risk inherent in the operation was a
cherry he savored at the top. Yet even as initial preparations were being made
for the operation he knew he would get if he wanted it, joint staff planning
for ‘Operation FS’ continued as well. Imperial General Headquarters Army and
Navy Section orders, were already being formulated, and he had the initial
drafts in hand.... ‘ Carry out the invasions of New Caledonia and the Fiji
and Samoa Islands; destroy the main enemy bases in those areas, establish
operational bases at Suva and Noumea; gain control of the seas east of
Australia, and strive to cut communications between Australia and the United
States….’
Now he saw that the safer play, the
wiser play, was to push his chips out onto the Solomons, and beyond, as these
orders envisioned. His Midway operation would be nothing more than a grand
distraction and a waste of valuable fuel, and above all, a waste of precious
time. If he moved east he might find and destroy anything the Americans sortied
against him from Pearl Harbor. If he moved south—he would find and destroy
their carriers. It was now so obvious to him that he was amazed at his own
bull-headedness in not seeing it sooner. And so he decided, with a heavy sigh,
and let go of his dreams of landing on Midway and threatening Hawaii.
The enemy is right here, and I will
fight him here, he thought, as he pushed the map aside, reaching for the bell
to summon his personal attendant. It was time to write his letters, a ritual
that he kept to every night, and tonight he would spend time in his mind and
heart with his friends and family back home, and with his dear Chiyiko , the Geisha that waited for him in Tokyo.
I will give this to my Chief of
Operations tomorrow, he thought. Kuroshima will know what to do. Let him seal
himself in his quarters for a week in a fog of incense and cigarette smoke and
he will deliver a plan worthy of our efforts. In the meantime I will tell
Yamashita to get his men ready for Darwin, and the stubborn mules in the Army
can go to hell. I am Isoroku Yamamoto, Admiral of the Combined Fleet! What I
put my will to, and name to, will be done. But first…the plan….the operation.
It must be honed and sharpened like the finest sword, and balanced and timed
like the workings of a clock. Yes, the operation.
*
* *
Weeks later Yamashita had what he wanted.
Nagano informed him that the Navy’s 5th carrier Division, would be dispatched
by Combined Fleet to support a limited operation to seize Darwin and deny the
Allies that vital base as part of an overall plan aimed at isolating Australia.
Reconnaissance as far south as Katherine would be permitted, but no further.
The Army had been pacified with assurances that no attempt would be made to
seriously occupy the continent, but they had been finally convinced that the
occupation of Darwin would both anchor the defensive line that stretched all
the way back to Singapore, and also provide a base from which Japanese bombers
could pound and neutralize most other enemy holdings in the Northern
Territories of Australia. Yamashita’s boast, that he could take Darwin with
troops he already had in hand, was called. There would be no further troop
assignments for the Darwin operation unless they came from the 18th Army on New
Guinea. But they reluctantly released the Nagoya 3rd Division, Ko-heidan , the Lucky Division as it was
called. One of the oldest veteran formations in the Imperial Army, it had a
long record of achievement as far back as the first Sino and Russo-Japanese
wars, and it had served with distinction in Manchuria.
A second division was designated as a
strategic reserve for the operation, the Osaka 4th Division, presently in the
home islands and again headquartered at Osaka Castle. These would be the only
bones they would throw the navy for some time, still obsessed with their
campaign in China, but they would have to do. The Lucky Division would be moved
forthwith to Rabaul, where
cherry he savored at the top. Yet even as initial preparations were being made
for the operation he knew he would get if he wanted it, joint staff planning
for ‘Operation FS’ continued as well. Imperial General Headquarters Army and
Navy Section orders, were already being formulated, and he had the initial
drafts in hand.... ‘ Carry out the invasions of New Caledonia and the Fiji
and Samoa Islands; destroy the main enemy bases in those areas, establish
operational bases at Suva and Noumea; gain control of the seas east of
Australia, and strive to cut communications between Australia and the United
States….’
Now he saw that the safer play, the
wiser play, was to push his chips out onto the Solomons, and beyond, as these
orders envisioned. His Midway operation would be nothing more than a grand
distraction and a waste of valuable fuel, and above all, a waste of precious
time. If he moved east he might find and destroy anything the Americans sortied
against him from Pearl Harbor. If he moved south—he would find and destroy
their carriers. It was now so obvious to him that he was amazed at his own
bull-headedness in not seeing it sooner. And so he decided, with a heavy sigh,
and let go of his dreams of landing on Midway and threatening Hawaii.
The enemy is right here, and I will
fight him here, he thought, as he pushed the map aside, reaching for the bell
to summon his personal attendant. It was time to write his letters, a ritual
that he kept to every night, and tonight he would spend time in his mind and
heart with his friends and family back home, and with his dear Chiyiko , the Geisha that waited for him in Tokyo.
I will give this to my Chief of
Operations tomorrow, he thought. Kuroshima will know what to do. Let him seal
himself in his quarters for a week in a fog of incense and cigarette smoke and
he will deliver a plan worthy of our efforts. In the meantime I will tell
Yamashita to get his men ready for Darwin, and the stubborn mules in the Army
can go to hell. I am Isoroku Yamamoto, Admiral of the Combined Fleet! What I
put my will to, and name to, will be done. But first…the plan….the operation.
It must be honed and sharpened like the finest sword, and balanced and timed
like the workings of a clock. Yes, the operation.
*
* *
Weeks later Yamashita had what he wanted.
Nagano informed him that the Navy’s 5th carrier Division, would be dispatched
by Combined Fleet to support a limited operation to seize Darwin and deny the
Allies that vital base as part of an overall plan aimed at isolating Australia.
Reconnaissance as far south as Katherine would be permitted, but no further.
The Army had been pacified with assurances that no attempt would be made to
seriously occupy the continent, but they had been finally convinced that the
occupation of Darwin would both anchor the defensive line that stretched all
the way back to Singapore, and also provide a base from which Japanese bombers
could pound and neutralize most other enemy holdings in the Northern
Territories of Australia. Yamashita’s boast, that he could take Darwin with
troops he already had in hand, was called. There would be no further troop
assignments for the Darwin operation unless they came from the 18th Army on New
Guinea. But they reluctantly released the Nagoya 3rd Division, Ko-heidan , the Lucky Division as it was
called. One of the oldest veteran formations in the Imperial Army, it had a
long record of achievement as far back as the first Sino and Russo-Japanese
wars, and it had served with distinction in Manchuria.
A second division was designated as a
strategic reserve for the operation, the Osaka 4th Division, presently in the
home islands and again headquartered at Osaka Castle. These would be the only
bones they would throw the navy for some time, still obsessed with their
campaign in China, but they would have to do. The Lucky Division would be moved
forthwith to Rabaul, where
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