SEMPAKU UNEIKAI SIYOSEN

During the Pacific War, a number of Vichy French, German and Italian vessels were chartered by Japan. After France's defeat by Nazi Germany, 84-year old Marshal Henri-Philippe Petain, hero of Verdun in WWI, was appointed the new premier. On 22 June 1940, Petain signed the Franco-German Armistice that divided France into occupied and unoccupied zones. After the armistice, most of France's merchant marine establishment was integrated into Vichy’s fleet.

After Italy’s entry into the war on 10 June 1940, some Italian vessels quit their British-besieged North African bases and made for the Far East, but neutral Japan would not allow the Italians to conduct commerce raiding activities from Japanese ports.

On 10 July 1940, a vote by the French National Assembly proclaimed a new government located at Vichy in France’s unoccupied southern zone. Vichy was the government from July 1940 to August 1944. Pétain and the Vichy regime fully collaborated with the German occupation. After the liberation of France from the Nazis, elderly Petain was tried, convicted of treason and sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by General Charles de Gaulle.

In early 1942, the Japanese requisitioned many Vichy French ships in Indochina under the Right of Angary. In international law, the Right of Angary is the right of belligerents to requisition for their use neutral merchant vessels, aircraft, and other means of transport that are within their territorial jurisdiction. Generally, the Right of Angary should be applied only in case of pressing need in time of war and compensation is due to the neutral owner.

Most Vichy French and German ships in the Far East were chartered by wholly owned Japanese Government Teikoku Senpaku Kaisha (Imperial Steamship Co.), given Japanese names and operated by Japanese steamship companies such as Osaka Shosen Kaisha (OSK), Mitsui, Nihon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and others.

In September 1943, after fascist dictator Benito Mussolini was deposed and Italy declared an armistice, several Italian vessels in Far Eastern ports were scuttled to prevent their falling into the hands of the Japanese. Nevertheless, the Japanese refloated and repaired most such sunken vessels and then pressed them into service.

This page will cover the activities of 28 Axis (10 Vichy French, eight German, eight Italian and one Finnish) vessels in Japanese service.

Vichy transport TEIA MARU (ex-ARAMIS) and Italian transport KOTOBUKI MARU (ex-CONTE VERDE) have been covered in our KOKANSEN Diplomatic Exchange and Repatriation Ships page.

German submarine tender QUITO (a.k.a TEISHUN MARU) has been covered on our SENSUI BOKAN! page and German oil tanker TEIKON MARU (ex-WINNETOU) will be covered on our YUSOSEN!page.

This page will also cover two captured Danish merchant ships and one captured Yugoslavian merchant ship in Japanese Service.