Steel Reign (Kirov Series Book 23)

by John Schettler

  Fletcher winced when he saw the explosion hit his lead battleship. He had already darkened his reputation by losing two fleet carriers, and now the thought that he might lose a battleship here rankled in the back of his mind. But that was not to be. North Carolina was a very well protected ship, with armor accounting for 41% of her total displacement, over 45,000 tons full load. Her armored decks were in three layers that totaled just over seven inches of steel. Her conning tower had 14 to 16 inches of armor, and so the “Showboat,” as the ship was called, brushed off the hit to her forward deck easily enough.

  San Juan did not fare quite so well. One bomb hit her amidships, just aft of the rear funnel on her starboard side, setting off a torpedo mount. That put the twin 5-inch battery there out of action, and blew a good sized hole in the deck, scoring the funnel with a lot of shrapnel. While not in danger of sinking, the fires looked serious, giving the sole Japanese pilot to get out of that attack alive something to crow about. He reported he had set a battleship on fire, and no one would ever be the wiser. Fletcher decided to detach the ship and send it back to Pago Pago, but he was more than determined to carry on his mission and get after that airfield.

  The sun set an hour later, with no further sign of enemy planes, and that night the three battleships would deliver a most unwelcome surprise to the Japanese at Nandi. Fletcher’s five destroyers had swept on ahead to make the introductions. They began dueling with a few Japanese shore batteries, though not many guns could be spared for that role. The Japanese thought they had little to fear when the destroyers lighter rounds came in. They caused more noise and distraction than damage, but ten minutes later the gloaming horizon darkened with the silhouettes of those three US battleships, and in came the big 16-inch rounds, and with terrible effect.

  Four of the twelve Claudes were blasted on the airstrip, which saw no less than 19 shells coming to plant big craters there. The port dock and warehouse area took five direct hits, and a fuel tank took another, exploding in a blaze of fire and smoke. As Fletcher watched the smoke and fire hit the enemy for a change, he managed just the hint of a smile. Fedorov’s history recorded him as a cautious but competent carrier commander, with more than one victory to notch his belt. Yet he was a surface action commander at heart, and that was where he would take his ride into the pages of this history.

  Far to the west, the Close Covering force waiting for the Tanaka Detachment convoy got new orders that night. Captain Mori on the heavy cruiser Haguro was ordered to take his ships in to sweep the harbor area. He had the cruiser Maya with him, and five destroyers, and was thinking to steal in and catch the Americans near Nandi by surprise the following morning. It was a rash order, sent by the local commander at Noumea in response to an urgent radio call from Nandi asking for naval support, and not by Yamamoto’s Combined Fleet HQ. Those three battleships would be more than a match for the Japanese, but Mori’s group would never get there.

  Halsey’s planes would find them first.

  Out to finish up the Japanese airfields, a mixed formation of 27 SBDs escorted by 18 Wildcats spotted the enemy ships just after sunrise on the 28th of April. They came screaming in to get their vengeance for the attack that had sent the San Juan to the corner. Both Haguro and Maya would take three hits, with serious damage and heavy fires on both cruisers. The destroyer Ushio also took a bomb forward, which was enough to put that ship out of the game. The entire force did a hasty 180 degree turn and withdrew to Noumea, chastened and well warned.

  The opening act of the naval battle for the Fiji Group had gone to Bull Halsey. The airfields at Nandi and Tavua were in very bad shape, and the Japanese had lost the services of those two heavy cruisers, and all but seven A5M fighters, and three Vals that still remained at Nandi. When Yamamoto got the news he was not pleased.

  “So, the American carriers have spoiled our celebration of Showa Day, the Emperor’s Birthday. Who ordered that covering force to move to the Fijis so soon, and without proper air cover?”

  “I assure you, Admiral, the order did not come from this headquarters.”

  “Well, find out where it did come from, and tell the man who issued it that I will speak with him directly after this is over. In the meantime, as the landings in the Santa Cruz Islands look to be unopposed, we will now depart to join Admiral Hara. We move south this morning.”

  Part IX

  The 5th of May

  “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”

  ― Theodore Roosevelt

  Chapter 25

  It would be no easy matter to take a big unit like the 1st USMC Division and get it off the transports, unpacked, sorted out and ready for combat, but there was very little time to get that done. PBYs out of Suva had spotted the approach of the Japanese carriers, and all those troops and supplies had to be unloaded before they got there. The transports had orders to immediately put to sea as they were emptied, and return to Pago Pago, and the docks and quays at Suva were a beehive of activity.

  One thing that sped the process along was the fact that all regiments arrived ‘tactically loaded,’ with the proper heavy equipment packed on the transport with the correct combat troops. That said, 1st Marine Div was heavy, with four regiments and a fifth still en route. It took Vandegrift several days get to get his regiments grouped properly and ready to move.

  “Where have you been?” said an Army Corporal. “We’ve been out here facing down Tojo for over a month!”

  “Yeah?” said a sour faced Marine. “We’ve been puking our guts out on those goddamned transports, all the way from Pearl. But that’s no matter. Move aside, greenback, the USMC is here.”

  Vandegrift was watching from a high perch on the weather deck of President Jackson, where he had been looking over the operation. Yes, the Marines were here, and he was leading them in. Now it was time to meet with General Patch of the Pacifica Division. Later that day, the two men met ashore.

  “My division is now strung out all along the southern coast of the island,” said Patch. “Except for the regiment I sent you to help unload those ships. The Kiwis put up a tough fight, and they’re presently screening the main road out west at Nayawa.” He pressed a weathered brown finger on the map to indicate the position. “That’s the mouth of the Singatana River. The only road inland into the high country follows that river north from Nayawa. Now I’m backstopping that position with the 132nd Regiment. The other two are positioned all along Queens Road on the southern coast. There are only a few decent landing points there, but they have to be held. We’ve already invested time to get some additional airfields located there, one at Korolevu about 20 klicks east of Nawaya, and a second at Deuba, about 35 klicks further east. They’ve been hitting the main field north of Suva, so we think this will help.”

  “Unless the Japs shell the hell out of those fields from the sea. They’re right on the coast.”

  “Couldn’t be helped,” said Patch. “The jungle comes right down to the water’s edge in places, and terrain can rise steeply from the coast. That area is the only place with clearings suitable for an airfield. Besides, the Navy is here, aren’t they? They gave you folks a ride in.”

  “Let’s just hope they stick around,” said Vandegrift. “Alright, where do you want my men?”

  “North of Suva,” Patch pointed again. “See these two roads? One swings out near the airfield at Nasouri, and then follows the Rewa River up through Kasavo. The one on the left here moves through the lowland and then hits some fairly thick jungle. It becomes little more than a trail at that point, but you can still move vehicles on it. It’ll run along a tributary of the Rewa River until it reaches the village of Vunindawa here, then it bends east and joins the other road. So you can move two regiments up that way, one on each road. Then establish your CP right there where they meet.”

>   “Any idea what the Japs have up there?”

  “Sakaguchi Detachment—about one regiment in strength. There’s a battalion of Fiji Commandos watching that road as it continues along the river north from the junction. Your first order of business will be to get up there and make contact with that unit.”

  “Fiji Commandos?”

  “Yup, recruited by the Kiwis from the locals here on the island. From what I hear they’re one tough outfit. They know the jungle, and the island itself, like the back of their hand. They can be your eyes and ears up there. I’ve also put together a wild bunch of my own, and I had them training with this Fiji group. We call them the Alamo Raiders. They can help you out on point as pathfinders. What I want you to do—what Big Mac wants us to do, is to take your division up north and recapture Tavua. That’ll put you in a position to push for Nandi from the northeast. When you’re ready, I’ll bunch up my division here on the southern coast and we’ll push from this end.”

  “What about the high country in the center of the island?”

  “It’s tough going up there, but that doesn’t mean the Japs won’t use it. The thing is this—if we make a big push for Nandi like this, they’ll simply have to fall back to defend it. If they lose that, it’s over for them here, and they damn well know it.”

  It seemed as good a plan as any that could be devised, so Vandegrift got started that day, ordering his 1st and 5th Marine Regiments to move out on those roads. The heavy equipment was still being unloaded, but he could at least get his rifle companies moving, and they had mortars and M1 machineguns. A few 75mm guns had come on the transports, but the bigger 155mm guns and the sound and flash ranging equipment used in counterbattery fire had been in another convoy, and would not arrive for several days.

  Yet the fact that a functioning port had been ready to receive them saw the division land with a good deal more supply than it ever had in Fedorov’s history on Guadalcanal. It was an easy landing, and the division found itself fairly well equipped. Soon they were on those roads, with the 7th Regiment on the left, and the 5th on the right.

  While this was going on, two battalions of the Sakaguchi Detachment were already moving south. They had swept through the northeast segment of the island, finding it unoccupied, and now thought to swoop down on Suva from the north. The first battalion found the road, and ran right into 1/5 Marines just as it was about to emerge from the heavier jungle into a highland meadow. There followed a very sharp engagement, with the Japanese thinking they would simply storm the enemy unit as they had all others.

  The Marines deployed from march, rushing in platoon sized groups to fan out on either side of the road at the edge of the jungle. The BAR teams were already putting out suppressive fire, and they kept the Japanese heads down until the M1 teams could get their machineguns set up. Following their usual tactics, the 2nd Battalion of Sakaguchi’s troops immediately moved to their left, intending to flank the Marine position astride the road. Unfortunately, they were going to run directly into the jungle savvy commandos of the Fiji Battalion, which had been placed there to protect and screen that flank and road.

  The commandos were very wood crafty, and knew how to lay low in unseen positions in the thickets of the jungle. They waited for the Japanese patrols to begin slipping through their lines, then, animated by a strange bird call made by their CO, they leapt up like ghouls and began taking the three and five man groups of Japanese infantry by surprise. It was knife work for a while, before the first shots of alarm rang out, then the chatter of a machine gun.

  The Japanese finally realized what was happening, and organized for a strong infantry attack at near battalion strength. This was able to drive the commandos back, but they simply melted into the jungle, evaporating like mist in the heavy treeland. When the Japanese began to organize an advance the action started again, with small groups of commandos striking an unwary platoon, then melting away.

  Off to the west, Sakaguchi’s 1st battalion finally pushed back the Marines, the veteran infantry advancing fearlessly, until one Marine corporal, stopped, picked up a machinegun and just refused to give any more ground. That bought just enough time for the battalion to pull itself together, and soon the position was further bolstered by yet another full battalion of leathernecks deploying from road column.. The enemy attack was stopped like a tide breaking on the shore. This time the defenders held the line, and soon it was Colonel Leroy Hunt who was prepping his men for a counterattack. Hunt put in his whole regiment, and on his left, the 7th Marine Regiment was coming up the interior road and meeting a stubborn defense from the 4th Yokosuka SNLF battalion.

  The Japanese were as tenacious on defense as they were in attack, and it took a good deal of firepower to force those men to retreat. Some simply refused, dying to a man in their positions and forcing the Marines to take down every last machinegun that had been set up on defense. When Vandegrift moved his division headquarters up country to get a better feel for what was happening, he looked over the captured position and made an astute observation that every officer on his staff never forgot.

  “Looks like the enemy was trained to go to a place, stay there, fight and die. We train our men to go to a place, fight to win, and to live. I can assure you, it is a much better theory.”

  That was what the men of the Sakaguchi Regiment would have to do if they were going to hold in the north, fight and die. When reports reached Tavua that his men had encountered strong enemy resistance, he realized that he had very little in reserve. There was a single engineer battalion, with two of its three companies watching the northeast coast and the third on the airfield near Tavua trying to get it ready to receive friendly aircraft. The 2nd Yokosuka SNLF had been ordered to reconnoiter the highland, and now it was necessary to recall it and have it march quickly to Tavua to stand as a reserve.

  Something had just happened there on the main island of Viti Levu that no one fully realized that day. There, at the edge of that jungle in the Fiji highlands, the men of the Sakaguchi Regiment had been met, held, then pushed back by the sheer muscle and firepower of two full Marine Regiments. A third regiment, the 1st Marine under Colonel Cates, was now also coming up in support. It was May 1st, May Day, the day the restless coursing lines of war flowed up and receded at the edge of that jungle, yet no man on either side really appreciated how significant that was. The tide, at least on the ground, had turned.

  * * *

  Out on the Solomon Sea, the Japanese were slowly approaching, returning to challenge the naval and air superiority Halsey had imposed over the Fijis for the last week. No news had come from Fiji of late. The only news that would be sent home on Showa Day would be that of Japan’s latest acquisition. He had shepherded the Shoji Detachment down from Buka and instead of landing on Guadalcanal as first planned, they had taken it to Espiritu Santo in the Santa Cruz Islands. As there was no other enemy activity in the lower Solomons, airfield construction Regiments would be dispatched immediately from Rabaul to both Lunga on Guadalcanal and Espiritu Santo. That would complete the missing link in the long chain of islands stretching from Rabaul to Noumea. It was a masterful stroke, and even if the Fiji operation were to fail, the occupation of those islands, linking the Solomons to the New Hebrides, was of great strategic significance.

  Thus far the US had enjoyed naval superiority in the Fiji Group after the initial landing, but the Japanese carriers were returning, intending to reach the scene by the first of May. As the American carriers had been spotted operating north of those islands, it was Yamamoto’s intention to confront them directly. On the last day of April he was in position to sweep east, hoping to find and punish the last of the enemy carriers… But Halsey was not there.

  True to his plan to try and keep the main Fiji islands between his carriers and the enemy, Halsey swung south. If Suva Bay were the center of a clock, The Japanese were at 12:00 and the Americans at 06:00 at dawn on the first of May. A lone Kate off the Akagi saw what he thought were carriers and cruisers to the south of K
andavu Island, which sat about 50 nautical miles below the main Fiji group. The wizened Admiral Chuichi Nagumo had arrived from Japan to take over carrier operations in Yamamoto’s group, and the sighting was enough for him to order an immediate strike from Akagi and Soryu.

  All the dive bombers had been prepping for a ground strike against Suva, mostly armed with fragmentation bombs. To stop that process and rearm the planes with armor piercing bombs would take at least 30 minutes, so Nagumo sent his torpedo bombers instead, a total of 34 B5Ns, many armed with bombs and a few others with torpedoes. They were escorted by 22 Zeroes, but the strike ran into a very thick CAP defense, with all of 40 Wildcats up on defense, and they were enough to hold the enemy at bay. Many of the planes were forced to break formation and turn back. A few Kates got down into their torpedo runs, mostly focusing their attack on the Enterprise as Halsey watched from the weather deck. He was impressed by the dogged approach made by the enemy, even with his own fighters right on their tails. The enemy got torpedoes in the water, but lost twelve planes and scored no hits.

  Suspecting an enemy surface group was nearby, Halsey had detached two cruisers, the Cleveland and Honolulu, with destroyers Ward and Phelps to sweep the Kandavu Channel ahead of his carriers. They were also found in this strike, but Nagumo’s only consolation for the loss of so many torpedo planes was a single hit on the Cleveland by a Kate that had been armed with bombs that day. The first enemy punches had been parried, and now it was time for the US carriers to throw some lead the other way.