Originally Posted by
layman
9 August - Hiroshima
11 August - Nagasaki
9 August - Russian launch 'surprise' (and very successful) attacks with forces in excess of 1.5 million soldiers
10-14 August - 1,000 plus B-29 bombing sorties on Japan
10 August and on - numerous raids and shore bombardments by US 3rd fleet (including elements of the BPF)
15 August - Japanese surrender
Layman, while I don't disagree with anything you wrote - it does leave out one rather significant aspect (not being critical of you - it's a little known aspect of the end of the Pacific War).
After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the emperor reportedly said something to the effect that the Japanese people couldn't continue to suffer this way, and it was time to end the war. After the emperor recorded his surrender statement to the Japanese people on August 14, there was an attempted "Palace Coup" by some of the military leaders who wanted to keep fighting - it was a near thing that the attempted coup was unsuccessful (they wanted to destroy the recording but a quick thinking aide had hid it). So while the Russian attack certainly added urgency to the Japanese surrender, it hadn't convinced the military that the game was up.