Nazi Germany has been defeated.
The Japanese people have felt the weight of our land,
air, and naval attacks. So long as their leaders and the armed forces
continue the war the striking power and intensity of our blows will
steadily increase and will bring utter destruction to Japan's industrial
war production, to its shipping, and to everything that supports its
military activity.
The longer the war lasts, the greater will be the
suffering and hardships which the people of Japan will undergo-all in
vain. Our blows will not cease until the Japanese military and naval
forces lay down their arms in unconditional surrender.
Just what does the unconditional surrender of the
armed forces mean for the Japanese people?
It means the end of the war.
It means the termination of the influence of the military
leaders who have brought Japan to the present brink of disaster.
It means provision for the return of soldiers and
sailors to their families, their farms, their jobs.
It means not prolonging the present agony and suffering
of the Japanese in the vain hope of victory.
Unconditional surrender does not mean the extermination
or enslavement of the Japanese people.