Interesting information on war in the Pacific

Until 1985 the US Government kept data classified as SECRET that six days after the last atomic bombing of Nagasaki Japan one more city was bombed. As the Domei News Agency of Japan announced to the US Government the "Surrender is coming soon" one last target was set for destruction. This was the Nippon Oil Refinery at Tsuchizaki near Akita, 300 miles north of Tokyo on the West Coast of Japan.

The goal was achieved, the total destruction of the Japanese oil production capability and reserves. This was done with 1300 men and 134 B29's from the Pacific Island base on Guam and the Air Forces 315th Bomb Wing who flew 15 missions between June 25, 1945 and August 14, 1945.

Japan's war machine was totally paralyzed by lack of fuel. As one analyst put it, "There wasn't enough gasoline left in Japan to drive a jeep through Tokyo."

http://www.marketrends.net/WWIIsecret/main.html

 

Kai..I have the U.S. Naval Institutes Submarine action in WW 2.
Name a statistic or "Pig Boat" and I'll give you it's record/lifespan according to this book and we'll compare notes.
Cool picture (I like war art), but that's an "Essex" class carrier, too new to be (Hornet) CV-8, which was Doolittles "Yorktown" class ride over the Pacific.
Japanese Destroyer Captain is a graet book as well.

 

Thanx SW,

I´ll keep that one on my mind!

 

Secret?? Huh?? Secret until 1985?? Double Huh???

There’s no secret here.

This mission shows up in the 1976 edition (and subsequent) of the U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II Combat Chronology 1941 – 1945 as:

“8/14/45 Twentieth AF
“302 B-29’s bomb naval arsenal at Hikari and Osaka Army Arsenal while 108 bomb railroad yards at Marifu. VII FC planes escort VHBs over Osaka area. During 14/15 Aug, 160-plus B-29’s attack Kumagaya and Isezaki with incendiaries while 132 (in the longest nonstop unstaged B-29 bombing mission from the Marianas-3,650 mi) bomb Nippon Oil Company at Tsuchizakiminato. 39 others mine waters at Nanao, Shimonoseki, Miyazu, and Hamada. These are the final B-29 combat missions against Japan. Before the last B-29’s return, President Truman announces the unconditional surrender of Japan.”

As this entry points out, the Japanese did not surrender until 15 August and that these were the final missions. This mission was flown on the night of 14-15 August. The war was still on; it did not end with the bombing of Nagasaki. USN aircraft from TF-38 actually flew a dawn strike package on the morning of 15 August before word on the surrender was received. A follow-on strike was recalled.

You kind of have to ask yourself:
132 B-29s?
that’s about, what, 1320 men?
and their ground crews?
and the 20th AF staff?
and the squadron staffs?

So what are we talking about here, about, maybe, 2000 men? Or sure, that’s a secret that can be kept. And exactly why would it be a secret? Did they bomb something after the Japanese had surrendered? No, their raid was carried out the night before the Japanese government agreed to surrender. And there were other missions flown between the Nagasaki bomb and these last missions of 14/15 August.

No, this was just an ordinary mission that happened to be one of the last of the war.

Just goes to show you, don’t believe everything you find on websites.

Rich

 

I've got to agree with Rich on this one. On my posts about the chronology of the Pacific theater, there are multiple instances of the fast carrier force of Halsey's Third Fleet (TF38) launching missions on the 10-15 of August 1945 along with B-29 missions also. There is even a record of the US destroyer carrying out a depth charge attack of Iwo Jima on the 16th, along with a Japanese attack on a US submarine in the sea of Japan on that day. There is also the instance of the surface battle on the 21st of August between Chinese junks manned by a mixed Chinese and American crews and a Japanese junk.

 

Order of the Golden Kite (Kinshi Kunsho)

a Japanese Order (decoration), established on February 12, 1889 by Emperor Meiji of Japan. This was an exclusively military award, conferred for bravery, leadership or command in battle. It was officially abolished by the US-led government of the Occupied Japan in 1947.

The order consisted of seven classes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Golden_Kite

It represents a golden kite, messenger of the Gods, that helped the Emperor Jimmu Tenno in defeating his enemies in a battle. The order shows two crossed ancient Samurai shields, dark-blue enameled, with two crossed swords enameled yellow with hilts in silver.

1.067.492 awards were made, most of them in the two lower classes. Only 41 of the 1st grade and 201 of the 2nd have been awarded. Soldiers could be awarded with the 7th - 5th classes, NCOs the 6th - 4th, junior officers the 5th - 3rd, field grade officers the 4th-2nd and general officers the 3rd-1st.

http://www.xavierb.net/japan/goldenkite.htm

And more

http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-medals/jap_medals-ww2.htm

 

Kai,

Be VERY careful about quoting Wikipedia,

Its credibility is becoming very poor.

 

Thanx Ali,

of course the problem might be there with any used site so all corrections are welcome!

 

From the Pearl Harbor papers:

The Japanese Imperial Navy´s training motto:

Monday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Friday..meaning no days off in a week of work...

 

"Admiral King was the most even-tempered person in the United States Navy: He was angry 100% of the time!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_King

Roosevelt once described King as "... a man who shaves with a blow torch".

 

Heinkel 112

Twelve of 30 aircraft ordered by Japan were delivered in the spring of 1938...

http://avia.russian.ee/air/germany/he-112.html

Surprised they did not do anything with those, or did they?

 

He 112B in Japanese Service
In 1937 the Teikoku Nihon Kaigun (Japanese Imperial Navy) found itself at a disadvantage in combat over the Chinese mainland. The fact that Navy aircraft were fighting over the mainland might seem odd, but interservice rivalry in Japan went beyond the occasional bar brawl and both services fielded complete air forces with their own types of planes.

At the time the Navy air services were small and equipped mostly with older biplanes. Meanwhile the Soviets were supplying the Chinese air forces with the I-15bis and I-16 fighters. Although the new A5M "Claude" was largely similar to the I-16, they were just starting to enter service and available in small numbers only. The Navy was concerned about the lack of fighters and went looking for new designs that could be purchased off the shelf to bring the squadrons to strength quickly. At the time the majority of modern design work was taking place in Europe, and with England no longer on friendly terms they turned to Germany for a new fighter.

In late 1937 a delegation visited Marienehe and saw V9 in action. They were impressed with what they saw and placed an order for thirty of the B series planes, with an option for 100 more. They even purchased one of the older designs to take back with them immediately (according to the primary source below, this was the V5). Upon arriving in Japan the planes were named A7He1, the A7 refers to the 7th navy fighter design (the Zero was 6th), and the He1 means it's the first version of this particular design, and built by Heinkel.

In testing the He 112B proved superior to the A5M2 in many ways, notably in speed where the 112 could easily outrun the A5M to the tune of 65km/h. Yet the test pilots rejected the plane out of hand because the A5M was more maneuverable. Maneuverability was considered to be the single most important factor for any fighter, everything and anything was sacrificed to improve it. It could be said that the Japanese were still fighting WWI in the air, and the focus on maneuverability would later prove to be the downfall of their air forces.

In the end the plane was rejected and the option for the additional 100 was canceled. The thirty already purchased were delivered over a period in 1937 and '38, drawn from a number of production runs. Upon arriving in Japan they were used for training duties, but the V11 with it's DB600Aa was used for testing. As it turns out the A7 designation would later be assigned to the A7M, essentially an advanced Zero which also never saw combat
From
http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~pettypi/elevon/baugher_other/he112.html

 

Thanx Ali!

Interesting to see how differently the plane was valued in Japan while the German pilots would not have wanted to switch back to Bf 109....

 

Australia's 'invasion' of Portuguese East Timor (now Timor Luru Sae) on December 16, 1941, was the first time in history that Australia violated another country's neutrality. Aussie troops (Sparrow Force) invaded Dutch West Timor and the 2/2nd Independent Company landed on the shore near Dili, the capital of Portuguese East Timor and so pre-empt a Japanese takeover. They proceeded immediately to surround the airport. Well armed, and expecting to do battle with the Portuguese military, they approached the administration building, guns at the ready.

Suddenly the main door opened and out stepped a civilian Portuguese official who tipped his hat and in perfect English said "Good afternoon". Dumbfounded, the troops stared at each other in disbelief. Not a shot had been fired. Unknown to Sparrow Force , the Australian and Portuguese governments had previously agreed to a peaceful 'invasion' of the island to help protect the inhabitants from a possible Japanese invasion which did in fact take place two months later, on February 20, 1942.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/1941.html

 

Hmm, actually there was a previous contact and the governor of Timor authorised troop landing but outside Dili harbour for appearances sake. The freighter bringing the equipment and impedimenta was later allowed to unload at the harbour, so it wasn't exactly a surprise nor an invasion.

 

HMAS Sydney vs German Hilfskreuzer (Auxiliary Cruiser) HSK Kormoran

http://www.divenewzealand.com/articles.asp?sid=742

...and there, if not for fate, would lie the end of the story. A 92-year-old former Nazi sailor may be the last living link to solving the mystery. Reinhold Von Malapert, the seaman who navigated the lifeboat safely to shore near Red Bluff, has been located living in Santiago, Chile. Believed to be one of the last-known survivors of the Kormoran, his recollections of the position of the battle have corroborated information taken during interrogation of the navigator and wireless operator in 1941. Von Malapert points to the battle site being in an area 240km southwest of Shark Bay in Western Australia. Citing that the Kormoran did not move far from the battle scene, it is assumed that finding the Kormoran would be a link to finding the Sydney.

Leading the search for the lost wreck is the non-profit HMAS Sydney Search Foundation, spearheaded by American shipwreck hunter, David Mearns, and former Royal Navy officer and linguist, Peter Hore. The team went to Germany and located Commander Detmer’s encoded diary. Hore was able to decode the text to provided further clues as to where the ship may have sunk. The key will be to locate the Kormoran as a starting point.

The Australian government and the state governments of Western Australia and New South Wales have guaranteed $2.4 million towards funding the search and an additional $2 million is expected from Queensland and Victoria. While discrepancies remain within accounts of the battle position, the data provided by Van Malapert in 2006 has narrowed the search location for both the Sydney and the Kormoran to about 1,500 sq nautical miles (5156 sq km). In comparison, the search area for the Titanic was less than 146 nautical miles (500 sq km).

 

An attempt by the Americans to cause a volcano to re-erupt ended in failure. In 1942, the Tavorvur Volcano on Matupi Island, Rabaul, erupted and caused great concern for the Japanese occupation troops. To cause greater concern, the Americans purchased from the British Government two 'earthquake' bombs of the type invented by Barnes Wallis for the Ruhr Dams raid. The two bombs, together with a number of 2000 pounders, were dropped on the gaping mouth of the still smoking volcano. Both bombs missed the target and buried themselves in the sand near the end of the runway on the nearby Lukunai airstrip. In 1970, the two bombs were discovered unexploded. The Australian Navy was informed and the bombs were detonated.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/1942.html

 

I can't remember where I heard it first, someones post, or strange & interesting facts of WW2, or DLS, but wasn't there a plan to paint Mt. Fuji "Red"?
They put together the logistics of such an operation, and decided against it.
I can't imagine what for. Superstition? All in one night? Wake up to a red mountain and believe you offended the Gods?? Huh?
Sheese, the lunatics were running the asylum.

 

On January 18, 1942, Abercrombie & Fitch sold 24,000 golf balls, as golfers reacted in panic to the post-Pearl Harbor news that rubber sales would be strictly rationed.

http://www.amazon.com/When-War-Played-Through-During/dp/1592401546

 

Pilot Capt. Earl C. Bennett and R/O TSgt. Raymond P. Mooney of Detachment B on Guadalcanal claimed the first U.S. radar-directed (using the SCR-540, Mark IV airborne radar) night kill on April 19, 1943, though searchlights illuminated the enemy aircraft until radar contact had been made.

http://www.usaaf.net/ww2/night/nightpg9.htm