Shadows Dancing: Japanese Espionage Against the West 1939-1945 - Hardcover

Matthews, Tony

9780312105440: Shadows Dancing: Japanese Espionage Against the West 1939-1945

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312105444 ISBN 13: 9780312105440

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1994

Revealed for the first time in Shadows Dancing is the remarkable story of Japanese spy rings operating through Spanish embassies and consulates in America, Britain, and Australia during the Second World War. Details of these rings have been a closely guarded secret since the end of the war, but revealing documents from the American National Archives now show how Japan manipulated a neutral country's diplomatic missions abroad to wreak destruction on the Allies.
There is no doubt from the mass of secret information now available that the spy network (code-named TO), which was controlled from Madrid, provided the Japanese and Germans with a vast amount of top-quality information. As a result many lives, American, British, and Australian, were lost, particularly during the terrible convoy crossings, and from shipping sunk by Japanese submarines in Australian water.
This book investigates the depth of the TO network, how it operated, and who the operators were. Sources include documents which have so far never been made available to the public and many of which have, until recently, been classified as top secret.

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From Kirkus Reviews:

A plodding account of one of the most fascinating of WW II stories--how Japan sought to spy on the Allies through neutral countries. Most notable among the points of entry for Japanese spy rings were the embassies and consulates of Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The spy network (code-named TO) provided details on such matters as Allied manufacturing, morale, and troop and convoy movements. Eventually, the US intercepted and decoded these reports, enabling the Allies to crack spy rings operating on their shores and helping them to anticipate major military maneuvers (e.g., Admiral Chester Nimitz knew the Japanese order of battle at the Battle of Midway). These thousands of once top-secret ``Magic'' summaries, many only recently declassified, form the backbone of this history (first published in Great Britain) by Welsh-born Matthews, who now lives in Australia. Matthews discusses how these operations were set up, who its operatives were, how the network was tested, and how it only ceased operations three months after the dropping of the atomic bomb. The author rightly believes that these intercepts contain a dramatic story. But, addicted to unbroken, verbatim transcriptions of the reports, he provides neither coherent explanation of the events' significance nor adequate description of personalities. He alleges, for instance, that the Japanese worked with African-American groups, including the NAACP, to establish espionage and sabotage operations, but he fails to cite sources for such charges or to describe how these operations were set up. He also mentions a particularly hair- raising story about how the Japanese, having discovered the defection of a diplomat/espionage agent in Stockholm, plotted to have him murdered--without describing the denouement of the tale! Moreover, the account is sometimes marred by lazy editing (e.g., then Secretary of State Cordell Hull is referred to as the undersecretary of state). This is compelling material worthy of treatment by Gordon Prange or Len Deighton, but it's told here by a sloppy researcher with poor narrative gifts. (B&w photos) -- Copyright �1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly:

Australian writer Matthews describes how the Japanese infiltrated agents into Allied and neutral countries through Spanish embassies, inflicting serious damage on the Allied war effort by supplying information to Tokyo about shipping and troop movements. He explains why Spanish foreign minister Ramon Suner (the brother-in-law of dictator Francisco Franco) encouraged the establishment of Japanese espionage rings on Spanish soil, then traces the deterioration of Spanish-Japanese relations after the Imperial Army began mistreating Catholics and Spanish nationals in the Philippines. In his survey of Japanese espionage activity during WW II, Matthews includes Japanese-American fishing fleets based in California ports, recounting how they were trained to report ship traffic, take soundings and scout landing sites for a proposed invasion of the West Coast. Throughout the war, U.S. counterintelligence authorities intercepted and decrypted top-secret messages between the Tokyo Foreign Office and various embassies. Extended quotes from these "Magic Summaries"--as the decoded messages were called--form the core of Matthews's tersely informative study, which will be of interest to espionage buffs. Photos.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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