Part 3: July 1945 - January 1946
...the Pacific War was, for all intents and purposes, a totally separate conflict from the one that was being waged in Europe. It’s a testament to the great, untapped strength and righteous fury of America that, after the poke in the eye that was Pearl Harbor, they were able to mobilize incredibly rapidly, create an army and air force virtually from scratch, massively expand their already respectable navy, wage wars on the other side of two major oceans, and was able to supply all their allies with food, raw resources, weapons, material, shipping, and infrastructure for virtually free…
...the set back of Normandy in Europe did little to change the tide of the war in the Pacific. By mid 1944, Japan’s Imperial experiment had virtually failed. The destruction of the naval fleets and air armadas that made the whole Pacific Rim shake with fear was gone. By the start of 1945, he was replaced with suicide charges by battleships with enough fuel for a one way trip, and airplanes whose pilots only had enough training to take off and fly at an American ship…
...The US Army Air Force, with their massive B-29 bombers, could hit the Home Islands by the end of November 1944, and had begun to lay waste to Japan in earnest in the New Year. Small specks on the map with such foreign sounding names as Saipan, Peleliu, Leyte, Luzon, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa were now permanently etched in the histories of the United States, these great but incredibly costly victories leading up to what would be the greatest invasion of them all: Japan itself…
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, The Second World War, Volume 6 “Triumph and Tragedy” Published 1953
The meeting at Potsdam was the first time that Premier Stalin had met the new American President. Dewey, with his thin mustache, stiff formal appearance, and icy demeanor made the Premier very suspicious of President Dewey. His avoidance of the Yalta conference in February did little to appease Stalin, who by then was ranting and raving that Dewey was little better than a capitalist wo was only thinking of the bottom line, how to make the most money, and when to cut and run…
… Dewey surprised Premier Stalin in private though. There, he was friendly, charming, and remarkably friendly, and Stalin said he got along well with Dewey. But where Roosevelt had an idealistic outlook and plan for the future, but was willing to pragmatically compromise, Dewey had few ideals and spoke often in vague terms, but refused to bend on certain points. The Americans were adamant that democratic elections be held in all of Eastern Europe, the land occupied by the USSR, and the governments in exile return home…
...Stalin, at the meetings, would agree, promise all that Dewey and Attlee wanted to hear, then tell Molotov or Beria or whoever to figure out how to delay the elections, or rig them to ensure Communist victory…
… By now Stalin knew of the Manhattan Project. He was quite surprised that Dewey didn’t say anything about it, or asked for help dealing with Japan. When Stalin did offer to declare war on Japan to help out, Dewey only gave a vague statement along the lines of “... thank you for the offer, I will have to consider it, but you shouldn’t worry yourselves about the Japs.” Stalin still had Stavka make up the plans...
Interview with Captain Georgiy Kilesso, February 9, 1964, Toronto, Canada
...it’s not in the nature of the Japanese to surrender easily. Every battle we have fought from Guadalcanal right to the doorstep of their islands has been met by vicious resistance and bloody fighting, where only a tiny handful of the defenders, and usually only if they were wounded or incapacitated, would surrender.
… we could cut them off, starve them, consign their islands the most strict of blockades and never ending bombardment from the air. But would they surrender even with all this?
...it may take a weapon so great, so powerful, that no one has yet conceived of it.
Draft of New York Times editorial, July 14, 1945. Censored and not allowed to be published.
"Now we are all sons of bitches."
Kenneth Bainbridge to J. Robert Oppenheimer, July 16, 1945 during the first detonation of an atomic bomb at Trinity Test Site, New Mexico.
The operation was a success. Dr. Groves said the patient is recovering well. Should be released in three weeks.
Message sent to Secretary of War Robert A. Lovett in Potsdam, July 17, 1945
INVASION OF JAPAN: HOW TO DEFEAT THE FINAL BASTION OF AGGRESSION
TIME Magazine, August 4, 1945
… Dewey had been given an incredibly quick lesson in nuclear physics and the implications of the device that the Manhattan Project had developed since he was first told about it the day before his inauguration by outgoing President Henry Wallace. For weeks he had been debating with only a few members of his staff, namely General Marshall and Secretary of War Lovett, on how best to use the atomic bomb, or if to use it at all. Use it to clear the way of the beachheads of the invasion? Demonstrate it for the world press and have them warn of the danger? Or just use it wipe out a city?
The President went back and forth on the different options. But in the end it all came down to the sobering numbers that were being mentioned of casualties of Operation Downfall, the invasion of Japan: anywhere from 500,000 to two million total casualties, many hundreds of thousands dead, if the Japanese civilians resist the Allied invasion with the same ferocity of its soldiers.
“If they said that the atomic bombs would have only saved one American life, I would have still done it in a heartbeat,” Dewey told General MacArthur years later. “Then, at least, I would have saved at least one brave soldier who otherwise would have died.”
The Little Man: The Presidency of Thomas E. Dewey - 1944-1952: Written by William B. Pickett (published 1990)
TARGET LIST:
The following targets are selected for deployment of the weapon, with approval from the President and Secretary of War:
Kokura: industrial center, largest munition plant in Japan
Kyoto: Major industrial era, ancient capital of Japan.
Hiroshima: major port, industrial center, HQ of Second General Army
Yokohama: major port, Aircraft manufacture, and industrial tools
Niigata: major port, steel and aluminum, oil refinery.
Final Target list given to 509th Composite Group, August 10, 1945
… Hirohito had, with the suggestion of Prime Minister Kantarō Suzuki, relocated with the his family to Kyoto, due to the lack of bombing of the old capital. Tokyo barely existed now: it was a city of ash and wreckage after many firebombing strikes against the city. It would do no good to have the emperor die from an American firestorm, though it would have undoubtedly strengthened the resolve of Japanese citizens to fight to the end.
The Emperor and his family arrived in Kyoto on August 4, 1945, and it had been decided that the Prime Minister and the other ministers would make a weekly trip by vehicle to confer with the Emperor. There was no talk of ending the war, even at this point. The invasion of Japan, forecasted to begin soon, would, as predicted constantly by the generals and admirals, result in such a bloodletting, so many American and Allied casualties, that they would have to sue for peace…
Complete History of World War II, Published 1987
Primary target was the city of Kokura. However, heavy cloud cover over the city when mission arrived necessitated moving to secondary target… bomber codenamed Top Secret reached the target at 0809, flying at 31,060 feet… The device was released at 0815, detonation occured 44 seconds after… Bomb was 500 yards off target...
After Action Report, submitted August 15, 1945, declassified 1970
My family and I lived in the Ukyō Ward, and I was walking to work with my sister (Koume) at a factory near the river when there was a sudden bright light, like when you open a door from a dark room into a sunny day. My sister screamed in pain and fell down, as she had been facing the south where the bomb occured while I was looking away because I thought someone had called my name...
...When I finally turned around to see what happened to my sister, I looked to the south, I saw a great cloud, rising high into the sky, like a mushroom. Then I was knocked off my feet by a great, monstrous wind, that made all the buildings around me fall down, with glass breaking and wood snapping and the cries of many demons screaming…
...I was finally able to get up. My back felt like it was on fire, as well as my hair and clothes. I took them off to try to put out the fire. I looked to my sister, who was lying on the street next to me. She was still covering her eyes, crying in pain. I went to her, and tried to help her. Her clothes had melted onto her skin, her face was badly burnt. I could only hold her...
Shimamoto Tora, interview in 1970 commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Atomic Bombing of Kyoto, Japan
PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES BOMBING OF KYOTO WITH “NEW, DESTRUCTIVE WEAPON;” ATOMIC DEVICE LEVELS JAPANESE CITY; CASUALTIES UNKNOWN
New York Times Headline, August 16, 1945
Hirohito was having breakfast with his family when the bomb went off. The bomb landed in the Shimogyo ward, near the Katsura River. Almost everything within a mile of Ground Zero was destroyed, and widespread damage was reported three miles from the detonation point. The Imperial Palace was almost five miles from ground zero, so had little destruction from the initial blast, but the shockwave and fires that followed damaged many south facing walls.
Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal Kōichi Kido, with several army officers and soldiers who were guarding the palace, soon arrived to see if the Emperor was safe. They found Hirohito shaken, having looked to the south to see the mushroom cloud of the explosion. “It is over,” he said. “The war is over…”
...For the next three hours, reports of the destruction of the city reached the emperor. The sheer devastation that was reported, much greater than any firebombing raid on Tokyo or any other city, convinced him that the American’s warning of a “great new weapon of unparalleled destructive power” was, indeed true, and not simply propaganda to make Japan surrender and give up the war without an invasion…
...Defense Minister General Anami arrived that afternoon in Kyoto upon news of the destruction of Kyoto. He was convinced that the Americans could not possibly have more than two or three more weapons of such power, and he tried to persuade the Emperor that Japan can, and must, ride out these attacks… Hirohito, however, was adamant, as only a survivor of an incomprehensible attack of such nature could be. “The Empire cannot hope to win this war, and any chance of a negotiated peace is gone. We must bear the unbearable…”
...Anami, despite his support to continue the war, was a loyal servant of the Emperor, and so he acquiesced to the order, and went to the cabinet in Tokyo that evening for a late night meeting. But the meeting was fractious: Anami was accused of being a coward, and that the Emperor, who was still in Kyoto, would never order such a thing. The Defense Minister, who could not convince his colleagues of the Emperor’s command, and the failure of communications with Kyoto, as all telegraph and radio stations had been destroyed or disabled, instead announced his resignation, and he committed seppuku on August 17.
The announcement of Anami’s resignation was interpreted by hardliner officers in the army as an attempt to end the war with a surrender, as they knew General Anami’s support for continuing the war, but not that the Emperor had ordered the war to end. Major Kenji Hatanaka, convinced that the government was preparing to overthrow the emperor to end the war, instead prepared a coup to end the defeatist elements, to fight the war…
...The arrival of Hirohito on the morning on August 18 in Tokyo for an Imperial Conference with all but the deceased Defense Minister, and his announcement that Japan would surrender, changed the whole equation. The cabinet, realizing that Minister Anami was correct, hurriedly tried to organize a communique to be sent by the Japanese ambassador to Switzerland and Sweden to the Allies announcing the war was over. Hirohito, afraid that another Japanese city would be obliterated, said that he would give a broadcast to the Japanese people over the radio, to confirm it, and hopefully prevent the Americans from any more bombing raids…
...The attempts to organize a recording of the Emperor’s speech resulted in a recording that was of such low quality as to be nearly impossible to understand, so Hirohito decided to give the speech live on the radio. Prime Minister Suzuki tried to dissuade the Emperor, as he had received reports that some army officers were preparing a coup, but Hirohito ignored him, and a motorcade was organized to take the Emperor of Radio Japan...
...Major Hatanaka, hearing that the Emperor was going to announce the surrender of Japan, began to act. His supporters used their army units to capture the Imperial Palace and place the emperor under “protective custody,” while the ministers who led the Emperor astray were to be hunted down and killed. The coup attempted to capture Radio Japan, but loyal soldiers held back Hatanaka’s forces long enough for the Emperor to arrive, and be hustled to a recording booth to make the announcement…
Complete History of World War II, Published 1987
After pondering deeply the general trends of the world and the actual conditions obtaining in Our Empire today, We have decided to effect a settlement of the present situation by resorting to an extraordinary measure.
We have ordered Our Government to communicate to the Governments of the United States, Great Britain, and China that Our Empire accepts the provisions of their Joint Declaration.
To strive for the common prosperity and happiness of all nations as well as the security and well-being of Our subjects is the solemn obligation which has been handed down by Our Imperial Ancestors and which lies close to Our heart.
Indeed, We declared war on America and Britain out of Our sincere desire to ensure Japan's self-preservation and the stabilization of East Asia, it being far from Our thought either to infringe upon the sovereignty of other nations or to embark upon territorial aggrandizement.
But now the war has lasted for nearly four years. Despite the best that has been done by everyone—the gallant fighting of the military and naval forces, the diligence and assiduity of Our servants of the State, and the devoted service of Our one hundred million people—the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage, while the general trends of the world have all turned against her interest.
Moreover, the enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is, indeed, incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives. Should we continue to fight, not only would it result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization.
Such being the case, how are We to save the millions of Our subjects, or to atone Ourselves before the hallowed spirits of Our Imperial Ancestors? This is the reason why We have ordered the acceptance of the provisions of the Joint Declaration of the Powers....
The hardships and sufferings to which Our nation is to be subjected hereafter will be certainly great. [muffled explosions] We are keenly aware of the inmost feelings of all of you, Our subjects. However, it is according to the dictates of time and fate that We- [explosions, silence]
Announcement from Emperor Hirohito to the Japanese People announcing the surrender before being cut off, August 18, 1945
… the artillery bombardment that an as yet still unknown Japanese officer who was part of the coup against Radio Japan was done on the assumption that the Emperor's message was a recording, and not that Hirohito was actually there in person to give the order. It was only twenty minutes later, when news came that the Emperor was at the radio station that was now off air, that the artillery barrage ended, and the coup collapsed almost immediately.
Major Hatanaka, the organizer of the coup, committed seppuku once he learned that he had actually killed the Emperor, who had given the order to surrender… the news rocked Japan, that the Emperor was dead, and that Japan had surrendered.
Complete History of World War II, Published 1987
SOVIETS INVADE MANCHURIA; CONFUSION IN WASHINGTON OVER JAPAN’S RADIO MESSAGE; BOMBING RAIDS HALTED TEMPORARILY
New York Times Headline, August 19, 1945
… Premier Stalin wanted a seat at the table to decide how the war against Japan would be solved. However, the destruction of Kyoto was unexpected, and the preparations to invade Manchuria were not complete… Stalin ordered the revocation of the neutrality pact with Japan on August 15, the same day the atomic bomb was used, and though the army was not ready, the invasion of Manchuria followed on the 18th… I was in the room with Stalin and Molotov while they waited for the news of the attack on Manchuria. Zhukov reported that fighting was fierce, casualties were high, but the Army was over the Amur River in multiple places. Surprise was definite.
Interview with Captain Georgiy Kilesso, February 9, 1964, Toronto, Canada
WAR IS OVER! JAPAN SURRENDERS!
Winnipeg Free Press, Headline August 21, 1945
...The war in the Pacific came full circle. The surrender ceremony on the USS Maryland, one of the victims of Pearl Harbor, raised to be rebuilt and fight the war, ended up at anchor in Tokyo Bay where the Japanese soldiers and politicians came to sign the instrument of surrender. They were in mourning, their Emperor killed in a last ditch attempt by the hardliners to fight the war to the bitter end. Now an 11 year old boy reigned over them, Emperor Akihito, and all of Japan now waited to see what General Douglas MacArthur, leader of the Allied Occupation Force, would do...
Complete History of World War II, Published 1987
CHURCHILL OUT: LABOUR WINS GENERAL ELECTION WITH MAJORITY; ATTLEE PRIME MINISTER
The Times, Headline September 18, 1945
CHAING, CHINESE COMMUNISTS ARE FIGHTING ALREADY STOP CIVIL WAR RESTARTING IMMINENT STOP RECOMMEND MASSIVE AID TO KUOMINTANG OF DEMOBILIZED EQUIPMENT STOP
Telegram from US Ambassador John. L. Stuart, October 3, 1945
As per the Japanese Surrender Agreement, 2nd Marine Division has been landed at several points in the Korean Peninsula and have occupied major cities. Met Soviet troops on Yalu River, cordial relations at moment. Chinese citizens crossing into Korea, citing Communist reprisals, and Chinese Red Army working with Soviets. Further Instructions requested.
General LeRoy P. Hunt of 2nd Marine Division reporting to General MacArthur, October 18, 1945, Pyongyang, Korea
We laid low for several weeks in the bunker that Operation Festung had set up. They were small and cramped, but had sufficient food for four months. We hoped that by that time, we could send supply runs to nearby towns for whatever food or supplies we would need.
The first volunteer, a S.S. officer in civilian clothes, was successful, getting some fresh food and bringing it back. Several others went out in the days that followed, and got some extra food, but buying a lot of food at a time posed a problem. It soon became apparent that getting large amounts of food from the nearby villages would be difficult due to suspicions of well educated, German speaking strangers that the Swiss would have, and their still armed neutrality…
On October 19, I left the bunker to go do the same. But when I arrived at the village, a nice peaceful little hamlet tucked beside one of the great peaks of the Alps, I was apprehended by the gendarme, and taken to his home. There, two men in black suits was there.
One of them pulled out a folder from a desk, and held up several pictures, before exclaiming something in what must have been Russian. He started getting angry, shouting in Russian. The second man turned to me, and in Russian accented German asked: “Are you Albert Speer?”
I considered lying, saying it was a mistake, they had the wrong man. But what happens if the much more recognizable Goebbels tried to leave? Or Goering? The game was up.
“I am,” I replied.
The first Russian quieted down a bit, before saying something else in Russian. I looked to the man who knew German, but he didn’t saying anything. I was locked in the prison cell overnight, and a couple days later, a battalion of Swiss soldiers came to the town. I was taken from my cell. I was told to take the soldiers to where the other Nazi leaders were hiding. With little choice, I did so.
Arriving at the bunker after several days away made my wife and children happy, but when the soldiers followed me, their faces fell. We were all arrested, all 79 of us, and taken out to be incarcerated. The attempt to continue Hitler’s mad vision was over.
Albert Speer: Inside the Third Reich, Published 1974
NAZI LEADERS FOUND IN SWITZERLAND; HIDING IN BUNKER ACROSS BORDER; GOERING, GOEBBELS AMONG THEM; STALIN CALLS FOR THEIR EXTRADITION
New York Times Headline, October 23, 1945
M: What did you think when you heard the news of the Nazi’s in Switzerland?
R: I was suspicious at first. I honestly thought it was a ploy by the USSR to take over the nation or something. But when Hermann Goering, Goebbels, Speer, Himmler and their families were brought out and displayed for the world to see, I realized that it must have been true. Or a really well done forgery. After all, Hitler had used deceptions much like it to start the war in Poland, and Stalin with Finland. This was just Stalin’s attempt to ensure Europe was going to be Red.
M: But by this time, you were in British custody, correct?
R: Custody isn’t the right word, really. I was a guest of General Montgomery at his headquarters in Brussels, and negotiations with the Americans, Soviets and British were going on about what to do with Germany, and how to find a person to lead the nation in the upcoming peace talks in London.
M: And they chose you.
R: They were ready to name as acting President of Germany when the Alpine Crisis began. Montgomery said that it was because I was the only person that was respected by everyone: German, Allied, Nazi and Communist. They didn’t want to have someone that would be seen as just a puppet of the defeated enemies, though they still expected me to do just that. They wanted me to become the German Petain.
M: Then why did you do it?
R: I believed that maybe I could have helped Germany escape the worst of it. Ensure that the nation was turned into some impoverished African colony, while still maintaining some semblance of peace. But the appearance of those idiots in Switzerland nearly derailed the whole thing. The Soviet’s coming up and saying that I was just a pawn for these master manipulators to regain power.
M: Where you?
R: Of course not. The war was over. We lost. National Socialism had lost. It was to be put into the trash and swept away forever. I may be a German nationalist, but I knew well enough that the extremists of Hitler’s group needed to be totally removed, and never allowed back.
Interview with General Erwin Rommel by Edward R. Morrow, at Madison Square Garden, July 19, 1949
… the commando raid was ill advised. Even Beria told Stalin that there was not enough planning, not enough time to organize it. The invasion of Norway was used as an excuse: the hasty preparations and ill planning resulted in many deaths, and the complete failure to ensure Norway was captured to use as a pawn. But Stalin wanted those criminals to be tried in Moscow, not handed over to, what he saw as lenient justice, in the west. After all, the Nazi’s were capitalists, and the Allies would undoubtedly free them so they can all unite to fight against Communism. Stalin gave the order, and Beria had to accept it…
… it was, as Beria said, botched from the start. I could hear through the office doors as the mission went sideways. The attempt to intercept the convoy before it arrived in France failed, gunfire erupted, several people were killed. Himmler and Goebbels among them. The rest, however: Goering, the armaments minister Speer, Goebbels wife, a few SS officers, were captured and rushed out to the Soviet Occupation zone…
...For years, Stalin kept up the appearance that it was a Nazi unit that tried to free their leaders, and that they were captured in Germany again. But it was an NKVD operation from the start to end. I’m sure the Americans, British and French knew as well, but they didn’t say so out loud, if just to keep the fiction of an alliance in place.
Interview with Captain Georgiy Kilesso, February 9, 1964, Toronto, Canada
...negotiations have begun in London to end the war. No, I’m sure you are asking, the war isn’t officially over. Not till the Peace Treaty is signed. With an armistace, it just means that everyone has decided to stop shooting at each other until the peace treaty is made official…
...I’m here, like most men of the Foreign Office, to provide insight and background on certain issues, translate the ten languages or so being used, participate in meetings of smaller issues that are delegated to us, and generally to just look busy, making the language complicated and difficult to read but oh-so official…
...I met an interesting chap from Russia, a certain Marko Kaljurand. Over drinks of vodka and whisky, he discussed with me the idea about how Germany was to be divided. I realized that he must have been sent by Molotov to sound out British interest in how to split up Germany. I didn’t give a certain answer, as I would have to ask Minister Bevin before the official British position stood.
Of course, since they already occupy some 90% of Germany (everything east of the Rhine), it’s not like we can tell them to go back. And the idea of dividing Berlin and Vienna among all four major nations seems ludicrous, without viable transportation…
And here I go rambling about politics again. I know you don’t have much to share with me about it, but it’s good to get off my chest and onto paper when need to.
Who knows? Someone might want this letter in the future, to see how we screwed everything up.
Letter from Sir John MacKlein, British Foreign Office, November 19, 1945, from London to Maybelle Oliver
Dear tovarishch,
The great celebrations for the end of the war is finally over, and my job with the Party committee to organize them is over. So many flags, so many parades here in Kiev. Many soldiers are coming home, and their wives and children are very happy. Maybe the man who would become my husband will come as well. Oh, how I wish you could see it!
But now we must turn to rebuilding the Motherland, for all the damage that the Nazi’s did to our nation. I will do my duty, work where I need to, until Communism in the Soviet Union is complete. And we must ensure everyone will do their job.
A couple days ago, I heard Yeva at the factory, saying things about how cold it is becoming, how there isn’t coal to heat her home, and that she would like to go somewhere warm for a week, just to get away from the cold.
Yesterday, Yeva was not at the factory. She wasn’t there today either. Another woman, Stanislava, was there instead. No one said anything about Yeva, except that it was nice that she got a vacation.
I hope she enjoys it.
Letter from Hanna Omelyanivna Baran, written December 29, 1945
… The Ambassador provided documents to me regarding the existence of a Russian spy ring in North America. He said that it came from a defector of the Embassy in Ottawa, who was facing deportation and went to the office of the Canadian Minister of Justice seeking refuge… Recommend contacting Hoover and getting an investigation underway immediately... We must be prepared for possibility of great infiltration of our political and scientific organizations by agents of Soviet Russia, and prepare to deal with the threat accordingly.
Memo from Secretary of State John Foster Dulles to President Dewey, January 2, 1946
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The war is over, and the post-war world is already looking a lot different from OTL...
Shimamoto Tora and Hanna Omelyanivna Baran are both fictional characters. Shimamoto may not be featured in future parts, but Hanna will.
For those wondering re: the Atomic bombs/Japan's surrender: Kyoto was originally on the target list, but Secretary of War Stimson was responsible for having it removed. With Stimson not in place now with Dewey as President. In ATL, the bombing raids against Japan would be slightly more intense, as Dewey diverted more resources and production to fighting Japan, though this only really translated into bombing raids with some more aircraft. Kyoto had not been bombed at all until this point, so I would think it would be reasonable that Emperor Hirohito would be encouraged to move to the safety of Kyoto. The coup/surrendering scene as well is partially based on OTL: the actual recording that Hirohito made was of such low quality that it caused a lot of confusion. Here, with Hirohito wanting to plainly ensure that his message got out, wanted to do it live. The coup's attempt to stop what they thought would be a recorded message from a forced emperor resulted in the death of Hirohito instead, and the collapse of the coup: they wanted to remove his misguided ministers, not kill the Emperor.
And, yes, the Soviet's planned invasion of Northern Norway failed. Denmark was still occupied, but Norway is going to be Free and Democratic!(tm)
Anyway, on to the post war period, the start of the Cold War, and how Dewey, Attlee, de Gaulle, Stalin and all the other leaders handle it!