Attacks on US
R. Schumacher
Hello, I am researching attacks on US mainland during WW2. Any info
regarding Jap ballon campaign (or landing sites),
jap subs attacking west coast via torpedo, deck gun, or aircraft,
U-boats or any axis craft entering US rivers or harbors,
or planned attacks on US mainland, ie: Italian mini-subs, U-boats
w/rockets, or proposed "Amerika bomber" stories.
Also, any stories of axis agents/sabotuers landed for purpose of general
"nogoodnik" activity.
Thanks for any response,
R. Schumacher
cam...@istar.ca
R. Schumacher wrote:
>
> Hello, I am researching attacks on US mainland during WW2.
If you extend your area of interest to the north, a Japanese submarine
shelled Estevan Point (near the city of Victoria) on Vancouver Island.
Barry Lake
Around 1963 I read a book by a Japanese sub skipper, I think he was the one
who bombarded Estavan Point lighthouse and also was the same one that got
the INDIANAPOLIS. It was a good book.
At the same time? There was a really good book by a Japanese destroyer
skipper, Haya, or something like that. He was captain of SHIGURE and
describes how he steered her through lots of fights to survive the war. I
believe he ended up as CO of the cruiser that went with YAMATO on her
death ride, and describes that. Both would be good reading for this ng,
but someone needs to send in the proper references. Can anyone help out?
BuckRodgrs
there was also the Ballon Bombers.....which floated on the jet stream from
Japan, as far east as Michigan (or was it Minnisota), and the Invasion of
alaska (unless you meant the contiguous 48 states only).
Roger Basford
In article <6879sj$sj8$1...@nntp6.u.washington.edu>, "R. Schumacher"
<rs...@pacbell.net> writes
>Hello, I am researching attacks on US mainland during WW2. Any info
>regarding Jap ballon campaign (or landing sites),
The Discovery Channel (in Europe) ran a documentary last year on the
balloon attacks which they may repeat soon. Apart from explaining the
attacks it also dealt with the detective work done to discover where the
launch sites were. It was at first thought that submarines off the west
coast or even agents on shore were launching the bombs but analysis of
sand taken from the ballast bags enabled US geologists to identify the
sites as being in Japan and this was confirmed by over-flights. This was
before the jet-stream was fully understood, the distance from Japan was
thought to be too great for conventional balloon flights.
I have some newsgroup postings on the Me 264 "Amerika-Bomber", they are
too big to post here but I can e-mail them if you're interested. There
is also a reference to the Ju-290/390 in Len Deighton's "Blood, Sweat &
Folly".
Roger Basford
//////////////////////////////////
* e-mail Ro...@g3vkm.demon.co.uk *
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
JCarew7377
The was the shelling of a Standard Oil Refinery above Stanta Barbara by a
Japanese Sub in early 1942
Jim
Paolo Pizzi
Barry Lake wrote:
> There was a really good book by a Japanese destroyer
> skipper, Haya, or something like that.
Tameichi Hara.
> He was captain of SHIGURE and describes how he steered her through
> lots of fights to survive the war.
Right, excellent reading. Too bad the book has been out of print
for ages...
> I believe he ended up as CO of the cruiser that went with YAMATO on her
> death ride, and describes that.
Yes, light cruiser Yahagi, one of the new Agano class 6" cruisers
commissioned in 1944 and destined to have a very short life.
> Both would be good reading for this ng,
> but someone needs to send in the proper references.
> Can anyone help out?
I don't remember the exact title but it's something like
"Memoirs of an IJN destroyer captain", his name is
Tameichi Hara and the book first appeared in the mid
fifties. Don't know the publisher but I'm pretty
sure that the book hasn't been republished in decades.
Paolo Pizzi
Cypress, CA
http://navismagazine.com - for Air&Sea enthusiasts
Jason A. Bice
In article <68j2n8$g...@gazette.bcm.tmc.edu>, cam...@istar.ca wrote:
> R. Schumacher wrote:
> >
> > Hello, I am researching attacks on US mainland during WW2.
>
> If you extend your area of interest to the north, a Japanese submarine
> shelled Estevan Point (near the city of Victoria) on Vancouver Island.
There was also a Japanese sub that shelled the US Army fortifications
(Fort Stevens) along the northern Oregon Coast below the Columbia River in
1942. the personel of the Fort were heavily armed with diapearing 5in
rifles, heavy coast mortars and (I think) even a couple of 14in rifles.
They never fired back though, and I remember reading that many of the
garrison was AWOL the next day out of disapointment. Probably good they
didn't - those 14 inchers would probably have broken every window on the
base - more damage than the sub could have ever inflicted!
I think I have a book on this somewhere if you need documented information.
-Jason
Osika
>>Barry Lake wrote:
>> There was a really good book by a Japanese destroyer
>> skipper, Haya, or something like that.
>Paolo Pizzi wrote:
>Tameichi Hara.
>I don't remember the exact title but it's something like
>"Memoirs of an IJN destroyer captain", his name is
>Tameichi Hara and the book first appeared in the mid
>fifties. Don't know the publisher but I'm pretty
>sure that the book hasn't been republished in decades.
The book is "Japanese Destroyer Captain" by Capt Tameichi Hara and was
published by Ballantine Books (ISBN 0-345-27894-1).....
Check out 2nd hand book shops that carry used paperbacks...it can be
found with a little effort...
Regards...Dion Osika
Haydn
On 29 Dec 1997 04:45:07 GMT, "R. Schumacher" <rs...@pacbell.net>
wrote:
>Hello, I am researching attacks on US mainland during WW2. Any info
>regarding Jap ballon campaign (or landing sites),
>jap subs attacking west coast via torpedo, deck gun, or aircraft,
>U-boats or any axis craft entering US rivers or harbors,
>or planned attacks on US mainland, ie: Italian mini-subs, U-boats
>w/rockets, or proposed "Amerika bomber" stories.
An Italian terroristic mini-sub attack on US mainland - New York, just
so - was scheduled for December 1943.
The submarine "Da Vinci" would have carried a CA type mini-sub of the
X MAS special assault unit across the Ocean and would have gone up the
Hudson river to striking distance. Then, the CA would have reached the
port of New York; an assault squad equipped with high explosive
charges would have mined and blasted a skyscraper.
Only the September armistice prevented this attack.
Also an air raid on New York by an extended-range Piaggio four-engine
bomber was planned - but it seems Mussolini suggested loading the
plane with Italian oranges instead of bombs!!
Haydn
Jonathan K.
os...@pipeline.com (Osika) wrote:
>The book is "Japanese Destroyer Captain" by Capt Tameichi Hara and was
>published by Ballantine Books (ISBN 0-345-27894-1).....
>Check out 2nd hand book shops that carry used paperbacks...it can be
>found with a little effort...
I have a copy. Excellent book with good insight into the psyche of a
very able IJN officer. I recommend it to anyone interested in the
topic.
--
Jonathan K.
Freida Harris
There is a recurring story of a German U-boat that was destroyed in the
Mississippi River,south of New Orleans. Occasionally in the local
newspaper, someone swears to have seen dead or badly burned German
sailors in hospitals there. The story continues that no official word
was given out in order to avoid panic. I cannot vouch for the truth of
this.
Michael K. Tamada
In article <68oq7v$kmk$1...@nntp6.u.washington.edu>,
Paolo Pizzi <timee...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>Barry Lake wrote:
>
>> There was a really good book by a Japanese destroyer
>> skipper, Haya, or something like that.
>
[...]
>> Both would be good reading for this ng,
>> but someone needs to send in the proper references.
>> Can anyone help out?
>
>I don't remember the exact title but it's something like
>"Memoirs of an IJN destroyer captain", his name is
>Tameichi Hara and the book first appeared in the mid
>fifties. Don't know the publisher but I'm pretty
>sure that the book hasn't been republished in decades.
My copy of the book is entitled "Japanese Destroyer Captain," a
paperback which I'm pretty sure was published by Ballantine Books in the
1970s. You could go to the library or bookstore and look through Books
in Print but I suspect that Paolo Pizzi is correct that it's out of
print.
--Mike Tamada
tam...@oxy.edu
Glen Hallick
I've never of heard of any U-Boat getting into the Mississippi. Is the
river channel deep enough for a submerged sub? Could the U-Boat find its
way through the delta?
Anyhow, some U-Boats did operate in the Gulf of Mexico.
Also there were a few U-Boats that operated in the St. Lawerence River,
with one getting pretty close to Montreal.
Glen Hallick
Smith
I would love to hear more on this...
MA
Lee Russell
I don't think that any U-boats were foolish enough to enter US or Canadian
rivers, although there were several such scares during the war. In WW I,
an unarmed German merchant U-boat entered NY harbor and was treated as a
normal merchant vessel prior to the US entry into the war. Cargo was
loaded and the crew were given liberty, etc.
Mark Framness
In message <69gocp$1594$1...@nntp6.u.washington.edu> - Glen Hallick
<ghal...@escape.ca> writes:
#>
#>
#>I've never of heard of any U-Boat getting into the Mississippi. Is the
#>river channel deep enough for a submerged sub? Could the U-Boat find its
#>way through the delta?
#>
#>Anyhow, some U-Boats did operate in the Gulf of Mexico.
#>
#>Also there were a few U-Boats that operated in the St. Lawerence River,
#>with one getting pretty close to Montreal.
They certainly did operate all along the USA East coast after the US entered
the war. It was what the German submariners called the Happy Time, as it was
before the USA Merchant Marines adopted convoy tactics and were escorted. So
they could just sit off of the coast and lay low (real low) during the day and
operate at night and they ended up sinking a qite a bit of tonnage. Of course
that came to an end with the return of the convoy and escort.
Take Care!
postmaster@[127.0.0.1]
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DEAR MARK
SEARCHING THE WEB FOR WW II SITES AND STUMBLED ACCROSS YOUR LETTER. I
KNOW OF KNOW ENEMY SUBS IN THE MISSISSIPPI, HOWEVER, TWO THAT I KNOW OF OFF THE
COAST OF CALIFORNIA OCCURED VERY EARLY IN THE WAR. THE SECOND ATTACK WAS A JAP
SUB SHELLING ELLWOOD OIL FIELD NEAR EITHER GOLETA OR SANTA BARBARA, CA. THE
FIRST WAS A JAP SUB OFF THE COAST OF RODONDO BEACH, CA.. THIS OCCURED ON
CHRISTMAS DAY, 1941 WHEN THE SUB TORPEDOED A LUMBER SHIP HEADING NORTH TO
FRISCO. THE SHIP WOULD NOT SINK DUE TO THE LUMBER ABOARD. THE SHIP WAS FIRED
UPON BY MEMBERS OF THE 105TH FIELD ARTILLERY WITH A 75MM FRENCH MADE CANNON.
THE FIRST SHOT HIT THE SUB'S CONNING TOWER AND THE SEVENTH SHOT JAMMED THE
CANNON WHEN THE EJECTION FORK SLID PAST THE RIM OF THE SHELL. THE SUB WAS
EVENTUALLY SUNK BY DEPTH CHARGES FROM BOTH A PLANE AND A NAVY SHIP. MY FATHER
WAS THERE AS A MEMBER OF THE 105TH. IF YOU CARE TO E-MAIL ME AT
BRNX...@AOL.COM TAKE CARE
BRIAN,
James Bailey
A Japanese sub lobbed a few shells at a US base near Astoria,
Oregon -- I think in 1942.
There were also the Japanese balloon attacks that landed in
various places across the Northwest. A picnicking family in Oregon lost a
couple of family members when they approached one of these balloon
delivered bombs.
At least one German submarine is sitting on the bottom near the
mouth of the Mississippi.
Jim Bailey
Bill Shatzer
In a previous article, bai...@lclark.edu (James Bailey) says:
> A Japanese sub lobbed a few shells at a US base near Astoria,
>Oregon -- I think in 1942.
Correct - Ft Stevens, actually, which never got to unlimber
its 12" naval rifles against the submarine.
> There were also the Japanese balloon attacks that landed in
>various places across the Northwest. A picnicking family in Oregon lost a
>couple of family members when they approached one of these balloon
>delivered bombs.
A church youth group actually - the bomb killed the minister's
wife, Elyse Mitchell, and five kids from the church group -
Edward Engen (13 years-old), Jay Gifford (13), Sherman Shoemaker
(11), Dick Patzke (14), and Joan Patzke (13).
Interestingly, the widowed minister, Archie Mitchell later remarried
to Betty Patzke, a sister of Dick and Joan Patzke. The Mitchells
later became missionaries in Viet Nam and Archie disappeared in
the central highlands in 1962, persumably kidnapped and executed
by the Viet Cong.
Betty Patzke Mitchell has returned to Bly Oregon after Archie's
death and, at last report, was still living there.
> At least one German submarine is sitting on the bottom near the
>mouth of the Mississippi.
You omitted the submarine-launched E14Y1 "Glenn" which conducted
two bombing raids from the submarine I-25 on the Oregon forests
near Brookings in 1942 - the only instance of an aerial attack
on the continental US ever.
Cheers and all,
--
Bill Shatzer - bsha...@orednet.org
"If you can see the tracers, the little piss-ants have missed you."
Chief Warrant Officer Emet "Stoney" Parker
Dave King
> In a previous article, bai...@lclark.edu (James Bailey) says:
> >
> > > A Japanese sub lobbed a few shells at a US base near Astoria,
> > >Oregon -- I think in 1942.
> >
Also the I-class sub attack in June of 1942 on Estevan Point Lighthouse
on Vancouver Island, British Columbia (approx 17 rounds from deck gun;
no hits), and the torpedoing/shelling of the "Fort Camosun", a cargo
ship built in Victoria BC, attacked just off Cape Flattery WA, same day
as the Estevan Point incident. The ship was British-registered and on
her maiden voyage, loaded with plywood. One torpedo struck admidships,
and she took on water, but the extra buoyancy of the cargo kept her
afloat--barely. The USCG took her in tow, along with HMCS Edmunston
(RCN corvette) and made it back to Esquimalt (B.C.) harbour.
For details of GLENs, FUGOs, and subs, try "Silent Siege III" by Bert
Webber.