Mark Scott Smith's Blog: Enemy in the Mirror, page 112
June 11, 2014
Pearl Harbor Attack from Japanese Point of View
The View From the Other Side of the Mirror: A Japanese Pilot’s Account of the Attack on Pearl Harbor by Mori Juzo
This is an interesting read : The Miraculous Torpedo Squadron
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June 9, 2014
June 6, 2014
Fire Bombing of Coventry – November 1940
Coventry Nov. 1940; Wikimedia Commons
As I learn more about the firebombing in WWII, I realize that I haven’t given the November 1940 Luftwaffe Blitz of Coventry adequate attention. It is important because it seems to have been the first instance where a new type of tactic was used.
As an industrial city, Coventry was a genuine military target for the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain. Seventeen relatively small raids during August-October 1940 killed 176 people and injured ~180.
On November 14, 1940, over 500 German bombers carried out Operation Mondscheinsonate (Moonlight Sonata) in a new method of attack:
- specially modified Heinkel He 111 aircraft with electronic navigation aids marked the targets before the main bomber raid.
- the first wave of bombers dropped high explosive bombs intended knock out utilities, damage roads, hamper the fire brigades and damage roofs, making it easier for the incendiary bombs to fall into buildings and ignite them.
- subsequent attack waves dropped incendiary bombs (some on parachutes) made of magnesium or petroleum.
Coventry Cathedral, set on fire by incendiaries, precipitated a firestorm that quickly spread out of control. Simultaneously > 200 other fires broke out, mostly in the city-center area. In about four hours, more than 4,300 homes in Coventry were destroyed and ~2/3 of the city’s buildings were damaged. ~ 568 people were killed in the raid, 863 badly injured and 393 sustaining lesser injuries.
The Coventry raid resulted in such a new and severe level of destruction that Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels later coined the term coventriert (“coventried”) to describe similar levels of destruction in other raids.
The RAF raid on Lübeck in March 1942, designed after the Coventry Blitz, was the first time the British tested their firebombing techniques.
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June 4, 2014
A Visit to the Lübeck Marienkirche
Lübeck Marienkirche Bells
I just returned from a trip to northern Germany doing research for a historical fiction novel I am writing about anti-submarine warfare in 1942. I was seeking backstory information for one of my characters, a U-boat Kapitänleutnant from Lübeck in Schleswig Holstein. While at sea off the East Coast USA, his hometown was firebombed by the RAF.
Last week, on a drizzly Sunday afternoon, three churches in the Lübeck Stadtmitte joined together in a “progressive” concert. My wife and I blended in with a crowd of middle-aged local citizens who walked from one church to the other, listening to organ, trumpet, flute and choral music echoing through the sanctuaries up into the the vaulted stone ceilings. Mesmerized, I imagined myself there in 1942 on the Saturday evening before Palm Sunday, the traditional time when adolescents were being confirmed into their Protestant faith.
Around 1030 that March evening, 200 RAF bombers came, using the tall tower of the Marienkirche as a landmark. Its huge bell came crashing down, then partially melted in the ensuing firestorm. The raid left 301 people dead, three missing and 783 injured. More than 15,000 people lost their homes.
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June 2, 2014
Attu – The Diary of a Japanese Soldier
This video is about Paul Nabuo Tatsuguchi, a graduate of the 7th Day Adventist Pacific Union College who studied at the College of Medical Evangelists (now known as Loma Linda University). After graduation, he returned to Tokyo to practice medicine at the Tokyo Adventist Sanitarium, but was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army in 1941 and sent to the Japanese occupied Aleutian Islands in late 1942.
The United States Army initiated the Battle of Attu to retake the island in May 1943. Throughout the battle, Tatsuguchi kept a diary , recording events and his difficulty caring for wounded Japanese soldiers in a field hospital.
Tatsuguchi was killed on the battle’s final day after the remaining Japanese conducted one last, suicidal charge against the American forces.
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May 30, 2014
Japan Invades Aleutian Islands – June 1942
Japanese officers in Aleutians; Wikimedia Commons
In 1942, U.S. Army units in Alaska totalled < 2300 men. Remote, sparsely-populated and infamous for harsh weather, the 1200 mile Aleutian Island chain appeared to have little military or strategic value.
However, perhaps to divert attention from imminent operations at Midway Island or to prevent invasion of homeland Japan via the Aleutians, Japanese airplanes attacked Dutch Harbor (site of two American military bases) on June 3-4.
On June 6-7, Japanese infantry invaded Kiska and Attu Islands and established garrisons. Kiska and Attu were the only actual U.S. soil Japan would occupy during the Pacific War.
Americans were shocked that Japanese troops had actually seized U.S. soil, and many feared it was the first step toward an attack against mainland Alaska or the Pacific Northwest.
Initially, their hands full with attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, American military planners considered action against the Japanese garrisons at Attu and Kiska a low priority.
In May 1943, U.S. troops retook Attu and three months later reclaimed Kiska. Aleutian military operations provided valuable experience that would prove useful in the subsequent “island-hopping” battles across the Pacific Ocean.
via Aleutian Islands Campaign – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
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May 28, 2014
Mexico declares war on Germany – May 1942
In the decade before WWII, Mexico was chaotic and unstable. The (1910-1920) which caused widespread destruction and claimed hundreds of thousands of lives was followed by several violent uprisings against the new government (Cristero War from 1926-1929). Then, during the Great Depression, the Mexican economy suffered badly.
In 1934 the reformer took power and helped Mexico move toward a more stable, productive nation. Cárdenas kept Mexico neutral as conflict grew in Europe, even though Nazi and American agents vied for an alliance with Mexico. Although great outcry arose when Cárdenas nationalized Mexico’s vast oil reserves, with war clouds on the horizon, the U.S. Government and private interests were forced to accept it.
At the start of the war in Europe, the Mexican Communist Party supported Germany while the 1939 German-Soviet Non-Agression Pact was still in place. However, once Germany invaded the USSR, Mexican Communists switched allegiance to the Allies. At the other end of the political spectrum, a group of extremely conservative Catholics formed the Unión Nacional Sinarquista in opposition to Cardenas and supportive of the Axis powers.
Additionally, historical grievances with the USA ( loss of Texas and American southwest territories, U.S. intervention during the revolution and multiple incursions into Mexican territory) caused great resentment and distrust of the USA. Many Mexicans were ambivalent as to whether they should join the Axis cause against their historical U.S. antagonist, or remain neutral (thereby not providing an excuse for another U.S. invasion).
In 1940, Mexico elected the conservative (PRI- Revolutionary Party) presidential candidate Manuel Ávila Camacho who pursued a course of detente with the U.S. Although there was much initial dissent in Mexico with this policy, once Germany attacked the USSR (and Mexican Communists switched allegiance to the Allies) support for Ávila’s policies grew. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mexico was one of the first countries to pledge support and aid, and they severed all diplomatic ties with the Axis powers.
US capital began to flow into Mexico for industry supporting military needs. The U.S. bought Mexican oil and sent technicians to enhance Mexican mining of metals needed for wartime production (e.g., mercury, zinc,copper). Mexican armed forces were supplied with US weapons and training.
When German U-boats sank two Mexican tankers, the Potrero del Llano on 14 May and Faja de Oro on 21 May , sixteen Mexicans died. On May 21, 1942 Mexico declared war on Germany.
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May 26, 2014
Memorial Day
Remember those who fought and died for us in all our wars.
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>1000 RAF Bombers Strike Köln – May 1942
Raid on Köln – May 1942; Wikimedia Commons
Cologne Germany (Köln) was bombed in 262 separate air raids during WWII, but Operation Millenium, the RAF attack on May 30 1942, was the first Allied “bomber stream” raid with > 1,000 aircraft.
With over two thousand separate fires started by the raid, only Köln’s wide streets and the action of German fire fighters prevented the fires from combining into a firestorm.
411 civilians and 58 military died in the raid. 5,027 people were listed as injured and 45,132 as “bombed out”.
The RAF lost 43 aircraft.
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May 23, 2014
暗号機B型 Purple – Decrypting Japan’s Diplomatic Code
Purple was a cipher used by Imperial Japan during WWII to encrypt diplomatic messages sent to embassies throughout the world. The Purple machine consisted of two electronic typewriters separated by a plugboard and a box containing the cryptographic elements in s series of relays within an intricate network of wiring.
After creating a “shadow Purple machine” in 1939, the U.S. Navy Interception Center was able to decode Purple messages well before the onset of the Pacific War. Although much important information regarding Japanese military plans plans and attack locations was obtained, no specific information about the attack on Pearl Harbor was recognized. After the U.S. entered the war, decoding efforts were increased for all types of intercepted information to determine the position of the Japanese fleet and where it was headed.
In 1942, many purple messages forecast an attack at “AF.” U.S. cryptanalysts knew the meanings attached to a number of geographical designators, and presumed that “AF” stood for Midway. The definitive answer was obtained when Admiral Chester Nimitz ordered a message to be sent in a code that Japan had already broken: Midway is out of water. Hours later a PURPLE cipher reported “AF is out of water.” Nimitz subsequently positioned his fleet at Midway and surprised the arriving Japanese fleet. The U.S. victory at the Battle of Midway in June 1942 was one of the most decisive battles of war, as Japan’s offensive power at sea was nearly destroyed.
Until 1943, when the Japanese stopped using Purple (a code they believed was indecipherable) , the United States made various surprise attacks on Japan due to the knowledge they had from Purple ciphers.
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