IOR/R/15/2/706

The file contains correspondence and papers relating both to Japan’s anticipated entry into the Second World War, and eventual entry in the wake of the Japanese Navy’s attack on the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Correspondents in the file include the Political Agent at Bahrain (Major Reginald George Evelin William Alban); the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Geoffrey Prior), and representatives from the Commerce and Foreign Departments of the Government of India.

The file includes:

• correspondence dated 1940, prompted by the prospect of war with Japan, including: a telegram from the Foreign Department of the Government of India, dated 17 August 1940, making preparations for the possibility of war with Japan, with instructions for what action should be taken in relation to Japanese commercial interests and merchant shipping (f 3); a draft letter from the Political Agent at Bahrain to the rulers of the Trucial Coast states and Qatar (f 9);
• correspondence from December 1941 onwards, relating to the declaration of war on Japan, including: a telegram from the Secretary of State for India, originally dated 10 April 1941, containing instructions for the replacement of ‘precautionary plans’ with relation to Japan, in the event of war (ff 19-21); a copy of a letter (English and Arabic) to the rulers of the states of the Trucial Coast and Japan, dated 10 December 1941, informing them of the state of war now existing between Japan and Britain, and instructing them to cooperate in the same manner as undertaken with regard to German interests (ff 25-26); correspondence between the Political Agent, Eastern Bank and Director of Customs at Bahrain, ascertaining what Japanese goods are currently held in Bahrain (ff 31-33, f 40); letters (forwarded by the Residency Agent at Sharjah) in Arabic original and English translation from: Shaikh Shakbut bin Sultan bin Zaid [Shakhbūṭ bin Sulṭān Āl Nahyān], Ruler of Abu Dhabi; Shaikh Sa’id bin Maktum [Sa‘id bin Maktum Āl Maktum], Ruler of Dubai; Shaikh Sultan bin Saqr [Sultan bin Saqr Āl Qāsimī], Ruler of Sharjah; Shaikh Rashid bin Humaid [Rashid bin Humayd Al Nu’aymi], Ruler of Ajman; Shaikh Ahmad bin Rashid [Aḥmad bin Rashid Al Mu’alla], Ruler of Umm al Qaiwain [Umm al-Qaywayn]; Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmad, Regent of Kalba; Shaikh Sultan bin Salim [Sulṭān bin Sālim Āl Qāsimī], Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah [Ra’s al-Khaymah], all of which are responses to the Political Agent’s earlier letter (ff 42-59); a copy of a Government of Bahrain notice, dated 14 December 1941, announcing the entry into the war of Japan, and controls on Japanese goods and trade (f 63).