Struggle Pacific, page 9
part #3 of Pacific Alternate Series
Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue’s fleet was not in the best of shape in September 1942. No wonder the fleet had fought the most times and the most often since the start of the war compared to other Nipponese fleets. The admiral had a big area of responsibility, including the Caroline Islands, New Britain, the Marshalls, New Caledonia, New Hebrides, American Samoa, and supported the costly New Guinean campaign.
To put it simply, it just didn’t have enough to accomplish all of its responsibilities properly. Inoue took the whole matter in strides, in typical do-it-all Imperial Navy fashion.
With new orders to attack Port Moresby and destroy the Washington battleship that was beached there, the Navy was to support General Harukichi Hyakutake’s assault on the city. The battle was intended as one last push that should storm the damned stubborn city.
With known Allied ship strength, it was figured that the fleet did not entertain a high level of risk from any surface force. According to Admiral Yamamoto and the rest of the Navy high command, the problem was more related to aircraft. Again, a surge of fighters was organized as Japan would try and cover its mighty, precious capital ships from harm by Allied bombs and torpedoes.
The force that surged out of Rabaul and Truk (the ships met near Widu Island on the Bismarck Sea) sailed toward the Coral Sea via Vityaz Strait between New Britain and the Huon Peninsula in northern New Guinea.
The ships that formed the task forces were the following: Light carriers Zhuiho and Taiyo, which had recently been fully repaired by the repair ship Akashi. Another light carrier, the Unyo, flanked them. Admiral Inoue could thus call on 150 carrier-based planes, a respectable force for the coming fight. They would come in handy for the to be surprised Japanese, which didn’t know that the Allies had shipped new ships to the area.
The battleship force that came along the flattops was a little beaten up still, but no pushover. They were led by the mighty super battleship Musashi and could not be considered a small threat. The ship was relatively unscathed apart from some bow damage that affected its speed by a few knots. There hadn’t been time to repair it since other ships needed more work than Musashi. Yamashiro had been fully patched up (it only had light torpedo damage). The Hyuga had also recently just received a new turret, following a trip to Truk and some much-needed attention from repair ship Akashi. As Hyuga arrived to be worked on, so Haruna was done with its own restoration following serious torpedo damage below the waterline.
The problem with the 2nd Fleet resided in its lack of heavy cruisers, which were always useful in a naval fight. Atago, Suzuya, and Furataka were still in Japan for critical repairs, and Admiral Mikawa had been detached with three more to Samoa (Chokai, Nachi, Kumano). So, Inoue only sailed with Haguro and Mikuma (recently back from Japan on repairs). At least they weren’t damaged. The rest of the surface force was assured with nineteen destroyers, down from the thirty-four it had a while back. Five had sailed with Mikawa, and ten had been sent to help with the beleaguered transport ships in the Dutch East Indies.
The ships were scheduled to break out into the Coral Sea by the 12th or 13th and then head toward Port Moresby to coordinate their attack with General Hyukatake.
The Japanese position in Western Australia
To Mid-September 1942
Although the Imperial Guards Division, with the help of Raizo Ishaka’s 1st fleet, had re-established the situation and stopped the Allied offensive on Derby, the overall Japanese situation in Western Australia was far from brilliant.
In short, the Empire was overextended everywhere, and no place showed it more brightly. The supply situation was abysmal, and even the Imperial Guards Division was starting to experience problems with ammunition and food after its expenditure in the recent battle for Derby. General Nishimura found that getting his usual supplies was not as easy as expected.
Not because priority was not given to his unit; after all, it was a matter of honor for every Japanese responsible for supplies and logistics to get the emperor’s own soldiers fed and armed.
Grand Admiral Yamamoto had warned General Hajime and Prime Minister Tojo about the dangers of landing in Australia, and now the chicken was coming home to roost. The Imperial forces were there, and they were stuck in a stalemate from which they would probably not get out in any other way than getting obliterated.
In a report to his commander in chief Yamamoto when he returned to Kupang Harbor in the Timor, Admiral Raizo Ishaka’s reported the problematic situation. In his opinion, the Empire should evacuate Australia altogether. Or else, if it was a matter of prestige and honor, at least evacuate to Darwin and solidify its hold there.
The Grand Admiral, busy as he was preparing his next operation against the U.S. Pacific Fleet, nonetheless took the time to take the situation in and send a full report to Tokyo on the problematic situation in Derby-Darwin. His recommendations were simple. The Imperial Army should be evacuated from Derby as soon as possible to consolidate on Darwin. While he wanted more (the complete evacuation of Oceania), he knew that Tojo and Hajime would never accept a full withdrawal because of the disaster it would represent to Japan’s prestige.
He also recommended the rapid evacuation of the Imperial Guards Division, for it was in danger of being destroyed. Furthermore, he said in the report that his own naval moves would further degrade the situation. Ishaka’s ships were needed where the real naval frontline was, in the Rabaul/Coral Sea theater.
Yamamoto finished his report to Tokyo by claiming that final victory over the Allies in Australia depended a lot more on controlling Port Moresby, for then a real attempt could be made at the heart of Australia: Brisbane, Cairns, Sydney, and the other major cities on the East Coast, where most of the seven-million strong population resided.
The report reached the Imperial Palace on the 16th of September, just as the Grand Admiral was about to sail for another great naval battle against the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Both Hajime and Tojo didn’t like its content one bit, but their own sources confirmed the dreadful situation.
A decision was thus taken after a few days of hot debate between the two men (Hajime was completely against any sort of withdrawal). In the end, Tojo weighted his power on the General and decreed that Derby should be evacuated.
All forces were to be concentrated on the Darwin enclave from which a new offensive would be launched at a “later date…”. Discretely, he also arranged for Emperor Hiro-Hito to issue a recall order for his Imperial Division. Since the call was from the emperor itself, it would justify the Guard's evacuation from Australia.
CHAPTER 3
The Third Battle of the Coral Sea part 1
September 14th-15th
Admiral Shiyegoshi Inoue’s 2nd Fleet sailed out of Rabaul on the 14-15th of September. The mission was twofold, ordered by Yamamoto himself to break the deadlock in Port Moresby. First, obliterate the ground defenses to help General Harukichi Hyakutake. Second, destroy the beached Washington battleship in the harbor that was raining havoc on the Imperial forces besieging the city.
The mission was deemed risky but not overly difficult. Japanese intelligence assessment put the Allied fleet at only a few damaged ships and two carriers. The Grand Admiral believed that the operation would go smoothly based on this information. The only worry was air cover. The Army and the Navy both contributed over 300 aircraft for the operation’s air cover, deemed sufficient for the hit-and-run attack that Inoue was tasked to do. The fleet was to barge in, brave the enemy aircraft, shell the hell out of Port Moresby and Washington, then retire during the night.
2nd fleet included three light carriers. The Zhuiho, Taiyo, and the Unyo. Admiral Inoue consequently 150 carrier-based planes for the operation. The surface force was led by the mighty super battleship Musashi, with its nine 460mm guns. It was flanked by three more mighty dreadnoughts; the Yamashiro, Hyuga, and Haruna. The fleet also sported two heavy cruisers, the Haguro and Mikuma. The rest of the surface force was composed of nineteen destroyers and eight light cruisers.
The only thing that worried Admiral Inoue was the Allied air strength that was growing very powerful in September 1942. But the Japanese commander should have been a lot more worried than that.
First and foremost, Allied Naval intelligence had intercepted Imperial communication. Since the USA had broken the Japanese naval codes, they knew of the Nipponese operation almost to its very last detail.
With their new reinforcements, the Allies thus decided that they were ready to confront the Japanese fleet at sea before it made it to Port Moresby. For if the enemy ships were permitted to shell the town, it would surely be the end of the beleaguered defenders.
Admiral Leahy sailed out on the same day as the Japs in order to intercept them at the Coral Sea’s entrance (at the southern tip of New Guinea). He sailed with three carriers (including two main fleet ones), the Charger, Ranger, and the newly arrived British Navy Indomitable. He had a little more plane than his counterpart Admiral Inoue with these three ships. The two forces would thus battle on roughly equal terms, as land-based aviation was to play no part in the upcoming battle.
The Allied surface force was no pushover, with French battleships Dunkerque and Courbet flanked by the American Indiana. They were supported by four heavy cruisers, the British Frobisher, Effingham, Ontario, and the damaged San Francisco, a veteran of the first two battles of the Coral Sea. Three light cruisers and 11 destroyers (five of them damaged from earlier actions)completed the order of battle.
The two naval forces crashed toward each other, with one intent on attacking and the other one oblivious to the presence of an enemy, and concentrated on its mission in Port Moresby.
The Allies would be able to land the first blow since they knew of Inoue’s presence and only needed to send their planes to the attack. Then, an all-out battle would play out, as the Imperial Navy would certainly not let the deed go unpunished.
The stakes were high. If Leahy could not stop the Japs, they would make it to Port Moresby and probably shatter the defenders there. Washington’s continued existence also depended on it.
The fall of Kunming
18th and 33rd Imperial Divisions victorious, September 14th, 1942
The City of Kunming lay between the Imperial Army’s ultimate objective and victory, the capital of the Nationalist Chinese government, Chungking. It was also an important production center, producing rifles and aircraft parts. Before the Imperial forces attacked, Kunming had also been the Flying Tiger’s base of operation. The American volunteers had moved northwest to Chungking to operate from a new airfield, but they’d left most of their operational capability behind. The parts to keep their aircraft flying, the factory making them, and more.
The city had become an important industrial center after the Japanese occupation of the coastal towns. Thousands of workers had relocated to Kunming, along with their factories. The fact that it was about to fall was not good news for Chiang Kai-Shek’s government. With the city in Japanese hands, it was not certain that the Nationalists could continue the combat.
The Central Machine Works factory was a critical aspect of Chinese war production, and the men of both the 18th and 33rd divisions were currently assaulting it. After some initial setbacks with the damned Flying Tigers destroying their Type 95 tanks, the Japanese soldiers had finally been able to enter the building complex and fight their way in.
The assault had been made during the night. Ishiro Tanaka, along with his comrades, had been able to slip through undetected to within a few yards of the building’s entrance. They threw in a few grenades and charged with the yells of Banzaiiiii and the typical grittiness of the Imperial fighters.
And so, they stormed the first building. But the Central Machine Works was a collection of factories, all close to each other, a result of the quick buildup by the Chinese after they moved from different parts of China, feeling before the Japanese advance.
Some of the construction were old buildings, and some were made new with reinforced concrete. Those were the ones difficult to take, as bombing could not make them fall down completely.
Such a building was where Tanaka and his brothers had been tasked to assault by the divisional commander that day. The place was one of the last knots of Chinese resistance. It was estimated that over a thousand defenders were entrenched in the large construction.
The factory was high (two stories at least) and had windows (all broken in now by the Japanese artillery shelling). The façade of the thing was probably 400 meters, so it was a big bastard of a building.
Gripping his Arisaka paratrooper rifle tightly with his hands, Tanaka was nervous as hell. They were tasked to charge into the plant itself, but there was a large, open area of over 150 meters to cross to get to it.
Enemy fire promised to be murderous for anyone who wanted to try and charge through it, which the division commander had ordered. Ishiro was the kind of soldier that avoided suicidal orders when he could, but not this time. This time several officers had come forth from all of the units and would make sure that everyone would attack. Hell, they would be part of it as well.
Ishiro continued to grip his weapon in anticipation while looking at the building that was getting shelled by Japanese artillery. Explosions raked it and splintered concrete in every direction. Some of the shells landed in the open space ahead of the factory, exploding high and scattering a lot of dust and smoke in the air.
For a moment, it seemed that the loud whistling of passing artillery shells over his head was getting less intense. Then the last few flew above and exploded on the Chinese. For a few seconds thereafter, only dust and the crackling of fire sounded in the air. It was a moment of calm that only lasted for a short while, but Tanaka cherished it since it might be his last. From experience, he knew how quickly you could die from a direct assault against enemy fire in an open area.
And then the moment he had dreaded for the last hour came. Loud whistles made themselves heard, and the officers drew their Samurai swords. They also started yelling for the men to get up and prepare for the charge.
The Japanese soldiers started running like hell a few seconds later, guns in hand, with bayonets fixed to their tips. The attack promised to be bloody, that was certain. Ishiro got up and started running like the others. His first steps were heavy as if his legs refused to move. Soldiers were yelling out of their lungs everywhere around him and ran toward the Chinese factory building. He was also running but seemed out of his body.
The enemy fire was really heavy, and dozens of Imperial soldiers were mowed down when they showed their faces from the trenches or the piece of cover they had been hiding behind. Ishiro was in no hurry, like most experienced men in the Division. The youngster, the recruits, didn’t know better, so they ran at the top of their lungs. And they died.
Tanaka continued to run but at a trot. His palms were sweaty, and he was taken by dread. He just didn’t know if he would survive. Then, suddenly, all fears were gone, all apprehensions, all the hesitation. A mortar round exploded a few meters from where he was, catapulting several of his comrades in the air, most shredded in body parts. He got spattered with blood, which woke him up from his stupor. The scene was too horrible to be insensible.
He started yelling like the others and ran as fast as he could. The Chinese defenders were doing what they could to stop the Japanese wave, but there were too many of them, and they could only reduce the size of what would hit them in a few seconds.
Some of them started to get nervous at the sight of the solid walls of yellow-and grey jacketed soldiers advancing toward them. And then, the first Japanese soldiers were at the building itself. A human wave started to stream in.
The battle picked up another notch and became a terrible hand-to-hand fight between the two sides. But the attackers were a lot more numerous and eventually swamped the defenders. The Chinese broke and ran to other parts of the building. The battle continued for a long while, and Tanaka, gripped by battle fury, killed like a maddened barbarian.
In the end, the Japanese took the place, and Ishiro was still alive, without even a scratch. As he sat down after the assault, completely exhausted since his adrenaline levels were returning to normal, he heard one of the officers claiming that Kunming had fallen.
Several soldiers exploded with joy, especially the recruits. The older soldiers, like Tanaka, knew that it was just one city and that there would always be another place to attack and potentially die. He closed his eyes to sleep. He was so very tired.
The Third Battle of the Coral Sea part 2
Coral Sea, September 15
By around twelve on the 15th of September, several Allied planes detected the Japanese fleet, sailing around the eastern tip of New Guinea, intent on reaching its objective.
Knowing that the Imperial Navy was sending its warships toward Port-Moresby, the Allies blanketed the whole area with Catalina search planes. The search operations also included several B-26 Marauders and even B17s.
Admiral Inoue, seeing the number of planes that circled above his fleet in the morning, started to think something was wrong. Still, at the same time, he wasn’t overly worried since Imperial intelligence had not reported any major ship reinforcements in the area. After all, Leahy’s 2nd Fleet was in shamble.
And so, his surprise was total when the lookouts from the Musashi’s conning tower (Inoue had taken to the great super-battleship as a flagship) reported a large enemy aircraft formation approaching. Immediately thereafter, the alarm was sounded across the fleet, and all sailors went to their flak guns.
The carriers Zhuiho, Taiyo, and Unyo, had a collective of 35 planes above the fleet as CAP (combat air patrol), but it wasn’t going to be enough. The Allied airstrike was reported to be at least twice the size of the fighters circling the Admiral’s vessels.
In fact, the airstrike included 106 planes from the main fleet carriers Ranger and Indomitable and the light carrier Charger. The strike included several Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bombers, a few SBD Dauntless Dive bombers, and about a third of the American planes were fighters (Grumman F4F Wildcat). The British had sent Sea Hurricane fighters, Martlet fighters, and Albacore biplane torpedo bombers.
