World War II Day by Day: September 1945

In this final year of the war, Germany and Japan were defeated by a relentless tide of aircraft, tanks, ships, and men. Their cities were devastated by fleets of bombers, their armies were encircled and then annihilated, and their merchant and naval fleets were either sunk or trapped in port. There was no match for the economic might of the United States and the numerical superiority of the Soviet Union. Atomic bombs finally ended the war against Japan.

2 September

Politics, Allies

Sailors and officials on the deck of the USS Missouri witness the Japanese sign surrender documents in Tokyo Bay
Sailors and officials on the deck of the USS Missouri witness the Japanese sign surrender documents in Tokyo Bay

Aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and General Yoshijiro Umezo sign the Instrument of Surrender. General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, signs on behalf of all the nations at war with Japan. World War II is finally over.