WW2 Pacific : Little Known Facts:
Attacks and Threats on the US in WW2.
Japan - January 1943 -- Atomic Bomb
Dr Hideki Yukawa was awarded the Nobel Price in physics in 1949 for his extensive work with the atom begun in 1941. An atomic bomb project as launched by Prime Minister Hideki Tojo in January 1943. Former colonel Toranosuke Kawashina was in charge. Design considerations were promising. All chance of success was destroyed when submarine I-291 carrying a quantity of U-235 uranium oxide from Germany was sunk as it approached Japan. And U-234, having departed for Japan days before the end, surrendered.Although the allied atomic bomb was developed from a threat by Germany, it was not completed until after VE day. It was used to avoid the expected 500,000 to one million US casualties from the invasion of the Japanese main islands against an army of almost three million men. Kamikaze boats and planes were being stockpiled. In addition, the public was being issued weapons. Two to five million Japanese casualties were anticipated. It can be argued the atomic bomb saved Japanese civilian and military, as well as US lives. The sudden end to the war certainly saved the lives of thousands of POWs and slave laborers scheduled for assassination upon invasion.
- 1 . I-29 departed Penang, Maylaya, 16Dec43 ; arrived Lorient, France 11March'44 ; departed 16Apr ; off-loaded passengers and blueprints at Singapore 14July and continued with cargo of uranium ore, rocket and jet engines for Japan . Sunk by Sawfish (SS-276) 26July'44.
Germany -- Atomic Bomb.
Dec 18, 1938, Otto Hahn splits the uranium atom, releasing energy. Although top officials were invited to an atomic weapons session, the agenda described the presentation as of a technical nature and lower level individuals were assigned to attend. Little interest developed. Heavy water was recognized as a requirement. The activities to destroy the only facilities in Europe at that time, in Norway, are well documented of the commando raid, Feb 28, 1943, a bombing raid, Nov 16, 1943, and the sabotage sinking of the ferry in Jan, 1944. However, Germany had pretty well given up on the bomb by mid-1943 although work continued at Haigerloch until the end.Atomic Bomb -- Allies
Many nations were engaged in atomic research. Radiation was discovered by the Curie's in France. Military uses were researched until the fall of France when their laboratories, directed by the son-in-law of Curie, transferred 410 pounds of Norwegian heavy water to the British team on June 16, 1940.British calculations showed, in 1941, that a very small amount of the fissionable isotope, uranium 235, could produce an explosion equivalent to that of several thousand tons of TNT.
The key US conference was held Jan 26, 1939 with increased research approved by FDR after consulting with others, including Einstein. The first research contracts were let in Nov 1940 with 15 more started within a year for work led by the Universities of Columbia, Chicago and California. A feasible design was determined in June 1942. A decision was made to transfer control to the Army. Col James Marshall Corp of Engineers, established the Manhattan Engineering District. BGen Leslie Groves was assigned Sep 17, 1942 to start production on a bomb and all research had been transferred by May 1943. The effort was aided by delivery of 1,140 tons of Belgium Congo uranium ore which had been shipped to Staten Island for safekeeping in Oct 1940. On Dec 2, 1942, a US team (Enrico Fermi) activated the first atomic pile in a Chicago stadium. FDR and Churchill agreed to a joint US-UK atomic accord which was established under Englishman, Chadwick, by the Quebec Conference, Aug 19, 1943.
Bomb production was centered in Los Alamos, NM (Oppenheimer), Oak Ridge, TN, and Hanford, WA. The first atomic bomb was successfully tested July 16, 1945. An ultimatum was given to Japan that was timed to the first availability of a bomb on July 31. Japan did not respond to the ultimatum and the threat was delayed by weather until Aug 6 before it was delivered on Hiroshima. Although the atomic bomb was a powerful and efficient weapon, the 66,000 people killed was on the progression of the numbers killed by conventional weapons: London (3,600, Dec 29, 1940, 224 bombers) , (1,436, May 10-11, 1941, 541 bombers) ; Pearl Harbor (2,403, Dec 7, 1941, 384 planes) ; and on Cologne (470 May 31, 1942, 1,047 RAF planes) ; Hamburg (40,000, July 1943, 1,500 planes) ; and Dresden (135,000, Feb 13-14, 1945, 1,200 allied planes) in Germany and those that increasingly descended on Tokyo, starting with 97,000 killed on March 9, 1945 from 334 B-29's, and rained on other industrial cities. [About 55,000,000 people died in WW2. The overlapping Sino-Japanese War (1936-45) may have taken 50,000,000 lives.]
A third bomb was assembled on Tinian with payload to be shipped from New Mexico, estimated to arrival 24Aug, target probably either Kokura or Niigata, when the war ended.
Others would arrive every two weeks with production to reach seven per month with an expectation that 50 bombs
would be required to assure that an invasion would not be required. Release of radiation from
the untested Hiroshima bomb, designed as the original gun-type and made of uranium,
was a surprise. The radiation range was expected to be within the
blast radius, that is, a lethal dose of radiation would only kill
those already dead from concussion. The Alamogordo bomb test and all later
production were of the more complicated plutonium, yet cleaner, implosion device.
A number of deaths after Nagasaki were contributed to disease and reclassified as caused by radiation in an act of revisionism. Life expectancy of survivors of Nagasaki exceed that of the general public. It was the weakest of a starving population who died from the trauma and lack of shelter after the city was destroyed followed by a typhoon.
Japan did not surrender to the escalation in bombings alone. The condition of Japan in mid-1945 was hopeless. The war had ended in Europe. Allied divisions, air forces, and fleets were being transferred to the Pacific. US industry and shipping of material was now devoted to war with Japan. The islands were strangled; the fleet destroyed; the air force, the army and industry had been mauled. Yet Japan gave no indication it was to give up and had an army of over 2.5 million men, many recalled from China, and ten thousand suicide planes and boats held in reserve. The civilian population was being armed and a newly created armed militia numbering 25 million and taught how to use hand grenades. Teenaged girls were trained with sharpened poles to use as bayonets. The US troops' hopeful slogan was: The Golden Gate in `48.
Japan attempted negotiations with Russia with whom Japan had a treaty throughout the war until this time and was rebuffed. By agreement with the Allies in Europe, the USSR declared war on the Empire Aug 8 and Emperor Hirohito finally accepted "to bear the unbearable" on Aug 10. Japan capitulated on Aug 15. Dissident attacks continued on the following days on the US fleet off the Japanese coast (American pilots were instructed to shoot them down in a friendly manner) until senior command ordered propellers removed. (Aug 18, B-32 photo reconnaissance flight of "Hobo Queen II", 1 killed) (Aug 22, Japanese antiaircraft batteries near Hong Kong fire upon navy patrol planes over China Coast.) Conflict continued for months in the case of some guerrillas isolated in the island campaigns.
U.S. Possessions
Pearl Harbor, Dec 7, 1941
That the Japanese would attack was well known to the US government by November 1941. Japan had a tradition of surprise attack. The US had correctly identified the Japanese targets of British Singapore and the Dutch East Indies. It was assumed there would also be a sneak attack on the Philippines in support of the Japanese occupancy of these and other areas of the western Pacific, also true. An air attack on Pearl Harbor was regularly considered in war games, but the audacity to sail 2000 miles across the North Pacific to attack the USN fleet headquarters was not seriously considered. At Pearl Harbor, attention was focused on getting aid to the Philippines and to our outlying islands.
After Pearl Harbor, the Imperial Japanese Navy had ten battleships and
ten carriers. The US had in the Pacific: 3 damaged battleships, 3 sunken, and
2 unsalvageable (Arizona and Oklahoma) and three carriers, Lexington and
Enterprise at Pearl Harbor and Saratoga on the West Coast.
The Pearl Harbor attack force returned to Hiroshima to rearm, Dec 23, 1941.
The Japanese fleet was free to rampage, taking Pacific Islands, occupying the
East Indies (Jan-March, 1942), raiding Ceylon and India (April 5-9, 1942) and
Darwin, Australia (April 20, 1942).
They quickly annihilated the combined Dutch, British, Australian,
and U.S. surface ships in the western Pacific, starting with the sinking of
the British presence, the battleship Price of Wales and battle cruiser Repulse,
Dec 10, 1941 off Malaya and followed with successes in the battles off Java,
February, 1942.
The Japanese goals of conquest of the resources of IndoChina and East Indies and
use of Pacific islands for defense had been achieved within the first six months.
Success was so easy that the protective ring was expanded until blocked at the
Battle of Coral Sea on May 7, 1942, with an exchange of aircraft carriers, and the
the Battle of Midway, June 5, 1942 with the Japanese fleet seriously damaged by the
loss of four fleet carriers.
The ultimate Japanese war goal was to complete the conquest of China by capturing the resource rich East Indies islands, Malaya, Java, et al. The attacks on the US, India, and Australia were to weaken reprisals and establish an aural of invincibility. After attaining her goals of suzerainty of the Western Pacific, Japan planned to negotiate a peace from a position of strength over the intimidated Allies, who were already under pressure in a European conflict, while retaining her newly expanded Pacific Empire and to return the Pacific invasion troops to continue with her war to control China.
French Frigate Shoals -- Hawaii
Dec 1941 and Feb 1942. Pearl Harbor was observed from submarine launched sea planes on at least three occasions.Three Kawanishi H8K2 "Emily" long range, flying boats attempted to bomb Pearl Harbor on March 5, 1942. Weather was bad and they dumped their bombs west of Honolulu, Oahu. The flying boats flew from Wotje, Marshalls and refueled from submarines at French Frigate Shoals on the northwestern end of Hawaian Islands. The seaplane tender Ballard (AVD-10), a converted destroyer, was sent to patrol the area until it was adequately mined.
Midway Island
Midway was shelled by two Japanese destroyers simultaneously with the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec 7, 1941.Bad weather saved Midway from being pounded by planes of the retiring Japanese strike fleet.
Midway is the western-most of the chain of volcanic islands that form the Hawaian chain. The largest Japanese fleet ever assembled, 11 BB, 8 CV, 100 ships, set out to attack the island in May, 1942. The intent was to draw the American fleet into combat where it would be mauled. From intercepted messages, the U.S. fleet knew to wait in ambush and destroyed four Jap aircraft carriers, although Yorktown was lost in the aftermath. This battle reduced the overwhelming Japanese sea power in the Pacific.
Guam
Guam, an American outpost and refueling depot in the Mariana Islands, was air raided on Dec 7 by bombers from Saipan. Guam's defensive force of 365-Marines was captured on Dec 10, 1942 by a force of 5,400 Japanese from neighboring Saipan.Guam was recaptured in the battle for the Marianas (Saipan, Tinian) from July 21 - Aug 8, 1944.
Wake Island.
Wake Island is about half way between Hawaii and the Philippines. Bombing was simultaneous with Pearl Harbor A Pan Am Philippine Clipper landing in Hawaii during the air strike was rerouted to an alternate site. It immediately returned to Wake to take off the Pan Am personnel. A construction crew of 1,200, mostly youths from Idaho, could not be evacuated.
The initial invasion of Wake Island on Dec 11 was fought off by 447 US Marines.
One Japanese destroyer was sunk with artillery fire and another
sunk by a Marine Wildcat, along with damage to a cruiser, a transport, and two more
destroyers.
Two Japanese aircraft carriers and heavy cruisers were dispatched from the departing
Pearl Harbor task force and the island was taken by 2,000 Imperial marines on Dec 23, 1941.
The construction crew was shipped to Japan. Five men were beheaded to assure
good behavior on the trip.
Wake Island was bypassed by later events and was not restored to U.S.
control until the end of the war.
Alaska
Japanese struck Dutch Harbor at the base of the Aleutian Islands on June 3, 1942, with planes from two carriers in support of an invasion and occupation of Attu (13 June), at the tip of the Aleutian chain, and Kiska (21 June) with 1,800 troops. Partially a diversion to cover the attack on Midway, partly geo-political, and only partly military. The capture of Alaskan islands forced the U.S. to establish a northern defense. U.S. troops retook Attu in furious fighting, May 11-30, 1943.
Thirty-four thousand U.S. and Canadian troops landed to retake Kiska on Aug 15,
but found
the island had been evacuated.
Both sides had discovered that bad weather
prevented further major attacks on the other's mainland from a northern route.
Jap Balloon Borne Bombs -- forest fires throughout the western United States.
Taking advantage of the jet stream that circles the globe and crosses over both northern Japan and the northern United States, 9,000 large balloons, each equipped with four incendiary and one anti-personnel bombs, were released to start forest fires and create terror in the western United States as far east as Michigan. Six people were killed in Oregon. The project was called Fugo (windship) and headed by Major General Sueki Kusaba. Considering the massive damage from natural fires of recent years, this was a serious threat. Submarines I-34 and I-35 began modifications for launching balloon bombs with greater accuracy, but not completed.www.af.mil/news/airman/0298/bomb2.htm
Fugos: Japanese Balloon Bombs of WW II
"Japan's World War II Balloon Bomb Attacks on North America", Smithsonian Magazine, 1973
German Long Range Bomber -- New York City
The Ju 390 was a prototype multi-purpose, long range aircraft flown in 1943 from Bordeaux, occupied France, to near New York City and returned. It was developed from the Ju 90 four engine bomber and the Ju 290 bomber/reconnaissance/transport. Larger than a B-29, the Ju 390 had six 1,700 hp engines and 181.6 ft wingspan. Germany had other priorities than to build a long range, strategic air force. However, a shock raid, such as Doolittle performed on Tokyo, could have happened to NYC. The Me-264 was another "Amerika-Bomber" that flew in Dec'42, but did not make it into production.Japanese Submarines
Dec 7, 1941. On its way to the U.S. west coast, I-26
tracks a US freighter. Precisely at 8:00 a.m., Dec 7, Pearl Harbor time,
she surfaces and sinks Cynthia Olson with gunfire.
Dec 15, 1941. Japanese submarine shelled Kahului, Maui, Hawaii.
Dec 20. Unarmed U.S. tanker sunk by Japanese submarine I-17 off Cape
Mendocino, California. 31 survivors rescued by Coast Guard from Blunt's Reef
Lightship.
Dec 20. Unarmed U.S. tanker shelled by Japanese submarine I-23 of
the coast of California
Dec 22. Unarmed U.S. tanker sunk by Japanese submarine I-21
about four miles south of Piedras Blancas light, California, I-21
machine-guns the lifeboats, but inflicts no casualties. I-21 later
shells unarmed U.S. tanker Idaho near the same location.
Dec 23. Japanese submarine I-17 shells unarmed tanker
southwest of Cape Mendocino, California.
Dec 27. Unarmed U.S. tanker shelled by Japanese submarine I-23 10
miles from mouth of Columbia River.
Dec 30, 1941. Submarine I-1 shells, Hilo, Hawaii.
Dec 31, 1941. Submarines shell Kauai, Maui, and Hawaii.
Feb 23, 1942. I-17, shelled Ellwood oil refinery at Geleta on the
Californian coast. The skipper had fueled there many times before the war.
June 20, 1942, the radio station on Estevan Point, Vancouver Island, was fired on by a Japanese submarine I-26.
June 21. I-25 shells Fort Stevens, Oregon.
Sept 9 . Phosphorus bombs were dropped on Mt. Emily, ten miles northeast of Brookings,
Oregon, to start forest fires. A Yokosuka E14Y1 "Glen" reconnaissance
seaplane piloted by Lt. Nubuo Fujita was been catapulted from submarine I-25.
Sep 29. Phosphorus bombings were repeated on the southern coast of Oregon.
Japanese submarines were generally assigned as screening forces ahead of fleet movements. Many were converted for resupply of isolated island bases ; few operated independently. The U.S. generally had submarines assigned to individual action where they methodically destroyed 1,314 ships of the Japanese merchant marine fleet, isolating that island nation. However, the giant I-400 class of submarine seaplane carrier was capable of attacking San Francisco or New York, but was built specifically to target the Panama Canal before being diverted as the war ended.
Germany Submarines -- U.S. Coastal waters
Jan 13, 1942. U-boats commenced Operation Paukenschlag (roll of the kettledrums) on the east coast of America, sinking 87 ships of 150,000 tons between Jan and July 1942. U-boats would cruise off shore of coastal tourist towns (NYC, Miami) that did not turn off their lights and target ships that became silhouetted against the coast.Feb 28. Destroyer Jacob Jones (DD-130) struck bytorpedo off NJ by U-578. There were eleven survivors.
Apr 26. Destroyer Sturtevant (DD-240) is sunk by mine off Marquesas Key, Florida.
May 14. Submarine U-213 mines the waters off St. John's, Newfoundland.
June 11. U-87 mines the waters off Boston.
June 11. U-373 mines the waters off Delaware Bay.
June 12. U-701 mines the waters off Cape Henry, VA.
July 27. U-166 completes mining the waters off the Mississippi River Delta.
July 30. U-166 sinks Robert E. Lee and is in turn sunk by escorting PC-566 scoring the first Coast Guard kill of an enemy submarine. Until June 2001 U-166 was thought to have been sunk two days later by a Coast Guard J4F Widgeon.
July 31. U-751 lays mines off Charleston, S.C.
Aug 8 . U-98 lays mines off Jacksonville, Fla.
Aug 9 . U-98 lays mines off the mouth of St. Johns River, east of Jacksonville.
Sep 10. U-69 lays mines at mouth of Chesapeake Bay.
Sep 18. U-455 lays mines off Charleston, S.C.
Nov 10. U-608 lays mines off New York City, east of Ambrose Light.
1943
July 23, 1943. U-613, en route to mine the waters off Jacksonville, Florida, sunk by George E. Badger (DD-196) south of Azores.
July 30. U-230 lays mines off entrance to Chesapeake Bay.
Sep 11. U-107 lays mines off Charleston, South Carolina.
Germany Submarines -- Caribbean
Feb 16, 1942. Operation Neuland begins. U-156 shelled oil installations on Aruba and sank three tankers.Dozens more followed.
Apr 19. U-130 shells oil installations at Curacao, N.W.I.
Sept 9. U-214 lays mines off Colon, Canal Zone, the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal.
Japanese Espionage
The U.S. broke the Japanese diplomatic code in 1932 and could read many, but not all, secret embassy and consulate messages. Through 1940, only Japanese military attaches were charged with gathering military intelligence, mostly by accumulating publicly available information. With a directive on 20 January 1941, Tokyo charged the Cultural attaches to change from "enlightenment" (propaganda) and to begin using their contacts for civilian spying and to establish intelligence gathering networks to survive even after a break in diplomatic relations. This decrypted report is indicative.9May41 Nakauchi (Los Angeles) to Gaimudaijin (Tokyo) Message #067
...
"We have already established contact with absolutely reliable Japanese in the San Pedro and San Diego area, who keep a close watch on all shipments of airplanes and other war materials, and report the amounts and destinations of such shipments. The same steps have been taken with regard to traffic across the U.S.-Mexico border.
"We shall maintain connection with our second generations who are at present in the (U.S.) Army, to keep us informed of various developments in the Army. We also have connections with our second generations working in airplane plants for intelligence purposes."
...
A chronological selection of messages concerning the establishment of the spying program can be found in Counter Intelligence in World War II under Magic, Chapter 2.
Census 1940 shows 126,947 Japanese ; 30% of Nisei and 60% of Issei held Japanese citizenship.
Spy LCDR Ohmea, ineffective, allowed to return to Japan so as to keep tabs on his successor.
Japanese hired or used German spies as better able to mingle, including: William Schuler, Rev. Kurt Molzahn, Dr. Otto Willumeit, Gerhard Kunze, Dr. Wolfgang Ebell, Capt Fritz Wiedemann, and Bernard Kuehn.
Spies, LCDRs Itaru Tachibana and Toraichi Kono, arrested mid-June 1941.
On December 7, the FBI arrested 1,300 aliens, including those implicated by Tachibana/Kono ring.
Hawaii. The U.S. did not close the Japanese consulates as was done with the German and Italians. Spies and agent handlers were free to continue under diplomatic immunity to photograph and report naval and air force placement and both military and cargo movements. Military intelligence officers were sent in civilian attire on passenger liners to assure the needed information was gathered correctly. A Japanese pilot whose Zero fighter was shot down at Pearl Harbor was aided and armed by an enemy alien ; both were killed while taking hostages.
California. We were losing the war, which lead to great fear of anti-U.S. activity by enemy aliens. Atrocities against English in Hong Kong and Singapore were well known. The sneak attack on Pearl Harbor and new reports of mass murders of white people in the western Pacific seemed to confirm the correctness of that opinion. There were the usual scares : a falling star reported as a signal flare ; a strange pattern found in a field reported as a possible targeting signal ; a report of a surfaced submarine is later reported to have flown away.
Decoded "diplomatic information" about the spy network was available at the highest levels of Washington and contributed to the decision to relocation enemy aliens away from the West Coast war zone, to 40 miles inland.
German Espionage
June 28, 1941, spy ring roundup. See pre-war belligerent activities.However, several spies positioned before the war were not captured until 1943-44 when handwriting analysis uncovered those writing to a mail drop in a neutral country.
Operation Pegasus : Eight saboteurs were landed by submarine.
June 13, 1942 , four landed at Amagansett, Long Island, from U-584.
June 17, 1942 , four landed in Pointe Vedra Beach, south of Jacksonville, Florida from U-202.
Each with equipped with a chest of detonators and explosives suitable for a year of operations. The chests were buried and found by the Coast Guard. Each spy spoke perfect English and most had American ties. Two surrendered and were repatriated after the war. The other six were captured and executed.
Oct. 22, 1943 , an automatic weather station was installed on the northern tip of Labrador from U-537. One of 21 such stations in arctic areas of North Atlantic. It broadcast for a few days, but the signal was blocked by other German stations. Found in 1980.
Aug. 20, 1944 , a spy survives sinking of U-1229 off the coast of Maine .
Nov. 30, 1944 , two spies landed at Hancock Point, Maine, from U-1230.
They were to gather industrial data for selecting missile targets. Death sentences were commuted : the German served ten years, was deported and wrote a book ; the American served 15 years, worked in PA and is retired in FL.
Enemy Aliens
When war was declared after the attack on Pearl Harbor, no U.S. battle fleet existed, the USAAF had few fighter aircraft assigned to the whole West Coast, even fewer anti-aircraft batteries, and the area was in a panic. The Japanese intent was to cause diversion of defensive activity to the U.S. coast, thereby taking away from military efforts in the Pacific. It worked better than expected. When combined with reports of murdered civilians in the western Pacific, the stage was set for a massive relocation of the enemy citizens (issei) and their children (nisei) from a war zone within the United States. Note: Children (nisei) obviously relocated with their parents who were enemy aliens in a war zone. Note : children hold dual citizenship until of age. Japanese law is even more lenient, witness Fugimoro, born in and president of Peru, still being a Japanese citizen when he fled there to escape trial for his crimes. It is disingenuous to imply that Japanese-Americans were targeted for relocation.
With the Pacific Coast considered a battle zone, the voluntary relocation of Japanese from coastal areas was sought on 27 Feb 1942. Eight thousand had relocated by 27 March when all remaining Japanese citizens in the coast defense zone were given 48 hours to report for relocation to the interior. 110,000 people were send to former CCC camps run by the War Relocation Authority. Camps established under emergency conditions sometimes had limited facilities until the permanent camps could be completed. Camp members who helped build more permanent housing were paid token wages of $12 as laborers and $19/month for professionals. Resettlement to communities that would accept Japanese was started when the fear of invasion had eased one year later, April 1943 ; 55,000 had been resettled by war end. The West Coast was reopened in January 1945.
I have met Iowans of German ancestry who were interrogated monthly.
About 4,000 enemy citizens were "interred" as security risks by the Department of Justice : 50% Japanese, 40% German, 10% Italian. Internment is a detention for crime as different from simple relocation from a war zone..
Belligerent Acts Prior to US Entry into WW2
This section became so large that a separate web page has been created to
record belligerent acts by U.S. against Germany and Japan and their belligerent
acts against the U.S.
Britain even performed unfriendly acts against the neutrals, including the U.S.
See: Belligerent Acts
By the time the U.S. entered WW2, the war had been going on for over two years in Europe,
four years in Africa, and ten years in China.
See: Pre-US entry actions.
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About this Page : Little known facts about attacks and threats upon the United States in World War Two. These are found in isolated articles and mentioned as minor events in books. I have tried to bring them together. All Pearl Harbor Day dates are treated as Dec 7, U.S. time, which was Dec 8 Asian Time. Thereafter, local dates are used. Last update Nov 5, 2009 -- add "Kokura or Niigata" for 3rd bomb.
- April 15, 2006 -- Hancock Point spies.