SURRENDER AT HARBIN

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 65, Issue 268, 23 August 1945, Page 5

SURRENDER AT HARBIN

JAPANESE KWANTUNG ARMY * %, THOUSANDS OF PRISONERS TAKEN (N.Z. Press Association Copyright.) (Received This Day, 9.30 a.m.) LONDON, August 22. The Japanese Kwantung Army formally surrendered at Harbin to Major-General Shelakhov. Agency correspondents in Moscow report that there are more than 250,000 Japanese prisoners in Manchuria. They are still coming in in thousands. The Red Army, pushing on into the southern areas of Sakhalin and driving south from captured ports in Korea, scattered remnants of the Japanese armies who refused to surrender or were out of touch with group' headquarters in Manchuria. Harassing Soviet communications and terrorising Chinese villages, they are the counterpart of the Nazi Werewolves, and are called Steppewolve? by the Russians. Specially formed, I '-hly-mobilised Soviet forces are engaged hunting down these f 'nations, who are sometimes disguised as Chinese civilians or in Ru; nan uniforms. 1 Japan s formal surrender to China will be signed at Nanking. Chinese troops might be flown into Nanking, Shangnai, Peikin and Tientsin 1 even before the formal surrender, says a correspondent. The signing is not expected to occur until after General MacArthur’s formal signing. Meanwhile the Japanese envoys conferred with Marshal Chiang Kai-shek and General Ho Ymg Chin, commander of the Chinese field forces, who handed the envoys a memorandum spec - fying the areas the-Chinese would occupy. General hah Weichang was appointed to take over Hong Kong, Canton, Luichow Peninsula and Hainan Island. The Chinese also listed the Inner Mongolian provinces of Jehol, Chahar Smyuan and Formosa, and French north of the 16th degree. Which i."directly confirmed reports that the British would land in Southern IndoChina. The Chinese have chosen General Fah Weichang to receive the Japanese surrender at Hong Kong. .

The actual date for the Allied occupation of Japaiy has not yet been fixed, the reason being the weather, states a dispatch 'from General MacArthur’s Headquarters at Manila. Okinawa is the centre of the typhoon area, making it impossible to lay down a hard and fast flying schedule. When the time comes for the occupation the Allies will take no chances. Powerful sea and land forces will take part on the lines of a regular amphibious operation. Thd full power of the American Fleet will flank Japan. Every available ship will be mustered in a single operation for the first time during the war. Virtually all of the hundreds of transport planes in the Pacific will be utilised by the first landing groups. These will be covered by nearly every type of aircraft. The occupation operation may eclipse the landing at Luzon, when 6jJ,000 troops went ashore on the first day. , British forces, it is reported, will take part in the operation. The Japanese put out a report that the Allied occupation would start on Sunday, with the main landings following on Tuesday. It is surmised that the object of the report was to prepare the people for the arrival of the AlAn Imperial announcement that the Japanese surrender envoys have returned from Manila is the first time the Japanese people have heard of the mission. • Mr J. A. Beasley (Australian War Minister) announced that Australia will be represented in the occupation by a naval task force, 10,000 soldiers and three squadrons of the R.A.A.i. The Tokio radio says that the newspaper “Yomiuri Hocki” reported that General MacArthur’s plans to land personally at Atsugi airfield on August 28, and added that the surrender will be formal-

ly signed aboard a Unjted States battleship in Tokio Bay on August 31. The first group of occupation forces will comprise slightly more than 20,000 men. “Asahi Sliimbun” said that the conduct of the surrender meetings and the arrangements for the landing of occupation troops indicated that the* United States would treat Japan with understanding and added that the United States military authorities at Manila did not purposely humiliate the Japanese envoys, but treated them fairly and considerately and also dictated reasonable methods of landing the occupation forces. Apparently the policy of the United States is to recognise the authority of the Japanese Government Imperial Headquarters and carry out the terms of the Potsdam Declaration through these institutions. “Asahi Shimbun” pointed out , the Allies are using prudence not to provoke the Japanese people by degradation of the Emperor’s -prestige in the eyes of the Japanese nation. Manchurian forces recruited by the Japanese for the Kwantung army have rebelled, says Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. The commandant, in chief of the Japanese forces in Manchuria, after the surrender negotiations in Harbin, told a Soviet correspondent that the creation of Manchurian units, was our biggest mistake. Correspondents said that the Manchurians’ fear of the Japanese had now disappeared. Many Japanese troops and officials with their wives were fleeing to Harbin in an attempt to save themselves from the fury of the Manchurian people. Harbin is now a city of jubilation. Red banners hang on all the main buildings, and the populace halt trucks filled with Red Army troops and shower them with flowers.