MAY FIGHT ON

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23280, 16 August 1945, Page 5

MAY FIGHT ON

Japanese In Burma LONDON, August 14. Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten has returned to his headquarters at Kandy from conferences in Potsdam and London. He is ready to convert the invasion forces into occupational troops and accept Japanese surrenders in Southeast Asia and the East Indies. Lord Mountbatten's chief of staff, Lieutenant-General F. A. Browning, at a Press conference, declared that there was not the slightest Indication anywhere in the South-east Asia Command area that the Japanese were surrendering yet. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese in the South-east Asia Command theatre might continue to fight on after the surrender by Tokio, refusing to lay down their arms until the order bearing the Emperor's seal was conveyed to their commanders.

However, plans have been prepared to meet all contingencies, he added. "War prisoners and civilian internees will be a particularly serious problem In Malaya in view of the large numbers held there by the Japanese. Every effort will be made to return the prisoners straight to their homes as soon as possible after the arrival of British forces. We do not know what their health will be like, so hospital ships, doctors and medical supplies will be among the first sent in.”