CAUSES OF DEFEAT

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25301, 7 September 1945, Page 7

CAUSES OF DEFEAT

BOMBING AND BLOCKADE REVIEW BY HIGASHI-KUNI TOKYO, Sept. fi The Prime Minister, Prince HigashiKuni, using the word "surrender" for the first time, told the Japanese Diet that the surrender instrument had been signed only after it seemed almost impossible to carry on. He pictured a Japan virtually prostrated by the Allied bombing and blockade, which liad been chokingly drawn. FJigashi-Kuni said there was little use in going back into the past and trying to put the blame on one person or another. Traversing Japan's increasing difficulties, he said the country's production had dwindled to a point that any swift restoration was considered beyond hope. The shortage of imported salt had left Japan without sodium for explosives. By last May, the parrying capacity of Japanese ships had dwindled to about one-fourth of the pre-war total. Finally came the atomic bomb, which was considered fikely to result in the obliteration of the Japanese people. The Soviet declaration of war brought Japan to the crossroads, uncertain whether to hope against hope in a desperate struggle or stop fighting. It | was the Emperor Hirohito who decided on the order to save millions of his subjects. Higashi-Kuni pictured the Emperor as reluctant to begin the war, and deeply distressed with the thought that should Japan cross swords with Britain and America it would bring on incalculable destruction. The Prime Minister added that there would not be a quick return to the easy pre-war life. Laying the foundation for the\ new and peaceful Japan would be grindingly hard. Allied air raids resulted in 2.200.000 homes being burned and hundreds of thousands being killed and wounded. There were also 10,000,000 war sufferers. BACK TO WAKE ISLAND (liccd. H.IO p.m.) WASHINGTON, Sci>! rt The Stars and Stripes has been hoisted over Wake Island in the nfidPacific after nearly four years of Japanese invasion.