August 22nd, 1945 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: London: Attlee says that the atomic bomb means a "naked choice between world co-operation or world destruction."
CHINA: The Japanese Kwantung Army surrenders in Manchuria. Soviet forces capture Port Arthur and Darien.
MANCHUKUO: The last emperor of China, 39-year old Pu Yi, has been captured and interned by Russian forces in Manchukuo, where he had been head of the Japanese puppet state with the title Emperor Kang Teh. Pu Yi was emperor of China from the age of three to six when the Manchu dynasty abdicated. He was briefly reinstated in 1917. In 1924 he was finally evicted from the imperial palace in Peking, escaping to the Japanese legation and then to the Japanese concession in Tientsin. In 1932 Japan made him head of the new puppet state of Manchukuo, as Manchuria was renamed.
HONG KONG: Japanese AA gunners near Hong Kong fire on USN patrol aircraft over the Chinese coast.
JAPAN: The People's Volunteer Corps, the Japanese equivalent of the Home Guard is disbanded.
Tokyo: The death toll from the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has now reached 70,000 and is still rising. At least another 120,000 have been wounded and 290,000 made homeless by the bombs - a total of 480,000 people affected - Tokyo radio said today. An unknown number of bodies have still to be recovered from beneath the rubble.
The first Japanese scientist to inspect the devastated Hiroshima said that he expected many more deaths. "Many of those who received burns cannot survive because of the uncanny effect the bomb produces on the human body," Suzeto Torii, a technician with Japan's air defence HQ, reported. "Even those who received minor burns looked quite healthy at first, only to weaken after a few days. Many have since died," he said.
Eye-witnesses told him that when the bomb exploded from a parachute 1,800 feet above Hiroshima there was a giant flash followed by smoke that turned into an atomic cloud. People on the ground saw "ripples of circular heat rays" that lasted for about two seconds. "Explosive pressure after the blast was felt for a considerable length of time The relationship between the flash and the explosive pressure seems similar to that between lightning and thunder. Five to ten minutes after the bomb exploded, a black shower rained. It left black stains on white clothing."
MARSHALL ISLANDS: The Japanese commander of Mille Atoll surrenders to the Americans; this is the first Japanese garrison to capitulate. USS Levy receives the surrender.
CANADA: HMC ML 073 paid off.