Office of the Historian

740.00116 PW/10–2045: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Chargé in China (Robertson)
Washington, October 26, 1945—11 a.m.

1745. Urtel 1837, October 20. List of major Japanese war criminals considered a most valuable contribution and has been referred to National War Crimes Office for transmission by Joint Chiefs of Staff to Supreme Commander.57 List will be transmitted as Chinese Foreign Office list with request that Foreign Office be informed of arrests and detentions of listed individuals. This procedure believed preferable in present circumstances to communication of list to Supreme Commander directly by Chinese Government.

Byrnes
  1. In a letter of November 20, the Secretary of War (Patterson) informed the Secretary of State that instead of sending list through the Joint Chiefs of Staff it had been sent directly to General MacArthur with instructions for him to inform the Chinese Government of arrest or detention of persons appearing on the list (740.00116 P.W./11–2945).↩