Victory in Japan Day (VJ Day) on August 15, 1945 officially marked the
end of World War II, but in fact conflict continued throughout the
month. This fascinating title from Barrett Tillman explore the final
weeks of the war, until the shooting finally stopped.
In the 44 months between December 1941 and August 1945, the Pacific
Theater absorbed the attention of the American nation and military
longer than any other. Despite the Allied grand strategy of "Germany
first," after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. especially
was committed to confronting Tokyo as a matter of urgent priority.
But from Oahu to Tokyo was a long, sanguinary slog, averaging an advance
of just three miles per day. The U.S. human toll paid on that road
reached some 108,000 battle deaths, more than one-third the U.S. wartime
total. But by the summer of 1945 on both the American homefront and on
the frontline there was hope. The stunning announcements of atomic bombs
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9 seemed sure to force Tokyo
over the tipping point since the Allies' surrender demand from Potsdam,
Germany, in July. What few understood was the vast gap in the cultural
ethos of East and West at that time. In fact, most of the Japanese
cabinet refused to surrender and vicious dogfights were still waged in
the skies above Japan.
This fascinating new history tells the dramatic story of the final weeks
of the war, detailing the last brutal battles on air, land and sea with
evocative first-hand accounts from pilots and sailors caught up in these
extraordinary events. Barrett Tillman then expertly details the first
weeks of a tenuous peace and the drawing of battle lines with the
forthcoming Cold War as Soviet forces concluded their invasion of
Manchuria. When the Shooting Stopped retells these dramatic events,
drawing on accounts from all sides to relive the days when the war
finally ended and the world was forever changed.
