Steel Reign (Kirov Series Book 23)

by John Schettler

  So in the Pacific, the American plans to contest the Japanese moves to isolate Australia would be complicated by the fact that the enemy now held most all the New Hebrides Islands and New Caledonia. Instead of trying to blunt the Japanese advance south at Guadalcanal, the whole question of whether or not an offensive should first be planned against these holdings was now being debated.

  MacArthur argued that the New Hebrides could not be bypassed in favor of the original plan to oppose the Japanese in the lower Solomons. To do so would leave Japanese air power right astride his line of communications back to the United States. Marshall countered that the US simply did not have the resources to conduct an offensive into the New Hebrides, while also planning and supporting a thrust at the lower Solomons—unless BOLERO were canceled altogether, forsaking any offensive in the Atlantic Theater in 1942. Since Roosevelt would not hear of that, Pacific planners would now have to choose between a campaign aimed at either the Solomons or the New Hebrides, and MacArthur was going to weigh in on that before the navy took charge. He was determined to shape the course of the war now, and mold it into a framework for victory that he was even now assembling in his mind.

  Yet first he needed the troops, the divisions, the aircraft, and the situation looked grim. The Japanese were already moving, out from their newly captured bastion at Rabaul like a plague of fitful bats. They were pushing into the Northern Solomons….

  Chapter 8

  In April of 1942 the first phase of the Japanese Operation FS began with the invasion of the large and important island of Bougainville. With good airfields at Buka and Bonis in the north, and at Buin in the south, it promised to serve as a strong initial support base for all further operations in the Solomons. In the center of the island, the wide Empress Augusta Bay offered a good anchorage, and Shortland Island just south of Buin also offered the prospect of a decent seaplane base. As soon as Rabaul was secure, the Japanese committed three strong SNLF battalions to secure these vital bases on Bougainville, and began moving in air squadrons.

  This move set off alarm bells in PACOM and MacArthur’s ANZAC command, and the General wanted to know what the Navy planned to do about it. “Nimitz has been dragging his feet with one excuse after another,” he said to his Chief of Staff, the newly promoted Major General Richard K. Sutherland. “One day it’s fuel problems because of those bunkers the Japs took out at Pearl. The next day it’s lack of adequate shipping. I arrive here to find virtually nothing in the cupboard, and now everyone’s pinning their hopes on this Doolittle raid they’re planning.”

  “Well we’ve got to do something,” said Sutherland. “We certainly can’t do much with the air assets we presently have.”

  “Marshall was crowing that we already had over 500 planes.”

  “Right,” said Sutherland. “Oh, it looks real good on paper, until you read the fine print. 125 were lost trying to defend Java, 75 were sent to the Aussies, 74 are under repair, and at least 100 are still not even out of the crates and fully assembled! We’ll be lucky to have 150 planes available for active service, and then with only a few dozen pilots that really have any experience. The rest are fresh off the boat, green as they come.”

  “The same can be said for the troops they’re sending me. Oh, they’re having a fine time in the bars of Brisbane, and giving the Australians fits, but the 41st is hardly ready to take on the Japanese, and the 32nd is no better. Nimitz has the 1st Marine Division, but he wants to go for the lower Solomons. We need New Caledonia first. That’s where the Japanese are now, and that’s where we need to be. In fact, I intend to insist on this, even if I have to go directly to the President.”

  “I’ve heard Nimitz out on this one,” said Sutherland. “He’s of a mind that if we throw everything we have at the New Hebrides, the Japs will beat us to the table in the Solomons and eat hardy.”

  “Perhaps,” said MacArthur, but I’m inclined to think they’ll fight for what they already have. They know full well the importance of their occupation of that island. If we hit them there, they’ll reinforce, and then we’ll do the same. That’s where we start our war. The Solomons will come in time, but not now—not before we get the enemy out of the New Hebrides and secure good airfields to support a drive to the northwest. In the meantime, I’m talking to the Australians about an operation for Milne Bay. The Japanese have already taken New Britain, and they have airfields on New Guinea at Lae and Salamaua. Eventually they’ll see the importance of Port Moresby, which is our only outpost outside Australia in that theater. Milne Bay would cover Moresby’s right flank, and also give us a good anchorage for a line of advance aimed at New Britain. Take that and we cut the Japanese position in the Solomons off at the root.”

  “Well if we’re going to ever do that, then we’ll need Nimitz and the Navy, particularly Halsey with the carriers. That’s where our air power is now, not on this clipboard.” He set down the report on air squadrons mustering in Australia. “The pursuit Squadrons are the worst of the lot, he said. Half the planes they sent us are P-39s and the older P-400s.”

  “You mean P-40s?”

  “No, I mean P-400s. It’s a modified P-39, only worse. Can’t climb worth a damn, and they pulled the 37mm cannon out of the nose and substituted a 20mm gun. The pilots hate ‘em. As for the P-40s, we’ve got all of 92 of those on the roster.”

  “Make the best possible use of them,” said MacArthur, “and get them ready, because I intend to move them to Noumea at the first opportunity.”

  “Noumea? Who’s going to take that for you General? Surely not the 32nd.”

  “No, I think I’ll ask the President to commit the 1st Marine Division there. They’ll take it, then we’ll move the 32nd up and clean shop while they get ready for further operations. Let’s get a letter drafted ASAP.”

  * * *

  After departing Davao, Takami had planned to sail north with the Yamato group to Yokohama, but events were soon to command the interest of Admiral Yamamoto in the south. He learned of the steady deployment of forces from America, having seen the material in Takami’s library, and then verifying it with Japanese intelligence. The Americans were already building up in Australia, and the navy itself was floating plans to do something about it.

  Yes, Australia is the one place they can fall back on now, he thought. The Navy floated several proposals for a possible invasion there, but the Army will simply not support it. Now, with this chaos on Java, everything is in disarray. The entire 2nd Division was shattered by that eruption in the Sunda Straits, right in the middle of our landing operation. Java is a complete mess, and my conference with General Imamura indicated that he intended to hold only the eastern segment of the island near Surabaya. For that he has selected the 38th Division. The remnant of the 2nd has been shipped back to Japan to rebuild, and the 48th was graciously offered to support our planned Operation FS.

  The warning I received from those strange officers concerning Midway was most chilling. I had long considered that a fitting target to try and force the American carriers into battle. But the disaster I saw in those photographs, the loss of four fleet carriers, was sobering, to say the least. Is that what would happen if I attempt such an operation now? Is the history fated to repeat itself? How else would it get into those books and photographs I saw aboard that amazing ship? And more… the records and logs of what was happening on the flight and hangar decks of our carriers in the Midway operation was most compelling, right down to the signatures of officers that I could recognize on sight. When I showed these to Ugaki, even he was unable to dismiss it as a forgery.

  So now these men, claiming to be our distant progeny, come to us and council me to end this war before it gets truly out of hand. I have asked for an audience with the Emperor, but Tojo responded that he would not be available for some weeks. The impudent little air raid staged by the Americans put bombs very near the Imperial Palace, and I have heard about little else since. That was in the books as well—the Doolittle Raid. That Executive Officer aboard Taka
mi tried to warn me about it, and wanted me to alert our air defenses. The whole idea sounded so preposterous that I decided to wait and see if it could possibly happen as he predicted. It did… How could these men have known that unless they are indeed who they claim to be?

  Luckily no real damage was done at Tokyo, and it was more of an insult than a real attack. Yet it underscores what could happen if the Americans do ever get bombers close enough to reach our homeland. I saw the images, terrible to behold, of our cities leveled and burning, and that terrible mushroom cloud over Hiroshima. Is all that fated to come, just as this Doolittle raid occurred, exactly the way these visitors claimed? Can I really do anything to avoid that inevitable fate? Can that ship do anything to help us?

  I had to disappoint their Captain when I told him the Emperor had been moved to an undisclosed location, and that no high lever audiences would be permitted in the foreseeable future. And Tojo is railing that I must do something about the Siberians before they take any further action in the north. Army chief of staff Sugiyama has been mustering units from the Kwantung Army for the last several months, and preparing for a summer offensive that I will most certainly have to support. As for the Siberians, they have been moving small detachments to northern Sakhalin by air, but cannot move anything more substantial until the sea ice clears in the Sea of Okhotsk, where it is still very heavy, reaching its maximum by late March. It will remain heavy through the end of April. In that interval, I have precious time to see to affairs here in the South Pacific. Come May, with the sea lanes opening in the north, I will have to see about the Siberian threat, but for now…. Operation FS.

  Yes, I disappointed this Captain Harada when I told him no audience with the Emperor was possible for the moment, and that it would also be impossible for me to sit idle for another month until that opportunity arises. A most interesting man, that one. I could see he is very conflicted about his situation here, which is only understandable. His Executive Officer is quite another man. He wanted to strike down MacArthur, then immediately challenge the Americans in battle. I must be very careful with that man. Tonight I will hear them out on the prospects for Operation FS, as from what I have been able to discover, there is nothing in their history books about it beyond the initial orders—orders that were cancelled in favor of the Midway Operation that I, myself, so strongly supported.

  I was wrong about Pearl Harbor, wasn’t I. And it seems I made more than one mistake if the story of this war as written in those books is a true reflection of these events. It was I who insisted on Midway, and so the responsibility for the losses there would have also been mine. But how very strange. Forewarned is forearmed. Knowing what these men have told me, how could I allow an operation such as the Midway Campaign to ever proceed. I asked Ugaki to collect the best proposals for operations under the assumption that the Midway plan would be shelved. Operation FS is what they handed me, and now I must see what these strange visitors have to say about it.

  * * *

  “Gentlemen,” said Yamamoto, “I have invited you both here to my stateroom again with Admiral Ugaki, and this time to hear your opinions as to operations now proposed by the Navy. I realize you brought me a question concerning peace, even if you did so on a most unusual ship of war. At the moment, it is war that is the order of the day, and we cannot afford to remain idle until the question of peace can be raised with the Emperor, which could take months. Tojo has spirited him away, and no audiences or other high level meetings are to be permitted. That leaves us with some difficult decisions to make, and so I wish to hear your opinions. Admiral Ugaki?”

  Yamamoto correctly solicited the feedback of his Chief of Staff first. Ugaki cleared his throat, glancing over at Harada and Fukada, still inwardly disturbed by their presence, in spite of his brief accommodation with Fukada over saké. “The initial question is whether to first continue with our operations in New Guinea, or to move immediately to forge a link with our positions in the New Hebrides by a thrust into the lower Solomons. Two plans have been put forward, which I will briefly describe… “He paused, eying Fukada and with a glint of mischief in his eye. “As you are supposedly men of a future time, you should, of course, already know these plans. Yes?”

  Yamamoto raised an eyebrow, unhappy with Ugaki’s challenge to his guests, but before he could determine how to resolve it, the Executive Officer spoke up.

  “Two plans,” said Fukada, “Operation MO was to be aimed at completing the New Guinea operation with the seizure of Port Moresby by General Horii’s 144th Regiment, the South Seas Detachment. At the same time, and as an adjunct of this operation, a seaplane base would be established with 3rd Kure SNLF Battalion and supporting forces at Tulagi in the lower Solomons. Rear Admiral Shima was to command this force, covered by Rear Admiral Arimoto Goto aboard light carrier Shoho, with four cruisers, and one destroyer.”

  He folded his arms, a smug look on his face, and now it was Ugaki’s turn to raise an eyebrow. These plans had only recently been approved by the Imperial General Staff. There would simply be no way these men could be privy to them. Was this nothing more than a good guess? Yet how would they so clearly identify the objectives; the commanders only recently assigned to these missions? Fukada continued.

  “Unfortunately, both plans fail. Either one or both should have easily succeeded, but they were not prosecuted aggressively enough. In the first case, the operation was compromised from the very first, because an intelligence unit in Melbourne was able to decode signals traffic. Have we changed our naval code yet? If not, you expose yourself to similar vulnerabilities. The enemy knew we were coming, and the American Admiral Fletcher was sent to stop us with a carrier task force. The engagement that followed became known as the Battle of the Coral Sea. Each side sustained losses, though the Americans were hurt badly with the loss of one of their bigger fleet carriers, while we lost only one light carrier. Even that could have been avoided by strengthening the carrier group assigned to the operation. Hara took in the 5th Carrier Division, but one more carrier there could have made all the difference. As it happened, the resulting air duels depleted our fighters and strike planes to the point where they could no longer adequately cover the troop convoy. Admiral Inoue ordered a withdrawal of the invasion force bound for Port Moresby. Thus the Americans achieved their strategic objective, and this operation was foiled. This led to a long and costly campaign along the Kokoda trail in southern New Guinea in an attempt to take the port from the landward side, but that failed as well. Shall I go on?”

  Ugaki looked at Yamamoto, somewhat stunned by what this man had said. He was privy to details of the operation that were closely guarded secrets. Inoue had only just been selected the previous night by Yamamoto to lead the invasion force and assume overall command. How could this man know that? Somewhat frustrated, he decided to let him speak further, inwardly hoping he would ramble off in error, and subject himself to a stern rebuke.

  Yamamoto knew what his surly Chief of Staff was up to here, attempting to discredit these men by prodding them to speak of these otherwise secret plans. Yet it seemed his ploy was back firing on him, and he said nothing, waiting calmly as Fukada continued.

  “The other plan to take Tulagi succeeded at first, a survey was also made of the north coast of Guadalcanal to look for suitable sites for an airstrip. One was started near the mouth of the Lunga River, and it became the focal point of a battle for that island that lasted nearly a year, and eventually ended with our shameful defeat and subsequent withdrawal. From that moment on, the enemy was on the offensive. We never recovered, and this was largely because of the disaster at Midway that I spoke of earlier.”

  Chapter 9

  There was a heavy silence for a moment, and Harada shifted uncomfortably. “We have no way of knowing whether these events will repeat themselves,” he said, giving Fukada a quick admonishing glance. It was clear to him that his first officer had an agenda here. He now saw Yamamoto nod his head, a sober expression on his face.

  “Your
information is very accurate,” he said. “I do not even think the Kempetai could have uncovered some of the details you just related, at least not for another week or two. Those were the officers selected by Admiral Ugaki and I only last night, and we have not disclosed this information to anyone else. Now you sit here and recite all this chapter and verse, as if it has already occurred.”

  “For us,” said Harada, “it has occurred. It is part of the history I showed you in our library. While things we have seen here are remarkably divergent, such as all this concern over Siberia, it seems some bells ring true, no matter when they are sounded.”

  “Then you are telling us all these plans will fail?”

  “Possibly,” said Fukada. “Knowing the outcomes, and why they failed, should allow us to prevent that. First off, no orders should be transmitted using the existing naval code until it has been updated. Secondly, if adequate carrier forces are assigned, I see no reason why the Port Moresby operation should fail, and more force at the outset sent to Guadalcanal could prevent the counterblow planned by the enemy. That island was the objective of the first American offensive of the war.”

  “Not the New Hebrides?” said Ugaki. “Not New Caledonia? How could they leave those territories on their flank? Are you saying they bypassed those islands in favor of this attack into the Solomons?”

  “Not exactly sir,” said Fukada. “No. The Americans already controlled the New Hebrides in the history we know. We never had any troops on New Caledonia, and in fact, they made Noumea their major support base for the Solomons operation at Guadalcanal. But things are quite different this time around. If we have strong forces on New Caledonia, that may be their first objective.”

  “Then this is something you do not yet know?”