Fukada had been listening quietly, his wings clipped in more than one way with both the loss of Takami and his grand campaign to destroy American carrier production. Now he finally spoke.
“With your permission sir, I’d like to suggest an alternative.”
“I thought we laid that Panama Canal thing to rest a moment ago,” said the Admiral.
“Yes sir, I’ll agree that is impractical, at least for the time being while Kirov is still at large. Yet I’d suggest that we’ve been going about this the wrong way. We went looking for Kirov , and we damn well found that demon. It should be on the bottom of the sea right now, but you are correct in what you said about this Karpov. That said, I don’t see our primary mission here is this hunt for the Russians.”
“Well then please enlighten us, Lieutenant Commander,” said Kita, folding his arms.
“Sir, respectfully, I think we should simply coordinate with Admiral Yamamoto, and operate to preserve and protect his remaining ships—and to put harm on those of the Americans—Kirov and the Russian sub be damned. If they want a seat in the kabuki theater, then let them come. We’ll deal with them at that time. But otherwise, I think we should simply fight for Japan, and engage Kirov as we would any enemy contact, if and when that scenario should present itself.” He looked around the briefing room, as if to gauge reaction and see what kind of support he might have. Then Kita spoke, and he was surprised by what he said.
“Lieutenant Commander, I like what you just said. This whole idea of trying to remain in the shadows here and hunt down the Russians aside from everything else going on never quite sat well with me. That’s why I called off that last engagement and took this time to think things over. We thought we just had Kirov to worry about, but now we know what we’re up against. While I still hold that we need to be able to operate autonomously, a close cooperation with Yamamoto appeals to me. Opinions?”
“May I ask what’s happening now?” asked Captain Kenji Namura from the Kirishima. “In the war…”
“Nothing you could read about,” said Fukada. “All the action has been a-historical. The Japanese invaded the Fijis—Operation FS superseding the Midway operation. They’ve been dueling with Halsey’s carriers in a number of engagements supporting that campaign, but our Communications Officer has been listening to radio traffic and tells me things on Viti Levu are not going well. We’ve lost the use of the airfields on Fiji. The Americans have complete air superiority there now. That’s our Guadalcanal—at least for the moment. The decisive battle that this war turns on will be fought there, and we’re already losing it.”
“Agreed,” said Captain Harada. “This is the critical phase of this entire struggle,” he said. “The Americans have just been reinforced with new Essex Class carriers and they have finally begun offensive operations against Japanese occupied territories. They have nearly won the battle for the main island in the Fiji Group, just as Fukada says, and now they have invaded New Caledonia at Noumea, and put Marines on Efate in the New Hebrides. Of course, none of these battles were ever fought in the history we know. It was Guadalcanal and Operation Cartwheel that was underway at this time as we know these events. Things have clearly changed, and it seems the decisive battles will be fought on these other islands. We can do a good deal in those campaigns, and I also like Fukada’s suggestion. If we simply work to defend and support Yamamoto’s prevailing operations, Kirov and the Russians will have to come to us. There’s no need to go racing off to hunt them down.”
That would be the decision they would come to, all Captains signing on to this new plan. And even though both Fedorov and Karpov had thought to fight the decisive battle in 1908, many things would happen before they would get there. Their duel with Kita’s task force was far from over.
Chapter 2
Admiral Halsey’s position was nowhere near as strong now as Yamamoto may have believed. The sheer audacity of the Americans, attacking at every opportunity, presented the façade that they were now strongly reinforced, but that was not the case. TF Halsey, with Enterprise and Yorktown II , had only 137 planes ready for duty to cover Efate. TF Spruance was in Sydney, where Lexington II had just finished repairs. Along with the Essex , that force had only 112 planes. Ziggy Sprague was shepherding in the two new light carriers, Independence and Princeton , and they had 62 planes between them. The light battle carrier Vicksburg was at Pearl finishing up repairs, and her sister ship was doing the same at Suva. Between them they had another 24 planes, which meant that if he collected all his carriers into one group, Halsey could bring 335 planes to sea. He had replacements for his CV squadrons at Pago Pago, but would have to leave the scene of operations to go fetch them.
He wasn’t worried about the Fijis any longer. The ground game there was rolling towards the end zone, though the Japanese continued to put up a tough defense. But they had lost their airfields, and the US ruled the skies. The US now had 123 planes at Brisbane, including 34 bombers that could hit New Caledonia. There were then 103 planes on the main island of Fiji, and 52 more on Vanua Levu. Throw in 80 more Marine and Navy planes at Pago Pago, and that was an impressive 358 land based planes. Beyond that, there were 175 more at Pearl, including a good many of the newest P-38’s.
In spite of all this, Halsey was counting every leaf on the tree as he cruised southeast of Efate. In another few days, he would have to withdraw to Pago Pago to refuel. The oilers were up north, meeting up with the ships that had been damaged in recent engagements and topping them off for the long journey back to Pearl. The Admiral figured he could get replenished, flesh out his squadrons, and then get back out to sea to meet up with Spruance and Ziggy. MacArthur had taken the airfield near Noumea, and the Ichiki Regiment was retreating north. So that meant the planes could be ferried in from Brisbane to provide local air cover for the 41st Division on New Caledonia, and all Halsey had to worry about was Efate.
So Halsey had it in mind to unite all his flattops into one big fleet. That would give him the muscle he might need if Nimitz wanted to do anything more with the 1st USMC Division, which had been resting on Pago Pago, but was now ready for operations again. Nimitz had been looking at Luganville on Espiritu Santo, thinking to put those fighting leathernecks in there and really saw off the tree limb that supported Fiji. Neither he, nor Halsey, had any idea of the dramatic developments that had shaken the tree in Japan. US Intelligence had picked up the movement of Japanese troops out of the Nanjing sector towards the coast, but made no firm conclusions about it. The last thing on anyone’s mind was that the Japanese would double down on their overextended position in the Fijis, sending their crack 3rd Infantry Division to Vanua Levu….
* * *
General Toyoshima had the 3rd Division, one of the toughest in the entire army, a crack veteran unit that had been involved in fighting during virtually every major battle in Central China since 1937. He had narrowly escaped death during the 3rd Battle of Changsha along the Louyang River, when his division and two others had fallen into a well laid Chinese trap. That battle, and the tremendous losses sustained by the Japanese, had done much to convince the army that their campaign in Central China was fruitless, and it would be better to seek an alliance with Chiang Kai-shek. So there was a shadow over the division’s reputation as it withdrew from China, and the troops were eager to restore their standing as one of the Army’s best.
When it first entered combat in China, it was a “Square Division,” which meant it had two brigades containing two regiments each instead of the later “Triangular” division model with just three regiments. And it was also ‘well heeled’ in terms of its TO&E. In the real history, this division had converted to a triangular division in July of 1942, but in these Altered States, it was made square again for this new deployment, with the 5th Brigade fielding the 6th and 68th Regiments, and the 29th Brigade had the 18th and 34th Regiments.
Considering ‘boots on the ground,’ such a division had a firm footprint. Each regiment would field the normal three battalions, with
a fourth weapons battalion, (really just a company), containing four 75mm mountain guns and four rapid-fire 37mm AT guns. Yet each battalion had four regular infantry companies instead of three, and one additional MG company, about 1,350 men in all, including a small infantry gun platoon with a pair of 70mm howitzers. The unit would be augmented by adding two more cavalry regiments, the 25th and 26th, as these troops were thought to be useful on the large island the 3rd Division was slated to conquer.
Toyoshima’s division would leave China through the same door where it had entered, the port of Shanghai. From there it would sail to Rabaul and Momote in the Admiralties, the transports fat with supplies, men, equipment and horses, which were really the mainstay as far as transportation went for the Japanese divisions. A horse could go places in the rugged inland terrain of these islands where no truck could follow.
This unexpected turn in Japanese strategy had come from the secret conference Imamura had with Hyakutake concerning the message he had received. It contained only one cryptic phrase: The warrior is lucky, for the moon shines bright, and the hour of the festival has come.
The meaning of the phrase was immediately apparent to Hyakutake, a master of cryptanalysis, for there within that single phrase were the code names assigned to five Japanese Divisions.
“Do you see what I see in this?” asked Hyakutake.
“Of course!” said Imamura. “Five divisions. The Lucky Division is the 3rd, and that alone is worth its weight in gold. It is one of the most capable and experienced divisions in the Army, and I am told it will remain a square division. The Warrior Division is the 9th from Manchukuo, a very good unit that has been underutilized thus far. The Bright Moon brings us the 6th Bright Division and 17th Moon Division, and the Festival Division is the 15th. Every one of these has seen combat in China. The Army is finally getting serious about the war here in the south. At last we will have the troops we need to fight the Americans and all their allies. In fact, there may even be forces to allow us to reconsider a limited invasion of Australia.”
This sudden infusion of ground fighting power to the Strike South plan was going to change the entire course of the war. MacArthur thought he would simply secure the southern end of New Caledonia, and then plan his recapture of Port Moresby to take the war to New Guinea. Nimitz thought he would secure Efate and Espiritu Santo, then select targets in the Solomons, or even bypass those steamy islands altogether and move right into the Marshalls. But if Yamamoto could deliver 3rd Division to Vanua Levu, and keep it supplied, all those plans would have to be shelved.
The US had initially placed the entire 37th Infantry Division under General Beightler there, but two of his three regiments had been ferried over to the Main Island to reinforce Patch and Collins, so he had only his 148th Regiment on that massive island, along with Seabees, A few Marine Defense Battalions, and the 112th Engineers.
The regimental HQ and two battalions were at the main airfield at Lambasa in the center of the island; the Division HQ was 35 kilometers to the south on the broad Savusavu Bay with the third battalion; and the engineers at Bua field on the southwest end of the island. Most all of the airfield and support troops were to the east around the deep intrusion of the Natewa Bay. For an island encompassing over 2,150 square miles, that was a fairly thin garrison. The Americans thought that Halsey would prevent any move on the island… But Halsey was now 650 nautical miles to the northeast at Pago Pago.
His two carriers were anchored in the bay and taking on fuel, the ships watering, replenishing food, aviation fuel and ordnance, the squadrons filling out their dance cards. It might take him four to six hours to get out to sea again in an emergency, and then it was 18 to 24 hours to reach the scene of the planned Japanese invasion, and he would have to face down the Japanese carrier covering force under Admiral Hara.
When HYPO got wind of the arrival of 3rd Division in theater, it set off a lot of alarm bells. The initial assessment was that the Japanese were planning to reinforce Efate and garrison other holdings, but that would be work for their 6th Division. Nimitz still had 8th Regiment of the 2nd Marines in the bullpen for Efate, and all of 1st Marines for his mission against Luganville. So now it was a question of who would get there first.
“This is a first rate outfit,” he said to Vice Admiral Charles ‘Soc’ McMorris, who was now serving as his Chief of Staff. McMorris had come from the war plans office for the Pacific Fleet before taking an at-sea command of a cruiser division. Nimitz had wanted Ray Spruance for his CoS, by the was still operating with the carriers, so McMorris was next in line in Nimitz’s mind.
“Yes sir, 3rd Division has been raising hell in China since 1937. If they moved a unit like that here, then they mean business.”
“Soc, you figure they plan to counterattack?”
“Those aren’t the sort of troops you farm out for garrison duty,” said McMorris.
“But where?” asked Nimitz.
“They could hit us anywhere. We’ve got the Japs on Fiji in a vise—penned up in a 40 square kilometer pocket on Viti Levu. So they may be trying to reinforce there. Then again, they could also hit Efate. They’ve only put in a single regiment of their 20th Division there, and that was a back waters reserve division from Korea.”
Neither of those options were on the table for the Japanese, but they seemed logical choices from the US standpoint. Nimitz nodded. “They could do both,” he said. “It was a come as you are party when we hit Efate. All they had in theater was the 20th, but now we may have uninvited guests. I was going to reinforce with 8th Marines, and I thought that would give us an edge on these people to clear that island. If we move fast, we might still do that.”
“Halsey moved to Pago Pago, but I’m a little troubled by this latest information we had out of Rabaul. We thought they were landing the 3rd Infantry there, but it stayed put on those transports. In fact, HYPO says it could be out to sea from the sound of signals traffic coming out of Rabaul yesterday.”
“Now you went and ruined my day,” said Nimitz.
“Should we crank up Halsey? He could be back to Efate in 48 hours.”
Nimitz thought about that. “And the Japs could be there in that same timeframe too, and they’ve patched up Kaga and Soryu at Rabaul. So if Hara moves to cover anything big, then he could be coming at us with four fleet carriers. We’d need to pull in every flattop we have to counter that. To send Halsey in alone to try and bust up their operation would be a mistake. So we’re going to have to play this another way. Get a message off to Ray Spruance. Tell him I want Essex and Lexington out to sea immediately, but I want him here.” Nimitz pointed to a position between Noumea and the Fiji group, and a little south.
“As for Halsey, let him replenish, and then he can join Spruance when he’s ready.”
“But that may be too late to stop anything if they want to land troops on Efate.”
“Correct,” said Nimitz. “Halsey is sitting on the last fleet carrier we had afloat when the japs hit us at Pearl two years ago. That’s a lot of sting. Everything else we can bring to the game now, we had to build after they hit us. We managed to get three Essex class carriers in theater, and thank god for that, but I want to operate differently with them now. We don’t even have parity yet, so we play defense for a while longer. In some ways, these amphibious operations we rushed out last month still seem premature in my mind. Yes, they made good headlines, and the President loved it, but we weren’t really ready. So I want Halsey and Spruance together before we contemplate any move. If that means the Japs get troops onto Efate, so be it. When they withdraw, we move 8th Marines in to see their bet.”
“What about Bunker Hill?” said McMorris. “She’s brand spanking new, and sitting right out there in the harbor. For that matter, we’ve also got the other two Escort carriers, Belleau Wood and Long Island.”
“Those escort carriers need time on sea trials. I was going to use them to ferry planes to Pago Pago, and that will be all we ever use the Long Island for anyway. I also wanted
to give Bunker Hill time to work up some steam,” said Nimitz. “But under the circumstances, she may have to get in the game early. Let’s give her to Ziggy Sprague. He’s already got the two escort carriers down near Wallis Island. I’ll want him to link up with Halsey and follow him down to meet Ray Spruance. Maybe it’s time we put some real metal under his seat.”
“One big happy family,” said McMoriss. “With Bunker Hill active, that will give us 436 Planes at sea.”
“Let’s hope they stay happy,” said Nimitz.
Chapter 3
The Japanese Operation Suriyoko (Thrust) would get underway on the 11th of March, as all the various task forces assigned began to make their rendezvous east of the Solomon Islands. Yamamoto wanted to make a wide approach towards Tuvalu, and then come down on Vanua Levu From the north. The waters in the rendezvous area were swept by long range Mavis seaplanes the previous day, to look for prying enemy subs or ships that might spot the Japanese armada.
That would be a fitting description of the force now getting underway. Admiral Hara had his flag on the carrier Taiho , with Tosa , and Junyo in attendance, along with the battlecruiser Kongo, two heavy cruisers and four destroyers. Admiral Yamaguchi was given command of Akagi and Soryu , with the light carrier Hiyo , two heavy cruisers and five destroyers. They would both be joined by Admiral Nagumo coming down from Truk with the Shado Force battle carriers: Ryujin, Kinryu, Kitsune, Gozo Kaya, and Gozo Kiryu. The Troop Transports would be escorted by Yamamoto himself aboard Yamato , with heavy cruiser Myoko , three light cruisers and nine destroyers. It was every fleet carrier the Japanese had, carrying 440 planes, and only three lighter escort carriers were on duty elsewhere. In effect, it was an operation on a scale greater than that devised for the Midway campaign, but the American fleet would also be much stronger on defense.
Ironfall (Kirov Series Book 30) Page 2