Wolfgang von Kleinschmidt in 1941.
Wolfgang von Kleinschmidt (born in 1884) was a German Kriegsmarine officer during World War II known for being the first high ranking Nazi officer captured in the United States.
Biography[]
Kleinschmidt was born in Berlin in 1884. He served during World War I in the Imperial German Navy. After the War he joined the Nazi Party where he met Adolf Hitler who he had a good relationship. He became a Captain in the Kriegsmarine where Hitler came to power in 1933.
On Saturday, December 13, 1941, at 07:01 (six days after the attack on Pearl Harbor), an Imperial Japanese Navy submarine surfaced off the Californian coast. A naked woman swimming in the water was trapped atop the submarine, which was commanded by Akiro Mitamura and carrying Wolfgang von Kleinschmidt. Wanting to destroy something "honorable" in Los Angeles, Mitamura decided to target Hollywood; something that Kleinschmidt objected and disapproved.
Later that day, the Japanese submarine had become lost trying to find Los Angeles after the ship's compass malfunctions. A landing party went ashore searching for "Hollywood" and instead discovered lumberjack Hollis "Holly" Wood, who was selling Christmas trees. After being taken prisoner aboard the sub, Hollis was searched and the crew was excited to find a small compass which was the toy surprise inside a box of "Popper Jacks". Hollis snatched the compass and swallowed it. After the crew attempted to make Hollis pass the compass by forcing him to drink prune juice, he managed to escape from the submarine and swam to shore.
That night the Japanese were discovered by American worker Ward Douglas who saw the submarine with his binoculars and he alerted his neighbours. On board the submarine, Von Kleinschmidt tried to do a mutiny, but he was thrown overboard by Mitamura, who was tired of his complains. He managed to survive, and he was captured by US Patrol when he was trying to escape from a furious Hollis Wood.