The German-Japanese Propaganda Connection

Note: The Weekly Pegasus, The e-newsletter of professional readings supporting the Air Force Military Information Support Operations Working Group, featured this story in its issue 11-2018, dated 23 March 2018.

The Tripartite Pact was signed in Berlin, Germany on 27 September 1940. It was signed by Chancellor Adolf Hitler for Germany, Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano for Italy and Japanese ambassador to Germany Saburo Kurusu for the Empire of Japan.

The Tripartite Pact Signing

Nazi Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939 leading to a declaration of war by Great Britain and France. The Empire of Japan started fighting in China in 1937, but it was not until it attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 that the United States found itself at war. Germany might have avoided war with the United States but Hitler foolishly declared war on America on 11 December 1941. Although nobody knew it at the time, the die was then cast and the Axis powers were doomed to be defeated by America’s ability to produce weapons and war materials as the “Arsenal of Democracy.”

Chancellor Adolf Hitler	Prime Minister Hideki Tojo

Both the Germans and the Japanese used propaganda almost from the very start of the war. Both of the Axis powers used every theme to demoralize their enemies including lies, rumor, sex, vilification, divide and conquer, ultimate defeat and the joy of surrender and captivity. The number of different leaflets that they produced numbers in the thousands and the number dropped from aircraft or fired by artillery and rocket is well into the millions.

Japanese Marines invade Shanghai in 1937

Germany, attacked from both the east and the west in a two-front war surrendered on 7 May 1945. They supported the Japanese until the very last moment, sending them plans for aircraft engines, rockets, and perhaps even atomic research by submarine. What was not so well known was that they also sent a propaganda team to Shanghai, China, to support the Japanese in their war against the Americans.

My friend, Jo Williams, who lived in Shanghai during the war told me:

We used to walk by the huge Nazi swastika flag hanging from the upper floors down to street level on the Bund in Shanghai. I have childhood memories of bad vibes coming from that dark sinister flag. I never entered that building. The largest Nazi public relations headquarters outside Germany was operated in Shanghai which, as an “international city” requiring no passports or legal regulations housed businesses from all over including Jewish intelligentsia banished from pre-holocaust Germany; refugees from the 32 Pacific rim countries occupied by Japanese invasions starting in 1875; “White” Russians fleeing political revolution; even a secret Communist Soviet headquarters right on our street Rue Ratard in the French quarter.

This strange German unit operating in Shanghai was first brought to my attention by U. S. Army Brigadier General Mark Martins, Chief Prosecutor, Military Commissions. He was about to lecture on their activities at Harvard Law School and wondered if I had a sample of the actual leaflets produced in Shanghai. There were no images available and I was unable to help in his search. He sent me several legal transcripts from the trial of the Germans after the war, including Law Reports of Trials of German War Criminals selected and prepared by the United Nations War Crime Commission and also a copy of the Charles Lane article “Shanghaied,” printed in the The Green Bag – an Entertaining Journal of Law. Generally, my articles are image-driven and I base the length of the article and the amount of text on the number of leaflets and posters I depict. We will have none of the actual Shanghai products to depict in this article so although I expect to use some images, this will be a relatively short story. I should also point out that there were many defendants in the military trial and most of the paperwork involved with the case discusses the legality of the trial and the various appeals. Since we only care about the propaganda aspect, I will delete over 80% of the official data.

American Leaflet 2094 Informing the Japanese People of the German Surrender

This leaflet informs the Japanese people that their ally has quit the war and now America can turn the full fury of its armed forces on the Empire of Japan.

Japan fought on until 2 September 1945. This story is about what happened in those four months between the surrender of Germany and the surrender of Japan.

Baron Jesco von Puttkamer

A German aristocrat named Baron Jesco von Puttkamer left Berlin in the spring of 1941 for Japanese-held Shanghai. His mission was to organize a German propaganda office to broadcast the message of Adolf Hitler’s government to the Far East and beyond. Von Puttkamer’s father was a major-general in the WWI. Though a graduate of military schools, he did not follow in his father’s footsteps and instead became a journalist and advertising man. Propaganda is little more than advertising and public relations so he already had the foundation for psychological operations. Von Puttkamer signed up for the Nazi Party on 1 October 1932, and worked part-time for Nazi philosopher Alfred Rosenberg where he and wrote and edited propaganda books. He was fluent in English and at one time handled a General Motors account. Once war began, he joined an economic espionage unit of German military intelligence, then moved to the German foreign ministry’s propaganda section. He toured of the Far East, and in an April 1941 report called Shanghai the ideal location for a covert German propaganda base. Soon afterwards, von Puttkamer was assigned to Shanghai to open a German Information Bureau, which appeared to be a news and information service but was in fact the producer of propaganda broadcasts and leaflets. He established his covert propaganda bureau in the penthouse suite of the Park Hotel and later in a villa next to the German church.

A German Propaganda Booklet Printed in Shanghai

This 39-page booklet containing 15 chapters, The British and American Air Warfare against Civilians, was printed by the German Information Bureau in Shanghai in 1944. It explains in great detail how the German bombing was tasteful and humanitarian while the Allied bombing was evil and terroristic. Some of the chapters are: “German endeavors to outlaw or restrict air warfare,” “Area bombing replace target bombings,” and “The effect on the civilian population.” In one chapter the booklet quotes the Bishop of Chichester who says:

The indiscriminate bombings of big towns like Berlin or Hamburg is another matter. It has been admitted that the objective of the air raids on Berlin and Hamburg was the complete destruction of these towns. Such indiscriminate bombing can hardly be regarded as a legitimate act of war.

It is hard to feel sympathy for the Germans who had bombed Warsaw and Rotterdam and London, but in their defense, there is a belief among some historians that it was a lost British bomber dumping its bombs over a civilian area that caused Hitler to change his attacks from British airfields to London. Still. One might say that “the chickens have come home to roost.”

German Booklet “Shanghai Calling”

This 36-page propaganda booklet was printed 31 March 1942 by the German group in Shanghai. The cover mentions the radio station “XGRS” which we assume means “German Radio Station.” Station XGRS began operating in Shanghai in early 1940. The programming at first was anti-British and it contained news of German and Japanese actions. This issue contained stories such as photos of 6 Allied ships sunk during the Battle of the Java Sea, and an article entitled “Roosevelt Man of Peace.” The article is rather sarcastic and depicts Roosevelt as one professing peace while wanting war. A few of the author’s comments are:

American newspapers are likening Roosevelt to George Washington, who was “first in peace, first in war and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” If Americans believe their own propagandists, then undoubtedly they have the shortest memory of any people on Earth…The Lend-Lease Bill had passed the House and Senate…So the supplies were on the way. If the United States could turn itself into the work-shop for democracy, the democracies were now financially able to use what it produced. If U.S. weapons or U.S, food could turn events in Europe or Asia, they could now be legally shipped.

We should mention that although the data seems confusing, it is possible that von Puttkamer took part in a meeting in 1942 where the Germans attempted to convince the Japanese to place all of Shanghai’s Jews in a concentration camp or to simply kill them. This alleged meeting is mentioned in Shanghai Refuge: a Memoir of the World War II Jewish Ghetto by Ernest G. Heppner who called von Puttkamer “The Goebbels of the Far East.” He is also mentioned by Barbara Winter in The Most Dangerous Man in Australia. Allegedly, he was asked to provide propaganda to a pair who would take it to and distribute it in Australia. Von Puttkamer turned the proposal down because he considered the scheme “too fantastic.”

Patricia Luce Chapman mentions Puttkamer in her supplement to Tea on the Great Wall, Earnshaw Books, Hong Kong, 2015, entitled Nazis vs Jews in Japanese-Occupied Shanghai, China. She mentions hearing rumors of a Nazi death camp planned for the Jews of Shanghai. Germany had cancelled their citizenship and the Jews were therefore stateless people. The site chosen for the camp is believed to be Chong Ming Island, just north of Shanghai.

The Japanese would not kill the Jews, but they did agree to place them in a ghetto. After the war the Ohel Moshe Synagogue in Shanghai became the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum. Chapman says:

In 1986, a group of Jews who had taken refuge in Shanghai revisited their former home in the ghetto. With immense gratitude towards the local people for their help, they presented a plaque to the People's Government of the Hong Kou District, inscribed:

“20,000 Jewish refugees survived in Shanghai during the Second World War. To all the survivors and friendly Chinese people we dedicated this plaque.”

Chapman mentions other Nazis that arrived on the same submarine that brought Puttkamer to Shanghai. She says that Heinrich Himmler sent Colonel Josef Meisinger, the “Butcher of Warsaw” who had been chief of the Gestapo in Warsaw, Poland, to Japan in July 1942. His assignment: to eliminate the Jewish people in China.

The third Nazi official on the submarine was Dr. Robert Neumann who specialized in medical experiments on prisoners at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. He was invited by Baron von Puttkamer to lecture on his observations of racial physiognomy in 1943 in Shanghai.

Von Puttkamer was not the only German agent in Shanghai. Another organization aligned with German military intelligence was known as the Bureau Ehrhardt, in honor of its chief, Ludwig Ehrhardt – whose real name was Lothar Eisentrager.

After the Japanese surrender in early 1946, von Puttkamer, Eisentrager and 25 other German intelligence officers, propaganda agents and diplomats were rounded up by the American Military Mission in China. An American military commission convened at the Ward Road Jail in Shanghai to hear the case against them. The Americans decided to prosecute the Germans’ collaboration with the Japanese after the surrender of Germany as a war crime – specifically, contributing to the military efforts of the United States’ enemies after their own country’s unconditional surrender. The charges were:

Between the 8th May and 15th August, 1945, individually and as officials, nationals, citizens, agents or employees of Germany, while residing in China at a time when the United States of America was at war with Japan did, in China, in a theatre of military operations, Knowingly, willfully and unlawfully, violate the unconditional German surrender by engaging in and continuing military activity against the United States and its allies, to wit by furnishing, ordering, authorizing, permitting and failing to stop the furnishing of aid, assistance, information, advice, intelligence, propaganda and material to the Japanese armed forces and agencies, thereby by such acts of treachery assisting Japan in waging war against the United States of America in violation of the laws and customs of war.

Landsberg Prison

In the end, the commission convicted Eisentrager, von Puttkamer and 19 others, but acquitted six defendants – five because they were deemed legitimate diplomats and a sixth because the prosecution had not shown that his anti-Allied activity did indeed continue past V-E Day. Jesco von Puttkamer was sentenced to 30 years and Lothar Eisentraeger was sentenced to life imprisonment. The sentences were served at Landsberg Prison in Bavaria in the U.S. occupation zone in Germany where all war criminals convicted by U.S. tribunals were housed. For this article the charges against von Puttkamer are the most meaningful:

The accused Jesco von Puttkamer was described as "head of the German Information Bureau at Shanghai, the military propaganda agency of the German Embassy to enemy occupied China" He was charged with willfully and unlawfully engaging in military activity against the United States and its allies, to wit psychological warfare by designing and furnishing to the Japanese armed forces for their use propaganda material in the English language consisting of, inter alia, leaflets, posters and photographs designed to influence, adversely to the United States and its allies, the actions of the United States troops and civilian populations.

The accused Puttkamer continued his work on propaganda leaflets after the surrender. Some of the pamphlets he turned out explained to the readers the uselessness and horrors of war and invited them to lay down their arms. They were written in English and obviously intended to reach the United States troops. The writers signed themselves “Organization of American Soldiers serving Overseas.” About 5 or 6 different types of anti-allied propaganda pamphlets were supplied to the Japanese between the material dates of the charge and about 150,000 to 200,000 of each type were printed.

The military commission was very lucky to find a single leaflet to use as evidence against the Germans. During the direct examination phase, Chinese printer T. H. Chow was questioned. He worked for the printing firm of Millington Limited from 1927 until the end of the war, much of that time under Japanese control. He admitted producing German propaganda, and said that the Japanese military propaganda was done by an ABC Press. He stated that the German Information Office sent in a printing order once or twice a month. Even after the German surrender they continued to come. He did not know the word “leaflet” so said that the Germans wanted “Fly shots, like sheets thrown from airplanes.” Chow said that when the printing was done his orders were to send them directly to Japanese military headquarters. When asked about other leaflets allegedly printed Chow stated that “We only pick out this one – only this one left in drawer, see. So the others I can’t find…”

On 5 May 1947, the Army Advisory Group, Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, reviewed the Record of Trial. I have edited the text because the names of numerous German and Japanese witnesses and defendants were included in the paragraph. Some of the findings were:

The testimony…leaves no question about the fact that the accused…continued military propaganda operations against the Allies as charged. An ex-employee of the German Information Bureau testified that…continued to work on propaganda leaflets after 1 May and proudly showed samples thereof. Such pamphlets pointed out the uselessness and horrors of war and invited the reader to lay down his arms…

A Chinese employee of a printing company operated by the Japanese during the occupation stated…came to the company to have the propaganda leaflets printed several times in June and July giving instructions for delivery of them to Japanese Army Headquarters. After the surrender this Information Bureau supplied the Japanese with these leaflets to drop from airplanes and some were dropped…

Prosecution Exhibit No. 49 is one of the leaflets received in evidence and identified as submitted by the accused for printing and delivery to the Japanese. It shows a dead soldier in an American uniform lying over a machine gun and suggests that crooks and war profiteers of the American home front were fostering the war and, that the veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States was distributing the 1eaflets.

Weekly propaganda meetings were held with the Japanese after 8 May at which advice was offered to the Japanese…also helped with advice on radio propaganda to be used by the Japanese.

Two Ways of Spending the War
German Leaflet to Americans on the Western front

The review mentions prosecution Exhibit 49. I have seen the transcript and it describes the leaflet thusly:

This exhibit, received, in evidence shows apparently a dead soldier, apparently in an American uniform, draped over a machine gun with the barrel pointing to the ground. The text on the front is:

Will you be next?

Today, at the front, he died. A young American soldier, a human being, like you and I.

Tomorrow, more will be killed – there will be no end to human suffering in months and years to come.

The text on the back of the leaflet is:

Next time you see a list of dead and wounded, ask yourself;

Why must this slaughter go on and on?

Does this war still make sense?

Must we conquer all these far-away territories?

Who is interested in keeping the war going?

If you think about these questions you will agree that something must be done at once to stop the squandering of human lives.

Servicemen and veterans should make their voices heard in America. United and properly organized, they can become a powerful force in American public life that may bring the present world catastrophe to an end and prevent a new one.

Write to your Congressman, to your local newspaper, to your church and labor union. Tell them how you feel about the war and what you think of the American home front with all the crooks and war profiteers.

Become a member, today, of the
VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS OF THE U. S.
Broadway at 34th St., Kansas City, Mo.

Notice that this leaflet is “black” in that it claims to be an informative message from the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The concept of the dead soldier on the ground was often used by the Germans. As early as 1940 they produced leaflets showing dead Frenchmen with the question “Where are the Tommies?” In July 1944 they produced a series of leaflets coded AW33 and AW36 that showed dead soldiers on the ground and text such as “Where are your Yanks?” and “Your allies are assisting you on all fronts.” In December 1944 they printed leaflets showing a dead American soldier and the text “Two ways of spending the war.” An uncoded October 1944 leaflet depicted a dead American staff sergeant and the text “Ain’t it fun to be a soldier” as did leaflet A-128 with the text “Your job to die.” The Shanghai propaganda seems to have followed this common German theme. Propaganda messages that implied soldiers were dying at the front while Jews and war profiteers got rich was also a common German propaganda theme.

Leaflet A-127

Another common German propaganda theme claimed that soldiers were dying at the front while Jews and war profiteers got rich. For instance, German leaflet SW3 depicts a civilian and a woman on the front with the text, “Sucker, you believed it. They don’t give a damn. They enjoy their war profits. If they asked you again, what would be your choice?” German leaflet A-127 shows a smiling boss looking at a disabled veteran and the text “It’s your job to fight.” Text on the back tells the soldiers that the rich are getting richer and when they get home there will be no money and no jobs for them. It adds, “But those guys who had millions when it started will have more millions when it is over.” I add these leaflets simply to show that what the Germans were producing in Shanghai was very similar to what the German propagandists in Western Europe were dropping on American and British troops. You can clearly see the Nazi connection.

After several unsuccessful legal battles to have their sentences overturned, the Germans were released from jail in 1950 as the United States began to see the Soviets as their enemy and the Shanghai group as propagandists whose crimes were more technical than real. Curiously, Germany still has a strong influence in China. Searching for “German Shanghai” I found:

The German Centre Shanghai is located in the Zhangjiang High-Tech Park in the heart of Pudong. Its office and event space is embedded in beautiful landscaped grounds. In the German Centre Shanghai, a lively slice of Germany has arisen: Here is where the heart of the German community in Shanghai beats; here is where bilateral business contacts originate.

Jesco von Puttkamer immigrated to Canada in 1958. He operated a British Columbia fishing resort with a Native American theme. Despite his wartime Nazi activities he traveled frequently to the U.S. without any problems at the border. He died in Vancouver in 1973.

In 2015, I heard from a Dutchman who had moved to Switzerland and became a close friend of Jesco von Puttkammer junior. He claimed that:

Jesco senior moved his family to Davos, Switzerland shortly after the outbreak of the war. In those days many NAZI party members moved to Switzerland to spy or to put their money in Swiss banks. At wars’ end his family remained stranded in Davos without any income. Mother von Puttkammer worked as a cleaning lady in Swiss homes and was called “Baroness von Putzkammer,” (“Baroness Room Cleaner”). Jesco junior, after completion of his study as an engineer, was invited by Werner von Braun to join his team, and he became a prominent member of the group that successfully ran the Apollo project. I suspect that von Braun in his NAZI days knew Jesco senior, and that this was helpful to Jesco junior.

Years after I wrote this article I received a letter from a reader:

Von Braun did know Baron von Puttkamer. I have a 1962 letter written by Von Braun to the Baron at 6209 St. George Crescent, West Vancouver, B.C., Canada, discussing his son’s clearance at Huntsville Alabama, and looking forward to him joining the team.

The British Underground in Shanghai

Richard Hubert – 1921

Curiously, there was a semi-official British Underground in Shanghai that worked to protect Europeans against the brutal Japanese and their German allies. This is the story of Canadian Richard Hubert who was sent to China in 1923 as an employee of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company and his future wife, American Elizabeth Baldwin. Richard Samuel Rene Hubert was from a very old and highly respected French family that arrived in French Canada in the late 1600s ordered by his King to establish a legal structure for the new colonies. His uncle, Sam Steele, had founded the Northwest Mounted Police and was knighted in England for his service in the Boer War.

Richard married Elizabeth in 1928 after five years of a secret engagement. They had an adventurous life travelling and making films of life in the Philippines and Japan. Richard was soon transferred to the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company in Kobe Japan. He was a hard worker and soon appointed the Passenger Agent for China, Japan and the Philippines.

The Canadian Empress of Asia Passenger Liner

As a member of the tourist industry he could travel wherever he wanted and make all the movies and take all the pictures he wanted. Both husband and wife were later admitted to the Explorer’s Club because of their travels and the movies they made. They made three movies about Japan alone: “Introducing Japan”; “Odd Occupations of Japan”; and “A Day with Mr. Tokyo.” They made ten movies about the Philippines and another three about China. Richard spoke Japanese, Mandarin Chinese and French, while Elizabeth spoke Japanese. This was spy training, although at the time he did not know it. Curiously, they were involved in a Nazi spy plot although they did not know it at the time. While in the Philippines they were accompanied by an anthropologist from Yale and a young German man who wanted to exchange pictures he had taken for movies the Hubert’s had made. The movies were about the way the native terraced rice farming in the mountainous area. Later they were told that the German was a spy sent to list the possible food supplies in soon-to-be conquered territories.

When WWII came, the Americans wanted to see those pictures to plan the expected Japanese invasion of the home islands. Richard’s experience made him an asset to the Americans who after a very detailed investigation of his life in Canada and twenty years in the Orient gave him a high security clearance and command of the anti-Japanese Office of War Information forward base on the island of Saipan in 1944.

The beginning of the British Underground is mentioned by daughter Josette Williams in a family history. She explains that the German-dominated area of France called “Vichy France” gave Japan permission to occupy French Indo-China in June of 1940. There were about 37,000 French soldiers in Indo-China and the Germans wanted them sent back to France where they could be utilized as part of the German war machine. Instead, the Japanese shipped them all to Shanghai about September of 1940. They were in limbo and might still be sent back to France.

Richard Hubert’s “Nine-Fifteen Club” Wallet and Membership Cards

The British residents of Shanghai wanted to help. The British government quietly provided support to the group. Richard Hubert organized a “Nine-Fifteen Club” that showed 16mm western movies at the Cathay Mansions Hotel to raise money each weekend. The money was used to secretly hide those French soldiers in the member’s homes and then quietly send them on British ships to North Africa where they could join Free French General Charles de Gaulle. The club eventually grew to over 1,000 members. Richard knew the schedule of all the ships arriving and leaving so he was perfect as a dispatcher. When a British ship visited Shanghai, the French soldiers would be driven, four men in each private car, to the dock. The ship was considered British territory and as soon as the men were on the gangplank they were safe. The British and Canadian ships transported thousands of French soldiers to Africa where they trained with the Free French to liberate their country.

One of the members of the club was Vladimir Taussig. Vladimir was conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian Army during WWI, and when Czechoslovakia became a country; he was transferred into the 1st Czech Army. He soon became an officer and reached the rank of Captain. He lived in Shanghai from 1933 and left in 1939 to report for active duty in the Czech Army which he did in New York City. Instead of being sent to France, he was sent back to Shanghai in 1940 to help with the resettlement of the Jewish refugees, to recruit for the Czech Army from the refugees, and to send reports of a military nature on the Germans and Japanese.

Vladimir joined the Shanghai Volunteer Corps and he used this organization to recruit and train recruits for the Czech army. He did this under British sponsorship. He soon had a group of Czech Jewish refugees who were trained and ready to join the war effort. He became increasingly frustrated at his inability to move the recruits out of Shanghai, which he thought was because the British Admiralty chose not to send enough ships to Shanghai.

He joined the Nine-Fifteen Club, which he called “an anti-axis movie-showing club.” It appears he might have been part of the underground operation, though he never mentions it in his letters. One wonders if the club helped move the Czech volunteers out of Shanghai just as it did the French volunteers.

His daughter Debbie read this article and told me in 2018 that his frustration with the British lead to their suspicions that he was not pro-British and perhaps not supportive of the allies. While he was able to secure a spot in the repatriation ship and travel to London, the British suspicion followed him with no proof and prevented him from obtaining an immigration visa to the U.S. until 1949.

The Cathay Mansions Hotel

The Nazis established the biggest propaganda center outside Germany and could operate freely in Shanghai. They occupied a tall building on the Bund, the city’s business district, from which they broadcast the most powerful radio station in the city. Outside the building a giant Swastika flag hung from the third floor almost all the way to the sidewalk.

Photographer Karl Kengelbacher

The Hubert family resided in the Cathay Mansions Hotel while awaiting the availability of their home in Shangahi. This hotel would later become the headquarters of the Nine-Fifteen Club. On 14 August 1937, four Chinese aircraft dropped several bombs over the Japanese-occupied city and one bomb exploded just outside the hotel. Approximately 400 persons were killed or wounded in the attack.

To help counter this, the Nine-Fifteen Club established communications among the Allied nationals in Shanghai and organized propaganda against the growing efforts of the Japanese, Germans and Italians. It published newsletters, had an underground movie theater, produced their own films and financed a short wave radio station with regular broadcasts. The British consulate said this could never be achieved but the civilians somehow put it all together. A favorite movie of the club was Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator, spoofing Adolf Hitler.

Elizabeth Hubert (nee Baldwin) and her four girls left Shanghai in January of 1941 on the Canadian ship “The Empress of Asia.” The American government had warned her to leave Shanghai because of expected hostilities. On the way home a submarine fired a torpedo at the Empress of Asia which zig-zagged and escaped. Later, the ship would be sunk. It is believed that although they were not yet in the war, the Japanese wanted to sink any passenger liners that could be converted to troop carriers.

Richard Hubert’s “Ham Operator” Card

While Elizabeth was in America and Richard was in China they kept in touch by ham radio. Richard Hubert was seconded to the British Ministry on Information at some point. He was ordered to leave Shanghai on 24 October 1941 by his steamship company. On 27 November 1941 he sailed on the American ship S.S. Calvin Coolidge, headed for Honolulu. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, and there is no word from the Coolidge running under radio silence. There are several Japanese radio reports that the Coolidge has been sunk.

When Hubert did arrive in Hawaii he immediately wrote a report of what he saw for the British. Some of the points are interesting and things that we have never read since everything was censored at the time. Hubert reported that: a Japanese driver tried to block the only road to Pearl Harbor with a truck and was promptly shot; Many of the Japanese pilots were found to be wearing University of Hawaii shirts so they could mingle with the Japanese living on the Island if shot down; and Many Japanese had been killed as they sniped from buildings. Apparently, there was a Japanese Fifth Column.

On 19 December Hubert sailed for San Francisco accompanied by a U.S. Navy cruiser and three destroyers. He sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge on Christmas Day, 1941. He was the last foreigner to escape from occupied Shanghai and Japanese internment. His escape was very difficult but the family seems to have always been lucky. He had been warned by various people of impending arrest. His friends who stayed behind spent the following three years imprisoned by the Japanese. The Japanese apparently came to arrest the family two and one half hours after they left their home at 683 Rue Ratard, French concession, Shanghai, China.

Richard S.R. Hubert on Saipan

Hubert was regularly contacted by the Americans to provide information on individuals arriving in the United States from Asia that were of interest to U.S. Intelligence. Although he was a Canadian, the Americans found him to be a good source of information. He knew very many important people and often knew if they had any pro-Axis tendencies. By coincidence, the head of the new OWI agency was Bradford Smith, an American author, and a Quaker who taught Japanese college students. He had been friends with Hubert for many years and it is likely that he is the one that recommended a Canadian civilian to run an American propaganda outpost in the Pacific. Hubert was soon on his way to train in New York City, Washington D.C., and San Francisco. For more on Hubert’s wartime career see my OWI article.

Was the Nine-Fifteen Club a British Special Operations Front?

As we read through the Hubert papers it was clear that he was part of a club of amateur patriots trying to help Great Britain and save French troops from eventual German domination. But, was there more to this operation?

SOE Insignia
Winston Churchill ordered them to Set Europe Ablaze.

In a “most secret” letter from Commander-in-Chief India to the war office dated 29 January 1941 we find: “Our activities will probably have to be based on Shanghai and possibly Hong Kong too.” A secret letter dated 11 December 1942, asks for a report on the Oriental Mission activities in Shanghai and asks why the operation failed. The letter states that seven Special Operation Executive agents were arrested in Shanghai. We then see a number of names and some data on each individual.

We find more about this operation in the Mark Felton book China Station: The British Military in the Middle Kingdom 1839-1997, Pen and Sword Books, UK, 2013:

In May 1941 a permanent head of OM was appointed, a man who was well known among the international business community in Shanghai, Valentine Killery. Killery assumed the codename “O. 100” and set up his office in Singapore. Killery faced many challenges in making OM a success, not the least of which was his complete lack of experience in espionage work. MI6 operated its own agents throughout Asia, and along with the British diplomatic community, it remained very wary of Killery’s collection of amateur spies, gentleman adventurers and would-be saboteurs.

W. J. Gande is named a founder of the Nine-Fifteen Club, and a volunteer SOE agent with code number #5000. He was arrested and sentenced to 5 years. We have determined that they were 12 original founders and Gande’s signature appears on a gift box given to Hubert on his departure from China. The Japanese were apparently following the club members and Gande was picked up by the Kempeitai and it was discovered that he received and secretly placed 5000 pounds from British Ministry of Economic Warfare in a bank against Japanese economic regulations to defray the cost of running the operation. The Special Operation Executive was under the Ministry control. The Japanese also seized certain Oriental Mission documents.

Gande is reported to have recruited Brister and Riggs. J.F. Brister was another Volunteer SOE agent with the code number #5001. He was arrested but later swapped in a trade with the Japanese and returned to Australia. S.C. Riggs was an SOE agent with the code number #5002. He was also arrested and later repatriated home.

Other agents were E. L. Elias who volunteered as an SOE agent and after arrest and release stayed in Shanghai. W. G. Clarke was arrested and after release stayed in Shanghai. Riggs believed that Clarke had broken under Japanese interrogation and given the operation away. There was no proof of this, just a belief by Riggs.

Two other agents were G. D. Jack who after arrest and release went to India, and J. K. Brand who also went to India. Both intended to join one of the British military services there. There was some belief among members that Jack talked or “Let the side down.” Again, there was no proof, just a feeling. The British letters caution that no one is to help them or act as a reference for a position. They were put on a “watch” and could apply to join the military, but they must do it on their own.

Kempeitai Armband
The military police arm of the Japanese Army - A member was called a Kempei.

All of the seven above were arrested by the Japanese on the charge of having operated a secret organization whose activities were detrimental to the interests of Japan and to local law and order, and held at Bridge House on North Szechuan Road, the Kempeitai HQ. After interrogation they were sent to a Japanese jail called Ward Road Gaol. The Japanese had documents, phone conversations that had been recorded and even cables that had been sent by the members of the group. Apparently one of Gande’s employees, a Romanian, stole several of his OM files after recognizing their value and sold them to the Japanese.

The Wards Road Gaol
Indians and Sikhs were guards during the British Rule

Most of the European civilians in Shanghai were taken to a large stadium, but since the Japanese considered these seven foreign agents, they received special treatment. I think that since what they did was before Japan and Great Briton were at war, they were treated much better than they would have been if they had spied after war was declared. Apparently they were beaten and humiliated, but not too severely. A normal prisoner would have been beaten with bamboo rods. They were struck in the face with wooden rulers and forced to stand or sit in uncomfortable positions. Perhaps the Japanese already knew they would be swapped for Japanese held abroad and did not want to send them home in too bad a condition.

I must say here that there is no proof that the SOE used the Nine-Fifteen Club as a front and no knowledge how many agents were involved, or even if Richard Hubert was aware. The letter points out that they were careful and practiced security, and that once they realized they would be arrested all paperwork or evidence was destroyed. It seems too coincidental to me that one of the founders of the club was working for the SOE and I suspect the club was an invention of the British that could be used as they saw fit without the knowledge of the great majority of the members.

Felton mentions that Gande recruited Sidney Riggs and asked him to help with Secret Service work directed toward the war effort and aimed primarily against Axis interests. Seven agents are mentioned by name: Gande; Riggs; Edward Elias; William Clark; Joseph Brister; George Jack and John Bland. These are the same seven mentioned in the British files. They were called Oriental Mission Shanghai. Other people were occasionally used by the group as needed, but they were told nothing and did not know what other members were helping. It was almost like the “cell” system where if one group is captured they know nothing about any other groups. Riggs said:

I willingly agreed to do all in my power in conjunction with others in the group. We were pledged each to the other to refer to each other only by code names…The object of the group were: To compile a complete register of enemy goods stored in Shanghai, and, when moved, to trace its destination; to organize sabotage of enemy interests, such as shipping, enemy goods, wireless broadcasting propaganda stations, etc.; To establish depots in Free China in which Allies of military age might be sent in the event of war; and to assist Allied propaganda in the form of leaflets, whispering campaigns, etc.

The Italian Sloop Eritrea
Courtesy of Raphodon

Apparently at some point the little band of spies that had no training in explosives or spy-craft did consider blowing up enemy shipping. A plan was adopted to attack the Italian sloop Eritrea that was moored on the Whangpoo River. The plan was cancelled by the British Foreign Office and M16 that feared a small war in an otherwise peaceful and neutral area. Felton says:

Gande and his colleagues were devastated, but the cancellation probably saved their lives. Seven middle-aged men attempting to board and sink a fully armed warship in the midst of a peaceful city may have descended into farce, or more likely have resulted in a massacre.

In 1980, a Lorimar Productions movie called The Sea Wolves was released that had a similar plot, but based on “Operation Creek,” where an odd band that called themselves the Calcutta Light Horse covertly attacked a German merchant ship which had been transmitting information to U-boats from neutral Portugal's territory of Goa.

Riggs was asked to sign a form saying that he had been treated well by the Japanese. He refused, but after threats, compromised and signed the following statement:

I am requested by the Japanese authorities to state that I am being reasonably treated. This, under the circumstances, I confirm. My health is fair.

On 17 December 1941, William Clark’s cellmate, American journalist John B. Powell said that Clarke was tortured until he could no longer stand and eventually talked. Felton adds that this is not surprising because none of the agents received any training on withstanding interrogation. Riggs said that all the members thought Clarke had broken. Clarke was released in late 1942 and stayed in Shanghai. There was some thought that he feared returning to England, and some thought that he was in fact a real British spy and stayed to do further work. When the Felton book was written, Clarke’s file was still classified. In October 1943, Elias was freed and according to Felton seems to have become a double agent and there was talk at that time that perhaps he was the one that had betrayed OM Shanghai.

In conclusion, the British did have a 7-man team in Shanghai that possibly used the Nine-Fifteen Club as a cover; hiding among the patriots and using them for small jobs as needed. However, they had no formal training and little intelligence from their headquarters. When the Japanese took over Shanghai the seven were completely on their own with no support and no escape plan. These were good patriotic people, but they had little chance of success.

German Finances and Smuggling from Shanghai

Many researchers contacted me after I first wrote this article. Tom Kunkle was studying the use of the Shanghai black market to move money and perhaps uranium in the summer of 1945. He sent me a long study and I will just mention a few of the more interesting facts. One secret American intelligence document dated 18 December 1945 says in part:

About July 1945 when U.S. forces were expected to land on the Chinese Coast some Germans were afraid of their finances being confiscated and sent their wealth in the form of gold bars and precious jewels to Peking.

Another comment mentions that in July 1945 one Fredrick Fuchs, a member of the Nazi Party and well-known in Axis circles was negotiating the purchase of 10,000 grams of uranium powder. Fuchs was a personal friend of W. Seidel, the owner of the ABC Press that printed all of Puttkamer’s pro-Nazi propaganda in various languages. Fuchs was also known to be smuggling gold to Peking in foodstuff tins. There were Portuguese middle-men in the mix and they were often paid with gold by Fuchs for smuggling gold to the German Embassy in Peking and the German Intelligence services. The Japanese claimed to be aware of the German activity and believed they were being helped by the Swiss Consulate.

The Shanghai Daily News published a 29 September 1945 article titled “Nazis hide Gestapo bullion worth 5000 gold bars.” The story said in part:

Officers of the American Intelligence Service stationed in the Shanghai area are reported to be close on the trail of gold bullion, worth 5000 gold bars, or its equivalent in Swiss francs which was sent to Shanghai on Goering’s orders…These gold bars were sent discretely as fund for the Gestapo Organization. American Intelligence believes that these discreet channels were Swiss, as the local branch of the Deutsch-Asiatische bank was not used for this huge transfer.

A German-Japanese Connection on Hawaii

Bernard Kuehn

It is likely that the German and Japanese espionage agencies worked together in all the battle areas during World War II. One well-known case was Hawaii where a German spied on the U.S. Navy movements and sent coded messages to the Japanese. The FBI first noticed Bernard Kuehn (FBI File Number 65-1574) in 1939 when it discovered that he was an advanced student of Japanese language, entertain lavishly, particularly army officers, had no apparent source of income, owned two homes, and tended to defend Adolf Hitler in discussions. In August 1939 under the leadership of Special Agent in Charge Robert L. Shivers, it began investigating the possibility that there were Japanese spies working in Hawaii.

Nazi Party member Bernard Kuehn was offered a job by Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, to work for Japanese intelligence in Hawaii. Kuehn moved to Honolulu with his family on 15 August 1935. In November 1941, Kuehn offered to provide intelligence on U.S. warships in Hawaiian waters to the Japanese consulate in Hawaii. On 2 December 1941, Kuehn provided a report with specific and highly accurate details on the U.S. fleet to the Japanese consulate.

Kuehn had set up a complex system of signals to pass information to nearby Japanese submarines. They included bed sheets on clothes lines, lights in dormer windows, car headlights, and a boat with a star on its sail. Among the eight signals Kuehn set-up were a light shining in the dormer window of his Oahu house from 9 to 10 p.m., for example, meant that U.S. aircraft carriers had sailed. A linen sheet hanging on a clothesline at his home on Lanikai beach between 10 and 11 a.m. meant the battle force had left the harbor.

 

Mug shot of Bernard Julius Otto Kuehn in 1942.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese documents were captured that mentioned the set of signals. The clues pointed to Kuehn, and he was arrested. He gave a confession but denied ever sending coded signals. On 21 February 1942, 76 days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Bernard Kuehn was found guilty by a military tribunal of spying and sentenced to be shot in Honolulu. His sentence was later reduced to 50 years of hard labor after he provided information about the Japanese and German spy networks. After World War II ended, Kuehn was deported to Germany.

This concludes our study of the German-Japanese propaganda connection. Readers with comments are encouraged to write to the author at sgmbert@hotmail.com.