Typhoon Will Not Deter Mac Arthur

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 201, 25 August 1945, Page 5

Typhoon Will Not Deter Mac Arthur

SURRENDER PLANS

Will Land According To Schedule On Tuesday

Rec. 11 a.m

MANILA, August 24.

General Mac Arthur announced that the advance occupation party would land in Japan next Sunday. He would land on., schedule on Tuesday, despite the typhoon which had disrupted communications. He has directed the Japanese to be ready to provide him with communication facilities on his arrival in order to have direct telephone and telegraph circuits between Allied and Japanese headquarters.

Tokyo informed General Mac Arthur that the muddy condition of Atsugi airfield, caused by the rain which had fallen since the typhooni last Wednesday, made it difficult for planes to move, except on the paved runways, on which only medium bombers and transports were able to land at present. Japan asked him to permit Japanese reporters, photographers and newsreel men to watch the landing and the surrender ceremony. STORM HALTS PREPARATIONS The Japanese message to General Mac Arthur said: "We feel it necessary to inform you that, in spite of our best efforts, the preparations required by you for the entry of the advanced party are meeting with some difficulties, due to a heavy 740 mm typhoon, which lasted from the evening of Wednesday until the morning of Thursday, considerably damaging communications and transportation in the Kanto district." The Associated Press points out that the millimetre reference is apparently the barometric reading, which would be approximately 29.13 inches of mercury, ordinarily indicative of a moderate storm. Tokyo radio earlier reported the typhoon, but did not mention damage or casualties, leaving the impression that it was a small storm. The Japanese Army and Navy yesterday began withdrawal from regions on Honshu Island, where Allied troops are expected to make the initial landings, says Tokyo radio. The movement of Japanese naval vessels in territorial waters is forbidden from 6 p.m., Tokyo time, to-day. Measures for supplying and loading food for transportation to the occupation forces is beinig undertaken. ORDER TO F'ELD COMMANDERS In another message to General Mac Arthur the Japanese stated that the surrender orders had been received and understood by field commanders, except in the Sittang area of Burma, and Borneo, where communications had failed. The Emperor issued orders to cease hostilities in Manchuria, Sakhalin, and other areas where the Japanese were in direct contact with Allied forces, and commanders were empowered to halt fighting as soon as local negotiations were concluded, without waiting until the date prescribed by the Emperor.

Hostilities ceased in Japan proper last Wednesday morningGarrison troops in Chishima disarmed themselves. Fighting ceased in Southern Sakhalin last Saturday, and had since been quiet, while cessation of hostilities and disarming were practir cally completed in Manchuria and North Korea. Cease fire orders had steadily reached small units in China, but clashes were still occurring near Hengchow and Chiyang and were expected around Tsinan.

Soviet forces were still attacking northward of Kalgan, where a Japanese emissary was turned back.

Tokyo radio says the Government sent a message to General Mac Arthur that the disarmed Japanese troops and civilians in certain localities on the Asiatic mainland were being made the victims of illegal firing, looting, rape and other outrages, and added that the situation was "certain to get out of control m the very near future."