Kanmon Undersea Railway Tunnel & the Invasion of Japan

Discussions on all aspects of the Japanese Empire, from the capture of Taiwan until the end of the Second World War.
Mil-tech Bard
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Re: Kanmon Undersea Railway Tunnel & the Invasion of Japan

#46

Post by Mil-tech Bard » 23 Mar 2013, 00:00

It turns out the Javaman TV camera was a US Navy one from R.C.A.’s chief scientist Dr. Vladimir Zworykin that was adapted for Operation Crossbow -- the attack on German V-weapons -- via the USAAF Weary Willie and US Navy Aphrodite heavy bomber conversions.

It was also used on the later TDN-1/TDR-1 TV guided missile.

See below:

http://www.mugualumni.org/secretarsenal/page9.html

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Re: Kanmon Undersea Railway Tunnel & the Invasion of Japan

#47

Post by Mil-tech Bard » 23 Mar 2013, 00:05

There turns out to be a declassified report on "Project Campbell" on the US Army's CARL Digital Library site.

See the link for a PDF document on it --

http://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/sing ... 041/rec/11

The data I downloaded for Campbell is a 100% match for Javaman.

The OSS-USAAF organizational link for Javaman came from the China-Burma-India theater, where Gen. H. H. "Hap" Arnold put a lot of his "Imperial focus" on supporting the UK Chindits and OSS field units with his "Air Commandos" and where one of Arnold's guided weapon projects, the VB-1 Azon bomb, was the most successful.

According to pages 337 & 338 of Joseph E. Persico's "Roosevelt's Secret War; FDR and World War II Espionage" Generals Arnold and Donavan (OSS director) sold Project Javaman to a dying FDR in a White house meeting in late March 1945. The order to reserve the Kanmon tunnel for Project Javaman went to General Kenney's Far Eastern Air Force in Early April 1945 during the deliberations around approving the invasion of Japan.

After that, Javaman sat like a huge lead weight on any local Pacific commander's initiative to strike the Kanmon tunnel prior to the week of July 18th thru 25th 1945, when the reality of 12,000 troops a day moving through the tunnel shattered that inertia.

Then it was a case of the 20th Air Force dropping the ball on sealing the Kanmon tunnel and being shown the door by Nimitz & MacArthur Olympic invasion plans in early August 1945.


Mil-tech Bard
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Re: Kanmon Undersea Railway Tunnel & the Invasion of Japan

#48

Post by Mil-tech Bard » 16 Apr 2013, 17:06

Attached is a chart I put together to graphically present the damage to the American invasion plans of Kyushu that the "Javaman Delay" caused.
Attachments
Kyushu Build Up -- (12 May1945 - 8 Aug 1945).jpg
The Japanese Troop build Up on Kyushu

Mil-tech Bard
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Re: Kanmon Undersea Railway Tunnel & the Invasion of Japan

#49

Post by Mil-tech Bard » 16 Apr 2013, 18:53

This is a photoshop from the Campbell Project Document on the Combined Arms Research Library - Digital Library.

The Javaman was based on the "A-5" boat shown as an "Irrawaddy Steamer" in the photoshop.
Attachments
Javaman -- Campbell_a_joint_AAF_and_OSS_project - 8.jpg
Javaman -- Campbell_a_joint_AAF_and_OSS_project - 8.jpg (118.02 KiB) Viewed 2953 times

ChristopherPerrien
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Re: Kanmon Undersea Railway Tunnel & the Invasion of Japan

#50

Post by ChristopherPerrien » 20 May 2013, 20:30

I am currently attempting to figure out more on the Mateo Corp. I have run across some conflicting information on the 85' ft crash boat. Apparently some (8-10) were built by Wilmington Boat Works of Wilmington , California. So I wondering if there is some confusion from various sources as to where Mateo Corp was located, or where it might have started , or where its shipyards were, was it a subsidiary of Mateo or vice versa. It is possible that "Wilmington" may infer yards in Ca. and SC. It looks like they were built in more than one yard.

Such is the nature of small boat/yahct shipyards and their everchanging ownership caused by the changing of major building contracts. I have some first hand knowledge of this being, from the Gulf Coast and the history of Higgins/Halter marine.

Mil-tech Bard
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Re: Kanmon Undersea Railway Tunnel & the Invasion of Japan

#51

Post by Mil-tech Bard » 15 Jul 2013, 02:58

I have finally scored the war report of the OSS and this is what it says regards the JAVAMAN.

WAR REPORT OF THE OSS (Office of Strategic Services)

with a new introduction by Kermit Roosevelt (1976)
Prepared by
History Project, Strategic Services Unit,
Office of the Assistant Secretary of War,
War Department, Washington, D.C.

page 116
In the Pacific Ocean theaters, OSS as a whole was never active. Admiral Nimitz
originally rejected a plan for psychological warfare in the Pacific Theater.- Similarly,
OSS was never fully active in the Southwest Pacific Theater. In the spring of 1945, General
MacArthur approved the dispatch of personnel and eqUipment for JAVAMAN, a
secret weapon developed by the Special Projects Branch. However, the Japanese war
ended before the mission reached the field.
• Embodied in JCS 403, 2 August 1943.
page 228
(e) SPECIAL PROJECTS OFFICE
The Special Projects Office was established. on 31 December 1943 by Supplement 27 of
General Order No.9 to "carry out special assignments and missions as approved by the
Director". It was, therefore, responsible for operational purposes directly to Donovan.
However, for administrative purposes Special Projects was given branch status under
the Deputy Director-SSO.
page 229
The Branch was established at the end of 1943 in order to develop projects which
normally would not fall within the purview of any one branch and the execution of
which transcended geographic theater boundaries. Although the Branch was not
limited as to the nature of the projects to be handled, the great interest in secret
weapons in late 1943 and early 1944, together with the results achieved by MACGEGOR
in this field, determined its focus of interest. Of the projects which were
undertaken by the Branch, SIMMONS and JAVAMAN merit particular interest.
page 230
In the SIMMONS Project, the Branch had been concerned with procuring high priority
technical intelligence. However, it should be noted that Special Projects was an outgrowth
of SO, and its attention soon turned toward the field of actual operations. The
JAVAMAN Project," which had been under consideration as early as the spring of 1944,
provided the opportunity.

JAVAMAN was a missile craft .... designed to effect the sabotage of enemy vessels and
installations which, because of tight protection by inner and outer harbor defenses,
could only be attacked by using operational deception. Disguised as an ordinary craft
normal to the area of operations, JAVAMAN would operate by remote control radio
from an aircraft and be aimed by the use of television.

Experimentation and development were in progress throughout the late spring of 1944.
A test was made in August. In this test the cooperation of the Air Forces, begun during
SIMMONS, was continued. They made available to Special Projects a 5,000-ton, 300-
foot derelict for the experiment, which took place on 11 August 1944 in the Gulf of
Mexico. Representatives of the JCS, the Navy, the Air Forces and OSS were present
at the maneuvers. In these tests, a JAVAMAN craft, containing high explosives,
under remote control from a plane which aimed the missile by the use of television,
was completely successful in sinking the target vessel.

Top Secret
Consequently, at the end of September JAVAMAN was declared ready for operational
use in ETO. Maneuvers and operational runs continued during the period of
waiting, pending Theater Commander approval.*

By March 1945, this approval was not forthcoming and Special Projects turned
to another theater to find operational employment for JAVAMAN.

In May 1945 General MacArthur requested and approved appropriate air priority for
Special Projects personnel to proceed to his Theater to discuss the possibilities of JAVAMAN
there. Personnel was dispatched and, as a result of the discussions, General MacArthur
on 21 June approved the dispatch to his Theater of a JA V AMAN mission with appropriate
equipment, on condition that transportation would not be charged against Theater tonnages.

By mid-July, the first group of ARB's was ready for Shipment to the Pacific on tankers
allotted by the Army Transportation Corps. The sudden end of hostilities in the Pacific
on 17 August obviated the possibility of using JAVAMAN in actual operations against the
enemy. Contracts were cancelled, work was stopped and liquidation begun.

• ThIs project was originally known as
CAMPBELL; it was retitled JAVAMAN in January
1945 at the request of the CCS.
•• Alr-sea rescue boats, appropriately modified,
were the foundation for JAVAMAN craft.

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Re: Kanmon Undersea Railway Tunnel & the Invasion of Japan

#52

Post by Mil-tech Bard » 22 Jul 2013, 23:20

It turns out that there is a great deal on the WW2 Javaman boatbomb on the internet. The key was going to early television sites researching the RCA television technology that Javaman (referred to by its earlier code name Campbell) used and to follow the links.

This is the link I found from the Early Telvision Museum web site --

http://www.earlytelevision.org/military_tv.html

Which lead to the following OSS films turned to on-line videos --


http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675 ... television

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675 ... ter-launch

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675 ... ile-attack

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675 ... enemy-ship

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675 ... ent-loaded

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675 ... mb-in-boat

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Re: Kanmon Undersea Railway Tunnel & the Invasion of Japan

#53

Post by bnlj1948 » 12 Oct 2014, 01:11

Hi All,
Stumbled upon the website. Eureka!
My Dad was involved with the Javaman - MX559 project. During testing, he was the lucky one who was riding in the boat while it was radio controlled from the plane above. He had to bail out of the boat when the controls could not be overridden - as it plowed into the pier in Tampa Florida. He joined the Army Air Corps in 1938 at Hamilton Field and spent much of his WWII time as a radio operator on Adak Island, Alaska. But being involved with Donovan and the OSS he was pulled lots of directions. He also spent quite a bit of time on the glider project out of Dayton. He loved the service and he loved flying. He passed away in 1999 but his stories live on with us. He taught at the radio school in Kanoya.
I will be reading through all the posts - I am so glad to see the info out here!
Thank you,
Ellen

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Wellgunde
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Re: Kanmon Undersea Railway Tunnel & the Invasion of Japan

#54

Post by Wellgunde » 12 Oct 2014, 22:05

Mil-tech Bard wrote:Attached is a chart I put together to graphically present the damage to the American invasion plans of Kyushu that the "Javaman Delay" caused.
Mil-tech, this is an instructive chart. Some troops were raised in Kyushu and others were transferred in from theaters outside Japan. Do you have any way of subtracting those figures from the total to show only those reinforcements which passed through the tunnel?
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Re: Kanmon Undersea Railway Tunnel & the Invasion of Japan

#55

Post by Mil-tech Bard » 13 Oct 2014, 00:04

Wellgunde wrote:
Mil-tech Bard wrote:Attached is a chart I put together to graphically present the damage to the American invasion plans of Kyushu that the "Javaman Delay" caused.
Mil-tech, this is an instructive chart. Some troops were raised in Kyushu and others were transferred in from theaters outside Japan. Do you have any way of subtracting those figures from the total to show only those reinforcements which passed through the tunnel?
No I do not.

The chart was based the numbers in the US Army Military intelligence Ultra signals intercept plotting of new units showing up on Kyushu.

It was in a US War Department Military Intelligence Service intelligence document whose references I found in Ed Drea's Essay "Intelligence Forecasting for the Invasion of Japan: Previews of Hell" both in the book "In The Service of the Emperor: Essays on the Imperial Japanese Army."

Drea made the point that the Demobilization Commission found 900,000 men under arms on Kyushu upon surrender. Compare that to the last number on the Chart I made.

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Re: Kanmon Undersea Railway Tunnel & the Invasion of Japan

#56

Post by Mil-tech Bard » 13 Oct 2014, 00:49

Wellgunde,

This is the only hard evidence I have found of the use of the Kanmon Undersea Railway tunnel in July 1945 for the mass movement of Japanese troops in that chart -- to the tune of 12,000 a day in late July -- based on the closure of Japanese sea traffic to Kyushu by American mines.

http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/ ... _notes.htm

General MacArthur
JAPANESE OPERATIONS IN THE
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA

Volume II - Part II

Chapter 19, foot notes -

Footnote 5

(1) Statistics and Analysis Reports, op. cit., Report No. 7: Extent of
Air Raids and Property Damage and Casualties on Principal Cities
during the War.

(2) "Shimonoseki Strait was closed from March 1945 up to the end of
the war. During each month, approximately 15 days represented complete
closure due to the necessity for sweeping operations. In spite of the
supposedly safe periods, the danger to navigation was still existent.
. ." U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey (Pacific), Naval Analysis Division,
Interrogation of Japanese Officials, 1946, Vol. I, p. 19.
(Interrogation of Capt. Kyuzo Tamura, Mine Division, Naval Technical
Department, Navy Ministry.

(3) "Beginning with the mine blockade.. .of Shimonoseki Strait on 27
March 1945, all important ports and navigation routes as far north as
Funakawa, Akita Prefecture, and Rashin, Korea, were subjected to
repeated aerial mining. . .we were forced to abandon the use of ...the
Inland Sea first and later the major ports on the Japan Sea. The most
effective and disastrous blockades were those of Shimonoseki Strait,
Osaka-Kcbe, Hakata, Maizuru, Fushiki, Nanao, and Niigata. . ."
Statement by Capt. Atsushi Oi, Staff Officer (Operations), General
Escort Command.

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Re: Kanmon Undersea Railway Tunnel & the Invasion of Japan

#57

Post by Mil-tech Bard » 13 Oct 2014, 00:53

bnlj1948,

See the Forum e-mail I sent to you.

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Wellgunde
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Re: Kanmon Undersea Railway Tunnel & the Invasion of Japan

#58

Post by Wellgunde » 15 Oct 2014, 02:11

Mil-tech, Thanks for the references. By the way, the only thing wrong with Ed Drea is that he is no longer writing about Japan. He is now working on the history of the Office of the Secretary of Defense for DOD.
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Re: Kanmon Undersea Railway Tunnel & the Invasion of Japan

#59

Post by Mil-tech Bard » 23 Oct 2014, 00:02

Regards Drea --

You have to pay the bills somehow.

I have a photo from a recent NARA trip from US Joint planning committee plant to invade Northern Kyushu in lieu of Operation Coronet that gives exactly what the US Military thought the Kanmon tunnel's capabilities were in July-Aug 1945.

Kanmon Tunnel Intel Picture Jul-Aug 1945.jpg
US Military Kanmon Tunnel intelligence from Jul-Aug 1945 in the Invasion plans for Northern Kyushu

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Re: Kanmon Undersea Railway Tunnel & the Invasion of Japan

#60

Post by Mil-tech Bard » 13 Nov 2014, 00:52

I ran across the following in the national archives.

The cancellation letter for Javaman.
Attachments
Javaman cancellation 31 Aug 1945 -- small.jpg
The 31 August 1945 Cancellation notice for Javaman

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