WHEREAS the Government of Germany has deliberately, without provocation, acted to cause the death of thousands of American citizens.
WHEREAS the Government of Germany has wantonly and cruelly acted to destroy entire nations.
WHEREAS the Government of Germany has seen fit to refuse to make any restitution for the attack against American citizens, to compensate the survivors, to apologise for the attack on the flag.
THEREFORE, Congress declares that a state of war exists between the Government of Germany and the government and the people of the United States and making provision to prosecute the same.
THEREFORE, be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that the state of war between the United States and the Government of Germany which has thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared; and the President is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the government to carry on war against the Government of Germany; and to bring the conflict to a successful termination, all of the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States.
Hitler crumpled the paper and looked across at Kesselring. “Operation Orient is approved,” he said. “Field Marshal, it’s all in your hands now; save Germany and win us the time we need.”
Chapter Forty-Two: Engage the Enemy More Closely
HIMS Yamato
Japan
29th September 1940
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander-In-Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet, allowed himself a sigh of relief. Whatever the crazy Germans had done, they hadn’t provoked the Americans into declaring war on Japan. Despite some desperate prompting by the China Lobby, the much-divided Congress had clearly decided that one war was enough.
“We were lucky,” he remarked to Genda, who was giving him the reports from the battlefront near the Dutch East Indies. “And now its all the more important to bring the war to a close – quickly, before Roosevelt manages to get America involved with us.”
“That won’t be possible until after we invade Australia and India,” Genda said. “Once we complete the campaign in Singapore and the Dutch East Indies, we can land on Australia.”
“If we can put together a force that those damned invisible submarines won’t dare to attack,” Yamamoto snapped. Naval Intelligence believed that there were only three submarines at most, operating near Australia. So far, no really large force had been attacked – but two destroyers had been lost trying to sink one. Japanese submarines were operating near India, but they simply weren’t having as much success as they could have been.
“We mass troops and supplies on the Indies,” Genda said. He waved a hand at the map. “General Homma believes that they can be occupied within a week, perhaps two weeks. With some luck, we might be able to manage an invasion of Australia within a month.”
“We’ll be lucky,” Yamamoto snarled. “That idiot Yamashita is taking his time marching down to the Singapore Island and the naval base there. We should just deploy a holding force and send the battleships in to reduce the base.”
“I believe that Yamashita is planning to do just that,” Genda assured him. “However, one of our sources in South Africa sent us something very interesting, and it was confirmed by sources in Australia.”
Yamamoto lifted an eyebrow, feeling his missing fingers twinge. “The British reinforcements?”
“Indeed,” Genda said. “Nearly fifty ships, heading to Australia, carrying supplies that would make the invasion far more difficult.” He smiled. “And, sir, we know their course.”
Yamamoto felt real hope for the first time since learning of the American declaration of war on Germany. “We can assemble the fleet and destroy them,” he said, running through what he’d learned of the British weapons. “We can swarm them under by sheer numbers of aircraft.”
Genda bowed. “Hai,” he said. “From reports, none of their ships carry much in the way of their jet fighters; their carriers are barely comparable to the Shoho in striking power. The real danger comes from their missiles, and they have to run out of them in a hurry.”
Yamamoto nodded thoughtfully. “From what the Germans said, their ships had to be struck directly to penetrate the armour, and if the fleet moves quickly, we might escape strikes against the battleline. The carriers, on the other hand, will be very vulnerable, so the carriers will remain behind while the battleships steam forwards, presenting a threat they cannot ignore.”
If Genda had concerns about risking the battleline to save the carriers, he didn’t show it. “Once the battleships get to gun range, they’ll savage the enemy force,” he said. “Their armour is almost non-existent.”
“Have an operational plan drawn up,” Yamamoto said. “I’ll take it to the War Cabinet and get their approval, and then we can start massing the fleet.” He allowed himself a minute to consider. “Leave behind the two oldest ships,” he said. “Admiral Nagumo can use them at Singapore. The others can rendezvous in the ocean wastes past the Indies well away from land, and then prepare for interception. Ozawa and Kurita can command their respective departments.”
“Yes, sir,” Genda said. “I’ll start preparing the plan at once.”
Indian Ocean
3rd October 1940
Admiral Turtledove paced the bridge of his ship, the carrier Ark Royal II. He knew it suggested uncertainty, or even weakness, but he was nervous and aware of his nervousness. The crew were nervous too, even though they hid it under their professionalism. There had been no attempt to hide the presence of the fleet, rather than opposite, and the detection of a Japanese submarine had confirmed that the enemy knew where they were.
“We just picked up a primitive burst transmission,” the EMCOM officer, Tom Landshark, reported. “Very primitive; only code words rather than compression.”
“They haven’t invented computer compression yet,” Captain Rama pointed out. “What does it say?”
“Cryptanalysis isn’t certain,” Landshark admitted. “It’s just a selection of words from a one-time pad.”
“It’s a contact report,” Admiral Turtledove commented. He glanced down at the display; the carrier’s Sea King helicopters were spread out, probing for enemy ships and transmissions. He glared across at a freighter, stacked with hastily-mounted machine guns tied into the point defence network; the AWACS it carried could have settled the debate in a moment. Somewhere over the horizon, the Japanese fleet was gathering…
I should never have agreed to this, he thought grimly, as the fleet moved to general quarters. The Japanese would know about the vulnerability of his thin-skinned units to kamikaze attacks, or to battleship shells. If they somehow managed to spoof the radar…
He shook his head. Don’t be stupid, he thought angrily. The Japanese can’t possibly spoof all the radars on the task force. “Commander, has the Chatham located the enemy submarine?”
“Yes, sir,” Commander Bluebottle said. “It’s trying to follow us and falling behind. We’ll have lost it completely in a couple of ours, unless we slow down.”
Every war fighting instinct in Turtledove’s body called out for the imprudent submarine to be sunk. “Order the Chatham to keep an eye and a torpedo locked on the submarine,” he said finally. “If it attempts to manoeuvre into a firing position, the Chatham is to fire at once.”