Marcus Island (Minami-Tori-Shima) — 1941/42

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Leo Niehorster
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Re: Marcus Island (Minami-Tori-Shima) — 1941/42

#16

Post by Leo Niehorster » 15 Sep 2014, 17:16

Re. Post Number: #10
The air unit on Marcus island in June 1942 was the from the Mihoro (Bihoro) NAG, 22nd Air Flotilla.
It had 12x Mitsubishi Type 1 G4M1 bombers listed. Don't know if there were another three types, or if there were only 12 aircraft total. Air unit commander not indicated.

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Wellgunde
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Re: Marcus Island (Minami-Tori-Shima) — 1941/42

#17

Post by Wellgunde » 16 Sep 2014, 01:58

Thank you, Leo. It's ten percent access, twenty percent perseverance, and seventy percent luck. But you probably know that already from your time spent in the Bundesarchiv.

Col. Sakata died on Marcus and is listed as a battle casualty. The real story is a little different. One of his officers developed "island fever" and demanded that Sakata abandon the island. This officer was certainly delusional; Sakata would never have returned his command to Japan even had it been in his power to do so. When Sakata rebuffed the man's demands, the officer killed Sakata. What became of the officer is unknown. He was probably given a field courts martial on the island and executed. I imagine it would have been too difficult to send him back to Japan for trial at that point in the war. It's surprising that more of the personnel on Marcus didn't go nuts. Marcus was short of everything except personnel.

I wish you luck in creating an understandable "wiring diagram" of the command relationships on Marcus.
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Akira Takizawa
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Re: Marcus Island (Minami-Tori-Shima) — 1941/42

#18

Post by Akira Takizawa » 16 Sep 2014, 03:01

The story about the murder of Sakata I have heard is different.

Because of the serious shortage of foods, Admiral Matsubara advised Col. Sakata that the army forces would return to Japan. But, Col. Sakata did not agree with it, because his pride did not allow him to retreat from the front. Admiral Matsubara asked Captain Nakamura, the tank unit commander, to persuade Sakata. Nakamura persuaded Sakata, again and again. But, Sakata did not agree. At last, Nakamura killed Sakata and committed a suicide.

Of course, it is a crime. So, the truth would be hidden and it would be reported that he was deranged.

Taki

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Wellgunde
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Re: Marcus Island (Minami-Tori-Shima) — 1941/42

#19

Post by Wellgunde » 16 Sep 2014, 03:50

Thank you, Taki, for providing a different view of what is a tragic story. Both versions, raise interesting questions. Although Matsubara was the nominal commander of the island, did he possess the authority to even suggest the removal of army troops? Would IGHQ even entertain such an idea? To do so, would have been an admission on their part that they had made a mistake in over populating an indefensible island. Was Nakamura's action an example of the ni-ni-roku jiken mindset? Sakata's position seems perfectly understandable in terms of on and gimu; Nakamura's less so. In any case, abandoning Marcus in late 1944 would probably have been suicide by submarine.

Matsubara was "debriefed" (read: interrogated) following the surrender. I wonder if a copy still exists and if it might shed any light on this incident.
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