Yanagi missions

The Yanagi missions were a series of submarine voyages undertaken by the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Second World War, to exchange technology, skills and materials with Japan's Axis partners, principally Nazi Germany. These voyages had to run the gauntlet of the western allies naval superiority in the Indian and Atlantic oceans; of the five westbound voyages, three arrived safely, with two submarines sunk en route, while of the three successful vessels only one completed her return voyage, with two sunk before reaching home.

The Yanagi missions were matched by several reciprocal voyages by German U-boats, though these were outside the Yanagi scheme, as were several blockade-running cargo voyages to and from the Far East.

The Yanagi missions

The Yanagi missions were:

In June 1942 I-30 departed Japanese territory with a cargo of mica and shellac, and plans for Japans Type 91 aerial torpedo; she arrived at Lorient in August 1942.[1] She departed France later that month carrying German military technology, such as radar, submarine equipment and Enigma coding machines and arrived at Singapore in October, but struck a mine on leaving harbour for the last stage to Japan. Some equipment was salvaged, but most was lost.[2]

In June 1943 I-8 departed Japan with plans for the IJNs' Type 95 torpedo, a reconnaissance aircraft and submarine equipment, and collected a cargo of tin, rubber and quinine at Singapore. She also carried a spare crew of 48 men tasked with bringing back a German U-boat, U-1224, which the German Navy had transferred to the IJN for examination and reverse engineering. She arrived at Brest in August.[3] I-8 departed France in October 1943 with a variety of German technology, arriving at Kure, Japan, in December after a round-trip voyage of 30,000 miles.[4]

In September 1943 I-34 departed Singapore with a cargo of tin, tungsten, rubber and quinine, but was intercepted in the Straits of Malacca by British submarine Taurus, torpedoed and sunk.[5]

In December 1943 I-29 departed Singapore with a cargo of tin, tungsten, zinc, rubber and quinine: She reached the Bay of Biscay in March 1944 where she came under heavy attack by Allied aircraft, but arrived safely on the later that month.[6] I-29 departed Lorient in April with considerable German technology, including a Walter rocket engine and plans for the jet-powered Me-262 and the rocket-powered Me-163. She arrived at Singapore in July, but was sunk with her cargo en route to Japan.[7]

In March 1944 I-52 left Japanese territory with a cargo of metals, including gold, and a team of technicians who were to study German anti-aircraft techniques. I-52 reached the South Atlantic in June, but was intercepted by an American hunter-killer group centered on the carrier Bogue; she was attacked and sunk on 23 June near the Cape Verde Islands.[8] It is believed that her return voyage she would have been carrying uranium oxide, for the Japanese to manufacture a radiation device (a so-called "dirty bomb")

I-52's voyage was the last Yanagi mission undertaken by the IJN.

Reciprocal voyages

The German U-boat Arm made several reciprocal exchange voyages, though these were outside the Yanagi scheme; they also made a number of blockade-running voyages, also separate from the Yanagi missions.

From February to June 1943 U-180 sailed to the Far east, making rendezvous with I-29 south of Madagascar. U-180 transferred Subash Chandra Bose, future leader of the Indian National Army, and received two tons of gold in payment for German goods so far received.[9]

In May 1943 U-511 sailed for Japan, arriving in Kure in August. Code-named 'Marco Polo I' she was transferred to the IJN as an exchange in submarine technology, and was commissioned by them as RO-500.[10]

In February 1944 U-1224, code-named 'Marco Polo II', was transferred to the IJN at Kiel, commissioned as RO-501 and sailed as with a Japanese crew. She was intercepted south of the Azores by USS Bogue.[11]

In February 1945 U-864 sailed from Norway under Operation Caesar; she was detected by HMS Venturer and sunk in the Norwegian Sea.[12]

In March 1945 U-234 sailed for Japan, the last attempt to be made, but she was overtaken by the German surrender and was taken into custody by the USN off Newfoundland.[13]

Notes

  1. ↑ Blair vol II, p231
  2. ↑ Blair vol II, p231
  3. ↑ Blair vol II, pp373-4
  4. ↑ Blair vol II, p405
  5. ↑ Blair vol II, p480
  6. ↑ Blair vol II, p539
  7. ↑ Blair vol II, p539
  8. ↑ Blair vol II, pp566-7
  9. ↑ Blair vol II p231-233
  10. ↑ Blair vol II p296
  11. ↑ Blair vol II p538
  12. ↑ Blair vol II p691-2
  13. ↑ Blair vol II p692-4

References

  • Clay Blair, Hitler’s U-Boat War Vol I (1996). ISBN 0-304-35260-8
  • Clay Blair : Hitler's U-Boat War Vol II (1998) ISBN 0-304-35261-6
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