A slip of the tongue by this Japanese translator led to the death of 600,000 Japanese. During World War II , with a loud noise, 600,000 Japanese died. Later, the Japanese looked back and discovered that the tragedy had a lot to do with a Japanese translator. So what did he say at that time that caused so many Japanese to suffer?
Do not take film and television pictures seriously.
Japan was defeated. In October, Italy turned its gun and declared war on Germany, , and the fascist Axis powers began on the road to destruction. A year and a half later, Germany was defeated, Hitler chose to commit suicide, and the fighting on the European battlefield of World War II was basically over.. At this time, only Japan is struggling in the world, and all countries are finally able to take their hands off and concentrate on fighting Japan . But at this time, Japan was still resisting frantically, and their so-called bushido spirit prevailed.
The Emperor of Japan even issued a call for " 100 million jade pieces "! In fact, Japan at this time was unable to launch an attack and could barely protect itself. In the previous war, the Japanese navy was almost completely wiped out after the Pacific War. The positions of the offensive and defensive sides on the Chinese battlefield were quietly exchanged. , the balance of victory is tilting towards our army.. The US military also launched the Tokyo bombing plan against Japan. Under two rounds of bombings by US military aircraft, a quarter of Tokyo was reduced to rubble, 300,000 houses were destroyed, and more than 100,000 people were killed or injured. In order to reduce unnecessary casualties and end the war as soon as possible, the governments of China, the United States and Britain jointly issued the "Potsdam Declaration of China, the United States and Britain Urging Japan to Surrender", requiring Japan to surrender unconditionally as soon as possible. However, at this time, a Japanese translator's cool behavior appeared.
Potsdam Proclamation
Determined Resistance
The publication of the "Potsdam Proclamation" was actually the last warning to Japan. If Japan still persisted in its stubbornness, the Allies would have no choice but to use force. After the announcement of , Japan's top leaders immediately held an emergency meeting to discuss whether to surrender. At that time, Japan began to be divided into two camps: the pro-surrender faction and the pro-war faction. The pro-surrender faction believed that Japan was now facing collapse. If it did not surrender, not only would the country be destroyed but countless Japanese would die. The main militant faction is still immersed in the glory of the Japanese Empire. They believe that as long as they persist, there will be a chance for a comeback in the future. The two sides of
argued endlessly at the meeting, but in the end no consensus was reached. Without making a decision, Japanese Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki began to negotiate with the Allies in a daze. At that time, due to the large number of countries, the negotiation meetings were all facilitated by translators. During the negotiation process, Suzuki Kantaro said that he would ignore the "Potsdam Declaration" for now. In fact, what he meant was that they had not yet discussed it and would inform the Allies after reaching a conclusion.
Kantaro Suzuki
At this time, the Japanese negotiators misunderstood the Prime Minister's meaning. translated it into Japan will completely ignore the announcement and refuse to surrender. , so the original attitude was completely changed by the translation. In fact, this is also due to the Japanese Prime Minister. He has always liked to speak ambiguously since he was a child. This time he said this in order to delay Japan for a while so that he would not be so arbitrary when negotiating surrender. But what he never expected was that the US military had developed a weapon that frightened everyone - the atomic bomb . If he had known earlier, he would never have dared to waste time negotiating the conference table. But now it is too late. In order to avoid Japan's so-called "Jade Broken" plan, the US military decided to give Japan a fatal blow.
A fatal blow
On August 6, 1945, an American B29 bomber carrying a 5-ton atomic bomb took off from Tinian Island and flew to Hiroshima , Japan. At this time, the citizens of Hiroshima were still living their normal lives as usual. They would never have thought that hell would come soon. At 8 o'clock in the morning, a huge mushroom cloud slowly rose with a violent explosion. Everything in the center of the explosion was instantly vaporized. The shock wave destroyed all the surrounding buildings in an instant, and 70,000 people died on the spot. , Hiroshima became a ruin.
3 days later, the second atomic bomb exploded in Nagasaki, killing 60,000 people on the spot, and almost all of Nagasaki was destroyed. On August 15, Japan announced its unconditional surrender. You must know that the United States prepared a total of 6 atomic bombs for Japan. The horror of the atomic bomb does not lie in the moment of explosion, but in the unspeakable harm caused to people after the explosion. People who did not die on the spot due to severe burns died in pain within a few days, no matter how far the explosion range was. Due to the harm of radiation, people's bodies will rot and die within a month. Others who survived had irreversible physical damage, and most also suffered from cancer . Many pregnant women gave birth to malformed children . As of now, more than 600,000 people have died due to the atomic bomb.
After the war, the Japanese expressed grievances that it was not that they did not surrender at the beginning, but that there was a problem with the translation. Why did they send two atomic bombs before they could react? . In response, many netizens said that the translator did a good job, while some said that innocent people should not be killed. What do you think, please leave a like in the comment area, see you next time.
