Japan's Underwater Convoys: A series of top-secret Japanese submarine missions could have changed the course of World War II Oct. 2005
Although Japan was aligned with Germany and Italy in their pact, it wasn't chat close of an alliance. Japan did not sit down and work out any major details of battles or strategy with Germany or Italy. The Germans basically hoped Japan could invade the Soviet Union from the east and take pressure off the German army in the west, but Japan never did that.
There was, though, to be an exchange of strategic materials, manufactured goods and information between the countries, involving surface ships at first and then later submarines.
On Aug. 2, 1942, the Japanese submarine I-30 sailed to the area off the coast of Spain where it was met by German planes that provided air cover. It was later joined by a group of minesweepers and went to a French port. It was the first Japanese submarine to arrive in Europe. The U-boat men were given a major welcome. The Japanese had brought mica and shellac for the Gernmans, and drawings of their Type 91 aerial torpedo. Commander Endo, meanwhile, got to meet Hitler.
The Japanese sub took on a cargo of air defense ground radar blueprints, examples of German torpedoes, bombs and fire-control systems, and industrial diamonds, along with fifty Enigma coding machines.
Unfortunately for the sub and its cargo, the sub hit a mine on the way home and sank. Most of the crew got away safely, but the cargo was pretty much lost. The I-29 made a similar trip, carrying drawings and blueprints of the Type A midget submarine and of the carrier Akagi. The Japanese were given a rocket motor from the Messerschmitt Me-163 Komet and a Jumo 004B axial-flow turbojet from the Me-262 jet fighter, along with drawings of a torpedo boat engine, a V-1 buzz bomb fuselage and a bunch of other things, plus some U-235.
Like the I-30, the I-29 got as far as Singapore safely. Instead of hitting a mine, though, this was was attacked by a US sub and was sunk. The blueprints were saved and taken to Tokyo, but the rocket motors were lost with the sub.
A third sub, the I-52, tried but was sunk while making its way to a German port. This one was destroyed by planes.
It was quite simply a very long way from Japan to Germany, and there was a lot of territory in which the submarines would be subject to attack. An actual, effective exchange of technology between the two countries could have had a major impact on the war, but the physical distance separating the two countries was a major problem. Both countries, in my opinion, also started the war too early and didn't give enough emphasis to weapons development. If the V-2 and the jets that the Nazis had started on had been given enough time to be fully developed, they would have proven to be a major problem for the Allies, as would have similar jets for the Japanese. Both countries had a nuclear program going, and given a few more years they might have even had those bombs ready. Both countries were restless, though, and wanted to start their wars on their own timetables, and neither country was able to develop their super-weapons in time.
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