|
Bobthehatchit -> Interesting but slighly randon trivia. (4/12/2007 5:25:32 PM)
|
Something i stumbled across, whilst reading a CIC post on http://www.strategypage.com/
"Hirohito Honors His German Allies
During World War II, Japanese Emperor Hirohito honored three Germans by awarding
them fine samurai swords. What is nteresting about these awards is who received them.
One sword went to Reichsmarshal Herman Goring. This would seem appropriate. After
all, Goring was the head of the German Air Force, not to mention the fact that he had
been Hitler’s right-hand-man for many years. A second sword went to Field Marshal Erwin
Rommel. Once again, certainly a approriate award. After all, Rommel was one of the most
distinguished field commanders in the war, with many spectacular victories to his credit.
The third sword went to Bernhard Rogge. Who was Bernhard Rogge? Well, he was the skipper
of the famous surface raider Atlantis, which terrorised the shipping lanes for some time
early in the war. A distinguished enough record. Still, what had he done to deserve
such personal recognition from the Japanese emperor? The short answer is, that he had
greatly facilitated the capture of Singapore.
It seems that on November 11, 1940, Rogge’s Atlantis catpured the Blue Funnel Liner
Automedon, near the Nicobar Islands, in the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Bound
from Britain to Singapore, the ship carried a varied cargo. It also carried some
interesting documents. Captured aboard Automedon were the minutes
of a meeting of the British War Cabinet held on August 8, 1940, plus an 87-page secret
report by the Chief of the Imperial General Staff. Both documents dealt with British
defensive arrangements for Malaya and Singapore.
Recognizing the enormous importance of these documents, Rogge passed them on to his
superiors. And they very thoughtfully passed them on to Japanese intelligence, who found
them of graet interest. Thus, Rogge contributed materially to the Japanese
capture of Malaya and Singapore, which they overran in only about 60 days in Decemebr
and January of 1941-1942. And thus did Rogge merit his samurai sword."
|
|
|
|
