General Order No. 1

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General Order № 1, approved by the President of the United States on 17 August 1945, was General Douglas MacArthur's first order to the forces of the Empire of Japan following the surrender of Japan. It instructed Japanese forces to surrender to designated Allied commanders, reveal all current military deployments, and preserve military equipment for later disarmament.

It is also the source of the modern division of Korea at the 38th Parallel.

By issuing General Order № 1, the United States confirmed its role as the principal occupying power over the areas specified.

Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the term also refers to a multi-page United States Central Command order that prohibits consumption of alcohol, sexual activities with local and third country nationals, offering food considered forbidden (haraam) under Islam to local nationals, and proselytizing by United States Department of Defense personnel while in a combat zone and certain pre-deployment training activities.

[edit] Excerpt from FRUS Volume VI (1945-08-14) p. 659

a. The senior Japanese commanders and all ground, sea, air and auxiliary forces within China (excluding Manchuria), Formosa and French Indo-China north of 16° north latitude shall surrender to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.

b. The senior Japanese commanders and all ground, sea, air and auxiliary forces within Manchuria, Korea north of 38° north latitude and Karafuto shall surrender to the Commander in Chief of Soviet Forces in the Far East.

c. The senior Japanese commanders and all ground, sea, air and auxiliary forces within the Andamans, Nicobars, Burma, Thailand, French Indo-China south of 16 degrees north latitude, Malaya, Borneo, Netherlands Indies, New Guinea, Bismarcks and the Solomons, shall surrender to the Supreme Allied Commander, Southeast Asia Command.

d. The senior Japanese commanders and all ground, sea, air and auxiliary forces in the Japanese Mandated Islands, Ryukyus, Bonins, and other Pacific Islands shall surrender to the Commander in Chief, U. S. Pacific Fleet.

e. The Imperial General Headquarters, its senior commanders, and all ground, sea, air and auxiliary forces in the main islands of Japan, minor islands adjacent thereto, Korea south of 38° north latitude, and the Philippines shall surrender to the Commander in Chief, U. S. Army Forces in the Pacific.

[edit] References

"General Order No. 1, Military and Naval," quoted in US Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), 1945 (Washington: GPO, 1969), vol. VI: The British Commonwealth, The Far East, pp. 658-9. Available online at University of Wisconsin Digital Collections
Congressional Record, 6 September 1945