Akikaze
 The Akikaze 1923
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The Akikaze ( Japanese 秋風 , German "autumn wind") was a destroyer of the Imperial Japanese Navy and one of fifteen ships of the Minekaze class . It was used in the Pacific War until it was sunk on November 3, 1944 , and gained some fame as the site of the execution of several civilians during the war.
Classification
The Minekaze destroyer class was budgeted right after World War I in 1917-1920. The Akikaze was the ninth ship in the class and was built by Mitsubishi Nagasaki in 1920 . The absolutely identical sister ships were Minekaze , Sawakaze , Okikaze , Shimakaze , Nadakaze , Yakaze , Hakaze , Shiokaze , Yukaze , Tachikaze , Hokaze , Nokaze , Namikaze and Numakaze , some of which were built at Mitsubishi and some on the Maizuru Naval Yard. The class was named after the Minekaze , although this ship was only built second after the Sawakaze .
Second World War
Philippines
During the attack on Pearl Harbor , the Akikaze was stationed in Takao and was preparing for the Japanese invasion of the Philippines .
Rabaul
The ship was then stationed for escort duties in the Pacific in Davao and then in Rabaul . In August 1942 she was assigned as an escort to the aircraft mother ship Akitsushima . Both ships were attacked by B-17 bombers off Buka on September 1, 1942 , but suffered no serious damage. From March 8 to 18, 1943, the destroyer was used for supply trips between various island garrisons. He and two other destroyers attacked an American submarine on March 14, 1943, presumably the Triton .
War crimes
The Akikaze called at the islands of Laurengau and Kairiru and took in 46 civilians, including a large number of German missionaries , including Josef Lörks . The commander of the Japanese ground forces, headquartered in Wewak , asked the 8th Fleet in early 1943 to remove all civilians from the islands in the sector for security reasons.
The Akikaze reached Kavieng on March 18, 1943 and left again after a short stay. According to interviews with a crew member by Australian investigators after the war, Sabe Tsurukichi, commander of the destroyer, informed him that he had received orders from Rabaul's 8th Fleet to shoot the civilians. About 60 nautical miles south of the island, the people were led individually on deck, set up at the stern and then shot down, so that the bodies fell into the sea. A child about five years old was thrown overboard alive. The German Bishops' Conference accepted the German missionaries as witnesses of faith in the German martyrology of the 20th century .
After the Australian investigators were only given the task of looking for their missing citizens, whose fate they had already been able to clarify in the course of the investigation, they passed their findings on the events on the Akikaze to the Americans. Apparently no further investigation took place.
Further course of the war
The Akikaze remained stationed in Rabaul. She was discovered and attacked on Monday August 2, 1943 by Australian PBY Catalina long-range scouts south of Rabaul. Hits in the area of the bridge led to numerous casualties among the ship's crew. 32 sailors, including Captain Sabe, were killed.
The ship moved to Maizuru for necessary repairs , but was again entrusted with transport tasks to the Rabaul region in November 1943. On December 7, 1943 there was a collision with the Amagiri off Kavieng , which caused moderate damage to the starboard side. On December 21, the Akikaze was again the target of an air strike, but suffered only minor damage from a bomb that exploded next to the ship.
In April 1944, she escorted an escort and was involved 150 nautical miles northwest of Woleai in the rescue of the crew of the freighter Matsue Maru , which had been sunk by the Harder submarine .
Downfall
In the fall of 1944, the Akikaze drove escort for an association that consisted of the destroyers Yūzuki and Uzuki , the aircraft carrier Jun'yō and the light cruiser Kiso . On November 3, the American submarine Pintado shot a torpedo fan at the aircraft carrier off Luzon . The Akikaze slipped into the torpedo track and received several hits. The destroyer sank with its entire crew, all other ships in the escort escaped.
On January 10, 1945, the Akikaze was deleted from the ship register.
Evidence and references
Remarks
- ↑ Contrary to the reports of the Australian Commission of Inquiry from 1946, some publications give the ship on which the executions were carried out the name Akikaze-Maru , which would not be a name for a destroyer, but rather indicates a cargo ship with the addition of "Maru" to the name. So in John Garrett: Where Nets Were Cast. Christianity in Oceania Since World War II. Institute of Pacific Studies, 1997, ISBN 9820201217 , p. 27.
Web links
- Destroyer of Minekaze class (English)
- Akikaze: Tabular Record of Movement on combinedfleet.com (English)
literature
- Sixta Kasbauer: They come from great affliction - from the war years of the Divine Word Guinea mission . Mission printing company Steyl 1951.
- Ralph M. Wiltgen: The Death of Bishop Loerks and his companions, Part I: The Execution , in Verbum SVD 6: 4 (1964) 363-397.
- R. Wiltgen: The Death of Bishop Loerks and his companions, Part II: The Trial , in: Verbum SVD 7: 1 (1965) 14-44.
- Ralph Wiltgen: Apostle death in New Guinea. The death of Bishop Lörks u. of his companions , Steyler Verl., St. Augustin 1966. 75 pp.
- David Carlisle Stanley Sissons: THE AUSTRALIAN WAR CRIMES TRIALS ANDINVESTIGATIONS (1942–51). Papers of David Sissons, National Library of Australia, MS 3092, Series 10.
- Theo Aerts, (ed): The martyrs of Papua New Guinea: 333 missionary lives lost during World War II , University of Papua New Guinea Press, Port Moresby, 1994, 276 pp., ISBN 9980-84-053-6
- Mark Felton : Slaughter at Sea: The Story of Japan's Naval War Crimes. Pen & Sword Books, 2007, ISBN 978-1844156474 .
- National Archives of Australia: War crimes, DP "Akikaze" and Kairuru Island. 1945–1947, Item Barcode: 635403.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chronology of the US Navy for 1942, viewed August 1, 2012
- ↑ The Akitsushima mission history on combinedfleet.com, viewed on August 2, 2012
- ↑ a b D.CS Sissons: THE AUSTRALIAN WAR CRIMES TRIALS ANDINVESTIGATIONS (1942–51). P. 54.
- ↑ Helmut Moll (ed. On behalf of the German Bishops' Conference), witnesses for Christ. The German Martyrology of the 20th Century , Paderborn et al. 1999, 7th revised and updated edition 2019, pp. 1475–1517.
- ↑ Chronology of the US Navy for 1943 , viewed August 1, 2012