Chapter Seventeen

1.     Empowered by possession of the atomic bomb and determined to minimize the Soviet Union’s role in the postwar Pacific, Harry Truman issued the Potsdam Declaration before showing it to the Russians. Thus, in a diplomatic slap in the face, the Soviets were not allowed to sign the definitive mandate about the ending of the war. They retaliated by accelerating their timetable for the invasion of Manchuria, in an attempt to get a toehold in Japanese-held territory before the end of the war.

2.     Later reports would find that eight American POWs were being held in the Hiroshima Castle.