Library National Archives of India, The National Archives of India is the custodian of the records of enduring value of the Government of India. There are separate national archives for Scotland - the National Records of.Contains 20 digitized files selected from FCO 21 relating to China. It provides a detailed listing of the box, folder, and sometimes individual documents contained in various collections.FCO 21: Foreign Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Far Eastern Department: Registered Files (F and FE Series)The UK has a long tradition of record keeping and a rich accumulation of.
British National S Series Contain Documents
The subjects of these files include social welfare working conditions in Hong Kong, future of Hong Kong, Kowloon disturbances, detainees and prisoners following 1967/1968 disturbances, disturbances 1967-1968, etc.AN 202: British Railways Board: Transportation Systems and Market Research Limited (Transmark): Records.BW 90: Inter-University Council for Higher Education Overseas: Correspondence and Papers.BW 91: Technical Education and Training Organisation for Overseas Countries: Correspondence and Papers.CO 1045: Colonial Office and other departments: Papers of Sir Christopher Cox, Educational Adviser.Thirty-two selected files from above 4 series contain documents relating to the establishment of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. FCO 40: Commonwealth Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Hong Kong Departments: Registered Files, Hong Kong, British Honduras, British Indian Ocean Territories and the Seychelles (HW and HK Series)Contains 99 digitized files selected from FCO 40 covering the period from 1967-1970. The covering period is from to. The National Archives Q1 building (1976) was one of the first open-plan office spaces built for use by the UK government. It has a vast corpus of records viz., public records, private papers, oriental records, cartographic records.
In what would have been the largest amphibious operation in history, coming under the overall umbrella of a plan known as Operation Downfall, Allied forces had intended to invade the home islands of Japan. Had the atomic bombs not been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, resulting in the unconditional surrender of Japan, the military landscape in late 1945 and early 1946 would have looked very different. Our challenge was to maintain the visual openness while introducing a range of spaces, acoustics and atmospheres to support a diversity of public uses.The introduction of glazed rooms into the deep plan allows different users to do very different activities in adjacent spaces at the same time. Acoustic separation is critical. Glazed partitions provided acoustic and environmental separation while maintaining the visual connections. Frameless, double-glazed units with 10.8mm+12.8mm acoustic laminated glass provided the necessary 54dB Rw weighted sound reduction to ensure live music in the auditorium would not disturb silent study in the neighbouring reading rooms.The felt-lined bulkheads use a range of standard plasterboard products – horizontal, vertical, angled and curved – to provide a continuous acoustic barrier and create a varied ceilingscape that animates the spaces for the benefit of visitors below.
Though the Allies planned to use predominately troops from the US, a British Commonwealth Force was in the process of being assembled in August 1945 to take part, and records at The National Archives shed some light on the decision making process and rationale behind British and Commonwealth participation.In early July 1945, the British Chiefs of Staff had prepared a memorandum which gave details relating to the policy of inducing the unconditional surrender of Japan. Forces were to be made up exclusively of units from the United States.The second part of Downfall, Operation Coronet, would begin in early 1946, and involved the invasion of Honshu, close to the Japanese capital of Tokyo. Catalogue ref: INF13-213 (46)Made up of two parts, the initial assault, Operation Olympic, was set to begin in November 1945, and would see the capture of the island of Kyūshū in the south, using the recently captured island of Okinawa as a staging area.
The divisions earmarked would simply be replacing American divisions already allocated for service during Coronet. It stated that there would be no possibility of British autonomy in the operation, meaning essentially that its forces would have to come under US command. The whole operation was to be run by General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area, and Admiral Chester Nimitz, the Commander-in-Chief of the US Pacific Fleet, and the former sent a list of proposals to be agreed upon for the British to participate. The Prime Minister of Australia, Ben Chifley, sent a telegram to the British Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, stating that Australian participation was of ‘vital importance to future of Australia and her status at peace table’ ( DEFE 2/165).The British authorities made it clear that they wished to have a presence and the US conceded to its view. By early August 1945, Ernest Bevin, the British Foreign Secretary, warned that a lack of British participation in the invasion of mainland Japan would risk an accusation in the future from the US and countries in the Far East that Britain had not pulled its weight, and also that it was important to ‘re-establish our position in the eyes of the Far Eastern peoples’. These operations were to be known as Operation Zipper and Mailfist, and utilise a significant proportion of the British, Imperial, and Commonwealth troops.However, important political considerations had to be taken into account.
However, the records show that there was a feeling among senior British officials that the rejection was based ‘entirely on political reasons obtaining in America’ ( CAB 79/37/10).One British, Canadian, and Australian division was approved, with a smaller New Zealand contingent also earmarked for service, in a force that would eventually total 55,000. Britain had initially proposed to send an Indian division, but this was rejected on the grounds of administration and because of a possible language barrier. Catalogue ref: DEFE 2 165MacArthur also stipulated that British Empire participation should be limited to a Corps of three divisions: one British, one Canadian, and one Australian.
British and Commonwealth forces, of course, were no longer required for the task they had begun to prepare for, but it is certainly interesting to think about what was being put in place had the atomic bombs not been dropped. By 15 August, Japan had surrendered, and this was formalised on 2 September when MacArthur accepted on behalf of the Allies on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Members were to be given 28 days leave before their date of embarkation and would realistically have spent the next six months in North America, before making its way to the Pacific.Orders to that effect were to be issued to British Commonwealth land force Commanders of the ‘Coronet Force’ on 10 August 1945, a day after the second atomic bomb had been dropped on Nagasaki, and the Soviet Union’s declaration of war on Japan.
The Brits knew even after their heroic stand against Nazi Germany earlier in the war, that their world leadership in many areas such as naval size and ability was waning against the US. By this stage of WW2 the US was the premier leader of allied countries, the military might of the US at the time was so evident, that Soviet Russia did not challenge from their position in Europe. McArthur wanted to ensure that the remaining Crown forces had no leading influence in the forthcoming invasion.
It could also be said, that the present President of the US has indeed placed pressure on the Australian Government to take responsibility for its share in defending its part of the world. Australia now is about to spend billions of dollars on re-modernizing its Defence Forces, because of the growing current threat from China. Hence going forward the reliance of Australia on the US. Britain had been unable to defend Australia, a shocking revelation to the Australians at the time. Politically the Brits would have had to be part of the invasion, US military might kept the Japanese out of Australia, then a nation of under 6 million people? Predominantly of British/Gallic decent.
Saunder OBE with navigator F/Lt James Bryden Stephen, went from RAF Joari on reconnaissance to Myingyan airfield, Burma. On the 1st May 1945 a Mosquito bomber of 110 Squadron, flown by W/Cdr Arthur E. Although it was important that Japan be defeated, let’s not forget that the US, Britain, and Commonwealth countries only got involved in resisting Japanese aggression when they themselves were attacked they were happy to sit back and ignore it while China was under attack throughout the period 1931-1942.The invasion of Rangoon in Burma, named Operation Dracula, was intended for the 2nd May 1945, so somewhat earlier than any plans for the invasion of Japan. Let’s not use them just to wallow in imagined past glories. Surely this was wishful thinking given the humiliating defeat of British forces in Malaya and Singapore in 1942 ? As it turned out, the return of all three European empires – Britain, France, and Holland – were vigorously resisted by their former colonial subjects, and it wasn’t long before the continuing US presence in the Phillipines was also resisted by the local people.It’s great that these archives are being opened up, but please let’s use them to learn something useful from them. In other words, to facilitate the re-establishment of empire and hegemony over a substantial part of SE Asia.
They went to the docks from where they took a boat to the mouth of the river where they met a naval flotilla.At the time of the Japanese surrender in August plans were well advanced for the invasion of Malaya with troops, ships, landing craft and air forces already being in position. They took photographs and then left so that they could tell the navy not to shell Rangoon as had been planned for the next day. They made their way to the PoW camp and were told that the Japanese had left the city. Unfortunately they crippled the plane on landing, hitting one of the many bomb craters in the runway. Extract digit” They found Myingyan airfield abandoned and landed to investigate.
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