Analysis: Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers' General Order No. 1

Date: September 2, 1945

Author: US Joint Chiefs of Staff

Genre: government document

Summary Overview

The formal surrender of Japan in World War II took place in Tokyo Bay aboard the battleship USS Missouri just after 9:00 a.m. on September 2, 1945; the documents had been prepared several weeks earlier, and time was given for representatives of the Allies to make their way to Tokyo Bay. The Instrument of Surrender was signed by Japanese foreign minister Mamoru Shigemitsu, representing the Japanese government, and General Yoshijiro Umezu, representing the Japanese armed forces. Representatives of the victorious powers also signed the document—General Douglas MacArthur on behalf of all the Allied military forces, followed by representatives of Australia, Canada, China, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. After signing the surrender, the Japanese delegation was given copies of General Order No. 1, instructions for how the surrender was to be carried out. The instructions for disarmament were prepared by the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and approved by the president of the United States, and they were to be transmitted to all the Japanese armed forces by the Japanese government. Japanese armed forces were instructed to surrender to various Allied commanders based on their location; within this provision lay the seeds of a divided Korea, as half of the country was to be surrendered to the Soviet Union, and half to the United States, along the thirty-eighth parallel.

Defining Moment

Japanese surrender seemed imminent in the summer of 1945. Japan's air force and navy were destroyed, and Japan's cities were bombed relentlessly. The Allies had set up an effective naval blockade that had cut off Japan from desperately needed food and supplies. An invasion of the Japanese homeland was possible with the capture of the island of Okinawa, from which such an attack could be launched. Plans for the invasion began in earnest in June 1945, and it was scheduled for November.

The Normandy invasion in northern France the previous year was still fresh in the minds of Americans, and though it had led to the eventual surrender of Germany, it was a brutal struggle and had cost the Allies over two hundred thousand lives—ten thousand on D-Day alone. Military planners knew that the Japanese would fight to the death and expected to lose up to ten times as many men as in Normandy. In July 1945, the first atomic bomb was detonated in secret in New Mexico, and its use was debated as a viable alternative to a seaborne invasion. On July 26, the Allies demanded unconditional surrender, threatening the complete destruction of Japan if the country refused to comply. The ultimatum was ignored, and the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed outright or injured, and many died in subsequent years as a result of the attack. Two days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, and the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and attacked Japanese forces in Manchuria.

Factions of the Japanese government and military command still resisted unconditional surrender, but on August 9, Emperor Hirohito ordered that the ultimatum be accepted, on the condition that the Japanese monarchy would be left intact. After several days of debate, Emperor Hirohito acquiesced to a modified agreement that would leave his future, and the future of the entire government, in the hands of the Allies. On August 15 at noon, the emperor announced the surrender on Japanese national radio.

The United States and the rest of the Allies immediately began finalizing a plan to manage Japan's surrender. The site, the battleship USS Missouri, was named after President Harry S. Truman's home state and had been used militarily in the Pacific. The Allies planned for an occupation under General MacArthur to manage the transition to peacetime, and MacArthur was also in charge of the surrender, set for September 2 to allow other governments time to send representatives. Just after 9:00 a.m., surrounded by more than 250 Allied warships, members of the Japanese government and military signed the documents of surrender aboard the Missouri.

Though the war with Japan was over, the surrender was managed with military precision. The Japanese were given General Order No. 1, a document outlining the process for disarming. Armed forces were to surrender to specific Allied commanders, depending on their location, and military factories, equipment, and machinery were to be preserved so that they could be recorded. General Order No. 1 also foreshadowed the division of Korea, as it had Japanese forces on the peninsula surrender to the Soviet Union in the north and the United States in the south.

Author Biography

William Daniel Leahy was head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time of the Japanese surrender. He was born in Hampton, Iowa, in 1875. His family later moved to Wisconsin. Leahy attended the United States Naval Academy and graduated in 1897. Leahy served aboard the USS Oregon during the Spanish-American War and later served in the Pacific. In 1907, he became an instructor at the United States Naval Academy, where he taught physics and chemistry. He became friends with Franklin D. Roosevelt when the latter was secretary of the Navy, and he served as commander of a transport ship during World War I. Leahy held a variety of naval commands and office positions in subsequent decades, culminating with his appointment as chief of naval operations from 1937 to 1939. He retired from the military in 1939, and became the governor of Puerto Rico. In 1941, Leahy was given the difficult post of US ambassador to Vichy France, then under German control. On July 20, 1942, he was appointed to the newly created position of chief of staff to the commander in chief (that is, Roosevelt's chief military advisor), a post that was later formalized as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He opposed the use of the atomic bomb in Japan, and retired in 1949. He died in 1959, in Bethesda, Maryland, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Document Analysis

This order was intended to arrange for the surrender and demobilization of Japan, but it was clear to its authors that it would need to be amended as the situation on the ground changed. Because of this, the opening paragraph provides a general statement that “it is subject to change both by further instructions issued through the Joint Chiefs of Staff and by changes in matters of detail made by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers.” In other words, the Japanese must follow additional instructions not laid out in this document.

The first section demands immediate cessation of hostilities and gives military commanders the titles and locations of the commanders who will receive their surrender. The Japanese military is to surrender only to designated Allied commanders and is required to follow their orders. Disarmament does not include police in mainland Japan, who are expected to remain armed and in place to protect law and order. In order to ensure that all Japanese military personnel are accounted for and have followed the correct protocol for surrender, and to ensure there remain no pockets of resistance, the government of Japan is ordered to provide the Allies with complete lists of its military resources. This includes ships, airplanes, armed forces, camps, factories, and ammunition depots, as well as potential dangers such as minefields and “other obstacles to movement by land, sea or air.” Ships are to dump any explosives overboard. Aircraft of all types are grounded.

Japan's civil and military authority is responsible for making the country safe, making its waters navigable, and readying military installations and supplies for Allied inspection. Furthermore, the country is no longer permitted to manufacture any “arms, ammunition, and implements of war.” The agreement also gives specific instructions on how prisoners of war will be handled. The well-being of all prisoners is to be “scrupulously preserved” until they can be turned over to proper authorities, and complete lists of all prisoners and their locations are to be furnished to the Allies.

The order ends with general provisions for carrying out these specific orders. All Japanese authorities are to assist with the occupation and to carry out orders from Allied commanders. Japanese officials will help to disarm the Japanese population, and any attempt to defy Allied orders will be met with “drastic and summary punishment,” which the Allied authorities and the Japanese government will enforce.

Bibliography and Additional Reading

Adams, Henry H. Witness to Power: The Life of Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy. Washington: Naval Inst., 1985. Print.

Dower, John W. Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II. New York: Norton, 1999. Print.

“Tokyo Bay: The Formal Surrender of the Empire of Japan, USS Missouri, 2 September 1945.” Naval History and Heritage Command. Dept. of the Navy, n.d. Web. 6 Jan. 2015.