W E B Griffin - Corp 09 - Under Fire
Page 43
"Obviously, neither the President nor Ambassador Har-riman wants anyone to be privy to this interchange of in-formation. If the customary cryptographic channels were used, SCAP cryptographers would have to read the ex-change. The possibility of a leak is there. That's where you come in, Sergeant Keller. In Sergeant Rogers's briefcase, there is a special code that will be used solely for the com-munications between the Ambassador and the President. Getting the picture?"
"Yes, sir," Keller said. "There's a story going around that the President used a system like this at Potsdam, sir."
"You crypto people gossip, do you?"
"Only about techniques, sir, not message content."
"I'll give you the benefit of a large doubt on that, Keller. But no, the President did not use this system at Potsdam. I was there with him. He started using it after Potsdam, when he suspected that his `eyes only' messages to and from Potsdam had been read by a large number of senior military and State Department officers who knew how to cajole-or intimidate-crypto people into sharing infor-mation with them."
"You were at Potsdam, Ralph?" Pickering asked.
"Lovely place," Howe said. "Even right after the war. It's now in the Russian zone."
He turned to Keller.
"This one you don't gossip about, clear?"
"Yes, sir."
"General Ridgway is going to confer with General MacArthur about Inchon," Howe went on. "That's where you come in, Lieutenant Taylor. Both General Pickering and I have been charged by the President to come up with opin-ions-independent opinions-of whether MacArthur-who is now using the phrase `when I land at Inchon'-can really carry that off."
"That's what I've been doing at SCAP, General," Taylor said. "Working on that plan. They pulled me off my LST right after this war started, and put me to work on that."
"Gut feeling, Mr. Taylor? Is it possible?" Pickering asked.
"Gut feeling, sir: It's a hell of a gamble."
"I'd never even heard of the place a month ago," Howe said, "and aside from what General Pickering has told me, I still know virtually nothing about it."
General Pickering told you? What the hell does a Marine general know about Inchon? was written all over Taylor's face, and both Howe and Pickering saw his confusion.
"I was a sailor, a long time ago," Pickering said. "I told you." He chuckled, and added: "Who once ran the Pacific Wanderer aground at Inchon."
Pacific Wanderer? That's a P&FE freighter. This gen-eral was master of a P&FE freighter?
Oh, Jesus Christ. This guy's name is Pickering. P&FE is owned by the Pickering family. There has to be a connec-tion. So what's he doing in a Marine general's uniform?
"You look as if you have a question, Mr. Taylor," Picker-ing said.
"Ran aground, sir? Or got caught by the tides?" Taylor asked.
"Caught by the tides," Pickering said. "The effect is the same. The question is, how is MacArthur's invasion fleet going to deal with Inchon's infamous tidal mudflats?"
"Let's start with that," Howe said. "What mudflats? What are we talking about? Show me. Charley, have we got that map?"
Master Sergeant Rogers took a map from his briefcase and laid it on the table.
"You tell us, Taylor," Howe ordered. "Remembering that you and General Pickering are the only sailors in the room. Keep it simple."
"Yes, sir," Taylor said.
He took a lead pencil from his pocket and used it as a pointer.
"Here's Seoul," he said. "And here's Inchon. This is the Yellow Sea. The channel into Inchon from the Yellow Sea-it's called the Flying Fish Channel-starts here, about thirty air miles from Inchon, at this group of little is-lands, called the Tokchok. There's a lighthouse there on a little island called Samni.
"Flying Fish meanders along through here. The distance by water is about forty-five nautical miles from the light-house to Inchon."
"And that's the only way you can get into Inchon?" Howe asked.
"Yes, sir. That's one of the problems the invasion fleet is going to face, moving forty-five miles, and moving slow- the channel twists and turns, and in some parts you have to move at steerage speed-"
"Which is?" Howe asked.
"The slowest speed at which you have steering ability," Pickering answered for him. "And the channel is not very wide; it'll mean moving the ships most of the way in a col-umn."
"And that means, sir," Taylor said, "the chances of sur-prising anyone at Inchon are pretty slim."
"Just for openers, it seems like a lousy place to stage an amphibious invasion," Howe said.
"And we haven't even touched on the tides yet," Picker-ing said.
`Tell me about tides," Howe ordered, "in very simple terms."
"You know, sir, that tides are cyclic?" Taylor asked.
"Not enough. Tell me," Howe said.
"In the Atlantic Ocean, there're two tides a day-they call that semidiurnal. A tidal day is twenty-four hours and fifty minutes. When the tides are semidiurnal, that means you get high tide at, say, six o'clock in the morning, low tide a little after noon, and another high tide at about six-twenty-five that night, and another low tide six hours and twelve minutes af-ter that.
"In the Pacific, there're both semidiurnal tides and diurnal, which means that you get high tide at six in the morning, low tide twelve hours and twenty five minutes after that, and an-other high tide the next morning at ten minutes to seven."
"And that's what it is at Inchon?"
"Not exactly, sir. What they have at Inchon is mixed tides, which means that sometimes the moon and the sun are both acting on the water at the same time. And what that means is that the tides are huge. At Inchon, high tide is sometimes thirty feet above normal sea level, and at low six feet below normal. That means a difference of thirty-six feet. That's at the high end of the cycle."
"What does that mean?" Howe asked. "High end of the cycle?"
"There's a monthly cycle to tides, twenty-eight days, like the lunar cycle," Taylor explained. "At the high end of the cycle, at Inchon, high tide is sometimes thirty feet above sea level, and low, six feet below. At the low end of the cycle, high tide is maybe twenty feet above normal, and maybe four feet above at low tide." Taylor paused. "This is twice a day, you understand?"
"You may have to explain it all over again, but go on, what does this mean?"
"Sir, it means that at low tide, all these areas here, from the mainland shore, and around the islands, don't have any water over them...."
"Mudflats, Ralph, miles and miles of mud," Pickering said.
"Which means," Taylor explained, "that the invasion would have to take place at high tide at the high end of the monthly cycle. Maybe a day, either way, but no more than a day."
"I don't understand that," Howe said.
"You need the highest tide you can get, to get the ships through the channel into Inchon, and then get them out again," Pickering said. "And you have the highest tides only on one day a month."
"Jesus!" Howe said.
"Even then, there's no way that I can see that they can get every vessel in and out, sir," Taylor said. "Maybe they can get one or two attack transports in there, unload them, and get them out on one tide, but there're going to be LSTs and everything else stuck in the mud."
"I agree," Pickering said. "Stuck until the tide comes in again and refloats them."
"When do we get a high tide? Is that the correct term?" Howe asked.
"August eighteen is the next one, sir, and the one after that is 15 September. That's what they're shooting for, 15 September."
Howe looked at Pickering.
"So `when I will land' at Inchon is September fifteenth?"
"It would appear to be," Pickering said.
"Is there more bad news, Mr. Taylor, about this brilliant invasion idea? Or have I heard it all?"
"Not quite, sir," Taylor said.
"Jesus! What else can go wrong?"
"Sir, if you look here," Taylor said, pointing at the map. "You see this little island here,
Paega-do? It's about five miles off the mainland. The water between it and the main-land is fifteen, sometimes twenty, feet deep at high tide. At low tide, it's a mudflat. From the west side of Paega-do, it's about five miles to Yonghung-do. The Flying Fish Channel, half a mile wide, runs north-south through there, mostly right in the middle. That's the only place where, at high tide, the channel is deep enough for the attack transports."
"Okay," Howe said after he'd studied the map a moment.
"The channel there is within artillery range of guns on either island," Taylor finished.
"Which means they'd have to be taken out before the at-tack transports-or anything else-could use the chan-nel?" Pickering asked, but it was really a statement rather than a question.
"And taking them out would be a pretty good signal of our intentions, wouldn't it?" Howe said, thoughtfully.
"Yonghung-do, Paega-do, and all these islands east of there are held by the North Koreans," Taylor said, pointing.
"And west of there?" McCoy asked. It was the first ques-tion he had asked.
"The South Korean national police holds them," Taylor said. "I don't mean..."
"You said `police'?" General Howe asked.
"Yes, sir. They hold the major islands, sir, is what I mean. They don't have people on every island."
"The front, the battle line, is way down the peninsula, al-most to Pusan," Howe said. "Why don't the North Koreans at least try to run the South Koreans off those islands?"
"I can only guess, sir, that they don't consider them a major threat; that they're waiting until they take Pusan. Once that happens, they'll have the means to clean up-"
"Hey," McCoy said. "They're not going to take Pusan."
"They're not?" Taylor asked, dubiously.
"The Marines have landed, haven't you heard?"
"You really think the Marines can hold Pusan, McCoy?" General Howe asked. "Or are you just parroting the official Marine Corps line?"
"Not by themselves, sir, I didn't mean to suggest that. But if they can help the Army hold on to it a little longer, until the Army can get some more troops in there... The last prisoners Ernie and I talked to not only looked beat, but admitted they were running out of food, ammunition- everything. That's a long supply line they're running."
"Why should the Marines do any better than the Army has? It looks to me like the more men the Army sends to Korea, the further Eighth Army has to retreat."
"Sir, most of the Provisional Brigade officers and non-coms have combat experience in the Second War. And-at least down to company level-they've trained together."
"How do you know that?"
"General Craig told me, sir."
"The Provisional Brigade commander?"
"Yes, sir."
"You two had a little chat? In my experience-and re-member, Captain, I used to be Captain Howe-generals don't have many conversations with captains."
"You're having one right now, General," General Picker-ing said.
"Point taken," Howe said, with a smile.
"I spoke with General Craig in San Diego, sir," McCoy said. "When the brigade was getting on the transports, and yesterday..." He paused. "Yeah, that was only yesterday. It seems a lot longer. I saw General Craig and the brigade debarking in Pusan."
Howe looked at him.
"You were about to say something else," he said. "Say it."
"The Marines in the Brigade looked like... Marines, sir."
"You mean they looked to you as if they could fight?"
"Yes, sir," McCoy said.
"Well, let's hope you're right, McCoy," General Howe said. "Now, where were we?"
"You were talking about the islands from which artillery could be brought to bear on the invasion fleet," General Pickering said.
"Right," Howe said. "So what does General MacArthur plan to do about them?"
"I believe the current plan is to take them on D Minus One, sir," Lieutenant Taylor said.
"You mean twenty-four hours before the actual landing at Inchon?"
"Yes, sir."
"Which would certainly tell the North Koreans we were going to land at Inchon, and give them twenty-four hours to bring up reinforcements, right?"
"Yes, sir," Taylor said.
"Nobody had a better idea than that?" Howe asked.
"Sir," Taylor said, and stopped.
"Go on," Howe ordered.
"Sir, I've given that some thought-"
"You have an idea, ideas?"
"Yes, sir," Taylor said. "I think it would be possible-"
Howe stopped him by holding up his hand.
"Not now," he said. "Later."
"Yes, sir."
"No, I mean later. I want to hear them. But right now, I have to send the President what I have so far about MacArthur's idea to land two divisions of men he doesn't have some place where an invasion can be held on only one or two days a month, and where the tides are thirty feet. Let's go, Charley, and you, too, Keller."
He got to his feet, gestured for the others to keep their seats, and walked out of the room, with Master Sergeants Rogers and Keller on his heels.
"Taylor," General Pickering asked, "these ideas of yours, have you put them on paper?"
"No, sir."
"I'm sure General Howe meant it when he said he wanted to hear them. Step one to do that is get them on pa-per-just the rough idea, or ideas."
"Yes, sir. How much time do I have?"
"See how much you can get down by seventeen hundred," Pickering said. "General Howe and I are going to be at SCAP most of the afternoon. Have you got someplace to work?"
"Only at SCAP, sir, or in my BOQ."
"George, get him a typewriter and a desk, and put him in one of the rooms here."
"Aye, aye, sir," Hart said.
Pickering looked at McCoy and motioned for him to fol-low him into his bedroom. McCoy motioned for Zimmer-man to wait.
Pickering closed the bedroom door after McCoy en-tered.
"Sir?" McCoy said.
Pickering handed him the large envelope marked "Secret" the signal corps had given him, then went to his window and looked out of it, his back to McCoy. McCoy looked at him curiously for a moment and then went into the envelope and took out the carbon copy of the radio teletype message.
SECRET
URGENT
1650 2 AUGUST 1950
FROM: ASST COMMANDER
1ST AIRCRAFT WING
TO: EYES ONLY BRIG GEN FLEMING PICKER-ING USMC
HQ SUPREME COMMANDER, ALLIED POW-ERS
DEEPLY REGRET TO INFORM YOU THAT AT SHORTLY AFTER 1220 THIS DATE MAJOR MALCOLM S. PICKERING, USMCR, WAS FORCED TO MAKE AN EMERGENCY LANDING IN HIS F4-U AIRCRAFT BEHIND ENEMY LINES IN THE VICINITY OF TAEJON SOUTH KOREA AND HIS WHEREABOUTS AND CONDITION ARE PRESENTLY UNKNOWN.
AT APPROXIMATELY 1220 HOURS THIS DATE, MAJOR PICKERING, WHO WAS FLYING ALONE ON A RECONNAISSANCE MISSION OFF USS BADOENG STRAIT, MADE A MAYDAY RA-DIO CALL STATING HE WAS APPROXIMATELY FIFTEEN MILES NORTH NORTHEAST OF TAE-JON, AND THAT HE HAD BEEN STRUCK BY ANTI-AIRCRAFT FIRE, HAD LOST HYDRAULIC PRESSURE, HAD AN ENGINE FIRE AND WAS GOING TO DITCH.
LT COL WILLIAM C. DUNN, USMC, WHO WAS LEADING A THREE F4-U AIRCRAFT FLIGHT FROM THE USS BADOENG STRAIT IN THE VICINITY, HEARD THE MAYDAY AND IM-MEDIATELY WENT TO THE AREA. LT COL DUNN FIRST SPOTTED A HEAVY COLUMN OF SMOKE COMING FROM A DESTROYED BUT STILL BURN-ING ENEMY RAILROAD TRAIN AND THEN AP-PROXIMATELY THREE MILES NORTH OF THE TRAIN A COLUMN OF SMOKE FROM A BURNING F4-U AIRCRAFT. IN THREE LOW LEVEL PASSES OVER THE DOWNED AND BURNING AIR-CRAFT LT COL DUNN WAS ABLE TO DETERMINE THE COCKPIT WAS EMPTY. THERE WAS NO SIGN OF MAJOR PICKERING, AND LT COL DUNN DID NOT SEE A DEPLOYED PARACHUTE.
LT COL DUNN BELIEVES THAT MAJOR PICKERING WAS ENGAGING THE ENEMY RAIL-ROAD TRAIN AS TARGET OF OPPORTUNITY AND THAT HIS AIRCRAFT WAS STRUCK BY.50 AND 20-MM ANTI-AIRCRAFT FIRE FROM THE TRAIN AND/OR DEBRIS CAUSED BY THE DETONATION OF EXPLOSIVE AND/OR COM-BUSTIBLE MATERIALS ABOARD THE TRAIN.
FIXED AND ROTARY WING AIRCRAFT OF 1ST MAW WERE IMM
EDIATELY DIRECTED TO THE CRASH SITE, ARRIVING THERE AT APPROXIMATELY 1335. THEY REPORTED THAT MAJOR PICKERING'S AIRCRAFT HAD BEEN CONSUMED BY FIRE AND THERE WAS NO SIGN OF MAJOR PICKERING.
6. IN CONSIDERATION OF THE ABOVE, MA-JOR PICKERING IS NOW CLASSIFIED AS MISSING IN ACTION. HQ USMC HAS BEEN NOTIFIED. FURTHER INFORMATION WILL BE FURNISHED AS DEVELOPED.