese went on the back foot all throughout the war. In the 1945, US Marines had been able to gain control of the Ogasawa Islands, through the Battle of Iwo Jima, this resulted in beginning of the fall of the Japanese Empire.

Above: Explosions caused by Kamikaze Attacks

Japan had not given up fighting yet. Japan was now volunteering the Kamikaze attacks, or suicide attacks, there were several of these on the attacks throughout the war. The Japanese were left with no choice after their supplies were strangled by the Allied forces.

Above: Scientist conducting experimentation

Japan was also heavily involved in war crimes. Unit 731 was especially known for the war crimes. Here humans especially Chinese, Filipinos, Koreans, Mongols, Soviets, etc. were used as subjects of experimentation. Japanese researched biological warfare in this unit. Plus there were several doctors, scientists involved in research in this unit. Though USA forgave the war criminals for information provided by them, Russia brought these to trials and hanged some of them for war crimes.

Above: Corpses of Children and Civilian during the war

Japanese also carried out shameful acts of mass killing millions of innocents and civilians in different massacres. This was the Nanking massacre where Japanese captured the Chinese city of Nanjing and killed almost three million people in a carnage that went on for six weeks, among those who were killed were women and children.

Another massacre was the Sook Ching massacre, here Japense found out that the Chinese men were either loyal to the British or to the Chinese King, therefore, they decided to eliminate all those who were not loyal to them, they started searching for people not loyal to Japanese between the ages of 18 to 50 and killed them, by throwing them over the boat or killing them with a machine gun.

Above: Pile of burned and unburied bodies;disaster brought by nuclear bombing

Japan went on carrying out these atrocities throughout the war, however towards its defeat, America aggressively decided to take revenge on the Pearl Harbor bombings. America very consciously, with the help of allied forces, started carpet bombing cities of Japan. The main motive was to destroy the industrial might of Japan so that they would be left incapacitated. Then in the summer of 1945 America dropped nuclear bomb on Hiroshima and after 3 days Nagasaki, this led to subduing the Japanese totally, they called this bomb cruel bomb. Thousands died on spots and people kept dying because of the radiation of the nuclear bombs for weeks and years to come. America did this as a part of experimentation; this also brought the war to a halt.

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