1943 (Kirov Series Book 27)

by John Schettler

Wasp went down four hours later, and Halsey was incensed. Just as it seemed he had gotten the advantage on his enemy, the Japanese got up off the deck with this daring and skillful sortie by King Kong Hara. “Damn,” he said under his breath to Captain Duncan on the Essex. “We thought we had them beat, and then we stuck our hand right into the beehive. It’s no surprise we got stung, and losing the Wasp was the worst thing that could have happened today. I should have kept Spruance in tight with me, and I let him slip off north to screen the landings. Thank God Enterprise took nothing but a scratch on the chin.”

  “Vicksburg is headed for Pearl,” said Duncan. “Ziggy had the two CVLs out for a test run and he linked up to escort that ship safely home. But the damage to Gettysburg was bad enough to get her looking for any port in a storm. She went to Suva Bay. As for Hansen’s group, he’s alive, but both of those scout carriers went down in Mele Bay off Efate. All four scout carriers are out of the game.”

  “A damn shame,” said Halsey. “Hansen gave us the first taste of victory in this war. That action he fought against the French did as much for morale back home as Doolittle. Now then… these four Fleet Carriers are going to get even. I’m going to pound the French on Efate so hard their heads will spin, and then, for good measure, I’m going down to bust up Noumea. Let’s see if the Japanese want to do anything about it.”

  Halsey would wear that growling frown for days after, particularly when that plaintive radio call Hansen sent out hit the newspapers. He was mad about it ever after, and he would do exactly what he claimed to Efate and Noumea.

  Nimitz would say he got overconfident after driving off Yamamoto and beating up the enemy 1st Carrier division. “Look what they did,” he said later. “They just got those ships to safe harbor at Rabaul, then ponied up and came right back at us. You didn’t think they’d let us just take Efate without a fight, did you?”

  “Well I gave them one,” said Halsey, disgruntled and ill at ease. “Look, I know this looks bad, but when I took those two fleet carriers of theirs out of active service, that was deck and hangar space for nearly 160 planes. Alright, Spruance lost the Wasp. He went in thinking this was probably light carriers sniping at the Vicksburg group. At least we saved both those ships.”

  “Getty might be down for at least two months,” said Nimitz. “Vicksburg just a couple weeks. But with Wasp, we lost carrier capacity for at least 90 planes, two dozen more with Hansen’s group, and four dozen more on those escort carriers while they’re laid up. So there’s 160 planes we won’t be hauling to sea.”

  “Then call it a draw,” said Halsey. “But just you let me get at them for a rematch. You’ll see.”

  Halsey was going to get that fight, and sooner than he thought.

  Chapter 21

  He was a man that exuded confidence, with a quick mind, equally sharp sense of humor, and eyes that glittered when he spoke. Those same eyes, and a steadiness of hand and nerve, had made him a champion marksman with both the rifle and pistol from the early age of just 16. Ten years later he would step onto the battleship New Hampshire in 1914, and lead a company of US Marines ashore at Vera Cruz, and his men were not welcome, taking sniper fire almost immediately. He sat himself down with a rifle, surveyed the distant rooftops, and within five minutes he had dispatched three enemy snipers, clearing the way for his troops to advance. Six years later that same sharpshooting skill would see him take home five gold medals in the 1920 Olympics, but not once would any man ever hear him brag about them.

  His boots seemed to stick to that battleship the first time he set foot on the New Hampshire, and soon he found himself working his way up the ranks, from destroyers to cruisers, until he landed as the Executive Officer of the battleship Pennsylvania. Now he could practice that straight shooting with those big 14-inch guns, and naval gunnery became his new love. So when Nimitz decided he wanted to move Fletcher back to help square away the new carriers scheduled to arrive at Pearl, he looked around for someone to take over his battleship squadron, and found the perfect man for the job.

  Now a Vice Admiral and assistant to his Chief of Staff, the man he picked was Willis Augustus Lee, a descendant of the famous Confederate General Robert E. Lee. He had always loved the Pacific, and Asia and China were a personal fascination for him. So with a famous last name that sounded Chinese, the men came to simply call him “Ching.” Now he was planting his flag on the USS Washington, Battleship Division 6, one of the three fast battleships that had moved to Pago Pago in Mid-1942 to support operations in defense of the Fijis. Lee’s division was getting new orders that day, and a new member of the club as well.

  The latest arrival, heaving to at Tongatapu, was the USS Indiana, a South Dakota Class battleship that would square off his division with the thunder of its nine 16-inch Guns. Ching had those two ships, along with North Carolina and Washington, a total of 36 big guns at his disposal. It would not be long before he would get the chance to use them.

  It was MacArthur that started things, restless, demanding, impatient, still sitting in Brisbane reading about the war through typed message transcripts. Krueger was doing all the fighting on Fiji, and Big Mac had been pondering how and when to reinforce him, waiting on Halsey to clear out the waters around the islands and provide him with adequate cover. It was 1500 nautical miles from Brisbane to Suva by the most direct route, but that was cut right in the middle by the sword like island of New Caledonia. The Japanese outpost at Noumea was right at the half way mark, and with enemy planes based there, the convoy would have to detour well south, extending the sea journey to nearly 2000 nautical miles. Since many of the transports available to lift the division had a top speed of just 12 knots, that was at least a full week at sea.

  MacArthur wasn’t happy. There were no more than a few destroyers and the cruiser Chester to serve as escorts, and he began bawling that the Navy was dropping the ball again. In justifiable anger, Halsey moved to a position midway between Efate and Noumea, and let both ports have it. The French battalions on Efate got a bruising, and then he ripped into the harbor at Noumea, shaking things up there so badly that Yamamoto ordered most of the idle transport and capital ships to move into the Coral Sea and attempt to avoid another such attack. Halsey could have stayed there and raised hell, effectively neutralizing Noumea with the remaining power of his carrier air wings, but MacArthur had other ideas.

  “We ought to simply take the place,” he said. “We would be seven days at sea to move the 41st Division to Fiji, and I’m not entirely sure it will be needed there now. Krueger is pushing the Japanese very hard, so I still believe we should direct our next blow right at Noumea.”

  “Well and good,” said Nimitz. “But we’re still fighting on Efate with the French, and the Japanese have been moving in more air power through Tulagi to Luganville on Espiritu Santo. They also landed troops on Ndeni at Malo Bay and took the airfield at Matamotu, so it’s clear they aren’t going to take our invasion at Efate lying down. They could mount a counterattack there at any time, which means Halsey has to keep carriers close by to cover them and prevent that. Now you suggest we mount an entirely new amphibious operation? We had planned to move that division to Suva on cargo ships at Brisbane, not APs. And there are still enemy planes at Noumea.”

  “Halsey rattled them up a few days ago. Have him do that again. Don’t you see? He’s in the perfect position to cover my move to Noumea right now.”

  “You realize we just got taken to the cleaners by the Kido Butai? We lost the Wasp, along with two small scout carriers. And both CVEs we had in theater are now heading pierside for repairs. That leaves us Halsey’s group, four fleet carriers, unless I move a couple more CVEs down from Pearl, and they’re still cutting their teeth in sea trials.”

  “Well shouldn’t four fleet carriers be sufficient? The Japanese didn’t seem to want to hang around when Halsey moved on Efate. The Marines should finish up there in a few days. Now’s the time to move on Noumea. Why move the 41st Division 2000 miles to Suva when we can take Noumea wit
h it instead? We’ve already cut it off with the landing at Efate, now it’s time for the main event. Its only 780 nautical miles from Brisbane to Noumea, just three days at sea. We’ve got the division loaded. Why not take it right to the enemy’s main support base. Once we take Noumea, they’ll have no choice but to abandon their position in the Fijis. They’ll be completely overextended.”

  “True, but we could find ourselves in the same situation if we don’t plan this well. We’ll need to move Seabees, aviation support and supplies to Efate so we can get those airfields up and running. Trying to do that and also supply a full division on New Caledonia will tax the shipping we have available. We lost three good ships when the Japanese hit the landing site at Mele Bay.”

  “Don’t tell me that we have to continue sitting on our thumbs in Brisbane with three divisions because the Navy can’t find adequate shipping.”

  “Oh, we could find it,” said Nimitz. “But if we move too hastily it could all end up at the bottom of the Coral Sea.”

  It went on like that between them for some time, MacArthur pressing for action, wanting to seize the day and knock out the main Japanese support base threatening Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. When he learned Vice Admiral Lee would now have four fast battleships, he was even more encouraged.

  “Lee could stand off Noumea under Halsey’s air cover and pound the Japanese garrison to dust.”

  “For a few days, then we’d have to pull them to replenish all that ammo. I need their flak defense for my carriers, so that creates another problem. And another thing—since when is the 41st Division trained to make an opposed landing assault from the sea? That’s work for our Marines.”

  “Where are they then? Perhaps if you had left them on Viti Levu, we’d have the place by now.”

  “1st Marine Division needed R&R, but we’ve still got them in the bullpen. In fact, we were planning to send another regiment to Efate along with those Seabees, and we’ve been looking over Luganville.”

  “On Espiritu Santo? Why would you put good assault troops in there when we could take Noumea?”

  “Because it puts a choke hold on the Japs in both that place and Fiji. It also gives us a perfect springboard into the Solomons.”

  MacArthur shook his head. “You can’t be serious about that. You want to fight your way, one jungle ridden island after another through the Solomons? We could bypass the whole lot after we take Noumea, and then I could take back Port Moresby and start planning the push into New Britain. Rabaul is the key. After we take that, all their positions in the Solomons will fall like rotten fruit. It’s their main supply base, aside from Truk.”

  “That’s what we believed, but HYPO has been picking up a hell of a lot of maritime traffic orders, with convoys all heading for the Bismarck Sea.”

  “For Rabaul,” said MacArthur.

  “Not exactly. The Japanese seem to be going all out to build up a base on the Admiralty Islands—Manus Island to be exact about it. There’s a fine bay at the eastern end near Lombrum, and HYPO picked out an association to the code word Momote. The island fish hooks back west to frame a good bay that can serve as an excellent anchorage. They’re already building a big airfield there.”

  “Well I can’t do anything about it at the moment. That’s a little far, even for the few B-17s I still have left. Besides, with Rabaul they really don’t need another base in the Admiralty Islands.”

  “We think they have a mind to use that as backup—just in case some crazy old General plans to run them out of Rabaul. From Momote they can hit all of New Britain, and a good segment of the coast of Papua New Guinea, from Wewak in the north and all the way to Finschafen. They already have a good field ay Kavieng on New Ireland, and we’ve also picked up some convoy traffic headed for Gasmata on New Britain.”

  “Yes, yes, but that campaign is months away.”

  “The point I’m trying to make is this—they’ve building a steel wall around the Bismarck Sea. New Britain is the real inner keep of their defense. Port Moresby is just an outlying outpost. They wanted that to get bombers in there and close the Torres Strait—part of their plan to isolate northern Australia.”

  “They won’t move on Darwin,” said MacArthur. I can hold northern Australia against anything they might dare to send over. No, they’ve put most of everything they have into Viti Levu in the Fijis. That’s what makes it imperative that we cut that all off, and Noumea is the real support base, not Efate.”

  “And after that?”

  “Like I said earlier—Port Morseby, and a strong reinforcement for Milne Bay. Then we can knock out their airfields at Lae and other sites on New Guinea, and plan the jump to New Britain.”

  “Now you know why they’re building up in the Admiralty Islands. General, do you still propose to fight your way all along the coast of New Guinea?”

  “It’s the most direct route back to the Philippines, and from there to Formosa. That campaign cuts off all their occupied territory in the Dutch East Indies, and even isolates Singapore, Malaya, and French Indochina.”

  “Yes, but with the bulk of all the Japanese Southern Army in your way. That’s a long, hard slog, any way you look at it. They’ll fight hard for New Guinea, and harder for the Philippines.”

  “Admiral, do you still propose to bypass those objectives and go island hopping?”

  “From the Gilberts to the Marshalls to the Marianas. They only have a few significant bases we’d need to take, Tarawa, Eniwetok, Peleliu, Saipan and Guam. Once we get that last one back, we’ve also cut everything off, including the Philippines. The idea is to get airfields on those islands so we can start bombing the hell out of them in Tokyo. Jimmy Doolittle was just ringing the doorbell. Soon we’ll have a bomber with much better range and hitting power than your B-17s. That’s what will win this war. Besides, suppose you do spend the next year or two fighting your way to Formosa. That puts you 1300 to 1500 miles from the heartland of Japan. General, we already have an opportunity to set up shop that close to Japan.”

  “Where? Guam? Saipan? It could take you a year or more to get there too.”

  “No, we already have the place—at least our Ally to the north says so—Sakhalin Island. This Karpov fellow has the whole northern half of the island, and as close to Tokyo as you would be two years from now on Formosa.”

  MacArthur took a long drag on his pipe. “Sakhalin Island.” He made a dismissible move of his head. “It’s socked in by low clouds and bad weather 70 percent of the time, and frozen solid right now.”

  “But it will thaw. This new bomber will be an all-weather capable aircraft, or so I’m told.”

  “Admiral, here we’ve gone and laid out alternate plans for the whole damn war. We can’t look that far ahead, and need to focus on what is right under our noses—Noumea. That’s the place to start. I intend to go directly to the Joint Chief’s with this, even to the President if I have to.”

  “I expect that’s where things will end up,” said Nimitz. “Look, I have no objection to running your plan through those channels. I’ll raise it with King when I get back to Pearl, and he can take it right to Marshall.”

  “And while the two of them sit around jaw boning about it like we are, the Japanese will be busy reinforcing all these positions in the New Hebrides and New Caledonia. We caught them by surprise on Efate. They didn’t expect we would go on the offensive this soon. right now they only have a single regiment on New Caledonia, and we have a chance to take the place by storm. To answer your earlier question, I’ve had the 41st Division training to make an assault like this for the last six months. They’re ready. Now’s the time—at Noumea.”

  As would happen more than once in the war, MacArthur would get his way, and the Navy would suffer the consequences. Now, instead of moving north to cover Efate and pound Luganville, Halsey would have to move south to look after those transports out of Brisbane. He let Nimitz know what he thought in no uncertain terms.

  “Here I am, right in the middle of a fight with the bull
y on the block, and someone taps my shoulder and says I have to run off and rescue my sister! This is just plain stupid. We don’t even have Fiji cleared yet. We ought to finish one thing before we do another, particularly after losing all those flight decks a few days ago like we did.”

  “It’s MacArthur,” said Nimitz. “King agreed with you, but Mac went right over his head to the President, and flat out demanded that his operation be given the go ahead. You know what he actually said? ‘If you want me to lead, then someone had better damn well follow.’ Can you believe that?”

  “Alright,” said Halsey. “I was going to stay north of Noumea, but now I’ll have to take TF-11 south. If I do go, I’ll want the big boys with me. Those fast battleships are good in tight with my carriers. Who’s riding the stallions this time?”

  “With Fletcher moved to Pearl, I was thinking of turning them over to Lee. Indiana is arriving at Tongatapu to square off that battleship division.”

  “Misery loves company,” said Halsey. “Bring Lee in, but I’ll still want him on a leash as I move south. Something tells me things will get worse before they get better in all of this. I just wish MacArthur wasn’t calling the tune, because I’m the one who’s got to be out there on the dance floor.”

  “Pick a rose for your partner,” said Nimitz, “then hold on tight, thorns and all.”

  “Yeah? Well, ROSE was the code name for Efate, and it may end up becoming a black rose if we don’t look after it. This business has us working at cross purposes. What’s the code name for Noumea?”

  “WHITE POPPY,” said Nimitz.

  The irony of that was not lost on either of them, for they already had that rose in hand, and MacArthur wanted something else.

  Part VIII

  In Flanders Fields

  “In Flanders Fields the Poppies blow,

  Between the crosses, row on row…”