Steel Reign (Kirov Series Book 23)

by John Schettler

  Ugaki proffered a shallow bow, and was off to see to his business with the 17th Army. Yet the unsettled nature of all these last minute developments left Yamamoto feeling a thrum of anxiety. That shadow… the loss of nerve in the attempt to take Port Moresby… that unexpected defeat of not two, but all four fleet carriers I might have sent to attack Midway…. Will the Americans take the bait we have cast into the sea regarding that objective? Where are the rest of their carriers? And what about Guadalcanal? According to those books, that is where the Americans will strike us first. Can I believe that, or is this history destined to spin off in another direction? My decisions may have everything to do with answering that, but here I sit, with knowledge that I might never have had otherwise, and I can see now that it acts as much as a poison in the brew of my deliberations as anything else.

  That officer on the Takami made it all sound so certain. He would simply destroy the American carrier aircraft, and that would be that. But to do that we must first find those carriers, not only the two birds we had in hand a few days ago, but also the remainder of their mobile forces. How quickly could they turn them around and get them back out to sea? This is where our ruse in putting out all that radio traffic concerning Midway may be the key factor. If they believe it, then those remaining carriers might stay well out in the Central Pacific. In that instance, the Coral Sea is ours.

  Chapter 14

  Nobuo Fujita had discovered a glittering prize beneath him on the night of April 4th, 1942, but what he had failed to see was the rapid buildup of Allied forces on the primary objective of Yamamoto’s plan. All through the early months of the war, beginning with the Pensacola Convoy, there had been a steady flow of troopships and convoys departing from New York, San Francisco and San Diego. Ships like the Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, Monterey, Hammondsport, and Matsonia brought elements of the 32nd and 23rd Divisions, along with coastal defense battalions, AA regiments, and pursuit squadrons with crated P-39 and P-40 fighters.

  Fiji was the closest friendly port to Australia, presently garrisoned by two Brigades of infantry from New Zealand, and a battalion of Fiji Commandos raised from native troops. These troops had been busy improving defenses, port facilities and extending runways on the airfields to accommodate the new tenants soon to arrive from America. The Pensacola Convoy was the first, diverted there briefly before continuing on to Australia. The next major force to come would have been designated “Poppy Force,” as Poppy was the US codename for New Caledonia. It would have carried elements that became the “Americal Division,” as that name was created by calling the unit the “American New Caledonian Division,” where it was to be posted. But in this telling of events, those troops were now being called Fantan Force, as this was the US codename for “Fortress Fiji.”

  Fantan Force would see the delivery of the 132nd,164th and 182nd Infantry Regiments, along with a patchwork of other artillery, engineer and AA units, all under the command of Brigadier General Alexander M. Patch. This odd basket of forces was soon quilted together to form a division that would get a new nickname this time around, the “Pacifica Division,” but among army regulars on the scene the unit was simply called “Patch Force.”

  It was a haphazard affair, with units originating in different ports, and some showing up at the wharves without properly crating their heavy equipment. Clueless stevedores stared slack jawed at an AA regiment that arrived with all its weapons mounted and being towed by trucks. No one had told them it all had to be crated, and even if it had been, the fine art of combat loading had not yet dawned in the minds of the inexperienced cargo handling crews. So the ships would be loaded in a real jumble of crates and bins, and it was sheer chance if a unit would arrive to find any of its heavy weapons available upon landing. This was going to hamper unit effectiveness, but the sheer mass of men and equipment arriving at Suva Bay would be something the enemy had not anticipated.

  The Japanese Army planners had been wise to double down on the first wave of their planned invasion of Fiji, because they were going to face some very steep odds. Even though Patch Force would be a relatively green force, fresh off the boat, it would be a full division, strongly reinforcing the two Kiwi Brigades already on the island. Those troops were scheduled to go home, but as fate would have it, the shipping was not available to move them this early. So the Japanese troops assigned to Operation FS would be outnumbered nearly three to one.

  Marine units had also been assigned for Fiji, but they had been diverted to American Samoa. There, on the island of Tutuila, the US possessed one of the largest natural harbors in the Pacific at Pago Pago, which was a collapsed volcanic caldera surrounded by steep ridges that rose to lofty peaks, which the US service troops called the “Rainmaker Mountains.” The first Marine units were settling in, a Raider Battalion and a specially trained Parachute Battalion. They were awaiting stronger forces from the US, which would include the entire 1st Marine Division, four regiments strong, and reinforced by an additional regiment of the 2nd Marine Division.

  Far from being a hastily mounted defensive unit to garrison these valuable island outposts, the Marines would become America’s shock troops, there to spearhead planned counteroffensives that were already being spawned in the minds of Nimitz and MacArthur. When they did come, the transports would see them loaded for bear, and planning to mount an immediate amphibious offensive. That had happened in August of 1942 in the old history, and it remained to be seen whether Vandegrift’s Marines would play a part in the drama that was about to unfold.

  In Fedorov’s history, they had shipped out of Oakland on the West Coast, all bound for New Zealand, with the exception of the 7th Regiment, which would go to Pago Pago. Once in those ports, they would off load, then reload for combat operations before sailing to Fiji to rendezvous with other division elements arriving from different local ports. Yet the entire sector around Fiji was soon about to become an active combat zone, so these plans would all be drastically affected. Operation FS was going to place powerful Japanese naval forces right astride all the shipping lanes the Allies used to prepare for their first offensive operations. Instead, they were about to be thrown onto the defense in the final act of Japan’s whirlwind offensive to the south.

  Yamamoto’s deliberations were very well considered, but the ruse the Japanese had planned regarding Midway would end up causing them trouble. Convinced that they had identified Midway with the code handle A.F., the Americans took the threat very seriously.

  * * *

  With the Halsey group just back from the Doolittle Raid, this meant they now had every reason to quickly replenish and sortie those carriers for possible action near Midway—and this is what they did. Nimitz told Halsey that he was convinced the information coming out of HYPO was accurate.

  “We’ve got them by the scruff of the neck now,” he said. “So you get Enterprise and Hornet turned around and out to sea as soon as possible. Midway will be scouring the seas with every search plane we can give them.”

  “What about the Coral Sea Operation?” Halsey had also been briefed on the other intelligence they had concerning a planned enemy invasion of Port Moresby.”

  “Fletcher had Saratoga and Yorktown south of Fiji two days ago,” said Nimitz. The snowy haired Admiral seemed tired, as though he had been up through many long nights of late, but there was still the light of battle in his eyes. “To be honest, I strongly considered reining Fletcher in and keeping him posted right there near Fiji. Port Moresby is just to exposed. The Japanese have the entire north east coast of New Guinea, and they’ve moved fighters to Lae. They can hit Moresby from Rabaul with their bombers, and the damn place is effectively deep in the enemy camp. The Bismarck Archipelago and their airfields make that approach impossible, and now that they’ve moved into the Solomons, it’s as if they have a big wall built around the Coral sea.”

  “Aw hell,” said Halsey in no uncertain terms. “It may look that way on a map, but that wall is paper thin. The same goes for their positions in the Marshall
s and Gilberts. They moved in a few garrison companies, but there’s no significant air presence there now. All they have in the New Hebrides is Noumea, and for my money I’d sent Fletcher in to bust that place up.”

  “Well,” said Nimitz. “Like I said, I almost pulled his chain, but I changed my mind. Moresby is too damn valuable to just let the Japs come in and take the place. If they do that, then getting up around Cape York to Darwin will be a very hazardous journey. That would mean Darwin might only be reached by sea from Perth, and even those convoys could be interdicted if the enemy builds up at Koepang on Timor. Otherwise, it’s a pretty long haul across the outback to get anything to Darwin by land. So I sent Fletcher west two days ago, though I told him to give Noumea a pass. I want to keep this movement under wraps for as long as possible.”

  “Good enough,” said Halsey. “Then you damn well won’t want me sitting on my thumbs up near Midway. I say we get serious here, and take it right to the other fellow—show them we can still fight. I want to take Enterprise and Hornet right through the Marshalls and say hello along the way.”

  “You’ll be spotted for sure if you do that.”

  “Exactly right. Look Admiral, they’ve got something cooking, and its bigger than this Operation MO against Moresby. Hell, I’m no code and cypher man, but I can smell it. You said yourself that they’re already moving into the Solomons. That’s just as important as Moresby. If we let them get dug in there, and get airfields up and running, than that wall you spoke of earlier toughens up considerably. For now, I could punch right through it on my way to the Solomon Sea, and I’ll knock a few heads together in the Marshalls before I get there.”

  “Don’t forget Truk,” Nimitz warned. “HYPO says they have good confidence that a fourth carrier slipped in there four days ago from Japan—the Akagi. That was Nagumo’s flag when they hit us at Pearl.”

  “I’ve made the acquaintance,” said Halsey sourly. “So all the better. It’s time we settled the score for Pearl. I say we go right after them—sail right through their turf and raise hell. Sure, they’ll know we’re coming, and if they want to do anything about it, then bring it on.”

  Nimitz gave him a long look. He had already turned Fletcher loose with orders to get up to Moresby and hit the enemy any way he could. Now he had Halsey here, chafing at the bit to get into the fight. It was going to be dangerous—risky. His carriers would be operating independently, well out of supporting range of one another. Yet if Halsey was quick enough, the two groups would be like the horns of a bull, Fletcher in the south, Halsey coming right through the Solomons, and both converging on the heart of this Operation MO.

  “What if HYPO is correct and those carriers at Truk left for Midway yesterday?” He gave Halsey a searching look.

  “Unless they swing well west of Wake Island I’ll find the bastards on my way to the Marshalls.”

  “That’s what I’m worried about. We know they had the 5th Carrier Division at Truk last week. Now they’ve added two more fleet carriers. You know how they like to operate. They hit us with everything they had at Pearl, so what if you run into all four of those enemy carriers. You’d be outnumbered two to one.”

  “Hell that doesn’t mean a thing. I was outnumbered three to one at Pearl and I still went after them there.”

  “And we lost Lexington…” Nimitz didn’t mean for that to come out as it did, and he was quick to say so. “Look Bull, you did what you could at Pearl, and thank god we hurt them too—put two of their carriers in dry-dock, and that counted for a lot. But we can’t trade the Japs carrier for carrier now—not yet. I’ve had to move mountains to get hold of the Wasp and it’s due in at Pearl today.”

  “Good,” said Halsey. “Sent it to Midway—and send me to shake things up down there, because those flattops could have just as easily moved south from Truk. We have no hard evidence aside from signals traffic that they’re coming for Midway.”

  “HYPO says they got a good signal decode on orders for one of their light carriers to head that way—Ryujo. It could be the tip of the spear.”

  “All the more reason to turn me loose. Let me get down there and see what they really have cooking.”

  “And if they do swing around Wake and come at Midway from the northwest?”

  “Admiral, there’s a rudder on every one of my ships out there. You tell me Yamamoto is heading for Midway and I’ll turn on a dime. With Wasp in the equation the odds will look just a good deal better, won’t they. But until we know more than this business concerning A.F., I think we should take the initiative. You sent Fletcher—now send me.”

  “Alright,” said Nimitz. “Have at ‘em. What do you propose?”

  “I’m going to ring the doorbell in the Marshalls—take the fight to them before they can do the same to us. If they are heading east, then it’s because they want to mix it up with our carriers. Midway does them very little good, and we’ve made the place a pretty tough nut to crack out there. I say let them come. I’ll hit their bases in the Marshalls, and that includes Kwajalein, and from their I’ll be in a perfect position to either hit Truk or swing down into the Solomons and bust up that seaplane base they’re setting up at Tulagi. I plan on moving fast, and hitting hard. Woe betide anyone who sticks his nose in my business.”

  Nimitz smiled. “Admiral,” he said with a grin. “You’ve got your marching orders. We’ll be in contact when you get down south and see if we can coordinate with Fletcher. Until then, you do exactly what you just said—and hit them hard.”

  Halsey nodded. “What are you going to tell the boys over at HYPO?”

  “That I sent you out to look for a fresh water condenser.” Nimitz smiled.

  * * *

  Halsey would not fail to make good on his boast. He had Enterprise and Hornet riled up and running southwest that very day, the crews still exuberant from their daring Doolittle Raid. Now they were out to hit the enemy again, this time in the Marshalls. The Japanese had put out tentative feelers there from their primary base at Kwajalein, and sent small garrisons to Wotje, Maloelap, and Eniwetok, and they were also looking over Tarawa atoll. Halsey intended to visit a few of these island outposts and ‘ring the doorbell’ as he had put it to Nimitz, while giving his pilots and planes a tune-up in the process.

  The first island to feel his bite was Wotje, which was bombed and strafed, shaking up the small detachment there and setting back their plans for an airstrip considerably. But Yamamoto had a sixth sense about the Americans. He wasn’t sure that they would believe the Midway ruse, and knew that they had been making a determined effort to move troops and supplies to Australia and other nearby bases. So he ordered a pair of watchdogs to move east from Truk to sniff out the main enemy line of communications. The small hybrid scout carriers Gozo and Mezu were tagged for the job, and they were now sailing right into the thick of the storm Halsey was bringing, his eyes dark and hard beneath those heavy bristling brows, his ceaseless energy driving hard through a light grey rain in the early morning hours of April 8th, 1942.

  Chapter 15

  While Nimitz and Halsey were steeling up for action, the Japanese offensive was already in motion. The 144th Regiment, now designated the South Seas Detachment, had boarded transports at a very busy and crowded harbor at Rabaul. Soon they were out into St George’s Channel and around Cape Gazelle, heading for the Solomon Sea, but they were about to meet unexpected company. The Japanese had sent a group of four destroyers ahead of the invasion group to sweep that channel, but they missed something, an undetected US Submarine, S-47, lying in wait to make a bold attack.

  The boat was on station, operating out of Brisbane with SubDiv 53, and a little earlier than the old history. In that story, she had trouble with a faulty firing circuit on her number four tube, passed some tense moments being hunted by destroyers and minesweepers, got off a plaintive shot at a lone transport, which rubbed salt in the wound after it missed. The steamer simply turned about and came right at the sub, forcing the boat to dive deep. By the time they go
t back up to have a look around, the transport had run off, leaving a frustrated Captain and crew, with no hits, and no laurels on their first wartime patrol.

  Things would be different this time around, and strangely so. S-47 had been missed in the ASW sweep, and there, right before her hungry nose, came a line of doddering transports. Four torpedoes were fired in a nice spread, and as fate would have it, the number four fish would strike home. The firing circuit had stubbornly refused to fail in this history, and that tiny little component in an old sub laid down in 1921, was going to open the hostilities and draw first blood.

  It was the troop transport Aso Maru that was in the line of fate that day, and the troops she was carrying were a rather elite bunch, the Kure 4th SNLF Battalion, assigned to make the first shock attack over the beaches at Port Moresby. They were going to be very late. That number four torpedo blasted into the side of the transport, and within minutes she was shipping water and foundering in the grey dawn. The escorting destroyers were quick on the scene, but old S-47 had taken her bite, and dove deep to lie low. By the time the boat surfaced again, the rest of the convoy had moved on, but Aso Maru wasn’t going to make it to Port Moresby, diverting to Gasmata instead, with a chance the hapless ship might not even make that port safely.

  Captain James White Davis could see the oil slick, a tempting path to follow to see if he might finish off his prey. But he could also see the smoke from destroyer stacks on that same horizon, and being a careful man, he elected to continue his hunt elsewhere. The finicky circuit was going to matter in spite of that, for the 4th Kure SNLF would not make it to the invasion site. Word was quickly sent to Rabaul that they were trying to reach Gasmata, but there would be no transport there for the unit to continue the operation. So the Japanese were quickly casting off lines on two more transports, with orders to get to Rabaul with all speed.