HALF FROM AUSTRALIA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26541, 16 August 1947, Page 7

HALF FROM AUSTRALIA

BRITISH FORCES IN JAPAN Official News Service Rec. 9.30 p.m. KURE, Aug. 14. By the end of September, when the withdrawals of the Indian contingent of the BCOF is expected to be completed, the strength of the British forces in Japan under the command of Lieutenant-general H. C. M. Robertson will total 20,000. Roughly, half of this number will be Australian Army personnel, and '• two-thirds of the remainder will be formed by the British force, the Royal Australian Air Force, and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. A New Zealand infantry brigade and certain administrative units from the United Kingdom, including a small naval detachment, will complete the forces. The five southern prefectures of Honshu Island and the island of Shikoku will continue to be the military occupation responsibility of Che British forces. These have an area of 20,000 square miles and a population of 11,000,000. The main air stations will remain at Iwakurir (the headquarters of the British Commonwealth Air Group), in the Yamaguchi Prefecture, Miho, where the R.A.F. is stationed, and Bofu, where the R.A.A.F. wing is located. The BCOF will maintain its subrareas in Tokio and Kobe.