War crimes trial, Tokyo Japan, 12 November 1948: findings and sentences handed down by the President of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, Chief Justice Sir William Webb KBE LLD

On Friday 12 November 1948, as the war crimes trials drew to a close, the President of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, Chief Justice Sir William Webb KBE LLD, pronounced sentences on those whom the Tribunal had found guilty of crimes against humanity. The final day's proceedings were broadcast by the Armed Forces Radio Station in Tokyo and were recorded off air by the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) Amenities Radio Station WLKS. The contents of the discs are as follows: parts 1 to 7 contain the Tribunal's findings against the accused (the findings against Hideko Tojo are on part 7; there is some local morse code interference near the end of part 1 and halfway through part 3); parts 8 and 9 cover the sentencing of the convicted men (part 8 commences with some comments from the courtroom by an American commentator, Ed MacDonald, and includes a personal paragraph devoted to the President of the Tribunal, Sir William Webb.)
Source: Headquarters British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) Tokyo, Japan via Australian Army Amenities Service, Army Headquarters, Melbourne, Australia. Remarks: Captain K.A. Collie, Officer Commanding Australian Army Amenities Service Broadcasting Section (WLKS - Kure) in his report to the Director, Australian Army Amenities Service, 15 November 1948, states that 'It will be appreciated that these recordings were made on equipment which was inadequate for recording a long continuous broadcast of this nature and there is an unavoidable break in continuity between the discs, caused by the delay experienced in removing the completed disc and placing another blank on the turntable. All possible care was taken to ensure that such highlights of the trial as could be reasonably anticipated were included in the matter recorded. In this, we were successful and the Tribunal's findings and sentences imposed on the more notorious of the accused are all contained.' Part 6 has a faulty start caused by the breakdown of the cutting needle.