Leaflets Announce Japan’s Surrender
On August 12, 1945, following the aborted mission of the previous day, a single 4th Bomb Squadron B-25H dropped hundreds of thousands of “informational leaflets” that announced the surrender of Japan.
“Chinese friends, Japan has surrendered! She has accepted the surrender terms imposed by the United States, Great Britain, China, and the Soviet Union. The hostilities will cease at once.”
— Army Air Corps Museum
On August 12, 1945, the Chinese-American Composite Wing’s 4th Bomb Squadron flew its last mission, but instead of the usual bombload, it carried “informational leaflets” that announced the surrender of Japan.
The CACW’s B-25s had carried their customary ordnance on the previous day’s mission.
The early-morning mission on August 11, code name "Butcher," had included all four CACW bomb squadrons and several of its fighter squadrons. The infamous Yellow River Bridge, just north of Chenghsien, was once again the target. This heavily-defended, two-mile-long railroad bridge, crossing the Yellow River about 150 miles east of the ninety-degree bend that redirects the river's course eastward toward Shanghai, was an important supply route used by the Japanese that carried 3,000 tons of war materiel every day. It had been bombed repeatedly in the past, but the Japanese had always repaired it within a few days and quickly resumed rail traffic on the vital Peiping-Hankow (“Ping-Han”) line. This was to be a final assault, to destroy it "once and for all.” Col. John S. Chennault, eldest son of Maj. Gen. Claire Lee Chennault, had planned the strike and would oversee it. The Japanese had heavily reinforced the bridge deck and installed anti-aircraft and large-caliber machine guns in caves and on both banks of the river, so any low-level bombing attempt would surely be a suicide mission. My father, TSgt. James H. (“Hank”) Mills, remembered there was little hope they would all come back alive. "I figured if we didn't make it, that was my time to go.”
B-24s and B-29s of the 14th Air Force would first knock out the anti-aircraft guns. Next, the fighters would create a smoke screen in front of the machine gun emplacements. Then the B-25s, in groups of four, would fly south along the bridge to release their bombs “at the best angle possible.” The first elements were off at 0600 and had been in the air for about twenty minutes. The 1st Bomb Squadron’s Mitchells had just fired up their engines, and the 3rd Squadron’s planes were at the end of the runway and ready to roll. My dad was in his usual position as tail gunner. Before the bombers were airborne, the tower instructed the pilot, in Dad’s words, "Don't take off. The flight's been canceled.” The pilot turned the plane around and taxied back in. Someone ran out onto the runway shouting, “The Japs have surrendered!” Although Japan had not surrendered officially, discussions had begun, and a cease-fire issued that stopped "Butcher" in its tracks. For them, the war was over. Dad said they didn’t know the US had dropped atomic bombs or that there were any negotiations to end the war.
He said the same thing had happened two days before that: "We were on the end of the runway, and we were ordered to come back.”*
The 4th Squadron’s official operational report recorded one final mission out of Chihkiang, its #433. 1Lt. J. M. McCullar took off at 1235 on August 12 aboard an unescorted B-25H and flew to the Nangyang-Yochow-Siangying delta area to scatter hundreds of thousands of informational leaflets printed in both the Japanese and Chinese languages. The pilot released those loaded in the bomb bay and waist gunners heaved out others loaded in that compartment.
Provided by the Office of War Information (OWI) since early in the war, these "informational leaflets" served a variety of purposes. Some of them, intended for the native population and printed in the local language, explained how downed American flyers could be identified and the steps to be taken to return them to their bases. Others provided vital information about the war situation, such as the need to evacuate specific areas. Printed in Mandarin, other leaflets were intended to encourage Chinese ground forces and assure them of air support as they continued their resistance against the invaders. Still others, written in Japanese, warned the enemy of the consequences of continued aggression and demanded their unconditional surrender, even encouraging them to turn against their superiors. This one informed them of their defeat.
CM-129 that bears that date announced to the people of China the joyous news that “JAPAN HAS SURRENDERED! WAR IS COMPLETELY OVER!” The leaflet, which featured the flags of the United States and the Republic of China, read in part: “Chinese friends, Japan has surrendered! She has accepted the surrender terms imposed by the United States, Great Britain, China, and the Soviet Union. The hostilities will cease at once. The gloomy and painful days you suffered for eight painful years are over and the dawn glows now. . . . Thus, Chinese friends, the final victory is here. You are happy. We are happy too. . . .**
Although the plane encountered some ground fire at Yochow, it returned undamaged. 1Lt. Thomas H. Edgerton, copilot, included this mission in his flight log and noted that the plane was down after four hours and forty minutes in the air. (Edgerton had transferred from the 3rd to the 4th Bomb Squadron in late May 1945.) None of the other three 1st Bomb Group squadrons recorded missions to drop leaflets.
Hirohito, known to his subjects as Emperor Showa, made a somewhat ambiguous public announcement on August 15, stating that he intended to accept the Allied terms of surrender, although not actually admitting defeat. He gave as his reason for capitulation a desire to protect his people from “a new and most cruel bomb” while denying that Japan’s attack on America and Britain had been motivated by “territorial aggrandizement” but “out of our sincere desire to insure Japan's self-preservation and the stabilization of East Asia.”***
Fierce opposition to his decision that went as far as an attempted coup to prevent broadcast of the announcement persisted within his own ranks. Nevertheless, the celebrations across China began. "When we heard the news regarding the unconditional surrender of Japan on the evening of Aug. 15, 1945, we all went crazy to celebrate the day of victory," then-Lt. Tu Kai-mu recalled. "For the Americans of my squadron, it meant that they could finally go home," he later stated in an interview. He described the joyous celebrations: "The whole airbase fell into a state of jubilation. Chinese and American members were ecstatic and hugged each other. I did not drink much up to then, but I drank myself into a drunken stupor that day. I also fired my pistol into the sky until all the bullets were spent. The base and the city were filled with the sounds of fireworks, until all the fireworks at Liangshan had been used up."****
It was not until more than two weeks had passed that the formal document of Japan’s unconditional capitulation was signed. Despite the delay, arrangements began for the positioning of CACW personnel to begin the journey home as soon as the surrender became official.
* See “Suicide Mission ‘Butcher,’” 8/18/2024, for more details.
** SGM Herbert A. Friedman (Ret.), "OWI Leaflets for Burma,” OWI Pacific PSYOP, Six Decades Ago: Principals of Propaganda, January 22, 2005.
*** Andrew Glass, “Hirohito accepts Japan’s surrender terms, August 14, 1945,” POLITICO Magazine, August 14, 2018.
**** "Tu Kai-mu,” interview by Samuel Hui and Pan-I Jung (Taipei, Taiwan, December 2013); and "An Interview with Maj. Gen. Du Kai-mu,” interview by Kuo Gwan-lin, translated by Kuo Gwan-lin and Wang Chien-chi, June 1, 2008, The Immortal Flying Tigers: An Oral History of the Chinese-American Composite Wing (Taipei, Taiwan: Military History and Translation Office, Ministry of National Defense, ROC, 2009).
Want to learn more about this compelling historical account? Find it now in The Spray and Pray Squadron: 3rd Bomb Squadron, 1st Bomb Group, Chinese-American Composite Wing in World War II.