Mark Scott Smith's Blog: Enemy in the Mirror, page 120

Japanese Premier Visits Contentious War Shrine – December 25, 2013

HitlerJugend group visits Yasukuni shrine 1938; Wikimedia Commons

Today’s headline elicits emotions reminiscent of an earlier time.

12/25/13  TOKYO — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan visited a contentious Tokyo war shrine early on Thursday, provoking swift condemnation from China and South Korea, both victims of Japan’s wartime aggression.

via Japanese Premier Visits Contentious War Shrine – NYTimes.com.

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White Christmas- December 25, 1941

Bing Crosby performed Irving Berlin’s melancholy White Christmas for the first time on his weekly NBC radio program, The Kraft Music Hall. It went on to become the top-selling single of all time until being surpassed by Elton John’s Candle in the Wind in 1997.

Crosby’s October 1942 recording of  White Christmas was played frequently on commercial and Armed Forces Radio and became the #1 pop hit. The song returned to the Hit Parade pop chart in every subsequent Christmas season for the next 20 years.

Jody Rosen, author of the book White Christmas:The Story of an American Song, noted on an NPR interview: ”It’s very melancholy….And I think this really makes it stand out amongst kind of chirpy seasonal standards [like] ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ or ‘Let It Snow.’….I think that’s one of the reasons why people keep responding to it, because our feelings over the holiday season are ambivalent.”

 

 

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Christmas Eve 1941 – Winston Churchill at the White House

 

FDR and Winston Churchill in White House 122441; Wikimedia Commons

On Christmas Eve 1941 Winston Churchill spoke from the White House:

“This is a strange Christmas Eve.  Almost the whole world is locked in deadly struggle, and, with the most terrible weapons which science can devise, the nations advance upon each other.  Ill would it be for us this Christmastide if we were not sure that no greed for the land or wealth of any other people, no vulgar ambition, no morbid lust for material gain at the expense of others, had led us to the field.  Here, in the midst of war, raging and roaring over all the lands and seas, creeping nearer to our hearts and homes, here, amid all the tumult, we have tonight the peace of the spirit in each cottage home and in every generous heart.  Therefore we may cast aside for this night at least the cares and dangers which beset us, and make for the children an evening of happiness in a world of storm. Here, then, for one night only, each home throughout the English-speaking world should be a brightly-lighted island of happiness and peace…”

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Goebbels on Christmas Eve 1941

Joseph Goebbels; Wikimedia Commons

Excerpts from the Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels‘  Christmas Eve radio speech in 1941:

There are few presents under the Christmas tree this year. .. We have sent our Christmas candles to the Eastern Front, where our soldiers need them more than we do
Instead of giving outward gifts to our family, friends, and community, today we will express our love to one another and our faith in all that holds us together
The war has become a school that has increased the love all of us have for the homeland
We must thank those who defend us, our sons, fathers, and brothers…The great task demands the same sacrifice from us!
Germans abroad often live in an entirely foreign, sometimes hostile, world… For us, speaking German is a matter of course, but they are spat on for it
They will not experience the shame of 1918, when the German people’s collapse struck them like a numbing blow
The whole nation is worthy of the great era in which we live
Victory will not be given to us; we have to earn it. Everyone must do his part. Even on this Christmas Eve that must be the focus of our thoughts
We thank the Almighty for the proud victories that he again has given us. We will continue fighting until total victory is ours
In thinking of the Führer, who on this evening, too, is everywhere where Germans gather, we are reminded of the Fatherland. It will be larger, more beautiful, more prosperous after the war is over. It will be a proud and free homeland for us all. We want to thank the Führer for that
Earlier we sang of peace on earth in our songs. Now the time has come to fight for it. Peace through victory! That is our slogan

 

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Christmas in the Third Reich

Wikimedia Commons

 

Worshiping a Jewish messiah at Christmas time was problematic for Nazi Aryan ideology.

Yuletide celebration with emphasis on the observance of the Germanic pre-Christian Winter Solstice was the official government line.

Unofficially, most Christians and churches in the Third Reich continued traditional Christmas celebrations.

 

 

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Japan Invades Borneo – December 1941

 

American-British-Dutch-Australian_Command; Wikimedia Commons

In 1941, Borneo was divided between the Dutch East Indies and British protectorates (North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei) and crown colonies (Labuan). Although Nazi Germany occupied the Netherlands in 1940, the Royal Netherlands Navy and East Indies Army fought on under the joint American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM).

On December 16, 1941 Japan invaded the north coast of Borneo. The island, on the main sea route between Java, Sumatra, Malaya and Celebes, was rich in the petroleum sorely needed for Japan’s war effort. Meeting little resistance, Japanese forces swiftly captured the oilfields and a refinery in Sarawak region and Brunei. After securing the oilfields, the main Japanese forces moved forward to capture the island.

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Hitler Assumes Direct Command of the German Army – Dec 1941

Hitler at Reichstag Berlin 1941; Wikimedia Commons

“…These tasks require that the army and home front be brought to the highest degree of performance in one common effort by all. However, the army is the main pillar in the fight of the armed forces. I have, therefore, resolved today, under these circumstances, to take over myself the leading of the army in my capacity as Supreme Commander of the German armed forces.

Soldiers, I know war from four years of the gigantic struggle in the West from 1914 to 1918. I lived through the horrors of nearly all the great battles as a common soldier. Twice I was wounded, and I was threatened with becoming blind. Therefore, nothing that is tormenting and troubling you is unknown to me.

However, after four years of war I did not doubt for a single second the resurrection of my people. After fifteen years of work I have achieved, as a common German soldier and merely with my fanatical will power, the unity of the German nation and have freed it from the death sentence of Versailles.

My soldiers! You will understand, therefore, that my heart belongs entirely to you, that my will and my work unswervingly are serving the greatness of my and your nation, and that my mind and determination know nothing but annihilation of the enemy-that is to say, victorious termination of the war.

Whatever I can do for you, my soldiers of the army and Elite Guard, shall be done. What you can and will do for me, I know. You will follow me loyally and obediently until the Reich and our German people are definitely safe. God Almighty will not deny victory to His bravest soldiers.”

Führer’s Headquarters, December 19, 1941.

 

 

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Kato Morphs from Japanese to Korean to Filipino

The Green Hornet and Kato 1940; Wikimedia Commons

Like the Lone Ranger, the Green Hornet Britt Reid had a partner of different ethnicity in his fight against crime.

The 1936 radio program The Green Hornet described Britt Reid’s sidekick Kato as Japanese. After the 1939 Japanese invasion of China, Kato was idfentified only as a faithful valet. Then in the movie serials released in early 1940, he became Korean. By 1941, Kato was referred to as Filipino.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Fei Hu – The Flying Tigers

 

Chinese soldier guarding a Flying Tigers P-40; Wikimedia Commons

 

During the summer of 1941,  young American pilots under the command of Captain Claire L. Chennault (“retired” from the United States Army Air Corps) secretly trained in the jungles of Southeast Asia in preparation for an air war with Japan. On December 20, 1942, the 1st American Volunteer Group (AVG) composed of 112 Army, Navy and Marine pilots, was activated as part of the Chinese Air Force. Named Fei Hu by the Chinese for the snarling Tiger Sharks teeth painted on the on noses of their P-40s, they became known worldwide as the Flying Tigers.

The Flying Tigers’ successes against Imperial Japanese aircraft in the otherwise dismal initial phase of the war spurred American morale. Although postwar record review showed lower total kills, the Flying Tigers were credited with the destruction of ~300 enemy aircraft, while losing only 14 American pilots. The AVG was replaced in July 1942 by the 23rd Fighter Group of the United States Army Air Corps. The 23rd was later absorbed into the 14th U.S. Army Air Corps with General Chennault as commander.

 

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Japanese Submarines Off West Coast USA – December 1941

イ-29 Imperial Japanese Navy submarine crew; Wikimedia Commons

From December 18 – 24, 1941, nine Japanese submarines positioned along the American West Coast attacked eight merchant ships. Two ships were sunk, two damaged and six seamen were killed. A plan for all nine submarines to shell selected U.S. coastal cities on Christmas Eve was canceled at the last minute.

Unlike the subsequent German U-Boat campaign off the East Coast, this was the only time during the entire war that more than one Japanese submarine at a time appeared off the West Coast.

On December 24, 1941 a B-25, flying in poor visibility out of McChord Army Air Field, reported an attack against a Japanese submarine off the mouth of the Columbia River. Further investigation failed to verify the report. Early anti-submarine warfare efforts by the USAAF were hampered by lack of experience, training and equipment. Targets perceived as submarines were often derelict vessels, trees or whales.

Here is an excellent reference on Imperial Japanese submarines.

My historical fiction novel Enemy in the Mirror: Love and Fury in the Pacific War follows the exploits of a junior officer on the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine  イ-25

 

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