Advance Party Due To Land Tomorrow

Northern Advocate, 25 August 1945, Page 5

Advance Party Due To Land Tomorrow

(Received 11.30 a.m.) MANILA, August 24. GENERAL MacARTHUR HAS ANNOUNCED THAT THE y ADVANCE PARTY WOULD LAND IN JAPAN ON SUNDAY. HE WOULD LAND ON SCHEDULE ON TUESDAY, DESPITE A TYPHOON WHICH HAS DISRUPTED COMMUNICATIONS. General MacArthur directed the Japanese to be ready; to provide him with communications facilities on arrival in order to have direct telephone and telegraph circuits between Allied and Japanese headquarters. Tokio informed General MacArthur that muddy conditions on Atsugi airfield, caused by the rain which has fallen since the typhoon last Wednesday, made it difficult for planes to move except on the paved runways, on which only medium bombers and transports are able to land at present. Japan asked General MacArthur to permit Japanese reporters, photographers, and newsreel men to watch the landings and surrender ceremony. In another message to General MacArthur the Japanese stated that the surrender orders were received and understood by field commanders, except in the Sittang area of Burma, and Borneo, where communications had failed. The Emperor had issued orders to cease hostilities in Manchuria, Sakhalin and other areas where the Japanese are in direct contact with Allied forces. The commanders are empowered to halt fighting as soon as local negotiations are concluded, without waiting until the date prescribed by the Emperor. Hostilities ceased in Japan proper last Wednesday morning. Garrison troops at Chishima disarmed themselves. Fighting ceased in Southern Sakhalin last Saturday, which has since been quiet. Cessation of hostilities and disarming has been practically completed in Manchuria and North Korea. Cease-fire orders steadily reached small units in China, but clashes are still occurring near Henchow and Chiyang, and are expected around Tsinan. Soviet forces are still attacking northward of Kalgan, where a Japanese emissary turned back.

Powerful Forces Converge Powerful Allied occupation forces are converging on Japan by sea as the Allied commanders complete last-minute details for the official entry to Tokio Bay, says Reuter’s correspondent aboard the Duke of York. Troopships heading for Tokio under escort of the American 3rd Fleet, will land United States marines in the Tokio Bay areas immediately an entry is effected, also British marines who transferred at sea from warships to American troopships. One of the earliest objectives of the occupation forces will obviously be Yokosuku naval base—Japan’s Portsmouth. Allied naval experts will be able to examine it for secrets. Japs Start Withdrawal An Imperial Japanese communique broadcast over Tokio radio revealed that Allied airborne troops will land on Kanoye airfield on September 1, also airborne and seaborne' forces on Takasu on September 2. The Japanese army and navy yesterday began a withdrawal from the regions of Honshu Island, where Allied troops are expected to make their initial landings, says Tokio radio. Movement of Japanese naval vessels in territorial waters has been forbidden from 6 p.m. (Tokio time) today. Measures for supplying and loading food and transportation for the occupation forces are being undertaken. Hokkaido Landing The Japanese sent a message to General MacArthur saying “that according to a Moscow broadcast. Russia is reported to be about to send airborne troops to Hokkaido, the most northerly island of Japan. If this is true it will be greatly regretted by the Japanese Government, which is doing its best to fulfil all your requirements by placing the army, navy and civilians under strict control. It is earnestly hoped that the Allied armed forces will enter Japan according to the plan notified by the Allied Supreme Headquarters.’’ The Japanese also informed General MacArthur that peace and order was steadily deteriorating in the Nanking, Shanghai and Hankow areas. Japanese troops in some places had been forced to take action for self-defence; also the maintenance of peace, due to destruction of the railway; also attacks by irregulars. 4 Tokio radio claims that the Russians last Wednesday massacred a Japanese military peace mission distinctly bearing a white flag, also civilians and refugees at Maoka, Sakhalin. Ten or the Mission’s 13 members were killed. The Russians also turned machine guns on civilians. Thes Russians on Wednesday sank a Japanese ship carrying refugees to Otaru and Hokkaido. Everything Ready

An earlier Tokio broadcast said , hat all preparations for the Allied landing in Japan are now complete. Tokio radioed 10 General MacArthur saying that preparations for the entry of Allied warships into Japanese waters were being hampered by a heavy typhoon. According to present arrangements at least 7500 airborne troops will land in Japan on Tuesday as the spearhead of the army of occupation. They will fly from Okinawa and Iwo Jima in 350 big transport planes and will be armed and eo.uipped as if they word going to invade the country. Swarms of fighters will escort them to their landing point, an air field about 20 miles south-west of Tokio. Transports carying petrol supplies also will be escorted «by fighters. A Tokio communique says that another airborne force will land a week tomorrow on Kyushu, the most southerly of the islands of the Japanese homeland. Tokio radio said that the typhoon oti Wednesday destroyed 291 houses, partly destroyed 780 and hooded 3336 in Tokio area.