The Whale Has Wings Vol 3 - Holding the Barrier

by Row, David

  24th April

  The Australian-led attack on the Japanese in Thailand reaches its 'stop line' and halts major offensive action in the east and central parts. This is basically the line of defence originally intended to be taken by Operation Matador. While it would be possible to continue further, there are two considerations; first, the start of the monsoon season is expected very soon, and stopping now allows supplies to be brought up under relatively benign conditions, and second Blamey and Alexander have been informed that secret negotiations are underway with an anti-Japanese faction of the Thai military/government. The attacks against the Japanese to the west will continue until they are destroyed; the Japanese infantry are still fighting hard, but have run out of artillery ammunition and are thought to be low on all other supplies.

  An emergency meeting of the Japanese General Staff comes to the decision that 'a heavy and devastating response must be made to teach the foreign barbarians a lesson.' Accordingly the Navy is tasked with coming up with an immediate plan. The Navy's response is that they have three options. First, an attack on the Royal Navy in the South China Sea to drive it back past Singapore and allow new landings in Malaya and Borneo. Second is an attack into the Coral Sea area to take New Guinea and draw in elements of the US Navy, allowing them to be destroyed. Third is an attack on the island of Midway, close enough to Hawaii to force the US fleet to defend it. These operations would use the carrier force (it is expected that repairs currently underway will be finished shortly), backed by the battleships. The intention is to attack a vital target in such force as to destroy the offensive options of the enemy for a considerable period, probably for a year.

  After initial consideration the High Command suggests that the Coral Sea and Midway options seem the most promising, as it is imperative to teach the Americans a lesson for bombing Japan and risking the life of the Emperor. The China Sea operation should be considered a follow-up to destroy the Royal Navy capability in the area.

  25th April

  A new RAF raid by some 300 bombers attacks the Heinkel works at Rostock. Thanks to the efforts of the Pathfinders later reconnaissance reports show considerable damage to the factory. However a considerable number of the bombers missed the target due to deception measures. Losses were again low, but intelligence is reporting urgent Luftwaffe efforts to modify fighters to allow them to intercept the Coventry bombers. While existing fighters can reach the 35,000 feet needed, performance is poor at this height. This has been anticipated by the RAF, one of the reasons for delaying the bombing campaign being to allow a useful number of the new heavy bomber to be deployed to make use of the period before German defences were improved.

  Paris is exhilarated today by the news that General HenriGitaud, who has been a prisoner of war since he was captured in June 1940, has escaped to Switzerland. The 63-year-old general's escape has given a boost to French morale. He succeeded in freeing himself from the castle at Königstein, in Saxony, which had been turned into a maximum-security prison, jumped on board a moving train and reached the French border. He is expected to join the Free French army currently in North Africa.

  28th April

  The full horror of a forced march by American and Filipino prisoners - in which as many as 20,000 men are believed to have perished from disease, hunger and the savagery of their Japanese captors - is beginning to emerge. The prisoners, taken after the surrender of the Bataan peninsula earlier this month, died as they were marched 65 miles to a captured US barracks near Clark Field airbase.

  Even before the march began, many of the prisoners were racked by malaria, dysentery, beriberi and other diseases. The Japanese forced the pace with clubs, bayonets and unspeakable cruelty. Dozens of men were bayoneted to death; more were beheaded, shot and beaten at the whim of their captors. Those who could not keep up were clubbed to death or buried alive.

  Filipinos bore the brunt of the brutality and, it is believed, the casualties. On 11 April, as the march began, Japanese soldiers massacred some 400 Filipino officers and NCOs - hacking them to pieces with their swords. All the prisoners of war were looted of personal possessions. The precise number of prisoners who started - and finished - this "death march" is not known, but it is believed that as many as one in three may have died.

  The Allies make no attempt to hide the horror of the Death March - instead they use it to reinforce the opinion that the Japanese are barbarians who must be defeated totally and completely.

  Cuba granted de facto recognition to Free French control over French territories in the Pacific, Equatorial Africa, and the Cameroons.

  Canada has voted on conscription in a record turnout and the country is divided on linguistic grounds. English speakers (the majority) are in favour of a draft for service overseas. The French-speaking minority is split; initially it had been expected to vote against it, but passionate appeals by some of the Free French senior officers (brought in from Washington to argue in the debate) have swung more of the French vote in favour. As a result conscription is expected to take place, though for the moment forces sent overseas will still be volunteers.

  A large convoy arrives at Singapore, bringing supplies and reinforcements. Among them are a brigade of the French Foreign Legion and 1st Australian Armoured division. This will relieve the 1st Armoured, allowing them to be sent back to the Middle East for a rest and to be re-equipped with new tanks. The existing armour will be withdrawn to Singapore as a reserve; the Australians are equipped with the more recent 6-pdr Valentine tank. The convoy will also transport considerable quantities of rubber and other raw materials back to Europe.

  29th April

  The Luftwaffe bombers have added Norwich and York to the list of towns visited in revenge for the RAFs attacks on Essen and Rostock. They bombed and machine-gunned Norwich for over an hour two nights ago, and last night they struck York. In each case the bombers delivered about half their loads on target, and despite their small numbers caused considerable damage and killed 400 people. British experts are sure that the bomber's accuracy is due to a new electronic target beam and are working on a way of confusing the pilots so that they drop their bombs in open country.

  The Germans are also suffering heavy casualties on these raids. Thirty bombers have been shot down out of 150 used, and many of the lost crews are instructors thrown into action to appease Hitler's rage over the RAF attacks. The raids are doing more harm to the German war effort than to the British in the long run.

  In the Philippine Islands, the Japanese are now shelling Corregidor heavily.

  1st May

  After deep consideration, the Japanese navy presents their preferred plan to draw the US Fleet into a decisive battle in the Pacific. Since the main aim is to draw the US Navy based at Pearl Harbor into a decisive battle and to defeat it, the best option is seen as a direct attack on an American island. This will be Midway, as holding Midway allows it to be used as a forward base for an attack or invasion of Hawaii. It is felt that this will be unacceptable to America, and so their fleet will be forced to do battle to defend Midway.

  In order to achieve a crushing victory the attack will consists of the five fleet carriers, operating as a group to destroy the remaining US carriers in the Pacific. The spotting of a US carrier in the Mediterranean by the Luftwaffe has puzzled the Japanese, as logic would require the carrier to be used to bolster their force in the Pacific. Japanese intelligence estimates the Americans have two operational carriers in the Pacific, possible three if the Ranger has been moved from the Atlantic. The Japanese carrier force can deal with these easily.

  The main body will consist of the Japanese battleships, led by the Yamato and escorted by at least three light carriers. This is just in case of US air attacks before the Japanese can destroy the US carriers. Once the fleet battle is won, an invasion force will be escorted to Midway. The captured island will then be used as a base to allow first air attacks then an invasion of Hawaii.

  After discussions about exactly how the fleet will act, and its c
omposition, the plan is approved and will be issued to the fleet and Pacific commands. It is expected to take around three weeks to get all the forces into position (some of the carriers are just finishing repairs), and the attack is set provisionally for the 24th May.

  3rd May

  The US decoders based at Pearl warm Admiral Nimitz of a proposed action by the Japanese aimed at the mid-Pacific. They consider the most likely target to be Midway Island. The interception of the intelligence has been helped by the volume of traffic needed to inform the various commands. Nimitz orders immediate plans to be drawn up to counter the invasion on the assumption that it is indeed Midway. As he only has old, slow battleships available, he intends to base his fleet around two two-carrier task forces as soon as the carriers used in the Tokyo raid have returned to Pear Harbor. He is worried by the volume of traffic reported - it indicates a very heavy attack by the Japanese, and if they commit their carrier force his four carriers may be overwhelmed, especially if they also have to worry about a heavy Japanese surface fleet. He therefore passes the intelligence on to Admiral Somerville in the day's despatches, asking him if it will be possible for the Royal Navy either to help by organising distracting operations in the SE Asia area, or sending a force to help.

  4th May

  Admiral Nimitz arrives on the atoll of Midway, and orders the Marine commander to submit direct to CinCPac a detailed list of all supplies and equipment required for a decisive defence of Midway. These items will receive the highest priority.

  During the night of 3 May, the submarine USS Spearfish slips into Manila Bay and picks up 27 Army and Navy officers, including nurses, from Corregidor Island. She will be the last American submarine to visit Corregidor before the island is surrendered. On the same night Japanese troops land on the north coast of Mindanao.

  In a nationwide crackdown on the growing and anti-Nazi resistance movement in Holland, the Germans today executed 72 members of the Dutch underground by firing squad. Seven others were sentenced to life imprisonment. A German statement broadcast on Hilversum radio said that the men were found guilty of making contact with Germany's enemies and possessing arms and explosives. The executions are seen as evidence that the Nazis have given up hope of persuading the Dutch to support Nazi Germany.

  The Japanese bombardment of Corregidor intensifies in preparation for a landing. In 24 hours the Japanese artillery fires 16,000 shells at US positions. They also sink the minesweeper USS Tananger.

  In view of the preparations needed for the Midway operation, the proposed second invasion of Port Moresby is postponed. The transports are needed to lift additional troops to Midway, and Yamamoto does not want to risk carriers in support, as they will be needed to sink the US Pacific Fleet. His intention is to concentrate his forces for the decisive battle the Japanese Navy has been seeking in the Pacific.

  Chapter 19 - Preparations for Midway

  5th May

  The RAF commences jamming of the new Luftwaffe navigation aids being used in the current raids. This causes the percentage of bombs on target to fall from 50% to 13%.

  The Japanese land on Corrigedor Island in Manila Bay just before midnight. They sustain heavy losses in consolidating their landing.

  Off Corregidor, the submarine rescue vessel USS Pigeon is bombed and sunk while the tug USS Genesee and harbour tug USS Vaga are scuttled.

  US codebreakers inform Nimitz that it seems that southward operations (into the New Guinea and Solomons areas) have been postponed. This again leads to the conclusion that the Japanese fleet will be used further north.

  An urgent meeting is held in Singapore between Somerville, Alexander, Blamey, Park, and the other available area commanders to discuss Nimitz's intelligence and proposed operations. Somerville wishes to send a task force to aid the Americans, provided it does not damage his main task which is to defend SE Asia. Consideration is given to the results if the Japanese attack somewhere other than Midway (the signal traffic has convinced Somerville that some sort of operation will take place even if it not at Midway)

  The two possible areas that affect him are an advance into the Solomons, or an attack into the South China Sea. The Solomons/New Guinea area is vulnerable to a large Japanese offensive, but would only bring limited gains. They would also put the Japanese navy at the end of a long logistics line, and there is nothing immediately critical to the Allies in the area - an invasion of the Solomons or another attempt on New Guinea would have to be countered, but the tying down of the Japanese fleet in support would be to the advantage of the Allies who could concentrate on them from two directions.

  The second possibility is an attack supported by the fleet on SE Asia. Possible targets would be Malaya, Borneo and the Dutch East Indies. The Dutch East Indies is thought to be the least likely as it would expose the Japanese fleet the most. Malaya is less difficult for the fleet, but is now so strongly held that Alexander and Blamey feel any likely invasion would be defeated. In particular the Japanese would need not just to invade but to supply a large enough force in the face of the RAF and the RN surface and submarine forces, a task which is felt to be beyond them. As Somerville points out, if they had the capability why was it not used while their army was still in Malaya? Alexander has just received reinforcements, and by the end of the month, they will be acclimatised. While not as secure as Malaya, the Dutch East Indies are now well defended, and again an invasion force would have to be large. Air power can quickly be reinforced from Malaya, and the Allied submarines would make any protracted campaign very costly. Blamey is confident that unless the Japanese attack is unrealistically heavy he can hold the area, and the forces in Australia are steadily building up.

  Borneo is an easier target, and using a strong fleet to support a number of small landings is seen as feasible - the logistics of Borneo make it unsuitable for large formations. However losing the half of Borneo they control will not be critical, and indeed the damage the defence could inflict on the Japanese fleet would make the island an acceptable sacrificial goat.

  Bearing this in mind, Somerville suggests the following. He has been preparing the fleet for a new engagement. A task force of three fleet carriers plus supporting ships can be sent in 24 hours; it will take some 18-20 days to reach Hawaii. In order to maintain a high speed the force will need to refuel; this will be done first in Australia, and will also allow the force to be halted if it proves necessary. Sending the ships this far is low risk, but is best done now while further discussions are made - it would be unwise to wait due to the transit time required. He will hold two fleet and two light carriers in Singapore. He suggests that the US task force currently exercising in the Red Sea be sent on to Singapore to reinforce him (there would not be sufficient time for them to get to Hawaii unless the Japanese operation is delayed). This gives him another fleet carrier and modern battleship, which should be adequate. Even if the entire Japanese fleet were to be used he can always do as he planned in December and fall back to Ceylon while he is reinforced from the Mediterranean, but he thinks this eventuality highly unlikely - the IJN would be putting their ships into a noose of his submarines and torpedo planes. In order to protect the China Sea area, all Allied submarines will be pulled back into defensive positions, and the RAF will use its long-range reconnaissance aircraft to give the maximum warning. Blamey suggests than in addition aircraft in Australia could be used to reinforce, as an attack heavy enough to require this means no attack would also be possible towards Australia.

  As a result, units of the fleet are ordered to make final preparations and sail for northern Australia within 24 hours. This is preparatory to making a final decision as to its destination. While the sailing itself cannot be kept completely secret, it will be leaked that they are heading to Ceylon then home, being relieved by ships from the Mediterranean, to undergo refits. Arrangements are already being made to keep the necessary refuelling in Australian waters secret. While the proposed task force is still a risk, the possibility of a crushing defeat of the Japanese carrie
r force is felt to make this risk worthwhile.

  6th May

  Attacks on seven cities yesterday signalled the start of an offensive along a 400-mile front by Chinese forces led by General Chiang Kai-shek against the Japanese occupation forces. The Chinese armies have started to receive the increased supplies sent along the Burma Road since the attack by the Japanese on SE Asia.

  Shanghai and Nanking were among the cities raided, with Japanese communications and munitions supplies among the principal targets. Nanking, captured by Japan more than four years ago, is the seat of Wang Chingwei's puppet government set up with Japanese support.

  General Wainwright finally surrenders on Corrigedor with 15,000 American and Filipino troops. The island fortress' defences had been weakened by a 27-day artillery barrage and were breached last night by Japanese commandos.

  Lt-Gen Jonathan Wainwright, the US commander, decided to surrender this morning after radioing President Roosevelt. He told him he feared that his whole garrison might be killed. Even as he spoke, several hundred Japanese were machine-gunning the eastern entrance of the Manilta Tunnel, Corregidor's underground gallery which was sheltering 6,000 administrative staff untrained for combat and 1,000 sick and wounded. The president told Wainwright: "You have given the world a shining example of patriotic fortitude and self-sacrifice."