by gerald hall
The Australians have already started helping in one area. They are using those big flying boats of theirs to send in supplies to our people still fighting in the Philippine and to evacuate wounded and non-combatants from there at the same time.”
President Roosevelt took a deep breath. With the exception of that brief expression of anger, the President looked tired, even haggard as he responded. “I suppose that we have to provide them with some help, Cordell. The fact that they are already helping us should pacify our isolationists a little. However, we can’t do all that much. We could see about providing some modern aircraft to the Australians under Lend Lease but we certainly can’t afford politically to do any large-scale basing of our troops. Hell, we are going to have to still keep most of even this cooperation under the table as it is.”
“What about the Asiatic Squadron ships that are still undergoing repairs in Darwin, Sir? We could send reinforcements to them. That alone could help the Australians defend themselves since most of the ships are already in an Australian port.”
“I’m afraid that when those repairs are complete enough for our ships to safely make the journey, we will probably have to withdraw the Asiatic Squadron back to Pearl Harbor, not reinforce it. Whatever we do in the Pacific in terms of cooperative operations, will have to be very, very limited.”
“I think that this is a mistake, Mister President. You need to be much bolder and show the isolationists that they are wrong.” Harry insisted.
“I tried being bold against the Japanese once already. It didn’t end well, as you recall. Besides, Hitler’s Germany is the real threat. If we are going to help the British at all, it has to be in Europe and North Africa. That is where I have to invest what little political capital that I have left.”
Harry and Secretary Hull couldn’t believe the changes in President Roosevelt since the debacle with the Pacific Fleet. Certainly, there was some anger in the American public at Japan about the loss of so many American lives after the battle. Nevertheless, most of the public’s anger was directed towards FDR and the Democrat Party, not the Japanese. The perception of the American people was that the Roosevelt administration had created the circumstances of the war in the Pacific and had then mismanaged the response to the Japanese. This criticism all hit Franklin Roosevelt in a hard, visceral manner.
Gone was the confident, driven man whose speeches inspired millions of Americans to follow his vision for America. Instead, President Roosevelt looked and acted more like a broken, sick man. The wheelchair that he had been largely confined to since an earlier bout with polio, now became his refuge. During most days, he sat there silently, chain-smoking cigarettes and apparently waiting on the next disaster to happen.
The fate of his party was no less precarious with the loss of President Roosevelt from the bully pulpit, selling his and his party’s agenda to the American public. His wife Eleanor tried to take up the mantle, but she was a poor substitute for the Franklin Roosevelt of old. The mid-term elections were coming up soon. Everything indicated that the Republicans would gain both the House and the Senate immediately afterwards. The Republicans were already promising to repeal most of the New Deal legislation and replace it with a much more business friendly package that would reduce federal spending, eliminate the annual deficit and expand the economy. The Republicans also promised to protect the homeland against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Even though America had always been loath to replace the top leadership in times of war, it now appeared that President Roosevelt could potentially lose the election in 1944. That idea would have been unheard of in early 1942. There was really no one waiting in the wings also to pick up the reins and continue the Roosevelt agenda of a greatly expanded, activist federal government. The Democrat leaders who might have done so were politically so far to the left that they were unelectable in a national election.
Now, Harry Hopkins had the sad duty of watching the steady decline, both physically and politically, of a man who many had hailed the most influential President in history less than two years earlier. This impacted everyone around the President, most of all Harry Hopkins, who continued to suffer through the brutal aftermath of stomach cancer. Harry had been on the rebound after being given only a few months to live. But now, after the many setbacks in the current administration, Harry could feel his life slipping away once again.
“Are you sure about this, Mister President? We really can’t afford to abandon our allies in the Pacific.”
“I’m sorry. But we have to limit what we can do for them, even with the intelligence that we gather. Those ties have to be cut completely also. I just don’t feel that we can afford to risk the British, French or Australians doing something rash based on our intelligence and therefore compromising our sources and methods.”
“What of the Flying Tigers? Will they be abandoned too?” Secretary Hull asked, almost pleading for the President to do something.
“We will keep the AVG nominally operational. However, we will also offer the military fliers an opportunity to rejoin their original services with no loss of rank or time in service. That is the least that we can do for those brave men. However, if they choose to continue to fight on behalf of the Chinese, then the Chinese will have to provide the material support by whatever means that they can. Madam Kai’shek will just have to forgive me for not doing more, I’m afraid. I will also need for you to take care of that ‘other matter’ as well.”
“I see, Sir. Well, I must be going now. I have to meet with the service chiefs to plan what we are going to do next concerning all of these issues.” The Secretary of War finally said as he began to turn towards the door.
“Thank you, Cordell.” Roosevelt said in a quiet voice. His physical and emotional fatigue became even more apparent with each word that he spoke.
As much as Secretary Hull wanted to defy the President and provide the help that the Allies needed in the Far East, he knew that he needed to follow the President’s directive. So, Cordell simply gritted his teeth and did so, regardless of the cost. At least, as far as the President knew, Cordell was going to follow the President’s directive.
But first, he was going to send a highly classified message to the commander of the Asiatic Squadron.
Headquarters Asiatic Fleet (temporary)
Darwin, Australia
April 31, 1942
A courier from Communications brought in a message and hand-delivered it to Admiral Thomas C. Hart, the Commander of the United States Navy’s Asiatic Fleet. The energetic sixty-four year old naval officer tore open the envelope and read the message inside. The Admiral’s office was dead quiet while he read the message. His operations officer, Captain Michael Teach stood nearby and watched as the Admiral pursed his lips for a few moments.
“Well, Michael. It looks like I have been fired by the President.”
“Why the hell would he do that? You have done the best that you could possibly do under the circumstances.”
“I know. I suppose that MacArthur’s poison pen had something to do with it.” Admiral Hart refused to say anything about FDR’s long-standing grievance concerning how the Admiral had fought the union bosses at the torpedo production plant over twenty years earlier. FDR had strongly objected as assistant Secretary of the Navy, though Hart had managed to perform miracles in producing a better weapon for less cost, and had worked quite well with the plant workers. It was just that the union didn’t like how Hart had managed to accomplish the productivity gains. Of course, the union complained to FDR. MacArthur’s comments, before the general’s capture and execution by the Japanese, about Admiral Hart poisoned the relationships that the Admiral had with many Allied commanders in the region, including Britain’s General Wavell also. This was also a factor in Admiral Hart being relieved from his post.
“So what will you be doing now, Sir?”
“Actually, Secretary Hull has already given me another job. He wants me to assume operational command of all US forces in the Southern Pa
cific. It’s going to be pretty low key still. We aren’t going to have a lot of resources of our own. In fact, he told me that the President wanted us to send our ships back to Pearl after repairs were complete. Of course, ships in frontline combat are never completely repaired, are they?” Hart said with a sly grin before continuing.
“But the work will be vital if we are going to defeat the Japanese. With MacArthur’s murder, Secretary Hull clearly stated to me that we are going to focus on the naval war here in the Pacific.” Fortunately, Secretary Hull saw what FDR did not. He saw that Admiral Hart had fought as effective a campaign as possible, considering the meager resources that he had available.
“You have a hell of a task in front of you, Sir.”
“I know, Michael. However, I’m actually going to be continuing much of what we have already started. Even if the Brits aren’t all that fond of me, they are still going to have to deal with me. Even if I am not directly in command of the Asiatic Fleet, all of those ships will still work for me. That includes the cruisers Houston, Boise and Marblehead. The first thing that I am going to do is get Houston into port and have that damned radar installed on her. That way, we will then have two cruisers equipped with radar finally.
The Brits and French are definitely going to want to have us around after that. Secretary Hull has told me that we will still have to operate with a lot of restrictions. Apparently, there are some powerful people in DC who don’t trust the Brits at all, especially Churchill. So we will have to be creative on how we coordinate with them. But don’t expect a lot of help coming out of Pearl Harbor or points east of there. We will have to develop our own assets as much as possible.
“How do you plan on doing that, Sir?”
“I am going to ask for money and ammunition mostly. Then I will see what I can buy or build around here. Since we don’t have a lot of surface assets, I am going to rely mostly upon all of those submarines that we managed to get out of the Philippines before the Japs conquered it. First, I am going to grab every Mark Fourteen torpedo that I can get my hands onto. Then I am going to see if I can find someone around here who can help me fix them so that we can start sinking Jap ships with them.” Admiral Hart said with a growing smile.
“That’s going to be a hell of a task now that the Philippines are lost and the Japs have already invaded the northern half of Borneo.”
“I never said that it was going to be easy, Michael. It’s just necessary. Now, I have to find someone to work with around here to help me accomplish this.”
“I might actually know of someone. He isn’t here in Darwin though. This man operates out of a place called Derby on the northwest coast.”
“You are talking about that Harold Cavill, aren’t you? I’ve heard of him before. He’s a bit of a maverick, I believe. Maybe that is exactly the kind of help that we need.”
Belgorod, Soviet Union
First Panzer Army Headquarters (Forward)
May 21, 1942
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel stood on a hill next to his armored halftrack command vehicle overlooking the many smoldering vehicles on the battlefield below him. His troops had been fighting for the past week against masses of Soviet armor. Rommel’s forces had taken heavy losses over the course of the conflict. But the incredible toll that Rommel’s forces were inflicting upon the hundreds of T-34’s and KV-1’s, not to mention tens of thousands of Red Army troops, was utterly breathtaking.
Even though Rommel had been pulled from North Africa along with the rest of his battle-hardened forces by an angry Hitler, Rommel had more than redeemed himself on the Eastern Front with his mastery of mobile armored warfare. Hitler’s rare move in moving Rommel to the Eastern Front was a result of the Fuhrer’s realization that the Afrika Korps and its Italian allies would soon be destroyed anyway since they could no longer be resupplied or reinforced. The British had reinforced the Mediterranean with many of the warships that had been protecting the northern convoy routes to Russia. Between that and the losses that the Regia Marina had suffered during that French suicide run, the Axis foothold in North Africa was no longer tenable as a result. Rommel arrived like a whirlwind, leading the First Panzer Army back on the attack. Hitler quickly rewarded the German panzer general with a promotion to Field Marshal and sent him back to continue his success against the Red Army.
Now on the killing fields of Eastern Europe, every time that the Soviets attempted a breakthrough, Rommel managed to rush his Panzers along the vulnerable flanks of the Soviet formations and savagely hit them. This forced the Soviet troops to react to Rommel instead of continuing their intended attacks.
Rommel had even received word from spies within the Soviet ranks of Marshall Zhukov’s words of the Russian commander’s grudging respect for Rommel’s abilities. Even so, Rommel’s hands were frequently tied by Hitler’s inflexible directives. The Fuhrer’s demands repeatedly cost the lives of tens of thousands of German and allied troops as a result.
What was worse for the Germans was what was happening in Stalingrad where an entire German Army Group was being ground down in savage urban fighting. Rommel knew that it would only be a matter of time before the Soviets would mass enough forces to mount a counterattack that would trap more than a hundred thousand German troops within that battered wreck of a city.
But for now, Rommel had his hands full dealing with the Kursk salient and Soviet Field Marshal Georgy Zhukov. It seemed very much like a battle between a rapier and a battleaxe. But the Soviets were now finding themselves having a much more difficult time moving adequate supplies to the front line to support their massive forces.
The Studebaker trucks and other war materiel that had been keeping the Red Army supplied and mobile were no longer coming into the port of Murmansk from America. American demands for payment in hard currency and the British refusal to escort convoys to Russia were now preventing Zhukov from launching the massive counterattack that he had planned against the Germans. Even so, Zhukov threw every man and machine that he could muster into the battle to preserve the salient that had been driven within the German lines.
At Kursk, both sides eventually fought to exhaustion. Neither the Germans nor the Soviets were in a position to continue offensive operations for some time. Operation Citadel had ground to a halt while the salient at Kursk remained essentially unchanged. But the Red Army was finding it much harder to recover from the ensuing carnage without the supplies from America that had been the Soviets’ lifeline. The rapier was beginning to win over the battleaxe, as long as the former wasn’t being forced by the Nazi leader to directly fend off the heavier blade.
Unnamed Cove
Luzon, Philippine Islands
June 1, 1942
The dark grey-painted Cavalier flew low over the water at just before midnight, its belly full of Australian Army raiders and supplies for the Philippine and American resistance fighters. Just a short distance from the shoreline, the huge flying boat landed on the water and taxied a short distance before cutting its engines to silently coast the rest of the way in.
As soon as the flying boat began to coast up to the small cove, a small coded flash of light let them know that it was safe to come in. But the gunners in the flying boat’s turrets all remained alert for any sign of an ambush. The Cavalier quietly slid to the shoreline and came to a stop. A squad of elite Australian soldiers leapt out onto the shore as the flying boat’s huge nose bow began to open up. They set up a defensive perimeter as other Australians began to pour out, most carrying large parcels of supplies with them.
After a few minutes, one of the Australians on the perimeter suddenly signaled for everyone to go silent and find cover. Then a minute later, a single woman walked out of the jungle onto the beach near the Cavalier. Even in the dim moonlight, it was clear that the woman was not Philippine.
The leader of the Australian soldiers then walked out into the open towards the newcomer.
“Mrs. Gunn, I presume.” One of the Australian commandoes quietly asked the attractive
but clearly malnourished woman.
“That’s me. I brought the rest of my family along with me too.” A weary but relieved Polly Gunn said before motioning behind her. A few seconds later, two teenage girls and a pair of boys also came out of the jungle foliage and stood beside her. They all looked like they had been on a starvation diet for the past few months. Polly and her family were soon followed by at least twenty Filipinos, most of whom were armed with a variety of American and Japanese weapons. There were also three American men among them who wore the tattered remnants of US Army uniforms.
“We have someone waiting at the plane who is very anxious to see all of you. We had a hell of a time convincing Pappy to stay back at the plane since he wanted to be right here to meet you. But we told him that we couldn’t afford to lose our best pilot, especially while we were so deep in enemy territory.” Lieutenant Arthur Wallace explained with a smile.
“Well, we are pretty anxious to see him too. I brought a few friends along with me from the detainment camp who also need a ride out of here. But we had better hurry. There will be hell to pay if the Japs catch us out here.” Polly replied as another seven half-starved Americans also walked out into view.
“No worries, Ma’am. We’ll get you all back home. We are also going to do what we can to make the damned Japs regret ever coming down here.” Lieutenant Wallace said as his men continued to unload cases full of weapons, ammunition, food and medical supplies for the ragged band of Philippine and American guerillas that brought Polly Gunn and her family to the rendezvous point.
Polly and her children were led by one of the Australians towards the waiting Cavalier. It didn’t take long for her to see a very familiar man standing there under the open nose door of the huge flying boat. Pappy was smiling from ear to ear when he saw his wife and children for the first time in months.
