The Secret History of the Tripartite Alliance
Ribbentrop（Episode８）
Crazy Scenario
Episode 8 covers the period from the signing of the Tripartite Alliance to the failure of the German army to occupy Moscow and the outbreak of the Pacific War. Strictly speaking, even the title of Episode 8 may be wrong. A crazy scenario would be more accurate. Of course, the misjudgment caused by the overestimation of both Japan and Germany was true, but the rule by direct occupation by Japan and Germany was at the beginning outdated. This contrasted with Britain and the United States, which had been promoting the autonomy and independence of their colonies and spheres of influence after World War I. It can be said that it was during this period that the outdatedness of Japan and Germany became more apparent. Hitler's goal was to secure a living space for Germans in the East and a society without any Jews, but in December 1941 the former became unfeasible, and the latter was also temporarily considered for the transfer of Jews to the island of Madagascar. The impossibility of achieving this(by using British ships or vessels after her capitulation), and the only thing Hitler could do was to exterminate the Jews under his control. Now, let's take a look at the policy implementation based on arbitrary and unfounded judgements by both Japan and Germany.
To bring Britain to its knees and then attack the Soviet Union to establish the Germans' right to exist in the Eastern Territories. This was Hitler's original plan, but as the war against Britain dragged on, the focus came to be on encircling and squeezing Britain, and the Tripartite Alliance between Japan, Germany, and Italy was part of that. He wanted Japan to secure the neutrality of the United States and then occupy Singapore, which was Britain's base in the East, but relations with the United States deteriorated due to the occupation of French Indochina, making it more difficult for Germany to achieve neutrality in the United States.In October 1940, after the signing of the Tripartit Alliance, Hitler and Ribbentrop went on a 6400km journey on special train and met with Marshal Pétain of Vichy France, General Franco on the French-Spanish border, and Mussolini, who was considering an invasion of Greece, to urge them to participate in the war against Britain. However, no results were obtained. In November 1940, Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov visited Germany, and Ribbentrop tried to persuade the Soviet Union to move south toward the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. Reflecting on the large-scale westward expansion policies such as Rumania,Finland,Lithuania, Hitler returned to his original hatred for communism, and instead of repairing German-Soviet relations,which Stalin was reportedly impatient for, he ended up issuing orders to prepare for the German-Soviet war on Dec.18 1941. The dinner party at the Soviet embassy was cut short, and Molotov had taken refuge in the Ribbentrop‘a bunker to avoid being bombed by the British Air Force.According to Churchill,“We took part in the meeting from above”.Never under these circumstances did Molotov take in Germany’s suggestion of southward policies and concede in the west. The year 1940 was a challenging year for Ribbentrop, but at the end of the year, his third son Bartholt was born and General Hiroshi Oshima got appointed as ambassador to Germany again. It was also good news that his father ,Kenichi Oshima persuaded him to accept the post of ambassador in these critical moments and his son finally managed to leave Japan. The year 1941 was a watershed for the Tripartite Alliance, but due to Italy's invasion of Greece and the prolonged war, and the anti-German coup d'état in Yugoslavia, part of the Army Group South at the time of the Soviet invasion was transferred to these countries. As a result, the advance of the Army Group South was delayed compared to the other Army Groups, and this had a great impact on the outcome of the German-Soviet War. Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka visited Germany from March to April, as promised by international phone call at the signing ceremony of the Tripartite Alliance. A delegation led by General Tomoyuki Yamashita, who was later called the Tiger of Malay, and Admiral Naokuni Nomura also visited Germany, and it can be said that this period was the period when exchanges were the most active. On the way back to Moscow, Foreign Minister Matsuoka concluded a neutrality pact with Stalin,which Matsuoka had suggested implicitly to Ribbentrop, surprising Hitler and Ribbentrop. It was in April that Hitler formally disclosed to Ribbentrop that the German-Soviet war was about to begin. At that point, it was no longer possible to hide the movement of troops and supplies to the east, and even though the operation in Greece had not yet ended, it was only a matter of time before the German-Soviet war broke out. General Tomoyuki Yamashita, who had been in Germany for five months and experienced the magnificence of the German army, had become quite a fan of Germany, and was later a candidate for Minister of War. Hitler kindly told him that the invasion of the Soviet Union was imminent and that he wanted the general to return home early and attack the Soviet Union from the east. He sent a telegram to the Minister of War, Tojo, and received an order to return home. He left Berlin just before the outbreak of the war and learned of the outbreak of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union on the Trans-Siberian Railway,meanwhile the navy delegation was forced to return to homeland by sea due to the outburst of the war. In addition, Admiral Nomura, the commander of the engineering team, decided to remain in Berlin as a military commissioner of the Tripartite Alliance. Ribbentrop was not the only one to think that a German-Soviet war should be avoided as much as possible. It was Rudolf Hess, his Deputy Führer, who first let Ribbentrop rent an office. Although he was known as a sportsman, he piloted a high-speed fighter Messerschmitt on a night flight, bypassing British radar screens, and crash-landed in Scotland.After the emergent landing he had a meeting with Duke Hamilton, with whom Hess had been acquainted at the Berlin Olympics,who was close to Churchill, and apparently tried to bring peace to England and Germany. There were certainly many pro-German factions among former high-ranking officials, so it might have been Sir Ian Hamilton, a retired soldier. Willy, who had had Messerschmidt pilot training for Hess in advance, was scolded by Hitler for that, and Hess‘ adjutant was detained until 1944. Hess, who should have been sentenced to death at the Nuerumberg Trials, was sentenced to life in prison for the peace attempt and hanged himself in 1987. In both Britain and Germany, the Hess scandal had no effect, photographs of Hess remained throughout Germany until the end of the war, and Mrs. Hess continued to receive a pension.
In the early hours of June 22, 1941, an all-out attack was launched against the Soviet Union, stretching 1,600 kilometers from Finland to the Black Sea. It was an unprecedented attack of 3 million soldiers and over 3,000 tanks. "The world will hold its breath," Hitler boasted. For Ribbentrop, he was against the German-Soviet war because it would destroy the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, which was his greatest diplomatic achievement. Dekazonov, the Soviet ambassador to Germany, said to Ribbentrop at the interview of the declaration of war on early morning of June 22 ``Your country committed a criminal act of aggression and will surely regret it in the future..”Without shaking hands or any words of parting the ambassador bluntly left the room and hurried downstairs,slightly followed by his interpreter, whom Ribbentrop earnestly asked to tell Stalin that he was so opposed to the war that he tried to dissuade Hitler out of the war but in vain.
By mid-July, the German advance had been impressive and already captured Smolensk, two-thirds of the way to Moscow. Both Hitler and the military make optimistic remarks in the records of this period, including the confrontation with Britain and the United States after the war with Russia, German settlement in the occupied territories in the East, and the highway. It became possible to capture Moscow in 40 days as originally planned. Knowing from the war with China that Russia would not collapse even if Moscow was occupied, Japan was reluctant to endorse Germany's victory from the beginning. Given this situation, it might have been wise for Japan and Germany, who were all united to take over Vladivostok, to hasten Germany's conquest of the Soviet Union by occupying Vladivostok as requested by Germany. With the victory of Touseiha faction and the complete defeat of the Kwantung Army in the Nomonhan Incident, it was decided to give priority to the United States and cut off the route of aid to Chiang based on the policy of advancing southward. Immediately after the start of the German-Soviet war, the General Staff Headquarters became a crucible of excitement at the start of the war against the Soviet Union, and together with General Tomoyuki Yamashita and Foreign Minister Matsuoka, who returned to Japan, they insisted on an immediate war against the Soviet Union above all. General Tomoyuki Yamashita acted like Hitler's agent and was sent off to Manchuria by Minister of War Tojo. Although he was severely remonstrated by the emperor because he was heading for a controversy, it took time due to the freeze of Japanese assets in the United States due to the invasion of southern French Indochina on July 23 and the stagnation of Japan-U.S. negotiations due to the ban on oil exports. There was no longer time or source to spare for invasion into the Soviet Union. Prime Minister Konoe also wanted to give priority to Japan-U.S. negotiations, even if it meant temporarily cooling down the Tripartite Alliance, in view of the intensification of the conflict with the United States caused by the Alliance. After the establishment of second Konoe caminet,even at the end of August, the commander of the Kwantung Army, Umezu, was still insisting on starting a war against the Soviet Union, but he has good reason to be called an intelligent Umezu in the army. If Germany fails to conquer the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States will be allied with the Soviet Union, and there will be nothing to lose. Four months later, although the relationship between Germany and the United States had continued to deteriorate, not only Germany but also Ambassador Oshima to Germany was completely unaware of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Japan launched a preemptive attack on the United States. This contrasted with the immediate German declaration of war against the United States despite the opposition of the General Jodl and Foreign Minister Ribbentrop.
Three months were wasted in the occupation of Smolensk, as Kiev was occupied on 19 September, tank forces returned to Army Group Center, and the Operation Typhoon of the Occupation of Moscow began on 2 October. Germany's information was strictly controlled, so it may have seemed to Japan that the German army's advance speed had slowed down and that the war had become a long one. No conference was held in Japan to discuss the effects of the prolonged war between Germany and the Soviet Union on Japan. Nevertheless, since the Japan-US negotiations and the southward expansion policy were in parallel on the premise of Germany's victory, it would have been difficult for anyone to break through the negotiations. I sent Saburo Kurusu to Washington to cheer him on. He was the representative of Japan, but he wondered what they would think in America if He said that he had just signed the Tripartite Alliance under the orders of his home country. In the end, Japan-U.S. negotiations broke off with a deadline of December 1, and war broke out. If so, things might have changed. This is because the myth of invincibility of the German army for the past two years has collapsed. If that happened, it would be a great opportunity for the Japanese Army to review the Japan-US negotiations and the Tripartite Alliance from scratch, as Germany's victory is doubtful. However, the Pearl Harbor attack forces had already left Etorofu Island, and the army's southern attack force had gathered from French Indochina to southern China, Taiwan, Ogasawara, etc., so it was extremely difficult to withdraw. Four German panzer armies launched a final attack on the western outskirts of Moscow, advancing as near as 25 kilometers from the Kremlin, but it was a particularly cold winter, similar to Napoleon's expedition in 1812. However, a mass counterattack by Zhukov on December 6 forced them back more than 200 kilometers, and the Germans would never see the Kremlin again. Brauhitsch, Guderian, Bock, Hepner, Rundstedt, and other commanders who failed to occupy Moscow were forced to resign, and the front-line soldiers were stuck where they are now, and their morale was extremely low, so they wanted something bright. At that time, because Japan succeeded in attacking Pearl Harbor, Hitler, who thought that the war with the United States was only a matter of time, immediately declared war on the United States together with Italy, overcoming the opposition of those around him,boasting, “We have got such a reliable partner as has never experienced any defeat in the past two thousand years!“ Hitler may be less familiar with the defeat of battle of Hakusukinoe(Baekgang)in 663 or the failure of Hideyoshi‘s invasion of Korea at the end of the 16th century in Japanese history. Perhaps the astute Hitler thought that the final victory of the war was no more possible,but,at the same time, that he could achieve another important goal, the final solution of Jewish problems. Even Ribbentrop, who rode on the back of a tiger of Hitler and therefore had lost his playing field for diplomacy due to the war, had no choice but to bet on this.
To bring Britain to its knees and then attack the Soviet Union to establish the Germans' right to exist in the Eastern Territories. This was Hitler's original plan, but as the war against Britain dragged on, the focus came to be on encircling and squeezing Britain, and the Tripartite Alliance between Japan, Germany, and Italy was part of that. He wanted Japan to secure the neutrality of the United States and then occupy Singapore, which was Britain's base in the East, but relations with the United States deteriorated due to the occupation of French Indochina, making it more difficult for Germany to achieve neutrality in the United States.In October 1940, after the signing of the Tripartit Alliance, Hitler and Ribbentrop went on a 6400km journey on special train and met with Marshal Pétain of Vichy France, General Franco on the French-Spanish border, and Mussolini, who was considering an invasion of Greece, to urge them to participate in the war against Britain. However, no results were obtained. In November 1940, Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov visited Germany, and Ribbentrop tried to persuade the Soviet Union to move south toward the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. Reflecting on the large-scale westward expansion policies such as Rumania,Finland,Lithuania, Hitler returned to his original hatred for communism, and instead of repairing German-Soviet relations,which Stalin was reportedly impatient for, he ended up issuing orders to prepare for the German-Soviet war on Dec.18 1941. The dinner party at the Soviet embassy was cut short, and Molotov had taken refuge in the Ribbentrop‘a bunker to avoid being bombed by the British Air Force.According to Churchill,“We took part in the meeting from above”.Never under these circumstances did Molotov take in Germany’s suggestion of southward policies and concede in the west. The year 1940 was a challenging year for Ribbentrop, but at the end of the year, his third son Bartholt was born and General Hiroshi Oshima got appointed as ambassador to Germany again. It was also good news that his father ,Kenichi Oshima persuaded him to accept the post of ambassador in these critical moments and his son finally managed to leave Japan. The year 1941 was a watershed for the Tripartite Alliance, but due to Italy's invasion of Greece and the prolonged war, and the anti-German coup d'état in Yugoslavia, part of the Army Group South at the time of the Soviet invasion was transferred to these countries. As a result, the advance of the Army Group South was delayed compared to the other Army Groups, and this had a great impact on the outcome of the German-Soviet War. Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka visited Germany from March to April, as promised by international phone call at the signing ceremony of the Tripartite Alliance. A delegation led by General Tomoyuki Yamashita, who was later called the Tiger of Malay, and Admiral Naokuni Nomura also visited Germany, and it can be said that this period was the period when exchanges were the most active. On the way back to Moscow, Foreign Minister Matsuoka concluded a neutrality pact with Stalin,which Matsuoka had suggested implicitly to Ribbentrop, surprising Hitler and Ribbentrop. It was in April that Hitler formally disclosed to Ribbentrop that the German-Soviet war was about to begin. At that point, it was no longer possible to hide the movement of troops and supplies to the east, and even though the operation in Greece had not yet ended, it was only a matter of time before the German-Soviet war broke out. General Tomoyuki Yamashita, who had been in Germany for five months and experienced the magnificence of the German army, had become quite a fan of Germany, and was later a candidate for Minister of War. Hitler kindly told him that the invasion of the Soviet Union was imminent and that he wanted the general to return home early and attack the Soviet Union from the east. He sent a telegram to the Minister of War, Tojo, and received an order to return home. He left Berlin just before the outbreak of the war and learned of the outbreak of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union on the Trans-Siberian Railway,meanwhile the navy delegation was forced to return to homeland by sea due to the outburst of the war. In addition, Admiral Nomura, the commander of the engineering team, decided to remain in Berlin as a military commissioner of the Tripartite Alliance. Ribbentrop was not the only one to think that a German-Soviet war should be avoided as much as possible. It was Rudolf Hess, his Deputy Führer, who first let Ribbentrop rent an office. Although he was known as a sportsman, he piloted a high-speed fighter Messerschmitt on a night flight, bypassing British radar screens, and crash-landed in Scotland.After the emergent landing he had a meeting with Duke Hamilton, with whom Hess had been acquainted at the Berlin Olympics,who was close to Churchill, and apparently tried to bring peace to England and Germany. There were certainly many pro-German factions among former high-ranking officials, so it might have been Sir Ian Hamilton, a retired soldier. Willy, who had had Messerschmidt pilot training for Hess in advance, was scolded by Hitler for that, and Hess‘ adjutant was detained until 1944. Hess, who should have been sentenced to death at the Nuerumberg Trials, was sentenced to life in prison for the peace attempt and hanged himself in 1987. In both Britain and Germany, the Hess scandal had no effect, photographs of Hess remained throughout Germany until the end of the war, and Mrs. Hess continued to receive a pension.
In the early hours of June 22, 1941, an all-out attack was launched against the Soviet Union, stretching 1,600 kilometers from Finland to the Black Sea. It was an unprecedented attack of 3 million soldiers and over 3,000 tanks. "The world will hold its breath," Hitler boasted. For Ribbentrop, he was against the German-Soviet war because it would destroy the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, which was his greatest diplomatic achievement. Dekazonov, the Soviet ambassador to Germany, said to Ribbentrop at the interview of the declaration of war on early morning of June 22 ``Your country committed a criminal act of aggression and will surely regret it in the future..”Without shaking hands or any words of parting the ambassador bluntly left the room and hurried downstairs,slightly followed by his interpreter, whom Ribbentrop earnestly asked to tell Stalin that he was so opposed to the war that he tried to dissuade Hitler out of the war but in vain.
By mid-July, the German advance had been impressive and already captured Smolensk, two-thirds of the way to Moscow. Both Hitler and the military make optimistic remarks in the records of this period, including the confrontation with Britain and the United States after the war with Russia, German settlement in the occupied territories in the East, and the highway. It became possible to capture Moscow in 40 days as originally planned. Knowing from the war with China that Russia would not collapse even if Moscow was occupied, Japan was reluctant to endorse Germany's victory from the beginning. Given this situation, it might have been wise for Japan and Germany, who were all united to take over Vladivostok, to hasten Germany's conquest of the Soviet Union by occupying Vladivostok as requested by Germany. With the victory of Touseiha faction and the complete defeat of the Kwantung Army in the Nomonhan Incident, it was decided to give priority to the United States and cut off the route of aid to Chiang based on the policy of advancing southward. Immediately after the start of the German-Soviet war, the General Staff Headquarters became a crucible of excitement at the start of the war against the Soviet Union, and together with General Tomoyuki Yamashita and Foreign Minister Matsuoka, who returned to Japan, they insisted on an immediate war against the Soviet Union above all. General Tomoyuki Yamashita acted like Hitler's agent and was sent off to Manchuria by Minister of War Tojo. Although he was severely remonstrated by the emperor because he was heading for a controversy, it took time due to the freeze of Japanese assets in the United States due to the invasion of southern French Indochina on July 23 and the stagnation of Japan-U.S. negotiations due to the ban on oil exports. There was no longer time or source to spare for invasion into the Soviet Union. Prime Minister Konoe also wanted to give priority to Japan-U.S. negotiations, even if it meant temporarily cooling down the Tripartite Alliance, in view of the intensification of the conflict with the United States caused by the Alliance. After the establishment of second Konoe caminet,even at the end of August, the commander of the Kwantung Army, Umezu, was still insisting on starting a war against the Soviet Union, but he has good reason to be called an intelligent Umezu in the army. If Germany fails to conquer the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States will be allied with the Soviet Union, and there will be nothing to lose. Four months later, although the relationship between Germany and the United States had continued to deteriorate, not only Germany but also Ambassador Oshima to Germany was completely unaware of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Japan launched a preemptive attack on the United States. This contrasted with the immediate German declaration of war against the United States despite the opposition of the General Jodl and Foreign Minister Ribbentrop.
Three months were wasted in the occupation of Smolensk, as Kiev was occupied on 19 September, tank forces returned to Army Group Center, and the Operation Typhoon of the Occupation of Moscow began on 2 October. Germany's information was strictly controlled, so it may have seemed to Japan that the German army's advance speed had slowed down and that the war had become a long one. No conference was held in Japan to discuss the effects of the prolonged war between Germany and the Soviet Union on Japan. Nevertheless, since the Japan-US negotiations and the southward expansion policy were in parallel on the premise of Germany's victory, it would have been difficult for anyone to break through the negotiations. I sent Saburo Kurusu to Washington to cheer him on. He was the representative of Japan, but he wondered what they would think in America if He said that he had just signed the Tripartite Alliance under the orders of his home country. In the end, Japan-U.S. negotiations broke off with a deadline of December 1, and war broke out. If so, things might have changed. This is because the myth of invincibility of the German army for the past two years has collapsed. If that happened, it would be a great opportunity for the Japanese Army to review the Japan-US negotiations and the Tripartite Alliance from scratch, as Germany's victory is doubtful. However, the Pearl Harbor attack forces had already left Etorofu Island, and the army's southern attack force had gathered from French Indochina to southern China, Taiwan, Ogasawara, etc., so it was extremely difficult to withdraw. Four German panzer armies launched a final attack on the western outskirts of Moscow, advancing as near as 25 kilometers from the Kremlin, but it was a particularly cold winter, similar to Napoleon's expedition in 1812. However, a mass counterattack by Zhukov on December 6 forced them back more than 200 kilometers, and the Germans would never see the Kremlin again. Brauhitsch, Guderian, Bock, Hepner, Rundstedt, and other commanders who failed to occupy Moscow were forced to resign, and the front-line soldiers were stuck where they are now, and their morale was extremely low, so they wanted something bright. At that time, because Japan succeeded in attacking Pearl Harbor, Hitler, who thought that the war with the United States was only a matter of time, immediately declared war on the United States together with Italy, overcoming the opposition of those around him,boasting, “We have got such a reliable partner as has never experienced any defeat in the past two thousand years!“ Hitler may be less familiar with the defeat of battle of Hakusukinoe(Baekgang)in 663 or the failure of Hideyoshi‘s invasion of Korea at the end of the 16th century in Japanese history. Perhaps the astute Hitler thought that the final victory of the war was no more possible,but,at the same time, that he could achieve another important goal, the final solution of Jewish problems. Even Ribbentrop, who rode on the back of a tiger of Hitler and therefore had lost his playing field for diplomacy due to the war, had no choice but to bet on this.
