British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF)

On 17 August 1945 Australia advised Britain that it would participate in the military occupation of Japan.

By agreement between the Australian government, representing the UK, New Zealand and India governments and United States government, a document known as the “MacArthur-Northcott Agreement” was finalised in December 1945. It confirmed that a British Commonwealth force under an Australian commander would participate in the occupation.

The supreme commander for the allied powers was General Douglas MacArthur. Responsibility for the control and administration of the British Commonwealth Occupational Force (BCOF), rested with the joint chief of staff in Australia augmented by British, New Zealand and British Indian representatives, and operated from headquarters in Victoria Barracks, Melbourne.

Australians were in Japan on 2nd December 1945 when the surrender document was signed. Advanced parties of various units started arriving from then on, firstly to organise the repatriation of Australian prisoners of war and then to set up logistic units to support the main force. The first main Australian component arrived in Japan on 13th February 1946 in the Stamford Victory from Morotai.

U.S. forces arrived in August 1945 six months before the British Commonwealth forces.

In 1946 the Australian component of BCOF consisted of the newly raised, 34th Australian Infantry Brigade, comprising the 65th, 66th and 67th Battalions. Personnel were drawn from volunteers from 6th, 7th and 9th divisions and new recruits. There were also squadrons from the 4th Armoured Brigade, a squadron of Engineers, “A” Field Battery, and 130 Australian General Hospital plus ancillary and communication components.

No. 81 Fighter Wing RAAF with the 76, 77 and 82 Squadrons(Mustangs) with hospital and base operational services were based at Bofu airfield. No. 5 Airfield Constructions Headquarters was located at Iwakuni with a detachment based at Bofu. BCOF was under an Australian commander-in-chief throughout its existence. The commander in chief was responsible to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and to the Supreme Commander, General MacArthur.

Each BCOF commander was also directly responsible to his government. Which meant, in theory, that the Brigadier commanding the Australian component of BCOF could have had access to Canberra independently of the Australian General who was commander in chief of the entire force.

It is recorded in the 1946/47 official yearbook of the Commonwealth of Australia that in February 1946, the Australian component of BCOF comprised – 9 155 Australian personnel, 2 185 RAAF personnel, as well as a Royal Australian Navy(RAN) support unit of two British fleet. The 1958 edition of the “Australian Encyclopedia” indicates that in August 1946, the total BCOF component was 40 236 with 152 000 U.S. troops.

From February 1946 to June 1950, 16 RAN warships were in Japanese home waters engaged on occupation tasks. Most were assigned to this duty more than once. They were the cruisers Australia, Shropshire and Hobart, the destroyers Warramunga, Arunta, Bataan, Quadrant, Quiberon, Quickmatch, Culgoa, Murchison, Shoalhaven and troop ships Duntroon, Manoora, Westralia, Kanimbla. The naval shore establishment was designated HMS Commonwealth.

The air component of BCOF was known as BCAIR, and came under the operational control of the US 5th Air Force.

The other BCOF participants were:
From UK - 5th British Brigade consisting of 2nd Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers; 2nd Battalion, The Dorset Regiment; 1st Battalion, The Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders; 30th Field Battery; and 80th British General Hospital; Numbers 11 and D17 squadrons RAF(Spitfires); a Communication Squadron and a Hospital.
From India - 268th Indian Brigade, consisting of the 5th Battalion 1st Punjab Regiment; 1st Battalion Mahratta Light Infantry; 2nd Battalion 5th Royal Gurkha Rifles; 7th Indian Light Cavalry Regiment; 16th Indian Field Battery; 92nd Indian General Hospital; No. 4 Squadron RIAF(Spitfires).
From New Zealand – 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force(Japan) consisting of 22nd and 27th Infantry Battalions and the 2nd Division Cavalry Regiment; 6th New Zealand General Hospital; Lines of Communication Units; and No. 14 Squadron RNZ(Corsairs).

Aims and occupation duties

The aims of BCOF were “To maintain and enhance the prestige of the British Commonwealth of Nations by worthily representing it in the occupation” and “To demonstrate to the Japanese the democratic way of life”.

1. Supervising the demilitarization and disposal of Japanese military installations and armaments, protecting allied installations and generally exercising military control in five prefectures of the main Japanese island of Honshu and the whole of the neighbouring island of Shikoku.
2. Repatriating through ports in its area approximately 700,000 returning Japanese soldiers from overseas theatres of war, such as China, Formosa, Korea and the Ryukyu islands. Over 61,000 foreign nationals were repatriated to their respective countries.
3. Constant patrolling by sea, land and air to uncover smuggling (both of illegal immigrants, mainly Koreans, and of goods destined for the black market).
4. The organising of activities appropriate to the general objectives, such as providing expert advice of engineering and town planning and assistance in reconstructing Hiroshima.
5. Protecting allied installations.

The Australians were allotted the largely rural and severely devastated prefecture of Hiroshima. Huge stocks of war material including chemical agents and tonnes of ordinance had to be rendered safe and disposed of. Thousands of tonnes of material were located and destroyed and included approximately 10 000 depth charges, 1 290 torpedoes, 278 midget submarines, one hundred 18 inch and one hundred 16 inch naval guns, plus hundreds of guns from 8 to 14 inch. Caches of small arms and high explosives were also destroyed. These duties were considered the most dangerous of BCOF operations.

At its peak, BCOF controlled 20 million Japanese in an area of 22 000 square miles, comprising 5 western prefectures (Shamani, Yamaguchi, Totori, Okayama and Hiroshima) and the whole of Shikoku Island.

By 1947 the major tasks of the occupation force had been largely completed. At the end of 1947 the total strength of BCOF was less than 16,000 and the AMF and RAAF strengths being respectively 8 573 and 2 408. Britain began to withdraw forces in February 1947, India in July 1947 and New Zealand in October 1948. U.S. forces were also being repatriated on the assumption that the various Commonwealth countries would continue their share of occupation responsibilities assigned to them in 1946.

Australia made substantial reductions in 1948/49, cutting its army component from a brigade to one battalion and withdrawing two RAAF squadrons. The 65th and 66th Battalions returned to Australia to become the 1st and 2nd Battalions, Royal Australian Regiment, while the 67th Battalion was redesignated the 3rd Battalion and remained in Japan. These three became the nucleus of the Australian regular army.

With the agreement of the participating governments, the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Australia was discontinued on 31st of December 1947, and responsibility for the control and administration of BCOF was then assigned to the Australian government. Following the withdrawal of other forces, from the end of 1948 BCOF was largely an Australian exercise. However Australia was unable to accept responsibility for more than the Hiroshima prefecture and one police district, Iwakuni, of Yamaguchi prefecture, both in the inland sea area of Honshu.

BCOF headquarters were at Eta Jima where it performed its wider occupation control. Later the headquarters were re-established at Kure, the port where the first BCOF elements disembarked in 1946, where it remained until the end of 1951. The Kure headquarters included the naval shore establishment, HMAS Commonwealth. BCOF also maintained a sub area in Tokyo with headquarters at Ebisu. The commander-in-chief had residences in Kure and Tokyo.

In 1949 MacArthur indicated that there was no longer a need for extensive surveillance of the Japanese. The Menzies government elected in December 1949, viewed the continued occupation as a drain on limited defence resources, which would be put under further strain by the introduction of national service in Australia. On 31st of March,1950, the decision was made to withdraw the remaining 2 750 Australians within six months.

However, the outbreak of the Korean War on 25th of June, 1950, reversed the decision and the remaining Army and Air Force units in Japan (3rd Battalion and 77 Squadron, HMS Bataan and HMAS Shorehaven) were committed to combat in Korea.

BCOF was officially disbanded on 28th of April 1952 when the peace treaty with Japan- the Treaty of San Francisco- was ratified. With the end of the state of occupation, the Commonwealth organisation in Japan was redesignated British Commonwealth Forces Korea and continued to supply and administer the Commonwealth forces fighting in Korea itself. These were progressively scaled down and withdrawn in the two years after the ceasefire of July 1953.

Achievements

From a military viewpoint, the achievements of the occupation were:
1. Conducting the first overseas peacetime garrison in Australian history.
2. The organisation and maintenance of a supply line stretching for 6000 miles across 2 hemispheres, giving complete logistic support to BCOF, and all official British Commonwealth nationals in Japan.
3. Full cooperation with U.S. forces, including training, and intermingling in club life and amenities.

At no stage did the Japanese engage in organised resistance, there were no clashes between them and occupying troops in any part of the country. The Japanese gave the fullest cooperation in supplying transport and labour.

Medical problems

Two medical problems needed constant care. The first was the danger of cholera, which broke out in various parts of Japan each summer. When an outbreak did occur BCOF medical staff assisted Japanese doctors while the troops, observing strict precautions themselves, cordoned off the area and exercised close control in cooperation with medical authorities and Japanese police.
The other was that of venereal disease. Some attention was given to it in parliament and in the press.

BCOF leave centres were significant. They extended from the Izu peninsula, 100 miles from Tokyo, to the spas at Beppu in Kyushu. The Marunouchi Hotel in the centre of Tokyo and the Kawana Hotel on Isu were available to British Commonwealth and American civilians in Japan.

BCOF published its own daily newspaper up until the last two years, called BCON (British Commonwealth Occupation News).

One of BCOF's interesting experiments was the encouraging of wives and families of its members, of all ranks to go to Japan. Approximately 700 families of UK, Australian and Indian servicemen travelled to Japan in 1947 and 1948 (494 wives and 626 children came from Australia). This involved building and planning of special houses, shops, schools and hospitals. Relatively few dependents, however, remained during the last two years.

In Australia itself the general public took little interest in the force, other than the issue of fraternisation with Japanese women and the high rates of venereal disease during the first year of deployment. Personnel who served in Japan received no formal recognition by way of medal or service clasp, which contributed to a feeling of disaffection and a lack of appreciation on the part of many. This latter circumstance was remedied in 1994 through the award of the Australian service medal to those veterans who served between 1945 and 1947. US occupation troops were however, issued with an occupation medal at the time.

Award of the George Medal

Corporal James Ronald Sewell (NX73515), 10th Australian Bomb Disposal Platoon was awarded the George medal.

The citation reads as follows:
On 22nd of October 1946 on Onasamishima, the above named NCO was in charge of disposal works assisted by Sapper Smith. At approximately 10.00 hours a boat loaded with 83 tonnes of high explosive and pyrotechnics caught fire. The 56 labourers and crew after being badly burned jumped into the sea. Cpl Sewell, with total disregard for his own safety, swam to a small dingy and attempted to save as many labourers as possible. After he had rescued 6, the explosive in the boat detonated, killing one Australian, Sapper Smith who was on the beach and 14 labourers in the water. Although he, Cpl Sewell, suffered head injuries and shock from the detonation, he continued to pick up survivors and dispatch them to hospitals for treatment. After arranging for the removal of Sapper Smith's body he reported back to camp.

Japanese survivors state that if it had not been for the untiring efforts to rescue survivors and control panic, a far greater number of Japanese would have perished. A year later on 15th October 1947, as Sergeant Sewell, he was killed while delousing a mine on the island of Shikoku.

85 Australian BCOF deaths occurred during the period from the end of WW2 to the 28th of April 1952, from motor vehicle accidents, suicide, and accidents occurring during the disposal and destruction of Japanese military ordinance.