In another retelling of these events. Kawaguchi had been fated to tangle with the US Marines, and by a twist in fate’s contorted rope, that was exactly what was going to happen here again.
Chapter 11
Sugar had been a cash crop in the Fiji Islands for generations, ever since the British brought indentured laborers from India to work the plantations and sugar cane fields. On the main island of Viti Levu, there were now large crushing mills at RakiRaki in the north, at Suva, and the big mill at M’ba on the river. Small mills, up to 34 at one time, dotted the island as the center of many plantations. The Rarawai mill at M’ba had been established in 1886 by the Australian Colonial Sugar Refining Company. Over the years it had grown considerably, a complex of many buildings, some stone, others tin sided with wood beam frames. The place was sited right on the east bank of the river, just south of the town, and right between the major road bridge a kilometer north, and the rail bridge 500 meters to the south. It was therefore a strategic position of great importance, and Colonel Shoji saw that immediately.
The threat the Marines now posed to M’ba produced a violent histamine reaction through the Japanese defense structure. There had been several battalions of the Yokosuka SNLF guarding the landing sites, and they were all relieved by construction troops and rushed to the town. Now, the addition of Kawaguchi’s forces and the retreat of the Ito and Tanaka Regiments would produce a massing of ground power near that vital town. Edson, Carlson and the 2nd Marines were going to have a good deal of very unhappy company soon. Their long mountain trek and end around maneuver was soon going to become the main front of action in that segment of the island, and that Sugar Mill was going to stand like a factory of Volgograd, the scene of an intense battle yet to come.
The situation facing the Marines went from the jubilation of a surprise attack, the daring of that night raid, to the growing concern that they were now up against much more than they bargained for. The arrival of Kawaguchi’s troops was a turning point. The advance on M’ba by the 2nd Marine Regiment was halted, and seeing greater numbers of enemy troops arriving on the scene, they wisely fell back to the southern edge of that field. Kawaguchi quickly occupied the Sugar Mill on the river and set up his headquarters there. He then deployed his men forward, reoccupying M’ba field in the wake of the US withdrawal.
Even though his 228th and 229th Regiments were withdrawing west and south from the Tavua area, General Tadayoshi Sano now turned his attention to the threat posed by the Marine Raiders on his south flank, west of the M’ba river that bisected his position. He could not allow that flank to be turned, which would cut off the bulk of his forces still east of the river. It would begin on that far left flank, where the Yokosuka SNLF battalions had been combined into a special brigade under the overall direction of Admiral Gunichi Mikawa. Whenever the Kido Butai withdrew to fleet ports to replenish or regroup, it was Mikawa’s responsibility to organize the naval support runs out to Fiji.
The Admiral had already been chastened by Combined Fleet Chief of Staff Ugaki when several cruisers were damaged in an attempted bombardment of Suva earlier. Now he had the difficult job of holding up the Navy’s honor in the land battle as well. He looked for a suitable officer with ground combat experience, and selected Commander Minoru Yano to take the Combined Yokosuka Brigade under his wing.
Now these troops were massed west of the M’ba river, their lines extending as additional companies arrived from their former guard assignments on the coast. Yano wasted no time organizing a major attack on the morning of January 14th. His intention was to either destroy or drive off the two Marine Raider Battalions west of the river, and secure that flank.
Carlson had thought his left flank was well protected by the imposing rise of a thickly wooded hill dubbed Koronviria, but the Japanese Marines would prove him wrong. All that day, they had scaled the far side of the hill, getting into position after dark and resting. Now they were ordered to make a night attack, with 4th Yokosuka on the extreme flank charged with swinging widely around the presumed enemy line to outflank it, while 3rd Battalion made a direct attack on the forward companies of Carson’s line that had just put an end to Kenji Tokawa behind that machinegun.
The enemy moved like shadows through the sodden underduff of the forest, coming upon the lines of 3rd and 4th Companies like phantoms. Gunfire erupted all along the line, but Carlson’s men had been thinking they were turning the enemy flank, and were now surprised at the strength of the attack on their left. The Japanese Marines swept down the eastern flanks of that hill like a dark wind, and as rifle fire erupted well behind his left shoulder, Carlson realized what was happening.
“Christ almighty,” he said to his radio man. “The bastards worked their way around our left. Get on the radio and see if Edson can throw some mortar fire onto that hill!”
He could hear the battle intensifying, then saw his men rushing back from their forward positions in groups of three and five. It was clear that the enemy had pushed them to retreat, and his jaw tightened. Carlson blew his whistle, shouting at the men to come his way.
Up ahead, he saw something he would never forget, big Ed Thompson, all of six foot four and muscle top to bottom. He had exhausted his ammo, and was standing at the edge of his slit trench swinging his rifle like a club as a wave of Japanese infantry swept over the line. Carlson saw the big man bat down three enemy soldiers, then a fourth stuck him with a bayonet in the gut. Thompson doubled over, then lunged at his assailant, taking the enemy by the throat and literally lifting him off the ground. He would choke that man to death before three more Japanese Marines stormed up, one putting a bullet into Thomson, the other two using their bayonets. But that big Marine had killed three enemy soldiers as they charged, and four more before they took Thompson down.
Somehow, seeing that man fight and fall like that steeled Carlson.
“Form up here to my front!” he yelled, and the Marines rushed into the tree line where he had set up his battalion CP, lying prone on the wet ground. Then a lot of gunfire erupted off to the right, and Carlson knew that the enemy was hitting Edson’s battalion as well.
Commander Yano had much more force than the Marines realized, enough to overwhelm that left flank and send Carlson’s men back in some disarray. At the village of Solo, there was now a bitter fight underway to control that foot bridge that crossed the river at the edge of M’ba field. Then, on the far side of the river, artillery fire began to come in on the positions of Colonel David Shoup’s 2nd Marine Regiment, heralding yet another attack.
The Kawaguchi Detachment had arrived in force, and now it charged across that airfield, weathering the MG fire from the Marines as the men howled. They were known as a shock regiment, the troops trained to make this all-out attack, bayonets fixed and wailing like banshees as they came. The Marine lines were not fully prepared to meet them, the men only able to dig out shallow depressions in the field, with no wire, no mines, and no artillery behind them. Even the few mortar teams they had were still struggling over the river and trying to get set up when the night charge came.
Shoup’s men were shocked indeed. One minute they had been making what they thought was a perfect flank attack on the enemy, the next they seemed to be tangling with an entirely new force, at regimental strength, that seemed to coalesce out of the mist itself and take on the terrible shape of this ferocious bayonet charge. Many of the companies were already low on ammo, but they held their ground, firing until they ran dry and then going hand to hand as the enemy reached their slit trenches at the far end of the field.