Soldier as Policeman in Southeast Asia 1945-1946
Abstract
After the Japanese surrendered in August 1945 most of Southeast Asia came under the control of the South East Asia Command (SEAC), commanded by Vice- Admiral the Earl Mountbatten of Burma. From that time until November 1946 SEAC attempted to perform its military mission of rescuing allied prisoners of war and returning the Japanese to Japan. This study focuses on what happened when SEAC combat soldiers were forced to act as policemen in the areas of greatest strife: Indochina and the Netherlands East Indies. The basic issue is: when soldiers are forced to act as policemen, i.e. controlling mostly unarmed civilians, a whole host of additional political requirements arise. The failure of the European governments, especially Britain's, to fully realize this caused the soldiers of SEAC, from Mountbatten all the down to the lowest private, to make decisions that had serious political implications. In order to clearly understand this situation it is also necessary to understand the sort of handicaps under which SEAC was working. The vacillating position of the United States, the critical shortage of shipping, the complete lack of knowledge, both geographically and politically, on most of the area, and some poor political decisions by the British government greatly constrained SEAC's activities.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1992
- Accession Number
- ADA242888
Entities
People
- James C. Pollman
Organizations
- Cornell University