Atsuko Ikeda (池田 厚子, Ikeda Atsuko, born 7 March 1931), formerly Atsuko, Princess Yori (順宮厚子内親王, Yori-no-miya Atsuko Naishinnō), is the widow of Takamasa Ikeda (池田 隆政, Ikeda Takamasa, 21 October 1926 – 21 July 2012) and fourth daughter of Emperor Shōwa and Empress Kōjun. As such, she is the older sister of Emperor Emeritus Akihito. She married Takamasa Ikeda on 10 October 1952. As a result, she gave up her imperial title and left the Japanese Imperial Family, as required by law. Later, she served as the most sacred priestess (saishu) of the Ise Grand Shrine between 1988 and 2017.
By Phil Kohn. Dedicated to the memory of his father, GM3 Walter Kohn, U.S. Navy Armed Guard, USNR, and all men and women who have answered the country’s call in time of need. Phil can be contacted at ww2remembered@yahoo.com.
Three of Japanese Emperor Hirohito’s family are dispatched to China on August 17 to carry the news of the cease-fire to Japanese troops still fighting there. In the Netherlands East Indies, nationalists Sukarno and Muhammad Hatta declare the independence of the Republic of Indonesia, with Sukarno as President. Dutch colonial authorities do not approve, thus beginning the Indonesian Revolution. Korea is divided along the 38th Parallel, with Soviet troops occupying the country north of the line, and U.S. troops occupying the country south of the line. In France, President de Gaulle commutes the death sentence against 89-year-old Marshal Henri Pétain to life imprisonment because of the former Vichy leader’s advanced age and his heroic service to the country in “The Great War.”
Most of Manchuria has been overrun by Soviet forces by August 18. A photographer is killed and two crew members are wounded when one of two American Consolidated B-32 Dominators flying over Tokyo on a photo-reconnaissance mission is attacked by 14 Japanese fighter planes. In the U.S., President Truman orders the full resumption of collective bargaining and the production of consumer goods, and the return of free markets. Indian nationalist Subhas Chandra Bose — who aligned with the Japanese in hopes of overthrowing British rule — dies in a plane crash on Formosa.
Japanese forces in South China surrender to the Chinese First Army in Canton on August 19. The Soviet Far Eastern Army captures Harbin and Mukden in Manchuria. Mao Tse-tung and Chiang Kai-shek meet in Chungking, China, to discuss an end to hostilities between their two factions. However, before too long, long-simmering hostilities between Chinese Nationalists and Chinese Communists break into the open. Representatives of the Japanese government arrive in Manila to conclude the surrender of the remaining Japanese troops there and to receive instructions from Gen. MacArthur on the plans for the occupation of Japan and the signing of the surrender documents.
After discussions in Manila, the Philippines, on the previous day, 16 Japanese surrender envoys depart for Tokyo on August 20. Gen. MacArthur announces that Allied occupation troops will land on the Japanese mainland within 10 days of the signing of the surrender. In Shansi province, in northern China, fighting breaks out between Chinese Communists and Nationalists. In Oslo, Norway, the trial of Vidkun Quisling begins. The former ruler of German-occupied Norway proclaims his innocence after listening to a 14-page indictment accusing him of high treason, murder and theft of royal property. In London, Ernest Bevin, the British Foreign Secretary, condemns Soviet policy in eastern Europe as “one kind of totalitarianism replaced by another.”
The Japanese announce on August 21 that the first landings of Allied occupation troops on Japanese soil will take place on or shortly after August 26th. The government appeals to kamikaze pilots to cease operations. In the U.S., President Truman officially ends the Lend-Lease Program.
Japanese armies in Manchuria surrender to the Soviet Red Army on August 22. The U.S. War Dept. releases an estimate that there are a quarter-million POWs and civilian internees in Japanese hands at present. In the U.S., the government permits amateur radio operators to broadcast over the airwaves once again.
In China, Soviet forces on August 23 capture Port Arthur, taken from Russia by the Japanese in 1905 during the Russo-Japanese War. Japanese forces in Burma say they are ready to surrender now that “the situation has been clarified.” The Japanese government announces that U.S. air raids have left 9.2 million people homeless, with 44 cities completely obliterated. In northwestern England, a USAAF B-24 Liberator bomber, attempting to land during a violent storm, crashes into a school and several houses in Freckleton, killing 61 people, including 38 children as well as the three-man crew.
Although honoring orders to cease fire, Japanese commanders in New Guinea and on Bougainville, in the Solomon Islands, on August 24, 1945, say they cannot order their men to surrender until they receive instructions from higher levels of command. The U.S.S.R. and China sign a treaty of alliance. Jews who had fled from Europe to the British crown colony of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean are permitted to depart for Palestine. In London, British Prime Minister Clement Attlee informs Parliament that the United Kingdom is “in a very serious financial position” due to the sudden ending of the U.S. Lend-Lease program.
On August 25, in China, U.S. Army Air Forces Capt. John Birch, leading a party of Americans, Chinese Nationalists and Koreans on a mission to reach Allied personnel in a Japanese prison camp near Xi’an, is killed in a scuffle with Chinese Communist troops. (The widely known, ultraconservative, anti-communist political advocacy group, the John Birch Society, is named for him.) Radio Tokyo reports large numbers of people committing suicide in front of Japan’s Imperial Palace. In the U.S., seven German U-boat sailors are hanged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for the murder of a fellow U-boat crewman, Werner Drechsler, whom they had suspected of being a spy and a traitor. In fact, U.S. authorities had enlisted Drechsler — whose father had been incarcerated in a Nazi concentration camp as a political prisoner — to spy in POW camps. His transfer to a naval POW camp (which was never supposed to happen) was a glaring error; he was killed within hours of arriving.
Soviet troops on August 26 begin occupying the Kurile Islands and the southern part of Sakhalin Island, which stretch between Japan and the far-eastern U.S.S.R. Chinese Nationalist forces enter Shanghai and Nanking ahead of the Communists.
The Allied fleets anchor in Sagami (Tokyo) Bay within sight of Mount Fuji on August 27. Adm. William Halsey, commander of the U.S. Third Fleet, is present for what is probably the greatest display of naval might in history. The armada includes 23 aircraft carriers, 12 battleships, 26 cruisers, 116 destroyers and escorts, 12 submarines and 185 other vessels. In addition to American and British ships, there are vessels present from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the Netherlands. Japanese envoys arrive at Rangoon, Burma, to carry out surrender arrangements there. In Hong Kong, instructions have been given to the Japanese garrison to surrender to Rear Adm. Cecil Harcourt of the British Royal Navy.
Japanese armies in Burma surrender in ceremonies held at Rangoon on August 28. In Nuremberg, Germany, 24 former Nazi officials are indicted as war criminals per a list drawn up by a “Four Power” Commission that had met in London. Hermann Göring heads the list. Rudolf Hess, formerly deputy to Hitler, who has been a prisoner in Great Britain since May 1941, is next, followed by Martin Bormann, the secretary of the National Socialist Democratic Workers (Nazi) Party, who had disappeared from the Führerbunker in Berlin. An advance team of 150 U.S. Army personnel, led by Col. Charles Tench of Gen. MacArthur’s personal staff, debarks from an aircraft at Atsugi airfield outside of Tokyo to perform the groundwork for the Allied occupation of Japan.
The American battleship USS Missouri arrives in Tokyo Bay on August 29. The Red Army announces that it has captured 513,000 Japanese prisoners in its Manchurian campaign.
Allied forces come ashore in the Tokyo area on August 30. The U.S. Army’s 11th Airborne Division arrives at Atsugi airfield, while the 4th Marine Regiment of the U.S. 6th Marine Division lands at the naval base at Yokosuka. They are the first occupation troops to set foot on the main islands of Japan. Gen. of the Army Douglas MacArthur flies in from Manila to organize the occupation. (The occupation of Japan by American troops will continue until April 28, 1952.) A British Royal Navy force under Rear Adm. Cecil Harcourt liberates Hong Kong. British Royal Marines clash with Japanese suicide detachments in isolated and sporadic fighting in the territory.
