Commander, Aircraft, Fiji, or ComAirFANTAN was General Roy Geiger, who arrived in September of 1942 to set up the 1st Marine Air Wing. That was the one bone that King had also thrown to MacArthur. He could command those units until the Navy needed them, or suitable Army Air Squadrons could be brought in to replace them. A tough and demanding officer, Geiger pulled the sometimes vigilante temperament of the Marine flyers together very quickly. There were some good men under his command, including “Smoky Joe” Foss, who would get 26 kills in the war. Pappy Boyington would later join the group as well and lead his legendary “Black Sheep Squadron.”
Even as planes on either side were being drawn to this theater, both sides were also now committing the bulk of all the ground forces they had available in theater. The Americans had completed the shipment of the 25th Tropic Lightning Division from Hawaii to relieve the 1st USMC Division as Nimitz wanted. The last convoys were harassed by the Japanese A5M Claude fighters trying to bomb them with little result.
The American plan was a simple one. Sandy Patch and his 23rd would drive up Queen’s Road in the south towards Nandi, and Collins in the North would take his 25th Tropic Lightning Division along King’s Road, through Tavua to M’ba. The Corps commander MacArthur had selected, General Krueger, wanted one more division behind the 25th up north, but it did not look like anything would get there in time. The expedient would be to take one of the three Regiments from the 37th Division on Vanua Levu, and use it as his reserve. In effect, he was making the 25th a Square Division again, as he saw that front as the more difficult mission.
General Joseph Lawton Collins would walk the King’s Road, a man with a no-nonsense disposition, hard driving spirit, and excellent skills as an administrator. Collins had his troops out on the slopes of Oahu, training hard from the moment he took command. As he was setting up his Unit Codes, he hung the name “Lightning Joe” on his own Division HQ post, and the name stuck to him ever thereafter.
When General Krueger had his farewell conference with Marine Commander Vandegrift at Suva to plan the redisposition of forces, he put his finger squarely on the round heart of the island, and made a fateful pronouncement. “This is the war here,” he said. “They’ve dumped virtually everything they have onto this island, and so will we. Whoever wins this thing is going to win this war, and that has to be us. How soon will fresh forces from Australia come up?”
“As soon as MacArthur makes his pick of the litter,” said Vandegrift. He’s got the 32nd, 38th and 41st down there, but for my money I’d ask for the 6th or 7th Australian Divisions. Those men have some hard fighting under their belts and they know what they’re doing. We’ll be facing some equally tough troops here. We were up against Sano’s 38th up north. They call it the ‘Swamp’ Division, a good name for it I suppose. The whole area near Tavua has a lot of Mangrove swamps off the coast. Those are the bastards that took Hong Kong, then they moved them into the Java invasion that eventually ran Montgomery off that island.”
Krueger nodded. “Then I’ll want two more divisions, one up north to work with the 25th, and one down south behind the 23rd. That’ll double team them at both ends of the island, and we can make our push.”
“I wouldn’t hold your breath,” said Vandegrift. The best you’ll get in the short run is that extra RCT from Vanua Levu from the 37th.”
“But without those troops, I can keep pressure on the southern road, but we’re up against the entire 48th Division down there now. Advancing to Nandi won’t be easy.”
“Yup,” said Vandegrift. “They’ve doubled down alright. But Halsey is back, and with a lot of new carriers. Things will be heating up as soon as he gets here.”
“I’ll bet that has MacArthur seeing red,” said Krueger. “He’s been wanting to get into this war for a long time, complaining the Navy has given him the short end of the stick for the last six months. He’s got all those Divisions in Australia, and there they sit. The man had it in his mind to make a move on New Guinea, and while there’s plenty of shipping available, there’s no carrier support for air cover.”
“Hell,” said Vandegrift. “After that riot in the Koro Sea last May there’s been no carrier air support down here for anyone. It’s our Marine Squadrons that have done the heavy lifting, and you’re lucky Nimitz left them behind.”
“Just the same, Big Mac is getting real antsy down under, and he wants to get in the ring now that they’ve turned the show over to the Army. He says he’s ‘bitterly disappointed’ at what he calls the foot dragging in Washington. Says the support he was getting was ‘entirely inadequate.’” Krueger emphasized the quotes with his fingers in the air. “I suppose I don’t blame him. I’d bellyache too if I were stuck down there in Brisbane when the real fight was right here. In fact, the troops in Australia are wound up tighter than a spring. There was a good deal of street fighting I’m told, and not just the typical barroom brawls. They damn near had a riot in Brisbane, with the Aussies and Yanks at each other’s throats. So when Halsey gets back, you can bet MacArthur will be after him for carriers. He still thinks he’s going to Papua New Guinea—said he wanted to discuss that whole operation for me after we finish up here on Fiji.”
“MacArthur did more than that,” said Vandegrift. “Nimitz told me he bent Curtin’s ear to see if he could persuade Churchill to send him a British carrier! Can you imagine that?”
“Hell, they lost two flattops the first time they mixed it up with the Japs, and then they lost Ceylon to boot. No, his majesty won’t get any help from the Brits, nor will we. This is our war out here.”
“Well get this… MacArthur’s little end around through Curtin and Churchill ticked off General Marshall to no end. He had Roosevelt explain the whole situation to MacArthur, but the man would not let it go. After being told he would have to get by with those divisions in Australia, and by the President himself, MacArthur sent a cable the next day demanding two aircraft carriers, another 500 planes and one more first-class infantry division. That man has bigger balls than Genghis Khan. If no more US divisions were to be allocated to his command, he then suggested that the President ask Churchill to lend him the British 18th Division at Perth!”
“Doesn’t he realize that if we don’t stop the Japs here in the Fiji Group, he may not get anything more for Australia at all? If they beat us here, then Samoa is next. They take that, and this thing is over.” Krueger was a hard fighter, but he could read a map. “Like I told you, he still has Papua New Guinea on his mind. Since the Aussies still have Milne Bay, MacArthur wants to transfer all the Ack Ack and air groups from Melbourne and Brisbane to Townsville and Cairns in the North. Then he wants to build a new air strip between Milne Bay and Port Moresby on the coast there. I got briefed on that when I was over in Melbourne last month. MacArthur is calling this new imaginary airfield by the code name BOSTON, but I guess he never stopped to think the place would be under Jap air attack from Moresby the whole time it’s being built.” Krueger shook his head dismissively.
“Right,” said Vandegrift. “Then he’ll want to march right on up through the Bismarcks to Rabaul.”
“Hell,” said Krueger, “I’d be happy to go over there and do exactly that, but not with this much Japanese force here in Fiji.”
“It’s the Philippines he really wants,” said Vandegrift. “New Guinea is just a staircase he has to climb to get back to his private little kingdom there. He never did get over being run out of the place.”
“I hear Nimitz doesn’t want it. He’s of a mind to bypass the Phils and just leapfrog along Pacific Islands, all the way to Japan. That’ll keep your Marines nice and busy. If MacArthur wins that argument, I guess he’ll want the Army to do the job in Papua New Guinea.”