Did this happen much? I understand from todays TV (Great Raids of WW2) that Germany was quite short on Rubber and Japan had gained from recently occupied countries vast quantities of Oil and Rubber. The program touched briefly on this as it went on to explain that Bordeaux was the main port of call for Japanese. Hence Operation Frankton, apparently one of the merchant ships destroyed was rumoured to have a new state of art radar on board destined for Japan. So how much did each country rely on each other for raw materials and the like during the war?
I'll assume the total quantities carried by the occasional blockade runner and cargo submarine to be risible as compared to what was coming out of the US and Commonwealth shores.
I doubt very much that either country was able to help each other out much in the raw materials area. As Za has said, compared to Lend-Lease it would be minimal.
Well I thought this too....Lets face it Germany (Occupied France) to Japan (Or the colonies) and vice versa is no short haul journey. However the Minister of Trade (I think-I missed his title and name) told Churchill that significant amounts of trade exsisted between the two countries and something should be done. Bommber Command was considered first of all but the risk to civilians was deemed to high and a Royal Navy bombardment was considered to risky for the ships so Operation Frankton took seed and the rest is history regarding that raid. I think they must have been enough to cause such a stir to the point of mounting a raid. By late 1941 the constraints on mercantile movement, particularly by sea, were imposing severe hardships on both the British and the Germans. Neither country possessed sufficient natural resources to wage a war at the scale then being carried out, and both were dependent on external sources of supply. In particular the Germans needed oil, rubber and tungsten, and certain other essential metals and alloys. Vital supplies of these products from the Far East were reaching the Germans by "blockade runners" using the port of Bordeaux1,2. Exert from: Operation Frankton
Yanagi missions These were missions enabled under the Axis Powers' Tripartite Pact to provide for an exchange of personnel, strategic materials and manufactured goods between Germany, Italy and Japan. Initially, cargo ships made the exchanges, but when that was no longer possible submarines are used. Only four other submarines had attempted this trans-continental voyage during World War II: I-30 (April 1942), I-8 (June 1943), I-34 (October 1943) and the German submarine U-511 (August 1943). Of these, I-30 was sunk by a mine and I-34 by the British submarine Taurus. Later, the famous Japanese submarine I-52 would also share their fate. Missions I-29 participated in missions supporting the attack on Port Moresby in New Guinea (Operation Mo), and also in the futile search for Task Force 16, that launched the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo in April 1942. I-29's reconnaissance of Sydney harbour on the 23rd May 1942 resulted in the Japanese midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour. First exchange In April 1943, I-29 was tasked with a Yanagi mission. She was commanded by Captain Masao Teraoka, submarine flotilla commander — indicating the importance of the trip. She left Penang with a cargo that included two tons of gold. She met Fregattenkapitän Werner Musenberg's Type IXD-1 U-boat, U-180 on 26 April 1943 off the coast of Mozambique. During this meeting that lasted over 12 hours due to bad weather, the two Axis submarines swapped some very interesting passengers. U-180 transferred Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, a leader of the Indian Independence Movement who was going from Berlin to Tokyo, and his Adjutant, Abid Hasan. I-29 in turn transferred two Japanese Navy personnel who were to study U-boat building techniques in Germany: Commander (later Rear Admiral, posthumously) Emi Tetsushiro, and Lieutenant Commander (later Captain, posthumously) Tomonaga Hideo (who is later connected with the German submarine, U-234). Both submarines returned safely to their bases. I-29 dropped off her important passenger at Sabang harbour on an isolated We island located to the north of Sumatra on 6 May 1943, instead of Penang, to avoid detection by British spies. Second exchange In December 17, 1943, I-29 was dispatched on a second Yanagi mission, this time to Lorient, France under star Japanese submarine Commander Takakazu Kinashi. At Singapore she was loaded with 80 tons of raw rubber, 80 tons of tungsten, 50 tons of tin, 2 tons of zinc, and 3 tons of quinine, opium and coffee. In spite of Allied Ultra decrypts of her mission, I-29 managed to reach Lorient 11 March 1944. On her way she was refueled twice by German vessels. Also, she had three close brushes with Allied aircraft tracking her signals. Of special note is the interaction with six RAF aircraft including two Tse-tse De Havilland Mosquito fighters equipped with 57 mm cannons from the No. 248 RAF Squadron off Cape Penas, Bay of Biscay 43°40′N 5°51′W / 43.66°N 5.85°W / 43.66; -5.85, and the protection provided to her during the entry into Lorient by the Luftwaffe's only Long Range Maritime Fighter Unit, V Gruppe/Kampfgeschwader 40 using Ju-88s. She left Lorient 16 April 1944 for the long voyage home with a cargo of 18 passengers, torpedo boat engines, Enigma coding machines, radar components, a Walter HWK 509A rocket engine, and Messerschmitt Me 163 & Messerschmitt Me 262 blueprints for the development of the rocket plane Mitsubishi J8M. After an uneventful trip she arrived at Singapore in 14 July 1944, disembarking her passengers, though not the cargo. Sinking On her way back to Kure, Japan, she was attacked at Balintang Channel, Luzon Strait near the Philippines by Commander W. D. Wilkins' "Wildcats" submarine taskforce consisting of Tilefish, Rock and Sawfish, using Ultra signal intelligence. During the evening of 26 July 1944, she was spotted by Sawfish which fired four torpedoes at her. Three hit the I-29, which sank immediately at 20°06′N 121°33′E / 20.10°N 121.55°E / 20.10; 121.55. Only one of her crew survived. Among the dead was I-29's Commanding Officer, Commander Takakazu Kinashi, Japan's highest-scoring submarine "ace". Earlier in the war, as skipper of I-29's sister ship I-19, Kinashi torpedoed and sank the U.S. aircraft carrier U.S.S. Wasp and damaged both the battleship U.S.S. North Carolina and the destroyer O'Brien during the same attack. O'Brien later sank as a result of the torpedo damage and North Carolina was under repair at Pearl Harbor until November 16, 1942, a spectacular achievement that is still considered to this day to be the most effective torpedo salvo ever fired in naval history. Kinashi was honored by a rare 2-rank posthumous promotion to Rear Admiral. Commanding Officers Lt. Cmdr. / Cmdr. Juichi Izu - 27 February 1942 - 10 October 1943 (Promoted to Commander on 1 November 1942.) Cmdr. / RADM* Takakazu Kinashi - 10 October 1943 - 26 July 1944 (KIA; posthumous double promotion to Rear Admiral.)
Somewhere in David Fletcher's book "Tiger!" there is a bill of sale for a Tiger to the IJA , how they ever intended to "get it home" is , well it never happened .
The Yanagi mission made by the Japanese submarine I-29. 16 December 1943: I-29 departs Singapore for Nazi-occupied France on a "Yanagi" mission. I-29 is coded "Matsu" (Pine) by the Japanese and "U-Kiefer" by the Germans. She is the fourth IJN submarine to undertake such a mission. [3] Among the I-29's 16 passengers are Navy officers, specialists and engineers. Most of I-29's passengers had been scheduled to depart with I-34, but she was sunk off Penang before they could board. I-29's passengers include Rear Admiral Kojima Hideo (former CO of CL KASHII), Naval Attaché to Germany, Cdr Muchaku Senmei, Naval Attaché to Spain, Cdr (later Captain) Ogi Kazuto, Assistant Naval Attaché to Germany and two Mitsubishi engineers. Cdr Nahamori Yoshio, a specialist in aircraft ordnance, carries the plans of obliquely firing cannons invented by Captain Kozono Yasuna. The Germans also use slanted "Schräge Musik" (Jazz Music) cannons in the Luftwaffe's night fighters.[4] 23 December 1943: Early in the morning, I-29 refuels from small German supply ship BOGOTA. She takes on 120-tons of diesel oil in six hours and some food. This is the only refueling I-29 undertakes during her journey to France. 8 January 1944: I-29 passes S of Madagascar. That same day, Allied special intelligence codebreakers decipher a signal that indicates I-29 will be at 39S, 42E on 11 January. 16 January 1944: I-29 rounds the Cape of Good Hope and enters the Atlantic. 19 January 1944: Allied codebreakers intercept a signal that indicates the I-29 will be at 30S, 10E this day enroute to the Bay of Biscay. 26 January 1944: Allied codebreakers estimate that I-29 will be at 06S, 05E on this day. February 1944: I-29 receives a signal from Germany to rendezvous with an U-boat on 13 February at 0800 (JST) to receive a new radar detector. 12 February 1944: I-29 makes a rendezvous with Oberleutnant Hans-Werner Offermann's U-518 SW of the Azores. I-29 takes aboard three German technicians who install a new FuMB 7 "Naxos" radar detector on her bridge. Then the U-518 detaches for the Caribbean. 13 February 1944: I-29 refuels from Oberleutnant Bruno Studt's U-488, a 1,668-ton surface displacement "Milchkuh" (Milk Cow). She is spotted by a RAF patrol plane but manages to escape. 4 March 1944: At night, off Cape Finisterre. The surfaced I-29 is illuminated by a patrol plane carrying a "Leigh Light" but manages to escape unharmed. 9 March 1944: I-29 enters the Bay of Biscay. She arrives too early and spends the night at the bottom. 10 March 1944: In the morning, I-29 rendezvouses with five Junkers 88C-6 escorts. In the afternoon, German destroyers Z-23 and ZH-1 and torpedo boats T-27 and T-29 arrive. They instruct Cdr Kinashi not to dive in case of an air attack. and escort the I-29 towards Lorient. Allied communications-intelligence learns I-29's route and schedule. Four RAF de Havilland "Mosquito" FB.XVIIIs from No. 248 Squadron, escorting two Special Detachment "Tsetse" Mosquitoes armed with 57-mm cannon, are sent to attack the submarine and its escorts. The RAF finds the ships off Cape Penas being circled by eight Junkers Ju-88C-6s from Zerstörergeschwader ZG 1 at Cazaux. The Mosquito fighters attempt to draw the German fighters away so that the Tsetses can attack the ships. The fighters succeed in downing one Ju-88C-6, flown by the German flight leader. I-29 is undamaged in the action. After 1700, I-29 and her escorts are attacked by more than ten Allied aircraft, including RAF Bristol "Beaufighter" flak suppressors and Consolidated B-24 "Liberator" bombers, but all bombs aimed at I-29 miss. 11 March-15 April 1944: The I-29 arrives safely at Lorient. She anchors next to Kapitänleutnant Max Wintermeyer's U-190. The U-boat's crew cheers and waves welcoming greetings to I-29's crewmen on parade in their dress uniforms on her deck. Later, I-29 is berthed in one of Lorient's massive Keroman bunkers. Lorient is the home of the 2nd U-Flotille "Saltzwedel" commanded by Knight's Cross winner Fregattenkapitän (later Kapitän zur See) Ernst Kals (former CO of U-130) and the 10th U-Flotille commanded by Knight's Cross winner Korvettenkapitän (later Konteradmiral, Bundesmarine) Günter Kuhnke (former CO of U-28). The German submariners entertain I-29's officers at a dockside bar at Lorient. The bar's low ceiling rafters are covered with the carved signatures of U-boat officers. I-29's Chief Engineering Officer Lt Taguchi Hiroshi, her Chief Navigation Officer Lt Otani Hideo and several other of I-29's officers carve their signatures into the rafters. Later, the Germans host I-29's entire crew in their luxurious Château de Trévarez that overlooks the small town of Châteauneuf-de-Faou. Cdr Kinashi and I-29's crew are well fed, engage in competitive sports and party with their German counterparts. The Kriegsmarine arranges a train trip to Paris for I-29's crew. One of their sightseeing stops is at the Palais de Chaillot that houses the French Maritime Museum and overlooks the Eiffel Tower. Cdr Kinashi travels to Berlin. Adolf Hitler presents him with the Iron Cross, 2nd Class for sinking the USS WASP. Meanwhile during her stay, four Japanese Type 96 25-mm AA guns are removed from the I-29 and replaced by a German 37-mm Krupp AA gun and one quad 20-mm Mauser 'Flakvierling'. I-29 embarks 18 passengers (including four Germans) and takes on an HWK 509A-1 rocket motor used on the Me-163 "Komet" interceptor and a Jumo 004B engine used on the Me-262 jet fighter. 16 April 1944: I-29 departs Lorient, escorted by seven M-class minesweepers. She carries drawings of the Isotta-Fraschini torpedo boat engine, a V-1 "buzz bomb" fuselage, TMC acoustic mines, bauxite and mercury-radium amalgam. Technical Cdr Iwaya Eiichi carries blueprints of Messerschmitt Me-163 "Komet" rocket interceptor and Me-262 jet fighter and Captain Matsui is in possession of plans for rocket launch accelerators. The officers also carry plans for a glider bomb and radar equipment. Twenty "Enigma" coding machines are included in the cargo. 11 June 1944: South Atlantic. I-29 and I-52, the next "Yanagi" submarine enroute to Lorient, pass each other. The submarines do not communicate, but Cdr Kinashi picks up some German radio traffic addressed to the I-52. 29 June 1944: I-29 enters the Indian Ocean. 13 July 1944: I-29 rendezvouses with her air escort, two Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bombers. 14 July 1944: I-29 transits the Straits of Malacca and arrives safely at Singapore at 1030. I-29's passengers, including Iwaya and Matsui, disembark at Singapore with their plans and documents and proceed by air to Japan, but most of the German scientific cargo remains aboard. 15 July 1944: Allied codebreakers intercept a signal that indicates the I-29 arrived at Singapore the previous day. Soon thereafter, Allied communications-intelligence intercepts a message to Tokyo from Berlin that details the I-29's strategic cargo. 20 July 1944: I-29 transmits its detailed itinerary to Japan. The U.S. Navy's Fleet Radio Unit, Pacific's (FRUPAC) communications-intelligence at Hawaii intercepts and deciphers the message. FRUPAC alerts CINCPAC of I-29's planned route and schedule from Singapore to Japan. COMSUBPAC sends an "Ultra" signal to Cdr W. D. Wilkins' wolfpack ("Wilkin's Wildcats") consisting of Wilkins' USS TILEFISH (SS-307), ROCK (SS-274) and SAWFISH (SS-276) to intercept I-29 in the Luzon Strait. 22 July 1944: At 0800, I-29 departs Singapore for Kure with ten cadets of the submarine and navigation schools embarked. 25 July 1944: I-29 reports sighting a surfaced enemy submarine. 26 July 1944: Western entrance of the Balintang Channel, Luzon Strait. About 1700, the SAWFISH sights I-29 running on the surface at 17 knots. Cdr Alan B. Banister fires four torpedoes at I-29. Lookouts spot the incoming torpedoes. Cdr Kinashi attempts to comb their wakes, but three torpedoes hit and sink I-29 almost immediately at 20-10N, 121-55E. Three of the I-29's crewmen are blown overboard. Only one survivor manages to swim ashore to a "small Philippine island" and reports the loss. Cdr Kinashi, Japan's leading submarine "Ace", is among the 105 crewmen and passengers that are lost. He is honored by a rare two-rank promotion to Rear Admiral, posthumously. The loss of the German aircraft aboard I-29 slows the Japanese jet program greatly, but their blueprints, flown to Tokyo, arrive safely. They are used immediately to develop the Nakajima Kikka ("Orange Blossom") based on the Me-262 and the Mitsubishi J8MI Shusui ("Sword Stroke") based on Me-163.
2,571 Liberty Ships (among others) were built, each carrying 9,000 tons, this makes this Axis effort rather much irrelevant, doesn't it? What was the payload capacity of one of those sardine cans again and how many trips did they manage to make?
Yanagi: The Secret Underwater Trade Between Germany and Japan 1942-1945: Amazon.co.uk: Mark Felton: Books
2,571 Liberty Ships (among others) were built, each carrying 9,000 tons, this makes this Axis effort rather much irrelevant, doesn't it? What was the payload capacity of one of those sardine cans again and how many trips did they manage to make? Za, I wasn't comparing it to the Allies I just wondered how substancial it was considering the risks, distance etc. and wondered if it was really worth it. Cheers Andy
Yanagi missions and I-34 by the British submarine Taurus. As Monty´s lot would put it, "And now for something completely different"; RN´s subs engaging those of the Rising Sun? Fascinatingly deserving of a thread on its own, if anyone with the required knowledge volunteers... please... :redface:
I've just watched a documentary on I-52 watching a team of divers and underwater archaeologists searching the wreck trying to find 2 tons of gold bars that she was reported to be carrying. Quite interesting and very disappointing for them....They never found any gold. Cheers Andy
I watched it as well , the lawyer who put up the cash was fuming when the researcher chap spent a whole dive errecting a flag on the sub. I can't say I blame him , he was there for the money , the Gold.......he took a gamble and lost. I just wondered what the Russian crew thought of it all ...rich Americans with money to burn looking to make even more money...... A lot of talk about war graves on forums like pours ....I wonder if they had permission from the Japanese to dive on the wreck ? The sinking of the boat was no accident , the location was known. That Gold it was to pay the Germans for the good being traded for .....why did the Germans leave without it ?? Why lug two tons of Gold more than half way round the world only to take it back again. Why did the sub. not unload was she going on to France , if so why meet the Germans to exchange passangers ?
I found a couple of tidbits here. I suppose the people at U-boat.net will know a lot more. The Type XB U Boats The largest boats built by the Kriegsmarine were the XB type and originally designed as minelayers. Eight were built of 2,177 tons displacement and 294 feet long. Some of these craft were converted as cargo carriers to Japan. Speed on the surface was 16 kts and two defensive torpedo tiubes we fitted aft. One 105mm gun was fitted and two 20mm cannon and one 37 mm flak gun. In a resupply and rendevous role they were usually betrayed by radio transmissions and were easy targets on the surface for aircraft due to their slow dive capability. U 234 set course for Japan from Norway at the end of the war in a resupply role with 10 German and two Japanese passengers. In addition plans and prototypes of the latest weapons under test and development were on board. Also sealed contaimers of uranium oxide. The boat was hunted down with surprising diligence by the US Navy and was eventually captured and taken to Portsmouth New Hampshire. The uranium was quickly removed but the weapons it was to have been used for remain a mystery. U-864. Another one sunk when off to Japan. A German submarine that was sunk off Norway at the end of World War II will be buried in special sand to protect the coastline from its cargo of toxic mercury, the government announced Tuesday. The U-864 submarine, which was found by the Royal Norwegian Navy in March 2003, is believed to have about 70 tons of mercury on board. Despite demands from local villagers to remove the mercury, Minister of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs Dag Terje Andersen said the government was following expert recommendations to instead bury the sub in sand and stone. "A raising operation involves great risk of spreading mercury pollution to new areas, areas which are currently clean," he said. Andersen said the submarine and polluted sections nearby would be covered with a special absorbent sand and then covered with heavier fill to prevent erosion. The U-864 had been headed for Japan when it was sunk Feb. 9, 1945 about 2 1/2 miles off the island of Fedje. The sub now lies under about 500 feet of water. Of course the Japanese Type C3 submarines were large, some 2,564 tons,and were designed to hump cargo. Germany needed raw materials unavailable in domestic Europe such as Rubber ( a real priority in any shipments from Japan, picked up in the old Dutch East Indies ) medicine like quinine, oils and fats. The gold would be to pay for products shipped back to Japan. When I was in the light cruiser HMAS Adelaide, in 1942 in the Indian Ocean we ran into the German Blockade Runner Ramses, she was carrying 4,000 tons of rubber, quinine, oils such as whale oil, fish oil, lubricating oil, fats, and the luxury of tea. ... From Germany to Japan, technology such as the V2 Rocket project, two jet ME-262 Jet aircraft were in one U-Boat shipment, but it was sunk, uranium oxide for Japan's nuclear project. I think torpedoes may have gone to Japan, but then their own Long Lance Torpedo, a 24 inch diameter monster, was in my view, the best torpedo produced by any country in WW2.
I found a couple of tidbits here. I suppose the people at U-boat.net will know a lot more. Surely the overall amounts carried by these subs was negligible compared to surface ships?? I find it hard to believe that these shipments would have made any difference.
I do too GH...I can't really see any practicality in it other than possibly moving VIP's and quantities of currency and gold etc.
I think that secrecy played a part in the submarine transport business between the two countries. Once it is safely on board a submarine, there are no agents prying eyes to reveal any secrets. As the war progressed it was a very hazardous journey to undertake and not for the faint hearted. Regards Tom
Surely the overall amounts carried by these subs was negligible compared to surface ships?? I find it hard to believe that these shipments would have made any difference. Desperate measures for a desperate country.
