Five Japanese generals, two admirals surrender
MANILA, Philippines (AP) – The highest-ranking Japanese yet taken in the Philippines, five generals and two admirals, were in the hands of American forces tonight.
Six of the Japanese military leaders were brought in a few hours after Japanese Vice Adm. Furuse, who commanded the defenses of Manila, surrendered at Infanta on the east coast of Luzon.
The other prisoners, who refused to disclose what their commands were, identified themselves as Lt. Gens. Tadasu Kataoka and Shinpei; Maj. Takeo Manjome, Isama Hirai and Masuo Yoshiki; and Rear Adm. Kaku Harada. They were taken to new Bilibid prison south of Manila.
The final overall surrender of Japanese military and naval survivors in the Philippines was scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Monday (8 p.m. Sunday EWT) at Baguio, summer capital of the islands.
Agrees to surrender
The “Tiger of Malaya,” Lt. Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, agreed to come out of his mountain hideout Sunday to make a trip to Baguio.
Meanwhile, the number of Japanese officers and men surrendering in the Philippines and in other Pacific islands continued to grow hourly. Forty-one thousand Japanese surrendered on Halmahera and Morotai Islands instead of the 8,000 previously announced. A message received at headquarters from the Australian 6th Division in New Guinea reported arrangements were being made there for the surrender of the Japanese 18th Imperial Army.
Japanese Army commander Gen. Adachi, whose troops are scattered over 500 miles of New Guinea’s mountains and jungles, reported 5,000 of his 14,000 troops have malaria or beriberi and 1,000 are litter cases. It was estimated it might take two or three months to bring the Japanese survivors out.