S1·E23 – July 22-July 28: The Final Ultimatum

As the last vestiges of Japanese resistance crumble, Truman announces his intention to drop the atomic bomb. In Burma, 5,000 Japanese troops, trapped in the Pegu Hills, attempt to make a break east towards the Sittang River. In the Philippines, all organized Japanese resistance in the Sarangani Bay area ends. At the Potsdam Conference, President Truman announces that the atom bomb will be used against the Japanese as soon after August 3rd as is possible. And in New York, a freak accident leaves a B-25 bomber implanted into the side of the Empire State Building. This episode of LAST DAYS OF WWII also chronicles the wartime career of Winston Churchill, who became Britain's Prime Minister on the day Germany attacked France and the Low Countries.

Cast

Greg Stebner

Narrator

Max Hastings

Self - Author, 'Armageddon'

Kerry Smith

Self - Professor, Brown University

Gregory J.W. Urwin

SelfSelf - Professor, Temple University

William Atwater

Self - Curator, US Army Ordnance Museum

Alan Brinkley

Self - Professor, Columbia University

Omer Bartov

Self - Professor, Brown University

Donald Dencker

Self - WWII Veteran, Pacific

Richard Rhodes

Self - Author, 'The Making of the Atomic Bomb'

James Sheehan

Self - Professor, Stanford University