Victory Over Japan Day - Chronology

Chronology

• April 1-June 21, 1945: Battle of Okinawa. 85,000+ US military casualties, and 140,000+ to Japanese. Approximately one-fourth of the Okinawan civilian population died, often in mass suicides organized by the Imperial Japanese Army.

• July 26: Potsdam Declaration is issued. Truman tells Japan, "Surrender or suffer prompt and utter destruction."
• July 29: Japan rejects the Potsdam Declaration.
• August 2: Potsdam conference ends.
• August 6: An atomic bomb, "Little Boy" is dropped on Hiroshima.
• August 9: USSR declares war on Japan, and starts operation August Storm. Another atomic bomb, "Fat Man" is dropped on Nagasaki.
• August 15: Japan surrenders. Date is described as "V-J Day" or "V-P Day" and such in newspapers in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. That evening, General Frank Merrill announced, today is "B Day", the day on which peace talks would begin and occupation operations would be initiated.
• September 2: Official surrender ceremony; President Truman declares September 2 as the official "V-J Day".
• November 1: Scheduled commencement of Operation Olympic, the allied invasion of Kyushu.
• March 1, 1946: Scheduled commencement of Operation Coronet, the allied invasion of Honshu.

Post war:

• Some Japanese soldiers continued to fight on isolated Pacific islands until at least the 1970s, with the last known Japanese soldier surrendering in 1974.