Japanese-American Slush Fund
On July 7, 1937, a clash broke out between Japanese and Chinese forces on the outskirts of Beijing. Then they had fought in Shanghai, which lasted from August 13 to November 26.
After the Battle of Shanghai, expansionist prevailed within the Japanese military and Japanese army began invading Nanjing. The army entered the city on December 13 and the massacre was began while a lot of women were raped. The formal commander of the troops was General Matsui Iwane but actually Prince Asaka Yasuhiko.
Japanese army also looted. According to Sterling Seagrave and Peggy Seagrave, the systematic looting of treasures began after the Japanese invaded Nanking. Not only did they take assets held by the Chinese government, but they also broke into banks and wealthy homes and looted and robbed gold and jewelry, with the total weight of the loot reaching 6,000 tons.
Prince Chichibu Yasuhito was in charge of this looting operation, assisted by Prince Takeda Tsuneyoshi. The looted treasure was planned to be transported to Japan via the Philippines, but was hidden in the Philippines because of transportation difficulties along the way. The gold was then transported to Swiss banks in Tokyo, Portuguese banks in Macau, and banks in Chile and Argentina.(Sterling & Peggy Seagrave, “Gold Warriors”, Verso, 2003)
The commander of the 14th Area Army in charge of the Philippines at the time of Japan's defeat in the war was General Yamashita Tomoyuki but he was posted in September 1944, and the accumulation of treasures was in its final stages. General Yamashita was executed in Manila in February 1946.
After the Japanese surrendered, OSS officer Edward Lansdale succeeded in finding out from the Japanese POWs where the treasure was hidden and found the relevant files. The intelligence officer who worked under him was Severino Garcia Diaz Santa Romana. It is said that Romana was on familiar with Imelda Marcos.
Lansdale flew to Tokyo with information about the treasure and reported to General Douglas MacArthur and other GHQ-SCAP officials. Lansdale then went to Washington, D.C., to brief his superiors, Brig. Gen. John L. Magruder. It is said that Henry L. Stimson, John J. McCloy, Robert A. Lovett and Robert B. Anderson also shared information, and Stimson was the one who thought of using this treasure for U.S. international strategy.
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