Operation Crossroads was the code name given to a series of nuclear weapons tests at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific in July 1946. The tests carried out by Joint Task Force 1, a combined Army and Navy operation. The stated purpose of the tests was to observe the effects of nuclear weapons on naval vessels.

Unlike the Trinity tests in the desert of New Mexico, Operation Crossroads was a very public affair. Invited guests included a large media presence, scientists and foreign military observers.

Three tests were planned. Test Able was was an air burst of a 23 kiloton “fat boy”. Test Baker involved an underwater detonation of a similar device. Test Charlie was to have a deep water detonation. Problems with decontaminating the test ships after Test Baker prevented Rest Charlie from occurring.

A fleet of seventy-one vessels was assembled in the Bikini lagoon as the target array. The ships were mostly American vessels including the carriers Independence and Saratoga and the battleships Arkansas, Nevada, New York and Pennsylvania. A few captured German and Japanese ships were also included.

Test Able was conducted on July 1, 1946. The bomb was dropped from a B-29 of the 509th Bomb Group. The bomb missed the target vessel, USS Nevada, by 750 yards. Five ships were sunk immediately and fourteen others badly damaged. The media was underwhelmed by the damage. The scientific evidence showed that the crew on most of the vessels would have perished from the effect of the radiation.

Test Baker took place on July 25, 1946. The device was detonated ninety feet below the surface suspended from LSM-60. While the plume from Test Able took most of the radioactive material into the stratosphere, the underwater detonation of Test Baker caused a radioactive soup to inundate the target vessels. The contamination was so bad that decontamination of most of the ships was abandoned and the vessels sunk.

The operation required the displacement of 167 natives from Bikini. Poor fishing conditions in their new home required their removal once more. Seventy-three years later Bikini Atoll remains uninhabited.

A number of numismatic items exist from Operation Crossroads. At least three different souvenir notes were printed for use as short snorters and there are chits from the recreation facilities on Kwajalein.

The first short snorter was made by the 58th Bomb Squadron of the 509th Bomb Group. The B-29 that dropped the bomb for Test Able was from the 58th Bomb Squadron.

The second type was printed by the Navy for JTF-1.

The third short snorter was printed for use on the USS Sumner. The Sumner was a survey vessel that conducted the preparatory work in the Bikini lagoon before the tests.

The Coral Reef Tavern was the name of the Navy run recreation facility on Kwajalein. Five and ten cent chits for use in the Coral Reef Tavern have survived.

Operation Crossroads also has a large philatelic footprint. Commemorative covers were made for most, if not all, of the target vessels as well as many of the support ships. The 58th Bomb Wing also made a commemorative cover that was carried on the plane that dropped the bomb for Test Able carrying a July 1, 1946 postmark.

One of the oddest actions of the US Army in WWII took place not on the battlefield but in an office building in the city of Chicago. Pictured above is a photograph of Sewell Avery, chairman of Montgomery Ward, being carried out of his office by two soldiers. The soldiers were apparently prepared for the worst as they are wearing steel pot helmets and carry bayonets and gas masks. It was one chapter in a very bitter and public feud between the President of the United States and the head of the largest American retail operation of the day.

On more than one occasion during the war labor unrest threatened or potentially threatened industry that was necessary for the war effort. When this occurred the President exercised emergency war powers to take control of the business. Such was the case with Montgomery Ward.

Sewell Avery, the retailer’s chairman, did not care much for Roosevelt and the New Deal. He cared even less for labor unions. When Montgomery Ward employees began to organize, Avery threatened to close the facilities. Avery then refused to accept a union contract and the employees threatened to strike. FDR literally sent in the Army.

Claiming that the labor disruption would have an effect on the war effort, FDR had the War Department take over the operation of the facilities in December 1944.

The numismatic connection? Catalog retailers used pre-printed bearer checks for refunds. These checks could be used for future purchases or cashed at a bank. The War Department administrators at Montgomery Ward had special checks printed for refunds related to the facilities they operated.

The War Department ran the facilities until October 1945. Four different Special Representatives of the Secretary of War were in charge during these eleven months. Each of them had checks printed with their signature.

This War Department check from June 1945 is a remarkable piece. The face and back show multiple endorsements. Apparently, Mrs. Glen Knudson of Fairmount, MN kept the check until July 1971 when she used it at the Montgomery Ward store there. It was accepted and entered the banking channels.

It was first deposited into the retailers account at the First National Bank of Minneapolis. Since the check was drawn on the Continental Illinois Bank and Trust Company of Chicago, it next went to the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank who forwarded it to the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank who sent it to Continental. Continental refused the check because the check was stale and the account was closed. The remaining myriad of stamps on the back cancel the endorsements made by each bank after it was refused by Continental. It seems like an awful lot of trouble for a penny!

In response to the Great Depression, the German government of Kurt von Schleicher instituted severe economic policies including currency reform in 1932. One of the more drastic measures imposed was making the reichsmark (RM) inconvertible and prohibiting the export of RM currency. In other words, RM could not be exchanged for foreign currency and RM notes could not be taken out of Germany. Importing foreign currency was also prohibited. These steps were intended to keep foreign exchange out of the German economy.

These policies created problems for German cruise ships which used RM but could not take it out of the country. They also presented difficulties for foreigners wishing to travel in Germany because they could not obtain RM notes for use in Germany.

The currency limitations required the creation of special monetary instruments for use on cruise ships known as ship’s money orders (Bordanweisungen) and special traveler’s cheques for tourists.

The ship’s money orders were denominated in RM and could only be purchased and used on board the cruise ship on that particular voyage. The ship’s name and voyage number were printed on the money orders. At the end of the voyage the money orders were exchanged back into RM notes.

Foreigners who were traveling to Germany on cruise ships had to purchase special traveler’s cheques that were denominated in Registermarks. One Registermark was equal to one RM but the Registermark cheques could not be used for direct purchases. On ship the cheques were used to acquire ship’s money orders which were then used for purchases. Once in Germany the Registermark cheques were converted to RM notes only at approved financial institutions in Germany.

Travelers going into Germany on land or on foreign cruise ships could not exchange their currency for RM notes directly. These travelers were required to purchase RM denominated traveler’s cheques from approved institutions outside Germany. Like the Registermark cheques, these traveler’s could not be used for direct purchases but had to be converted to RM notes once in Germany.

Upon departing Germany, travelers had to deposit their remaining RM notes with a financial institution in return for a receipt. (Travelers could bring up to 30 RM in coin into or out of Germany). The receipt was then presented to the institution outside Germany from whom the traveler’s cheques were purchased for redemption in the home currency.

These policies remained until the beginning of WWII. The Allied Military Government imposed similar restrictions on the RM after WWII but that will be a topic for another day.