The news exploded across newspapers' front pages: Japan was done, finally calling it quits after years of war.

It was Aug. 15, 1945, 80 years ago, and America's final enemy in the war was vanquished, battered after years of military defeats and the devastation wrought by two atomic bombs dropped on its homeland the previous week.

But the war was not yet over, not really. It would be 18 days before Japanese representatives signed surrender documents in Tokyo Harbor on Sept. 2, 1945. In between, there was, at times, what felt like too much news for any front page to handle.

Beyond the news of the impending surrender — of troop movements, last-ditch suicide attacks, and diplomatic overtures — there were details of the new atomic bombs, now-uncensored reports of Japanese balloon bombs that

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