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China Lantern Picture Page |
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Published Every Tuesday, Thursday And Saturday |
VOL. 4, NO. 16, AUGUST 28, 1945 PRECENSORED FOR MAILING FOR U.S. ARMED FORCES
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New Critical Score Due If Japs Behave
Believe 75 Points Will Be Set Soon WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (ANS) - The Army disclosed that a new and lower critical score for discharge will be put into effect just as soon as it is determined that Japan will abide by surrender terms. Maj. Gen. Stephen M. Henry, assistant chief of staff in charge of personnel, said the score then will be progressively lowered at a rate guaranteeing there will be no empty berths on ships returning to the U.S., the United Press reported. The Army has not made the new score public. But screening of 75 point men from shipments to the Pacific has clearly pointed to 75 as the next critical figure. Gen. Henry also revealed that: All men with 85 points will be out of the Army by the end of November; 85-point men in the European and Mediterranean theaters should be civilians a month before that. Enlisted men with 85 points now in the United States will be sent to separation centers by August 31. Those arriving from overseas will go directly to separation centers. The present 38-year age limit on overseas service will be lowered "as it becomes possible to set a new top age limit for service." Men with less than the minimum score for discharge may still expect to be sent overseas for occupation duty, although the War Department hopes to avoid shipping soldiers with scores near enough the critical limit that they would almost immediately have to be returned for discharge. Wainwright Still Not In Chungking CHUNGKING, Aug. 27 (ANS) - Lt. Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright's whereabouts remained a mystery today, eleven days after he was rescued from a Jap prison camp near the Manchurian city of Mukden. Lt. Gen. A. C. Wedemeyer, China Theater commander, announced that newsmen would be given an opportunity to interview the hero of Corregidor when he arrives in Chungking. Some 55 Pointers Won't Go Overseas HOUSTON, Tex., Aug. 27 (ANS) - Ellington Field authorities announced that enlisted men at the field with 55 or more discharge points will not be sent overseas unless they volunteer. Field officers said the order came from the Central Flying Training Command at Randolph Field, that the 55-point limit might be only temporary, and that it did not necessarily apply at other Army installations. |
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Guns Ready, 380 Warships Churn Bay Below Tokyo
MANILA, Aug. 27 - The Allied Victory fleet, comprising the greatest array of naval might ever paraded before a defeated enemy, steamed into Sagami Bay south of Tokyo Sunday to launch Gen. MacArthur's occupation program. Despite heavy rain and gale-like winds, Allied planes scoured the skies over the invasion armada and the Tokyo area as more than 380 warships, their gun muzzles unsheathed, plowed through the choppy waters of the bay.
Representing in tonnage and striking power the mightiest fleet ever assembled, the line of ships included 12 battleships, 17 aircraft carriers, six escort-carriers, 20 cruisers, 101 destroyers and 24 destroyer escorts of the U.S. Third Fleet, 18 units of the British Pacific fleet and 185 supporting craft, including transports, cargo ships and minesweepers.
Adm. William F. "Bull" Halsey, Third Fleet commander, stood on the bridge of his flagship, the 45,000-ton Missouri, as the miles-long line of warships churned the waters just south of the shattered Nipponese capital.
10,000 POISED
Meanwhile, 10,000 American and British marines and bluejackets, spearheaded by a crack U.S. Marine regiment were poised within 300 miles of the Jap mainland in preparation for the first landing scheduled for tommorrow after a typhoon forced a 48-hour postponment of original occupation plans.
Airborne troops will drop down on Atsugi airfield, 18 miles southwest of Tokyo. On Thursday, if the weather permits, marine and naval landings will be made at the Yokosuka naval base in Tokyo.
On Sept. 2, Japanese general staff chiefs will come aboard the Missouri for the historic signing of the surrender document.
At least 7,500 airborne troops are expected to spearhead the initial landing, anticipating no opposition but prepared for any eventuality. In the first aerial wave will be 350 sky giants - 150 four-engined army transport planes and 150 Liberators from Okinawa bases, and about 50 other transports from Iwo Jima.
FIGHTERS READY
Around the sky train will hover swarms of fighters, ready to open fire at the first sign of opposition, and the 20 to 30 troops in each transport will be armed to the teeth and briefed as for an actual invasion.
Gen. MacArthur will land at Atsugi airdrome and meet the enemy's Imperial general staff face to face for the first time. From that moment, Japan will take orders from MacArthur.
On Sept. 1 and 2, according to the Jap radio, other Allied airborne troops "in considerable size" will take over the Kanoye and Takasu airfields in southern Kyushu, southernmost of the Nip home islands.
The landings will set the stage for the final surrender ceremony aboard Adm. Halsey's Missouri, when Gen. MacArthur will sign the instrument of surrender for the Allied powers. The following have been designated signatories for their respective nations:
U.S., Adm. Chester W. Nimitz; Britain, Adm. Sir Bruce Fraser; Australia, Gen. Thomas Blamey; Netherlands East Indies, Gen. L. H. Van Oyzn; Russia, Lt. Gen. Derevhkanko; China, Gen. Hsu Young Chang; France, Gen. LeClere.
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Teenagers Lose Essential Rating
WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (ANS) - War workers between 18 and 25 years of age will lose their essential draft classification when they are laid off, Selective Service headquarters announced. Headquarters said the draft policy would be the same as always - if a man is no longer essential to the war effort he is eligible for the draft. A spokeman said local boards will handle individual problems and that not all the physically fit in the 18-25 group would necessarily be drafted. "We are continuing our policy of taking single men first," he said. What Is The 'Duration?' WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (ANS) - It is up to Congress to decide what "duration" means in the phrase "duration and six months." That's the word from Selective Service, which handled the mechanics of getting you into the Army in the first place. A Selective Service spokesman told the Associated Press that all drafted men are entitled to release at the end of the "duration and six months," but he added that only Congress can say when the duration is finished and the six months start. He said he presumed that when Congress decides to declare the duration completed, it will make some provision for occupation troops. Otherwise, he pointed out, they'd all be scurrying home within six months. So far, he said, no legislation to define "duration" has been introduced in Congress. But Omar B. Ketchum, legislation representative of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said he will press for a clarification as soon as Congress reconvenes. |
Nanking, Presses On
CHUNGKING, Aug. 27 (AP) - Crossing the famed Yangtze River, Chinese troops have entered their ancient capital city of Nanking, where Chinese staff officers already had set up advance headquarters as preparation for the formal signing of the Japanese surrender document.
Other Chinese forces occupied the huge port of Shanghai, a commmunique announced.
Elsewhere in China, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's troops continued to push forward to occupy points before the signing of the surrender, recovering Tangho in Southern Honan and Chowchiakow in Eastern Honan, a Chungking communique announced.
In Singapore, where the Jap-controlled radio announced all was "generally quiet and orderly," Japanese forces ceased all operational activity at that vital naval base Sunday. The broadcast complained, however, that "certain armed elements of the British Army" were making peaceful surrender difficult.
"Precautions are now being taken for the peaceful handing over of the Singapore section to the Allies," said the broadcast. "It is the wish of headquarters to assemble the forces in order to negotiate with the British commander in a peaceful manner. This will be extremely difficult to carry out in the face of subversive conduct on the part of certain armed elements under command of the British Army."
"Destruction of railway lines, attacks on our trains and capturing of arms and food supplies by force have increased to such an extent that they can hardly be expected to end immediately," the Jap radio complained. "Japanese forces have no intention of catching the men under the command of the British armed forces and intend to hand over Malaya as well as Singapore in an orderly and peaceful manner. They are endeavoring to maintain peace and order until the arrival of Allied forces."
In the Canton area, United Press said Sun Li-jen's new first Army of Burma experience had reached the suburbs of Canton and was ready to enter the city as soon as the Jap surrender document was signed.
NIPS WESTERN PACIFIC EMPIRE ENDED - Only the home islands (solid black) may be left to Japan of all its
once vast empire. Map shows farthest extent of Jap control during World War II and indicates how some of the parts
of the empire were annexed.
(Click map to enlarge)
A BROOKLYN MISS, member of the first WAC detachment to serve in the China Theater, is carried in a sedan chair
to a party given by enlisted military personnel assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Chungking. She is Corp. Ruth D. Davis,
on duty at Lt. Gen. George E. Stratemeyer's AAF headquarters.
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RANGOON, Aug. 27 (AP) - Latest dispatches to reach Rangoon from the Burma front indicate that Jap forces facing the British 14th Army show no disposition to surrender.
Observers believe that forceful demands for local capitulation will be delayed until the Japanese general staff members sign the surrender document.
The Burma front remains quiet, however, with little or no firing by either side, but Jap forces still are trying to escape across the Sittang river.
No indication that the notorious Gen. Yamashita, barricaded in the hills of Luzon, plans to surrender has been received, and it is not known if the Bataan murderer is in contact with his Tokyo government.
From Okinawa came word that a by-passed special suicide attack group became the first Japanese troops to surrender formally in the Ryukus. The Nips gave up at a place in the Kerma group, 20 miles west of southern Okinawa, to troops of the 24th U.S. Infantry regiment.
In the Solomons, meanwhile, 20,000 troops on by-passed Bougainville island are marching to concentration camps under the command of their own officers, the Melbourne radio said.
A Guam dispatch said tiny Mili in the Mrshalls, the first Jap-held atoll in the Pacific to unconditionally surrender to the Americans, will be formally occupied tomorrow.
US Fifth Army Chief Guest Of Ho Ying-Chin
CHUNGKING, Aug. 27 (UP) - Lt. Gen. Lucian K. Truscott, until recently commander of the U.S. Fifth Army today is a house guest of Gen. Ho Ying-chin, field commander of the Chinese armies, at Chihkiang, scene of the first official meeting between Chinese officials and a Jap surrender delegation from Nanking.
Gen. Truscott, who is returning to the United States shortly, paid tribute to the Chinese soldiers.
"Today's glorious victory, after eight years of bitter war," he said, "is due to the efforts and merits of China's fighting men, who have won my admiration."
Chiang Ratifies Security Charter
CHUNGKING, Aug. 27 (AP) - In a simple ceremony Friday, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, using a Chinese brush, signed the document ratifying the United nations charter designed to outlaw war by holding out the threat of swift and stern reprisals against any agressor nation.
Members of the executive committee of the United Nations Preparatory Commission, presently sitting in London to prepare for the birth of the new organization, believe that enough countries will have ratified the charter by late October to call the first plenary session of the World Security League.
China Emerges From War As A Ranking World Power
WASHINGTON (AP) - Chiang Kai-shek's name on the Allied ultimatum to Japan put China in the role of a nation issuing a big-time demand upon another power for the first time in her modern history.
For centuries, China has been on the receiving end of ultimatums - an underdog in the international family of nations.
The nearest the Chinese have come in generations to the role they now enjoy along with the British and Americans was at the Cairo Conference two years ago, than Winston Churchill, Pres. Roosevelt and Chiang announced to the world that Japan would be stripped of all but her homeland islands when she finally bowed to Allied might.
But that pronouncement nowise reached the high tempo of the Potsdam Ultimatum aimed directly at Japan, instead it was a declaration of policy for the information of the world.
15-YEAR WAR
With the Chinese Generalissimo helping formulate and issue surrender terms to Japan, Chinahas reached the zenith thus far on her comeback against her ancient enemy and her drive for world equality after almost 15 years of continuous warfare against her invader.
China, long before Japan took the slogan from her huge neighbor, was known as the "land of the rising sun," and its emperor as the "Son of Heaven," for China's present generation, "Land of the Rising Sun" is taking on renewed brilliance.
China, now victorious over Japan, sees a new day dawning for her millions of povert-stricken people, to more Chinese than T. V. Soong the sunrises in China now are taking on renewed brilliance.
China's answer to Japan's claim that the island empire is the place where the sun comes forth each day to light the world was voiced T. V. Soong, premier of China. He said:
"Japan is not the only place where the sun rises nor is the emperor the only Son of Heaven and the day is dawning when this will be evident to all."
NEW ERA BEGINNING
Ultimatums to China during the past century were plentiful, beginning with the British Attacks early in the nineteenth century, which resulted in the opening of Canton and other ancient Chinese cities to trade. Similar moves were more frequent as the century moved on, such as the foreign demands growing out of the Taiping rebellion in 1865, the Boxer uprising in north China in 1900, the Japanese 21 demands during the first World War, and a host of more recent Japanese efforts to infiltrate.
China Your road, charted by what destiny Will be built. What mortal motive power can you not equal Given time and cause - not need, For need you have in plenty. You always had. Time has no value in your scheme of things. Yet time is your salvation, must be. Time you must have to do the things These need be done. One tiny stone piled upon another And broken with a third Will pave the way. There is no job You cannot fashion. Cause you have. Time Will be given you. Great God in Heaven, These patient hands that chipped this stone And paved a measure with its pieces, That build as by the ancients, But for the future. That know nor seek no recompense Save means to work another day. Need only know Which way the road will go! Maj. A. E. Perkins |
WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (ANS) - The White House isn't saying yet what day will be proclaimed as V-J Day.
Charles G. Ross, presidential press secretary, answered newsmen's queires by reiterating:
"V-J Day, as I have said before, will be when the President says it is. And that will be after the signing of the articles of surrender in the Tokyo area.
"The President will go on the radio with a brief speech at that time."
The surrender articles will be signed Friday aboard the 45,000-ton U.S. battleship Missouri.
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Contrary to popular belief, the rickshaw was not invented by the Chinese. The utilitarian little two-wheeled cart is an invention of the Japanese, but such an important part has it taken in Chinese life that today China and rickshaw are synonomous to the Occidental mind.
In many parts of China, rickshaws still are called Yang-Chedz, or "foreign carts." Another name is Ren Lee Che, or "man strength." And while "man strength" undoubtedly is a prerequisite for a rickshaw coolie, he must use skill as well as strength at his job.
On flat ground, for instance, he will keep the passenger fairly well balanced atop the axle. Up hill, he will go forward in the shafts a bit to get the rider's weight ahead of the cart. And on a steep grade he will slide back in the shafts, let the rider drop back a little and ride down with him, his feet barely touching the ground.
Some days the rickshaw coolie should have stood in bed, for he actually can lose money. Most rickshaws are rented, paid for in advance for a period of a few hours. If the coolie does not find a fare in that time, he has to take the rickshaw back and he may not have the money to take it out again.
And despite the traffic jams in Chungking and Kunming there is a shortage of rickshaws now.
Chennault Lauds Gen. Wedemeyer
NEW YORK, Aug. 27 (AP) - Maj. Gen. Claire L. Chennault, former commander of the 14th Air Force and its famous predecessor, the "Flying Tigers," paid high tribute to Lt. Gen. A. C. Wedemeyer in a New York press conference.
En route to report to his superior in Washington, Gen. Chennault told New York newsmen that Gen. Wedemeyer had done "a superior job" as deputy chief of staff to Adm. Louis Mountbatten and as China Theater commander.
HISTORICAL MEETING - Pres. Truman and his cabinet confer at the White House to consider the Japanese surrender
offer.
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PEACE, IT'S WONDERFUL - Throughout most of the world, crowds like this, part of an estimated 2,000,000 people in
Times Square, N.Y., celebrated. Some sang, some wept, all were supremely happy.
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ATOMIC BOMB TEST EXPLOSION - A U.S. Army atomic newsreel camera six miles away made this sequence of pictures
on the test atomic bomb explosion.
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HOW HIROSHIMA WAS LEVELED, BLOCK BY BLOCK - What the first atomic bomb dropped on Japan did to Hiroshima is revealed
in this Army Air Forces composite airview of a portion of the city August 7, day after the attack. For block after
block only an occasional building is standing.
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The CHINA LANTERN is the newspaper for the United States Forces in the China Theatre and is published three times weekly by Lt. Lester H. Geiss, Editor-in-Chief, for military personnel only. Lt. Harry D. Purcell, Managing Editor; Lt. Maurice Pernod, Production Chief. Pfc. Richard P. Wilson, Reporter. Editorial offices: Hqrs., SOS China Theater, Kunming, China, and Hqrs., SOS, Calcutta, India. Printed by Ajit Kumar Sinha at the "Amrita Bazar Patrika" Press, Calcutta. Unless specifically stated, news and features appearing in the China Lantern do not necessarily represent the views of the War Department; the Commanding General, USF, CT, or any other official source.
AUGUST 28, 1945
Original issue of The China Lantern shared by Paul Shindelar
Similar, better quality image of General MacArthur was used in this recreation.
Copyright © 2009 Carl Warren Weidenburner
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