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The formal surrender of the Japanese Imperial Government, the
Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, and all Japanese and Japanese-controlled
armed forces wherever located, was signed aboard the battleship
USS Missouri (BB-63) at 0908 on 2 September 1945. Looking
down upon the ceremony, to present a reminder of an earlier occasion
on which Japanese truculence had been humbled by American sea
power was the American Flag which had flown over Commodore Matthew
Calbraith Perry's flagship USS Mississippi (Sidewheel Steamer)
when he steamed into the Bay of Yedo (Tokyo Bay, as it was known
after 1868) in 1853. An interesting sidelight concerning this
31-starred flag was the circumstance of its being framed in reverse,
as a result of the obverse side's having suffered such decomposition
from mildew that it had been necessary at some time in the flag's
history to back that side with cotton batting.
Acting on behalf of Emperor Hirohito and of the Japanese Government,
Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signed first for Japan. The
next to affix his signature to the surrender document was General
Yosshijiro Umezu, Chief of Staff, Japanese Army Headquarters,
who signed for the Imperial General Headquarters. Both Japanese
emissaries, as well as the various Allied representatives, signed
two documents - one for the Allies, and a duplicate to be retained
by Japan.
As Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, General of the Army
MacArthur, attended by Lieutenant General Jonathan M. Wainwright,
defender of Bataan and Corregidor, and by Lieutenant General Arthur
E. Percival, British commander at Singapore at the time of the
Japanese conquest of that base, signed next. Both generals, recently
released from a prison camp near Mukden, Manchuria, had been especially
invited by General MacArthur to witness the surrender of Japan.
The Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers the called upon the
other signatories in the following order:
For the United States - Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz.
For the Republic of China - General Hsu Yung-Chang.
For the United Kingdom - Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser, GCB, KBE.
For the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - Lieutenant General
Kuzma Nikolaevish Derevyanko.
For the Commonwealth of Australia - General Sir Thomas Blamey.
For the Dominion of Canada - Colonel Lawrence Moore-Cosgrave.
For the Provisional Government of the French Republic - Major
General Jacques LeClerc (Count Philippe de Hauteclocque).
For the United Kingdom of the Netherlands - Admiral C. E. L. Helfrich.
For the Dominion of New Zealand - Air Vice Marshall L. M. Isitt,
RNZAF.
The complete text of the surrender articles signed by the Japanese
and Allied representatives was as follows:
"We, acting by command of and on behalf of the Emperor of
Japan, the Japanese Government and the Japanese Imperial General
Headquarters, hereby accept the provisions in the declaration
issued by the heads of the Governments of the United States, China,
and Great Britain 26 July 1945 at Potsdam, and subsequently to
by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which four powers
are hereafter referred to as the Allied Powers.
"We hereby proclaim the unconditional surrender to the Allied
Powers of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters and of all
Japanese Armed Forces and all Armed Forces under Japanese control
wherever situated.
"We hereby command all Japanese forces wherever situated
and the Japanese people to cease hostilities forthwith, to preserve
and save from damage all ships, aircraft, and military and civil
property, and to comply with all requirements which may be imposed
by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers or by agencies
of the Japanese Government at his direction.
"We hereby command the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters
to issue at once orders to the commanders of all Japanese forces
and all forces under Japanese control wherever situated to surrender
unconditionally themselves and all forces under their control.
"We hereby command all civil, military, and naval officials
to obey and enforce all proclamations, orders, and directives
deemed by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers to be proper
to effectuate this surrender and issued by him or under his authority;
and we direct all such officials to remain at their posts and
to continue to perform their non-combatant duties unless specifically
relieved by him or under his authority.
"We hereby undertake for the Emperor, the Japanese Government,
and their successors to carry out the provisions of the Potsdam
Declaration in good faith, and to issue whatever orders and take
whatever action may be required by the Supreme Commander for the
Allied Powers or by any other designated representative of the
Allied Powers for the purpose of giving effect to that declaration.
"We hereby command the Japanese Imperial Government and the
Japanese Imperial General Headquarters at once to liberate all
Allied Prisoners of War and civilian internees now under Japanese
control and to provide for their protection, care, maintenance,
and immediate transportation to places as directed.
"The authority of the Emperor and the Japanese Government
to rule the State shall be subject to the Supreme Commander for
the Allied Powers, who will take such steps as he deems proper
to effectuate these terms of surrender".
Immediately upon the signing of the surrender articles, the Supreme
Commander ordered that the following proclamation be issued by
Emperor Hirohito:
"Accepting the terms set forth in the declaration by the
heads of the Governments of the United States, Great Britain,
and China on July 26, 1945, at Potsdam and subsequently adhered
to by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, I have commanded
the Japanese Imperial Government and the Japanese Imperial General
Headquarters to sign on my behalf the Instrument of Surrender
presented by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers and to
issue General Orders to the military and naval forces in accordance
with the direction of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers.
I command all my people forthwith to cease hostilities, to lay
down their arms, and faithfully to carry out all provisions of
the Instrument of Surrender and the General Orders issued by the
Japanese Imperial General Headquarters hereunder."
At the conclusion of the ceremony, the Japanese received copies
of General Order No. One, prepared previously by the Joint Chiefs
of Staff and approved by the President of the United states, containing
instructions for disarming Japan. The General Order, which was
to be issued through the Japanese Government, called upon all
commanders in Japan and abroad to lay down their arms, cease hostilities
at once, and to remain in their present locations, and it required
that all Japanese except the police force in the main islands
of Japan be disarmed.
It further provided that the Allied Powers should be furnished
lists of all land, air, and anti-aircraft units, aircraft, naval
and merchant vessels in or out of commission or under construction;
maps of minefields and all other obstacles to movement by land,
sea, or air should be provided; locations and descriptions of
all military installations and establishments; and locations of
all camps and other places of detention of United Nations prisoners
of war and civilian internees. Other sections of the General Order
stressed that all military and naval installations were to be
kept intact, as well as all industrial establishments engaged
in war work.
To implement the formal instrument of surrender, General Order
No. 1 specified that immediate contact be made by each Japanese
commander with the indicated Allied commander, or his designated
representative, for each of the six surrender regions into which
the Japanese area of influence was divided. These regions and
the commanders to whom the surrenders would be tendered were as
follows:
A subsequent readjustment, made at the request of the British
Chiefs of staff led to the following procedures being adopted
in the Japanese capitulation of Ocean and Nauru Islands:
At Ocean, the Australian Commander concerned in accepting the
surrender signed once on behalf of the theater commander (Cincpac-Cincpoa)
and a second time on behalf of the United Kingdom, as the territorial
authority. At Nauru, he signed once on behalf of the theater commander
(Cincpac-Cincpoa) and again on behalf of Australia, the territorial
authority.
The question of the Admiralty islands' being retained by the United
States because of their strategic importance was also the subject
for an exchange of views by the governments of the United States
and of Australia, the nation to which the Admiralties had been
mandated after World War I. The Prime Minister of Australia urged
that control of all Australian-mandated territories should revert
to that country as soon as possible, now that the requirements
of war no longer made their retention by the United States a military
necessity.
The American view, that security against future Japanese aggression
was of prime importance, prevailed, however-at least for the time
being - with the result that Manus Island (in the Admiralty Group),
with its superb Seeadler Harbor, as well as Emirau and St. Matthias
Islands (in the St. Matthias Group), and the Ninigo Group (to
the west of the Admiralties), all of which had been in the Philippine
Sea Frontier, were added as bases under Commander Marianas, in
the Pacific Ocean Areas, during the last week of September. A
Naval Operating Base was established at Manus, while Emirau, which
had been rolled up as an air base several months earlier, was
retained as an emergency landing stripe.
Simultaneously, preparations continued for the roll-up of American
bases in South pacific and Southwest Pacific islands being returned
to British, French, Australian, and Dutch sovereignty. It was
evident that by 15 October the shore establishments in the South
Pacific would be sufficiently rolled up to permit the closing
of the headquarters on Noumea and the establishment aboard USS
Vincennes (CL-64) of mobile headquarters which would enable
ComSoPac to move with greater freedom to the various ports in
which the roll-up was being accomplished.
At the same time, USS Birmingham (CL-62) was assigned to
Commander U.S. Naval Forces Australia-New Guinea (a command established
on 15 August, 1945, under Commander SEVENTH Fleet) to facilitate
his visiting of the ports in the roll-up of the area was to be
accomplished.
Somewhat earlier, on 27 August, the War Department had decided
to maintain token garrisons on the South Pacific islands of Aitutaki
and Penryhn (in the Cook Islands), pending the completion of negotiations
with the government of New Zealand by the American State Department.
Simultaneously with the formal surrender of the Empire of Japan
on 2 September, the title of Commander Allied Naval Forces Southwest
Pacific Area was abolished, and all naval forces thereunder, except
United States vessels, passed to British Control.
On 17 September, Supreme Allied Headquarters shifted to Tokyo
from Yokohama. The Supreme Commander, his aides, and other high-ranking
officials established themselves in the American Embassy, while
headquarters officials were located in the lavish, seven-story
Dai-Ichi Hotel and the Mutual Insurance building facing a section
of the moat around the Emperor's Palace. Six hundred officers
and 1,400 enlisted men moved into Tokyo with headquarters. The
rear echelon of general headquarters remained in Manila. The EIGHTH
Army took over Yokohama buildings formerly occupied by supreme
Headquarters.
The same day, a British Flag was formally hoisted over the British
Embassy by a Marine guard from the cruiser HMS Newfoundland
relieving the Marine guard from the battleship HMS King George
V which had been on duty at the Embassy since 8 September.
In a move by premier Higashi-Kuni to purge from his cabinet all
members who might not prove acceptable to the Supreme Commander,
Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu, who had signed the surrender
document for the Imperial Japanese Government aboard the USS Missouri
(BB-63), was asked, on 18 September, to resign. He was replaced
the same day by Shigeru Yoshida, a career diplomat well known
for his consistent stand against Japanese aggression. Yoshida
was reported to have opposed the war from the start, and to have
been jailed for a month early in 1945 because of his persistent
efforts to bring about peace through diplomatic channels. Premier
Higashi-Kuni stated that he made the appointment because "his
record is free of any suspicion of actively supporting the war."
The same week, Taketora Ogata was removed as President of the
Board of Information and Minister without Portfolio, after he
had been ordered arrested by the Supreme Commander as one of the
leaders of the notorious Black Dragon Society. His place was taken
by Tatsuo Kawai. Ogata retained his post as Chief Cabinet Secretary,
however.