The Surrender of the Fortress of Truk

Abstract

IN THE LAST DAYS Of August, 1945, certain events of historical interest took place almost unnoticed in the extraordinary atmosphere created by the genesis of atomic warfare and the collapse of the Japanese empire. Among these events was the capitulation of Truk in the East Caroline Islands. This Japanese fortress had hindered the forces of the United States during the early years of the war in the Pacific, and, even in the last two years of fighting it continued to be something of a menace. Truk has become a fairly familiar name in recent years, but its past is cloudy and obscure. After two centuries under Spanish control, centuries of almost complete neglect, Truk was sold to Germany in 1899.' During the first year of World War I, Japanese forces landed at Truk where they remained in possession.2 The area was renounced by Germany in the Treaty of Versailles. On December 17, 192o, Japanese occupation was confirmed when the Council of the League of Nations declared Japan to be the mandatory power in the former Pacific Ocean island possessions of Germany, north of the equator.' Prior to Japanese occupation, little was known about Truk beyond the fact that it was a complex atoll of over a hundred coral and volcanic islands, surrounded by a great reef, and that it was situated between 70 and 8o N. Lat., and between 1510o and 1520o E. Long. After the landings by Japanese imperial forces in 1914, the area became more and more difficult to enter. By 1930 it was almost entirely sealed off from the commerce and the curiosity of other nations. In reports to the League of Nations, Japan repeatedly asserted that the entire Japanese garrison had been withdrawn after the war in accordance with treaty requirements, the last troops having embarked in April, 1922. Thereafter, the Japanese government declared, the mandate islands remained com-