15th August – Indian Independence day and its significance to Japanese surrender in WW2

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It was on 15th August 1947, that India achieved its independence from almost 200 years of British rule. A long fought struggle that began with the rebellion of 1857 and ended finally in 1947.

The events leading to the transfer of power were quick. The British had advanced the transfer from 1948 to 1947, but the actual day of independence was actually decided by then Viceroy of India, Lord Louis Mountbatten. Now why did Mountbatten decide the date of 15th August?

Now this is where the closure days of World War 2 come into the picture. Lord Mountbatten was then the commander of all the British forces in Asia. After the fall of Germany, Japan was still continued its fight against the Allied powers until the United States dropped the atomic bombs in 1945 on Hiroshima (6th Aug) and Nagasaki (9th Aug). Japan realized it could no longer continue against the most powerful weapon in human hands and 9 days after Nagasaki’s bombing, decided to surrender on 15th August. The Japanese forces in China and South Asia surrendered to Lord Mountbatten on 15th August, 1945.

Having been the commander of a victorious force, the date held extreme importance to him and he also considered it be very lucky date for him. After the war, the next task entrusted to him by the British parliament was the independence of India. He thus decided that the date of India’s independence would be August 15th, 1947.

Many of the astrologers in India at that time considered 15th Aug to be an inauspicious date. The Hindu calendar day starts at sunrise while the English calendar starts at 12AM. Thus the ceremony was preponed to the midnight hour of Aug14-15th as a workaround for the Hindu traditions.


A side note on Louis Mountbatten – It is widely believed that Mountbatten in his teen years was romantically involved with Grand Duchess Maria (Daughter of Nicholas II, Last Tsar of Russia). It is said that till his death in 1979, he kept a photograph of Maria under his pillow.

- Suyash Nigam

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