The attack was coming a full month before the Japanese ever thought it could be mounted. Once again, Tojo and the High Command had completely underestimated the Siberians capabilities, and the sudden invasion, along with an unexpected development on Fiji, was now going to force Admiral Yamamoto to make a very difficult decision.
Halsey had moved as ordered, slipping down to the Fijis and sending his considerable air wing in to pound the Japanese. A squadron of planes that had been flown off the Hiyo to Noumea the previous January were the unlucky group that met the American Wildcats. There were only 12 A5M Claudes in the fighter group, and an equal number of D3A Vals up that day, and they were going to run into Lt. Gray and Fighting 6 off the Enterprise. The US carriers now enjoyed a windfall with many pilots recovered from the Lexington the previous year off Hawaii. One of them was Lieutenant Gordon Firebaugh, a competent flyer with a knack for making smart evasive maneuvers to foil enemy gun passes, and then getting after them with his own MGs in short order.
Firebaugh led a section of VF-6 that had some very other talented pilots, including Machinist Donald Runyon, who knew his plane inside and out, from the engine to the hydraulics and every moving part. It was as if his inherent knowledge of the machine itself translated into knowhow in using it. He seemed to know just how fast he could make a turn, when to best apply flaps, and how much power to give the engine. He was going to be one of the very best in VF-6, and started making his first kills that day against those Claudes. Lt. Lou Bauer was also up that day, a man who was in line to succeed Grey as the Squadron Leader. He and his wing mate Howard Packard were eager to find some action.
When they encountered the thin enemy CAP over Nandi, the Americans had a feast, downing 4 Claudes in little time and sending the rest home. The bombing that followed made that landing a hazardous one, and any of the AM5s that had been on station took an equal pounding from the SBD pilots. Airfields were easy targets, and the US planes put over twenty holes in the runway near Nandi. In a matter of 45 minutes, Halsey had put that base, and most of the planes there, out of commission.
The enemy air threat dealt with, the SBD’s soon went to work on the port facilities near Nandi Bay. The last of the Japanese transports were already well out to sea, escorted by heavy cruisers Mogami and Maya, but that was the only Japanese naval surface threat still around the islands. When they learned that enemy carrier planes were attacking at Nandi Bay, the only wise thing they could do was continue withdrawing to Noumea at their best speed. Two damaged transports that had been beached along the shore were also going to remain there permanently. What was left of the docks and quays there and at the smaller port of Tauva to the north were blasted apart and set on fire. The old shore battery positions once occupied by the Kiwis got another good working over, and any concentration of Japanese troops, tents, or vehicles were all fair game.
The appearance of this overwhelming air power was quite a boost to the morale of the disheartened Kiwi forces that had made the long retreat to the southern coast. They had been grumbling that the Americans seemed to always be one step ahead of them, falling back towards Suva. “The Yanks haven’t got the stomach for this,” said one Sergeant—until he saw those beautiful blue planes come in, wings wagging, and the bombs whistling down on the enemy behind them.
To make matters worse for the enemy, the US battleships and escorting cruisers were authorized to make a visit to the enemy that night. In a reverse of the fate suffered by the Marines on Guadalcanal, enduring the pounding by Japanese battleships which came down the Slot each night, now it was the enemy taking the beating from those big new 16-inch guns. After this heavy one-two punch on the 26th and 27th of April, the Japanese could say they still held most of the western portion of Viti Levu, but the facilities and airfields they had come to capture, the bases they would need to support and sustain operations, had been badly damaged.
Halsey and the Navy had taken the fight right to the enemy, and it felt good to be dishing it out instead of receiving for a change. And ready or not, Vandegrift now had three regiments of Marines on the Presidential Convoy, and they were heading for Suva Bay. Once ashore, they would nearly double the Allied troop strength on the ground, and soon the hunters would become the hunted. The hardened Japanese troops were about to encounter much stiffer odds than they expected, but they were still intent on continuing their offensive operation.
That was both a common trait and shortcoming when Japanese land operations were concerned. The seasoned Army troops and their commanders had tasted nothing but one victory after another. The men of the Abe Detachment, for example, had first become veterans in China, where their division gained a reputation for ferocity and atrocity. They then bested one US and Pilipino unit after another on the Philippines, and easily subdued the Dutch on Java when they stormed ashore near Surabaya. They were tough troops, offensive minded, and with a preference for infiltrating, enfilading and attacking, even against positions that had not been well scouted.
If the Japanese had known that there was already a full US division at Suva, and that it was about to be reinforced by the Old Breed in a matter of days, they might have hesitated and begun digging in to fixed fortifications. Yet at this point in the war, the Japanese had literally ‘nothing to fear.’ They were soon about to learn that these US divisions were going to be well armed, well led, and determined to reverse the sliding fortunes of the Allied cause in this war. The Japanese had thought they were playing their endgame to a sure and certain conclusion with this invasion. The pawns the US had husbanded throughout the early months of the war were still green, but they were now about to be crowned and become powerful new and unexpected forces on the board.
Part VIII
High Tide
“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
Chapter 22
Yamamoto sat at the head of the conference table, a gathering of several key officers meeting aboard Yamato to determine the next phase of the operational planning for Fiji-Samoa. Admiral Hara was present, to report on the recently concluded Coral Sea action, and General Hitochi Imamura of the 8th Area Army was also joined by Lieutenant General Harukichi Hyakutake of the 17th Army. Admiral Ugaki sat in the fourth chair, a heavy sheaf of reports and papers on the table in front of him.
“Gentlemen,” said Yamamoto. “It appears we have a situation developing on two fronts now, and with limited resources to commit to a possible solution to this problem. We have long expected that the enemy would eventually attempt a counterattack. Now it seems we have that at both ends of the rope, and here we sit in the middle.
“I have just received a report from Tokyo,” said Imamura, who was charged with representing the overall interests of the Army for both fronts, since no one else from Tokyo could arrive at Rabaul on such short notice. “Thus far, the enemy landings on Sakhalin are not substantial. Karafuto Command has ordered two battalions of the 25th Infantry Brigade north to reinforce the garrison troops there, but the Army believes the current conditions at sea will still prohibit any major movement of additional enemy forces. That said, they are again not happy that this additional incursion was permitted to proceed unchallenged by the Navy, and they have asked me to formally request stronger naval support in the event additional enemy landings should be forthcoming.”