Interesting historical trivia in the news today. The Japan Times is reporting that:
Hours before Emperor Hirohito decreed Japan’s World War II surrender 60 years ago, two Imperial army generals foiled a coup attempt by a dozen officers to block the historic broadcast.
On Aug. 15, 1945, nearly 1,000 soldiers occupied the Imperial Palace grounds for six hours from 2 a.m., aiming to seize two 25-cm records of the reading of the surrender decree and blocking its noon broadcast that day
Even if the soliders had succeeded in seizing the recordings, its unclear whether anything would have been different. Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been destroyed. Japan had already announced its surrender via radio. Presumably, the Emperor could have made the announcement live, or simply made another recording that would have been broadcast a few days later. Nonetheless, it does show that, even after being completely and utterly defeated, there were some in Japan who still wanted to fight on and is therefore even further justification for the use of atomic bombs to end the war.
Hat Tip: Catallarchy.
