MacArthur's War: A Novel of the Invasion of Japan

by Douglas Niles

  Similarly, the sheriff of McGehee, Arkansas, is a fictional character. There was in fact a Japanese internment camp near there, one of two in Arkansas. It is worth noting, however, that McGehee has a memorial to the men of Rohwer Camp who died fighting for the nation that imprisoned their families, and in 1992 hosted more than two hundred former internees and their families in a commemorative event.

  For every detail presented about the Japanese treatment of American prisoners of war, we could have presented ten that were worse. Because it is not part of our alternate history, we don’t treat the Rape of Nanking, Korean “comfort women,” or other parts of the historical record in this book. The character David Hansen is real. He died shortly after enduring the Death March.

  Ellis Halverson’s accidental discovery of skip bombing during the Battle of Midway is fictional. General Kenney is credited with having thought up the idea, and the men of the 63rd Squadron, 43rd Bomb Group, Fifth Air Force did the hard and dangerous work of making it into a highly successful technique. Skip bombing was, as they say, a “hard way to make a living.”

  The typhoons of August 22, 1945, and September 21, 1945, are both real—including the irony that the September 21 typhoon, one of the worst on record, made landfall at Hiroshima. That sad city would certainly have been fire-bombed had it not been targeted for another weapon historically.

  Our story of Operation Olympic is based on the actual battle plan and is as realistic as we could make, especially for the first days of that conflict. Our Operation Coronet, on the other hand, has been modified significantly from the historical plan. However, to think that Operation Coronet would have taken place without any modification based on the experience gained from Olympic, or that nothing whatsoever would have changed on the Japanese side as a result of Ketsu-Go in Kyushu, seems unlikely at best.

  Historical maps reflect the original plans for both parts of Operation Downfall. You can see them in color by pointing your browser at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Downfall.

  Would the United States have had a million casualties, as is often claimed, had Operation Downfall proceeded as planned? Certainly the death toll for Operation Olympic would have been extremely and painfully high, whether the actual count turned out to be a million or not.

  At the time that the invasion question became moot with the arrival of Fat Man and Little Boy, American planners were already leaning heavily toward canceling the proposed Operation Downfall. Intelligence about the Japanese Ketsu-Go buildup on Kyushu was causing a steady upward revision of estimated casualty figures. Instead, a policy of continued firebombing, blockading, targeting of railheads, and possibly an invasion in the north were considered as alternatives. These approaches would have resulted in far fewer American casualties than the Downfall estimates. It seems highly probable to us, however, that the number of Japanese casualties, civilian and military, would have far exceeded those resulting from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

  Yamamoto’s explanation of “bad decision making,” made to the Marquis Kido in the geisha house, reflects our beliefs. Going to war, firebombing cities, dropping the atomic bomb—these are terrible things. Such actions cannot be called “good.” Yet the fact that they were “bad decisions” does not mean they were the worst decisions, or that the decision makers were wrong. Making the choice between bad and worse, in our opinion, still requires more judgment, more wisdom, and more moral courage than making the far simpler choice between bad and good.

  There is no doubt that the right side won. Imagine the treatment of the United States by a victorious Japan compared to the treatment of a defeated Japan by the United States. The victims of war, however, are found among the victors and the vanquished, innocents and instigators, the blameless and the blameworthy.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  One of the great joys and privileges of this work has been the opportunity to hear firsthand so many true stories about the war.

  Marshall Sumida, a volunteer at the National Japanese-American Historical Society, San Francisco, California (www.njahs.org), spent several hours telling Michael about life in the camps, in basic training, and in the Pacific with MacArthur’s staff. Dr. David Walls-Kaufman told us the tragic story of the suicide of a Bataan Death March survivor that influenced the creation of Andy Sarnuss. Greg Hartley, retired Special Forces interrogator and coauthor of the book How to Spot a Liar, explained details of the interrogation process and obtained declassified World War II field manuals on the subject. Don Niles, Doug’s father, proofread every draft of the book and made many helpful and insightful suggestions. Architect Grant Canfield told the story of his father at Pearl Harbor, as well as a hilarious, unprintable, but true story about “Butch” O’Hare, after whom the Chicago airport is named.

  Michael Porter did a yeoman’s job in pulling together extensive research information for us. Ralph Benko, Marcia Linebarger, and Rosana Linebarger provided a wonderful and kind favor that, alas, does not show up in the present volume but may in the future. Donna Hurley, reference librarian at the Nimitz Library, U.S. Naval Academy, dug deep into files to check details. We should also take the opportunity to thank the creators of Google, without whom this book truly would not have been possible.

  Members of Michael’s writers’ group, the Vicious Circle, sharpened their knives and went to work on the manuscript. After turning each draft into a bloody corpse, they then offered advice, suggestions, and guidance that in every case improved story, characterization, setting, and impact. Our deepest thanks go to Ted White, Richard Moore, David Lee Owens, Scott Andrews, and Paul McKinsey. Tim Brown and other members of the Alliterates writing society read various drafts and gave extensive and detailed comments.

  Our long-suffering and patient editor, Brian Thomsen, gave us deadline extension after deadline extension. Tom Doherty, Forge publisher, did us the ultimate favor of rejecting the proposal we originally sent him and giving us our marching orders in the form of the idea for this book. Kristin Sevick conscientiously ushered the book through the production process at Tor/Forge. Our brilliant, eagle-eyed copyeditor, Cynthia Merman, caught numerous errors, especially when we moved scenes from one place in the story to another. Our agents, Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen, continue to provide friendship, advice, direction, and support.

  Josh and AnneLee Gilder, Humayun Mirza, Barbara Dobson, and many others spent uncounted hours talking about the evolving story. Internet friends Misha and Lee picked up dropped projects. Myra Strauss and Jack Knowles at Management Concepts gave Michael a year’s extension on another book; other Management Concepts staff have been patient and supportive when the book has made Michael unavailable for his day job teaching project management classes.

  For more, including deleted scenes and other information, see Michael’s Web site at www.dobsonbooks.com and Doug’s at www.alliterates.com.

  As always, we value the support and love of our families, Chris, Allison, and David Niles and Deborah and Jamie Dobson, more than we can say.

  —DOUGLAS NILES and MICHAEL DOBSON

  November 2003-July 2006