Monthly Archives: April 2019
How Japan Helped the Allies Spy on Hitler
Baron Oshima & Adolph Hitler
Throughout the Second World War, the Allies tried to spy on Hitler and his generals. They went to extraordinary lengths to understand what the Führer was thinking, using intercepted messages, intelligence from inside Germany, and the advanced decryption facilities at Bletchley Park.
Ironically, some of their best intelligence on Hitler’s thinking came not from spying on the Germans but on their allies, the Japanese.
The groundwork for Baron Hiroshi Oshima’s role as an intelligence source was laid in 1934 when he arrived in Berlin to act as Japanese Military Attaché. An officer and a diplomat, Oshima quickly established good relationships with German officers and members of the Nazi party, who had risen to power in Germany the year before.
Oshima’s political philosophy was a good fit with that of the Nazis. He soon gained the ear of Hitler, becoming the Führer’s favored representative of Japan.
The alliance of Germany, Japan, and Italy put Oshima in a powerful position. He was withdrawn to Tokyo in 1939 but returned to Berlin a year later, this time as ambassador.
Baron Oshima
Almost immediately, Oshima began sending reports back to Japan about the German leader’s plans.
As the war progressed and the Japanese impressed Hitler with successes in Asia and the Pacific, Oshima gained ever greater trust and access to the inner workings of the Nazi war machine. He was central to discussions about how German and Japanese forces could link up through the Middle East.
Oshima was committed to the Axis cause and never betrayed it. Yet he became one of the Allies’ best sources of intelligence on the Germans.
This intelligence came through Magic, the U.S. military’s cryptanalysis program.
Remnant of the Japanese Purple cipher recovered from their
bombed-out embassy in Berlin
Even before they entered the war, the Americans were working on intercepting and decoding the signals of the Axis powers. They broke the Japanese diplomatic codes in 1940, while Oshima was still in Tokyo. By the time he returned to Berlin late that year, they were in a position to read his messages.
Oshima’s diligence and intelligence now became tools of his nation’s enemies. When he became interested in an issue, whether it was jet fighter technology or the defenses of France, he took the time to properly research it, gathering pages of detailed information and sending them home.
Little did he realize that these reports were being read in the United States.
Oshima’s reports covered a wide range of military issues. Though other Japanese signals were more useful for fighting the Japanese themselves, his insights proved of value to the Allies.
One of the first examples of this came in the summer of 1941. Reading Oshima’s messages, American intelligence officers discovered that Germany was planning an extraordinary action – attacking its ally, the Soviet Union.
Operation Barbarossa. Soviet border
The U.S. had not yet joined the war, but that didn’t stop the American government using the information. Together with other intercepts, it provided the British with evidence they could present to the Soviets, trying to bring them into the war on the Allied side.
Despite the evidence, Stalin refused to believe that Hitler was turning against him. He ignored the warnings the Oshima intelligence provided and was caught by surprise when Germany invaded in June.
By the spring of 1944, Germany was developing its first jet fighters. This was a topic of particular interest to the Japanese government, who wanted to unlock the secrets of jet flight for themselves.
Oshima investigated the German research. Thanks to his many contacts in the military and Nazi party, he was able to learn incredible details, including the speeds, altitudes, and rates of climb of the most advanced aircraft being developed in the world.
And thanks to his messages, the Allies knew exactly what their own jet engineers were competing with.
Though Oshima’s intelligence was good, its use by the Allies was mixed. As they launched increasingly heavy bomber raids to cripple German industry, Oshima reported on the results. This gave the Allies their most unbiased intelligence on the effect of the bombing raids.
But when Oshima said in 1943 that the raids were having little effect, and when he said the following year that German armaments production was in fact increasing, the Allies refused to believe him. First-hand evidence was no match for the biases of Bomber Command.
Oshima’s intelligence became particularly critical in the buildup to D-Day. He took an interest in German defenses along the coast of northern France and sent repeated reports home about this. They covered a huge range of topics – the design of defenses, the number of divisions stationed there, the German command structure, depths of defensive zones, and even the siting of individual guns. It was all incredibly useful for the commanders planning the invasion.
Reports of Oshima’s conversations with Hitler revealed that the Führer had bought into Allied counter-intelligence operations. He did not suspect the real location of the planned Allied landings.
On September 4, 1944, Oshima had his last meeting with Hitler. In it, the German leader revealed that he was planning a large counter-attack in the west. His troops would gather in October and November when poor weather would interfere with Allied aerial reconnaissance. The attack would be launched in late November at the earliest.
Hitler had revealed his plans for the Battle of the Bulge.
Battle of the Bulge
What the Allies did with this intelligence is a matter of debate. But whatever happened that December, Oshima’s messages had hugely helped the Allies to win the war.
Oshima himself would never learn this. Though he did not die until 1975, he still did not live long enough to see Allied intelligence evidence revealed to a horde of excited historians, and through the historians to the public.
From the far side of the world, Japan had unwittingly helped the Allies to win the war in Europe.
Click on images to enlarge.
#############################################################################################
Military Humor –
SSgt. David Harp prepares paratroopers photo by: Sgt. Michael MacLeod, US Army
GLIDERS: as seen by…….
#############################################################################################
Farewell Salutes –
Joseph Bailey – Decatur, AL; US Navy, WWII, (Ret. 30 y.)
Geraldyne ‘Jerrie’ Cobb – Norman, OK & FL; NASA, pilot, first female to qualify as an astronaut
Mack Fitzgerald – GA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, B-24 Flight Engineer, 93rd Bomb Group
Elsie House – Coalmont, IN; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 188th/11th Airborne Division
William Hunter – Buffalo Grove, IL; US Navy, WWII, PTO, SeaBee
Thomas Kellahan – SC; US Navy, WWII, PTO, Senior Chief
John Lee – CAN; RC Air Force, WWII, fighter pilot
Michael Malbasa – No. Ridgeville, OH; US Army Air Corps, WWII, WWII, Sgt.,437th Fighter Squadron, Bronze Star
Wayne Pomeroy – Mesa, AZ; US Army Air Corps, WWII, B-24 tail gunner
Robert Wood – Naples, FL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co. E/187th/11th Airborne Division
############################################################################################
Home Front – WWII Sweetheart Jewelry
Anne Clare, The Naptime Author, was kind enough to allow me to steal this article off her site, so Pacific Paratrooper could deliver a sweetheart of a post! Please go visit her and enjoy her other historical posts!
Does your family own any jewelry from World War II? Curator Kathleen Golden shares a few sweet pieces from our collection.
In honor of Valentine’s Day and the giving of trinkets and baubles, I thought it would be fun to share a collection of objects in the Division of Armed Forces History called “sweetheart jewelry.” Sweetheart jewelry first became popular during World War I, as a means of connection between wives, mothers and sweethearts back home and the men fighting overseas. It was one of many things that soldiers either made or purchased, along with pillowcase covers, handkerchiefs, compacts, and the like. But while the practice began back then, the concept really took off during the Second World War.
Sweetheart jewelry of World War II vintage was made of a variety of materials. Due to the rationing placed on metals during the war, many of the items were made from alternate materials such as wood and plastic. Sterling silver was not rationed, so it was used to produce better quality jewelry.
Why was this type of jewelry so popular?
It was fashionable: rationing of material resulted in clothing with little embellishment. Pinning a brooch on a lapel or wearing a locket gave the wearer a little bit of glitz.
It was patriotic: many of the pieces were produced in the shape of patriotic symbols; the flag and the American eagle were most often depicted. The slogan “Remember Pearl Harbor” found its way onto many pins, often accented with a pearl. Several of the costume jewelry manufacturers of the time, including Trifari and Coro, made patriotic-themed pieces.
It reflected a sense of service: many women proudly wore the pin version of a “man-in-service” flag, the blue star in the center, on a white background, with a red border, to indicate a son or husband in service. The service pins, more rarely, could have two or three stars, and rarer yet, could contain a gold star to indicate a death in service.
The collection in the Division of Armed Forces History contains numerous examples of the types of jewelry I’ve outlined. Here are a few favorite examples:
The production of sweetheart jewelry pretty much ended after World War II. In recent years, collecting the vintage pieces has been on the upswing. But during the war, it seemed that everybody had a piece or two.
While rummaging through my grandmother’s jewelry box a number of years ago, I found this patriotic pin:
The “Uncle Sam” hat is embellished with rhinestones, and on the brim is written “In Service For His Country”. I don’t know the particulars of how it came to be in her possession; my grandfather didn’t serve in World War II, but family members and friends did. I’ve worn it from time to time, usually on a patriotic holiday, or if I just feel like giving a shout out to our soldiers serving overseas. One day, in memory of my grandmother, it will become part of the museum’s collections.
Kathleen Golden is an Associate Curator in the Division of Armed Forces History.
############################################################################################
Click on images to enlarge.
Home Front Humor –
“When you boys finish with your Civil Air Patrolling, I’ll have some iced tea ready for you.”
“But Ida, do you think you’ll be HAPPY polishing shell casing?”
#############################################################################################
Farewell Salutes –
Jude ‘Frank’ Babineau – Toronto, CAN; No. 2 Forward Observation/Royal Artillery. WWII
Ceaser Cellini – Cliftin, NJ; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, HQ/11th Airborne Division
MAY WE ALL REMEMBER ANZAC DAY, 25 April 2019
Peter Fitanides – Natick, MA; US Army, WWII, ETO, 406/102nd Ozark Infantry Division, medic
Frank Gonzalez – Tampa, FL; US Army, WWII, Sgt., 738th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion
Marshall Heffner – Ocean Springs, MS; US Merchant Marine, WWII, ETO
Elmer Janka – Wautoma, WI; US Army, WWII, ETO, 1st Infantry Division, Signal Corps
Frank Keller – Murray, KY; USMC, WWII
Ivan Miles – Christchurch, NZ; RNZ Army, WWII
Charles Parker – Slagle, LA; US Army, WWII, medic
Olen Shockey – Lexington, OK; US Navy, WWII, PTO, LCS Machinist Mate 1st Class
############################################################################################
The Final Combat Mission – 15 August 1945
Captain Jerry Yellin flew the last combat mission of WWII on the morning of August 15, 1945, out of Iwo Jima.
Cruising above the Pacific under the morning sun, the Americans had approached the Japanese coastline without incident. Jerry wondered how many more missions like this he would have to fly. They’d all thought the war was over, but now, here he was again, heading to strike a stubbornly resistant enemy.
But down below, in the nation they were about to attack, a philosophical battle was raging on whether to surrender or fight on. The “Big Six”—the six military officers running Japan—had been split by a vote of 3-3 on when and how to end the war with honor. In general, hard, passionate divisions of opinion existed among the Japanese military: some of the older officers wanted to surrender to prevent the destruction of Japan, while others wanted to fight on to the death and kill as many Americans as possible.
The previous night, while another 300 American B-29s strafed Japan again, a group of rogue Japanese officers had started a coup against Prime Minister Suzuki and Emperor Hirohito. The officers burned the prime minister’s office and surrounded the Imperial Palace, hoping to kidnap the emperor, all in an effort to prevent Japan’s leadership from thinking about surrendering. For these officers, and for so many of the Japanese people, surrender was not an option. There was glory in death, but only shame in surrender; Japan, for its part, had never been invaded or lost a war in its history.
Capt. Jerry Yellin, 78th FG
Fortunately for the rest of the world, the coup did not succeed. A group of senior Japanese officers talked the insurgents off the ledge, convincing them that there was nowhere to go. But while the revolt ended, the war did not, and so, with the shoreline of the enemy territory coming into view and Phil Schlamberg, his dear friend and fellow pilot, on his wing, Jerry knew it was time to go back to work.
On Jerry’s order, all the planes in his squadron dropped their eternal fuel tanks over the ocean, then started familiar aerial trek over the great, snow-capped peak of Mount Fuji. As of yet, there had been no radio signal with the word “UTAH,” signaling the end of the war.
As the Americans approached the Japanese capital, they began to identify targets. Within minutes, they swooped down over airfields and attacked despite heavy ground fire. Tracer bullets flew up from the Japanese guns as the 78th made multiple passes at each target.
After strafing the last airfield, Jerry checked his fuel gauge and saw he was still in good shape. But when one of the pilots radioed that his tank had reached the ninety-gallon mark—the amount a Mustang needed for the return flight—it was time to pull up and begin plotting the course back to Iwo Jima.
78th Fighter Group
Jerry looked over at Phil, who was still on his wing, and give him a thumbs up. Phil looked back and returned the gesture.
With the battle of Tokyo complete, Jerry set his course back out to the ocean and banked to the south. The three other Mustangs in Jerry’s squadron returned with him. A few moments later, as they approached the coast where they would rendezvous with the navigational B-29s, they neared a cloud cover in front of them, often the case when approaching the atmospheric temperature inversions near the coast. With Phil still tight on his wing, Jerry led the four Mustangs into the cloud bank. Flying at an altitude of about 7,000 feet, Jerry focused his eyes on his navigation instruments, as the interior of the white, puffy clouds blocking his view of everything else.
But when the Mustangs emerged on the other side of the clouds, a devastating reality soon surfaced. Phil was gone. Most likely, he had been brought down by antiaircraft bullets fired into the clouds. There was no sign of him.
Jerry was devastated. When he landed at Iwo Jima, meanwhile, he learned something else: the war was over. The emperor had announced Japan’s surrender three hours earlier. The code word UTAH had been broadcast to U.S. aircraft over the country, but the word had not reached the planes of the 78th until they landed.
Capt. Jerry Yellin
It was a surreal feeling as Jerry climbed out of his plane and jumped down to the airfield, standing on a once-bloody Pacific island. Now, suddenly, it was a world at peace. The men of the 78th had a saying, “Alive in ’45.” That had been their goal, and now it was their reality.
As Jerry walked away from his plane, another realization hit him: he had just flown the final combat mission of the war, and Phil was the final combat death of the great war. One day, after Jerry had time to collect his emotions and his thoughts, the great historical significance of the mission he’d just flown would sink in. But for now, one thought consumed his mind.
At last, it was time to go home.
I previously did an article about Captain Yellin when he was still helping to teach us about WWII.
Captain Jerome Yellin – 15 February 1924 – 21 December 2017
Click on images to enlarge.
############################################################################################
Military Humor –
############################################################################################
Farewell Salutes –
Zach Brown – Chehalis, WA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co. C/457th Artillery/11th Airborne Division
Allan Carson – Nelson, NZ; RNZ Air Force # 421317, WWII, pilot
From, Anna, Maiden On The Midway
Robert DeBusschere – Detroit, MI; US Army, WWII, A/B
Marvin ‘Curly’ East – Denver, CO; US Army, WWII, ETO, 110th Antiaircraft Artillery
Joseph Goodman – New Boston, PA; US Navy, WWII, USS Benson
Elizabeth (Meadows) Huey – Homer, LA; US Navy WAVE, WWII
Jesse James – AL; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Willard Lantz – Mapleton, MN; US Navy, WWII, Seaman 1st Class, USS Elkart
Wayne Pomeroy – Mesa, AZ; US Army Air Corps, WWII, B-24 tail gunner
Doris Ward – ENG; British Army ATS, WWII, ETO
###########################################################################################
Lieutenant Colonel Dick Cole, the Last of the Doolittle Raiders, Dies.
IN REMEMBRANCE…..
On this date in 1942, Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle led a raid of 16 B-25 bombers on Tokyo, Japan, launched from the USS Hornet. The raid was in response to the attack on Pearl Harbor some four months earlier. It was the first time B-25s had been launched from an aircraft carrier and many thought it couldn’t be done. Japan thought they were immune to attacks from far-away America and the raid devastated Japanese moral and boosted that of the United States. (See “The Doolittle Raid 70 Years Ago Today” posted on 18 April 2012 at https://mypoetrythatrhymes.wordpress.com/2012/04/.) Lieutenant Dick Cole was Doolittle’s copilot during that raid and the last of the raiders to die on 9 April 2019. This is his story.
The Ballad of Richard “Dick” Cole
Wind was blasting the open hatch.
China was dark below.
The B-25 was out of fuel.
The lieutenant had to go
Out…
View original post 672 more words
Reporting From the Front
The Writing 69th
After writing one too many stories about troops who had taken off to bomb Germany never to come back, Andy Rooney, along with seven other World War II correspondents, wanted to see the action.
After weeks of begging, the reporters finally got their wish and were sent to gunnery school for a week of intensive training to prepare for the assignment. Despite their noncombatant status as journalists, the military insisted the reporters, who dubbed themselves the “Writing 69th,” needed to have enough combat knowledge to be helpful in case something went wrong during the flight.
Andy Rooney
“We were shot at,” Rooney told On Patrol in 2011. “I was at mid-side gunner. I operated a gun even though I was a correspondent. We weren’t supposed to, but I mean I was up there, and all the other guys were shooting so I had to pay my way.”
“I fired at every German fighter that came into the neighborhood,” Walter Cronkite wrote in his 1996 book, “A Reporter’s Life.” “I don’t think I hit any, but I’d like to think I scared a couple of those German pilots.”
Their planes were damaged, but Rooney and Cronkite made it back alive. One of their colleagues wasn’t as lucky. New York Times reporter Bob Post and the B-24 bomber he was flying in were never found.
Over 1,600 war correspondents flocked to the European and Pacific theaters during WWII to report back to millions of Americans back home.
Some correspondents, like Associated Press reporter Daniel De Luce, were newly minted storytellers with little experience. He worked at the AP for a decade before the war, first on and off as a copyboy and later as a reporter in Europe in 1939.
Dan DeLuce and his wife Alma
Dan De Luce and his wife, Alma pose for a photo during a farewell gathering in March 1939. A few days later they were in New York waiting to travel to Normandy, France. | Photo credit Photo courtesy of Richard De Luce
De Luce wrote stories from the European, African and Russian fronts, including a 1944 Pulitzer Prize-winning story about partisans in Yugoslavia.
“Gee, I was thrilled to death, it seemed so romantic,” De Luce said in Karen Rothmyer’s book, “Winning Pulitzers: The Stories Behind Some of the Best News Coverage of our Time.” “I had this idea that I wanted to go over and see what was happening.”
Walter Cronkite’s War
Other correspondents, like the United Press’ Cronkite, were experienced but relatively unknown journalists at the beginning of the war. They hoped reporting overseas would help them make a name in the business. Cronkite, who dropped out of the University of Texas for a reporting job at the Houston Post, worked a series of print and radio gigs before joining the UP in 1939. After years of begging to be sent to cover the war in Europe, he got his wish in 1942.
Far from a veteran reporter, Cronkite still started the war off with considerably more experience than Rooney, a Stars and Stripes scribe who edited his college newspaper
Though journalists battled both technology and censors, they were mostly free to report anything they dared to get out and see.
“They let those guys do what they needed to do,” said Brian Rooney, who covered the Gulf War. “There was some censorship [in WWII], but they allowed them to be reporters.”
Brian Rooney
From the beginning, Stars and Stripes gave Andy Rooney his own jeep, which allowed him to roam and write poignant profiles on officers, GIs and everyday people at war.
“My father did a story about this touching scene about a popular officer dying,” Brian Rooney said. “And [the military] would allow that kind of stuff to be published because they had free access.”
From Correspondents to Legends
After the war, a few of the correspondents who gained fame at war went on to become journalism icons.
Cronkite worked for years at CBS as an anchor and editor, earning the reputation as the “most trusted man in America.” Rooney also made a name for himself on CBS and hosted the “A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney” segment on “60 Minutes” from 1964 to 2011.
De Luce, never transitioned into the broadcast world, but he reported for AP as a foreign correspondent for 17 years before ending his career with the organization as an executive in New York.
They all said their time as WWII correspondents were some of the most formative years of their lives.
“It was an exciting time,” Rooney told On Patrol. “It was a great experience and I was lucky to come through it alive.”
Click on images to enlarge.
############################################################################################
War Correspondent Humor –
Political cartoon
############################################################################################
Farewell Salutes –
Donald Carragher – Newark, NJ; US Navy, WWII, ETO, SeaBee signalman
Margery Deluco (100) – OH; US Army WAC, WWII, ETO, nurse
Burt C. Frank – Ravenna, OH; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, pilot
Owen Garriott – Enid, OK; US Navy, / NASA, pilot, Astronaut
David Hart (101) – Montreal, CAN; Canadian Army, WWII,Sgt. / Lt. Colonel (Ret. 24 y.)
Robert Oakley – Long Island, NY; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 511/11th Airborne Division
Salvatore Privitera – Hartford, CT; US Army, WWII, combat engineer
Robert ‘Bruce’ Strick – Portland, OR; US Army, WWII
Richard Thomson – League City, TX; US Navy, Pearl Harbor, Seaman 2nd Class, USS Oklahoma, KIA
Robert Wallace – Pensacola, FL; US Navy, WWII, ETO, PBY pilot
############################################################################################
Type 4 Ceramic Grenades
Type 4 Ceramic Grenade
Grenades have long been used in warfare across the world. However, their manufacture requires certain industrial materials and production lines.
In the closing stages of WWII, strategic bombing had decimated Japanese industrial infrastructure, leading to the development of a last-ditch weapon: the Type 4 grenade.
The Type 4 is also known as the “ceramic grenade” because it was made of porcelain or terracotta. These were materials which could be found at the end of the war when more traditional grenade materials were in short supply.
The Imperial Japanese Navy Technical Bureau came up with the idea for this new weapon. It was easy to make and cheaper to produce than traditional grenades at the time. This new weapon was to be used by the general populace of the country in the event of an Allied invasion.
To mass produce these grenades, kilns which were normally used for Japanese pottery were forced into service. The grenades that were produced by the kilns were cruder than traditional shells but were still able to do their job. There was also a significant variation in color, size, and shape as each kiln created a different form of the weapon.
The average Type 4 grenade measured around 80mm in diameter although, as stated above, the size would vary depending on the kiln producing them. The grenades were generally unmarked and completely plain.
The kilns also made them in varying shades of tan and brown. There were some which were completely white, but they were in the minority. While the grenades were made from porcelain or terracotta, they were not left untreated. They were lightly glazed both inside and out.
Despite the materials being used, the grenade would only weigh about one pound (453g) making it easy for soldiers to throw or carry around.
As with many other grenades at the time, the Type 4 was a spherical shape. It also had a bottleneck which included a wood friction fuse. The grenades came with a separate scratch block lid and rubber covering on the top which needed to be removed before the grenade was activated.
When it came to using this weapon, soldiers had to act quickly. To ignite the grenade, the rubber covering would need to be removed, and the match compound lit. This was done with the scratch block and worked in a similar manner to a road flare.
Once the fuse was lit, there was no way to stop it without destroying the whole fuse. To ensure that there was enough time for the grenade to reach enemy fighters, there was a four to five-second delay. After this time, the lit fuse would come into contact with the explosive materials inside.
Many of the Type 4s had a lanyard which was used to carry and throw them. A US Army intelligence bulletin from March 1945 stated that these grenades were easy to throw. The bulletin also listed some of the potential drawbacks of this last-ditch weapon.
Other than the fact that the grenade had to be thrown as soon as it was lit, care also had to be taken to ensure that the shell would not hit any hard objects before reaching the intended target. Should this happen, the grenade would shatter and become useless.
Ceramic Grenade pile,
pic courtesy of Japan Bullet
The grenade was also viewed in the bulletin as a concussion weapon. The explosion resulted in a large blast, but little in ceramic fragmentation which caused the most damage. This could be due to the materials used to create the grenades.
The Type 4 grenade was not a real game-changer in the war, but it was an ingenious invention. It was supplied to the Volunteer Fighting Corps as well as reservist organizations. There are also accounts that large numbers of them were sent to the front line troops.
These grenades were used by the Japanese in both the Battle of Okinawa and the Battle of Iwo Jima.
From War History on-line.
Click on images to enlarge.
############################################################################################
Military Humor – 
############################################################################################
Farewell Salutes –
Keith Andrews Toronto, CAN; RAF, WWII, pilot instructor
Kenneth Bailey – Easton, MD; US Navy, WWII & Korea, USS Sangamon, (Ret. 24 y.)
Earl Thomas Conley – Jamestown, OH; US Army / country singer
Kenneth Deal – Shreveport, LA; US Merchant Marines, WWII, Troop Transport / US Army 313th Engineers
Max Gaberseck – Coudersport, PA; US Marine Corps, Gulf War, Sgt. (Ret. 21 y.)
John Hooten – Joppa, AL; US Army Air Corps, WWII & Korea (Ret. 24 y.)
James Kounanis – Chicago, IL; US Army, WWII, PTO
Harold Poff – Roanoke, VA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 221st Medical/11th Airborne Division
Eugene Richard “Butch” Skoch – East Meadow, NY; Vietnam, Pfc, KIA
Joan Whittow – Liverpool, ENG; British Army, WWII
############################################################################################
Willie, Joe, and Bill in WWII
A MAN WHO SPOKE FOR THE REGULAR SOLDIER AND KEPT HIM SMILIN’ – BILL MAULDIN!!
Courtesy of a veteran friend I “met” while on JibJab; a considerable amount of my postings on PWE came from e-mails received from him.
Willie, Joe, and Bill in WWII
Get out your history books and open them to the chapter on World War II. Today’s lesson will cover a little known but very important hero of whom very little was ever really known. Here is another important piece of lost U.S. History.
Makes ya proud to put this stamp on your envelopes…
Bill Mauldin stamp honors grunt’s hero. The post office gets a lot of criticism. Always has, always will. And with the renewed push to get rid of Saturday mail delivery, expect complaints to intensify. But the United States Postal Service deserves a standing ovation for something that happened last month:
Bill Mauldin got his own postage stamp.
Mauldin died at age 81 in the early days of…
View original post 1,037 more words
Japan’s Underwater Aircraft Carriers – conclusion
American naval personnel inspect the hangar of a Japanese submarine aircraft carrier. The hangar tube was sealed by a two-inch-thick rubber gasket, and the hatch could be opened hydraulically from inside
By early 1945, the Japanese Navy had only 20 modern submarines left, including those in the Sen-toku squadron. Problems arose as the two available I-400 subs began test launching their Sieran planes. Each submarine was required to surface and get its three planes unlimbered and aloft within 30 minutes, but actual training showed that it took some 45 minutes.
Because of an increasing sense of urgency, the Japanese further modified their plans. A torpedo attack was ruled out because the pilots had not yet acquired the requisite skills. It was decided that each of the 10 planes designated for the Panama Canal mission would carry one 1,760-pound bomb, the largest in the Navy’s arsenal and similar to the one that sank the battleship USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor
The departure date was set for mid-June. The Seiran pilots made practice bombing runs in Nanao Bay against a full-sized replica of the Gatun gates.
The fall of Iwo Jima in March 1945 and the American attack on Okinawa increased the angst among the Japanese planners as the Americans closed in on the home islands. The war had leaped ahead of the planners, and the slated attack on the Panama Canal was canceled. As noted, there were discussions about possibly using the planes in a surprise attack on San Francisco or Los Angles, but those, too, were put aside in favor of a plan to attack enemy carriers at Ulithi, a large staging area near the island of Truk in the Carolines that was used by the Americans.
Mail call on Ulithi, 1945
The two large subs were to proceed toward Ulithi independently for safety and then rendezvous near the target and launch the attack in mid-August. The I-13 never made it to Truk and was correctly presumed lost. The I-14 arrived at Truk on August 4, and its planes flew over Ulithi the following day.
Shortly thereafter word reached the submarines that an atomic bomb had destroyed Hiroshima, and on August 15 the Japanese seamen heard the broadcast from the emperor asking his warriors to lay down their arms. Subsequent orders from the homeland were confusing, with one commanding all submarine captains to execute their predetermined missions. On August 16, the underwater aircraft carriers received explicit orders that their planned attack on Ulithi had been canceled just hours before the I-401 was to launch its planes. The subs were ordered to Kure, and the I-401 turned course toward its fateful encounter with Lt. Cmdr. Johnson and the Segundo.
The Japanese eventually surrendered the I-401 and the other two remaining underwater aircraft carriers. Commander Ariizumi, the developer of the top secret subs, took his own life aboard the I-401 and was quietly buried at sea by the crew. Before encountering the Americans, Nambu had meticulously followed orders from Japan to raise the black flag of surrender and dispose of the vessel’s weapons, including the planes that were catapulted into the sea. Logbooks, code-books, and the like were loaded into weighted sacks and tossed overboard. The torpedoes were jettisoned, with one causing alarm as it circled back toward the large submarine before disappearing harmlessly into the depths.
The Japanese aircraft carrier submarines I-14, I-400, and I-401 are shown in Tokyo Bay at the end of the war. The submarines were destined to be sunk in Hawaiian waters during U.S. Navy torpedo tests.
The three submarines drew considerable attention when they made it back to Tokyo Bay. Many Americans initially believed the large hangars atop the subs had been designed to haul supplies to troops on distant islands despite the clearly observed catapults. The Americans did receive some assistance from the Japanese crews as they tried to comprehend the purpose of the extraordinary submarines, and by the end of September the Americans had taken the submarines out for cruises. However, none was taken underwater.
The submarines were then taken to Hawaii for further study. The U.S. Navy gleaned what it could from them, and then all three were deliberately sunk by early June 1946 to keep them away from the prying eyes of the inquisitive Soviets.
One of the Seirans did make it to the United States after the war and was eventually restored at an estimated cost of $1 million. It is now on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Although the U.S. Navy was somewhat dismissive of the massive submarines, it did take a keen interest in the sound-protective coatings used on the vessels.
There is little doubt that the I-400s were the strategic predecessors to today’s ballistic submarines, especially to the Regulus missile program begun about a decade after World War II that carried nuclear warheads inside waterproof deck hangars. In short, Yamamoto’s plan lived on with “new and improved” versions that helped the United States win the Cold War.
This has been condensed from: Phil Zimmer is a former newspaper reporter and a U.S. Army veteran. He writes on World War II topics from Jamestown, New York.
The wreck of IJN !-401 was located in March 2005.
Click on images to enlarge.
############################################################################################
Military Humor – 
############################################################################################
Farewell Salutes –
Ronald D. Brown – Pembroke, KY; US Army, Korea, 187th RCT
They stand on the line for us.
Richard E. Cole -(103) – Comfort, TX; US Army Air Corps, WWII, Doolittle’s co-pilot, Lt. Colonel (Ret. 26 y.)
Robert Hendriks – Locust Valley, NY; USMC, Afghanistan, Cpl., 25th Marine Reg./4th Marine Division, KIA
Benjamin Hines – York, PA; USMC, Afghanistan, Sgt., 25th Marine Reg./4th Marine Division, KIA
Delmar Jones – Sesser, IL; US Army, WWII
Venizelos Lagos – Culpepper, VA; US Coast Guard, WWII
Virgil Patterson – FL; US Navy, WWII, PTO
Christopher Slutman – Newark, DE; USMC, Afghanistan, SSgt., 25th Marine Reg./4th Marine Division, KIA
Ly Tong – VIET; South Vietnam Air Force, Black Eagle Fighter Squadron, pilot, POW
Bryan Whitmer – Grand Rapids, OH; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, HQS/457 Artillery/11th Airborne Division
Japan’s Underwater Aircraft Carriers – part one
Lieutenant Commander Stephen L. Johnson had a problem on his hands; a very large problem. His Balao-class submarine, the Segundo, had just picked up a large radar contact on the surface about 100 miles off Honshu, one of Japan’s home islands, heading south toward Tokyo. World War II in the Pacific had just ended, and the ensuing cease fire was in its 14th day. The official peace documents would not be signed for several more days.
As Johnson closed on the other vessel, he realized it was a gigantic submarine, so large in fact that it first looked like a surface ship in the darkness. The Americans had nothing that size, so he realized that it had to be a Japanese submarine.
This was the first command for the lanky 29-year-old commander. He and his crew faced the largest and perhaps the most advanced submarine in the world. The Japanese I-401 was longer than a football field and had a surface displacement of 5,233 tons, more than three times the Segundo’s displacement. More troubling though was the sub’s bristling weaponry that included a 5.5-inch gun on her aft deck, three triple-barreled 25mm antiaircraft guns, a single 25mm gun mounted on the bridge, and eight large torpedo tubes in her bow.
During a brief ceremony aboard one of the aircraft carrier submarines, the Japanese naval ensign is lowered and replaced by the Stars and Stripes as the vessel is turned over to the control of the U.S. Navy after Japan’s surrender
The large sub displayed the mandatory black surrender flag, but when the Segundo edged forward, the Japanese vessel moved rapidly into the night. The movement and the continuing display of the Rising Sun flag caused concern. Johnson’s vessel pursued the craft that eventually slowed down as dawn approached. He brought his bow torpedo tubes to bear on the craft as the two vessels settled into a Mexican standoff.
Johnson and his crew had received permission by now to sink the reluctant Japanese vessel if necessary, but he realized he had a career-boosting and perhaps a technologically promising prize in his sights. Much depended on this untried American submarine captain and his wily opponent in the seas off Japan.
Little did Johnson know that the Japanese submarine was a part of the I-400 squadron, basically underwater aircraft carriers, and that the I-401 carried Commander Tatsunosuke Ariizumi, developer of the top-secret subs initially designed to strike the U.S. homeland in a series of surprise attacks. Ariizumi was considered the “father of the I-400 series” and a loyal follower of the emperor with years of experience in the Japanese Navy, so surrender was a disgrace he could not endure
Johnson also had to contend with Lt. Cmdr. Nobukiyo Nambu, skipper of the I-401, who traced his combat experience back to Pearl Harbor. He now commanded the world’s largest submarine designed to carry three state-of-the-art attack planes in a specially built hanger located atop the vessel. These secret Aichi M6A1 planes were initially designed for “a second Pearl Harbor” or another surprise attack, possibly even against New York City or Washington, D.C. The I-400 series submarines were themselves full of technological surprises. They were capable of traveling around the world one and a half times without refueling, had a top surface speed of 19 knots (or nearly 22 miles per hour), and could remain on patrol for four months, twice as long as the Segundo.
Neither Nambu nor Commander Ariizumi readily accepted the emperor’s surrender statement when it was broadcast on August 15. The subsequent communiqués from Tokyo were exceptionally confusing, especially Order 114, which confirmed that peace had been declared – but that all submarines were to “execute predetermined missions and attack the enemy if discovered.”
It was Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of Japan’s Combined Fleet and developer of the Pearl Harbor attack, who called for the construction of the I-400 series some three weeks after Pearl Harbor. Once Japan was committed to war, he believed that submarine aircraft carriers dropping bombs “like rain” over major U.S. cities would surely cause the American people to “lose their will to fight.” A second surprise attack with even more to come would prove psychologically devastating to the Americans.
Yamamoto called for the construction of 18 of the massive submarines carrying a total of 36 attack planes. The name of the special submarine class was abbreviated to Sen-toku.
The attack planes had to be designed from scratch. The need for speed, range and a decent sized bomb payload required tradeoffs. The wings had to be foldable to fit inside the tube, or hangar, atop the submarine. The design work, testing, and building of the plane was outsourced to the Aichi Aircraft Company.
The I-400 program did have its detractors in the heavily bureaucratic Imperial Japanese Navy. After the defeat at Midway in early June 1942, Japan became more focused on defending the homeland and far less on possible attacks on the U.S. mainland using the large submarines. The death of Yamamoto in mid-April 1943, played further into the hands of conservative Japanese commanders. Cutbacks were ordered in the number of submarines to be built. .
The first test flight of the Aichi attack plane occurred on November 8, 1943. The plane, called Seiran or “storm from a clear sky,” reportedly handled fairly well as the world’s first sub-borne attack bomber. The Japanese began compiling limited available information on the heavily fortified Panama Canal. Their analysis showed that destroying the gate opening onto Gatun Lake would create a massive outpouring of water, destroying the other gates in its path while rushing toward the Caribbean Sea.
After weeks of planning, the Japanese came up with a strategy to attack the Gatun locks at dawn when the gates were closed and presumably the defenses were lax. The planners had nearly a full year to formulate the attack for early 1945. But there were problems ahead because none of the submarines were complete and the planes were not yet in the production stage.
I-400 Class submarine
The Japanese labored on, and by the end of 1944 the I-400 and the smaller I-13 were completed and turned over to the Navy. In early January 1945, the I-401 was commissioned and the I-14, the last of the underwater aircraft carriers, was put into service by mid-March 1945.
As an important aside, it should be noted that while preparations for the attack on the Panama Canal went forward, Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa, vice-chief of the Naval General Staff, floated another idea for the use of the Sen-toku submarines. He suggested arming the Seiran planes with biological weapons to be unleashed against a populated area on the West Coast of the United States.
Dr. Shiro Ishii, Japan’s top virus expert and head of the Army’s notorious 731 unit in Manchuria, was consulted. He recommended that the planes drop plague-inflected fleas, something he had tested with success in China, on the United States with San Francisco, Los Angeles, or San Diego suggested as targets. The plan was discarded in late March by the head of the Army’s general staff who called it “unpardonable on humanitarian grounds.”
In effect, the Japanese Army, which had led the development of biological weapons and had tested them on Chinese and American captives, nixed the idea of using the weapons late in the war on American civilians, perhaps in the belief that the war was already lost.
Click on images to enlarge.
############################################################################################
Military Humor – 
############################################################################################
Farewell Salutes –
Ernest Bargiel – Trafford, PA; US Army, WWII, medic
Alzena McNabb Bibb (99) – Corbin, KY; US Navy WAVE, WWII
Paul Copenhaver – Syracuse, NE; USMC, WWII, 3rd Marines
Ewell Foglemann – Dallas, TX; US Army, WWII, ETO, Pfc, Co. C/112/5th Engineer Corps
Ada Kirk (100) – Waipukurau, NZ; RAF # 895704, WWII, Cpl.
Donald Lawson – Elgin, KS; US Navy, WWII
Meddie Mojica – Asis, Cavite, PI; Filipino guerrilla & US Navy, WWII
William T. O’Keefe – Broad Channel, NY; US Navy, WWII
Mark Smith – Indianapolis, IN; USMC, Iraq, Colonel (Ret. 32 y.)
Jesse Weber – Arvada, CO; US Army Air Corps, WWII, pilot
############################################################################################
Crazy Inventions Emerge from WWII
Inflatable Decoy Tank
The desire to outwit the enemy and achieve military success can lead to unplanned military inventions during periods of war. Among these many developments and inventions, one can often see how a creative approach led to interesting results. The following is a list of unusual inventions from the Second World War, though of course it is by no means a complete list.
Inflatable tanks
World-renowned fashion designer Bill Blass fought during the Second World War in the U.S. Army’s 603rd Camouflage Battalion. This special unit had the goal and means for misinforming the enemy about the location of Allied forces.
One of the means for misinformation was Sherman inflatable tanks which were used as dummies, particularly on D-Day, to deceive the enemy.
Garlic Chocolate
When sending spies and secret agents overseas, Great Britain had to make sure that they could blend into the local crowd by any means. Agents had to act, look, speak, and even smell appropriate.
According to Peter Taylor, author of the book Weird War Two, the story goes that agents who were sent to Spain did not have the appropriate smell because they did not eat garlic. In Britain, the attitude towards garlic at the time was not favorable. This problem was solved by adding garlic to chocolates in a bid to make it more enjoyable to eat.
It is not known whether this project was successful or not.
Itchy powder
A powder that acted as a strong skin irritant was disguised as talc and smuggled into Europe. Resistance members in occupied countries distributed this powder in clothing factories and laundry facilities where they could secretly apply it to German uniforms.
It seemed to have worked. Apparently, at least one German U-boat was forced to return to port because the sailors thought they had a strange skin condition.
The scheme was also successful in Norway, where local resistance members began putting the powder in condoms intended for German troops. The treated condoms were sent to the Trondheim Region, where the local hospital was soon filled with German soldiers.
Fake Feet
Fake feet were a good tool for masking a trail, saving time that would otherwise be spent sweeping traces. They was used by agents who landed on beaches in the Pacific theater.
“The idea was that you’d put these fake bare feet over your actual shoes and it would look as if a native was walking over the beach rather than you,” Taylor said.
Stink bombs
The British spent large sums on the development of a super smelly bomb called the S-capsule. Placed in the pocket of a German soldier, once crushed the capsule released a terrible stench which remained even after numerous cleanings.
Since winter clothes in the German army were in short supply, the soldier had to either freeze or suffer a terrible smell. The idea was that a badly smelling officer might lose credibility in the eyes of his subordinates.
The Americans also worked on a similar invention. Taylor said that in the end, “I think in both cases they had to kind give up using it because people that administered it ended up smelling as bad as the people they were aiming it at.”
Exploding poop
There are cases in which the British sent members of the Resistance members throughout Europe imitation manure filled with explosives. The idea was to leave it on the road where it would not be suspected by the drivers of vehicles that would inevitably run over it.
“The actual dung was copied from the real thing supplied by the London Zoo. And there were different kinds of dung depending on which kind of part of Europe” it was going to, Taylor said.
Exploding rats
The British proposed this idea in 1941 after a series of medical experiments. The idea was to fill rat corpses with explosives and toss them into German factories. It was assumed that eventually, one of the German employees, finding a dead rat near the furnace, would throw it into the fire. This, in turn, should have led to an explosion.
The British planned to plant booby-trapped rats in the boiler rooms of German trains, factories, factories, and power plants. In reality, this information fell into the hands of the Germans. The Germans overestimated the importance of the British project and began to spend a large amount of time guarding against it.
In turn, the British considered the project a distracting maneuver: the leakage of information caused a greater panic than the possible use of exploding rats in practice.
Laxatives
The coastline of Norway had an economy based mainly on salted fish. Thus, when the Germans announced that they were requisitioning Norway’s entire catch of sardines, people were outraged. In the ranks of the Resistance was an informant at Nazi headquarters who said that the sardines would be used to feed German troops. Canned food was supplied to U-boat crews.
At the request of Resistance members, the British sent large reserves of croton oil. This oil has a fishy taste and a strong laxative effect. Norwegians secretly delivered it to canneries, where it was mixed with vegetable oil and added to sardines. Soon after, the sardines were sent to German submarines.
In one case, this operation was a great success. However, a large-scale operation based on a laxative was never realized, since the war ended before it could be implemented.
Pink planes
Some fighters during the Second World War were so specialized that they flew only at certain times of the day. To make the aircraft less noticeable both at sunset and at sunrise, they were painted pink.
“That seems [to be] something that’s very very strange and did work surprisingly well,” Taylor said. Although camouflage on aircraft was hardly a novelty, it was a clever tactic at the time to make “invisible” airplanes thanks to pink paint.
Click on images to enlarge.
###########################################################################################
Military Weapons Humor – 
Well here’s the problem. Part # AB5 is a Nuclear Missile. Part # AB6 is an ink cartridge.
############################################################################################
Farewell Salutes –
Kenneth Bellin – Lidgerwood, ND; US Navy, WWII, PTO, gunner’s mate
Travis Brannon – Nashville, TN; USMC, Viper pilot, Captain, KIA
John DePace – Houston, TX; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO
Joseph Gallagher Sr. – Philadelphia, PA; USMC, WWII, PTO
Robert Hitson – South Bend, IN; US Army, WWII, Purple Heart
Howard Lee – NYC, NY; USMC, Vietnam, Captain, 2/4/3rd Marine Division, Medal of Honor
Samuel Malucci Jr. – Northford, CT; US Army, Vietnam, 75/82nd Airborne Division, Purple Heart
Edward Sttewart – St. Paul, MN; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co. C/127 Engineers/11th Airborne Division
Risdon Westen – Boulder, CO; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Matthew Wiegand – Ambler, PA; USMC, Viper pilot, Major, KIA
############################################################################################
Pacific Paratrooper 