39. The Vastness of Japan’s Conquered Empire Created Communications Difficulties
Japan’s surrender might have been announced in August of 1945 and formally concluded early the following month, but ensuring that all Japanese units and military personnel got word of that surrender was a problem. At its height, Japan’s WWII empire had stretched across thousands of miles. Across that vastness, Japanese military personnel were scattered from the borders of India in the west, to the central Pacific in the east, and from Manchuria and the Aleutian Islands off Alaska in the north, to New Guinea and the edge of Australia in the south.