207
(iv) A telegram
from Admiral Mountbatten giving
the text of a message to him from General Gairdner urging the utmost caution;
(v) Telegrams from General MacArthur to the
U.S. Chiefs of Staff and other addressees, including S.A.C.S.E.A., enumerating the various requirements which had been transmitted to the Japanese Government for entry and operations of the Supreme Commander and an advanced Allied party into Japanese territory;
(vi) A telegram from the Joint Staff Mission, which had subsequently been repeated to S.A.C.S.E.A, in reply to C.0.S. (W) 72, stating that the exact time of the formal surrender would be designated later;
%
(vii) A telegram from H.M. Ambassador in
Chungking to the Foreign Office, reporting that if an order by General MacArthur to Surrender Hong Kong to British forces could bo arranged, the whole mattor would be concluded amicably.
After consideration of the above telegrams, THE CHIEFS OF STAFF decided that there was no alternative but to instruct Admiral Mountbatten to conform to General MacArthur's orders. The circumstances were not analagous to the surrender of Germany, whose armed forces had been defeated in the field and where the capitulation at the centre had come later. In the present case, it was at the centre that the capitulation had originated and local surrenders could not be expected to take place until the necessary orders had been promulgated by the Japanese High Command. It was decided therefore to send immediate instructi uns to Admiral Mountbatten cancelling the telegram sent the previous day, and telling him to conform in all respects to General MacArthur's orders. At the same time, Admiral Fraser was to be told to hold up the Hong Kong surrender force at Leyte or other convenient port until further instructions. Later in the meeting it was decided to tell Admiral Fraser to conform to General MacArthur's views on the timing of the surrender of Hong Kong.
THE COMMITTEE:
(a) Approved the terms of telegrams in
the above sense to Admiral Mountbatten and Admiral Fraser, and instructed the Secretary to despatch them, repeated to J.S.M. Washington and General Gairdner;
X
(b) Instructed the Secretary to suggest to the Foreign Office that they should tell H.M. Ambassador in Chungking, for the information of the Generalissimo, that the British Force Commander had been instructed to conform to General MacArthur's wishes regarding the timing of his entry into Hong Kong;
(c) Took note of the telegrams enumerated above.
*
SAC 19468
ZO 661 and 662
J.S.M.
13
No. 897
COSSEA 329
X
Sent as COSSEA 332'
+
T.0.0. 221145 & 221326
Annex I
-2-.