The USSR vs. Japan, 1945: A conversation with James Scott—Beyond Barbarossa, Episode 106

Historian and author of Empire of Ashes: Truman, Hirohito and the Descent into Total War

James Scott’s latest book, Empire of Ashes, describes in detail the flights that brought nuclear bombs to Japan in August 1945. It also draws intimate portraits of the two leading antagonists on those days, U.S. President Harry Truman and Japanese Emperor Hirohito, from their earliest days through the personal transformations that ushered in a new era of warfare.

Maps

Map 1: Flight paths of Enola Gay and Bockscar

Map 2: Bloodiest U.S.-Japan clashes in the Pacific, Iwo Jima and Okinawa

Note how close Okinawa is to southernmost Japanese home island, Kyuushu.

Map 3: Japanese islands

Map 4: Soviet incursion into Japanese-occupied Manchuria, August 1945

Map 5: Soviet seizure of Sakhalin Island and Kuril Islands, August 1945

Historical photos