From: Panama (Akiyama)
To: Tokyo
October 18, 1941
J-19
#220 (Part 1 of 2)
1. Ship movements from the
14th to the 18th:
Moving toward the Pacific:
4 American, 1 British freighters; 2 American tankers.
Moving toward the
Atlantic: 4 American, 2 British, 1 Dutch freighters; 1 American tanker, 1
American passenger steamer. Recently ships have been going through the canal at
night.
2. In order to find out
the plans of the Canal command, I inspected the military establishment at the
Pacific end on the 10th. (Naturally they do not allow us to inspect the forts.)
I found that construction is going on at a rapid rate and the whole area is
being covered with fortifications. Specifically, at Albrook Field, 3 large
hangars, storehouses for airplane parts, underground tanks, and 8 barracks to
accommodate 200 men each.
At Corozal, 4
two-hundred-men barracks, 55 two-family officer's quarters and a 500-patient
hospital are nearing completion.
ARMY 23909 Trans. 10-23-41 (2)
From: Panama (Akiyama)
To: Tokyo
October 18, 1941
J-19
#220 (Part 2 of 2)
At Fort Clayton there are
stationed, as before, the 2nd Field Artillery Battalion, the 1st Engineers, and
the 33rd Infantry. Besides barracks for the (signal ?) unit attached to these
groups, 18 or (48 ?) barracks large enough to accommodate 250 persons each are
approaching completion. In addition to the recently completed hangars at Howard
Field, barracks for 26 companies have been roughly completed at Fort Kobbe.
Some of these are already in use (details will be sent (by mail ?). In the
Canal Zone there are between the two oceans three cruisers, 8 new type
destroyers, 18 submarines, one gunboat, and one submarine tender. The
construction work of the submarine base at Balboa is progressing. According to
information coming from - - - - -, 16-inch guns have been emplaced on Pearl
Islands, and some of the warships of (this country ?) are patrolling the waters
around them.
ARMY 23910 Trans. 10/24/41 (2)
(EXHIBITS
OF JOINT COMMITTEE , EXHIBIT NO. 2 JAPANESE MESSAGES CONCERNING MILITARY
INSTALLATIONS, SHIP MOVEMENTS, ETC.)