NOTE:Publication of the Occupation Diary, First Cavalry Division (1945-1950) will appear, as installments, on the Historian Corner on a continuing basis as time and space permits. Each installment will be subsequently moved to the History Annex Page when a new installment is published. Therefore, if an installment is missed during the period it was published, it may be viewed on the History Annex Page.

Continued: Installment 5:

In order to occupy such a large area, it was necessary to redeploy the troops of the division and move troop concentrations to new localities. The movement took place during the latter part of February and was completed by March 1 with the units fully prepared to relieve the former occupying forces. The only significant move during March was made by the 82nd Field Artillery Battalion from the Uraga area, south of Yokohama, to the Miizugahara Airfield near Kagohara.

Operations during March were much the same as in previous months. Some localities still required a thorough searching for war material. This was particularly true of the area around the port town of Uraga, where large, fortified, coastal installations were uncovered, many with guns still in place. These positions were just another indication of the extensive measures taken by Japan in preparing the defense of the homeland.

Daily patrols conducted inspections of educational institutions for any display of militaristic tendencies, and to correct those observed immediately. Fewer violations were noted during March than any previous period. Patrols were also dispatched daily to investigate factories that were in operation to see that they were operating in compliance with current directives of the Economic and Scientific Section, SCAP.

On March 9, 1946, a ceremony and review was held by elements of the division at the east gate of the Imperial Palace grounds in Tokyo. Lieutenant General Robert L. Eichelberger, 8th Army Commander, honored units of the division by presenting them with battle streamers for the Luzon, Leyte-Samar, New Guinea and Bismarck Archipelago campaigns of World War II. Twenty-five hundred troops of the division participated with every unit represented.

Although occupation duties required a great portion of the men's time, training was conducted whenever possible, with the six firing ranges throughout the division being in almost constant use. Another school was added to the list of those already being conducted by the division when the 16th Quartermaster Cooks and Bakers School began on April 1, 1946. Commanders were temporarily shuffled on March 25 when the division commander, Major

Commanders were temporarily shuffled on March 25 when the division commander, Major General William C. Chase returned stateside on temporary duty. Brigadier General William B. Bradford, the commanding general of the 1st Cavalry Brigade, assumed command of the division with Colonel John B. Reybold filling the vacancy in the brigade. Colonel William E. Lobit assumed command of the 12th Cavalry, Colonel Reybold's former command.

The end of March 1946 saw spring well on the way in Japan and troops were looking forward to that season of cherry blossoms and magnolia. Continued re deployment to the United States for discharge was the brightest hope of many and the announcement by the Commanding General, Eighth Army, that the dependents of service men would be reaching the area in May, bolstered the spirits of many troopers.

April of 1946 and spring came to Japan together in the first year of peace since the outset of World War II. Troopers of the First Cavalry Division, patrolling throughout the great industrial and agricultural area of the Kanto Plain, found little evidence remaining of the once-pcwerful Japanese war machine. First Cavalry Division troopers with their gold and black shoulder patches were a familiar sight to the crowds in Tokyo and Yokohama, who gathered in groups and masses to discuss and to plan their new found democracy. Farmers swarming onto the airfields and every available plot of ground scarcely looked up from their labor of turning bomber and fighter bases into fields of grain, as jeep-riding cavalry patrols swept by on their way to distant outposts.

In the division's zone of responsibility, new houses were springing up amid the scars of bomb-blasted war factories. Gardens were growing in the ruins and new life was stirring in the new ways of peace.

For the division, now occupying 11 prefectures, from Kanagawa in the south to Niigata in the north, most of the demilitarization of military targets had been completed. Only occasionally came word of some hitherto undiscovered store of military goods or hidden cache of arms. Forty-six caves and numerous small warehouses at Zushi contained stores of machine guns, smoke bombs and aerial torpedoes, which had been over-looked by the Japanese in their reports of stored munitions. Two caves at Tomioka Seaplane Base contained 500-pound and 1,000-pound bombs and small arms totaling 650 rifles, 707 sabers and two pistols, were confiscated by patrols from collecting points at police stations throughout the area.

Occupation duties were rotated among troops in the division in order to allow the necessary time for training. Division small arms ranges were in constant use while specialist and on-the-job training received particular attention. The Division Officers' School, graduating its tenth class in Troop Administration for company officers on April 27, was planning a new course in Military Justice Procedure to begin in May.

As April drew to a close, increased unrest among labor groups and signs of possible disturb-ances in the metropolitan areas necessitated placing the division on an alert status on the 30th which lasted until May 2.

The month of May 1946 in central Japan opened in a fashion truly indicative of the new found freedom of the Japanese people. For the first time in over a quarter of a century, Japanese members of the world-wide Communist party were allowed to celebrate May-day without restrictions as the anniversary of the founding of their party. Thousands gathered in the cities, towns and villages throughout Japan for a day of parading, banner waving and speech making. In Tokyo, members of the party and other individuals interested only in being part of the celebration began gathering at the outlying railway stations of the city well before dawn on May 1. At nine o'clock, they began their separate parades, all converging at the plaza before the Imperial Palace in the heart of Tokyo. By 11 A.M., approximately 300,000 persons were crowding the plaza and over-flowing into nearby Hibiya Park. Troopers throughout the First Cavalry Division were alerted well in advance lie celebration and were fully prepared to take if any damage or injury was done to U.S. property or personnel. However, the crowds remained orderly and no disturbances occurred.

An additional show of allied strength was made in Tokyo during early May with the arrival of a battalion of the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces. The battalion, a unit of the 34th Australian Brigade, was attached to the 2nd Cavalry Brigade and established billets at the former Japanese Naval Technical Institute. Guard responsibility at four installations was assumed by the Australians and posts at the Imperial Palace grounds were mounted jointly with troopers of 7th Cavalary.

Operations for May were similar to the previous months. However, on May 12, members of the division conducted a review in Tokyo in honor of General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower, Chief of Staff. General Eisenhower visited the billets of the 8th Cavalry prior to the review, and in the following two days inspected elements of the 12th Cavalry and the 271st Field Artillery Battalion.

The decrease in the number of men required for guard duty and other occupation tasks permitted an increase in the time allotted to formal training of division troops during the month. Small arms ranges were in constant use with troopers firing the rifle, carbine, automatic rifle, sub-machine gun, light and heavy machine gun. Specialist's training, at schools conducted within division and by higher echelons, was continued with a marked improvement in the efficiency the schools and the interest of the students. On May 31, a total of 233 students from the division were attending 11 different specialists schools conducted by the division and Eighth Army.

May came to a close with the occupation progressing smoothly and peacefully. The food situation for the Japanese was serious, but was not at the famine stage. Distribution of grain from the United States and harvest of local wheat crops in early June was expected to alleviate the shortage to a great extent. The "new government" elected in April at the first free election in Japan passed successfully through the early unsettled days of office and was progressing along democratic lines.

With boundaries remaining unchanged throughout June, activities of the First Cavalry Division continued to center around the patrol of a chagrined, gradually changing Japan-a Japan desolate and hungry, but for the most part, submissive to the ministrations of her conquerors.

Specialist and technical training in schools conducted within the division and by higher echelons was continued. Slightly over 2900 students attended schools within and outside of the division during June. A breakdown showed that 2466 men attended division unit schools. Approximately 200 went to the Tokyo University and 25 to Sendai Army School. One hundred and thirty-five students were in Corps and Army schools of four different types. One hundred and seven students were in division schools at the end of the month.

To Be Continued...