World War Three 1946 Series Boxed Set: Stalin Strikes First
Page 38
As the press conference began, there was a respectful silence in the room, as the Emperor of Japan entered the room, followed by General Krueger and his newly-appointed deputy, British-Indian Army Field Marshal, William Slim. As the Emperor took his seat, the two officers took a seat to the side, and a little behind him, in deference to his status as a sovereign.
“Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed members of the press, I welcome you to the Empire of Japan” said Emperor Hirohito, in Japanese, then he repeated the greeting in accented, but serviceable, English “I am humbled by your appearance here today, on this momentous occasion. I have called this press conference to announce the drafting of a new constitution, which is prerequisite to the normalization of relations with the Allied Powers. Please refer to the press package that you have all been handed, with draft copies of the new constitution inside” every newsman and woman attending the press conference began paging through the package, finding their copies of the document and reading “Ladies and gentlemen, please take a moment to skim the text of the document before we continue” said the Emperor. After a long moment, all the journalists appeared to be satisfied with what they read, and would no doubt, be studying the document in further detail later on. Furthermore, behind the Emperor, besides the two Allied commanders, were representatives of the regional combatants from all across Asia, most particularly the occupied territories, who had accepted a personal apology from the Emperor beforehand, and an invitation to become a full partner in the peace process, especially after having read the proposed draft of the new Japanese constitution.
Japanese Diet receives first Written Constitution
*****
“So how do we file these?”
“What do you mean? What is it?”
“A couple of position papers by that brown-noser, Halderman. He sure made his way up the food chain fast.”
“Let me look…This is why rose in rank so fast. This first one became General Order 1435 and the other 1473.”
“So he’s responsible for those? I often wondered where those ideas from left field come from.”
“Alright, so let's put them in the files with the General Orders they generated.”
“Sounds good to me.”
15 June 1946
Policy Proposal
Office of the Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief
U.S. Department of War
--Classified: Top Secret—
Subject: returning Japanese troops
The Office of the Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief (OCSCC) has been in consultations with the United States Department of State regarding the large number of repatriated Japanese troops returning from Asia and the Pacific. The general consensus is that these Japanese troops will have to be utilized in Home Defense Battalions, sparing the manpower of the occupation forces from the additional burden of having to defend a one-time mortal enemy. It is estimated that between 1 to 2 million men of eligible military age will return to the Japanese Home Islands at the end of the repatriation process.
It is proposed that returning Japanese soldiers be screened and vetted by the U.S. Army's CounterIntelligence Corps. Soldiers that CIC deems trustworthy will be immediately formed into Home Defense units, trained and armed by the Allied occupation forces, with surplus U.S. weapons, equipment, kit and uniforms. Toward the goal of training these forces, Military Assistance Group-Japan (MAG-J) will be stood up and immediately transferred to U.S. Armed Forces Far East Command, Tokyo. As a security measure, an Allied battalion will be attached to every four Japanese Home Defense battalions, acting as an HQ battalion.
Conversely, returning Japanese soldiers who do not pass the CIC screening process will be sent to “Deprogramming” camps. Upon completion, they will be released into the custody of the Reconstruction Battalions, to serve out the remainder of their original term of military conscription (most Japanese conscripts captured or surrendered were fairly recently called up for service, most having 2-3 years, of five years, remaining to serve).
As always, input and ideas are always welcome, as they will only make this plan stronger.
B/Gen. David H. Halderman, U.S. Army
Assistant Deputy Chief Of Staff
Operations & Planning Division
U.S. Department of War
And then, there was this one:
21 June 1946
Policy Proposal
Office of the Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief
U.S. Department of War
--Classified: Top Secret—
Subject: Resolution of Problematic Issues in the Far East
There is cause for concern as there are increasingly frequent artillery skirmishes occurring along the 38th parallel on the Korean Peninsula, attacks launched by the Soviet forces that occupied the area north of that latitude. The artillery is sporadic and likely not directed at any specific targets. However, it is the informed opinion of the local military commander that these are probing barrages, and we need to accelerate the combat training of our Korean allies, before the Soviets decide that the time to apply their knowledge of where we are NOT is now.
OCSCC proposes that Korean battalions are rotated to Japan for ease of training and reequipment. Korean units are to be trained alongside newly arrived U.S. and KMT Chinese troops. All units will be cross-trained with new U.S. equipment.
As for the issue of French Indo-China, we urge our colleagues at the State Department to place pressure on the French Government in exile to relinquish their colony there, or we will be forced to support the unilateral declaration of independence of the local people there. There are four major ethnicities that constitute this area: Vietnamese, Khmer, Lao and Hmong. Three of these ethnicities have political capability to declare independence: the Vietnamese, the Khmer and the Lao. We already have the support of the Vietnamese leader, Ho Chi Minh, who has long been an advocate of an American form of government for an independent Vietnam, and the local Khmer leader, Prince Sihanouk, who wants a constitutional monarchy in the area he represents, Cambodia.
And finally, the issue of China. Since the end of the war, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek has become increasingly friendly with the Japanese POW's still on Chinese soil, simply to pique Chairman Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese Communist Party, and to use the Japanese troops to occupy territory that he wishes to deny to the Communists. He apparently has no clue that his actions have consequences. The Chinese people are becoming far more disenchanted with him and his policies than ever before. If we cannot convince him that his current course is, at best, unwise, we shall then be forced to back another factional leader of the KMT.
As always, advice and input is gladly received.
B/Gen. David H. Halderman, U.S. Army
Assistant Deputy Chief Of Staff
Operations & Planning Division
U.S. Department of War
*****
General Halderman arrived at his office early this morning, and in a burst of spontaneous inspiration, he came up with an admittedly ambitious plan. Drinking cup after cup of coffee, he sat at his desk and fleshed out this plan, for most of the morning.
True to his nature, he made copious notes, which, for security purposes, he would either burn later, or lock them in his meticulously-kept filing cabinet, for later reference. But by the time he had been called by the aide for the commanding general of the Pentagon's Operations & Planning Division to join the weekly staff meeting, this is what he carried in his locked case, to propose at the meeting:
24 June 1946
War Plan Proposal
Office of the Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief
U.S. Department of War
Subject: Opening the Second Front through Asia
These are the recommendations of the OCSCC, presented with the concurrence of the Chiefs of Staff of the Army, Army Air Force and Strategic Air Command, and the Chief of Naval Operations.
This is the outline of what is tentatively called War Plan Red:
Proposed: A conference to create an Asian mutual defense treaty, similar in scope and objective as NATO.
Proposed: Movement of 6th U.S. Army from the Presidio, San Francisco, U.S.A. to relieve the 8th U.S. Army from occupation duties on the Japanese Home Islands, to be relocated, half to India, and we have been invited by the Philippine government to station the other half of that army to the newly independent nation of the Republic of the Philippines, while they stand up their army from the Filipino cadre of the U.S. 12th Infantry Division (Philippine Scouts) and fight the communist Hukbalahap insurgents. Further movement is recommended into China, as conditions permit.
Proposed: As manpower becomes available, it is recommended that two new field armies and an airborne corps be created (provisionally designated 10th U.S. Army, 14th U.S. Army and U.S. XXIII Airborne Corps) for use in the Far East Theater of Operations.
Proposed: Military cooperation with the paramilitary units of the CIA in Asia, especially in the arming and training of indigenous paramilitary forces, such as scouts or rangers. Highly successful examples of this are the Chin and Kachin Rangers, and the Free Thai Scouts, etc. There is a consensus that Detachment 101 should be re-established toward this end.
Proposed: Military training missions to train the newly established Indian Army, from the remains of the British India Army, and the new armies of Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. In Vietnam and Cambodia, there are large numbers of indigenous former Legionnaires of the French Foreign Legion who will, with the anti-Japanese resistance fighters, form the nucleus of these new armies. Some of these Legionnaires even command special skills (Parachutistes, Commandos Marin, etc.) that would serve well in this theater of battle. Also of special interest are the large number of British-trained paratroopers, commandos and Special Air Service-type members of the Indian Military, who can be used as surrogates to train Asian troops and Special Units, and the possible creation of an Inter-Allied Special Forces Command in the Far East Theater.
Proposed: Neutralization of Communist forces in Asia, including, but not limited to, the Chinese Communist Party, the Hukbalahap insurgents in the Philippines, and other communist insurgent movements in Ceylon, Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. To this end, it is recommended that 4th Ranger Battalion be attached to the part of the 8th U.S. Army that is in India and the 6th Ranger Battalion be attached to the part of the 8th U.S. Army stationed in the Philippines.
Proposed: When all areas of operation have been stabilized and all other threats have been neutralized, implementation of the plan for the invasion of the Siberian and Central Asian Soviet Union (initially codenamed OPERATION GENGHIS KHAN) will commence. X-Day planned for late-May to early-June, 1947.
B/Gen. David H. Halderman, U.S. Army
Assistant Deputy Chief Of Staff
Operations & Planning Division
U.S. Department of War
When he presented this plan to the assembled meeting several minutes later, he received incredulous looks from the other assembled war-planners, some of them outright chortling in disdain at such a wild plan. But the commanding officer of the division, Major General George Arthur Lincoln, sat and listened intently. His face revealed nothing of his feelings on the presentation, or the material that was presented.
When the meeting broke up, General Lincoln invited General Halderman back into his office for a frank conversation. Halderman was instructed that nothing more be discussed about his proposed plan, but that he was to continue working on it, and anything he needed, he could request, through General Lincoln. Halderman was visibly relieved, which led Lincoln to ask him as he was leaving if he had ever played poker...
*****
Four days after that fateful meeting, Halderman calls General Lincoln's direct office extension, “General Lincoln? Yes, this is General Halderman...I have something more for you. Yes? Can we meet as soon as possible? Twenty minutes, your office? Yes, sir.” He hangs up the phone, and follows his normal procedure, locking the document into his case to carry upstairs. The following is what he presents to General Lincoln:
Preliminary Operational Proposal
28 June 1946
Preliminary Operational Proposal
Office of the Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief
U.S. Department of War
-----Classified: TOP SECRET, NEED TO KNOW ONLY-----
Subject: OPERATION GENGHIS KHAN
This operation is focused on the opening of a second front, by invading the Soviet Union, through these areas:
Siberia {including Taymyrskiy Autonomous Okrug (A.Ok.), Krasnoyarskiy Kray, Khakasskaya Autonomous Oblast (A.O.), Altayskiy Kray, Tuvinskaya Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (A.S.S.R.), Buryatskaya A.S.S.R., Irkutsk Oblast, Yakutskaya A.S.S.R., Chita Oblast, Amurskaya Oblast, Chukotsky A.Ok., Magadan Oblast, Khabarovskiy Kray, Yevreyskaya A.O., Primorskiy Kray, Koryakskiy A.Ok., Kamchatskaya Kray}
Central Asia {including Kazakh, Uzbek, Kirghiz, Turkmen and Tadzhik Soviet Socialist Republics (S.S.R.'s)}
Transcaucasia {Azerbaidzhan, Georgian, Armenian S.S.R.'s}
At this time, the disposition of forces available for the invasion in Asia are as follows:
United States – two Field Armies, two Marine Corps Divisions, along with several special service units (with 2 more armies planned, in addition to other special units)
India – two Armies, along with several special service units (Conditional on Indian participation)
Great Britain – four Divisions (recently withdrawn from India, now in Australia)
France – two Divisions (units that did not mutiny in Indochina, loyal to the government of the Fourth Republic, evacuated to French Polynesia)
Australia – five Divisions (two Divisions for home-defense)
New Zealand – three Divisions (one Division for home-defense)
The Netherlands – one Korpsmarinier Division (evacuated from Dutch East Indies, to Australia)
Korea – five Divisions (with five more being trained in Japan)
Free Russians – two Divisions (recruited from White Russian volunteers in exile, formerly in Europe, in the U.S., and in China, liberated and currently recruited Soviet P.O.W.'s, and persons interned in the displaced persons' camps in Chungking and Kunming.)
It is hoped that Chinese troops would be available for this offensive, and negotiations are being conducted with the government of Chiang Kai-shek toward this end. If the Chinese government decides to enter hostilities on our side, they would be estimated to provide an additional 2 Army Groups, and additional special operations units. There are also efforts being made to recruit volunteers from across the former colonies. All Japanese units being raised today are for self-defense, ONLY.
This proposal calls for the attack to begin with trans-polar parachute drops over Wrangel Island (for use as a forward base), Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Yakutsk, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk and Tomsk', along with amphibious landings along the Pacific and Sea of Okhotsk coastlines, with the goal of isolating the garrison of Petropavlovsk' Kamchatskiy, on the Kamchatka Peninsula. At the same time, Middle East Command and Far East Command will proceed with a simultaneous ground offensive, in five different directions:
from Turkey, Iraq and Iran, through Transcaucasia;
from India and Afghanistan, through the Hindu-Kush mountains into the Central Asian territories;
from Sinkiang Province, in the west, and Heilungkiang Province, in the east, China, moving in opposite directions, and encircling Outer Mongolia, in the process;
striking past the 38th Parallel Line on the Korean Peninsula, through the river Yalu, with Korean and U.S. forces, to link up with Allied paratroops in Vladivostok, and later, in Khabarovsk.
First link-up between U.S. forces from Iran and Indian forces from Afghanistan expected on X-Day+17, and the next link-up between Indian forces and Allied forces pushing west, from Sinkiang, in X+28 days (considerably less, if Chinese forces are involved). Link-up is expected by the Allied units pushing from the Sinkiang and Heilungkia
ng fronts by X+45 days, encircling Outer Mongolia and Tannu Tuva from the rest of Soviet-occupied territory.
Plans for additional operations, starting at X+60 days, are being planned for amphibious landings on the Kamchatka Peninsula and air assaults into the Ural Mountains, the industrial heart of the Soviet Union.
Forces involved in this operation will be reequipped and trained, brought up to full strength, in full consideration of this offensive. The very latest in American weapons and soldiering technology is being provided to these troops.
The actual aim of this invasion on the part of the Western Allies is not to keep the Soviet territory that would be occupied, but to divert enough of their resources and military assets, and to destroy enough of their industrial capacity, to weaken the Soviet position on the Pyrenees Line enough to conduct a counter-invasion of Europe. Revision of these plans continue, with a final draft expected in early January, 1947. In the meanwhile, it is recommended that we continue to marshal our forces for the inevitable counterattack.
B/Gen. David H. Halderman, U.S. Army
Assistant Deputy Chief Of Staff
Operations & Planning Division
U.S. Department of War
General Lincoln reads the proposed operational plan in silence, taking his time, and re-reading certain parts of it. As he read the plan, he began to show signs of approval. He turns to Halderman and says, “David, we've known each other for a while now. I've respected you and I helped get you into this billet. It's not quite a combat command, but it'd get you a nice retirement pension.” Lincoln pauses, then continues, “This plan exceeds anything anyone else has come up with along the same lines. Everything presented thus far has been timid, milquetoast. This represents the kind of thinking that we have been looking for. Now,” General Lincoln goes on, “accept some constructive criticism and prepare to be schooled in some political reality, so loosen your uniform tie, and fix yourself a drink on the sideboard. Since the information I'm about to impart upon you is above your security classification, this conversation never happened. If word of it happens to leak outside this room, I will personally flay you alive, and make sure that your hide adorns the outside of my door. Is that clear, David?” General Halderman, visibly shaken, begins to slowly nod, then follows that with a shaky “Yes, sir.” Lincoln smiles, “Great, then let's begin...”