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  Japan’s Transparent Spy Mission – The Intrigues of Major Sei Hashida

  Major Sei Hashida was attached to the general staff of the Japanese army in Tokyo and also assigned to the War Department in the Japanese government. His responsibilities were organising the processes necessary in the acquisition of commodities required by the army. In December 1940 he received permission to travel to Australia for two months to recuperate from his recent ‘poor health’. His health status permitting, he would also examine trade and industry opportunities.

  Major Hashida spent his time in Australia doing his best to spy on anything militarily worthwhile, and in complete contradiction to his stated travel plan. Under suspicion from the time of his arrival in Brisbane in January 1941, he had been closely monitored but he smugly ignored wherever possible the restrictions authorities had placed on his movements.

  Australian Security regarded Hashida as devious and highly suspect, and briefly considered arresting him for espionage – an extreme measure for that time. When Hashida stopped over in the Netherlands East Indies on his return to Japan, the Dutch authorities had been requested by Australian Security to find a way to detain him, which they did at his hotel in Batavia. A search of his baggage yielded a detailed diary Hashida had compiled on the data collected in his wide-ranging travels in Australia. The diary contents were translated and delivered to Canberra, with the details confirming the Security alarm in the growth of overt Japanese espionage in Australia. The true intention of Hashida’s visit was now confirmed, but the offhanded and blatant manner in which he accumulated vital information placed a new and disturbing dimension on possible Japanese intentions for Australia.

  Also found by the Dutch was a small book listing the spying objectives for Hashida while in Australia. These included the strength of army, air force and naval bases, the topographical and other geographical features in the immediate vicinity of these bases, conditions of land and sea communications and the capacity for military support to the Netherlands East Indies and Singapore. Suggestions to assist in his health recovery while in Australia did not receive a mention.

  Major Hashida’s travels in Australia had a clear purpose. Emperor Hirohito had previously concluded the debate on the direction of Japan’s future aggression. The nation’s titanic military offensive would be an Asian-Pacific affair, and not in the immense spaces of resource-rich Siberia preferred by many army generals. In Hirohito-style political manipulation, the generals and admirals knew what was coming, but the Emperor had barely said a word. The Pearl Harbor decree had been made, and Hitler’s war had conveniently focused American attention on Europe. Now was the time for a concerted re-evaluation of the data collected in Australia by Japanese agents – to confirm what they had, fill in some gaps and collate the information into a comprehensive manual for quick reference when the Pacific war commenced. This included the undertaking passed to Major Hashida.

  Considering his restrictive travel circumstances, Hashida did a very good job. Unfortunately for him, on his return to Tokyo his memory would be severely tested to reproduce what he had seen, while the full written details were in other hands.

  Hashida’s Sydney Day Trip

  Major Hashida’s diary recorded little to substantiate the official reason for his visit. His references to other features, however, were typical of his notes describing a tour of Sydney’s coastal suburbs, shortly after his arrival. A translation of these notes includes:

  21/1/41 – Trip to Palm Beach and La Perouse. Distance to both about 60 miles. In the morning with Otabe (Vice-Consul at the Japanese Consulate in Sydney) to Palm Beach. Picked up Kurada of Domei (the Japanese news agency) on the way. From Manly the road hugs the coast to the north … on the way saw the training of new entry soldiers. To the north of Mona Vale there are many rocks on the coast.

  At 3 o’clock back in the car and via Watson’s Bay and the south coast to La Perouse. Concentration of suburbs. On the beach across from La Perouse Cook landed his small ship on 28th April 1770. La Perouse is apparently a fortified area but I could get no confirmation of this.

  This was the theme of Hashida’s extensive diary. His gathering of industrial and trade information barely rated a mention, but geography, military preparations and even a reference to Captain Cook all took precedence over facts for his ‘trading’ mission.

  Data recorded by Hashida included all features of military preparations obtainable, such as:

  20/2/41 – The government wants to call up 125,000 men for general training. This is half the Australian Militia: 90 days training, interval of 90 days, and again 90 days training.

  Hashida’s arrogance and open disregard for the limitations placed upon his movements ultimately resulted in his record of the trip landing in the lap of Military Intelligence. At this time, mere speculation on Japan’s plans for Australia was converted to the serious matter of preparing the nation for war.

  Spying in Australia – The Results

  Were the German and Japanese spying efforts in Australia worthwhile? The broad answer is that we don’t know as the end result of all the spying endeavours will never be fully understood. This is the spy world where secrets, protection and document destruction are integral to success, so large volumes of data obtained by spies will never see the light of day.

  Further, there are questions that touch on the very intimacy of espionage operations. How does a spy agency assess, at the time of collection, information that may or may not be utilised? Against what criteria or comparison may this information be measured? Would a future event have occurred anyway, without the advantage of prior knowledge secretly obtained? How often during the war did agencies receive information from their spies that was deliberately false – to ‘justify’ a spy’s existence or to claim an unearned reward? The possibilities are numerous and the procedures involved are, or meant to be, confidential.

  The question may only be managed by considering the espionage objectives and the obvious results. It’s a ‘need to know’ analysis: We need to know this information. Did we get it? In the Australian case, the probable answer for the German and Japanese spying efforts is, Not entirely, but what we achieved was very worthwhile.

  More than forty ships were sunk or severely damaged off the Australian coast during the war, forcing the introduction of a convoy system. There was considerable under-reporting by the government to the public, due to the fear of creating panic. A notable exception was the sinking by a Japanese submarine of the hospital ship Centaur with a loss of 268 lives. The sinking created considerable community revulsion which the government harnessed effectively for its publicity war against Japan.

  The German raiders and the Japanese submarines were undoubtedly assisted by agents for several years prior to World War II. Maps, charts, and details of airfields, military installations, harbours, shipping movements and cargoes were steadily accumulated and passed on to Berlin and Tokyo. Amongst the untested spying missions were those undertaken to facilitate the inevitable Japanese invasion – which was avoided only through the savagely fought Allied victories in the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, and the Battle of the Coral Sea. The question of Japan’s intentions for Australia is examined in the Appendix.

  One German submarine – U-862 was dispatched to the Pacific region to intercept merchant ships off the Australian coast. It was based at the Japanese naval facility in Penang, Malaya, and later in Batavia. Commencing a patrol in December 1944, U-862 travelled down the coast of Western Australia, around southern Tasmania, up the east coast, then on to Napier, New Zealand. It sank two American merchant ships before returning to Penang. When Germany surrendered in May 1945, the submarine was delivered into the Japanese navy.

  Accurately assessing the quantity of successful espionage missions in pre-World War II Australia is an exercise that fails before it commences. Using appropriate techniques, quantities of almost anything may be measured, but by definition, foreign spying campaigns will usually resist having neat findings being assessed by t
hose who have been spied on. Questions such as Enemy troops killed or captured? Enemy aircraft shot down? yield simple, calculated answers or estimates. But the secrecy attached to spying usually has an impact on the results. The better the spy, the less likely that information collected by that spy will find its way back to the country being spied on. Hence, only limited information will be available for subsequent analysis. When defeat is apparent, and document destruction commences, spying correspondence will usually receive priority consideration – if for no other reason than to protect the information source.

  Within the manoeuvrings and subversion of foreign espionage in Australia during 1938 and 1939 Annette Wagner played her own exclusive spying role. It was not a conventional task, and she was separated from normal undercover activities by her favourable personal circumstances which assisted in establishing her unique spying qualifications. She enjoyed the advantage of being different to the expectations of a ‘normal’ spy, which made her less visible and less likely to invite unwanted attention. Also, it follows from the above that as a consequence of her competence and skills, whatever results she achieved, and with whom she collaborated, will never be totally known, or in fact, understood.

  3

  The Lady Arrives

  On 10 March 1938, Adolph Hitler ordered his generals to finalise the military planning for crossing the border into Austria, due for commencement within forty-eight hours. On the same day, and far from the diplomatic tensions in Europe, the Orient Line’s passenger ship, SS Orcades sailed through the heads of Sydney Harbour on its second voyage to Australia. Included on the first-class passenger list was the name Annette Fanny Catherine Wagner who had boarded the ship in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), after a voyage by a connecting ship from the French colony of Madagascar.

  The Personal Statement and Declaration completed by Annette in Fremantle states she was entering Australia as a ‘Tourist Visitor’. Her last permanent address was listed as Tananarive, the French administrative capital in Madagascar. A question on the statement referring to her medical status is answered ‘Convalescence for Typhoid Fever’. The duration of her visit was declared as being for ‘One month – 6 weeks’.

  Following her disembarkation in Sydney, she travelled to the home of a relative living near the city of Newcastle, 160 kilometres north of Sydney.

  According to statements later tendered by Annette, she had contracted typhoid fever while working for the Red Cross in Madagascar. She claimed the French colonial government offered to repatriate her to France in January 1938, but she was fearful of the winter and arranged to come to Australia where she had the benefit of recuperating while residing with her relative. The Australian Government had provided her with a temporary visa.

  Annette was born in the Swiss town of Bienne (today officially known as Biel-Bienne) on 3 June 1912, the daughter of Ernest and Sophie Schneider. Her father had been raised in a German-speaking sector of the town and her mother, in the French-speaking sector. In 1919 her mother passed away and Annette moved to England to live with a relative, Gertrude (nee) Schneider, who had married an Englishman, Howard Ridgley. She later advised, incorrectly, that she had been adopted by the couple, but she never obtained a British passport. She was raised in the Ridgley home in North London and received her education in local schools.

  Various unconfirmed reports have stated that Annette had worked in London for a Swiss Bank and the Japanese Embassy. The bank has not retained pre-war personnel records and the Japanese embassy’s staff details are advised as having been destroyed by a misguided and undiplomatic German bomb during the Battle of Britain in 1940. Annette claimed she had also worked for the British Home Office, but this also cannot be confirmed.

  Annette then travelled to various destinations in Europe, which included, she stated, a one-year secretarial training course in Geneva. She also claimed to have been employed by a large cotton broker, Bernachie Chomenie, the head office of which was in Alexandria, Egypt. The Smith’s Weekly article quoted in Chapter 1 stated that she had worked as an interpreter for the Japanese legation at the League of Nations. Annette’s supposed Japanese League connection is both possible and intriguing, but hard evidence supporting it does not appear to be available.

  The archives of the League of Nations are housed with the United Nations offices in Geneva. A search of personnel records did not reveal Annette Schneider’s name. However, the claim that she worked as a translator for the Japanese at the League may be correct. Most employees at the League missions were employed directly by the individual national delegations, and may not have required any authorisation from the League’s administration, hence no such records were found.

  At an unknown date Annette returned to England and lived at various addresses in London. While she was in Europe, Howard and Gertrude Ridgley had relocated to Sussex.

  In March 1934 Annette departed England on the passenger liner Windsor Castle and disembarked at Cape Town, South Africa. She had volunteered to serve in some medical missions under the auspices of the Red Cross, and she named these as the Paris-based French Evangelical Mission and the London-based Elim Medical Mission. It is believed that Annette, medically untrained, worked in the missions’ administration. In August 1935 she boarded the Dunbar Castle in the port of Beira, Mozambique, and returned to England.

  The three ships on which Annette travelled and referred to in this chapter share a common, and fatal, German connection. Following the outbreak of World War II the Orcades was converted to a troop carrier and was sunk by a U-Boat off South West Africa in October 1942. The Dunbar Castle sank after striking a German mine in January 1940, and the Windsor Castle was bombed and sunk by German aircraft in March 1943.

  Little is known of Annette’s locations during her work in southern Africa, with the exception that she had reportedly met her future husband, Robert Wagner, in Durban. They were married in Colmar, Alsace in October 1936.

  Robert Wagner, (not to be confused with the wartime Nazi administrator of Alsace of the same name) was born in Alsace when it was German territory. Following World War I, and the return of Alsace to France, he had joined the French civil service and was later posted to the colonial administration in Madagascar. Following their marriage, he and Annette sailed for Madagascar where Robert resumed his duties as a government administrator. In Australia, Annette informed authorities her marriage had failed and she would be seeking a divorce.

  In early 1937 Annette contracted typhoid fever, a common and potentially fatal ailment in Madagascar at that time. She said the condition required her to be hospitalised for six months. She sailed from Madagascar to Australia in January 1938, arriving in Sydney on 10th March. Annette convalesced at her relative’s home for a period and she said in her security interview (see Chapter 9) that for a period in 1938 she had provided programs for Radio Station 2NC in Newcastle.

  Annette made frequent trips to Sydney during which time she joined Alliance Francaise, where she met Jack Clancy. She also met a lady who lived at a large property in Iluka Street, Clifton Gardens, a pleasant suburb on a headland reaching into the northern shores of Sydney Harbour. The Manor is a fifty room mansion built in the early 1900s by a successful tile manufacturer from plans originally prepared for a ten room cottage. ‘Bakewell’s Folly’ as the property was referred to by neighbours, was acquired by the Theosophical Society in 1925 to offer temporary accommodation and study facilities to Society members. It was to The Manor that Annette was invited, or had requested to live, when she commenced her search for accommodation in Sydney.

  In June 1939, one year after she first moved to The Manor, Annette and some other residents were asked to leave. The reason is unclear, but Annette was not a member of the Theosophical Society, and strictly was not entitled to be there. She later stated that the London head office of the Society had learnt of some unauthorised entertaining that had taken place in The Manor, and had issued corrective reminders to the Sydney branch. At about this time, she claimed to have had a recurrence of
her typhoid fever symptoms.

  Annette stated her health was periodically influenced by the effects of this condition. About the time of her departure from The Manor, her doctor recommended that she obtain some ‘mountain air’ and suggested she stay for a few weeks at the Hydro Majestic, a popular resort hotel in the small town of Medlow Bath in the Blue Mountains, about 120 kilometres west of Sydney. She said in her security interview that she remained at the hotel for most of July.

  On returning from the Hydro Majestic, Annette moved into a city apartment in Wembley House, George Street, opposite Central railway station. Her period of tenancy in the building is not known, but before mid-January 1940, Annette relocated to the harbour-side suburb of Elizabeth Bay prior to her departure from Australia the following month.

  From the date of her security interview in October 1939 until February 1940 when she boarded the MV Gorgon to return to Madagascar and her husband, little is known of Annette. She did not return to the radio, but may have written and produced programs for others. It is quite possible, perhaps even probable, that Annette had belatedly realised the game was up. Surveillance on her by security agents had been intense: her movements were observed, her visitors noted, her phone tapped, her mail intercepted and her associates monitored. By October 1938 her façade was under suspicion and the near-perfect cover she had successfully developed since arriving in Australia had been severely compromised – without her being aware of it.

  Annette’s Finances

  Relocating to a foreign country usually incurs obligations – the most obvious being financial. This may be satisfied from funds brought into the country, employment, or remittances from overseas. Annette was the recipient of all three. Her income from radio, while presumably at the outset not substantial, had been supplemented, she said, by regular payments from the estate of a late relative.