Coins of foreign states during World War II. Continuation

After the German attack on April 6, 1941, the territories of the former Yugoslavia were under the control of the German military administration, which in 1942-1943 issued zinc occupation coins.

 

The Independent State of Croatia, a puppet pro-German state, was formed on April 10, 1941 on part of the territory of Yugoslavia captured by Germany. Despite the impressive number of developed probes, only one revolving coin is known - zinc 2 kunas of 1941.

 

On April 9, 1940, Denmark was "gently" occupied by Germany: the king, government and parliament continued their usual activities. In August 1943, the occupation became "tough," as in the rest of the occupied territories . All this time, coins were minted with the monogram of the then King Christian X, who wished to stay in his country. Coins 1, 2, 5 ore were issued in a new design on zinc and aluminum blanks and after a break they were minted again without a hole in the center of the coin.

 

The design of coins 10 and 25 ore repeats the pre-war.

Spain, which was listed in the allies of Germany, never officially entered World War II (the volunteer "blue division" of the phalangists does not count). I will present in the review several coins issued in Spain during the nationalist period: 5, 10 centimes made of aluminum and 1 peseta made of aluminum bronze. Circulations are large and, if not deepened in years and varieties, are not uncommon.

 

One of the few countries that during the Second World War, adhering to the policy of "double standards," easily and calmly endured wartime . Nevertheless, in 1942, the production of iron coins in denominations of 1, 2, 5 ore was resumed, which replaced bronze, as happened earlier, during the First World War.

 

In 1940.1941, coins in denominations of 10, 25 and 50 ore after a long break were again issued in nickel-bronze version (there was 0.400 silver samples). Prior to this, coins of this type were minted in the period 1920-1925.

 

 

In 1942, 1943, the production of silver coins of 10, 25, 50 ore and 1 crown in a new design was launched. These coins were issued until the death of Gustav V in 1950 .

 

Being neutral during the Second World War, Switzerland also noted the release of "military" zinc coins in denominations of 1 and 2 rappen.

 

France declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939 shortly after the attack on Poland. However, hostilities between Germany and France began only on May 13, 1940 on the territory of Belgium captured by the Germans, and on June 14, German troops entered Paris. On June 22, 1940, France capitulated to Germany and a truce was concluded, which resulted in the division of France into an occupation zone (northern part of France) and a puppet state ruled by the Vichy regime (southern part).

 

The national bank came under the control of the collaborationist government of Pétain and, therefore, in 1941 coins were issued with the motto "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite" in denominations of 50 centimes, 1 and 2 francs of the pre-war sample, made of aluminum bronze and aluminum , as well as 10 centimes zinc coins in various variations: without a line under "month," with a line under "month" and with periods near the date

 

 

In the same year, 1941, the Vichy government began issuing coins of a new type, but with a different motto "Travail, famille, patrie ," another symbol - an ax francis and another name for the state "Etat francais" (coins 50 centimes, 1 and 2 francs were issued several types: without a mint mark, signs B and C)

 

One of the rarest coins of the Vichy Government is 20 centimes of 1944 on an iron workpiece.

 

 

In 1941, a copper-nickel coin of 5 francs with the profile of Pétain was minted. Coins of this type did not get into circulation, and almost the entire multimillion circulation was sent for remelting. Genuine coins of this type found on sale are not cheap. I give as an illustration a photo from the network.

 

After the liberation of France by the Allies, in 1944, with a circulation of 50 million, a 2 franc coin was issued on brass blanks. The coin also circulated in Algeria.

 

Following the results of World War I, after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in it, since April 1920, Syria and Lebanon were ruled by France according to the mandate issued by the League of Nations. As in France itself, with the outbreak of World War II, in Lebanon and Syria, the Vichy-controlled French National Bank issued coins of the same design in new metal.

On July 14, 1941, British troops, together with Charles de Gaulle's Free France movement, occupied Lebanon and Syria in order to avoid the creation of German bridgeheads on their territories to invade neighboring states . The British occupation authorities issued similar in design unpretentious coins.

 

For Syria, coins were issued: 1 piaster (brass), 2 ½ piasters (aluminum).

 

Another state that was under the French protectorate and issued a pair of zinc coins for circulation: 10 and 20 centimes.

 

 

In 1941, after a long break, aluminum-bronze coins in denominations of 50 centimes, 1 and 2 francs were issued. In 1942, the troops of Germany and Italy landed in Tunisia, which, however, did not last long there; already in May 1943, the combined Anglo-American troops liberated Tunisia.

 

In 1942-1943, the South African Mint, commissioned by the leadership of Fighting France (Free France), led by Charles de Gaulle, issued coins for circulation in French colonial possessions: French Equatorial Africa (modern Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Chad), French Cameroon and French Madagascar. Coins differ only in the names of the colonies and some details. The obverse depicts the Gallic Rooster - a symbol of resistance since the First World War, on the reverse the Lorraine Cross - a symbol of "Fighting France" during World War II.

In 1944, by order of the "Fighting France," two coins were issued for circulation in French West Africa: 50 centimes and 1 franc. Coins are minted in London and resemble pre-war coins of the French Republic, with the difference that instead of the motto "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite" the name of the state "Afrique-Occidentale francaise" is indicated, as well as there are no mint signs.

 

The United States officially entered the war in 1941. In the observed period of time, changes in the minting of regular coins were expressed in the release of 1 cent and 5 cents on billets made of non-traditional metals.

 

In 1943, the mints of San Francisco, Denver and Philadelphia with a total circulation of more than 1 billion copies issued 1 cent coins on billets of their galvanized steel. Starting in 1944, one-cent "wheat" began to be made of brass, while until 1943 they were bronze.

 

Also, in the period from 1942 to 1945, copper-silver-magnesium alloy blanks began to be used instead of copper-nickel blanks for minting five-cent "nickels." Nickel was more valuable for military needs than silver. 

 

The remaining denominations during the war were minted unchanged from the pre-war issues.

 

Wartime did not affect the minting of coins by Great Britain and its dominions: Australia, India, New Zealand, South Africa, etc. The only exception is Canada, which issued three new varieties of five-cent coins between 1942 and 1945.

 

One of the most powerful allies of the Third Reich - Japan, concluded the "Anti-Comintern Pact" with Germany back in 1936, and the "Triple Alliance," including Italy, on September 22, 1940. While Germany, Italy and the Allies put into practice their plans for world domination in Europe and Africa, militaristic Japan waged large-scale wars of conquest in the Pacific basin: in 1937, Japan invaded China, in 1938 attempted an invasion of the USSR, but was defeated at Lake Hassan, in 1940 occupied the north of Indochina... In December 1941, Japan simultaneously attacked British Hong Kong, the American Philippines, Thailand, British Malaya, Singapore, as well as the American base Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Then Japan captures British Burma, the Dutch East Indies, British New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, the Marshall Islands, the Caroline Islands, the Mariana Islands, the Aleutian Islands, the Gilbert Islands, Bali, Timor, etc. Paradoxically, Japan's non-entry into hostilities against the USSR in the Far East largely helped the Red Army defeat Germany. If the opposite happened, the USSR would have been forced to fight on two fronts: in the European part and in the Far East. The declaration of war of the USSR on Japan happened only in August 1945, when the main hostilities in Europe almost ended.

 

During the Second World War, three lines of coins in denominations of 1, 5, 10 Sep were replaced. In the coins of 1938-1940, minting from the composition of coin blanks of the new line of bargaining coins, nickel disappeared: 1 sen was made in aluminum, 5 and 10 sen from aluminum-bronze alloy.

 

 

Produced from 1940 to 1943, all coins of 1, 5, 10 sen of the new line are made of aluminum.

 

The line of coins of the 1944 model is made of a sophisticated tin-zinc alloy.

 

 

 

French colonial possession in the period 1940-1945 was partially occupied by the Japanese with the "permission" of the French Vichy government. In the period 1940-1941, as in France itself, the new Government issued coins mainly of the old design, but in a new material.

Coins with the mint mark "S" were issued by the San Francisco Mint. There is nothing surprising in this, because the United States will officially enter World War II only at the end of 1941.

 

The Japanese occupation authorities in Burma, the Philippines, Indochina, New Guinea, Malaya and some other occupied territories did not issue coins, only banknotes were in circulation. In the territory of Indochina remaining under French jurisdiction, their coins continued to be in circulation. The name "Indochine" remained on the coins, but the name of the French state, again as in France itself, was replaced by "Etat francais" (State of France).

 

In 1931, the Japanese occupied Manchuria and, already on March 1, 1932, a puppet pro-Japanese state of Manzhou-go was formed, headed by the last Emperor of the Chinese Empire, who sympathized with the Japanese, Pu Yi, who renounced imperial power back in 1912. In 1939, clashes occurred near the Khalkin Gol River between Mongolian and Soviet troops on one side and the combined Japanese-Manchu armed forces on the other. The next battle between the Manchus and the Red Army took place in August 1945 after the USSR declared war on Japan. 

 

The Manchurian government issued four coin issues.

 

 

 

 

In the rest of China, after the Japanese occupied it, puppet states were also created that issued their coins.

 

 

The East Ji anti-communist autonomous government in East Hebei province issued a line of coins in 1937.

 

 

The reformed government of the Republic of China, which controlled the provinces of Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Anhui, as well as the cities of central subordination Nanjing and Shanghai, issued two coins in 1940: bronze 1 fenya and copper-nickel 10 fenya.

 

Between 1938 and 1940, the above states came under the control of the newly created "Provisional Government of North China" with a residence in Nanjing. The Mengjiang Republic was also nominally subordinate to him. Between 1941 and 1943, the Federal Reserve Bank of the puppet Provisional Government of Northern China issued a line of three aluminum coins in denominations of 1 fenj, 5 fenj and 1 zhao.

 

The Thai government, which came to power in the country in 1932 as a result of a military coup, sided with militaristic Japan, together with which it signed a military cooperation agreement in 1941 and invaded French Indochina, and on January 25, 1942 officially sided with the Axis countries, declaring war on the United States and Great Britain.

 

During this period, three lines of bargaining chips were issued.

 

1941. The first line of coins issued during the wartime period included 1 satang made of bronze, 5 and 10 satangs made of 650 sterling silver. Coins of this type were issued only this year. The year on coins 2484 (๒๔๘๔) corresponds to 1941 from R.H.

 

1942. For the release of the line of coins of this year, tin began to be used as materials for the manufacture of coins, on the blanks of which coins in denominations of 1, 5 and 10 satang were issued. 20 satangs were produced in silver this year. The year on coins 2485 (๒๔๘๕) corresponds to 1942 from R.H.

 

1944-1945. In 1944, the pro-British Government came to power in Thailand, which on August 19, 1945 appealed to the countries participating in the anti-Hitler (anti-Japanese) coalition with a request for peace. A new line of coins was issued "towards the end" of the war. All denominations from 1 to 20 satang this time were released on tin blanks. For the first time in this issue, the denomination of the coins is indicated in the "Western manner," and not in Thai numbers. The year on coins 2488 (๒๔๘๘) corresponds to 1945 from R.H.

While Holland was under the occupation of the Third Reich, its South American possessions (Curacao and Suriname) also did not remain aloof from hostilities. In coastal waters, German submarines sank Allied transports, and local airfields were used by American, Mexican and Brazilian military pilots during transatlantic flights. As previously stated, the Government of the Netherlands, led by Queen Wilhelmina, found refuge in London. Having lost the metropolis immediately after the German invasion, the Government in exile made attempts to maintain control of its colonial territories. To demonstrate to the rest of the world that the colonies are still subordinate to the legitimate authorities, the Government of the Netherlands in 1941-1943 issued an order in the United States for minting coins by the mints of Philadelphia (P), San Francisco (S) and Denver (D). Coins were issued in the image and likeness of the pre-war coins of the Netherlands and are distinguished by the presence of special symbols: "palm" and the mint sign P, S or D.
 

1 cent coins were issued in 1942 and 1943. Moreover, in 1942 coins were issued mainly on bronze, and in 1943 on brass blanks.

 

 

The next denomination of 5 cents was issued only in 1943 and does not have a letter indicating the mint.

Unlike previous denominations, silver trifles in denominations of 10 and 25 cents withstood more than one circulation. Coins of 10 cents in 1943 were circulated exclusively in Suriname.

 

The territorial proximity to Japan in the most dramatic way influenced the fate of the colony in Southeast Asia - the Dutch  East Indies. In 1942, despite the resistance of a small local military contingent of the Dutch armed forces, the islands were captured by many superior forces of the Japanese army. At first, the local population was enthusiastic about the invasion, considering it a liberation from the colonial influence of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but the mass extermination of Indonesians by the Japanese military eventually put everything in its place. 

 

The Dutch East Indies is another Japanese-occupied state (except China), where occupation coins were issued. Almost the entire circulation of coins fell under a torpedo attack during transportation and therefore the copies found are so highly valued ( photo from the Internet). The coins depict a puppet doll (Sep 5 and 10) and one of its heads (Sep 1). Take a closer look at the sticks that go down from the arms and legs, on the hinge arms. With a sense of humor, coins were made - coins "with puppets" for the puppet state.

 

 

After the liberation of the Dutch East Indies from Japanese occupation in 1945 , pre-war coins were returned to circulation in denominations from ½ cents to 25 cents. As large denominations, coins in denominations of 1 guilder and 2 ½ guilders issued by the Denver Mint with the date "1943" were put into circulation.