Standing in the Snow in 1908. And War in the Pacific.

            The Postcard

A postcard that was published by A. L. There are no indications as to the identity of the lady, but as the photography was by Bassano, a leading society photographer in central London, the lady would have been someone of prominence, probably an actress.

If anyone out there recognises her, please leave a note.

The card was posted in Brighton using a ½d. stamp on Wednesday the 9th. September 1908. It was sent to:

Miss E. King,
The New Inn,
Pevensey,
Sussex.

The pencilled message on the divided back of card was as follows:

"Dear Emm,
Just a card for your
collection.
I hope you will have
a good holiday.
Love & wishes,
Lillie."

 Jimmy Bauchop

So what else happened on the day that Lillie posted the card?

Well, on the 9th. September 1908, Jimmy Bauchop of Crystal Palace started off the football season by becoming the first player to be sent off in a Palace shirt. His ejection from the match occurred during a London Challenge Cup tie against Croydon Common. 

However Jimmy redeemed himself by finishing the season as top-scorer.

Shigekazu Shimazaki

The 9th. September 1908 also marked the birth, in Ōita, Japan, of Shigekazu Shimazaki.

Shigekazu Shimazaki (嶋崎 重和), was a Japanese officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service during World War II.

Shimazaki is best known as the leader of the second wave of the air attack on Pearl Harbor on the 7th. December 1941.

He was piloting a Nakajima B5N2, and led the attack group of 54 high-level bombers and 78 dive bombers. Because of the apparent success of the mission, he and Mitsuo Fuchida, the leader of the 1st. wave of attack, were granted an audience with Emperor Shōwa at the Tokyo Imperial Palace on the 25th. December 1941.

Shimazaki was killed in action at the age of 36 on the 9th. January 1945, near Taiwan. He was posthumously promoted two ranks to rear admiral.

What Shimazaki and the Emperor did not know at the time was that the Pearl Harbour attack had awoken a sleeping giant that would ultimately bring the Empire of Japan to its knees.

The War in the Pacific

On the 6th. August 1945 a U.S. Army Air Forces B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, destroying the city. The Soviet Union then declared war on Japan on the 8th. August. The following day the Red Army marched into Manchuria, where the Kwantung Army, whose best units had long since been withdrawn, could offer only slight resistance. 

A second atomic bomb was dropped, on Nagasaki, on the 9th. August 1945. The emperor, who had been viewed as having near God-like status, insisted, to his deep shame, on surrender. The surrender was accompanied by a wave of suicides amongst military officers and nationalists who felt themselves dishonoured, but the emperor’s personal prestige was still sufficient to carry the surrender process to its conclusion. 

The Pacific War thus came to an end on the 14th. August 1945. Extremists within the military made a final attempt to prolong the war by preventing the 15th. August radio broadcast of the emperor’s surrender announcement, but they were unsuccessful. 

On the 2nd. September 1945, U.S. and Japanese representatives met aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay to conclude the formal surrender agreement.

Subsequent research concluded that neither the atomic bomb nor the Soviet declaration of war were the central factors in Japan’s capitulation, although they hastened its arrival. 

It was concluded that the Allied naval blockade had brought economic victory by annihilating Japan’s merchant marine capacity, and preventing the effective exploitation of Japan’s newly-acquired colonies. 

American submarines sank nearly 5 million tons of Japanese merchant ships, while army and navy aircraft accounted for an additional 2.5 million tons. The devastating American strategic bombing campaign brought the likelihood of defeat to the Japanese public, killing hundreds of thousands and rendering nearly one-third of Japan’s urban population homeless. 

The sanguinary battles in the Pacific had so depleted the strength of the Japanese navy and air force that the home islands could be threatened with invasion. 

The American occupation force found Japan’s cities in ruins, its supplies exhausted, and its factories gutted. The Japanese government, whose boasts and guarantees of victory had proven hollow, stood without prestige or respect. Shortages of food and spiraling inflation threatened what remained of the Japanese government and national identity.

Taken on: May 1, 2023

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