This de facto Axis occupation of the New Hebrides would have a major impact on the course of events, and shape strategy on both sides. The Japanese already had a plan dubbed ‘Operation FS’ to move first into the Solomons and then occupy Fiji, thus eliminating the nearest bastion from which the Allies might threaten the New Hebrides. From there, they would then plan to drive the US forces from American Samoa, completing their stranglehold on Australia. With the Americans scrounging up shipping, and trying to muster forces for operations in the Atlantic and Pacific, the vital outpost of Fiji had been occupied by two brigades of New Zealanders, the 8th and 14th. There they labored to construct costal and AA defenses, and build several airfields requested by the Americans in January.
So in the Pacific, the American plans to contest the Japanese moves to isolate Australia would be complicated by the fact that the enemy now held most all the New Hebrides Islands and New Caledonia. Instead of trying to blunt the Japanese advance south at Guadalcanal, the whole question of whether or not an offensive should first be planned against these holdings was now being debated.
MacArthur argued that the New Hebrides could not be bypassed in favor of the original plan to oppose the Japanese in the lower Solomons. To do so would leave Japanese air power right astride his line of communications back to the United States. Marshall countered that the US simply did not have the resources to conduct an offensive into the New Hebrides, while also planning and supporting a thrust at the lower Solomons—unless BOLERO were canceled altogether, forsaking any offensive in the Atlantic Theater in 1942. Since Roosevelt would not hear of that, Pacific planners would now have to choose between a campaign aimed at either the Solomons or the New Hebrides, and MacArthur was going to weigh in on that before the navy took charge. He was determined to shape the course of the war now, and mold it into a framework for victory that he was even now assembling in his mind.
Yet first he needed the troops, the divisions, the aircraft, and the situation looked grim. The Japanese were already moving, out from their newly captured bastion at Rabaul like a plague of fitful bats. They were pushing into the Northern Solomons….
Chapter 8
In April of 1942 the first phase of the Japanese Operation FS began with the invasion of the large and important island of Bougainville. With good airfields at Buka and Bonis in the north, and at Buin in the south, it promised to serve as a strong initial support base for all further operations in the Solomons. In the center of the island, the wide Empress Augusta Bay offered a good anchorage, and Shortland Island just south of Buin also offered the prospect of a decent seaplane base. As soon as Rabaul was secure, the Japanese committed three strong SNLF battalions to secure these vital bases on Bougainville, and began moving in air squadrons.
This move set off alarm bells in PACOM and MacArthur’s ANZAC command, and the General wanted to know what the Navy planned to do about it. “Nimitz has been dragging his feet with one excuse after another,” he said to his Chief of Staff, the newly promoted Major General Richard K. Sutherland. “One day it’s fuel problems because of those bunkers the Japs took out at Pearl. The next day it’s lack of adequate shipping. I arrive here to find virtually nothing in the cupboard, and now everyone’s pinning their hopes on this Doolittle raid they’re planning.”
“Well we’ve got to do something,” said Sutherland. “We certainly can’t do much with the air assets we presently have.”
“Marshall was crowing that we already had over 500 planes.”
“Right,” said Sutherland. “Oh, it looks real good on paper, until you read the fine print. 125 were lost trying to defend Java, 75 were sent to the Aussies, 74 are under repair, and at least 100 are still not even out of the crates and fully assembled! We’ll be lucky to have 150 planes available for active service, and then with only a few dozen pilots that really have any experience. The rest are fresh off the boat, green as they come.”
“The same can be said for the troops they’re sending me. Oh, they’re having a fine time in the bars of Brisbane, and giving the Australians fits, but the 41st is hardly ready to take on the Japanese, and the 32nd is no better. Nimitz has the 1st Marine Division, but he wants to go for the lower Solomons. We need New Caledonia first. That’s where the Japanese are now, and that’s where we need to be. In fact, I intend to insist on this, even if I have to go directly to the President.”
“I’ve heard Nimitz out on this one,” said Sutherland. “He’s of a mind that if we throw everything we have at the New Hebrides, the Japs will beat us to the table in the Solomons and eat hardy.”
“Perhaps,” said MacArthur, but I’m inclined to think they’ll fight for what they already have. They know full well the importance of their occupation of that island. If we hit them there, they’ll reinforce, and then we’ll do the same. That’s where we start our war. The Solomons will come in time, but not now—not before we get the enemy out of the New Hebrides and secure good airfields to support a drive to the northwest. In the meantime, I’m talking to the Australians about an operation for Milne Bay. The Japanese have already taken New Britain, and they have airfields on New Guinea at Lae and Salamaua. Eventually they’ll see the importance of Port Moresby, which is our only outpost outside Australia in that theater. Milne Bay would cover Moresby’s right flank, and also give us a good anchorage for a line of advance aimed at New Britain. Take that and we cut the Japanese position in the Solomons off at the root.”
“Well if we’re going to ever do that, then we’ll need Nimitz and the Navy, particularly Halsey with the carriers. That’s where our air power is now, not on this clipboard.” He set down the report on air squadrons mustering in Australia. “The pursuit Squadrons are the worst of the lot, he said. Half the planes they sent us are P-39s and the older P-400s.”
“You mean P-40s?”
“No, I mean P-400s. It’s a modified P-39, only worse. Can’t climb worth a damn, and they pulled the 37mm cannon out of the nose and substituted a 20mm gun. The pilots hate ‘em. As for the P-40s, we’ve got all of 92 of those on the roster.”
“Make the best possible use of them,” said MacArthur, “and get them ready, because I intend to move them to Noumea at the first opportunity.”
“Noumea? Who’s going to take that for you General? Surely not the 32nd.”
“No, I think I’ll ask the President to commit the 1st Marine Division there. They’ll take it, then we’ll move the 32nd up and clean shop while they get ready for further operations. Let’s get a letter drafted ASAP.”
After departing Davao, Takami had planned to sail north with the Yamato group to Yokohama, but events were soon to command the interest of Admiral Yamamoto in the south. He learned of the steady deployment of forces from America, having seen the material in Takami’s library, and then verifying it with Japanese intelligence. The Americans were already building up in Australia, and the navy itself was floating plans to do something about it.