The Whale Has Wings Vol 3 - Holding the Barrier (27 page)

After deep consideration, the Japanese navy presents their preferred plan to draw the US Fleet into a decisive battle in the Pacific. Since the main aim is to draw the US Navy based at Pearl Harbor into a decisive battle and to defeat it, the best option is seen as a direct attack on an American island. This will be Midway, as holding Midway allows it to be used as a forward base for an attack or invasion of Hawaii. It is felt that this will be unacceptable to America, and so their fleet will be forced to do battle to defend Midway.

In order to achieve a crushing victory the attack will consists of the five fleet carriers, operating as a group to destroy the remaining US carriers in the Pacific. The spotting of a US carrier in the Mediterranean by the Luftwaffe has puzzled the Japanese, as logic would require the carrier to be used to bolster their force in the Pacific. Japanese intelligence estimates the Americans have two operational carriers in the Pacific, possible three if the Ranger has been moved from the Atlantic. The Japanese carrier force can deal with these easily.

The main body will consist of the Japanese battleships, led by the Yamato and escorted by at least three light carriers. This is just in case of US air attacks before the Japanese can destroy the US carriers. Once the fleet battle is won, an invasion force will be escorted to Midway. The captured island will then be used as a base to allow first air attacks then an invasion of Hawaii.

After discussions about exactly how the fleet will act, and its composition, the plan is approved and will be issued to the fleet and Pacific commands. It is expected to take around three weeks to get all the forces into position (some of the carriers are just finishing repairs), and the attack is set provisionally for the 24th May.

3rd May

The US decoders based at Pearl warm Admiral Nimitz of a proposed action by the Japanese aimed at the mid-Pacific. They consider the most likely target to be Midway Island. The interception of the intelligence has been helped by the volume of traffic needed to inform the various commands. Nimitz orders immediate plans to be drawn up to counter the invasion on the assumption that it is indeed Midway. As he only has old, slow battleships available, he intends to base his fleet around two two-carrier task forces as soon as the carriers used in the Tokyo raid have returned to Pear Harbor. He is worried by the volume of traffic reported - it indicates a very heavy attack by the Japanese, and if they commit their carrier force his four carriers may be overwhelmed, especially if they also have to worry about a heavy Japanese surface fleet. He therefore passes the intelligence on to Admiral Somerville in the day's despatches, asking him if it will be possible for the Royal Navy either to help by organising distracting operations in the SE Asia area, or sending a force to help.

4th May

Admiral Nimitz arrives on the atoll of Midway, and orders the Marine commander to submit direct to CinCPac a detailed list of all supplies and equipment required for a decisive defence of Midway. These items will receive the highest priority.

During the night of 3 May, the submarine USS Spearfish slips into Manila Bay and picks up 27 Army and Navy officers, including nurses, from Corregidor Island. She will be the last American submarine to visit Corregidor before the island is surrendered. On the same night Japanese troops land on the north coast of Mindanao.

In a nationwide crackdown on the growing and anti-Nazi resistance movement in Holland, the Germans today executed 72 members of the Dutch underground by firing squad. Seven others were sentenced to life imprisonment. A German statement broadcast on Hilversum radio said that the men were found guilty of making contact with Germany's enemies and possessing arms and explosives. The executions are seen as evidence that the Nazis have given up hope of persuading the Dutch to support Nazi Germany.

The Japanese bombardment of Corregidor intensifies in preparation for a landing. In 24 hours the Japanese artillery fires 16,000 shells at US positions. They also sink the minesweeper USS Tananger.

In view of the preparations needed for the Midway operation, the proposed second invasion of Port Moresby is postponed. The transports are needed to lift additional troops to Midway, and Yamamoto does not want to risk carriers in support, as they will be needed to sink the US Pacific Fleet. His intention is to concentrate his forces for the decisive battle the Japanese Navy has been seeking in the Pacific.

5th May

The RAF commences jamming of the new Luftwaffe navigation aids being used in the current raids. This causes the percentage of bombs on target to fall from 50% to 13%.

The Japanese land on Corrigedor Island in Manila Bay just before midnight. They sustain heavy losses in consolidating their landing.

Off Corregidor, the submarine rescue vessel USS Pigeon is bombed and sunk while the tug USS Genesee and harbour tug USS Vaga are scuttled.

US codebreakers inform Nimitz that it seems that southward operations (into the New Guinea and Solomons areas) have been postponed. This again leads to the conclusion that the Japanese fleet will be used further north.

An urgent meeting is held in Singapore between Somerville, Alexander, Blamey, Park, and the other available area commanders to discuss Nimitz's intelligence and proposed operations. Somerville wishes to send a task force to aid the Americans, provided it does not damage his main task which is to defend SE Asia. Consideration is given to the results if the Japanese attack somewhere other than Midway (the signal traffic has convinced Somerville that some sort of operation will take place even if it not at Midway)

The two possible areas that affect him are an advance into the Solomons, or an attack into the South China Sea. The Solomons/New Guinea area is vulnerable to a large Japanese offensive, but would only bring limited gains. They would also put the Japanese navy at the end of a long logistics line, and there is nothing immediately critical to the Allies in the area - an invasion of the Solomons or another attempt on New Guinea would have to be countered, but the tying down of the Japanese fleet in support would be to the advantage of the Allies who could concentrate on them from two directions.

The second possibility is an attack supported by the fleet on SE Asia. Possible targets would be Malaya, Borneo and the Dutch East Indies. The Dutch East Indies is thought to be the least likely as it would expose the Japanese fleet the most. Malaya is less difficult for the fleet, but is now so strongly held that Alexander and Blamey feel any likely invasion would be defeated. In particular the Japanese would need not just to invade but to supply a large enough force in the face of the RAF and the RN surface and submarine forces, a task which is felt to be beyond them. As Somerville points out, if they had the capability why was it not used while their army was still in Malaya? Alexander has just received reinforcements, and by the end of the month, they will be acclimatised. While not as secure as Malaya, the Dutch East Indies are now well defended, and again an invasion force would have to be large. Air power can quickly be reinforced from Malaya, and the Allied submarines would make any protracted campaign very costly. Blamey is confident that unless the Japanese attack is unrealistically heavy he can hold the area, and the forces in Australia are steadily building up.

Borneo is an easier target, and using a strong fleet to support a number of small landings is seen as feasible - the logistics of Borneo make it unsuitable for large formations. However losing the half of Borneo they control will not be critical, and indeed the damage the defence could inflict on the Japanese fleet would make the island an acceptable sacrificial goat.

Bearing this in mind, Somerville suggests the following. He has been preparing the fleet for a new engagement. A task force of three fleet carriers plus supporting ships can be sent in 24 hours; it will take some 18-20 days to reach Hawaii. In order to maintain a high speed the force will need to refuel; this will be done first in Australia, and will also allow the force to be halted if it proves necessary. Sending the ships this far is low risk, but is best done now while further discussions are made - it would be unwise to wait due to the transit time required. He will hold two fleet and two light carriers in Singapore. He suggests that the US task force currently exercising in the Red Sea be sent on to Singapore to reinforce him (there would not be sufficient time for them to get to Hawaii unless the Japanese operation is delayed). This gives him another fleet carrier and modern battleship, which should be adequate. Even if the entire Japanese fleet were to be used he can always do as he planned in December and fall back to Ceylon while he is reinforced from the Mediterranean, but he thinks this eventuality highly unlikely - the IJN would be putting their ships into a noose of his submarines and torpedo planes. In order to protect the China Sea area, all Allied submarines will be pulled back into defensive positions, and the RAF will use its long-range reconnaissance aircraft to give the maximum warning. Blamey suggests than in addition aircraft in Australia could be used to reinforce, as an attack heavy enough to require this means no attack would also be possible towards Australia.

As a result, units of the fleet are ordered to make final preparations and sail for northern Australia within 24 hours. This is preparatory to making a final decision as to its destination. While the sailing itself cannot be kept completely secret, it will be leaked that they are heading to Ceylon then home, being relieved by ships from the Mediterranean, to undergo refits. Arrangements are already being made to keep the necessary refuelling in Australian waters secret. While the proposed task force is still a risk, the possibility of a crushing defeat of the Japanese carrier force is felt to make this risk worthwhile.

6th May

Attacks on seven cities yesterday signalled the start of an offensive along a 400-mile front by Chinese forces led by General Chiang Kai-shek against the Japanese occupation forces. The Chinese armies have started to receive the increased supplies sent along the Burma Road since the attack by the Japanese on SE Asia.

Shanghai and Nanking were among the cities raided, with Japanese communications and munitions supplies among the principal targets. Nanking, captured by Japan more than four years ago, is the seat of Wang Chingwei's puppet government set up with Japanese support.

General Wainwright finally surrenders on Corrigedor with 15,000 American and Filipino troops. The island fortress' defences had been weakened by a 27-day artillery barrage and were breached last night by Japanese commandos.

Lt-Gen Jonathan Wainwright, the US commander, decided to surrender this morning after radioing President Roosevelt. He told him he feared that his whole garrison might be killed. Even as he spoke, several hundred Japanese were machine-gunning the eastern entrance of the Manilta Tunnel, Corregidor's underground gallery which was sheltering 6,000 administrative staff untrained for combat and 1,000 sick and wounded. The president told Wainwright: "You have given the world a shining example of patriotic fortitude and self-sacrifice."

The fall of Corregidor has been anticipated since Bataan surrendered 27 days ago. Since then the island, only two miles away, has had 300 air raids and been hit by 300 shells a day.

Force Z, consisting of the fleet carriers HMS Implacable, HMS Bulwark and the new carrier HMS Audacious, supported by the battleships MNS Richeleau, HMS Anson and HMS King George V, with supporting cruisers and destroyers, leaves Singapore heading east. Somerville has also ordered for a tanker to be sent to Fiji as a matter of urgency; this will allow the force to refuel and so keep up a higher passage speed.

Churchill and the CIGS approve the fleet operation to support the US in principle. Washington will be contacted immediately to discuss sending the US Task Force in the Mediterranean to Singapore as partial replacements.

8th May

The German offensive for 1942, Operation Bustard, opens in Russia in the Crimea led by von Manstein's 22nd Panzer Division. The aim is to recapture the Kerch peninsula.

10th May

Prime Minister Churchill warns Germany that the British will hit it hard if it introduces poison gas in the USSR.

The 1st Army Group (consisting of the British 8th Army and the 1st Free French Army) in the Mediterranean under General O'Connor is put on alert for the impending Operation Husky. This is now provisionally planned to go ahead at the beginning of June, as soon as the German Army is committed to its summer offensive in Russia.

The aircraft carrier USS Ranger launches 68 USAAF P-40E fighters off the coast of Africa. The aircraft land at Accra, Gold Coast and then proceed across Africa, India then to the Dutch East Indies.

Assuming that the US intelligence is correct, and that the main Japanese fleet will be involved in Midway, Somerville starts to consider operations in the China Sea area. The most likely opportunity seems to be to retake the parts of Borneo currently under Japanese control. While he is very short of proper landing craft, coastal shipping is available, and with control of the sea and air can be used to overwhelm the small Japanese forces holding parts of the coast. He asks Alexander and Blamey what they can provide in the way of light/commando forces for this type of operation, assuming a start date of late May/early June.

11th May

Force Z arrives off Darwin during the night to refuel. The force sails soon after dawn, heading east along the north coast of Australia.

12th May

A two-pronged Russian attack on Kharkov begins. Marshal Timoshenko is attempting to trap German forces against the Sea of Azov. Tonight the Soviet high command claims that the Red Army has broken the German line after one of the biggest tank battles of the war.

Torrential rain continues to hamper operations but the Russians are pressing westwards after the fleeing Germans. They have captured a great quantity of munitions assembled immediately behind the front in readiness for the German summer campaign.

Admiral Yamamoto gives the go-ahead for the Midway Operation, scheduled to commence on the 31st May. Despite the proposals, he has no intention of using its capture to be a possible base for an invasion of Hawaii - the sealift is not available, nor, more importantly, is the fuel. He expects the operation to shatter the US Pacific fleet as an offensive weapon for the rest of the year, and allow his submarines to further weaken it if attempts are made to retake Midway. This will allow him to swing west and support an operation to take the DEI and the vital oil there as soon as possible.

14th May

Obsessed with winning the Russian war, Hitler refuses Admiral Dönitz's plea for all-out war on Allied merchant shipping.

The air offensive against Germany's industrial heartland - the Battle of the Ruhr - has reached a new intensity in the past 48 hours. On 12-13 May, the inland port of Duisburg was hit for the fifth time in a raid led by ten target-marking "Oboe" Mosquitoes, which were followed by 400 heavy bombers. The total weight of explosive dropped on this one town is now the best part of 10,000 tons. On 13-14 May, much of Bochum, a coal-rich area near Dortmund, was also reduced to burning rubble. So dense was the coverage that one Halifax returned with three incendiary bombs embedded in its wings.

Additional raids have taken place to stretch the German air defence and pull its attention away from the Ruhr. Targets have included Berlin, Czechoslovakia and Belgium. American Flying Fortresses have attacked the General Motors plant at Antwerp, US-owned before the war. The total bomb tonnage delivered in this 48-hour period was 4,000 tons. Over 50 aircraft have been lost, but Bomber Command reluctantly accepts such losses as inevitable, and the production program is currently able to keep up with the losses.

The first Japanese coded radio messages are completely broken that indicate the upcoming Japanese operation is indeed targeted at Midway. Previously only partial decodes had been made, although traffic analysis and other methods of determining where Japanese units were had all pointed to Midway. The estimate is that the operation will begin in less than two weeks.

16th May

The change earlier in the year to convoys and tactics on the East Coast of the USA has made U-boat operations steadily more costly. Today the first of the new US converted escort carriers joins the escort forces, and the US forces involved are rapidly improving their efficiency. Doenitz is increasingly concerned at the rise in his losses and the steady fall in sinkings (even though these are in fact being heavily exaggerated by his crews). He is starting to plan a withdrawal back into the Atlantic where the shorter range means more U-boats can be concentrated in an attempt to overwhelm a convoy's defences.

Admiral Somerville completes preparation for Operation Machete, landings on the coast of Borneo to destroy the Japanese on the north and east of the island. The operation will commence as soon as the Japanese fleet (expected to sail soon) is located. While the US code breakers have proved reliable so far, he wishes to locate the main Japanese fleet before he gives the go-ahead.