Two days after we reached the backside and took up our compass course, our “de facto” leader sat me down for a little talk after he too told me his nickname. He said it was Okie a nickname for Aokie. He said shipmates in the Japanese navy always knew the names of those they sailed with. Then he proceeded to explain that all mariners knew it was simpler to sail from east to west. That was because the prevailing winds most of the year were from the east or the southeast at these latitudes. But, he said, this was not always the case. Apparently they shifted to the northwest for a couple of months in the summer. His plan was to purposely delay our departure until July when we had a better chance of it happening. Also the winds from the northwest were moisture laden, which was good news to hear.
He showed me where we were on the chart. He said it was about 300 miles from the Solomon’s, which would make it about 750 from Suva in the Fijian Islands. The thought hurriedly crossed my mind. Why didn’t we wait for the easterlies and head for Rabaul or Guadalcanal instead of Fiji? Maybe it was because of the drier winds coming from the southeast. They were also lighter. This would make our heavy raft go slower, and in the long run make our calculated month and a half long voyage take longer and also risk big trouble for lack of water. I never said anything, not wanting to appear less informed than I was. I just nodded my head in the affirmative. But my mind had shifted from worrying about the coming lack of water to what Tash had said. “This man is bad,” with his emphasis on the bad.
Chapter 13
We were making about twenty-five miles every 24 hours. But because we were tacking at times, we were only making good about 10 miles along our course, about what we figured. But when we did change course, the lateen worked as advertised.
We had plenty to eat thanks to the flying fish that insisted on beaching themselves on the deck each night. They were a welcome addition to our diet of mostly coconuts and jerky. I couldn’t help but think about the fish, after all this is close to the waters where…“the flying fishes play and the dawn comes up like thunder ‘oughter China ‘cross the bay.”
About half way to our calculated destination, Okie decided to have a little talk with me. That’s what he called it but it turned out to be anything but little, meaning routine or insignificant.
“Do you know what a dossier is”? He asked me. “Of course you do but to make absolutely sure we are on the same page, let me tell you that it is a number of papers or reports on a certain subject. In the Japanese Navy, and maybe the American Navy as well, dossiers are used to make a case or a point to be considered by a senior officer. Usually, his mind is made up for him by one much junior. The dossier is used for backup if he chooses to read it.
“Now, our friend has just such a dossier in his briefcase he brought on board. It is the same dossier that I was sent to this island to find and to destroy or to bring it back and turn it over to the proper authority. It is very important, having the interest of the Emperor. The Japanese Military Secret police known as the Kempeitai, with the help of the Japanese Navy Secret Service, compiled it. I told you about their master plan, the East Asiatic Co-prosperity Sphere, sometimes called the Tanaka Memorial. Remember, the report that ties the Emperor and key Army and Navy officers to the attack on Pearl Harbor. And I told you that following the loss of our carriers at Midway we were programmed to lose the War. The only thing that was going to save Japan was another ‘Kamikaze’ or ‘Devine Wind.’ And unless you believed in fairy tales that was not going to happen again any time soon.”
He spoke straight forward with only the slightest smile playing at the corners of his lips. It was hard, though, to tell exactly what he was getting at or whose side he was really on.
“Now for whatever reason,” he continued, “be it in the interest of justice or for just plain revenge, the report and the other contents of this briefcase will be used to bring the Emperor and his family and the other infamous twenty-four officers listed, thereon, to the gallows for war crimes. As I might have told you before, those senior officers and the Emperor have copies. But none quite as comprehensive as this one.”
I interrupted to ask him what was so different about this one.
“This one lists the major atrocities, massacres and war crimes committed from the date Japan went ‘adventuring’ until the present. That’s what they call it adventuring. And equally important it names the officers responsible or who outright signed the order that brought it about. And this includes the Emperor, the male members of his family and the last four Prime Ministers including the current one by the infamous last name of General Tojo. All Americans, and especially those fighting out here, know that name.
“They expect a military tribunal will be held in Tokyo, maybe more than one, and heads will roll. Pardon the pun, because that is one of the major charges against them–I mean, executing prisoners of war by cutting off their heads. These are mostly Chinese, who they also buried alive, but there are American prisoners as well. And the real incriminating part about it is there are Japanese photographs taken of the scene of the worst of these events.
“Now the thing of it is if they can collect and destroy all of these dossiers, they will have destroyed all direct evidence. True, they will probably have eyewitnesses but no direct evidence that cannot be challenged. At least it will create some reasonable doubt that may save most of them from the noose. And mark my words, nothing short of a pardon by the American president or General McArthur, himself, will save them if these documents fall into the wrong hands. That’s the way they see it, anyway.
“But there is one thing that will overshadow all war crimes, and believe me there are plenty of them, besides the attack on Pearl Harbor.”
I was extremely curious about what could be more dishonorable and dastardlier than Pearl Harbor and the march from Corregidor, so I asked him.
“Far worse,” he said, “much worse. I don’t suppose you know anything about project I-400, for want of a better name.” I shook my head as he plunged on with his tale, which caused me to ask myself what he was telling me all this for.
“You know we had to have something we could use as a lever to bring America to the bargaining table before we were destroyed.” By way of explanation of this remark, he preceded to tell me about the B-29 heavy bombers that were wrecking havoc nightly on Japanese cities, which I had not heard about. I’m sure he missed it but I didn’t. He had made a Freudian slip of the worst kind. He had said “we” instead of “they,” thereby, giving himself away. He had been doing his best to convince me that he was really an American and now he had undone everything. At least he had by my way of thinking. I didn’t say anything but I filed it away for future reference. Slow but sure, I was beginning to think he was the way my friend Tash had told me he was. He is not for real is this officer from Berkeley, this Okie. And just maybe he is in league with the Japanese still. And just maybe he is my enemy, as I know he is the enemy of Tash. Actually, Tash is scared to death of him and it may be because of this project 400 and maybe it and something else. And just maybe Tash was the admiral’s aide. Many admirals in our navy preferred his aide be a pilot with many flying hours. It made it simpler that way. And what aide, enlisted or commissioned, didn’t know most things of importance the admiral or the general knew. All services are alike on that score. The aide becomes the friend and confidant of the admiral or general. Nothing could be simpler. Tash was the friend of his admiral and, therefore, knew a lot more than I had given him credit for. I asked Okie about my suspicions and he agreed with me.
“I-400 is the super submarine project of Yamamoto’s.” He began again to tell me about the brainchild of this most famous of Japanese admirals. “As I told you, the Emperor and his key staff had all but decided the War had definitely turned against them after they lost four carriers at Midway. They went on the defensive, withdrawing back to Japan. Now we needed to take a long hard look at how we intended to survive, rather than how we intended to win the War outright. Midway, along with the battles of the Coral and the
Bismarck Sea, had brought this about in just a few short months. Now, long-range plans had them looking for a way to bring about a cease-fire and to allow us to keep our Emperor and to avoid an invasion of our islands. But most of all, Yamamoto wanted to bring about an honorable closure to the War.” As he paused, I realized again he was slipping in and out with the terms of “we” and “they” and that he might no longer be making a pretense of carrying on with the charade of whose side he was really on.
“The war lords, Tojo and Yamashita, wanted to fight on to the last in the manner of the Samari. They came up with many schemes but in the end they settled on what became known as the I-400 plan, the key to the plan being a fleet of super-submarines. These subs would be huge, able to carry three aircraft each on special built watertight hangers on top of their decks. They were going to require a super-structure and a gigantic hull to keep them from turning over and sinking. A number of ideas were advanced but none worked out; all proved to be unstable, when models were tested in wave tanks especially built for the project. In the end, they built two extremely large subs and tied them together–that is they were interconnected with four watertight doors between two passageways.
“They were truly two submarines made into one. They even had two engine rooms and duplicate conning towers.
“The on-deck hangers or containers housed three pontoon aircraft with folding wings and control surfaces. These airplanes were taken from the regular navy inventory, requiring little modification to launch them. After all, time was of the essence.
“Once they had the subs completed and tested, they set about completing the plans on how they were going to be used. Whatever the final plan was it had to convince the Americans they could surface anywhere and launch airplanes over their cities. They even considered destroying the Panama Canal. It could easily be done but to what real purpose? How was this going to shock America? After all, most of the American ships were already in the Pacific. No they needed a much more grandiose plan, something more dramatic, something that would scare the Americans into settling for peace. Bombing of cities was also not the answer. After all, this was a relatively small force when compared to the thousands of bomber aircraft the allies had unleashed on Germany. And this had no immediate effect of bringing the Germans to surrender. No it had to be something that would register with the impact of Pearl Harbor. And it had to discourage them, rather than ignite the spark of patriotism and will to defeat Japan at any cost, as the bombing of Pearl Harbor had. That’s right, a concept so horrifying that America would listen to terms for a negotiated peace rather than suffer the loss of millions of her citizens.
“To this end, Tojo wanted to use Anthrax and the Bubonic Plague. He ordered laboratories constructed to replicate these two deadly viruses.
“In the case of the plague, his scientists even considered breeding millions of rats covered with billions of fleas and dropping them from these low flying pontoon planes over American cities. How this was to be done from the giant submarines had not been worked out yet but the problem was not insurmountable. Yamamoto was initially against this, but later changed his mind becoming the leading proponent of the scheme. He reasoned that it would have to be done or Japan would eventual face invasion and unconditional surrender. Being the national hero and tactician he was, he had the confidence of the Emperor. Hirohito was not at all sure it would work out as Yamamoto now envisioned it. But he went along with it, signing the order that was going to bring it about.
“Following Yamamoto’s death at Rabaul, this glorified scheme for survival lost most of its impetus. With its chief proponent now no longer available to push the effort it lost most of its steam. Strapped for money and material but mostly strapped for time, the high command whittled the project to half of what it started out to be. Still it was enough if the airplanes would be dropping deadly germs rather than bombs. Then time was going to be the Japanese ally. Once both of these diseases began in several cities at the same time, they could be expected to proliferate out of control in a few months. With the threat of more giant subs on the horizon, the United States would sue for peace or risk losing whole populations, reminiscent of the plague that destroyed half the populations of Europe and England in the middle ages.
“Japan planned to start slow, giving the Americans time to consider what awaited them if they did not come quickly to the bargaining table. Even if Japan were forced to surrender before the program was completed, the Americans and the British would realize they were doomed. Nothing could stop the eventual spread of these diseases. It would be impossible to vaccinate such huge populations even if they had the serum available.
“To insure the success of the operation, they even painted their aircraft with American markings, which was against International Law. The idea was abhorrent to Yamamoto, but he was overruled and the plan to change the markings went forward. He spoke out against it, saying it would have a worse affect on uniting the Americans, who had already sworn to destroy Japan. He reminded them that the Americans saw Japan as treacherous monsters to be defeated at all costs. Now, he was afraid this further act of treachery and outrage would remove any chance Japan had of surviving.
“Some of the army and most of the navy wanted to fight on to the end, however, they believed that bombing, and even with Kamikaze airplanes would have no immediate effect on the War’s outcome. But maybe the germ warfare idea would, but at what risk? If it worked, would the Americans be expected to retaliate with diseases of their own? And if Japan’s efforts were only a halfway measure, what would the outcome be? What would be the reaction of the Americans to this second outrage after Pearl Harbor? But most important of all, what would be the survival chance of the Emperor and his military high command? What would be the chances of them escaping with their lives if these submarines were found to have aircraft on board with American markings, and equipped to unload deadly germ warfare on them? But just as important as discovering the plans for building the submarines, was the signed copy of the Tanaka Memorial inside Tashima’s briefcase. It would be devastating evidence of intent to commit war crimes for those high placed who would be brought before this tribunal. And who had the copies of this latest plan? I submit to you that the twenty-five who signed the Tanaka Memorial were also privy to the submarine plan and the germ scattering plan. And both were of such high priority that the Kempeitai, had been tasked with retrieving all signed copies. And Premier Tojo had advised the Emperor that he also intended to have the Kempeitai destroy most of those whose names appeared on the memorial. Once destroyed, there was no need to worry about their testimony.”
I asked him what he meant by high placed. He answered that it meant anybody with knowledge that could give direct evidence against the Emperor. He referred to them as “A” “B” and “C.” He said they were only interested in the A list, the incidents that would place the Emperor in jeopardy.
“But before I let you go, let me make one last point in summation. You asked what the difference is between the contents of the briefcase on board and the other 24 that we hope have been destroyed? This one my friend contains the plans for destroying American cities, and it also contains the blueprints of the submarines. But above all else it is believed to be the only one with the order to build that was signed by the Emperor.”
We had been talking for a good two hours and it was about time I relieved Tash at the tiller. But I wanted to hear more, so I ask him if he knew what happened to the survivors of Bataan. He looked long and hard at me before replying: “that incident was really small potatoes compared to most of them.” He said the truth of what happened after the fall of Bataan was contained in the dossier under the heading of “Atrocities.” He said they were separated from the list designated as war crimes.
I had four hours of tiller duty and wouldn’t see him again until then. He said he would tell me more in the morning. I relieved Tash, who went forward in the darkness, saying good night in Japanese.
Chapter 14
When next I sa
w Okie he seemed in a hurry to continue on with his story: “You knew Tashima was an admiral, did you not?”
A shudder went through me the same way it did when I saw the thunderstorm coming at me back at Tex Rankin’s school. I figured I had again awakened in a world of hurt. I now knew for sure this guy intended to kill Tash and I knew I would be next.
Tash was not an admiral. There had been an admiral all right but he had expired in the crash back at the island. It was one of the things that Tashima didn’t do, that is, he didn’t notify his superiors, while he still had a radio. I knew it but Aokie didn’t know I knew. Tash was a chief petty officer and, although he knew some of what we had been talking about, he hadn’t had anything to do with it. An after War tribunal might be interested in what he might have to say, but that’s about all. Chances are he would have been released as soon as it was over. And because he had helped me, he would have been treated differently than any of the rest of the enlisted men in the Japanese navy. No telling what good things would have come his way if I had pushed it just a little bit. But if he was who I now knew him to be, then who was Aokie? But I was wrong in one respect, Tash knew a lot more about some very important things that only an admiral would have known.
And what about Okie? As I was to find out, Okie was a monster. He was a Japanese fanatic through and through. He intended to kill us both and then land this raft and walk off, claiming to be an American of Japanese decent if anybody was to ask. He never intended to go back to Japan. He was headed to San Francisco and his goal in life was to further the goals of the organization he belonged to–the infamous Kempeitai. He intended to destroy the briefcase, and then he hoped to participate in any future plans of his organization. He hoped the first one would be to spread a viral disease throughout San Francisco. The point was he would never give up; he would never surrender.
Somewhere West of Fiji Page 14
