Geoffrey Jenkins: A bridge of Magpies

26 February 1936

New York Times report: 'The Japanese army, led by revolutionary elements, has taken over the government of Japan. The situation is confused, and shooting is reported from the centre of Tokyo and around the Imperial Palace. Violence and assassination seem to have been directed principally at members of the Cabinet and holders of prominent offices of state close to the Emperor. Among those reported to have been marked out for elimination are the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal; the Grand Chamberlain to the Emperor; the Emperor's closest adviser and Japan's most honoured elder statesman, Prince Kinmochi Saionji; as well as other traditional hereditary office-bearers, some of whose titles date back many centuries.

27 February 106

Red Army Fourth Bureau, Intelligence, Moscow. Receipt of urgent dispatch from Head, Far East spy ring, Tokyo: 'Sorge to Fourth Bureau. Motivations for the 2/26 Incident are complex and the murder of hereditary office-bearers close to the Emperor requires careful study. Only one person was observed by agents to have passed through the army cordons surrounding the Imperial Palace during the first twenty-four hours of the coup. He was a young naval ensign in full uniform. He was seen to be carrying a small, well-wrapped parcel and was admitted-apparently by prior arrangement -at a small secret side door of the Palace. Because of a snowstorm, identification was impossible. He re-emerged a short time afterwards still carrying the same parcel. It is not known what his purpose was in visiting the Palace and it seems unlikely that such a junior officer would be admitted to audience with the Emperor.

'The ensign successfully re-negotiated the cordons – probably due to his uniform-and was traced to a small central Tokyo hotel. He came away from it dressed in civilian clothes, then made his way to the docks. Here he boarded a cargo 7 ship, the Brazil-man., due to sail on the next tide for Cape Town, South Africa. The significance of this incident is obscure, but, because of its link with the Imperial Palace, is given in some detail.'

1 June 1943

Signal intercepted by code-breakers at United States Combat Intelligence HQ, Pearl Harbour: 'Japanese Fleet HQ to Befehlshaber der Unterseebote (C-in-C U-boats). U-160, now refitting Japanese base at Penang, Malaya, assigned to carry out pick-up mission at Bridge of Magpies, South West Africa. Your agent code-named Swakop will be landed and our man Tsushima will be brought off. Suggest active operations by U- 160 against Allied shipping be banned in view of importance of mission.'

2 June 1943

BdU to Japanese Fleet HQ: 'Mission agreed. Kapitan zur See Schlebusch to command. Schlebusch experienced in Cape waters, served in wolf-packs Gruppe Eisbar and Seehund. Cannot agree to restriction hostile operations. U-160 will, however, confine attacks to unescorted ships out of convoy; or warships.'

7 July 1943

Signal received by escort commander of convoy bound from Walvis Bay to Cape Town: 'Most immediate. C-in-C South Atlantic to commodore convoy WV. 5BX. Strong enemy D /F bearings reported Possession Island area. Probably U-boat'

Commodore WV. 5BX to C-in-C South Atlantic: 'Convoy turned away 240 degrees. Sound heavy guns down-horizon vicinity Possession. Proceeding utmost dispatch in frigate Gousblom to investigate'

Liner City of Baroda to C-in-C: 'SSSS… SSSS… am being attacked by U-boat… Possession Island area.,. SSSS.

20.15 hours

U-160 to BdU: 'British liner City of Baroda 8,000 tons, hit by two of quadruple spread torpedoes position Grid Merten P6 Lat. 27° oo'S., Long. 15° 1

Possession Channel.'

20.30 hours

Frigate Gousblom to C-in-C: 'Strong U-boat contact Possession Channel. Eight depth charges dropped. Continuing attack. City of Banda seriously damaged, attempting to beach,'

20.40 hours

C-in-C to Convoy WV. 5BX: 'Corvettes Vygie and Aandblom to proceed maximum speed to assist Gousblom: 21.15 hours

U-160 to BdU: 'Attacked by frigate Flower elms. Blew up following two hits ex stern tubes. U-160's main ballast pumps damaged by attack, unable to dive. Jettisoned eight mines. Proceeding seawards partly submerged. Will signal position 06.00 hours dawn tomorrow,'

22.15 hours

Corvette Vygie to C-in-C: 'Unable to enter Possession Channel due to presence drifting mines and rising gale. No U-boat contact but sighted oil slick. City of Baroda ashore at Bridge of Magpies. Gousblom presumed sunk:

8 July 1943

06.30 hours

BdU to U-160: 'Report your position immediately.'

10.00 hours

BdU to U-160: 'Report your position immediately. Repeat, report your position immediately. Repeat, report your position immediately • .

Geoffrey Jenkins

A Bridge Of Magpies

`Master of the Equinoxes, Lord of the Solstice! The splendidsounding title is engraved on one face of the blade of a knife which lies on my desk as I write. It is dark and discoloured. It is an unusual weapon: a thin, pointed blade, widening abruptly at the hilt, which is very flat and hammered out of copper. A design has been tooled into the metal: a seascape about three inches long and half an inch broad, showing a setting sun, and ships sinking after battle. On the reverse side of the blade are scribbled the last words the Master wrote with the lead tip of a Taisho pistol bullet, using it like a pencil, after he had plucked the knife from his side ' Mei fa tzu! – it is fate!' These words underwrite not only his own fate, but add a strange and awesome new dimension to two of the great decisive naval victories of the twentieth century: Pearl Harbour and Tsushima.

Looking back on it, the Greek island of Santorin, on the Mediterranean tourist cruise belt about sixty miles north of Crete, was an improbable curtain-raiser for the desperate events half a world away on the Sperrgebiet, or forbidden diamond coast of South West Africa, which ended the Master's eight-hundred-year-old reign of influence. Had I been able even to guess at them I would have dismissed them as being as unreal as a nightmare, that soft late afternoon when I sailed my boat into Santorin's great lagoon in the sunset and headed towards the landing-place at Thera. The town's whitewashed houses on the cliff-top were still brilliantly spotlighted by the sun although the bay nearly a thousand feet below was darkening and taking on those unbelievable sapphires, blues, reds and golds which drive tour-, ists and artists ecstatic. I had really meant to tie up off the villa of Oia situated at the northern tip of the thirty-sevenmile crescent which constitutes the spectacular bay of Santwin. Thera is another three miles away; if I had carried out my first intention the odds are that I would never have received the summons which was waiting for me or, by the time I had, it would have been too out of date to be acted upon. What really switched me on to sail those extra miles was the prospect of a bottle of Thera's subtly sweet wine, because I'd had a blistering hot sail from Athens to Santorin on the meltemi or prevailing north wind. There is a bar on Thera's jetty, too, within easy reach of a mooring shelf of rock, compared with the mere offshore buoy at Oia. There is no regular steamer service to Santorin, only an intermittent cruise liner. Its berth was unoccupied on this occasion, which meant I'd have the bar virtually to myself. These were the small things which decided me in favour of Thera. Clad in my old jeans I splashed up to the knees in the warm Mediterranean water to make the Orga fast, while the sun projected its last theatrical effects on to the knife-edged cliffs soaring to the white town perched high above. I waded ashore to the jetty. The bar was built out of wine barrels, the lower ones full and the top ones empty, with-a canvas awning for a roof and a bright blue curtain across the back. The barrels creaked like a ship from the lift of the floating jetty. It was a good place to rinse from ones mouth, with wine, the salt of a hard sail, and to have the sea and your boat right there at your back, a spit away, if you got drunk.