What if~Emperor Hirohito refused to surrender?

As I keep saying, nothing shook the entire world, nothing has caused so much death and destruction and nothing has shaped the world we live in today as World War 2 did.

Because Hitler and his Nazis refused to surrender, it only brought more death and destruction to Europe, especially on the Eastern Front where the Soviet Red Army used *"Scorched Earth"* tactics where the Soviets would kill, maim, rape, murder and in some cases destroy buildings on their way towards Germany.

When the Nazis finally surrendered, Europe divided once more. Only this time between the Democratic West and the Communist East (with only a few Neutral nations such as Switzerland and Sweden).

This didn't happen at the end of the Pacific theater when Japan surrendered. The Continent of Asia would be governed mostly by Democracy despite Communism conquering China in 1949.

Emperor Hirohito (or the Showa Emperor) even said on a radio broadcast that after Japan was A-Bombed twice that his Imperial Military would stand down and surrender to the United States of America, and on September 2 in the year 1945. The USS Missouri arrived in Tokyo to accept Japan's surrendering.

But what if in an alternate scenario, Emperor Hirohito decided that his nation will not surrender, instead of fighting on? How long the war would last, and what would Japan be like and its relationship with the west be? This is what this page will try to cover. But first, some historical context. Just scroll down to the "What if?" part of the page if you want to skip the real history part.

## Real History

By 1941, Japan had almost complete control over the Western Pacific as they fought the Chinese (both the Communists and the Kuomintang), the Americans in the Philippines and the British in some parts of Indonesia and Southeast Asia.

But as Japan takes French Indochina (present-day Vietnam) is when the USA decided to cut off Japan's supply of Oil since the USA controlled most of Japan's supply of Oil.

In response, Japan's Ministry of War and Prime Minister *Hideki Tojo* announced that Japan has declared war on the USA and said *"It is either Glory or Decline"*.

For months, Japan has been planning an attack on the US Pacific Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor, and on December 7, they attacked the Fleet destroying several Battleships (one of them including the USS Arizona) and killing nearly 4,000 Sailors stationed there.

What this did however is trigger America's anger and desire for revenge as President *Franklin Delano Roosevelt* declares war on Japan. But, Roosevelt decides to put more attention in Nazi Germany first as he believes that the survival of Britain is essential to victory. So revenge would be slow and coming for the US.

It wouldn't be until the *Battle of Midway* when the USA would gain the upper hand over Japan. From that battle, the USA would drive the Japanese from even the Western Pacific.

As the USA nears Japan, it also seizes the opportunity to bomb Major Japanese Cities (including Tokyo).

It wasn't until August of 1945 when the USA used their Atomic Bombs on Japan when hope was all lost for Japan and it's military.

Hirohito than stated on a radio broadcast telling his Military and his people that the war is officially over. This shocked both the military and the people of Japan, hearing that their Divine Emperor has surrendered to barbarians. On September 2, General Douglas MacArthur accepts Japan's surrender ad the war was over.

## What if?

Now here's the million dollar question. What if Emperor Hirohito refused to surrender?

This scenario is for the most part *"Ridiculously Unrealistic"*, this is because there is no way Japan could have gained the upper hand against the USA and defeat them. There is also the other more feared faction in the Soviet Union, and even by the latter part of the war Japan even tried to sue for peace. Here are some factors in detail.

### 1. Japan's military power

One of the biggest factors is that Japan's military was only good enough to fight against it's Asian neighbors such as Korea, China, The Philippines, Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. Unfortunately for Japan, they were no match against a \*real\* industrial power like the United States and even the high ranking officers of the Imperial Military knew that they were going to be outclassed by the US. One of the reasons why they decided to attack Pearl Harbor. Their hope was to "level the playing field" and force the Americans to be on the level with the Japanese and give them a fighting chance. But the Japanese didn't completely cripple the US Pacific Fleet as they didn't destroy the Fuel Tanks nor did they destroy the Aircraft Carriers which would be used for the majority of the Pacific Theater. So the only reason why the USA took several months to act revenge on Pearl Harbor was because (according to President Roosevelt) Nazi Germany was a bigger threat and the US wanted to make absolutely sure that Great Britain doesn't fall to the whim of the Nazis.

### 2. The Soviet Threat

As we were taught in school that the Atomic Bombs (Little Boy and Fat Man) is what made Japan surrender and helped the USA win the war.

But the biggest reason why we were taught that is because it made headline news, broadcasted all over the world. But what the USA doesn't tell us is that the Atomic Bombs weren't alone in forcing Japan's surrender. On August 8, the day before Fat Man destroyed Nagasaki, the USSR declared war on Japan, and an hour later the Soviet Red Army invaded Manchuria.

It was the USSR that the Japanese feared more than the Atomic Bombs, because not only Japan knew how powerful and fearsome the Soviet Red Army were, but the one thing the USSR hated more than a nation run by Democracy was a nation run by a religiously divine leader. By the latter half of the war, Japan had to "pick their poison" as they would rather have the USA occupy them because even if the USA wouldn't let Hirohito rule, they would at least let him live. The Soviets on the other hand would have Hirohito executed (like how the Soviets dealt with the Romanov family during the Russian Revolution).

### 3. Japan tried to call for Peace

Another thing that is a commonly held misconception made up by the American educational system. It is indeed true that Japan has a history of having a military where it tries to create the mindset to choose death over surrender, but that isn't always the case and this is despite what was seen during the Battle of Saipan.

Of course what we know during the USA's Island Hopping Campaign and during the Battle of Saipan that the Japanese knowing that there is no way for them to turn the tide of the war, they resorted to more drastic measures such as the *Banzai Charge* where the Japanese soldiers used bayonet charge tactics against the Invading US Soldiers. The battle would see the 46,000 Japanese casualties, and not just Soldiers. Japanese civilians also chose suicide over surrender, mothers even killing their own children.

But it overshadows another undeniable fact that Japan did try to push for peace with both the Americans and the Soviets. Japan had an embassy in Moscow and during the war the Japanese Ambassador there tried to negotiate peace with the Soviet Politburo. Japan also tried to get a "Conditional Surrender" from both the Americans and the Soviets where no matter the cost of ending the war, the Japanese wanted Hirohito to live if not continue to rule Japan. This wasn't good enough for any of the aforementioned nations, the only way to end the war in the Pacific is for Japan to surrender unconditionally.

### The scenario

It's an alternate 1945, and *The Manhattan Project* is too slow in trying to make an operational Atomic Bomb in time for the war. The Soviets suffer more casualties in the European Theater and can't declare war on Japan.

With no Atomic Bomb for the USA, and the Soviets unable to drive out the Japanese from China, Hirohito states to his military and his people that Japan will fight on. Very much like what Hitler did on our reality. Because of this, the Americans initiate what is called

According to historians, this would begin in either October or December of 1945 and invade the island of Kyushu. This particular operation would dwarf D-Day as there would be 4 times the soldiers and 4 times the equipment. The invasion would also be more difficult since the Main Japanese islands are very mountainous and there are just a handful of locations where the invasion can be mounted. Eventhough the Japanese couldn't fight conventionally against a huge invasion force by the US, but they do have an advantage in Gorilla Warfare, just imagine like caves and bunkers that the US Forces encountered on their Island Hopping operation but on a much larger scale.

Even with an advantage, the USA couldn't fight in Japan alone. In our reality, Roosevelt had urged Stalin to send aid to the war in the Pacific. But they saw the European Theater as a much more important operation. In this alternate reality and with the USSR suffering more casualties, Stalin would be more reluctant to help the US in their fight against Japan.

But this operation would force Stalin into helping the US against Japan. So, just like with Germany, Japan would be sandwiched by 2 invading armies.

Let's say Operation Downfall was a success, and Hirohito still wouldn't surrender (which is unlikely at this point) what happens next? Well, by the spring of 1946 the USA would initiate another invasion operation called

This is a proposed land invasion of the rest of Japan such as Honshu and Shikoku. Now the exact information on Operation Coronet is sketchy at best due to it being in the beginning stages of being wirtten but was scrapped due to the war ending. But it would consist of invading Japan virtually on all sides.

If the Soviets are involved, they would invade Japan from the north, assuming they can still aid the US.

In our reality, the USA were in a race to Japan as they think that whoever gets to Tokyo first, gets to occupy and rebuild the country, and because the US can always use another ally against the Soviets, they wanted to get to Japan first and one of the biggest reason why they used the Atomic Bombs (which were originally supposed to be used against Germany before the surrendering of the Nazis). In this alternate reality, this "race to Japan" could be  much more closer as both factions are basically scratching at Tokyo's front door. But there's a good chance that the Americans would beat the Soviets to Tokyo (as the Soviets would also help out the communists in China and Korea, again assuming that they have the manpower to do so).

After fighting and heavy casualties, fighting seizes. It's hard to tell what would happen to Hirohito, would he surrender or commit suicide.

Whatever happens to Hirohito, the casualties in the fighting in Japan are immense.

The US casualties in this invasion alone is 4 times more than the casualty rate of the US in the entire war in our reality.

Much like in Europe, Asia in this alternate reality is also divided between Democracy and Communism, and Japan is much like Germany: a border between these 2 ideologies with Democracy in the south and east, and with Communism in the north and west (which includes China, Vietnam and the entire Korean Peninsula).

Now, this is a scenario where it can go either way, and it depends on the fate of Hirohito. If he surrenders, then the American and Soviet occupiers would be more welcomed and most Japanese would reject the old Imperial Order. If he commits suicide than the occupiers would have to deal with possible uprisings.

Another thing is that the Japanese Imperial military would be dismantled just like it did in our reality.

But contrary to what we were taught in school or even on some TV Documentaries, the USA \*didn't\* tell Japan to dismantle its military.

Japan did that itself, it was so ashamed of it's military that it dismantled it. The USA actually wanted to rebuild Japan's military so it could have another ally in the impending Cold War.

So, what happens now? Well, we could see a scenario as we did in Korea in our reality, where whoever is the communist leader in Northern Japan would want to invade the South and even wanting to take Tokyo. Though it can be hard to predict since Northern Japan can get cold, especially Hokkaido.

It is also possible that the relationship between the USA and Japan would take longer to recover in this alternate reality.

Nevertheless, the USA could also see a huge influx of immigrants and adopted children from Japan (much like with Korea in our reality). But because Americans would be more hostile towards the Japanese since in the invasion of Japan caused 2 Million casualties, this would definitely be something the Americans would not take lightly, so the Japanese could be like the blacks in the Southern States and be a part of the American Civil Rights movement. The dynamics of our modern era are also changed in ways that are impossible to predict.

For the sake of the people in Asia and America, it's really good that Hirohito chose to surrender, not only did he protect his people, but also the people of America and Asia as well and saved from a potentially deadly invasion of the country that could cause more death and destruction.

Well, that is it for this page. What do you think would happen if Hirohito chose not to surrender? Oh, and don't forget to check out my Games and Movies wikis. Until next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.