Hello there The quickest answer to your question about
post-surrender casualtiesin WWII is: Hardly any. There appears to
have been virtually nohostile fire in Germany or Japan after the
surrenders of thosecountries. The Germans and the Japanese rolled over
and accepted defeat post-WWIIin a way that is almost difficult to
conceive in the modern era. There was virtually no organized
resistance to US occupation forces,and what little there was aimed its
activities more at irksome trouble(blocking roads, graffiti, work
stoppages, pilferage) than at the typeof deadly actions to destabilize
and induce terror that we have cometo expect in Iraq. Oddly, some of
the most serious concerns about security in postwarGermany stemmed
from the behavior of the American troops themselves,whose tendencies
towards rowdiness would sometimes turn violent. Another huge concern
throughout Europe were the enormous masses ofDP?s ? displaced persons
? whose homelessness, hunger and despair madefor occasional flash
points of potential and actual violence. The USbecame increasingly
concerned about the Communist influence inoccupied Germany as well.
Security concerns about the generalpopulations in Germany as well as
in Japan were minimal, bycomparison.
---------------------------------- The best source of detailed
information about the US occupation ofGermany is a 344-page US Army
report entitled: History of US Constabulary, Germany, 1945-1947 which
can be found at: http://www.carlisle.army.mil/cgi-bin/usamhi/DL/showdoc.pl?docnum=40
[warning: this is a large document which can take a full ten
minutesor more to download, even at broadband speeds...but by all
means, goahead an download it] ------------------------------------
Chapter 10 of the report is on ?Intelligence, Security and Law
andOrder?. I?ve excerpted some of the most pertinent material below:
Beginning on page 210 of the report is a detailed section
on?Subversive Activities and Sabotage.? Subversive activities and
sabotage took many forms including thepossession of Nazi insignia and
literature, efforts at keeping Naziorganizations alive, threatening
letters, painting swastikas on wallsor streets, assaults against
Germans who fraternized with US troops,placing obstacles in roads,
impersonating US personnel, illegalpossession of.radio communications
equipment, arson, membership inthe-Melweiss Piraten, wire cutting,
circulation of rumors, andassaults against US personnel. During the
firstyear of Constabulary operations, subversive incidents remained on
arelatively stable plane and did not fluctuate sufficiently to
indicatea trend, although the potential sources for such incidents
wasregarded as having increased in view of the time and
opportunitieswhich had been afforded for organization of such
activities. The following selected incidents are typical of the
subversiveactivities encountered and are presented as examples in
order tobetter illustrate the problem faced by the Constabulary. [what
follows in the report is a long list of incidents, a few ofwhich I?ve
extracted here] "21 September 1946. Hundsbach, Small arms firing had
been heard intermittently in the vicinity of this town, thought to be
that of hunters. A search was made by Troopers and German Police. Ten
German civilians were arrested on the charge of "Suspicion of
possessing illegal weapons. All are being held...? "13 October
1946. Klein-Bardorf. Two telephone poles were found across the, road
at about 23 00 hours, 27th ConstabularySquadron could not obtain any
information at the time." "1 February 1947, Nurnberg., The
Spruchkammer on Karl Kruger Strasse.'was bombed. Bomb was thrown into
the shop on ground floor directly beneath the office of. the president
of the German Landesgericht whichis at present trying Von Papen. No
one was injured, building partiallydestroyed," '5 March 1947.
Hauzenberg. ?A? Troop, 51st Constabulary Squadron reported that 174
feet of telephone wire were removed between theOfficersquarters and
the Command Post by unknown person or persons."
------------------------------------- The text beginning on page 221
discusses the native German population: Disorders Among the Indigenous
Population Generally speaking, disorders among the indigenous
population wererelatively few, Such disorders as did occur were
usually motivated bya desireto obtain additional food and other
necessities of life. This trendwas reflected in the fact that most
offenses had to do with the blackmarket orwith illegal attempts to
cross frontiers. Resentment toward DisplacedPersons was evidenced by
the numbers of incidents in which German andDPswere involved.
Intelligence reports for the period 18 to 22, November1946,were
indicative of the security situation with respect to the
Germanpopulation and are quoted as follows: "Office of Military
Government, Bavaria reported a number of cases of Fragebogen
falsification by German officials. Generally these per- sons attempt
to conceal party membership or avoid classification as anautomatic
arrestee in an attempt to retain their positions as MilitaryGovernment
officials." "An increase in trips to rural areas and towns in an
effort to tradefor foodstuffs known to be hoarded by farmers was
noted. 1st Constabulary Brigade reported a growing feeling of
apprehensionamong the civil populace. . General unsettled conditions
exist;scarcities of all kinds of goods, fear of losing living quarters
dueto the growing influx of refugees, the approaching winter months,
andthe lack of faith in their present currency, all contribute to
thiscondition. Two minor disturbances occurred in the 2nd Constabulary
Brigade area, one, a near riot caused by a large crowd of civilians at
the YuniehDependents Coal Dump, and the other a general free for all
involvingUS troops, DPs, and German civilians in a Cafe.?
------------------------------------------------ As you can see, this
is all a far cry from the types of securityreports that one must
assume are emerging daily from Iraq.
------------------------------------------------ Chapter 11 of the
report discusses the attitudes of the population inoccupied Germany,
and begins this way: "Any attempt to discuss the occupation of the
U.S. Zone in Germany byU.S. Forces, or the operation of the
Constabulary as a part of theseforces, must be projected against the
economic, political,sociological, geographical, and historical
background of the peopleinhabiting the zone. The following
discussions are an attempt tosummarize the attitudes of the German
population, and the DisplacedPersons toward the occupational
authorities, the economic situationand the various ideaologies with
which they are confronted." In the section discussing the German
people themselves, the reportnotes: "Critical food shortages remained
the most serious aspect of theeconomic situation and the attitude of
the population was one ofbitterness, hopelessness and despair.
Although no immediatealleviation of the food situation was seen by the
Germans, no acts ofviolence or serious disturbances were reported in
the US Zone ofOccupation during the year beginning 1 July 1946." Note
the last sentence in that paragraph: there were no serious actsof
violence in US-occupied Germany during the period discussed.
----------------------------------------------- I mentioned earlier
that the behavior of the US troops themselvesseemed a more serious
security concern than actual threats from thecitizenry. From page 217
of the report: Disorders Among US Troops. The conduct of US-Troops
in the occupied zone was a matter of greatconcern to occupation
authorities during the year beginning 1 July1946.... Therewere
certain recognizable trends in US troops disorders during theyear,
whichwere worthy of note. Due to control measures the number of
seriousincidentsin which illegal firearms were used by troops steadily
decreased untiltheuse of such arms became rare by the end of the
year... ------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------ Another
comprehensive military report: THE U.S. ARMY IN THE OCCUPATION OF
GERMANY can be found at this site:
http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/Occ-GY/ch18.htm This is an
almost 500 page report on the occupation of Germany, and ispart of the
Army?s ?Historical Series? of reports Chapter 18 of the report
describes the actual occupation in greatdetail. Here is a brief
excerpt from that chapter ? note the lastsentence here about the lack
of any resistance: On V-E Day, Eisenhower had sixty-one U.S.
divisions, 1,622,000 men, inGermany, and a total force in Europe
numbering 3,077,000. When theshooting ended, the divisions in the
field became the occupationtroops, charged with maintaining law and
order and establishing theAllied military presence in the defeated
nation. This was thearmy-type occupation. A counterpart of the
military government carpet,its object was to control the population
and stifle resistance byputting troops into every nook and cranny.
Divisions were spread outacross the countryside, sometimes over great
stretches of territory.The 78th Infantry Division, for instance, for a
time after V-E day wasresponsible for an area of 3,600 square miles,
almost twice the sizeof the state of Delaware, and the 70th Infantry
Division for 2,500square miles. Battalions were deployed separately,
and the company waswidely viewed as the ideal unit for independent
deployment becausebillets were easy to find and the hauls from the
billets to guardposts and checkpoints would not be excessively long.
Frequently singleplatoons and squads were deployed at substantial
distances from theircompany headquarters. The occupation troops manned
border control stations, maintainedcheckpoints at road junctions and
bridges, sent out roving patrols toapprehend curfew and circulation
violators, and kept stationary guardsat railroad bridges, Army
installations, DP camps, jails, telephoneexchanges, factories, and
banks. In the first months troops wereplentiful and almost everything
of importance-and some not soimportant-was guarded. In effect, the
combat forces became militarygovernment security troops. The army-type
occupation was comprehensive and showed the Germans thatthey were
defeated and their country occupied. This type of occupationwas
presumably capable of squelching incipient resistance since nonewas
evident. ---------------------------- The bottom line of all this is
that there was little if anypost-surrender hostilities between US and
Germans, and what there wasmost often had the character of barroom
brawls more than intentionalcombat. ---------------------------- The
situation was much the same in Japan. A number of
comprehensivedocuments on the post-war occupation of Japan are notable
by theircomplete silence on the topic of any active hostility towards
theoccupying forces. For instance, in a report by the Department of
State (available atwww.questia.com internet research library by
subscription): Occupation of Japan: Policy and Progress The
Department of State U. S. A. Publication 267 Far Eastern Series 17
(1946) they note the complete cooperation of the Japanese people:
-------------- Occupation 10. Supreme Commander for the Allied
Powers The man who was named SCAP for the surrender ceremonies
became SupremeCommander for the Allied Powers for the occupation of
Japan as well.General MacArthur received this authority on September
6, 1945 in astatement prepared by SWNCC and approved by the
President... SCAP and the forces of occupation found Japanese
officials eagerlycooperative, despite the fact that Japanese forces in
the home islandsoutnumbered the Allied form by twenty to one. The
Japanese people were completely responsive to the orders of
SCAP,despite the fact that they had, all about them, every reason to
bebitter. Their cities had been blasted and burned in the
Super-Fortressraids. Their homes had been destroyed and their
relatives killed.Their industries had suffered great bomb damage,
leaving millionsjobless. They had lost the coal and iron which they
had formerlydrained from Manchuria and Korea, the oil and rubber which
they hadlooted from the East Indies and Malaya, and all the other
materialsthey needed from abroad to support the highly geared
production systemin Japan. They were cut off from the foreign
territories on whichJapan depended for much of its food supply. Their
own farms not onlycould not take up the slack but could not even
supply the quantitiesproduced in pre-war days. The extremely limited,
intensivelycultivated, arable land had deteriorated due to lack of
fertilizers;labor had been drained off into the armed forces. Their
fishingfleets, an important means of feeding the people, had been
decimatedby Allied submarines and aircraft. The vessels still afloat
could notgo to sea without fuel, fishing nets, and other equipment-and
SCAP'spermission. Inland and coastal transport also had shrunk under
theblows of air and naval forces; the remnants lacked the fuel
todistribute whatever stocks of food the Japanese armed forces
andGovernment had built up. SCAP utilized both official cooperation
and the docility of thepopulace. These were assets during the
immediate post-surrender periodwhen the United States was bringing in
and establishing forcesadequate to cope with any opposition that might
arise. ----------------------- [also from the questia site]:
Political Reorientation of Japan, September 1945 to September 1948
Report by Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. Message of General
of the Army Douglas H. MacArthur on the thirdanniversary of the
signing of the Instrument of Surrender. During these 3 years the
Japanese people have done their part, and, inthe existing
circumstances, done it well. This, despite the austerityof life in the
wake of the tragedy of war and disaster and theideological clash which
impinges upon all mankind. For they have here,in a confused and
bewildered world, a calm and well ordered societydedicated to the
sanctity of peace. There need be no fear concerning the future pattern
of Japanese lifefor the Japanese people have fully demonstrated both
their will andtheir capacity to absorb into their own culture sound
ideas, welltested in the crucible of Western experience, in lieu of
thoseconcepts responsive to the myths and legends which have so
handicappedtheir past. And today those practical weapons needed to
repel thetotalitarian advance--liberty, dignity, and opportunity--now
safelyrest in every Japanese hand, and the nation has thereby become
anasset upon which the free World may confidently count. It stands as
anoasis of relative calm in a troubled and turbulent universe.
------------------------ In these reports and in a number of other
comprehensive documents aswell (for instance, ?Japan, from Surrender
to Peace? by John FosterDulles and others, 1953) there is no
indiciation at all that there wasever open, active, hostile resistance
to the American occupation ofJapan. ------------------------ To
double-check, I conducted an internet and newspaper search forstories
of any soldiers or any combat-type operations that occurredafter the
German and Japanese surrendered. I found only one report of a
soldier?s death. According to the DixonEvening Telegraph (Dixon,
Illinois) of March 4, 1946 an Americanlieutenant was shot by a Russian
sentry in Berlin, apparently when thelieutenant failed to respond to a
?Halt? order. There were several additional reports of soldiers killed
in accidents? training flights, jeep turnovers and the like. Most of
these werestateside, but they may well have been tallied as
post-surrendercasualties in military records. There was this odd
mention at: http://www.fas.org/man/crs/crs_931007.htm 1946 --
Trieste. President Truman ordered the augmentation of U.S.troops along
the zonal occupation line and the reinforcement of airforces in
northern Italy after Yugoslav forces shot down an unarmedU.S. Army
transport plane flying over Venezia Giulia. Earlier U.S.naval units
had been dispatched to the scene. So it does seem as if there was at
least some hostile fire even afterpeace was declared.
-------------------------------- The official military tally for
deaths during WWII, which can be foundhere:
web1.whs.osd.mil/mmid/casualty/WCPRINCIPAL.pdf on a table titled:
PRINCIPAL WARS IN WHICH THE UNITED STATES PARTICIPATED U.S. MILITARY
PERSONNEL SERVING AND CASUALTIES contains the following footnote
regarding combat deaths during WWII: ?Data are for the period
December 1, 1941, through December 31, 1946,when hostilities were
officially terminated by PresidentialProclamation, but a few battle
deaths or wounds not mortal wereincurred after the Japanese acceptance
of the Allied peace terms onAugust 14, 1945.? The circumstances of
these deaths is not discussed in the text,however it seems quite clear
from all of the above that the number isquite small.
---------------------------------- Another resource to be aware of
can be found here:
http://www.ccc.nps.navy.mil/rsepResources/si/may03/middleEast6.asp US
Occupation of Iraq: Lessons from Post-WWII Germany May 5, 2003 In
1945, following the defeat of Nazi Germany, the United States,
theSoviet Union, Great Britain and France assumed control over
theterritory of a defeated enemy. With the inability of the
wartimeallies to devise a plan to govern Germany at the conclusion of
thewar, the three western powers embarked upon a separate policy
thatresulted in the transformation of their zones of occupation into
theFederal Republic of Germany. This was a great moment in the annals
ofAmerican foreign policy. Because the occupation led to the creation
ofa successful democratic state, military victory produced
substantiallong-term political gains. Not only was a great scourge
defeated, butthe coordinated actions of the western powers gave birth
to a new andpowerful ally. What lessons does this provide for how we
should nowconduct ourselves in Iraq? [Once again, there is no mention
of violence or casualties in Germany]
----------------------------------- Lastly, I must make mention of
one other historical document. Areport titled, simply, ?Intelligence
Review?, dated February 14, 1946and available at:
http://www.carlisle.army.mil/cgi-bin/usamhi/DL/showdoc.pl?docnum=520
The report focuses on security interests and concerns of the
UnitedStates in the post-WWII world. Once again, German and
Japaneseresistance is conspicuous by its absence. But the report is
quiteamazing in its prescience regarding communism, indochina, and
theMoslem World as emerging concerns. You may be particularly
interested in the section on ?ISLAM: A THREATTO WORLD STABILITY?. As
the language struck me as somewhatinflammatory, I will not reproduce
any of it here. Nonetheless, it isquite a fascinating document to
read. ----------------------------------- Again, I hope this is the
information you were seeking, but ifanything here is not clear or
needs elaboration, just let me know andI?ll be happy to assist you
further. pafalafa-ga
Request for Answer Clarification by drstrangelove-ga on 14 Sep 2003
20:39 PDT Thank you. This is extraordinarily good work. I have only
one requestfor clarification. I had expected you to say that there
were few or nodeaths in Tokyo, but that there were some reasonable
number of deathsin the various Pacific islands that had been occupied
by the Japanseduting WWII. One hears stories of Japanese soldiers on
those islandswho fought on for years, not knowing (or believing) that
the war wasover. Did you encounter any information about that? Thank
you verymuch.
Clarification of Answer by pafalafa-ga on 15 Sep 2003 12:26 PDT Hello
again, Funny you should mention that! Like everyone, I suppose, I've
heard these same stories, and havewondered over the years if they were
really true or mere myth. I wasspecifically looking for that type of
info during my search. Whilethere clearly were such soldiers, I did
not come across anything evenremotely suggestive that any encounters
resulted in the death of UStroops. In fact, it seems as if anywhere
can be called a hotspot in thePacific, it was China. The following
site details the entire historyof engagements by the Navy and Marines:
http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq56-1.htm You can see quite
clearly that in the months and years immediatelyfollowing WWII, the
action was in China: NAVY
MARINE CORPS ACTION KIA WIA
KIA WIA 1st Marines reconnaissance patrol fired on by 40-50
Chinese communist guerillas northwest of Tientsin, China, 6 Oct. 1945
0 0 0 3 7th Marines jeep
patrol fired on by Chinese communist snipers near Tangshan, China 19
Oct 1945 0 0 0 2 Ambush of
5th Marines jeep patrol by Chinese communist snipers outside of
Peiping, China 26 Oct 1945 0 0 0
1 Two marines hunting near 7th Marines railroad outpost shot by
two Chinese west of Anshan, China, 4 Dec 1945
0 0 1 1 One marine attacked while on liberty in
Tientsin, China, 9 Dec 1945 0 0 0
1 Two 7th Marines supply trucks ambushed by Chinese communist
guerillas near Tangshan, China, 15 Jan 1946 0
0 0 2 Marine hunting party attacked by irregular
forces in the vicinity of Lutai, China, 7 Apr 1946 0 0
1 0 5th Marines bridge guards attacked by Chinese
communists firing mortars, near Tangku, China, 5 May 1946
0 0 0 1 7th Marines sentry attacked by
guerillas in Lutai, China, 7 May 1946 0
0 0 1 1st Marines reconnaissance patrol ambushed by
50-75 armed Chinese in village 10 miles south of Tientsin, China, 21
May 1946 0 0 1 1 Marine sentry attacked in
Tangku, China, 2 Jul 1946 0 0 0 1
Supply convoy, protected by 11th Marines detachment, ambushed by
Chinese communist forces at Anping, China, 29 July 1946
0 0 4 11 Chinese communist raid on 1st Marine
Division ammunition supply point at Hsin Ho, northwest of Tangku,
China 3 Oct 1946 0 0 0 1 Two Chinese
communist companies about 350 men, attack 1st Marine Division
ammunition supply point at Hsin Ho, northwest of Tangku, China, 4-5
Apr 1947 0 0 5 17 Marine
hunting party ambushed by Chinese communists outside of Tientsin,
China, 25 Dec. 1947 0 0 1 0
------------------------------- Apparently, there's an expert on the
topic of Japanese "straggler"solidiers. You might want to contact her
for more information, or atleast have a look at her book on the topic.
http://www.newcastle.edu.au/news/media-releases/2003/trefaltasaaprize.htm
"Dr Beatrice Trefalt's research on the Japanese soldiers of World
WarII, who didn't know that the war was over for up to 30 years, will
bepublished in a book later this year." "The veterans that had the
greatest impact on Japanese society werethe so-called stragglers.
These were soldiers who had not known, orhad refused to believe, that
the war had ended in August 1945." "They hid on the edges of former
battlefields in Southeast Asia andthe Pacific for years, and sometimes
decades. During the 1950s, suchsoldiers were discovered and
repatriated at regular intervals from NewGuinea, Indonesia, the
Philippines, and islands in the Pacific." "In 1972, one straggler was
found on Guam and another was shot dead onLubang Island in the
Philippines. In March 1974, a straggler on Lubangwas convinced to
surrender, and the last straggler was repatriatedfrom Morotai Island
in Indonesia to his native Taiwan in January1975." Let me know what
you find out. pafalafa-ga |
