lowing the Army spearheads, officers of Allied Military Government integral to Fifth Army absorbed the problems of civil administration. With the rapid expansion of the Army's area of control, these problems increased enormously. At the close of the campaign, nearly half of Italy, an area with a population of some 23 million people, which included the great financial and commercial centers of Milan, Turin, and Genoa, was under the direct control of the Fifth Army. Such complex problems as the movement of hundreds of thousands of refugees and displaced persons; the disarming of the partisans, from whom approximately 200.000 weapons were collected; the care and transportation of some of Italy's greatest works of art which had been retrieved from the Germans; the feeding of the entire civilian population of the area; the administration of justice; and the supply of civilian labor were but a few of the manifold civilian tasks which had to be undertaken. They were accomplished successfully and concurrently with the progress of military operations, and kept pace at all times with the rapidly moving situation."

For Italy as a whole the Allies desired an efficient indigenous administration which would reduce their CAMG responsibilities. A government of under secretaries was therefore established; and in February 1944 the Allies relinquished to it the control of Sicily, Sardinia, and certain southern areas of the peninsula. Thereafter a phased restoration of other territory was approved by the Allied Commission, and gradually carried out.

ECONOMIC REHABILITATION. Italy had been deficient in food, coal, petroleum, and many other raw materials before the war. During the war she lost her colonies, and large numbers of her homes and factories were ruined. Due to flooding and land mines, many of her arable acres were untilled. Meanwhile her population continued to increase rapidly.

The United States and Great Britain remained responsible for sustaining Italy until 1 September 1945. Even while military operations were still in progress, civil supplies alone accounted at

times for 40 percent of incoming shipping. In cooperation with the Italian authorities, civil needs were first determined in the AC (Allied Commission), then screened in AFHQ (Allied Field Headquarters), and then passed to the Combined Chiefs of Staff in Washington, who allocated approved requirements to the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.

With the termination of military responsibility for the maintenance of Italy (except Udine and Venezia Giulia Provinces, which were maintained militarily until 30 June 1947), the task was assumed by the United States Foreign Economic Administration (FEA) until 31 December 1945, when UNRRA became responsible.

POLITICAL REHABILITATION. Although prewar Italy was a constitutional monarchy in theory, it was under Fascist dictatorship from 30 October 1922 to 25 July 1943, when Mussolini fled behind the German lines and Marshal Pietro Badoglio was named head of the Government. While SACMED (Supreme Allied Commander of the Mediterranean Theater) reserved for himself the final decision concerning occupancy of certain key positions affecting the security of Allied troops, the Allied powers sought from the outset to encourage self-rule in a free and democratic Italy. On 26 October 1944 diplomatic relations were renewed by the nomination of a United States Ambassador to Italy. When, in December of 1944, there was a Cabinet crisis in Italy,

our

Government publicly announced that except where important military factors were concerned, the composition of the Italian Government was purely an Italian affair. Early in 1945 the Italian Government was informed that the Allied Commission (AC) would limit its dealings to consultation with and advice to the Italian ministers, and that the advisory functions of the education, monuments and fine arts, local government, legal, and labor sections would be performed only when requested by the Italian Government. The political section of the AC was abolished. On 2 June 1946 elections to the Italian Constituent Assembly and a referendum on the monarchy were held.

SCAP established the necessary headquarters staff sections and issued directives to the Japanese Government as required. On prefectural and local levels CAMG units of the United States Eighth Army performed necessary supervisory functions.

The British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF), composed of units from the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, was part of the occupation forces under SCAP. The BCOF exercised military control of its Hiroshima area, but CAMG responsibility was vested in the United States units.

The basic postsurrender directive, approved by the State, War, and Navy Coordinating Committee (SWNCC) and forwarded to SCAP on 8 November 1945, defined his authority, prescribed initial policies for the occupation and control of Japan, and established two ultimate objectives: (1) to give the greatest possible assurance that Japan would not again become a menace to world peace; and (2) to permit her eventual admission as a responsible and peaceful member of the family of nations.

Immediately after the surrender instrument was signed on 2 September 1945, the Japanese Government was directed to safeguard industries and materials of war potential and to submit inventories thereon. Demobilization of Japan's armed forces of over 6,000,000 was accomplished by 1 December 1945. The "thought police" were disbanded and a complete reorganization of the police system initiated.

In the fall of 1945 there were some 6,016,400 Japanese to be repatriated to Japan, and 1,388,296 foreign nationals in Japan to be returned to their countries. Repatriation of both oversea troops and civilians began in October 1945. As of 26 May 1948, 5,861,490 Japanese had been returned to Japan and 1,178,852 foreign nationals repatriated from Japan, including 938,094 Koreans.

The Potsdam Declaration required elimination of all militaristic and ultranationalistic elements from public life. This was accomplished by the Purge Directive of 4 January 1946, executed by the Japanese Government subject to SCAP's supervision.

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE) was established in Tokyo to try major leaders charged with having committed crimes against the peace.

ECONOMIC REHABILITATION. At the time of her surrender, Japan was a shattered nation. The riches of her colonial empire were lost. Her merchant fleet had all but vanished. Many of her cities were devastated, and immense numbers of dwellings and industrial buildings had been destroyed or seriously damaged. Food and fuel production was inadequate, stocks of vital raw materials were low or nonexistent, and industry was practically at a standstill. A democratic program was established by our occupying forces for the equitable collection and distribution of food. Rationing and price control of essential commodities were initiated. To prevent starvation, disease, and unrest, which could have endangered occupation objectives, SCAP began releases of imported and surplus Army food stocks in April 1946. Through April 1948 more than 3% million metric tons of food stocks were furnished Japan under this program.

Strenuous efforts were made to rehabilitate agriculture and increase food production. Only 16 percent of Japan's total land area of 147,000 square miles is arable, and only a slight increase could be expected. Japanese food production was never equal to her requirements, and two years after the war's end about 15 percent of her food had to be imported. The SCAP program included measures for food conservation, land reclamation, increased fertilizer production, and alleviation of critical shortages in the fishing industry.

In October of 1946 the Japanese Government, in response to a SCAP directive, passed the Land Reform Act. This act made possible the transfer of land ownership to those who actually till the soil, and improved the conditions of tenancy.

To encourage democratic economic competition, the Japanese Government under SCAP supervision carried out a program for the deconcentration of economic control. In July 1946 SCAP directed the Japanese Government to eliminate Zaibatsu family influence, to

limit intercorporate security holdings, and to prohibit multiple directorates and contractual service or patent arrangements which restrained trade or commerce. An antitrust law and a securities and exchange law were also enacted.

SCAP actions were guided by four main objectives: creation of conditions for the development of a free democratic labor movement; encouragement of sound labor relations through collective bargaining; establishment of labor protection and social services required in a modern democratic state, including the elimination of substandard labor conditions; and effective use of Japan's manpower resources. SCAP directed the dissolution of the wartime "labor front" organizations, ordered the police divorced from labor administration, and ordered the elimination of repressive labor laws. A Labor Ministry was established. Basic laws passed included the Trade Union Law, the Labor Standards Law, the Workmen's Accident Insurance Law, the Seamen's Law, and the Employment Security Law.

A basic SCAP objective was to create a balanced foreign trade position for Japan, with total volume equal to the average 1930-34 level. Boeki Cho, a government agency with a revolving fund to pay Japanese producers in yen, was established to handle foreign trade. SCAP then established a foreign trade account to pay for American goods from the proceeds of the sale of Japanese goods. In March 1946 the United States Commercial Company became the selling agency for SCAP in the United States. Foreign trade was stimulated by using about $137,000,000 worth of Japanese-owned gold and silver as a base for acquiring foreign exchange. It served as security for a loan, effected 6 June 1948, of $60,000,000 advanced to the Japanese by private American banks and the Export-Import Bank for purchasing raw cotton. With the reopening of limited private trade in August 1947, foreign trade was given additional impetus.

POLITICAL REHABILITATION. An initial directive of 4 October 1945 to the Japanese Government, a virtual 'Bill of Rights," required the removal of restrictions on political, civil, and re

ligious liberties and the ending of discrimination on grounds of race, nationality, creed, or political opinion. This, together with later directives, called for the suspension of laws, decrees, orders, ordinances, and regulations effecting such restrictions; the abolition of all organizations created to carry out, enforce, or supervise these restrictions; the removal from office of certain high officials; the prohibition of physical punishment of all persons detained or imprisoned under the discriminatory statutes; and the submission of a comprehensive report on action taken in compliance with the directive.

The new constitution, promulgated on 3 November 1946 and effective 3 May 1947, established the framework for a representative democratic government. Action also was taken to establish democracy at the local level, the basic changes being to provide for direct elections by universal suffrage, to increase the powers of local assemblies, to provide elected rather than appointed executives, and to break the power of the central government over local affairs.

Motion pictures generally, and educational films in particular, were utilized on a wide scale to disseminate knowledge. Mobile projection units exhibited throughout Japan educational films produced in the Western democracies and carrying Japanese sound tracks.

On 25 March 1947 there was enacted the Fundamental Law of Education, which implemented the constitutional articles dealing with education and provided for elimination of discrimination in education and educational opportunity.

The relation of our Armed Forces toward the Japanese nation and the Japanese civil community has been one of continual change during the postwar period. Since 1952 our forces have been in Japan by agreement. The organization for handling the resulting politicomilitary questions was established by an Administrative Agreement signed 28 February 1952. Under Article 16 of this Agreement there was established a Joint Committee composed of one key American member and one key Japa