Will End be Simultaneous In alt War Areas ?

Manawatu Times, Volume 70, Issue 189, 11 August 1945, Page 5

Will End be Simultaneous In alt War Areas ?

HEADACHES WHICH PACE ALLIED LEADERS. Received Saturday 12.50 a.m. COLOMBO, August 10. “The question has been asked whether the end of the war in the Japanese homeland will necessarily mean the simultaneous end of the war in the outer zone now that areas like the East Indies and New Guinea are sealed off,” says the Australian Associated Press’s correspondent in Burma. ‘‘This will depend on how the defeat of Japan is encompassed. If peace is achieved by negotiation and the country is not beaten to its feet a general cessation could be arranged. The procedure would be for the Emperor to issue an imperial rescript which would enable the commanders to lay down their arms without loss of face. ‘ ‘ The destruction of the home armies and the complete political disorganisation with the possible capture of the Emperor or his coercion on the other hand might result in the outer territories holding out. “The immediate general cessation of the war could provide the Southeast Asia Command Headquarters with a first-class problem. The collapse of Japanese organisation in all the occupied territories would result in chaos unless an alternative government could quickly be restored. ‘‘Normally the entry of a civil affairs organisation follows on the conquest by the armed forces step by step in each territory, but if Japanese control is removed now there will be an unavoidable time lag before we are able to take over. For that reason it is probable that a negotiated peace would have to provide for the Japanese to carry on in the meantime.

‘ ‘ The problems are the supply of foodstuffs, mainly rice, in deficit areas, the preservation of health, maintenance and order, and as an overall controlling factor enough ships to get enough materials and staff quickly to all occupied countries.

‘‘Malay is Britain’s main concern. The Dutch have a well advanced organisation ready for Sumatra and Java, but the headache will be getting into these countries quickly. Against the difficulties associated with an immediate general peace which after all is only a matter of organisation are the great advantages which will accrue—less the devastation associated with reconquest, less rebuilding and less the reorganisation the civil affairs staff will have to face.”