Spies

Pearl Harbor Spy

Do you think that Pearl Harbor was a successful attack just because it was a suprise attack? Well, the answer is no. The japanese had a spy, Takeo Yoshikawa, who was japanese himself, spied on Pearl Harbor. He spied on Pearl Harbor from a tea house on a mountain side that conveniantly had a telescope or two to enhance the view. The tea house was in Alewa Heights section, north of downtown Honolulu. Sometimes he would go to the cane fields at Aiea north of two bases. From other nearby slopes he could see the submarine facilitie. And a pier at Pearl City to the northwest enabled him to view the far side of Ford Island and its airstrip. He used all these places, all of them near Pearl Harbor, to get the info he needed to Japan, but if he looked closely at the harbor entrance, he would have seen the anti-submarine nets gaurding the entrance, but both sides of the entrance were restricted areas so that was part of the reason. All this info he got about the base let the Japanese Navy knew just where the U.S. ships were, thanks to Takeo. Takeo had a cover though, and that helped him get around without suspicion, he was supposed to be a regular worker in a governement on consuls, the consulate. The spy was successful in his spying and enabled the Japanese to attack knowing their enemie's weaknesses.

Spy Gadgets

I'm sure you're thinking, "Spies back then didn't really have gadgets." Well, you're wrong. They might not've been as advanced, but they did have gadgets. You might have never thought they'd have bombs in frozen eggs, and disguised bombs, but they did. They had all sorts of neat gadgets like : bombs disguised as veggies or lumps of coal, chocolate bars that is used as a handgrenade when front end of chocolate bar is broke, a strip of canvas comes out, you throw it, seven seconds later... BOOM. They used shaving brushes and shoe brushes to contain fuses and detonaters, invisible ink, and microdots that had to be looked on by a telescope. Imagine a few dots containing a message saying the German army is attacking and it pinpoints everything about the attack and the army. They also used pigeons to carry messages. All these gadgets were used in World War II and I'm sure theres more. I personally never knew they used all these neat gadgets.

Some Extra Facts

During World War II, the U.S. started training their own agents in general intelligence work and atleast one agent was trained in plant protection. The U.S. focused on internal security efforts (like spies in the country), on potentially dangerous German, Italian, and Japanese nationals as well as native born Americans whose beliefs and activities aided the axis powers. They were basically afraid of them turning sides and doing something harmful in the United States. All of this work the U.S. did paid off in the end when Germans let off four saboteurs at each Amagansett, Long Island, and Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. George Dasch was afraid of capture, turned himself in, and helped the United States catch the rest of his team. Before the U.S. entered the war, the FBI uncovered another major espionage (spying) ring, the Fredrick Duquesne Spy Ring. This led to the capture of 33 spies, including Fredrick Duquesne.



Convictions

In the end of World War II, only 10 people were convicted for spying for Japan, all whom were caucasians. More than two thousand were arrested without any evidence of disloyalty. Their businesses were forced to close down, police detained them illegally, evicting them from their homes, and firing them from their jobs. They were taken to assembly centers, and later to internment camps. Americans still harbored feelings about Japanese-Americans, fearing them because they might be spies.

List of Convictions

Dr. Ignatz T. Griebl had been implicated in a Nazi spy ring with Guenther Gustave Rumrich, who was tried with espionage charges in 1938. Paul Bante was arrested for violation of regestration act for 18 months with a $1,00 dollar fine. He made fuse bombs, and subsequently delivered dynamite and detonation caps. Max Blanl was also charged the same fine as Paul Bante. Blank was trying to get info about some inventions made for an airplane. Alfred E. Brokoff was sentenced to serve a five year prison term for violation of espionage statutes and two years for violation of the registration act. He helped Paul Hahse secure info about sailing dates and cargoes of vessals detained for England.

References

Book

Allen, Thomas. __Remember Pearl Harbor__. Washington D.C.: 2001.

Internet

"Spy Gadgets in World War I." __Security Service MI5__. 2007. Government. 11 Dec 2007 .

"FBI History." __Federal Bereau of Investigation__. Federal Bereau of Investigation. 19 Dec 2007 http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/history/worldwar.htm.

"Federal Bereau of Investigation Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts Section Cover Sheet." Government site FBI. 13 Dec 2007 .