# Did German and Japanese soldiers ever fight side by side? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 12, 2012, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-german-and-japanese-soldiers-ever-fight-side-by-side/624905 "2012-06-12T13:13:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-german-and-japanese-soldiers-ever-fight-side-by-side/624905/1 "2012-06-12T13:13:24Z")
I’ve been reading up on Operation Overlord over the recent anniversary, came upon an interesting aside. When Allied forces encountered “Hiwis” in Normandy, volunteer forces from occupied states, many from central Soviet provinces with Asiatic features, some thought for a moment that they were Japanese soldiers attached to the German army. Of course, this was not the case, but it got me wondering - are there any documented cases of even a single German soldier fighting with Japanese forces or vice-versa? If the Axis had [got their way](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_power_negotiations_on_the_division_of_Asia_during_World_War_II) they would have shaken hands in India. Fortunately that never happened. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-german-and-japanese-soldiers-ever-fight-side-by-side/624905/2 "2012-06-12T13:36:02Z")
German submarines were stationed in the port of Penang which is now part of Malaysia. Penang at the time was occupied by the Japanese. So basically, German navy personnel served alongside Japanese soldiers, though you could not really call that “fighting side by side”. > **[Penang Submarine Base 1943-1945](http://teochiewkia2010.blogspot.com/2011/05/penang-submarine-base-1943-1945.html)** > > Penang was captured by Japanese forces invading from the north through Thailand on 19 December 1941, one of the key stages of the Battle of ... ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-german-and-japanese-soldiers-ever-fight-side-by-side/624905/3 "2012-06-12T13:47:39Z")
To further quote from the above mentiones article: > [@](#): > > Korvettenkapitän Wilhelm Dommes - CIC at Penang from Sept 1943. Commander of U 178 from 02.1943 to 11.1943. Wilhelm Dommes (16 April 1907 in Buchberg – 23 January 1990 in Hannover) was a German U-boat commander in World War II and recipient of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross. The Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. **He is notable as being the commander of U-boats in the Indian Ocean, whereby German and Japanese forces cooperatively fought for the only time in the war.** In January 1945 the base commander of Singapore and Chief of all Monsun boats. ([http://uboat.net/men/dommes.htm](http://uboat.net/men/dommes.htm)) ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-german-and-japanese-soldiers-ever-fight-side-by-side/624905/4 "2012-06-12T19:33:22Z")
The International Force holding the foreign legations in Peking in 1900 included German and Japanese troops. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-german-and-japanese-soldiers-ever-fight-side-by-side/624905/5 "2012-06-12T20:48:19Z")
IIRC there was a German U-boat on it’s way to Japan carrying some Japanese personal and atomic bomb raw materials and/or plans in when Germany surrendered. The Japanese on board promptly commited suicide and the U-boat made it’s way to the nearest Allied port. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-german-and-japanese-soldiers-ever-fight-side-by-side/624905/6 "2012-06-12T22:25:23Z")
There was a German surface raider (converted merchantman, I think) operating out of Japan, briefly. It got sunk by a US sub. > **[German auxiliary cruiser Michel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_auxiliary_cruiser_Michel)** > > Michel (HSK-9) was an auxiliary cruiser of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine that operated as a merchant raider during World War II. Built by Danziger Werft in Danzig 1938/39 as the freighter Bielsko for the Polish Gdynia-America-Line (GAL), she was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine at the outbreak of World War II and converted into the hospital ship Bonn. In the summer of 1941, she was converted into the auxiliary cruiser Michel, and was commissioned on 7 September 1941. Known as Schiff 28, her Roya... ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-german-and-japanese-soldiers-ever-fight-side-by-side/624905/7 "2012-06-12T22:31:23Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > The International Force holding the foreign legations in Peking in 1900 included German and Japanese troops. Boxer Rebellion?