ALLIED ORDERS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21809, 4 September 1945, Page 3

ALLIED ORDERS

CARE OF CAPTIVES REMOVED FROM TOKIO COLLECTION DIRECTED (10 a.m.) TOKIO, Sept. 3. General MacArthur in one of his first acts as Supreme Allied Commander in Japan demanded information regarding all Allied prisoners of war, 6000 of whom ware apparently moved recently from the Tokio area. The Japanese shortly before or immediately after the cessation of hostilities moved the prisoners from military targets near which they had been placed in defiance of repeated Allied protests in an attempt to force the Allies to desist from raiding the targets. The Japanese have been told to see that the prisoners are well fed, clothed and given medical care until such responsibility is undertaken by the Supreme Commander. General MacArthur also demanded all camp records. Rescue Teams Starting Out

As a result of the Japanese failure to remove prisoners of war from remote camps to central collection points for evacuation, General MacArthur ordered the Japanese General Headquarters to provide adequate transport for this purpose immediately. Rescue teams are setting out to-morrow for 10 camps in eastern Honshu where 2950 Allied soldiers await liberation. Weeks may pass before all the camps are cleared. In addition to the 10 in eastern Honshu there are 21 camps in northern and western Honshu. So far only 1500 prisoners have been liberated. The New York Times correspondent in Yokohama says that to-morrow brings the task of rounding up the 11,570 prisoners and civilian internees from camps in Honshu. The Japanese camp administrators are adopting a catch-as-catch-can policy, some holding the prisoners and other freeing them to do as they please. Already prisoners who have hitch-hiked more than a day from the camps have entered our lines. It is believed" that untold numbers of Allied troops are trudging the roads en route to Yokohama.