rossmum
April 18th, 2007, 10:21 AM
Just saw a VERY interesting (and equally disturbing) show on the History Channel called "Last Secrets of the Axis", focusing on Karl and Albrecht Haushoffer, masterminds of the Axis agreement and a lot of very creepy, mysterious activity involving German world domination both before and during the war. In doing so, it explores the relationships between each of the major countries, as well as the terrible secrets that each had...
Before the war, Karl Haushoffer travelled to Japan on a diplomatic trip via India where he met General Kitchener, the famous British soldier who was basically worshipped as some kind of hero at the time. Kitchener told him that if Britain and Germany were to go to war, they would both be ruined and the US would become the dominant world power. He began watching the US very closely, and drew the same conclusion... so when WWII began on September 3, 1939, he made it his duty to keep America out of the war and try broker a peace with the British so that England and Germany would split the world between them. One slight problem: the British considered Hitler to be the embodiment of the devil (rightly so) and refused. Now what? Well, he tried once more... former student Rudolf Hess, now the Deputy Fuhrer, was heavily influenced by his mentor's pessimistic views and flew to Scotland alone (miraculously evading heavy air defenses) to try and get a deal happening. But the British had sprung a trap, and they kept him hidden away and subject to constant interrogation under truth serums for the next 4 years. Having failed this option, Haushoffer negotiated a deal with Japan through the Black Dragon Society (now know as the Yakuza) where Japan and Germany would share an empire. The Germans shipped all their latest tech out to Japan and vice versa through long submarine voyages, as did Italy. Why Italy? Well, unlike everyone else, Italy actually paid attention to Frank Whittle and his jet engine before the war even broke out and as such had the most advanced jet technology. The Japanese naturally improved upon this tech and developed plans for remarkable aircraft that would've spelled doom for the USAF in the skies over the Japanese Empire. At a time where many thought the Allies had the best tech, followed by Germany and finally Japan, this was probably enough on its own to shock the hell out of them after the war finished. So, you say, that's kinda interesting but nothing new...
How about Britain's plans for an invasion of America, kept right up to the moment they declared war on Germany instead? Don't believe me? I didn't believe it either, but the US was scared shitless of Britain before the war. While most (including Churchill) saw the US as a potential ally, others saw it as an enemy and planned accordingly. The plan could have been carried out, and likely would have been if Hess had succeeded in turning the British to the Axis cause. Pearl Harbour only happened because of the agreement brokered by Haushoffer... had it been otherwise, it may have been the jolly old United Kingdom doing the bombing. Not to mention that the USSR and Germany had a nonagression pact until 1941, when Hitler attacked Russia despite the dire warnings of both Haushoffers, who were slowly seeing their fears realise...
When Hess was captured and Hitler publically denounced him, all of his associates were arrested, including a lot of astrologists. Why? Well, it would seem that a lot of this is based heavily on superstition and prophecies made by old British army heroes. Confusing as hell, I know... but really fucking worrying. Karl Haushoffer was placed under arrest and questioned, but Albrecht got away and in light of his fears coming true piece by piece, with the Russian front collapsing in the east and the Americans and British poised to strike in the west, he began planning Hitler's assassination and replacement by a civilian leader who could form some sort of peace deal with the Allies to at least save Germany from complete annihilation. Karl, loyal to his country and its government, was probably opposed to the plan, but Albrecht and several senior members of the military (including Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox) formed a plot to blow Hitler up. The plan would have succeeded had the bomb not been planted on the other side of a heavy oak table, which saved Hitler (he walked away intact) but killed several others around him. Paranoid, he had everyone even remotely related to the plot arrested and executed by Heinrich Himmler, Reichsfuhrer-SS.
But Himmler didn't kill Karl Haushoffer, nor did he kill Albrecht (who had escaped). He could see that the war was lost and kept them alive so he could try and get some sort of amnesty from the Allies, however Albrecht was shot dead as the Soviets took Berlin as per Hitler's order that all prisoners be executed. Karl lived.
At the Nuremburg trials, Hess (suddenly reappearing after vanishing into British custody) claimed amnesia (a possibility due to the drugs, though the Allies thought he was bluffing and this is also possible). The Allies brought Haushoffer in (not to be charged) to try and jog his memory, but Hess denied ever seeing him or anyone related to him.
Alright, so that's kinda freaky... but that's not all. The show then went on to explain the situation in Japan.
By August 1945, Japan was by no means beat. It still owned a large portion of Asia (most of China, all of modern-day Korea and Indonesia, as well as what became Vietnam), an enormous army, and a large air force in the other Asian countries. An Allied invasion of Japan would have cost hundreds of thousands of Allied lives alone. But that wasn't all. Japan had perfected the jet fighter, and already had a piston-engined aerodynamics testbed (or rather, several) which proved the plane would fly. Previous jets like the German Me262 which the Japanese were all set to copy by war's end used two jet engines so the plane would balance out properly without risking an engine inside the plane (possibility of longterm heat exposure compromising the structural soundness of the aircraft), but this slowed them down and added weight. The Japanese designed a plane with the engine in the back, wings at the back to balance out, and a canard wing on the front (for reference, canard wings are quite rare even by modern standards). Lighter and with more powerful engines than the Me262 and early Allied jets, it would rule the skies effortlessly. What else did they have? Well, like the Germans, the Japanese had a long-range bomber with enough range to strike the US mainland and then make it all the way back without refuelling, and what's more, it flew faster than most Allied fighters. Normally the massive quantity of fuel needed would cut down on bomb load to the point where it would be a futile venture, but not so. The Japanese had one more ace up their sleeve, something so terrible that it makes most people sick just thinking about it. Unit 731.
If the war had lasted one month longer, Japanese I-400 carrier subs would've launched seaplanes loaded with bubonic plague and anthrax, tried and tested in China, against the US mainland. Anyone here live in San Fran? Be fucking glad the atomic bombs went off when they did, otherwise you most likely wouldn't be here and your hometown would be an infested shithole, full of the dead and dying. And there's nothing anybody could've done about it. A few months more, and the Japanese would be routinely hitting major cities with every sort of harmful biological agent known to man. Not only that, but they were also trying to persuade Russia to join them and fight against the US, but luckily Russia declined.
If I'd seen it anywhere other than on the History Channel, I would scarcely have believed it. Just some of the late-war Axis aircraft designs alone seem more at home in sci-fi movies than in the skies of the mid 40s. Not every insane-sounding, scaremongering revelation is a bullshit conspiracy theory, and now I've learned the full extent of this, it frightens the shit out of me. By 1945, there were enough plague-filled bombs stored at the Unit 731 facility to wipe out the entire human species. Every Unit 731 member was given amnesty after the war, like the German rocket scientists, and escaped conviction for the horrific experiments they carried out on live Chinese peasants, soldiers, and captured Allied airmen.
Fucking scary. I already knew about a lot of this, like Unit 731, the bombers, and the various agreements... but once the connections become clear, holy shit.
Before the war, Karl Haushoffer travelled to Japan on a diplomatic trip via India where he met General Kitchener, the famous British soldier who was basically worshipped as some kind of hero at the time. Kitchener told him that if Britain and Germany were to go to war, they would both be ruined and the US would become the dominant world power. He began watching the US very closely, and drew the same conclusion... so when WWII began on September 3, 1939, he made it his duty to keep America out of the war and try broker a peace with the British so that England and Germany would split the world between them. One slight problem: the British considered Hitler to be the embodiment of the devil (rightly so) and refused. Now what? Well, he tried once more... former student Rudolf Hess, now the Deputy Fuhrer, was heavily influenced by his mentor's pessimistic views and flew to Scotland alone (miraculously evading heavy air defenses) to try and get a deal happening. But the British had sprung a trap, and they kept him hidden away and subject to constant interrogation under truth serums for the next 4 years. Having failed this option, Haushoffer negotiated a deal with Japan through the Black Dragon Society (now know as the Yakuza) where Japan and Germany would share an empire. The Germans shipped all their latest tech out to Japan and vice versa through long submarine voyages, as did Italy. Why Italy? Well, unlike everyone else, Italy actually paid attention to Frank Whittle and his jet engine before the war even broke out and as such had the most advanced jet technology. The Japanese naturally improved upon this tech and developed plans for remarkable aircraft that would've spelled doom for the USAF in the skies over the Japanese Empire. At a time where many thought the Allies had the best tech, followed by Germany and finally Japan, this was probably enough on its own to shock the hell out of them after the war finished. So, you say, that's kinda interesting but nothing new...
How about Britain's plans for an invasion of America, kept right up to the moment they declared war on Germany instead? Don't believe me? I didn't believe it either, but the US was scared shitless of Britain before the war. While most (including Churchill) saw the US as a potential ally, others saw it as an enemy and planned accordingly. The plan could have been carried out, and likely would have been if Hess had succeeded in turning the British to the Axis cause. Pearl Harbour only happened because of the agreement brokered by Haushoffer... had it been otherwise, it may have been the jolly old United Kingdom doing the bombing. Not to mention that the USSR and Germany had a nonagression pact until 1941, when Hitler attacked Russia despite the dire warnings of both Haushoffers, who were slowly seeing their fears realise...
When Hess was captured and Hitler publically denounced him, all of his associates were arrested, including a lot of astrologists. Why? Well, it would seem that a lot of this is based heavily on superstition and prophecies made by old British army heroes. Confusing as hell, I know... but really fucking worrying. Karl Haushoffer was placed under arrest and questioned, but Albrecht got away and in light of his fears coming true piece by piece, with the Russian front collapsing in the east and the Americans and British poised to strike in the west, he began planning Hitler's assassination and replacement by a civilian leader who could form some sort of peace deal with the Allies to at least save Germany from complete annihilation. Karl, loyal to his country and its government, was probably opposed to the plan, but Albrecht and several senior members of the military (including Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox) formed a plot to blow Hitler up. The plan would have succeeded had the bomb not been planted on the other side of a heavy oak table, which saved Hitler (he walked away intact) but killed several others around him. Paranoid, he had everyone even remotely related to the plot arrested and executed by Heinrich Himmler, Reichsfuhrer-SS.
But Himmler didn't kill Karl Haushoffer, nor did he kill Albrecht (who had escaped). He could see that the war was lost and kept them alive so he could try and get some sort of amnesty from the Allies, however Albrecht was shot dead as the Soviets took Berlin as per Hitler's order that all prisoners be executed. Karl lived.
At the Nuremburg trials, Hess (suddenly reappearing after vanishing into British custody) claimed amnesia (a possibility due to the drugs, though the Allies thought he was bluffing and this is also possible). The Allies brought Haushoffer in (not to be charged) to try and jog his memory, but Hess denied ever seeing him or anyone related to him.
Alright, so that's kinda freaky... but that's not all. The show then went on to explain the situation in Japan.
By August 1945, Japan was by no means beat. It still owned a large portion of Asia (most of China, all of modern-day Korea and Indonesia, as well as what became Vietnam), an enormous army, and a large air force in the other Asian countries. An Allied invasion of Japan would have cost hundreds of thousands of Allied lives alone. But that wasn't all. Japan had perfected the jet fighter, and already had a piston-engined aerodynamics testbed (or rather, several) which proved the plane would fly. Previous jets like the German Me262 which the Japanese were all set to copy by war's end used two jet engines so the plane would balance out properly without risking an engine inside the plane (possibility of longterm heat exposure compromising the structural soundness of the aircraft), but this slowed them down and added weight. The Japanese designed a plane with the engine in the back, wings at the back to balance out, and a canard wing on the front (for reference, canard wings are quite rare even by modern standards). Lighter and with more powerful engines than the Me262 and early Allied jets, it would rule the skies effortlessly. What else did they have? Well, like the Germans, the Japanese had a long-range bomber with enough range to strike the US mainland and then make it all the way back without refuelling, and what's more, it flew faster than most Allied fighters. Normally the massive quantity of fuel needed would cut down on bomb load to the point where it would be a futile venture, but not so. The Japanese had one more ace up their sleeve, something so terrible that it makes most people sick just thinking about it. Unit 731.
If the war had lasted one month longer, Japanese I-400 carrier subs would've launched seaplanes loaded with bubonic plague and anthrax, tried and tested in China, against the US mainland. Anyone here live in San Fran? Be fucking glad the atomic bombs went off when they did, otherwise you most likely wouldn't be here and your hometown would be an infested shithole, full of the dead and dying. And there's nothing anybody could've done about it. A few months more, and the Japanese would be routinely hitting major cities with every sort of harmful biological agent known to man. Not only that, but they were also trying to persuade Russia to join them and fight against the US, but luckily Russia declined.
If I'd seen it anywhere other than on the History Channel, I would scarcely have believed it. Just some of the late-war Axis aircraft designs alone seem more at home in sci-fi movies than in the skies of the mid 40s. Not every insane-sounding, scaremongering revelation is a bullshit conspiracy theory, and now I've learned the full extent of this, it frightens the shit out of me. By 1945, there were enough plague-filled bombs stored at the Unit 731 facility to wipe out the entire human species. Every Unit 731 member was given amnesty after the war, like the German rocket scientists, and escaped conviction for the horrific experiments they carried out on live Chinese peasants, soldiers, and captured Allied airmen.
Fucking scary. I already knew about a lot of this, like Unit 731, the bombers, and the various agreements... but once the connections become clear, holy shit.