Written records - British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF - Japan) and British Commonwealth Forces, Korea (BCFK)

As planning for the invasion of Japan proceeded in 1945, consideration was given to how a potentially hostile population would be governed. Unlike the situation in Germany, where the demands of multiple allied nations (particularly the USSR) had to be accommodated, the US was determined to ensure it alone controlled occupied Japan and exercised executive power. Nonetheless, the US was prepared to allow allied nations to contribute relatively small components to the occupation force, and consequently a British proposal for a Commonwealth contribution was agreed in August 1945. The Commonwealth force was to be drawn from Britain, Australia, India and New Zealand, under Australian leadership. It was to consist of:

A force headquarters (HQ BCOF)
A base administrative organisation (Britcom Base)
A combined British-Indian Division (BRINDIV) consisting of one British and one Indian Brigade and support elements
An Australian Infantry Brigade (34 Brigade)
A New Zealand Infantry Brigade (9 Brigade)
An air wing (BCAIR) with squadrons from each of the contributing nations
A base organisation for shore-based naval personnel
HQ BCOF, Britcom Base and BCAIR were inter-service and internationally integrated, although Australia provided the bulk of the support units within Britcom Base. Australia was also to be the main source of supplies to maintain BCOF as a whole.

The RAN contributed to a British-led naval force with two ships on rotation from November 1945 until January 1949 when the commitment was reduced to one ship. The primary role of the RAN element of BCOF was patrolling the waters around Japan to prevent smuggling and illegal immigration. The RAN also provided substantial support, not formally part of BCOF, through the provision of ships to ferry personnel and equipment to and from Japan.

The major elements of the Australian contingent included:

Substantial elements of the headquarters (HQ BCOF and Britcom Base) and administrative support units
34 Aust Bde (comprising 65, 66 and 67 Infantry Battalions, ‘A’ Field Battery, 1 Australian Armoured Car Squadron and 28 Field Company RAE)
81 Wing (comprising 76, 77 and 82 Squadrons, 81 Flight Control Unit and 5 Airfield Construction Squadron). Additional RAAF service support was provided from Japan.
The first Australian ground forces arrived on 21 February 1946 and the first RAAF Squadron (76 Squadron equipped with P-51 Mustang aircraft) arrived in Japan on 9 March 1946. At the outset, some 11,000 of BCOF's total strength of 38,000 were Australian.

BCOF's initial area of responsibility included only the prefectures of Hiroshima and Yamaguchi but was soon expanded to include Shimane, Tottori and Okayama, and the entire island of Shikoku. American units occupied the rest of the country. Operationally BCOF was part of the Eighth US Army, based at Yokohama and ultimate responsibility lay with the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP), General Douglas MacArthur. Policy for, and administration of, BCOF were the responsibility of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Australia (JCOSA), a liaison body which included representatives of the Chiefs of Staff of the other BCOF contributing countries and the Australian Chiefs of Staff and Defence Committee organizations. It had an advisory role, but no executive authority.

HQ BCOF, Britcom Base and 34 Infantry Brigade were established in Kure in February 1946, the brigade having been transferred from Morotai (Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia), where the Australian Army component had been formed. HQ BCOF was initially structured around a detachment from the Australian section at Allied General Headquarters, to which was added staff officers from the armies and air forces of the four contributing countries. Although Kure remained the permanent site of Britcom Base, HQ BCOF moved to the island of Eta Jima, in Kure Bay, in May 1946.

Under the direction of SCAP, BCOF's major tasks were the location and destruction of Japanese war equipment, supervision of elections, reception and control of former Japanese POWs returning from around the Pacific, policing of illegal entry (especially Koreans), prosecution of minor offences in provost courts, air surveillance, controlling prostitution, and intelligence gathering aimed at locating hidden munitions dumps and identifying "subversive" groups. While exercising military control over its area of operations, BCOF was not responsible for the area's military government; this was undertaken under the sole direction of HQ Eighth Army by US Military Government units to which BCOF provided liaison officers. BCOF provided a battalion, on rotation, for guard duties in Tokyo. An administrative headquarters set up there to control and administer BCOF detachments, known as Britcom Sub Area Tokyo, opened in April 1946.

Reorganizations of BCOF began soon after its installation. BCAIR was modified almost immediately with a change in basing arrangements, and 34 Infantry Brigade was transferred to Hiroshima in June 1946.

A combination of factors, including the successful demilitarization of Imperial Japanese forces, the compliance of the Japanese with the terms of the surrender, and domestic post war cost pressures for the contributing nations, saw a move towards reducing the size of BCOF by mid-1947. BRINDIV was withdrawn in September 1947, and in late 1948 there was a reduction in the Australian component and the gradual return of parts of the BCOF area of operations to US control. By mid-1949 only 3 RAR (which had been renamed from 67 Inf Bn in 1948) of 34 Infantry Brigade and one RAAF fighter squadron (77 Sqn) remained. BCOF's total strength was reduced to 4,000. In May 1950 the Menzies Government announced the decision to withdraw all Australian forces from Japan by November of that year.

But as the need for occupation forces in Japan declined, the threat of war on the Korean peninsula increased. On 25 June 1950, just weeks after Menzies announcement of the withdrawal from Japan, North Korean forces invaded South Korea and quickly pushed southwards. Two days later the United Nations Security Council authorised the dispatch of UN forces to the Korean Peninsula to resist the invasion. The forces still in Japan, including the Australian contingent, were the most readily available for deployment to Korea.

By chance the destroyer HMAS Bataan was en route to Japan to relieve HMAS Shoalhaven when hostilities began. Both joined US Navy ships on patrol off the Korean Peninsula on 13 July 1950. 77 Squadron RAAF was also quickly re-tasked, flying its first combat mission on 2 July from its base at Iwakuni (Japan) before deploying to Korean airfields. 3 RAR was complete on the ground in Korea by September 1950. Administration of Commonwealth troops in Korea remained the responsibility of the Commander-in-Chief of BCOF, (Lt Gen H C Robertson), until British Commonwealth Force, Korea (BCFK) was formed in December 1950, drawing on many of the staff from HQ BCOF. When Lt Gen Robertson was named the C-in-C of BCFK in December 1950 he assumed administrative responsibility for the Commonwealth forces in both Japan and Korea, with Japan continuing to serve as a forward support base for BCFK.

BCOF ceased to exist on 15 May 1952 following the signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty with Japan, leaving BCFK to provide administrative support for the Commonwealth forces in Korea and those remaining in Japan. The BCFK Commonwealth Base Organisation was co-located with the Britcom Base at Kure and the Sub-Area Tokyo continued to service both organisations.

While BCOF/BCFK were responsible for administrative support, operational command of Australian contingents in Korea rested with United Nations Command (UNC). The Australian Army combat forces (two battalions drawn from 1 RAR, 2 RAR or 3 RAR) operated at various times as part of 27th (UK) Brigade and the 28th British Commonwealth Brigade within the Commonwealth Division.

The RAAF contribution to the Korean conflict consisted of 91 Composite Wing, based around 77 Sqn (with its Mustangs replaced by Meteor jets), with other support elements operating out of Iwakuni airfield in Japan. Naval forces consisted of two destroyers/frigates on rotation and the aircraft carrier HMAS Sydney for 6 months (1951/52).

Due to suspicions regarding North Korean/Chinese intentions, troop drawdown did not commence immediately after the Armistice was signed on 27 July 1953. The Commonwealth withdrawal from Korea began in 1954, with the reduction of the Commonwealth Division to a Brigade force and then to a Battalion group in 1956. Britcom Base in Japan was heavily reduced in late 1956 and closed in July 1957. The final Australian presence in Korea (by then a small peace monitoring force) was withdrawn in 1957.

The series comprises records created and maintained in the registries of the headquarters and subordinate base organizations of both BCOF and BCFK. The files were passed to the War Memorial, over a period of years, from the Military History Section of Army Headquarters and direct from HQ BCOF prior to its closure. As the occupation of Japan was seen as an integral extension to the Second World War, the files were originally accumulated within AWM54, Written records, 1939-45 War. They were subsequently removed from AWM54 in 1985 to form the present Series.

Content

This series consists of administrative and non-operational files documenting Australian and British Commonwealth involvement in occupied Japan and the Korean War. Subjects covered include the politics governing, and roles of, the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) and the British Commonwealth Force, Korea (BCFK), administration of their subordinate base organisations, the activities of individual support elements, logistic support of fighting units in Korea and intelligence gathering in Japan. Examples of these files include:

130/1/3 Plans (planning for the BCOF deployment to Japan)
130/1/33 – Combined Order of battle and Location Statements
423/11/1 Intelligence (collection of Monthly and Quarterly Intelligence Reviews produced by HQ BCOF)
It should be noted that this series predominantly reflects the activities of the headquarters functions of BCOF and BCFK, with emphasis on the land component of those forces.

Activities of the RAN ships committed to both Japan and Korea are not included in this Series. For individual ships, reference should be made to AWM 78 Reports of Proceedings, HMA Ships and Establishments. Similarly, while this series includes some material on the basing and facilities maintenance of airfields in BCOF, the operations of the squadrons in either Japan or Korea are not referenced.

System of Arrangement and Control

A subject-based three-number control system was imposed on the records forming AWM54 as they were being accessioned by the War Memorial. This system was retained when the files were removed and collected within AWM114, but resulted in large gaps in the sequence of item numbers. The first number (a/-/-) represents the broad subject category the item has been classified under. The second number (-/b/-) designates a subject sub-grouping within the primary classification. The third number (-/-/c) is the consecutive item number within the sub-grouping.

• AWM114 391 - Honours and Rewards
• AWM114 130 - BCOF, Japan
• AWM114 423 - [Intelligence]
• AWM114 665 - Korea 1950-1953