OCCUPYING FORCES

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25299, 5 September 1945, Page 7

OCCUPYING FORCES

EXTENSION TO TOKYO FIRM BUT NOT OPPRESSIVE (Reed. 11.10 p.m.) TOKYO, Sept. 4 American forces have occupied four more airfields near Tokyo, also a road junction midway between Atsugi and Tokyo commanding three entrances to the capital. The Japanese radio said today that between tomorrow and Fridav more than 15,000 American troops would enter the Tokvo area and the citv itself. Pol icemen would he detailed to keep law and order in those districts and the Government and other organisations would function as usual. Civilians had been asked to carry on with their ordinary daily life. The Japanese say the Americans have begun the occupation of Kyushu, southernmost island of the Japanese mainland. and are dropping airborne troops on Kanoya airfield, once a nest for suicide planes. A Japanese broadcast said the first group of Allied occupation forces on this island would be 2500 troops of the American Sixth Army. It added that troops had also begun to disembark from surface vessels ofT the island. The Japanese also report the occupation of the city of Chiba, on the eastern side of Tokyo Bay. General Mac Arthur has ordered the Allied troops to refrain from disarming the Japanese, who are yielding their arms to their own police. Naval occupation forces were instructed today to use a firm hand with the Japanese but to avoid needless oppression. The instructions indicate an official desire to abolish the "holidaytourist" attitude displayed by some of the occupation forces. Many of the Americans ashore, obviously, bent on sight-seeing and souvenir shopping, are welcoming opportunities to converse with English-speaking Japanese.The new instructions direct that the Japanese will not be allowed to forget that they are defeated and are paying the penalty for aggression and treachery. Property rights will he respected, while looting and acts contrary to the standards of human decency will not be tolerated. NEWS OF PRISONERS ADVICE FROM INDO-CHINA SUFFERINGS IN JAPAN (Reed. 6.10 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 4 Released British prisoners of war in French lndo-China have been heard broadcasting over the Saigon radio. They say that all is well with more than 1300 of their comrades in two camps near the capital. American doctors on the hospital ship Benevolence at Tokyo have found that 2o per cent of the 1518 liberated war prisoners so far examined are suffering from tuberculosis, due to malnutrition and poor hygiene. The others are mostly suffering from beriberi, dysentery, anaemia and extreme malnutrition. Some prisoners have not suffered illness, but hay? lost weight. The Associated Press correspondent at Yokohama reports that four Army teams are questioning prison camp officials and liberated prisoners with a view to listing war criminals. The Americans found a huge quantity of undelivered packages and letters, some looted, in the warehouse district. Colonel Cunningham, the heroic Wake Island commander, who was released from a Peking prison camp, revealed that the Japanese sentenced him to ten years' imprisonment for his first attempt to escape and to a life sentence for his second attempt.

DELEGATE'S MISTAKE CORRECTION ACCEPTED (Rficd. 0.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, Sept. 3 Colonel Cosgrove, who signed the Japanese surrender for Canada, was the culprit in an incident which interrupted the signing of the document on board the Missouri and introduced a touch of humour into one of the gravest ceremonies of our time, says a New York Times correspondent. Each delegate signed two copies, one for Japan and one for the United Nations. The first delegates to sign placed their signatures correctly, above the name of their country. Colonel Cosgrove somehow lapsed and committed a historic blunder when he signed the Japanese document underneath the name of his country. General Leclerc, Admiral Helfrich and Air Vice Marshal Isitt, who followed, repeated the error. The Japanese noticed trie mistake, whereupon •considerable discussion ensued, ending when General Sutherland crossed out the names of the four countries concerned and wrote them below the signatures. The Japanese gravely accepted the correction. ISLANDS SURRENDER NEW YORK, Sept. 3 From the Pelews and Pagan Islands, South-west Pacific, 2-'WB army and navy personnel surrendered to Commodore Vernon Grant aboard a destroyer. A force of 3980 Japanese on the Rota Islands surrendered to Colonel Howard Stent, of the United States Marines. The surrender of Guam and the Konins was made aboard the United States destroyer Dunlop at Chichi. TOKYO BROADCASTS (Reed. 030 p.m.) TOKYO, Sept. 4 General Mac Arthur has ordered that all broadcasts from the Tokyo radio must be in Japanese, foreign language broadcasts'are banned. ADMIRAL'S SUICIDE (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) NEW YORK, Sept. 3 The Tokyo radio reported that ViceAdmiral Matsuo Morizumi committed hara-kiri yesterday. SYMBOLISM OF SWORDS NEW YORK, Sept. 3 A spokesman of the Japanese Home Ministry, broadcasting over the Tokyo radio, explained the meaning of weapons under the terms of surrender. He said swords had been close to Japanese souls, but henceforth they were to be regarded as objects of ancient art and culture. However, the .Allies would determine whether hunting rifles and daggers were considered as weapon*.