The Japanese Army planners had been wise to double down on the first wave of their planned invasion of Fiji, because they were going to face some very steep odds. Even though Patch Force would be a relatively green force, fresh off the boat, it would be a full division, strongly reinforcing the two Kiwi Brigades already on the island. Those troops were scheduled to go home, but as fate would have it, the shipping was not available to move them this early. So the Japanese troops assigned to Operation FS would be outnumbered nearly three to one.
Marine units had also been assigned for Fiji, but they had been diverted to American Samoa. There, on the island of Tutuila, the US possessed one of the largest natural harbors in the Pacific at Pago Pago, which was a collapsed volcanic caldera surrounded by steep ridges that rose to lofty peaks, which the US service troops called the “Rainmaker Mountains.” The first Marine units were settling in, a Raider Battalion and a specially trained Parachute Battalion. They were awaiting stronger forces from the US, which would include the entire 1st Marine Division, four regiments strong, and reinforced by an additional regiment of the 2nd Marine Division.
Far from being a hastily mounted defensive unit to garrison these valuable island outposts, the Marines would become America’s shock troops, there to spearhead planned counteroffensives that were already being spawned in the minds of Nimitz and MacArthur. When they did come, the transports would see them loaded for bear, and planning to mount an immediate amphibious offensive. That had happened in August of 1942 in the old history, and it remained to be seen whether Vandegrift’s Marines would play a part in the drama that was about to unfold.
In Fedorov’s history, they had shipped out of Oakland on the West Coast, all bound for New Zealand, with the exception of the 7th Regiment, which would go to Pago Pago. Once in those ports, they would off load, then reload for combat operations before sailing to Fiji to rendezvous with other division elements arriving from different local ports. Yet the entire sector around Fiji was soon about to become an active combat zone, so these plans would all be drastically affected. Operation FS was going to place powerful Japanese naval forces right astride all the shipping lanes the Allies used to prepare for their first offensive operations. Instead, they were about to be thrown onto the defense in the final act of Japan’s whirlwind offensive to the south.
Yamamoto’s deliberations were very well considered, but the ruse the Japanese had planned regarding Midway would end up causing them trouble. Convinced that they had identified Midway with the code handle A.F., the Americans took the threat very seriously.
With the Halsey group just back from the Doolittle Raid, this meant they now had every reason to quickly replenish and sortie those carriers for possible action near Midway—and this is what they did. Nimitz told Halsey that he was convinced the information coming out of HYPO was accurate.
“We’ve got them by the scruff of the neck now,” he said. “So you get Enterprise and Hornet turned around and out to sea as soon as possible. Midway will be scouring the seas with every search plane we can give them.”
“What about the Coral Sea Operation?” Halsey had also been briefed on the other intelligence they had concerning a planned enemy invasion of Port Moresby.”
“Fletcher had Saratoga and Yorktown south of Fiji two days ago,” said Nimitz. The snowy haired Admiral seemed tired, as though he had been up through many long nights of late, but there was still the light of battle in his eyes. “To be honest, I strongly considered reining Fletcher in and keeping him posted right there near Fiji. Port Moresby is just to exposed. The Japanese have the entire north east coast of New Guinea, and they’ve moved fighters to Lae. They can hit Moresby from Rabaul with their bombers, and the damn place is effectively deep in the enemy camp. The Bismarck Archipelago and their airfields make that approach impossible, and now that they’ve moved into the Solomons, it’s as if they have a big wall built around the Coral sea.”
“Aw hell,” said Halsey in no uncertain terms. “It may look that way on a map, but that wall is paper thin. The same goes for their positions in the Marshalls and Gilberts. They moved in a few garrison companies, but there’s no significant air presence there now. All they have in the New Hebrides is Noumea, and for my money I’d sent Fletcher in to bust that place up.”
“Well,” said Nimitz. “Like I said, I almost pulled his chain, but I changed my mind. Moresby is too damn valuable to just let the Japs come in and take the place. If they do that, then getting up around Cape York to Darwin will be a very hazardous journey. That would mean Darwin might only be reached by sea from Perth, and even those convoys could be interdicted if the enemy builds up at Koepang on Timor. Otherwise, it’s a pretty long haul across the outback to get anything to Darwin by land. So I sent Fletcher west two days ago, though I told him to give Noumea a pass. I want to keep this movement under wraps for as long as possible.”
“Good enough,” said Halsey. “Then you damn well won’t want me sitting on my thumbs up near Midway. I say we get serious here, and take it right to the other fellow—show them we can still fight. I want to take Enterprise and Hornet right through the Marshalls and say hello along the way.”
“You’ll be spotted for sure if you do that.”
“Exactly right. Look Admiral, they’ve got something cooking, and its bigger than this Operation MO against Moresby. Hell, I’m no code and cypher man, but I can smell it. You said yourself that they’re already moving into the Solomons. That’s just as important as Moresby. If we let them get dug in there, and get airfields up and running, then that wall you spoke of earlier toughens up considerably. For now, I could punch right through it on my way to the Solomon Sea, and I’ll knock a few heads together in the Marshalls before I get there.”
“Don’t forget Truk,” Nimitz warned. “HYPO says they have good confidence that a fourth carrier slipped in there four days ago from Japan—the Akagi. That was Nagumo’s flag when they hit us at Pearl.”
“I’ve made the acquaintance,” said Halsey sourly. “So all the better. It’s time we settled the score for Pearl. I say we go right after them—sail right through their turf and raise hell. Sure, they’ll know we’re coming, and if they want to do anything about it, then bring it on.”
Nimitz gave him a long look. He had already turned Fletcher loose with orders to get up to Moresby and hit the enemy any way he could. Now he had Halsey here, chafing at the bit to get into the fight. It was going to be dangerous—risky. His carriers would be operating independently, well out of supporting range of one another. Yet if Halsey was quick enough, the two groups would be like the horns of a bull, Fletcher in the south, Halsey coming right through the Solomons, and both converging on the heart of this Operation MO.
“What if HYPO is correct and those carriers at Truk left for Midway yesterday?” He gave Halsey a searching look.
“Unless they swing well west of Wake Island I’ll find the bastards on my way to the Marshalls.”
“That’s what I’m worried about. We know they had the 5th Carrier Division at Truk last week. Now they’ve added two more fleet carriers. You know how they like to operate. They hit us with everything they had at Pearl, so what if you run into all four of those enemy carriers. You’d be outnumbered two to one.”
“Hell that doesn’t mean a thing. I was outnumbered three to one at Pearl and I still went after them there.”