1943 (Kirov Series Book 27)

by John Schettler

  As for General Sano, he had seen most of his 128th Regiment destroyed in the battle to hold Hill 1000 and Tavua. Yet that had enabled him to get his 129th Regiment back to M’ba, and they were now assembling in the heavy cultivated plantations just east of the river. His situation was precarious now. All the objectives the enemy wanted were east of the river, the airfield and the town itself. The river was a thousand feet wide with the recent rains, fairly deep, and there were just two bridges under his control.

  He considered what to do. If he fought to defend the settlement and airfield, his men might be forced to swim over that river if things went against them. The terrain here was not nearly as good as the positions he had held east of Tavua, yet the enemy had pushed them all the way here. The 129th was worn out, and he knew the best thing would be to get them over that river, which would present a formidable obstacle to any further enemy advance. He had already given orders to move all artillery and heavy weapons west of the river, but the battle for that airfield had seemed the heart of his charge here.

  He went to the Sugar Mill, looking to find Colonel Kawaguchi. “Your men have fought well,” he said, “but I must now ask you to redeploy west of the river.”

  “What? And give the enemy back this airfield? We just took it from their Marines, and at considerable cost.”

  “True, but in reality, the field is useless. It means nothing now. Tomorrow it will be under the enemy guns from the east, and in any case, we have no planes there. The river presents us with a much better defense. We must move west, and then I think this enemy attack must fail for good.”

  “This is shameful,” said Kawaguchi. “You speak of defense? We should attack, as my regiment did, and annihilate the enemy.”

  “That would not be wise,” said Sano. “I assure you, there is no dishonor in this.,” he admonished. “Look here,” he opened his field map. “The SNLF have pushed the enemy away from this foot bridge. I want your men to cross there, hold it, and defend the west bank of the river as far north as this position. The main rail bridge and this sugar mill must then be held at all cost.”

  “Then they will have the airfield.”

  “That means nothing. We will have it under our guns as well, and not a single enemy plane will ever land there.”

  Kawaguchi would do as Sano requested, though he was very disgruntled about it. His men had fought hard, made a brave charge and prevailed. Now, to simply hand the enemy back the airfield they had overrun, seemed a terrible waste of both blood and honor.

  For his part, Sano would now order his 129th, and anything left of the 128th, over the main road bridge at M’ba. If anyone questioned him about the loss of the airfield, he would blame it on Kawaguchi, and deny he ever gave him orders to withdraw. Honor and face had many guardians, and deception and duplicity would serve as well as bravery and resolution.

  Chapter 12

  When Collins and his 25th Tropic Lightning finally did advance, they would find the plantations and fields east of M’ba undefended, the ground eerily quiet and still as the men cautiously probed forward, their eyes on every tree to look out for enemy snipers. He would take the town without a fight, and the airfield with no further casualties. Then he sat in his CP looking at the map and noting the twisting course of that river. He had hoped that the Marines might have compelled the Japanese to give up that river line and withdraw towards Latouka, but it hadn’t happened that way.

  These bastards are going to hold on that river, he thought. And it’s going to be hell getting them to move. This is exactly what I was afraid of. Now I’ll have to swing the entire 35th Regiment down to link up with the Marines. There’s just no way in hell we’ll get over that river if the Japs fight like they did at Hill 1000…. No way in hell.

  To prosecute this attack further, he knew he was going to have to enfilade the enemy positions. The river ran north all the way to the coast, wider and more swollen with rain as it went. The water was muddy brown now with all the runoff from yesterday’s storm, and a muggy heat settled over the whole scene. Collins looked over the daily report from Patch and his Pacifica Division, seeing that he had pushed all the way to Nandi, but that the enemy had dug in his heels there too.

  “Now how do we get around this enemy defense,” he said to the Regimental COs. “We can’t flank ‘em on our right. There’s nothing but miles of mangrove swamp up there and the river is at its widest. The Marines are on the left, and they damn near got overrun last night. They need ammo, and both the Raider Battalions got roughed up pretty bad. Since they still hold that ground, that’s the only thing to do. This high ground here, Mount Koronvira, was where Carlson and Edson were last night. The Japs pushed them all the way back to these streams feeding into the river bend.”

  The 35th Regiment under Col. Robert McClure was closest to the Marines that day. “What about here,” he pointed to the map. “That looks like a saddle of passable terrain between Koronvira and this other high ground,” he said.

  That other high ground was the rugged range leading up to Mount Evans, over 3800 feet high. It shielded Vitongo Bay and the port of Latouka from any advance from the east, but that saddle of lower ground between the two mountainous areas looked like it could be used.

  “Carlson says their SNLF troops are posted there. Those are some of the best men they have.”

  “Which is why they’re holding that ground,” said McClure. “Why don’t I take the 35th down there and relieve those Marines?”

  “That’s just what I was about to order,” said Collins. “Look, the recon elements and engineers can screen off M’ba. I don’t think the Japs will be crossing that river again. So I want to move everything we have along the line of the Nasiva Creek and get into a position to push through that saddle.”

  “What about the Marines?”

  “They had a long hike over the interior high country to get where they are now. I’ll rest them behind the river for a few days.”

  At that moment, Lieutenant Colonel Dixon Goen of the 2nd Marine Regiment tramped in, a scowl on his face. He was the Regimental XO, as Shoup was down with a shrapnel wound. “You army boys have enough to eat this morning?” he said gruffly. “Cause my men haven’t eaten for two days.”

  “Easy does it,” said Collins. “We were just looking over our options on your flank.”

  “Options? There’s only one play you can run, and that’s right through the ground we’re holding now. But we won’t have it long if we don’t get some goddamned food and ammo.”

  “Look Dix, it’s coming,” said Collins. “McClure is moving your way right now. His 35th Regiment will relieve you. When he does, I want you to look over the map for any possible landing site we could hit from the sea. There’s a boat launch on Tavua Bay, and a small pier up here on this peninsula. We could use those to get some good men seaward and hit ‘em where they ain’t.”

  “You want my men to mount up for an amphibious operation now?”

  “Isn’t that what you Sea Dogs do for a living?”

  “Sure, when we’re not busy humping the high country and taking on the whole goddamn Japanese Army.”

  “Colonel, you have a wonderful gift for exaggeration. I burned out the 27th Regiment trying to take one stinking hill at Tavua. Now, we’ve pushed the Japs your way, and yes, they bunched up and double teamed you, but your mission paid good dividends. They gave up M’ba last night.”

  “We saw them pullout,” said Goen. “Alright, I’m tired, and blowing off some steam. I know you had it as tough as we did, but there was no arty behind us, and no supply trucks. We were supposed to make a diversionary attack, and had three days’ ammo with us. It’s been five days of hard fighting now, and we’re damn near empty. General, if you want my men for an end around, we’ll be happy to oblige. But we’ll need some chow and sleep before we hit the boats.”

  “You’ll get it. You’ve done all we asked of you down there, and a damn good job.”

  “What about Carlson and Edson? They’re still hanging
on the flank.”

  “I’ve got the Kiwis to send down and replace them, so pull them back as well. We’ll find APDs somewhere to move them. Hell, Carlson used a submarine at Makin.”

  “Seems to me you think you’re going to be looking at a logjam if you try to turn the flank of that river defense.”

  “Dix, you could be right on that again, and that’s where you and your boys get to shine. Terror from the sea.” Collins stuck a big fat cigar in his mouth and smiled.

  * * *

  General Harukichi Hyakutake seated himself at 17th Army Headquarters, Rabaul, his eyes lost in troubled thought behind the round wire framed eyeglasses he wore. An older man of 55 years, Hyakutake was from a distinguished military family. Both of his older brothers were wizened Admirals in the Imperial Japanese Navy, but his path had taken him to the Army, where he graduated from the Army Academy in 1909. Strangely, one of his classmates was the now famous Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek, a man he would one day oppose in combat while serving in the Kwantung Army in Manchuko.

  An expert in Cryptanalysis, he was prominently involved in the Army Signals School, and now he stared at the coded message he had received, summoning him to this secret meeting with his commanding officer, General Hitoshi Imamura. The words inscribed on the message were plain enough in meaning: Shattered Gem, yet the final character indicated the phrase was a question, and not a definitive statement. Now Hyakutake sat before Imamura, the two men meeting to discuss the course of the ill-fated Operation FS.

  “Well?” said Imamura, with just the hint of accusation in his voice, and an equal measure of impatience. “What of the planned counteroffensive against the Americans on Viti Levu?”

  Hyakutake, hesitated briefly, a subtlety that indicated his displeasure, with a shade of regret. “It has been less than satisfactory,” he said, with understatement being the preferred manner one would use to disclose a setback or failure of any kind. “Tavua is now in enemy hands, and Sano had to redeploy west of the M’ba River. Yet he now believes he can hold that line against any further enemy advance.

  “Interesting that such a redeployment would be part of a planned offensive,” said Imamura. “What of Nandi?”

  “General Tsuchihashi still controls the town, harbor, and airfield there.”

  “But he has not advanced on Suva as planned?”

  “At the moment, that appears to be impossible. The enemy has been reinforced.”

  Imamura offered a thin smile. “Very well, General, you and I can drop this pretense that there will ever be a satisfactory offensive that reaches the enemy base at Suva, and delivers that island to our control. And yet, we have committed so many troops to this operation that we now find ourselves in a most unsatisfactory position throughout this entire theater. It was necessary to recall the 20th Reserve Division from Korea, simply to provide troops for garrison duty on the other islands we now control. My question is this, and it was one that was recently put to me by the Navy, by Admiral Yamamoto himself, in fact. Are we overextended? Is it wise for us to continue to utilize our best divisions in the Fiji Group?”

  After a brief moment’s deliberation, Hyakutake made a most unexpected admission. Imamura had thought he would continue to put on the brave face, for honor’s sake, and recommend an intransigent defense on Fiji, to the last man if need be. Honor might demand this, but wisdom would flee from such a decision. The General cleared his throat and spoke, with uncharacteristic frankness.

  “It is interesting that I should be summoned here with the two words inscribed on this message,” he began. “And I do not fail to notice the interrogative applied to this code. If I am being asked to decide whether or not to spend the forces I now command in a foolish and desperate attack, or even a protracted defense of Fiji, my answer is no. That operation is already a gem that has been shattered, but in this case, I believe it would be better that this tile remains whole.”

  “Then you see no prospect for victory there?”

  “I do not—at least not with the forces I presently command.”

  “Yet you were just reinforced with an additional regiment. What did Kawaguchi do there after he landed, go fishing?”

  “Kawaguchi’s regiment was instrumental in stabilizing the situation on the M’ba River line. Sano’s 128th Regiment was shattered defending Tavua, so now Kawaguchi’s troops merely restore the 38th Division to about 80% of normal strength. That said, we have not had any further delivery of supplies and ammunition, and I foresee that this will become a serious problem if the Navy does not address it immediately. Keeping two divisions supplied on Fiji requires an enormous logistical effort. All our birds are in one cage, and so the foxes find it easy to gather around us. If they prevail, what then?”

  “This is my question exactly,” said Imamura. “Considering that we have already had to strip Borneo, Sumatra and Java bare just to provide the troops you presently command, I begin to see that we are now very vulnerable to enemy counterattack. They have removed the Marine Divisions that were first landed on Fiji, am I correct?”

  “All but one brigade sized force, which we have matched with the Combined Yokosuka SNLF troops.”

  Then where have those other Marine regiments gone? We believe they were sent to Pago Pago for rest and refit, but you and I both know they will not stay there long. In my opinion, we must expect that the enemy will attempt further offensive operations in the near future. They are building up strength faster than we are. Intelligence indicates they still have the equivalent of two Marine divisions at Pago Pago, and two more Army divisions in Brisbane, along with another two good Australian divisions that were withdrawn from the Middle East. If we cannot prevail now, with two of our best divisions on Fiji, what will happen when they choose to commit these additional forces against us?

  “Shattered Gem,” said Hyakutake. “We will see the forces we have already committed to Fiji destroyed. Sooner or later, this will be the inevitable result. The only way it could be avoided would be for the Army to make a serious commitment to the Strike South force allotment. Yet, considering the burden imposed on us by the enormous commitment of troops and resources in China, our prospects here seem dim.”

  “I must agree with you, General Hyakutake. To look at the map now would make it seem that we have won an undeniable victory in this drive south. We have the Philippines, all the Dutch East Indies, control of the entire Solomon Island sector, the New Hebrides, New Caledonia, and have come as far as Fiji. We even control Ceylon, but to do all this, the troops the Army has provided us have been spread very thin. We hold all the former Dutch colonies with but a single division, the 18th. Nishimura has sent all that remained of the 5th Division to Ceylon, retaining only his Imperial Guards Division at Singapore. The loss of the 2nd Sendai Division on Java when that volcano erupted was a major setback, and even though it is reforming in Japan, this business on Karafuto and the new Siberian front that opened near lake Baikal is most alarming.”

  “Which leaves us too few divisions to even hold what we now have in hand,” said Hyakutake. “This is why leaving the bulk of our forces on Fiji is ill-advised.”

  “So we are in agreement,” said Imamura. “Yet you know what will be said if I should raise this matter with Imperial General Headquarters. They will say that we have already been given the 20th Division—what more is needed? Yet that division must now be used to strengthen our position in the New Hebrides, and we must do so soon, before the enemy chooses to attack us there. Such a move on the part of the enemy would serve to saw off the long tree limb that your forces now sit upon in the Fiji Islands. We cannot permit that to happen.”

  “Then there will be no other reinforcements for this theater?”

  “None that I can foresee…. Unless…” Imamura leaned back, taking a deep breath. “Unless we can convince the Army that the prize we have taken in striking south outweighs any benefit that we could possibly obtain by trying to continue this futile campaign in China.”

  Imamura knew that he could
easily be branded a defeatist with such words, even relieved of command and sent to some forsaken position in outer Mongolia, yet he now perceived that he had found a confederate in Hyakutake, and wanted to secure his support. Now he was going to reveal something that few knew in the Army chain of command. Rumors had traveled in circles through Imperial General Headquarters, but they were nothing more than that—until now.

  “General, I have learned that a proposal has been drawn up for a possible accord between our forces in China and the Kuomintang under Chaing Kai-shek. As you know, his forces were locked in an emerging civil war with Mao and his Communist front. It was only our arrival that forced the two sides into an alliance to oppose us, yet Chiang has put out peace initiatives on more than one occasion. We never saw such an accommodation to be advantageous before, but now things have changed.”

  “How so?” Hyakutake was very curious about this.

  “Fiji has changed things here, Ceylon in the Indian Ocean, Burma, and now both Karafuto and the new front at Lake Baikal. The fact that you and I meet here and reach the conclusion we have come to has not been lost in the minds of highly placed generals at Imperial General Headquarters. General Sugiyama wanted all this—his war in China, here in the South Pacific, and against the United States. Now he begins to see that his arms are too full. The Army cannot carry all that it has grasped, not while so many of our troops remain in China. So Now Sujiyama has come to a new appraisal of the situation.”

  “That is most unusual news,” said Hyakutake, as the Army Chief of Staff, Sugiyama had been an unflagging advocate of all these campaigns. “I never thought I would hear this.”

  “Nor I,” said Imamura, “but someone has been whispering in Sugiyama’s ear.”

  At this Hyakutake simply raised his eyebrows, waiting.

  “Ivan Volkov,” said Imamura. “Did you know that man was recently granted a personal audience with the Emperor? Yes, I have that on good authority, and when he emerged from that meeting, he went directly to Imperial General Headquarters with a proposal—no, not a proposal—with an Imperial order!”