The first response to that had been a cryptic radio message:
HQ USMC WASHINGTON DC VIA MACKAY RADIO FOR COMMANDING OFFICER 4TH MARINES SHANGHAI FOR BANNING REFERENCE PHOTOS WELL DONE STOP THE MORE THE MERRIER STOP MORE FOLLOWS COURIER STOP FORREST BRIG GEN USMC
Brigadier General Horace W. T. Forrest, Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence, Headquarters, USMC, was not only so pleased with Killer McCoy's photographs that he wanted more, but he was sending additional information (which he was reluctant to send via Mackay Radio) by courier.
That communication had taken nine days to arrive:
There are several possible ramifications to the Japanese motorization of divisional-strength units which should be self-evident to you. Among these is the possibility that, considering the road network of China, it is the intention of the Japanese to employ these units elsewhere. It is therefore considered of the greatest importance that you continue to furnish this headquarters with the latest information available concerning actual, or projected, motorization of Japanese formations.
Additionally, intelligence gathered in this area will serve to reflect the Japanese industrial capability.
It has been learned from other sources that Germany will furnish to the Japanese an unknown quantity of so far unidentified field artillery. It is considered of the highest importance that information regarding the specific type of such German field artillery, the quantity of such artillery and ammunition stocks, and the identity of troop units to which such German artillery has been assigned be developed as soon as possible.
Lieutenant Edward Sessions has been detached from Hq, USMC to assist in the gathering of this intelligence. He will be traveling to, and within, China, bearing a passport identifying him as a missionary of the Christian Missionary Alliance. He will bring with him an encryption code, which, after the intelligence he develops concerning German artillery in Japanese hands is compiled with information you will have generated concerning Japanese motorization of tactical and logistical units, you will use to transmit refined intelligence data to this headquarters. This encryption code will be used for no other purpose, and you will continue to transmit data you generate as in the past.
You will furnish to Lieutenant Sessions such support as is within your capability. Disbursal of confidential funds in this connection is authorized. Although Lieutenant Sessions will be functioning as a staff officer of this headquarters, he will be under your orders while in China.
Why it was considered necessary for them to send an officer to China to see if any German artillery pieces were in Japanese hands was interesting. Finding out what equipment the Japanese had was something that Banning had been doing all along. So Sessions's arrival meant one of two things: Either they didn't like the way he was handling things, or Lieutenant Sessions had friends in high places, and a secret mission to China would look good on his record when the next promotion board sat.
When Lieutenant Sessions walked into the office, Captain Banning was not surprised to see on his finger the ring signifying graduation from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. The conclusion to be drawn was that Sessions indeed was well connected politically.
"Lieutenant Sessions, sir," Sessions said, standing to attention.
Banning pushed himself off the windowsill and offered his hand.
"We met, I think, at Quantico in 'thirty-five," he said. "Nice to see you again, Sessions. Nice voyage?"
"Yes, sir," Sessions said, "I remember meeting the captain. And the trip was first class, long, but with first-class food and service to make it bearable."
"I came out here on the Shaumont," Banning said. "And I have good reason to believe that she'll be back here just in time to take me home."
Sessions was sure there was more to that statement than was on the surface. It was a dig at him for being ordered to China on a passenger ship rather than on the Shaumont, one of the two Navy Transports (the other was the Henderson) that cruised around the world, stopping at every Naval base or port with a sizable Navy or Marine detachment from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Shanghai.
If I were in his shoes, Sessions thought, I would be more than a little pissed-off myself. If I were the S-2, and they sent a major to "help" do what I am supposed to, it would be insulting. And I'm a lieutenant.
"The President Madison was part of the plan, sir," Sessions said, "so that no questions would be raised if I suddenly joined the Christian Missionary Alliance people here."
"I thought it might be something like that," Banning said dryly.
"There are seven Christian Missionary Alliance missions in China," Sessions explained. "Six of them are located between here and Peking. They are regularly resupplied twice a year with both stores and personnel. That will be the cover for this operation. We will visit each of the six missions on the route. We'll drop off supplies and replacement personnel and pick up some missionaries who are due for a vacation in the United States. It is believed that I can simply blend in with the other missionaries and not attract Japanese attention."
"Well, you could pass for a missionary, I'll say that," Banning said.
"Sir, do I detect some sarcasm?"
The people in Washington who dreamed up this operation, Banning thought, have apparently spent a lot of time watching Humphrey Bogart and Robert Taylor spy movies.
"The people who dreamed up this idea, Sessions," Banning said, "left one important factor out of the equation."
"Sir?"
"With your passport and in civilian clothing, I have no doubt that the Japanese will indeed believe you are an American missionary," Banning said. "The trouble with that is that so far as the Japanese are concerned, all Americans, including missionaries, are spies."
"I don't know what to say, sir," Sessions said.
"In my judgment, Lieutenant Sessions," Banning went on, "this brilliant Washington scheme is tantamount to hanging a sign from both sides of the missionaries' trucks, 'CAUTION!!
SPIES AT WORK!' "
He gave Sessions a moment to let that sink in, and then went on.
"But you and I are Marine officers, Lieutenant," he said. "And when we are given an order, we carry it out."
"Aye, aye, sir," Sessions said, uncomfortably.
"There is one small loophole in the Japanese perception of Americans," Banning said, "that I have had some success in exploiting. The Japanese believe-and I'm not sure if this is their code of Bushido or whether they picked it up from the British-that enlisted men come from the peasant class, and therefore can be presumed to be too stupid to have anything to do with intelligence."
"I'm not sure I follow you, sir," Sessions said.
"Bear with me," Banning replied. "What I'm going to do is inform Major Akkaido, who is the Japanese liaison officer, that I have been directed by higher authority to provide an escort for the Christian Missionary Alliance vehicles. I am going to try very hard to convince Major Akkaido, as one soldier to another, that I am annoyed by this, and that, whether or not it is convenient for the missionaries, I am going to send the missionaries along with one of our regular Peking truck convoys."
"I think I'm beginning to see," Sessions said.
"The regular supply convoy consists of four Studebaker trucks and a GMC pickup that we've rigged up as sort of a half-assed wrecker. It can drag a broken-down truck, presuming it hasn't lost a wheel or broken an axle. If the motor officer can spare another Studebaker, we'll send that too, empty, to take the load if one of the other trucks breaks down."
"Presumably, there will be mechanics along?" Sessions asked.
"Each truck carries two people," Banning said, "one of whom is allegedly a mechanic. They give the trucks a pretty good going-over before they leave. But most of the difficulty we experience is with tires. There's nothing that can be done about them until they go flat or blow out. We carry spare tires and wheels, as well as an air pump, on the pickup and hope they will cover whatever trouble we have on the road."