LEST WE FORGET - TODAY 73 YEARS AGO

[CINDERS]

They were trying but not in the race.

"On May 19, 1945, a Nazi submarine was captured and discovered to be delivering 1,200 pounds of uranium oxide to the Japanese military. The vessel was dispatched for Japan shortly after Adolf Hitler committed suicide, a time when the Germans wanted to dispose of their large amounts of uranium. Two Japanese officers were aboard the submarine; both committed suicide upon being captured."

Full story in link;
New evidence of Japan's effort to build atom bomb at the end of WWII

[rcathey]

Saw a lot about that. Also some interesting stuff!
But couldn't find even a scent of a Cobalt based dirty bomb.

[Peter Laidler]

Slightly off-track..... When did it change from being the Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC) to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission? I always remember it as the IWGC. Even further aside, just next to our big workshops in Singapore, in the 25 Coy (or Squadron) area was a small IWGC office that looked after the graves at Pasir Panjang and Ulu Pandan military cemeteries plus the main Kranji cemetery. I think that all of the bodies from the different churches and areas were eventually moved to Kranji. The graves area of the murdered medics and nurses at the BMH, the big hospital at Alexandra were not disturbed for some reason. At 25 Coy one of the RCT drivers there was Dixie Dean and he had an Austin Commercial 1 tonner that was gleaming - and I mean gleaming - polished Khaki. Although the Austin 1 tonner was an Army truck, it was reserved for use by the IWGC to collect dug up/recovered bodies. You knew which it was because it was the only truck in the Far East that had a low canopy over the rear body. The rest were wire meshed.

In Malaya I seem to recall that most of the little Christian churches had a small sectioned-off IWGC area plus a few wartime ones at BMH Kinrara near the Central Malaya Sub District HQ. How do I remember this guff.........

[browningautorifle]

How do I remember this guff

It was part of your life...

[Gil Boyd]

Peter,
Absolutely right all Military cemeteries are now one and moved to Kranji CWGC Cemetery, Singapore, where I was commemorating the two 2 PARA lads killed at the Battle of Plaman Mapu two years ago.
As always the CWGC have done a very moving job ther bringing all the graves together in one place on a hill overlooking the harbour. I know the Cemetery Supervisor there and his team of 12 workers, amazing what they do in that intense heat on a daily basis. He is shown on the left of the attached photo. I am taking the pics.

In answer to your specific question the Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC) was founded by a Royal Charter in May 1917 to provide for remembrance in perpetuity as graves massed during WW1.
However, in March of 1960, as Britain withdrew from its massive Empire, its name was changed to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC)
Second photo me standing with the PARA RHQ Wreath with Lt General James Bashall ex 2 PARA CO

[obijohnkenobe]

Google 'Japanese submarine dirty bomb' to see a list of related stories. IIRC there was a book on this that I read in the last decade or two... going through my Amazon purchases now... that told this story, and how the Japanese were very close to doing this before the war ended.

[rcathey]

Google 'Japanese submarine dirty bomb' to see a list of related stories. IIRC there was a book on this that I read in the last decade or two... going through my Amazon purchases now... that told this story, and how the Japanese were very close to doing this before the war ended.

The submarine I-52, perhaps? Looks like it was supposed to receive a cargo of Uraniam Dioxide from Germany. But it never made it that far and the use hasn’t been confirmed. So either way that certainly wasn’t sunk with a dirty bomb bound for anywhere in the US.
Don’t misread me, I want your telling of it to be true (it has a really intriguing “what if” factor) but I just can’t find any evidence of it.

[Paul S.]

I remember reading that the Japanese used submarine borne float planes circa 1942-43 for a raiding operation in the Central Pacific (Hawaii possibly?). The submarines involved had a hanger built onto the aft deck as memory serves.

I think the book I may have read that in was And We Were There.


That said, one would think that IF the Japanese had planned using a rudimentary 'dirty bomb' of some sort that they could have used the more easily deployed balloon system they used to drop incendiary bombs on the Pacific Northwest.

[CINDERS]

They did fly balloons towards the USA on the jet stream quite the ingenious plan which resulted in some deaths on the US's mainland but about as useful as an ashtray on a motor bike.
A better plan would have been to have Anthrax or Botulism as a payload and disperse it into the atmosphere at lower level to contaminate the land, air and the water.

Fu-Go balloon bomb - Wikipedia

[Gil Boyd]

Thank God they didn't have access to them, as I think with their mentality they might have used them!!