“Very well,” said Yamamoto. “Truk is a suitable point to muster the fleet. At that point we will issue orders that appear to indicate Midway as the next target, and even dispatch initial covering forces as a ruse. Then the real operation aimed at Port Moresby will proceed instead.”
“And after Port Moresby?” Fukada seemed to have a restless energy about him now.
“Port Moresby will be taken,” said Ugaki, “concurrent with two other operations. One will be aimed at Tulagi and Guadalcanal, the second to reinforce New Caledonia with the Shoji Detachment, and then, once these objectives have been secured, the 48th Division will invade Fiji. We will meet to discuss concluding operations again after the successful completion of that invasion. In the meantime, your ship, Takami, will be assigned to operate with the Kido Butai.”
“Where will Yamato operate?” said Fukada.
“This ship will remain at Truk as a floating operational Headquarters.”
“If I might make a suggestion… it was found that one great flaw in our Midway deployment was the segregation of heavy fleet elements from the carriers. In effect, our carriers now operate independently, with only cruiser escorts. Later in the war, the Americans discovered that the heavy AA fire support from their battleships and heavy cruisers served to add a strong measure of support against possible enemy air attack. May I suggest we consider adopting such a policy? It would mean that we assign fast battleships and cruisers in direct support of the Kido Butai, and not in a separate screening task force.”
Ugaki deferred to Yamamoto on this, and he considered it briefly before responding. “I find such a proposal interesting,” he said. “In fact, I think I will order it. Yamato is already being referred to as “Hotel Yamato” at Truk. Musashi is due there soon, and certain Combined Fleet support elements can transfer to that ship. But yes, I think I will take Yamato out with the Kido Butai, and Admiral Ugaki, please assign any additional fast battleship support that may be available. If nothing else, I will have what the Americans call a front row seat to these operations. Now then… The timetable… Gentlemen, if I am correct, we have the next six weeks to try and win this war. Should we fail, then we can all sit here again and argue about how best to lose it. Yet for now, I want your full and unqualified support. The British also have a quaint expression which applies here: in for a penny, in for a pound.”
He smiled.
Chapter 17
Karpov was restless. The long hiatus imposed by the harsh Siberian winter had left him chafing for action. Yet ice in the Sea of Okhotsk was particularly severe that winter, one of the coldest in memory, and so he had taken Kirov down through the Kuriles as Fedorov advised, and out into the North Atlantic. They moved at night, through thick weather, with excellent charts of these waters, and passed quietly through the Nadezhdy Strait, a 20-mile gap between two small rocky islands. Radar returns from the high volcanic peak of Sarychev Mountain on the northern isle of Matua guided them through, and the Admiral mused on the fickle nature of the earth itself.
So Krakatoa has blown its top down south, he thought, and right in the middle of the Japanese landings on Java. From all reports the entire western segment of that island is largely uninhabitable now. That must have cost the Japanese a good deal in men and ships if they landed where Fedorov predicted they would. The British pulled out, having no stomach for the fight after that, though it was probably a simple case of logistics that forced their withdrawal.
That’s my problem now, isn’t it—logistics. I have good divisions waiting at Magadan for this damn ice field to thin out, but Fedorov tells me winter may hang on longer than normal now. That damn volcano has sent up so much silt and ash that it’s literally blocking sunlight from reaching the earth. It wasn’t even supposed to happen this year. The eruption was supposed to occur in 1883, but Mother Nature can be a headstrong lady. Look what she did to us right in the middle of that fight with Tanner and his 7th Fleet in 2021.
Yes, it was that demon of a volcano that sent me here, and I had a real good look at what the US Navy is going to look like by 1945. A pity I was on the wrong side back then, and still hot headed from that engagement with Tanner. All I could see was red when it came to the Americans, and I picked a fight there without properly thinking the situation through. Orlan paid the price for that, and everyone aboard. I never really did think to look in the history books to see how that little farce was written up, but then again, what does it matter? It’s 1942 here now, and everything is different. My little sortie to 1908 took care of that, but it also gave rise to the dragon I am now dueling with up here—Imperial Japan. None of those events I lived through in 1945 are ever likely to happen now, particularly since the Americans will be on my side this time around.
Hell, they were unbeatable without me, but with Kirov at my disposal, the outcome of this war is certain now. I’ve already shown the Japanese that I’m not to be trifled with. Fedorov tells me they were worried about the opening of a northern front all through these early months of the war. Well, now I’ve given them one. The loss of Kamchatka must have reddened quite a few faces in Army and Navy circles in Japan. The loss of that aircraft carrier and the other ships I pummeled also clearly demonstrated what I can do to them if they dare to oppose me.
Yet Fedorov tells me they’ll keep fighting. He says the Japanese Empire will simply not quit. In fact, that little tidbit he shared the other day was quite revealing. They have no word in their language to describe what we would call a military retreat. The word they use simply means “advance in a new direction.” And any withdrawal they make is simply viewed as a consolidation aimed at preparing for a new offensive.
So I must not underestimate my enemy here. I must think this through from a strategic standpoint, and in doing that, Fedorov has been most useful. He tells me that our occupation of Petropavlovsk may not be as important from a strategic standpoint as I had planned. I wanted to immediately offer those airfields to the Americans, but Fedorov says it is all of 1500 miles from that place to Tokyo, well outside the combat radius of their B-17 bombers, which is under 900 nautical miles with a basic bomb load, and under 700 nautical miles with a maximum bomb load. They could barely reach the northern tip of Hokkaido from there. How inconvenient. Beyond that, we both know weather conditions at Petropavlovsk are miserable most of the time. It’s one of the foggiest regions of the world.
If I wanted to hit Tokyo, I would have to possess bases in Southern Sakhalin, Karafuto to the Japanese, at least until the Americans produce their B-29 bomber, but that is some years off. Fedorov says that the ranges to any targets of value would require a very direct route, and it would force the bombers to fly right over Japanese held territory in Hokkaido, where they would most likely sustain very heavy losses. If I wanted to approach from the sea, then it would mean I have to hold islands in the southern Kuriles, as far south as Ostrov Iturup, which the Japanese call Etorofu, and that’s where my friend the Demon lives. Might it awaken one day here like that monster in the Sunda Strait? Not likely, but always something to think about. I can’t take anything for granted now, not in these Altered States.
So I need that island as an end point of my planned offensive, and I need to drive the Japanese completely off Sakhalin Island. I already have a toe hold in the north with troops I’ve moved in by airship, but that force isn’t big enough to conduct a real offensive south. It will take strong reinforcements, one or two more divisions from Magadan, and I can’t lift them until mid-May, when ice conditions ease up. Even so, the Japanese will reinforce from Hokkaido, so that is likely to be a very bitter fight when we get down south on Sakhalin Island.