VADM FUKUDOME AND PLAN “Z”

After diverting to Cebu to escape the path of a violent storm, VADM Shigeru Fukudome’s “Emily” seaplane still found itself in dire straits.  On the approach to Cebu’s harbor this dark night the pilot momentarily lost his reference to the water surface and nose-dived into the sea from a height of 150 feet.  Fukudome bobbed to the surface near a spreading blanket of burning fuel and grabbed for floating debris.  He had had the foresight to collect his briefcase carrying the written operational Plan “Z” as he escaped the plane.  Others of Koga’s staff had also survived the crash, ten in all, and collected themselves for the swim to land.

But after eight hours of paddling Fukudome had still not reached the shore.  Alone now as the others had swum ahead, Fukudome observed several native canoes departing the beach in his direction.  These hauled him from the water, but then turned away from the familiar silhouette of Cebu’s Japanese settlement.  Fukudome soon realized he had been picked up by “hostile” Filipinos not allied to the Japanese.  In spite of his protestations that he be taken to Cebu City, he was instead marched for eight days through thick jungle to the headquarters of LCOL James M. Cushing, the American leader of the Philippine guerrillas.  Now febrile, with wounds that were becoming infected, Fukudome there received the care of a Philippine doctor and nurse.

Other of the seaplane’s survivors were luckier, and when news of the crash reached Japanese island commander COL Onishi Seito he sent battalions of troops into the hills in search of Fukudome.  These troops rampaged and pillaged through the countryside, threatening to slaughter all the native Filipinos they found unless Fukudome was returned.  When they began to make good on this threat, Cushing arranged to release Fukudome in Cebu City.  The VADM was recovered by the Japanese, rested a few days, then departed for Tokyo on April 20^th.

And what of his briefcase full of plans?  Upon recognizing the importance of this intelligence, Cushing had gotten word to MacArthur’s Allied Intelligence Bureau on nearby Negros Island.  The submarine HADDO (SS-255) appeared off the coast of Cebu and transported the documents to a waiting plane.  They were quickly translated by MacArthur’s staff and distributed to Allied theater commanders.  VADM Mitscher received his copy just in time for Operation Forager, the invasion of the Marianas Islands.  (Mitscher’s copy arrived a bit wet.  In attempting to air-drop the document to the carrier commander the Navy PB4Y missed the deck of LEXINGTON (CV-16).  Mitscher’s copy had to be fished from the drink by a whaleboat).

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  6 APR 23

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Manson, Frank A.  “Koga’s Last Stand.”  Sea Classics, Vol 33 (8). August 2000, pp. 26-31.

Prados, John.  Combined Fleet Decoded:  The Secret History of American Intelligence and the Japanese Navy in World War II.  New York, NY: Random House, 1995, pp. 549-51.

Wilds, Thomas C.  “The Admiral Who Lost his Fleet.”  United States Naval Institute Proceedings, Vol 77 (11), Whole No. 585, November 1951, pp. 1175-81.

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                         THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ADMIRAL KOGA

With the death of ADM Isoruku Yamamoto on 18 April 1943 command of the Imperial Japanese Combined Fleet passed to ADM Mineichi Koga.  In February 1944 Koga was forced by American air raids to move his headquarters from the now untenable forward base at Truk Lagoon to Palau in the Caroline Islands.  The Japanese considered the Carolines and the Marianas Islands to be part of their inner defensive perimeter from which they could not retreat.  Koga sent his remaining carriers under VADM Ozawa to the relative safety of Singapore, and retained only the battleship MUSASHI, a cruiser, and four destroyers in Palau.

Meanwhile, MacArthur was working up the islands of the southern Pacific and by March 1944 was anticipating a landing at Hollandia in New Guinea.  The Japanese base on Palau represented a point from which the enemy could harass MacArthur’s Hollandia operations.  Thus, VADM Marc Mitscher’s Task Force 58 of 11 aircraft carriers and assorted surface escorts was ordered to hit Palau hard enough knock it out of action for at least a month.

Koga was an excellent strategist who anticipated this airstrike and was even more alerted on March 28^th when a lone US Army Air Corps reconnaissance plane was spotted over his headquarters.  Recognizing his strength was no match for Mitscher’s, he ordered his warships and many auxiliaries to disperse to sea.  Thus, when the fighters, bombers, and torpedo planes of TF 58 struck on 30-31 March, most of Koga’s fleet was safely at sea.  That didn’t prevent the Americans from damaging MUSASHI with a single torpedo as she slipped out of Palau, nor from wrecking two destroyers, four escorts, 20 auxiliary ships and 150 aircraft at Palau.  Koga weathered the two days of attacks in his headquarters bunker.  The fury of the American assault left Palau in shambles. 

Koga correctly reasoned that after his landing at Hollandia, MacArthur would next move against the southern Philippines.  In defense, Koga re-drafted Operational Plan “Z” in a manner that united Ozawa’s carriers with Koga’s surface ships in a final battle of annihilation against the Allies.  Koga consolidated his command on the Philippine island of Davao, ordering nearly all the land-based aircraft from the Marianas to Davao and commanding Ozawa to meet him there.  He next ordered two Kawanishi H8K2 “Emily” four-engine flying boats to transport himself and his Chief of Staff, VADM Shigeru Fukudome, to Davao.  In the dark of this night Koga’s “Emily” took off amid the wails of air raid sirens.  He circled the harbor and headed west, never to be seen again.  No trace of survivors or wreckage was ever recovered.  Fukudome, carrying the written Plan “Z” document, got safely airborne in the second “Emily,” but his plane was forced to divert to Cebu when a violent storm was encountered on route. 

Continued tomorrow….

Goralski, Robert.  World War II Almanac, 1931-1945:  A Political and Military Record.  New York, NY: Bonanza Books, 1981, p. 310.

Manson, Frank A.  “Koga’s Last Stand.”  Sea Classics, Vol 33 (8). August 2000, pp. 26-31.

Wilds, Thomas C.  “The Admiral Who Lost his Fleet.”  United States Naval Institute Proceedings, Vol 77 (11), Whole No. 585, November 1951, pp. 1175-81.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  The air raid sirens that were sounding as Koga’s seaplane took off proved to be a false alarm.  Nevertheless, the suggestion of an air raid did cause American authorities to falsely surmise that Koga’s plane had been shot down.  In truth, Koga is now thought to have been lost in the violent storm Fukudome’s plane also encountered.  Koga was one of Japan’s better naval strategists, and his loss was yet another blow to Imperial naval prowess.  News of his death was not released by the Japanese until May, at which time he was replaced by ADM Soemu Toyoda.

          During WWII Time Magazine ran a series of cover art depictions of American, German, and Japanese naval flag officers.  Below is the 8 November 1943 cover depicting Adm Koga.

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