Saturday, August 31, 2013

August 31, 1945; PREPARATIONS FOR JAPAN'S SURRENDER:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, AUGUST 31, 1945:


HUNTINGDON, PA,, THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 1945

 
By RALPH TEATSORTH
United Press Correspondent
General MacArthur Headquarters, Yokohama, Japan,
Aug. 30. —Gen. Douglas MacArthur set up headquarters in Yokohama today as the first 40,000 troops of his occupation army raised the Stars and Stripes over Japan's largest naval base, two airfields and a big slice of the Tokyo plain.

A half dozen or more Japanese towns, some within a few miles of the southern outskirts of Tokyo, were occupied by Allied air and sea-borne forces in their first few hours ashore.

MacArthur, supreme occupation commander, established his headquarters in Yokohama's new Grand Hotel with other "top American officers less than an. Hour after landing at Atsugi Airfield from Okinawa,.

From the top of the hotel MacArthur could see. Emperor Hirohito's Palace in the heart of Tokyo. Both Hirohito and the Japanese government now must take, their orders from MacArthur.

South, of Yokohama, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz —Mac Arthur's partner in the conquest of Japan — and Admiral William F. (Bull) Halsey of Third Fleet fame went ashore at the newly-occupied Yokosuka naval base, formerly Japan's No. 1 navy yard. It already had surrendered formally to. Halsey's deputies.

JAPS. TAKE DEFEAT
WITH APATHY BUT
GLAD WAR IS OVER

By JAMES F. McGLINCY
United Press Correspondent
Tokyo, Aug. 30.— Today we reached the end of the long road, to Tokyo and found what must surely be the world's worst bombed city.

 The Japanese capital—or that part of it which is still standing,—received its first Americana today almost with apathy.

There were no incidents as this correspondent and a few other; Americans entered the city in the early afternoon.

If the Japanese had any feelings at all about our appearance, it seemed to be one of gratitude—gratitude that the war is over at long last.

Only yesterday I was in this  party of the first American correspondents to enter China's great metropolis of Shanghai.

The contrast between China's great city and the sprawling metropolis of Tokyo was complete, Shanghai has hardly been touched! by bombs. Tokyo lies in ruins.

Critics Say
Full Story
Not Told

By JOSEPH L. MYLER
United Press Correspondent
Washington, Aug. 30.—President Truman said today that he thought the Army and Navy Pearl Harbor reports showed that the disaster resulted fundamentally from "the "policy which the country itself pursued" in '1941—a policy of non-preparedness.

The president expressed his views at a press conference while numerous Congressmen , were demanding further investigations and public courts martial of top officers who drew part of the blame.

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Friday, August 30, 2013

August 30, 1945; U. S. FLAG FLIES IN JAPAN:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, AUGUST 30, 1945:


HUNTINGDON, PA,, THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 1945

 
By RALPH TEATSORTH
United Press Correspondent
General MacArthur Headquarters, Yokohama, Japan,
Aug. 30. —Gen. Douglas MacArthur set up headquarters in Yokohama today as the first 40,000 troops of his occupation army raised the Stars and Stripes over Japan's largest naval base, two airfields and a big slice of the Tokyo plain.

A half dozen or more Japanese towns, some within a few miles of the southern outskirts of Tokyo, were occupied by Allied air and sea-borne forces in their first few hours ashore.

MacArthur, supreme occupation commander, established his headquarters in Yokohama's new Grand Hotel with other "top American officers less than an. Hour after landing at Atsugi Airfield from Okinawa,.

From the top of the hotel MacArthur could see. Emperor Hirohito's Palace in the heart of Tokyo. Both Hirohito and the Japanese government now must take, their orders from MacArthur.

South, of Yokohama, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz —Mac Arthur's partner in the conquest of Japan — and Admiral William F. (Bull) Halsey of Third Fleet fame went ashore at the newly-occupied Yokosuka naval base, formerly Japan's No. 1 navy yard. It already had surrendered formally to. Halsey's deputies.

JAPS. TAKE DEFEAT
WITH APATHY BUT
GLAD WAR IS OVER

By JAMES F. McGLINCY
United Press Correspondent
Tokyo, Aug. 30.— Today we reached the end of the long road, to Tokyo and found what must surely be the world's worst bombed city.

 The Japanese capital—or that part of it which is still standing,—received its first Americana today almost with apathy.

There were no incidents as this correspondent and a few other; Americans entered the city in the early afternoon.

If the Japanese had any feelings at all about our appearance, it seemed to be one of gratitude—gratitude that the war is over at long last.

Only yesterday I was in this  party of the first American correspondents to enter China's great metropolis of Shanghai.

The contrast between China's great city and the sprawling metropolis of Tokyo was complete, Shanghai has hardly been touched! by bombs. Tokyo lies in ruins.

 
Critics Say
Full Story
Not Told

By JOSEPH L. MYLER
United Press Correspondent
Washington, Aug. 30.—President Truman said today that he thought the Army and Navy Pearl Harbor reports showed that the disaster resulted fundamentally from "the "policy which the country itself pursued" in '1941—a policy of non-preparedness.

The president expressed his views at a press conference while numerous Congressmen , were demanding further investigations and public courts martial of top officers who drew part of the blame.

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Thursday, August 29, 2013

August 29, 1945; ZERO HOUR APPROACHES FOR LANDINGS:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, AUGUST 29, 1945:



HUNTINGDON, PA., WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1945.

By WILLIAM C. WILSON
United Press Correspondent '„
Manila, Aug. 29. • — Gen Douglas MacArthur arrived in Okinawa and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz flew to TokyoBay today as the zero hour approached for mass Allied air and sea landings in the greater Tokyo area.

The first sea-borne troops will go ashore on three fortified islands guarding: Yokosuka naval base in Tokyo Bay at 6:35 a. m. tomorrow (5:15 p. m. today, EWT).
 
At 10 a. m. tomorrow (9 p. m. today, EWT), Mac-Arthur will land with thousands of air-borne infantrymen at Atsngi airfield, 20 miles south of Tokyo, and 10,000 Marines and Bluejackets will swarm ashore from ships at Yokosuka itself.

In preparation for the post-surrender invasion, the greatest air and sea fleets ever gathered in the Pacific were making- last minute preparations at bases 1,000 miles apart.

MacArthur and his headquarters staff flew from Manila| to Okinawa and watched the vanguard of the air-borne troops who will: accompany him climb into their transports on Okinawa's airstrips.

Marshall
And Stark
Are Blamed

By JOSEPH L. MYLER
United Press Correspondent
Washington, Aug. 29. — President Truman today made public Army and Navy reports on the Pearl Harbor disaster containing serious charges against Gen. George C. Marshall, Army chief of staff, and Adm. Harold B. Stark, who was chief of Naval operations when the Japanese struck.

Both Mr. Truman and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, however, strongly denounced the criticism of Marshall contained in the report of an Army Board of inquiry. They reaffirmed their faith in him.

There was no official disagreement, however, with sharp criticism of Stark and of Maj. Gen. Walter C. Short, then commander of the Army's Hawaiian Department, and Rear Adm. Husband S. Kimmel, , commander of Naval forces at Pearl Harbor.

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Wednesday, August 28, 2013

August 28, 1945; ALLIED OCCUPATION FOR INDEFINITE PERIOD:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, AUGUST 28, 1945:


ABILENE, TEXAS, TUESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 28, 1945 —

Four Pacific
Fleets to Aid
In Occupation

GUAM, Aug. 28.—(AP)—
Virtually the total strength of America's four Pacific fleets and three amphibious forces will put Allied occupation troops ashore in the Japanese empire and "control the coastal waters," for an indefinite period.

The 'fleets will mass their, amphibious strength under the command of hard-bitten Adm. Richmond Kelly Turner to land troops. Admiral Nimitz said today in a press release, and the fleets will patrol specified zones of the enemy seas.

For the coming large – scale landings and for subsequent control of Japanese empire waters, the powerful T h i r d fleet of Adm. William F. Halsey will be augmented by the U. S. Fifth and Seventh fleets and by the north Pacific forces of Vice Adm. Frank Jack Fletcher.

Adm. Thomas C. Kinkaid's Seventh fleet, long operating under General MacArthur's command in the Southwest Pacific, will land  24th Army corps troop in Korea and will control waters off the China coast from Hainan island northward, including the Yellow sea.
 

WHERE YANKS LAND IN JAPAN—Map locates the four
cities (circled) where U. S. units will land for occupation of
Tokyo area. General MacArthur announced the Eighth army
will occupy the Tokyo area, with landings at Yokohama and
the Tateymahojo, as well as Atsugi and Yokusuka, the previously-
announced landing sites. Shaded line bounds the
area from which Japanese troops have been ordered to move

 

First Lost Battalion
Prisoners Liberated

First of the messages of liberation that scores of Abilene families have been so anxiously hoping for came this morning to tell next of kin of two Army officers that they have been found in a Mukden, Manchuria Japanese prison camp. The two are:

Capt. William' R. Slone, of the ill-fated "Lost Battalion," son of Mrs. Jennie Slone, 57Grand. L Capt. A. \V. (DubV BaHanz, son of Mrs. Lee Balfanz, 76S Peach. --------

Captain Slone was -second in command of Abilene E battery when it was captured in Java by the Japanese in March, 1942. The battalion had been detached from the 36th division at Camp Bowie and was at sea enroute to' Australia when Pearl Harbor was attacked.

Captain Balfanz, an Army pursuit pilot, was captured at the fall of Corregidor in May; 1942.

WAINWRIGHT HAPPY ON
ARRIVAL AT CHUNGKING

The names of the eight American generals accompanying Wainwright were not immediately made public.

The British generals were headed by Lt. Gen. Arthur Ernest Percival, former commander at Singapore.

The party included Sir Shenton Thomas, former governor of Singapore, Sir Mark Young, former governor of Hong Kong and C. D. Smith, former governor of North Borneo. --------
Wainwright was a prisoners of the Japanese for three years and three months.

 

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Tuesday, August 27, 2013

August 26. 1045; U. S. FLEET IN SAGAMI BAY:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, AUGUST 26, 1945:


ABILENE, TEXAS, MONDAY MORNING.'AUGUST 27,1945

Mighty Missouri
Heads Procession

By AL DOPKING
WITH U. S. FLEET IN SIGHT OF JAPAN, Monday, Aug. 27,—(AP)—Proudly led by the mighty battleship Missouri, Admiral Halsey's Third fleet early today steamed within sight of Japan on its triumphal parade up Tokyo bay with a hand-picked landing force of 10,000 marines, and bluejackets for the Yokosuka naval base occupation.

The procession of American and British naval might spread for miles over the Pacific as we neared Sagami bay, the outer approach lo the Tokyo harbor. The sky overhead was flecked with 1,200 carrier planes.

Close behind the 45,000-lon Missouri rode her sister battleship, the U.S.S. Iowa and the British flagship, the Battleship Duke of York, with Adm. Sir Bruce Fraser, commander-in-chief of the British Pacific fleet. Seamen and officers alike lined the warship decks, staring at the Japanese coast.

Triumphant
Entry Told
In Broadcasts

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 26—(AP)—
Jack Mahon, Mutual Broadcasting correspondent, reported that Admiral Halsey's flagship entered Sagami Bay :at 8;34 p. m. (central war time) tonight.

Mahon was rebroadcasting an earlier report that Japanese emissaries had boarded Halsey's flagship to receive instructions for preparing to receive Marine and Naval Inndparlies at Yokosuka naval base, near Tokyo, Thursday when he "flashed" the word that the Missouri "is Just entering Sagami bay."

That concluded his broadcast in which he said the entire fleet accompanied Halsey's flagship into the bay.

Earlier, radio correspondent's with the third fleet snirt it hoped to anchor in Sagami Bay, 30 miles south of Tokyo, by 1 p. m., Monday, Japanese time (U p. m. Sunday, central war time.)


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August 26, 1945: WEATHER & JAPANES REACTION MAY DELAY OCCUPATION:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, AUGUST 26, 1945:


SAN ANTONIO. TEXAS. SUNDAY. :AUGUST 26. 1945

Third Fleet
Polished
For Landing

By ELGAR BROWN.
I. N. S. Staff Correspondent
ABOARD HALSEY'S FLAGSHIP
OFF .JAPAN, Aug. 25 —(INS)—Spit and polish, a Third fleet fetish since the end of the war, has paid off In results arnd today this massive armada stands poised for its adventure intoTokyo harbor.

Adm. William F. "Bull" 'Halsey—and history's mightiest naval fighting machine—have a date with desteny

___________________________

MANILA, Aug. 25. — (INS) —
Adm. Robert F. Spruance, who will command amphibious landings on the shores of Tokyo bay, isn't making any bets that Admiral Halsey can ride Emperor Hirohito's whole horse. '

Asked to comment on the proposed canter Spruance said: "I don't know how long it's been since Halsey was on a horse.

____________________________

at Yokosuka, where a carefully hand-picked landing force begins occupying thee Jap homeland.

Thousands of vessels and warships, supply as transports hover in readiness. But two elements of doubt remain, about the job ahead-the weather,  and Jap reaction.




SURRENDER SCENE—Boxes locate points where American
forces will land In Japan following evacuation of Japs from
shaded area. Surrender terms call for a Jap ship, to meet U. S.
naval forces at (A), lead them to Sagami 'bay (B) and supply
pilots to conduct "certain forces" into Tokyo Bay, where
the formal surrender will be signed.

Surrender
Postponed
For 48. Hours

MANILA, Aug. 25.- — A 48 hour delay in the occupation of Japan was ordered by General MacArthur today because of typhoons raging between Okinawa and the conquered country.

An official announcement from MacArthur's headquarters said;
"A series of typhoons • between Okinawa and Japan will delay the landing of occupation forces 48 hours.

"It Is hoped by that time that winds and seas will have abated to an extent that will permit our forward movement."

The order effected all occupation plans, including the scheduled flight Sunday of a spearhead force of airborrne troops to Atsugl alrfifeld on the outskirts of Tokyo.

 

 

 

 

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August 25, 1945; OCCUPATION OF JAPAN DELAYED:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, AUGUST 25, 1945:


PORT ARTHUR, TEXAS. SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 1945.

Allied Landing
Postponed at
Least 48 Hours

Signing Now Is Set
For Sept. 2 Aboard
Giant USS. Missouri

NEW YORK, Aug. 25 (AP).—
NBC broadcast "a rumor" today That Emperor Hirohito of ,Japan has committed hiri kari NBC  the rumor did not come from a regular news source and there was no confirmation.

________________________

By Russell Brines
MANILA, Au«. 25. (AP).—
Japan’s occupation and formal surrender have been postponed at least 48 hours by typhoons. Gen. Douglas MacArthur announced today.

(An almost simultaneous dispatch from Okinawa, unconfirmed in Manila, reported that first Allied airborne landings in the Tokyo area have been rescheduled for Sunday by the 317th  troop carrier group. Tim dlupatch said the typhoon threat had dissipated.

Whether MacArthur's postponement followed—and overruled— this rescheduling could not immediately be determined).

 

Demobilization
With 'Speed and
In Order Urged

Nips Are Described
As Hyper-Sensitive
By Tokyo Broadcast
By Henry Super
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 25
(UP),—Radio Tokyo said today that Japanese were committing mass hara kiri in front of Emperor Hirohito's palace.

The enemy broadcast reported that "large numbers" were killing' themselves presumably In the traditional manner of disembowelment by daggers, as the hour for the American occupation of their  homeland neared.
'People Hyper-Sensitive'
"This feeling isn't understood by the Allies of the western nations,"the Tokyo commentator, Isamu Inouye, said. "This spirit is deeper than they can fathom. The people are hyper-sensitive."

While his people were atoning with death for their failure to win the war for the emperor, he issued an imperial rescript calling upon the Japanese armed forces to demobilize with "speed and in order."

Inouye said the Japanese had fought with everything they had during the war and now were in "deep sorrow and gloominess find cannot realize they have been beaten.

 

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Monday, August 26, 2013

August 23, 1945; WAR TO FORMALLY END AUGUST 31:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, AUGUST 23, 1945:



Kingsport, Tenn., Thursday, August 23, 1945

Japan, Allies
To Sign Pact
At Tokyo Bay

By The Associated Press
Manila—Conquered Japan and the conquering Allies will formally end the war Aug. 31 by signing the surrender document on Tokyo Bay aboard the superbattleship Missouri, which only a month ago was hurling 16-inch shells into the Japanese homeland.

General MacArthur announced these final details today, while his headquarters disclosed actual capitulation in the field  proceeding in advance of the official ceremony.

Surrender of several thousand Japanese in northern Luzon was arranged yesterday despite "adamant" opposition of their commander, and similar negotiations weremoving ahead on Mindanao and Cebu.

To Visit Camps
Japan meanwhile appealed for permission to send ships to ill and starving garrisons on Marcus Island and "various isolated islands in the south," adding that food on Marcus, 1,200 miles southeast of Tokyo, would be exhausted in two more days.

Luzon Japs Quit
While Yanks Get
War Souvenirs

With 38th Division, Luzon, P. I.AP—Surrender of Japanese mountain forces in Northern Luzon, several thousand strong, was arranged yesterday in one of the war's strangest peace parleys.

It-took-a worn copy of a G. I. newspaper, containing an Associated Press surrender story, to convince the Japanese the war was over.

A group of five 38th Division officers and 20 enlisted men hiked deep Into the Madre Mountains to confer with the enemy at a previously- designated spot. Under a Japanese battle flag on a hillside, officers sat around the edge of a specially dug pit, legs dangling, discussing the capitulation while American and Japanese enlisted men traded pistols, sabers, watches and personal items for souvenirs.

 

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August 24, 1945; JAPAN DISARMING SHIPS:

THIS WAS REPORTED TODAY, AUGUST 24, 1945:
UNIONTOWN, FAYETTE COUNTY, PA., FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 1945.

 

Our Fleet
To Move In
Jap Waters

BULLETIN

MANILA (Friday), Aug. 25.—(AP)—The Japanese government radioed General MacArthur today that execution of his directives in preparing for arrival of occupation troops in Japan has been retarded because of a typhoon.

______________________________

BY THE ASSOCIATED  PRESS

MANILA, (Friday), Aug. 24.—At least 7,500 soldiers armed to the teeth will spearhead the occupation Army landing in Japan with General MacArthur, Tuesday, it was announced on Okinawa today as the vanquished empire prepared to disarm all her ships at sea in the first act of surrender.

In the first aerial wave will be 350 sky giants —150 four-engined Army transports and 150 Liberators from Okinawa air bases and about 50 other big transports from Iwo Jima.

 



According to an announcement by the Japanese Board of Information U. S. paratroopers will spearheadthe Allied occupation of the Nip homeland by landing, Aug. 26. at Atsuki, southwest of Tokyo, while two days later, the Japs say, warships of the U. S. Third Fleet and troop transports will move into the port of Yokosuka.

China Communists Are On March

New Civil War
Threat Seen In
Chinese Areas
Jap Troops, However,
Surrendering To
Chiang

CHUNGKING, Aug. 23.—(AP)—More than 1,000,000 Japanese troops are to be surrendered to the forces of Generalissimo Chiang Kai.shek, it was disclosed today,! coincident with a report that! the Communists in North and  Central China had "gathered their! strength for an all-out offensive.".

Word of the new Communist action, .bearing the threat of civil| war, was only one of several problems confronting Chinese leadership. Others included the question of whether British or Chinese; troops would occupy Hong Kong.; the relative position of Russian and! Chinese forces in Manchuria, and the future role of the Chinese in' French Indo-China.

The 1,000,000 figure was disclosed in a battle order delivered by Nipponese, envoys at Chihkiang toi Gen. Ho Yingchin, commander of' the Chinese forces. It was estimated that they represented one-half of the total Japanese military strength on the Asiatic mainland.
Near Capital

 

 

England Taking
Over Hong Kong,
Churchill Is Told

LONDON, Aug. 23.—(AP)—Prime Minister Atlee told a cheering House of Commons today that "arrangements are being made for the Japanese surrender in Hong to be accepted by a British force commander."

The British determination to march back into Hong Kong as soon as possible epitomized the attitude of Western-European nations toward repossession of their territories in the Orient.

The House cheered when Attlee assured Opposition Leader Winston Churchill that the government was taking action to restore British administration in the crown colony as soon as it receives the Japanese surrender there.

The French, Dutch, and Portuguese have displayed the same eagerness to restore their colonial empires since Japan went to her knees, but  none was in as favorable a position as Great Britain.

 

 
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