Allied Translator and Interpreter Section (ATIS)

The Allied Translator and Interpreter Section (ATIS) was a US intelligence agency employed by Gen Douglas MacArthur, Commander-in-Chief, US Forces, Far East Command, and Maj Gen Charles A Willoughby, commander US G-2 Intelligence Section, during the American campaign against the Japanese in World War Two. Although established specifically to translate seized Japanese materials and provide interpreters for interrogations of prisoners, ATIS' mission also included analysis of Japanese military objectives and capabilities and political and psychological interpretations of Japanese military and civilian activities. ATIS was created by Allied General Headquarters, Southwest Pacific Area (GHQ SWPA), on 19 Sep 1942 and was inter-service in character and function. Established as a centralised intelligence section in SWPA in response to the urgent need for timely, accurate intelligence on Japanese objectives and tactics, ATIS' was to translate and analyse seized Japanese military documents and interrogate Japanese prisoners of war. During the course of the war, ATIS moved its base each time GHQ SWPA moved, from Melbourne, Australia, to Hollandia, New Guinea, and then to Leyte Island and Manila, Philippines. ATIS advance units followed the earliest combat forces in each action throughout the drive towards Japan and as the scope of its intelligence operations expanded so did its staff. At its inception, ATIS consisted of a small contingent of officers and enlisted men, but by the end of the war, ATIS personnel numbered 250 officers and 1,700 enlisted staff members, which included dozens of Japanese-Americans. ATIS' transition from a wartime Allied, inter-service Section in SWPA to an Occupation Service within Supreme Command, Allied Powers (SCAP) began on 28 Aug 1945, when the various combined Allied Land, Naval, and Air Commands were dissolved by US General Order No 41. The need to assess the Japanese military as part of a larger effort to understand Japanese society, however, resulted in a reprieve for ATIS. It continued to perform its former function until it was officially disbanded on 30 April 1946.