Photo By Erin Thompson | Col. Sidney F. Mashbir (right) receiving members of the official surrender party at...... read more read more
by Erin E. Thompson, USAICoE Staff Historian
FIRST ALLIED INTERPRETER ARRIVES IN TOKYO
On 30 August 1945, Col. Sidney F. Mashbir, chief of the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section (ATIS) in the Pacific Theater, became the first American officer to enter Tokyo since the beginning of World War II. He served as General Douglas MacArthur’s interpreter throughout the Japanese surrender negotiations.
Colonel Mashbir’s military intelligence career began in 1916 when he was assigned to investigate rumors of a Japanese infiltration into northern Mexico. Throughout World War I, he was stationed at Governor’s Island, New York, where he served as assistant to the Department Intelligence Office. During this time, he wrote Provisional Rules for Counter Espionage, Eastern Department, which became the model for counterintelligence instruction until World War II. He was promoted to captain in November 1917 and again to major in October 1918.
In 1920, Mashbir embarked on a four-year study in Japan under the direction of Col. (later Brig. Gen.) Charles Burnett, the Army attaché in Tokyo. During this time, Mashbir collaborated with naval intelligence officers to produce a plan for intelligence collection in Japan in the event of war. Unable to get the Army’s approval to implement his “M-Plan,” Mashbir resigned his commission in 1923 to pursue it independently, with the support of Colonel Burnett and the expectation he would be reinstated once the plan was completed. However, a severe earthquake in Tokyo in September 1923 bankrupted Mashbir, and his attempts to rejoin the Army under previous reinstatement provisions failed. Mashbir returned to the United States in 1926 and enlisted as a Military Intelligence Reserve officer. In 1937, he returned to Japan at the behest of the Office of Naval Intelligence to finally establish the M-Plan, but the secretive nature of his activities raised questions with his superiors. The Army’s subsequent investigation led to his disenrollment from the Military Intelligence Officer Reserve Corps in 1939.
The failure to implement Mashbir’s M-Plan contributed significantly to America’s unpreparedness at Pearl Harbor in December 1941 [see This Week in MI History #118 7 Dec 1941]. With war in the Pacific declared, the Army once again had need of Mashbir’s intelligence expertise of the Japanese. He was commissioned a lieutenant colonel by the U.S. Army Signal Corps in early 1942, and later that year, he was detailed to the G-2, Southwest Pacific Area, and promoted to full colonel by General MacArthur. Mashbir was put in charge of the newly established ATIS [see This Week in MI History #7 19 Sep 1942]. The section employed thousands of Japanese linguists—primarily second-generation Japanese Americans (Nisei)—as interrogators, translators, interpreters, and psychological warfare planners. Mashbir was also assigned to General MacArthur’s executive group as a translator.
Prior to the signing of the official surrender treaty on 2 September 1945, a delegation of Japanese officials arrived on Luzon, Philippines, to discuss terms of surrender. On 19 August, Colonel Mashbir was one of the first American officers to greet the Imperial staff at Nichols Airfield. He would remain an important liaison between them and Allied commanders as the treaty was drafted. Mashbir’s knowledge of the Japanese language, culture, and ideology is credited for maintaining congenial relations between these parties during tense discussions.
On 30 August 1945, General MacArthur’s staff arrived in Yokohama, Japan, enroute to Tokyo and the USS Missouri for the official surrender ceremony [see This Week in MI History #105 2 Sep 1945]. Colonel Mashbir was instructed by MacArthur to travel to Tokyo ahead of the official party to inspect the embassy. When he arrived later that day, he became the first American officer to step foot in Tokyo since the beginning of the war. He remained in Japan until December 1945, then served in the adjutant general's office in Washington, D.C., later becoming its executive officer. Colonel Mashbir was inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame in 1988.
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| Date Taken: | 08.23.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 08.23.2024 17:45 |
| Story ID: | 479354 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 108 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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