Hiroshi Ōshima
Encyclopedia
Baron was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army
, Japanese ambassador
to Nazi Germany
before and during World War II
— and unknowingly a major source of communications intelligence
for the Allies
. His role was perhaps best summed up by General George C. Marshall
, who identified Ōshima as "our main basis of information regarding Hitler's intentions in Europe".
, his father having served as Minister of War
from 1916 to 1918. Ōshima graduated from the 18th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1906, and from the 27th class of the Army War College
in 1915. He served as a military attaché
to Budapest
and Vienna
from 1923-1924. After his return to Japan, he was commander of the 10th Field Artillery Regiment from 1930-1931.
, with the rank of colonel
. He spoke almost perfect German, and was soon befriended by Joachim von Ribbentrop
, who was Adolf Hitler
's favorite foreign policy advisor at that time. Although Hitler ostensibly used the Foreign Ministry (Auswärtiges Amt) for his foreign relations, he was in fact more dependent on the Dienststelle Ribbentrop, a competing foreign office operated by the ex-champagne salesman. Öshima's importance for Hitler during that period can be seen in the fact that following the conclusion of the Anti Comintern Pact, US Ambassador in Japan, Joseph Grew estimated that the agreement was more the result of Ōshima's work done even without the participation of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Under Ribbentrop's guidance, Ōshima met privately with Hitler in the fall of 1935. With the support of the Nazi
leadership and the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, Ōshima progressed rapidly while in Berlin, attaining the rank of lieutenant general
and being appointed ambassador to Berlin in October 1938. During his early months as an Ambassador, according to evidence presented later at the Nürnberg Trial of Major War Criminals, he was plotting the assassination of Joseph Stalin
through Russian agents that were sympathetic to his cause. In a conversation Ōshima had with Heinrich Himmler
on 31 January 1939, he expressed the hope that German-Japanese cooperation in the field of intelligence would lead eventually to the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
In September 1939, Ōshima was recalled to Japan (with Saburō Kurusu
succeeding him) - as relations between the German and Japanese governments were strained following the conclusion of the German-Soviet non-aggression pact - returning via the United States
. Upon the insistence of the Nazi government, he returned to Berlin as Japanese Ambassador in February 1941, and remained in that position until the German surrender in May 1945. He dedicated his efforts until the end of the war in Europe
to build closer relations between the two countries, including military cooperation in the Indian Ocean
area (in the form of anti-merchant submarine warfare); thus he was instrumental in the forging and signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact
on 25 November 1936 and the Tripartite Pact
on 27 September 1940. Such was his fanaticism to the Nazi ideology that he created an impression in American journalist
William L. Shirer
, writing in his book The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
that Ōshima "is more Nazi than the Nazis".
Ōshima's close relationship with Hitler and Ribbentrop gave him unparalleled access for a foreigner to German war plans and national policy, comparable to that of Winston Churchill
with the American war leadership. In turn, Hitler admired the militaristic Japanese and made Ōshima a personal confidante.
Such was Hitler's high esteem that Ōshima was one of only eight recipients of the Grand Cross of the Order of the German Eagle in Gold
. Hitler awarded the medal following the attack on Pearl Harbor
in 1941. The award ceremony was attended by Reich Foreign Minister Ribbentrop and the secret notes of the conference were revealed at the Nuremberg trials
in 1945. In addressing Ōshima, Hitler reportedly said:
Ōshima made visits to the Eastern Front
and the Atlantic Wall
, and he met periodically with Hitler and other Nazi leaders. Being a meticulous military officer in training, he wrote detailed reports of the information provided to him by the Nazis — and promptly reported by radio to Tokyo
in the Purple diplomatic cipher
. Unknown to the Japanese, the PURPLE code was broken by American
codebreakers in 1940; thus Oshima's reports were being read almost simultaneously by those who had access to Magic
intelligence. Often, they were able to read them before the Japanese did, as transmission problems between Germany and Japan often held up the cables for hours.
, State Secretary in the German Foreign Office, denied there was any tension with the Soviet government.
Following the invasion of the USSR on 22 June 1941, pressure was placed on the Japanese government to join the invasion. On 9 July 1942, Ribbentrop tried to convince Ōshima to urge his government to join the attack on the Soviet Union. Ribbentrop's main argument being that "never again would Japan have such an opportunity as existed at present to eliminate once and for all the Russian colossus in eastern Asia". On 6 March 1943, Ōshima delivered Ribbentrop the following official statement from the Japanese government:
At a meeting Ōshima had with Hitler and Ribbentrop on 27 May 1944, Hitler advised that the Japanese government should publicly hang every captured US pilot who was involved in air raids, with the hope this would deter further such attacks.
TO in Spain
(with implicit support given by the Spanish authorities) was channelled through him. This evidence halted the loading of petroleum by the United States onto Spanish tankers in 1944.
While some of his predictions were wrong — Ōshima predicted that Britain
would surrender to Germany before the end of 1941 — his reporting of the Nazi leadership's plans and policies and his factual data were invaluable to the Allies. For example, on 6 June 1941, he advised Tokyo that Germany would invade the Soviet Union
on 22 June (see Operation Barbarossa
).
Another example was in November 1943, when Ōshima was taken on a four-day tour of the Atlantic Wall
fortifications on the coast of France
. Upon his return to Berlin, he wrote a detailed 20-page report of his visit, giving an account of the location of every German division
, as well as its manpower and weaponry. He described tank ditches in detail, armament of turrets located close to the shore, and available mobile forces. This provided valuable intelligence to the planners of the D-Day
assault. Connected to this was that the Allies knew that Operation Fortitude
was working because just one week before D-Day, Hitler confided to Ōshima that while the Allies might make diversionary feints in Norway
, Brittany
and Normandy
, they will actually make open up "an all-out second front in the area of the Straits of Dover
". Thus Ōshima dutifully reported that the bulk of German forces would not be waiting in Normandy, but mistakenly, at the Pas-de-Calais area.
His dispatches also proved to be valuable to those who were involved in the bombing campaign in Europe, as Ōshima provided details on the effect of Allied bombing raids on specific German targets, giving valuable and relatively unbiased bomb damage assessments to the Allies.
, a mountain resort in Austria
, and the next day left to join her, together with most of the Japanese diplomatic staff.
Less than a month later Germany surrendered and Ōshima and his staff were taken into custody. They were brought to the United States by ship, arriving on 11 July 1945. After interrogation and internment in a resort hotel in Pennsylvania
, Ōshima was returned to Japan.
Although he enjoyed freedom briefly in his devastated country, he was arrested on 16 December 1945 and charged with war crimes. When brought before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East
, he was found guilty of conspiring to wage aggressive war on 12 November 1948 and sentenced to life imprisonment
. Ōshima was paroled in late 1955 and granted clemency three years later. Ōshima died in 1975, not knowing that he provided the Allies with invaluable intelligence during the war.
Imperial Japanese Army
-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...
, Japanese ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
to Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
before and during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
— and unknowingly a major source of communications intelligence
SIGINT
Signals intelligence is intelligence-gathering by interception of signals, whether between people , whether involving electronic signals not directly used in communication , or combinations of the two...
for the Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
. His role was perhaps best summed up by General George C. Marshall
George Marshall
George Catlett Marshall was an American military leader, Chief of Staff of the Army, Secretary of State, and the third Secretary of Defense...
, who identified Ōshima as "our main basis of information regarding Hitler's intentions in Europe".
Early life
Ōshima was the son of a prominent Japanese family from Gifu PrefectureGifu Prefecture
is a prefecture located in the Chūbu region of central Japan. Its capital is the city of Gifu.Located in the center of Japan, it has long played an important part as the crossroads of Japan, connecting the east to the west through such routes as the Nakasendō...
, his father having served as Minister of War
Ministry of War of Japan
The , more popularly known as the Ministry of War of Japan, was cabinet-level ministry in the Empire of Japan charged with the administrative affairs of the Imperial Japanese Army...
from 1916 to 1918. Ōshima graduated from the 18th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1906, and from the 27th class of the Army War College
Army War College (Japan)
The ; Short form: of the Empire of Japan was founded in 1882 in Minato, Tokyo to modernize and Westernize the Imperial Japanese Army. Much of the empire's elite including prime ministers during the period of Japanese militarism were graduates of the college....
in 1915. He served as a military attaché
Military attaché
A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission . This post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer who retains the commission while serving in an embassy...
to Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
and Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
from 1923-1924. After his return to Japan, he was commander of the 10th Field Artillery Regiment from 1930-1931.
Military career
In 1934, Ōshima became Japanese military attaché in BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, with the rank of colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
. He spoke almost perfect German, and was soon befriended by Joachim von Ribbentrop
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg Trials.-Early life:...
, who was Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's favorite foreign policy advisor at that time. Although Hitler ostensibly used the Foreign Ministry (Auswärtiges Amt) for his foreign relations, he was in fact more dependent on the Dienststelle Ribbentrop, a competing foreign office operated by the ex-champagne salesman. Öshima's importance for Hitler during that period can be seen in the fact that following the conclusion of the Anti Comintern Pact, US Ambassador in Japan, Joseph Grew estimated that the agreement was more the result of Ōshima's work done even without the participation of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
leadership and the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, Ōshima progressed rapidly while in Berlin, attaining the rank of lieutenant general
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
and being appointed ambassador to Berlin in October 1938. During his early months as an Ambassador, according to evidence presented later at the Nürnberg Trial of Major War Criminals, he was plotting the assassination of Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
through Russian agents that were sympathetic to his cause. In a conversation Ōshima had with Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
on 31 January 1939, he expressed the hope that German-Japanese cooperation in the field of intelligence would lead eventually to the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
In September 1939, Ōshima was recalled to Japan (with Saburō Kurusu
Saburo Kurusu
was a Japanese career diplomat. He is remembered now as an envoy who tried to negotiate peace and understanding with the United States while Japan was secretly preparing the attack on Pearl Harbor....
succeeding him) - as relations between the German and Japanese governments were strained following the conclusion of the German-Soviet non-aggression pact - returning via the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Upon the insistence of the Nazi government, he returned to Berlin as Japanese Ambassador in February 1941, and remained in that position until the German surrender in May 1945. He dedicated his efforts until the end of the war in Europe
End of World War II in Europe
The final battles of the European Theatre of World War II as well as the German surrender to the Western Allies and the Soviet Union took place in late April and early May 1945.-Timeline of surrenders and deaths:...
to build closer relations between the two countries, including military cooperation in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
area (in the form of anti-merchant submarine warfare); thus he was instrumental in the forging and signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact
Anti-Comintern Pact
The Anti-Comintern Pact was an Anti-Communist pact concluded between Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan on November 25, 1936 and was directed against the Communist International ....
on 25 November 1936 and the Tripartite Pact
Tripartite Pact
The Tripartite Pact, also the Three-Power Pact, Axis Pact, Three-way Pact or Tripartite Treaty was a pact signed in Berlin, Germany on September 27, 1940, which established the Axis Powers of World War II...
on 27 September 1940. Such was his fanaticism to the Nazi ideology that he created an impression in American journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
William L. Shirer
William L. Shirer
William Lawrence Shirer was an American journalist, war correspondent, and historian, who wrote The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, a history of Nazi Germany read and cited in scholarly works for more than 50 years...
, writing in his book The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is a 1960 non-fiction book by William L. Shirer chronicling the general history of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945...
that Ōshima "is more Nazi than the Nazis".
Ōshima's close relationship with Hitler and Ribbentrop gave him unparalleled access for a foreigner to German war plans and national policy, comparable to that of Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
with the American war leadership. In turn, Hitler admired the militaristic Japanese and made Ōshima a personal confidante.
Participation in planning the war in the Pacific
Already on 13 February 1941, Ōshima discused with Ribbentrop the possibility of a joint German-Japanese initiative for war against the British Empire and the United States, and agreeing with him the time was ripe to strike at the British Empire in Asia. On 23 February 1941, Ribbentrop urged him to press the Japanese government to attack British possessions in East Asia. On 28 November 1941, in a conversation with Ribbentrop, the German Foreign Minister, he was given an assurance that the Third Reich would join the Japanese government in case of war against the United States.Such was Hitler's high esteem that Ōshima was one of only eight recipients of the Grand Cross of the Order of the German Eagle in Gold
Order of the German Eagle
The Order of the German Eagle was an award of the German Nazi regime, predominantly to foreign diplomats. The Order was instituted on 1 May 1937 by Adolf Hitler.It ceased to be awarded following the collapse of the Nazi Government at the end of World War II....
. Hitler awarded the medal following the attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
in 1941. The award ceremony was attended by Reich Foreign Minister Ribbentrop and the secret notes of the conference were revealed at the Nuremberg trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
in 1945. In addressing Ōshima, Hitler reportedly said:
Ōshima made visits to the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
and the Atlantic Wall
Atlantic Wall
The Atlantic Wall was an extensive system of coastal fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the western coast of Europe as a defense against an anticipated Allied invasion of the mainland continent from Great Britain.-History:On March 23, 1942 Führer Directive Number 40...
, and he met periodically with Hitler and other Nazi leaders. Being a meticulous military officer in training, he wrote detailed reports of the information provided to him by the Nazis — and promptly reported by radio to Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
in the Purple diplomatic cipher
Cipher
In cryptography, a cipher is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption — a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is encipherment. In non-technical usage, a “cipher” is the same thing as a “code”; however, the concepts...
. Unknown to the Japanese, the PURPLE code was broken by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
codebreakers in 1940; thus Oshima's reports were being read almost simultaneously by those who had access to Magic
Magic (cryptography)
Magic was an Allied cryptanalysis project during World War II. It involved the United States Army's Signals Intelligence Section and the United States Navy's Communication Special Unit. -Codebreaking:...
intelligence. Often, they were able to read them before the Japanese did, as transmission problems between Germany and Japan often held up the cables for hours.
Attempts by the Reich government to induce Japanese attack on the Soviet Union
Despite Ōshima's anti-Soviet positions, the Japanese government in April 1941 concluded a non-aggression pact with Moscow. The German armed forces invaded the Soviet Union in June and the German government was interested in a simultaneous Japanese attack on the USSR. However, prior to the invasion itself, the German government did not update Ōshima about plans of attack. In a conversation held on 17 May 1941, Ernst von WeizsäckerErnst von Weizsäcker
Ernst Freiherr von Weizsäcker was a German diplomat and politician. He served as State Secretary at the Foreign Office from 1938 to 1943, and as German Ambassador to the Holy See from 1943 to 1945...
, State Secretary in the German Foreign Office, denied there was any tension with the Soviet government.
Following the invasion of the USSR on 22 June 1941, pressure was placed on the Japanese government to join the invasion. On 9 July 1942, Ribbentrop tried to convince Ōshima to urge his government to join the attack on the Soviet Union. Ribbentrop's main argument being that "never again would Japan have such an opportunity as existed at present to eliminate once and for all the Russian colossus in eastern Asia". On 6 March 1943, Ōshima delivered Ribbentrop the following official statement from the Japanese government:
Participation in the planning of war crimes with the German leadership
Ōshima's high esteem with Hitler made him privy to some of the planning relating to actions later to be defined war crimes and atrocities. One example was a meeting held between him and Hitler on 3 January 1942, where they both agreed on the action of sinking life-boats working for the rescue of Allied naval personnel fleeing ships sunk in military action. The official text reads:At a meeting Ōshima had with Hitler and Ribbentrop on 27 May 1944, Hitler advised that the Japanese government should publicly hang every captured US pilot who was involved in air raids, with the hope this would deter further such attacks.
Examples of Ōshima's intercepted dispatches
Virtually all of Ōshima's dispatches were intercepted: approximately 75 during the 11 months of 1941, some 100 in 1942, 400 in 1943, 600 in 1944, and about 300 during the just over four months of 1945 when Germany was at war. For example, in a dispatch decoded on 19 January 1942, Ribbentrop agreed to supply daily intelligence reports to Ōshima, which he could pass on to Tokyo. He warned that "any leakage of these reports due to our fault would be of grave consequence, so all the handling of these reports should be strictly secret". This despite the fact that the Germans often reproached him of the unreliability of the Japanese codes, although Ōshima assured them of its security. This laxity proved to be fatal to Japanese espionage efforts, as even much of the intelligence gathered by the Japanese spy network codenamedCode name
A code name or cryptonym is a word or name used clandestinely to refer to another name or word. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage...
TO in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
(with implicit support given by the Spanish authorities) was channelled through him. This evidence halted the loading of petroleum by the United States onto Spanish tankers in 1944.
While some of his predictions were wrong — Ōshima predicted that Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
would surrender to Germany before the end of 1941 — his reporting of the Nazi leadership's plans and policies and his factual data were invaluable to the Allies. For example, on 6 June 1941, he advised Tokyo that Germany would invade the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
on 22 June (see Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
).
Another example was in November 1943, when Ōshima was taken on a four-day tour of the Atlantic Wall
Atlantic Wall
The Atlantic Wall was an extensive system of coastal fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the western coast of Europe as a defense against an anticipated Allied invasion of the mainland continent from Great Britain.-History:On March 23, 1942 Führer Directive Number 40...
fortifications on the coast of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Upon his return to Berlin, he wrote a detailed 20-page report of his visit, giving an account of the location of every German division
Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
, as well as its manpower and weaponry. He described tank ditches in detail, armament of turrets located close to the shore, and available mobile forces. This provided valuable intelligence to the planners of the D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
assault. Connected to this was that the Allies knew that Operation Fortitude
Operation Fortitude
Operation Fortitude was the codename for a World War II military deception employed by the Allied nations as part of an overall deception strategy during the build up to the 1944 Normandy Landings...
was working because just one week before D-Day, Hitler confided to Ōshima that while the Allies might make diversionary feints in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
and Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
, they will actually make open up "an all-out second front in the area of the Straits of Dover
Strait of Dover
The Strait of Dover or Dover Strait is the strait at the narrowest part of the English Channel. The shortest distance across the strait is from the South Foreland, 6 kilometres northeast of Dover in the county of Kent, England, to Cap Gris Nez, a cape near to Calais in the French of...
". Thus Ōshima dutifully reported that the bulk of German forces would not be waiting in Normandy, but mistakenly, at the Pas-de-Calais area.
His dispatches also proved to be valuable to those who were involved in the bombing campaign in Europe, as Ōshima provided details on the effect of Allied bombing raids on specific German targets, giving valuable and relatively unbiased bomb damage assessments to the Allies.
Ōshima during and after the end of the War
As the war progressed and Germany began to retreat, Ōshima never wavered in his confidence that Germany would emerge victorious. However, in March 1945 he reported to Tokyo on the "danger of Berlin becoming a battlefield" and revealing a fear "that the abandonment of Berlin may take place another month". On 13 April 1945, he met with Ribbentrop — for the last time, it turned out — and vowed to stand with the leaders of the Third Reich in their hour of crisis. "I do not wish to be treated in the same manner as other diplomats merely by reason of great danger from the ravages of war...", he announced. But he was informed that evening by the Foreign Ministry's chief of protocol: all diplomats were to leave Berlin at once by Hitler's direct order. Oshima had sent his wife to Bad GasteinBad Gastein
Bad Gastein is a spa town in the Austrian state of Salzburg, situated at the northern rim of the Hohe Tauern national park. It has 5,838 inhabitants. The name "Bad" means "spa", reflecting the town's history as a health resort. It is located at the head of the Gastein valley, about 1,000 metres ...
, a mountain resort in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, and the next day left to join her, together with most of the Japanese diplomatic staff.
Less than a month later Germany surrendered and Ōshima and his staff were taken into custody. They were brought to the United States by ship, arriving on 11 July 1945. After interrogation and internment in a resort hotel in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, Ōshima was returned to Japan.
Although he enjoyed freedom briefly in his devastated country, he was arrested on 16 December 1945 and charged with war crimes. When brought before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East
International Military Tribunal for the Far East
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East , also known as the Tokyo Trials, the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, or simply the Tribunal, was convened on April 29, 1946, to try the leaders of the Empire of Japan for three types of crimes: "Class A" crimes were reserved for those who...
, he was found guilty of conspiring to wage aggressive war on 12 November 1948 and sentenced to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
. Ōshima was paroled in late 1955 and granted clemency three years later. Ōshima died in 1975, not knowing that he provided the Allies with invaluable intelligence during the war.
External links
- "Heinrich Georg Stahmer and Hiroshi Ōshima", Nippon News, No. 18. in the official website of NHKNHKNHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....
.