Axis powers
The Indian Ocean was considered strategically important, the region not only contained India, Britain's most prized possession, but also the shipping routes and raw materials that the British vitally needed for its war effort. In the early years of the war German raiders and capital ships, operating in the Indian Ocean, had sunk a number of merchant ships, however as the war progressed it become more difficult for them to operate in the area and by 1942 most were either sunk or dispersed. From 1941, U-boats were also considered, however with the period known as the Happy Times, in part due to the successes achieved by U-boats in the Atlantic, it was decided that sending U-boats to the Indian Ocean would be an unnecessary diversion. There were also no foreign bases in which units could operate from and be resupplied, hence they would be operating at the limits of their range. As a result the Germans concentrated their U-boat campaign in the North Atlantic.
Japan’s entrance into the war in 1941/42 led to the capture of European South-east Asian colonies such as British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. In May-June, 1942, Japanese submarines began operating in the Indian Ocean and had engaged British forces in Madagascar. The British had invaded the Vichy controlled island in order to prevent it from falling into Japanese hands.
In 1943, the Germans agreed to send a number of U-boats to the Far East that would operate from Japanese occupied ports in the region against the then lucrative, relatively unprotected shipping in the area. The U-178 was the first, arriving at the former British seaplane base in Penang in August 1943. The idea of stationing U-boats in Malaya and the East Indies for operations in the Indian Ocean was first proposed by the Japanese in December 1942. As no supplies were available at either location the idea was turned down although a number of U-boats from the first wave operated around the Cape of Good Hope at the time.[28] Penang, situated on the west coast of Malayan Peninsula was selected as the main U-boat base. A second base was established at Kobe, Japan, and small repair bases were located at Singapore, Jakarta and Surabaya. Eventually more than half a dozen U-boats operated from these bases these U-boats known as the Monsun Gruppe under the command of Captain Wilhelm Dommes[29]. Altogether 41 U-boats of all types including transports would be sent, a large number of these however, were lost and only a small fraction returned to Europe.[30][31]
The Japanese already started operating in the Arabian Sea by August 1943 and certain arrangements were made to avoid incidents between U-boats and Japanese submarines - attacks on other submarines were strictly forbidden. The Indian Ocean was the only place where German and Japanese forces fought in the same theatre.[32]
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Racism and Anti-Semitism
Imperial Japan was regarded as one of the safest places for Jewish people and their heritage[citation needed], for instance through the Fugu Plan. Inspired by anti-Semitic works such as Mein Kampf, the Japanese hoped to use the supposed Jewish economic prowess and influence to the benefit of Imperial Japan, creating a plan in the 1930s to relocate many Jewish residents to Japan from Germany. Throughout the war, the Japanese government continually rejected requests from the German government to establish anti-Semitic policies[citation needed]. At war's end, about half these Jews later moved on to the Western Hemisphere (such as the United States and Canada) and the remainder moved to other parts of the world, many to Palestine.
In terms of anti-Semitic policies of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany, foreign minister of Japan Yosuke Matsuoka at one point said on December 31, 1940 to a group of Jewish businessmen that he was
| “ | the man responsible for the alliance with Hitler, but nowhere have I promised that we would carry out his anti-Semitic policies in Japan. This is not simply my personal opinion, it is the opinion of Japan, and I have no compunction about announcing it to the world.[33] | ” |
In spite of this fact, the Japanese preached racial superiority and racialist theories. Some of the atrocities committed by the Imperial Japanese Army on countries like China, Korea, The Philippines, Australia, the Soviet Union, and others, were motivated through extreme prejudice and were equally, if not more, destructive and brutal. The Imperial army established concentration camps such as Unit 731 throughout China, where biological weapons were researched and inmates and prisoners-of-war were regularly experimented upon, resulting in as many as 200,000 casualties.
During the Holocaust, Italy took in many Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany. However, with the creation of the Nazi-backed puppet Italian Social Republic, about 20% of Italy's Jews were killed, despite the Fascist government's initial refusal to deport Jews to Nazi death camps.
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References
- Weinberg, Gerhard L. (2005). A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II, 2nd edition, NY: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521853168. Provides a scholarly overview.
- Dear, Ian C. B.; Foot, Michael Richard Daniell (eds.) (2005). The Oxford Companion to World War II. Oxford University Press. ISBN 019280670X. A reference book with encyclopedic coverage of all military, political and economic topics.
- Kirschbaum, Stanislav (1995). A History of Slovakia: The Struggle for Survival. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-10403-0. Entails Slovakia's involvement during the World War II.
- ^ Hakim, Joy (1995). A History of Us: War, Peace and all that Jazz. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509514-6.
- ^ Seppinen, Ilkka: Suomen ulkomaankaupan ehdot 1939-1940 (Conditions of Finnish foreign trade 1939-1940), 1983, ISBN 951-9254-48-X
- ^ British Foreign Office Archive, 371/24809/461-556
- ^ Jokipii, Mauno: Jatkosodan synty (Birth of the Continuation War), 1987, ISBN 951-1-08799-1
- ^ Jasenovac United States Holocaust Memorial Museum web site
- ^ Poulton, Hugh. 2000. Who are the Macedonians? Indiana University Press. Pp. 111
- ^ Christian Bachelier, L'armée française entre la victoire et la défaite, in La France des années noires, dir. Azéma & Bédarida, Le Seuil, édition 2000, coll. points-histoire, Tome 1, p.98
- ^ Albert Lebrun's biography, French Republic Presidential official website
- ^ Robert O. Paxton, 1993, "La Collaboration d'État" in La France des Années Noires, Ed. J. P. Azéma & François Bédarida, Éditions du Seuil, Paris
- ^ Rare 1943 Third Reich facts booklet
- ^ heavily illustrated rare big original 1943 Nazi book on Eastern Europe and Asia
- ^ http://www.navalhistory.dk/Danish/Historien/1939_1945/IkkeAngrebsPagt.htm (Danish)
- ^ Trommer, Aage. "Denmark". The Occupation 1940-45. Foreign Ministry of Denmark. Retrieved on 2006-09-20.
- ^ Lidegaard, Bo (2003). Dansk Udenrigspolitisk Historie, vol. 4. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 461-463. ISBN 87-7789-093-0. (Danish)
- ^ Danish Legion Military and Feldpost History. Retrieved on 2006-09-20.
- ^ Søværnets mærkedage - August
- ^ Flåden efter 29. august 1943
- ^ Den danske Flotille 1944-1945
- ^ Den Danske Brigade DANFORCE - Den Danske Brigade "DANFORCE" Sverige 1943-45
- ^ http://befrielsen1945.emu.dk/temaer/befrielsen/jubel/index.html (Danish)
- ^ German Declaration of War
- ^ AJP Taylor (1974),History of World War II, Octopus Books Limited
- ^ United States Navy and WW2
- ^ Trial transcripts at Nuremberg 11 December 1945. More details of the exchanges at the meeting are available online at nizkor.org
- ^ Felton Mark(2005),Yanagi: The Secret Underwater Trade between Germany and Japan 1942-1945, Leo Cooper Ltd
- ^ German-Japanese Co-operation
- ^ Uboats in the Far East
- ^ Pre-Monsun Boats
- ^ Monsun boats
- ^ Fate of the Far Eastern Boats
- ^ Monsun boats Evacuation
- ^ Paterson Lawrence(2006), Hitler's Grey Wolves: U-boats in the Indian Ocean
- ^ "The Jews of Japan" by Daniel Ari Kapner and Stephen Levine
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See also
General information
- Allies of World War II
- Participants in World War II
- List of Pro-Axis Leaders and Governments or Direct Control in Occupied Territories
- Expansion operations and planning of the Axis Powers
- Cases of controversial relations with the Axis of World War II
- Axis leaders of World War II
- Italian Mare Nostrum
Pacts and treaties
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External links
- Axis History Factbook
- Full text of The Tripartite Pact
- Full text of The Pact of Steel
- Silent movie of the signing of The Tripartite Pact
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