The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
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Abe Katsuo was a former chief of naval intelligence and War College instructor who was assigned as naval attaché in Italy in early 1941. He was reassigned to Germany in the spring of 1943 as Japanese naval representative on the Tripartite Military Commission and chief of all Japanese naval attachés in Europe.
However, Abe was unwittingly a major
contributor to Allied
victory, for
he
carefully followed German preparations for D-Day and radioed this
information
to Tokyo using the Coral encryption
machine. The Americans
broke Coral in March 1944, and Abe's reports were extremely
useful to Allied
intelligence during the Normandy campaign. American code
breakers in Washington
sardonically called him "Honest Abe", a play on a nickname for Abraham Lincoln.
Abe fled to Sweden when Germany collapsed and was interned, but became involved in putting out peace feelers to the Allies. Nothing came of it at the time.
| 1891-4-18 |
born | |
| 1912-7-17 | Midshipman |
Graduates from Naval Academy, standing 10th in a class of 144. Assigned to CL Soya |
| 1913-5-1 | CL Yahagi | |
| 1913-12-1 | Ensign | BC Ibuki |
| 1914-12-28 | BB Kirishima | |
| 1915-12-13 | Lieutenant junior
grade |
Torpedo School Basic Course |
| 1916-6-1 | Gunnery School Basic Course | |
| 1916-12-1 | CL Yakumo | |
| 1917-8-23 | DD Arare | |
| 1918-12-1 | Lieutenant |
Gunnery School Advanced Course |
| 1919-12-1 | DD Isokaze | |
| 1920-6-3 | DD Sawakaze | |
| 1920-12-1 | Adjutant, 2 Fleet |
|
| 1921-11-18 | Instructor, Gunnery School | |
| 1922-12-1 | Naval College A Course | |
| 1924-12-1 | Lieutenant
commander |
BB Nagato |
| 1925-4-15 | Resident in U.S. | |
| 1927-8-20 | Navy General Staff |
|
| 1927-10-1 | Staff, B-NA, Navy Department |
|
| 1928-12-10 | Commander | |
| 1930-12-15 | Staff, 2 Fleet | |
| 1931-12-1 | Instructor, Naval College | |
| 1932-2-2 | Staff, 3 Fleet |
|
| 1932-11-15 | Instructor, Naval College | |
| 1932-12-1 | Captain | |
| 1933-9-20 | Chief, S1, B-NA, Navy Department |
|
| 1935-10-30 | Navy General Staff |
|
| 1935-11-5 | Attendant to Plenipotentiary, London conference | |
| 1936-3-16 | Commander, Tama | |
| 1936-11-16 | Commander, Ryujo | |
| 1937-12-1 | Commander, Kaga | |
| 1938-4-25 | Chief, N3, Navy General Staff |
|
| 1938-11-15 | Rear admiral |
|
| 1939-1-26 | Trip to Europe, U.S. |
|
| 1939-5-10 | Chief, N3, Navy General Staff | |
| 1939-10-10 | Navy General Staff |
|
| 1939-10-18 | Director, B-NA, Navy Department | |
| 1940-10-15 | Navy General Staff |
|
| 1940-11-13 | Trip to Europe | |
| 1941 |
Attache, Italy | |
| 1942-11-1 | Vice admiral |
|
| 1943 | Tripartite Military Commission, Germany |
|
| 1945-5 | Moved to Sweden | |
| 1946-3-21 | Retires |
|
| 1948-5-26 | Dies |
References
CombinedFleet.com (accessed 2007-11-12)
Materials
of IJN (accessed 2007-12-20)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007-2008 by Kent G. Budge. Index
