“All these plans,” said Yamamoto. “We string them out like webs, but where is the spider I-25 spotted nearly two days ago? Soon we will have the bulk of all our available troops in theater at sea, and we do not know where those two carriers went, or even if they might remain in the waters near Fiji. If so, then we may wish to combine both 2nd and 5th Carrier Divisions before we move east.”
“A wise precaution,” said Ugaki.
“But yet we do not know if 5th Carrier Division might be engaged if the Americans do challenge Operation MO.”
“Sir, we have Takami. If their claims can be believed, then their radar and sonar should be able to locate these enemy carriers if they remain anywhere near the Fiji Islands. In my judgment, it should be safe to proceed to Fiji with the 2nd Carrier Division alone.”
“One minute you tell me it would be wise to combine our fleet carrier divisions. in the next you tell me we should leave them operating as separate groups. Admiral, which is it?”
“That is a question I might best answer in another 48 hours. By that time, the MO operation will be well underway. If the Americans have moved west to attempt to oppose us there, we should know that soon. And sir, if that is the case, then we could cover the Fiji invasion transports with a close support group build around Zuiho and Shoho in the Shortlands. That would leave our 2nd Carrier Division free to swing south behind the American carriers.”
“I see you have considered every eventuality,” said Yamamoto, “but battle has a way of creating circumstances that may not be easily remedied. Very well, if the Army agrees, then we will order the Sakaguchi Regiment to board transports tonight as well. It will support the Fiji landings as you suggest, and Tanaka’s troops can reinforce Noumea later.”
Ugaki proffered a shallow bow, and was off to see to his business with the 17th Army. Yet the unsettled nature of all these last minute developments left Yamamoto feeling a thrum of anxiety. That shadow… the loss of nerve in the attempt to take Port Moresby… that unexpected defeat of not two, but all four fleet carriers I might have sent to attack Midway…. Will the Americans take the bait we have cast into the sea regarding that objective? Where are the rest of their carriers? And what about Guadalcanal? According to those books, that is where the Americans will strike us first. Can I believe that, or is this history destined to spin off in another direction? My decisions may have everything to do with answering that, but here I sit, with knowledge that I might never have had otherwise, and I can see now that it acts as much as a poison in the brew of my deliberations as anything else.
That officer on the Takami made it all sound so certain. He would simply destroy the American carrier aircraft, and that would be that. But to do that we must first find those carriers, not only the two birds we had in hand a few days ago, but also the remainder of their mobile forces. How quickly could they turn them around and get them back out to sea? This is where our ruse in putting out all that radio traffic concerning Midway may be the key factor. If they believe it, then those remaining carriers might stay well out in the Central Pacific. In that instance, the Coral Sea is ours.
Chapter 14
Nobuo Fujita had discovered a glittering prize beneath him on the night of April 4th, 1942, but what he had failed to see was the rapid buildup of Allied forces on the primary objective of Yamamoto’s plan. All through the early months of the war, beginning with the Pensacola Convoy, there had been a steady flow of troopships and convoys departing from New York, San Francisco and San Diego. Ships like the Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, Monterey, Hammondsport, and Matsonia brought elements of the 32nd and 23rd Divisions, along with coastal defense battalions, AA regiments, and pursuit squadrons with crated P-39 and P-40 fighters.
Fiji was the closest friendly port to Australia, presently garrisoned by two Brigades of infantry from New Zealand, and a battalion of Fiji Commandos raised from native troops. These troops had been busy improving defenses, port facilities and extending runways on the airfields to accommodate the new tenants soon to arrive from America. The Pensacola Convoy was the first, diverted there briefly before continuing on to Australia. The next major force to come would have been designated “Poppy Force,” as Poppy was the US codename for New Caledonia. It would have carried elements that became the “Americal Division,” as that name was created by calling the unit the “American New Caledonian Division,” where it was to be posted. But in this telling of events, those troops were now being called Fantan Force, as this was the US codename for “Fortress Fiji.”
Fantan Force would see the delivery of the 132nd,164th and 182nd Infantry Regiments, along with a patchwork of other artillery, engineer and AA units, all under the command of Brigadier General Alexander M. Patch. This odd basket of forces was soon quilted together to form a division that would get a new nickname this time around, the “Pacifica Division,” but among army regulars on the scene the unit was simply called “Patch Force.”
It was a haphazard affair, with units originating in different ports, and some showing up at the wharves without properly crating their heavy equipment. Clueless stevedores stared slack jawed at an AA regiment that arrived with all its weapons mounted and being towed by trucks. No one had told them it all had to be crated, and even if it had been, the fine art of combat loading had not yet dawned in the minds of the inexperienced cargo handling crews. So the ships would be loaded in a real jumble of crates and bins, and it was sheer chance if a unit would arrive to find any of its heavy weapons available upon landing. This was going to hamper unit effectiveness, but the sheer mass of men and equipment arriving at Suva Bay would be something the enemy had not anticipated.
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.