JAPANESE TROOPS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25301, 7 September 1945, Page 7

JAPANESE TROOPS

WITHDRAWING NOBTH FORGE NUMBERS 60,000 MEN LONDON. Sept. 5 The present objective in Singapore is the immediate occupation of five strategical areas on the island, says the Associated Press correspondent. In the meantime, the (50,000 Japanese troops, except those needed for garrison duties and guarding installations, are moving across the causeway into position, immediately north of Johore Strait. All Japanese warships in the harbour are being taken over and the breechblocks of guns removed. Information had been imparted to the recent conference of Allied and Japanese leaders in Rangoon that General Itagaki, commander of the .lapanese Seventh Army Group, in the absence of specific orders from Tokyo, might resist the reoccupation of tl}e» island. Since the surrender was signed, however, he has issued orders to his troops to comply with all Allied requirements.

ill spite of this arrangement, all possible contact is being avoided with Japanese soldiers, as a precaution against incidents which might cause complications. The British convoy crept into Singapore Harbour in the morning under leaden skies and teeming rain. The first Indian troops ashore entered streets which were practically deserted, apart from groups of natives, mostly children, who had gathered on the waterfront, A Japanese officer, Major-Gen-eral Shimura, who was acting for General Itagaki, inet the first troops to land. Japanese guards were posted at regular intervals along the streets.