Atlantic to transfer essential cargo. We weren’t told what the cargo was but rumours had it that the Jap submarine was carrying gold bullion, allegedly, to assist the Germans financially in continuing the war in Europe.
“I did learn later the full details of that Atlantic operation. The Allies had cracked a number of German codes. This enabled the Allies to track a Japanese submarine from its base in the Southern hemisphere all the way to the Atlantic for a rendezvous with the German U-boat. Using ships modified into small aircraft carriers, the Americans launched their attack and caught the Japanese submarine far out in the Bay of Biscay and sank her to the bottom of the sea. That is historical fact.
“I recollect there was a documentary on the television concerning the discovery of that very same submarine; the I-52, a transport class submarine capable of staying beneath the waves for long distances. The documentary involved a team of American treasure hunters. They were convinced that the sunken sub still had gold aboard. The same old riff-raff excuses; treasure seekers pretending that the historical intrigue of the lost submarine held precedence over the importance of finding gold bullion; cods-wobble! But as it was, to add insult to injury, the greedy sods never found any gold and probably never will. Serves them right too!”
“Do I hear a little animosity in your voice, Mister Bane?” I asked cheekily.
“You must understand, young man, disturbing the dead serves no purpose at all. Bloody treasure seekers are a pain in the arse.”
I wondered if that included me.
“The Japanese may have been the enemy,” he went on. “But, by god, they were still true warriors and were willing to give their lives for what they believed; a lot of brave men died that day when the Allies hit the submarine with all they had.”
I hurried him along. “What was your squadron’s mission?”
“Give me time, young man! I’m coming round to that.” He coughed to clear his throat. “While the Americans were playing war games in mid-Atlantic and chasing submarines for real, R.A.F. Duxford command had been given a pointless exercise of trying to locate an apparent renegade Japanese submarine. The Allies were reacting to an independent intelligence source that came from deep within Japan, so we were told. The information received indicated the departure of a second submarine apparently displaying the same prefix I-52, which set sail at precisely the same time as the first I-52 but from a different port and its destination, supposedly, was German held territory. Because there was no codename from the mysterious informant, the Allies, under standably, suspected that the information regarding the second submarine was a diversion to throw them off the scent of the initial target they were tracking. But in war those vital scraps of intelligence can prove to be priceless, so the search for the second submarine went ahead.
“Duxford was chosen mainly because our squadron had Super-marine Spitfires that had been previously redesigned for the purpose of long flights to protect Bomber Command on their raids over Germany. It meant our Spits could cover a large area in quick time.” He drifted into a tediously boring explanation of the intricate modifications done to the crafts. I tried to look interested, “The mission was given the code-name ‘Huggermugger’. It involved reconnaissance flights as far wide as the Spitfires fuel tanks would take them; the North Atlantic; the North Sea. It was hit and miss really; like searching for a ghost submarine. In all truth we’d have probably found a needle down a dark passageway at the height of the blackout period far quicker. There were no reports of any sighting whatsoever.”
“Not quite that difficult to find needles if you look in the right places,” I said and slipped the photographs from my inside jacket pocket and gave them to him for inspection.
He looked long and hard at the
“I did learn later the full details of that Atlantic operation. The Allies had cracked a number of German codes. This enabled the Allies to track a Japanese submarine from its base in the Southern hemisphere all the way to the Atlantic for a rendezvous with the German U-boat. Using ships modified into small aircraft carriers, the Americans launched their attack and caught the Japanese submarine far out in the Bay of Biscay and sank her to the bottom of the sea. That is historical fact.
“I recollect there was a documentary on the television concerning the discovery of that very same submarine; the I-52, a transport class submarine capable of staying beneath the waves for long distances. The documentary involved a team of American treasure hunters. They were convinced that the sunken sub still had gold aboard. The same old riff-raff excuses; treasure seekers pretending that the historical intrigue of the lost submarine held precedence over the importance of finding gold bullion; cods-wobble! But as it was, to add insult to injury, the greedy sods never found any gold and probably never will. Serves them right too!”
“Do I hear a little animosity in your voice, Mister Bane?” I asked cheekily.
“You must understand, young man, disturbing the dead serves no purpose at all. Bloody treasure seekers are a pain in the arse.”
I wondered if that included me.
“The Japanese may have been the enemy,” he went on. “But, by god, they were still true warriors and were willing to give their lives for what they believed; a lot of brave men died that day when the Allies hit the submarine with all they had.”
I hurried him along. “What was your squadron’s mission?”
“Give me time, young man! I’m coming round to that.” He coughed to clear his throat. “While the Americans were playing war games in mid-Atlantic and chasing submarines for real, R.A.F. Duxford command had been given a pointless exercise of trying to locate an apparent renegade Japanese submarine. The Allies were reacting to an independent intelligence source that came from deep within Japan, so we were told. The information received indicated the departure of a second submarine apparently displaying the same prefix I-52, which set sail at precisely the same time as the first I-52 but from a different port and its destination, supposedly, was German held territory. Because there was no codename from the mysterious informant, the Allies, under standably, suspected that the information regarding the second submarine was a diversion to throw them off the scent of the initial target they were tracking. But in war those vital scraps of intelligence can prove to be priceless, so the search for the second submarine went ahead.
“Duxford was chosen mainly because our squadron had Super-marine Spitfires that had been previously redesigned for the purpose of long flights to protect Bomber Command on their raids over Germany. It meant our Spits could cover a large area in quick time.” He drifted into a tediously boring explanation of the intricate modifications done to the crafts. I tried to look interested, “The mission was given the code-name ‘Huggermugger’. It involved reconnaissance flights as far wide as the Spitfires fuel tanks would take them; the North Atlantic; the North Sea. It was hit and miss really; like searching for a ghost submarine. In all truth we’d have probably found a needle down a dark passageway at the height of the blackout period far quicker. There were no reports of any sighting whatsoever.”
“Not quite that difficult to find needles if you look in the right places,” I said and slipped the photographs from my inside jacket pocket and gave them to him for inspection.
He looked long and hard at the
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