Saipan's fall costs Tojo his post; Japan's elder statesmen tell the Emperor he must go

Three years earlier, Hideki Tojo had taken power promising total mobilization and total war, and his government launched the attack on Pearl Harbor within weeks. By July 1944, that war had turned decisively against Japan. Saipan fell to American forces in early July 1944, breaching what Tokyo had called its absolute defense line and putting Japanese cities within range of B-29 bombers. Japan's elder statesmen told Emperor Hirohito that Tojo could no longer govern, and on July 18, 1944, he resigned. Kuniaki Koiso succeeded him…