Ironfall

Chapter 1

The fighting for Nandi was particularly fierce. After a brief pause to bring up the 164th Regiment, Patch moved three companies of his 754th Tank battalion to form an armored spearhead and attacked straight up the road towards the town with the men of the 132nd Regiment on the line. He wanted an all-out push, willing to burn the 132nd out and then feed in the 164th to sustain the momentum, but one way or another, he wanted Nandi before this week would end. At the same time a concerted push was made over the river to the west of that town towards the village of Suituro, right at the edge of the coastal mangrove swamps. It was the 147th Regiment that pulled that duty, and getting over that river was hell. Artillery from three regiments and the division pool was laid on thick and heavy, perhaps the heaviest bombardment of the war in the Pacific to date.

It was to be a grinding, vicious battle of attrition. Those M3 tanks would break through up the road, but heedless of the cost, the Japanese infantry would simply fix bayonets and charge in to get at the American infantry that was crouching in the advance behind each tank. The Shermans blasted away with their main guns, spitting fire in all directions with their MGs, but still the enemy came. All this was happening as the US artillery thundered away, the shells falling first at the edge of the Japanese line and then walking back through their positions towards Nandi, eventually reaching their infantry gun and artillery emplacements.

This was where the US enjoyed a decided advantage. They had that breakthrough battalion of 42 M3’s, armored cavalry right behind them in half tracks, and then two battalions of infantry. And the artillery fire was more intense than anything the Japanese had ever experienced in the war. It was to be steel against bone, blood, and raw courage, and steel prevailed. The tanks broke through to Nandi, and it was the commitment of the 164th Regiment that gave the attack the momentum to carry through. In spite of ferocious counterattacks, the Japanese could not dislodge the Americans, or stop their steady advance. General Yuitsu Tsuchihashi was now in command of the 48th Division, and he knew the loss of Nandi would bring the American artillery within range of the airfield, a most decisive factor in the outcome of the entire campaign for Fiji.

At first, he thought to seek reinforcements from General Sano’s 38th Division, but he soon learned that the situation in the north was every bit as dire as his own. Lightning Joe Collins had come up on what looked like an impregnable Japanese defensive position. The heart of the division was strung out along the west bank of the M’ba River, a swift moving current that had been swollen by the rains. The Japanese were dug in deep at the Sugar Mill and Varoka Bridge to the north, and it looked like there was no way Collins was going to get over that river.

Aggressive patrolling over two nights presented Collins with a different picture. While very strong in the center, the north and south flanks of this position were much weaker. The north was held by the burned out 228th Regiment under Ito, and the south was only being screened by elements of the Kawaguchi Detachment.

Collins decided to try and enfilade the south first, moving the 35th Regiment across a ford found earlier by Edson’s Raiders. There was a finger of high ground southwest of M’ba field on the far side of the river, and those troops were ordered to take it. The river crossing was made at night, and carried off without incident, but it did not go unnoticed by the Japanese. Well back from that hill, in the thick woodland where Carlson and Edson had been days earlier, the remainder of all the SNLF Marine companies were posted as a Provisional Marine Regiment under the overall direction of Admiral Gunichi Mikawa. He immediately ordered Commander Minoru Yano to take in all his Yokosuka Marines and stop the American advance, and this he did.

Surprised by these fanatical warriors, the US line wavered and fell back. Frustrated, Collins had to send the remainder of the light tanks left behind by the 2nd Marine Division to stabilize his own flank. It was clear that he would not turn that position easily, but in all these actions the Americans had achieved one salient objective that would weigh heavily in the campaign. Collins had taken the airfield at Tavua, overrun the second field at M’ba, and now Patch had the main field at Nandi under his artillery. That meant the Japanese had to fly off the few planes they still had there to a small strip on Yasawa Island they had scratched out there. In effect, the US now had complete land based air superiority over the Fiji Island Group. That meant that any supply convoys running out to that island would need carrier support, and that was always a dangerous mission.

Yamamoto stared at the message for a very long time. It had been handed off to him by a white gloved aide, fresh off the plane from Tokyo, and it was a most unusual way to deliver an order. A directive from the Emperor himself! This was most likely the work of Tojo, but here, at last, is the answer to the questions I pressed upon General Imamura. This directive leaves no doubt as to what the Army will now do. They are ordered to hold all the islands now under contention, including Efate, New Caledonia and Viti Levu in the Fiji Group. All enemy forces are to be ejected from those islands, and to assure that these objectives will be met, the Army has seen fit to release substantial reserves made available because of the recent accord between our forces in China and the Kuomintang under Chaing Kai-shek. A full army consisting of five new divisions will be sent to secure all present holdings and undertake the offensive operations deemed appropriate to achieve the objectives set down by the Emperor.

This was a major escalation of the Army’s commitment to the South Pacific, and now the Navy was directed to conduct all necessary operations to ensure the timely and safe transport of Army units to designated objectives, and to become masters of the seas in and around those objectives as required. So easily conceived and written down in a directive like this, thought Yamamoto. Yet not so easily accomplished. There is an enemy out there with both an army and navy, and clear objectives of their own.

He looked over the list of new divisions, noting that one of them was the powerful 3rd Infantry Division, a top tier veteran unit from the Nanjing area. But look at this list of new objectives! In addition to reinforcing Fiji to reverse the unfortunate situation there, the large adjacent Island of Vanua Levu has now been selected for occupation by Japanese troops, to take and hold all the airfields now being used by the Americans. They have constructed larger fields at Bua, Savu, and Lambasa, with three smaller landing strips at Baiugunu, Katherine Bay and Matei. Trying to strike them all to suppress enemy air power for the assault landings will not be easy.

The 3rd Infantry Division has been assigned to this task, and now I must find shipping to move it, and the means to control the seas. Hopefully we can retain the shipping that transports them here from China, and I will make this a personal request. The 6th and 9th Divisions come next, one for New Caledonia to begin a protracted campaign there, and the other to storm Efate and eliminate those enemy landings. After these objectives have been fulfilled, then the 15th and 17th Divisions will be released, and we are directed to begin planning for operations against ‘other targets of opportunity to be specified later.’

By all kami great and small, I might be able to get those troops to their objectives, but how in the world does Tojo think I can keep all these divisions supplied? How does he think I can defend these sea lanes over such a wide area? We simply do not have the shipping available to do this, and so it is clear to me that Admiral Nagano was bypassed in all this planning, or otherwise silenced. He would have certainly pointed this out.

Then again… The early release of the Phase II Shadow Fleet ships may have something to do with all of this. Even so, the fleet is straining just to support the few operations already underway. Now I must find the means to cover another major amphibious assault into the Fiji Group—let alone all the other things mandated in this directive.

But the Admiral would soon find out that he had more resources at his command than he realized. Takami had been ordered to Yokohama before it was sunk, summoned there by Admiral Nagano himself. It was clear the Admiral had heard enough from the rumor mill to make him very curious. When Admiral Kita learned this, he convened a meeting of his senior officers, including Harada and Fukada off the stricken Takami.

He had broken off his hunt for Kirov, content to gather his fleet and make some general determination on how they would now proceed to operate here. Kirov had run south, and he believed they might soon hear of its whereabouts. Now he had to decide how to use his task force for the mission the officers and crew had chosen. They would support Japan, though he still had reservations about that choice. Yet with the power they had, Kirov and the Russian submarine aside, he had every confidence that he could change the course of this war, and forestall the terrible end that Japan suffered in 1945.

“Gentlemen, I’ve been asked five times why we broke off that scrap with the Russians. Yes, we had them on the run, but the situation was far from resolved in our favor. We lost planes, and also saw that this Karpov was willing to stop at nothing when he resorted to the use of that nuclear warhead. We didn’t know where that damn sub was, and it already put your ship down, Captain Harada. We had the fleet too spread out, and neither the carriers, nor the replenishment group, were adequately covered. And we were burning through a limited supply of fuel at 30 knots for hours on end, while our enemy cruised off at 32 knots without using a single drop. So I elected to play it safe and pull in our horns to think this thing through. We’ve got to consider all the factors here, and logistics is front and center. They can operate out here indefinitely, and we can’t. It’s as simple as that. So I can’t get involved in a sea chase here. It’s just that simple. We would have three days to operate before every ship would be looking to Omi for fuel.”

“So then what do you propose?” asked Captain Asano from the destroyer Kongo.

“Just what Captain Harada suggested before we ran into the Russians. He said we might head southwest to find tanker support from our friends, before we tangle with our enemies. Unfortunately, we sailed right into trouble. Is that option still doable?” He looked at Harada now.

“I don’t see why not, sir, but there’s another issue we should consider. Takami is due to arrive at Yokohama today, and that isn’t going to happen. It’s going to raise eyebrows. I was told to report directly to Admiral Nagano, and he won’t be happy that I failed to do so. He’ll go right to Yamamoto to find out why, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Yamamoto is already trying to contact us.”

“Alright,” said Kita. “You say you’re on fairly good standing with Yamamoto, but Nagano is his senior commanding officer, and he still remains in the dark about all this.”

“Correct,” said Harada.

“Well should we keep that appointment?”

“It’s 2000 nautical miles to get there,” said Harada. “And we’d be making quite a revelation of ourselves when we arrived in Tokyo Bay. I say the smarter play is to continue south to Rabaul and meet with Yamamoto, or perhaps the bay at Davao. I can contact him directly, and see if I can clear things up, and then he could cover us concerning Nagano. That also puts us in Kirov’s wake, even if we don’t move to a high speed chase scenario here. This Karpov just hit Truk, and as we’ve seen, he’ll use any arrow in his quiver. If he went south, then he did so for a reason.”

“What reason?” asked Captain Ichiro Akino from Atago.

“Rabaul…. That’s the real forward base for Yamamoto now. We’ve got to stay in a position to defend it—and I don’t think we’re going to the Panama Canal, let alone those American shipyards.” He glanced at Fukada now.

“Agreed,” said Kita. “Those operations are out of the question for the time being. But how will you explain this to Yamamoto?”

“He’s already had the saké with us, and so he will not suffer quite the same shock that Nagano would to learn all of this. I think I will just come out with things as they are. I will tell him that while we were on our scheduled rendezvous at Eniwetok, we encountered an unknown task force, and then determined that they were our comrades—from our own time. How they came to be here remains a mystery to us all, but the Admiral now has two more carriers to add to his fleet.”

“Very well,” said Kita. “Then we continue south, and into dangerous waters. I’ll want an ASW helicopter watch posted at all times, Omi in tight with the two carriers and all the destroyers in a nice tight screen. We’ll have strike planes spotted and ready at a moment’s notice, and if this Karpov wants to go another round with us, so be it. We throw everything we have at him. After all, that’s our main mission here—to kill that ship.”

Fukada had been listening quietly, his wings clipped in more than one way with both the loss of Takami and his grand campaign to destroy American carrier production. Now he finally spoke.

“With your permission sir, I’d like to suggest an alternative.”

“I thought we laid that Panama Canal thing to rest a moment ago,” said the Admiral.

“Yes sir, I’ll agree that is impractical, at least for the time being while Kirov is still at large. Yet I’d suggest that we’ve been going about this the wrong way. We went looking for Kirov, and we damn well found that demon. It should be on the bottom of the sea right now, but you are correct in what you said about this Karpov. That said, I don’t see our primary mission here is this hunt for the Russians.”

“Well then please enlighten us, Lieutenant Commander,” said Kita, folding his arms.

“Sir, respectfully, I think we should simply coordinate with Admiral Yamamoto, and operate to preserve and protect his remaining ships—and to put harm on those of the Americans—Kirov and the Russian sub be damned. If they want a seat in the kabuki theater, then let them come. We’ll deal with them at that time. But otherwise, I think we should simply fight for Japan, and engage Kirov as we would any enemy contact, if and when that scenario should present itself.” He looked around the briefing room, as if to gauge reaction and see what kind of support he might have. Then Kita spoke, and he was surprised by what he said.

“Lieutenant Commander, I like what you just said. This whole idea of trying to remain in the shadows here and hunt down the Russians aside from everything else going on never quite sat well with me. That’s why I called off that last engagement and took this time to think things over. We thought we just had Kirov to worry about, but now we know what we’re up against. While I still hold that we need to be able to operate autonomously, a close cooperation with Yamamoto appeals to me. Opinions?”

“May I ask what’s happening now?” asked Captain Kenji Namura from the Kirishima. “In the war…”

“Nothing you could read about,” said Fukada. “All the action has been a-historical. The Japanese invaded the Fijis—Operation FS superseding the Midway operation. They’ve been dueling with Halsey’s carriers in a number of engagements supporting that campaign, but our Communications Officer has been listening to radio traffic and tells me things on Viti Levu are not going well. We’ve lost the use of the airfields on Fiji. The Americans have complete air superiority there now. That’s our Guadalcanal—at least for the moment. The decisive battle that this war turns on will be fought there, and we’re already losing it.”

“Agreed,” said Captain Harada. “This is the critical phase of this entire struggle,” he said. “The Americans have just been reinforced with new Essex Class carriers and they have finally begun offensive operations against Japanese occupied territories. They have nearly won the battle for the main island in the Fiji Group, just as Fukada says, and now they have invaded New Caledonia at Noumea, and put Marines on Efate in the New Hebrides. Of course, none of these battles were ever fought in the history we know. It was Guadalcanal and Operation Cartwheel that was underway at this time as we know these events. Things have clearly changed, and it seems the decisive battles will be fought on these other islands. We can do a good deal in those campaigns, and I also like Fukada’s suggestion. If we simply work to defend and support Yamamoto’s prevailing operations, Kirov and the Russians will have to come to us. There’s no need to go racing off to hunt them down.”

That would be the decision they would come to, all Captains signing on to this new plan. And even though both Fedorov and Karpov had thought to fight the decisive battle in 1908, many things would happen before they would get there. Their duel with Kita’s task force was far from over.

Chapter 2

Admiral Halsey’s position was nowhere near as strong now as Yamamoto may have believed. The sheer audacity of the Americans, attacking at every opportunity, presented the façade that they were now strongly reinforced, but that was not the case. TF Halsey, with Enterprise and Yorktown II, had only 137 planes ready for duty to cover Efate. TF Spruance was in Sydney, where Lexington II had just finished repairs. Along with the Essex, that force had only 112 planes. Ziggy Sprague was shepherding in the two new light carriers, Independence and Princeton, and they had 62 planes between them. The light battle carrier Vicksburg was at Pearl finishing up repairs, and her sister ship was doing the same at Suva. Between them they had another 24 planes, which meant that if he collected all his carriers into one group, Halsey could bring 335 planes to sea. He had replacements for his CV squadrons at Pago Pago, but would have to leave the scene of operations to go fetch them.

He wasn’t worried about the Fijis any longer. The ground game there was rolling towards the end zone, though the Japanese continued to put up a tough defense. But they had lost their airfields, and the US ruled the skies. The US now had 123 planes at Brisbane, including 34 bombers that could hit New Caledonia. There were then 103 planes on the main island of Fiji, and 52 more on Vanua Levu. Throw in 80 more Marine and Navy planes at Pago Pago, and that was an impressive 358 land based planes. Beyond that, there were 175 more at Pearl, including a good many of the newest P-38’s.

In spite of all this, Halsey was counting every leaf on the tree as he cruised southeast of Efate. In another few days, he would have to withdraw to Pago Pago to refuel. The oilers were up north, meeting up with the ships that had been damaged in recent engagements and topping them off for the long journey back to Pearl. The Admiral figured he could get replenished, flesh out his squadrons, and then get back out to sea to meet up with Spruance and Ziggy. MacArthur had taken the airfield near Noumea, and the Ichiki Regiment was retreating north. So that meant the planes could be ferried in from Brisbane to provide local air cover for the 41st Division on New Caledonia, and all Halsey had to worry about was Efate.

So Halsey had it in mind to unite all his flattops into one big fleet. That would give him the muscle he might need if Nimitz wanted to do anything more with the 1st USMC Division, which had been resting on Pago Pago, but was now ready for operations again. Nimitz had been looking at Luganville on Espiritu Santo, thinking to put those fighting leathernecks in there and really saw off the tree limb that supported Fiji. Neither he, nor Halsey, had any idea of the dramatic developments that had shaken the tree in Japan. US Intelligence had picked up the movement of Japanese troops out of the Nanjing sector towards the coast, but made no firm conclusions about it. The last thing on anyone’s mind was that the Japanese would double down on their overextended position in the Fijis, sending their crack 3rd Infantry Division to Vanua Levu….

General Toyoshima had the 3rd Division, one of the toughest in the entire army, a crack veteran unit that had been involved in fighting during virtually every major battle in Central China since 1937. He had narrowly escaped death during the 3rd Battle of Changsha along the Louyang River, when his division and two others had fallen into a well laid Chinese trap. That battle, and the tremendous losses sustained by the Japanese, had done much to convince the army that their campaign in Central China was fruitless, and it would be better to seek an alliance with Chiang Kai-shek. So there was a shadow over the division’s reputation as it withdrew from China, and the troops were eager to restore their standing as one of the Army’s best.

When it first entered combat in China, it was a “Square Division,” which meant it had two brigades containing two regiments each instead of the later “Triangular” division model with just three regiments. And it was also ‘well heeled’ in terms of its TO&E. In the real history, this division had converted to a triangular division in July of 1942, but in these Altered States, it was made square again for this new deployment, with the 5th Brigade fielding the 6th and 68th Regiments, and the 29th Brigade had the 18th and 34th Regiments.

Considering ‘boots on the ground,’ such a division had a firm footprint. Each regiment would field the normal three battalions, with a fourth weapons battalion, (really just a company), containing four 75mm mountain guns and four rapid-fire 37mm AT guns. Yet each battalion had four regular infantry companies instead of three, and one additional MG company, about 1,350 men in all, including a small infantry gun platoon with a pair of 70mm howitzers. The unit would be augmented by adding two more cavalry regiments, the 25th and 26th, as these troops were thought to be useful on the large island the 3rd Division was slated to conquer.

Toyoshima’s division would leave China through the same door where it had entered, the port of Shanghai. From there it would sail to Rabaul and Momote in the Admiralties, the transports fat with supplies, men, equipment and horses, which were really the mainstay as far as transportation went for the Japanese divisions. A horse could go places in the rugged inland terrain of these islands where no truck could follow.

This unexpected turn in Japanese strategy had come from the secret conference Imamura had with Hyakutake concerning the message he had received. It contained only one cryptic phrase: The warrior is lucky, for the moon shines bright, and the hour of the festival has come.

The meaning of the phrase was immediately apparent to Hyakutake, a master of cryptanalysis, for there within that single phrase were the code names assigned to five Japanese Divisions.

“Do you see what I see in this?” asked Hyakutake.

“Of course!” said Imamura. “Five divisions. The Lucky Division is the 3rd, and that alone is worth its weight in gold. It is one of the most capable and experienced divisions in the Army, and I am told it will remain a square division. The Warrior Division is the 9th from Manchukuo, a very good unit that has been underutilized thus far. The Bright Moon brings us the 6th Bright Division and 17th Moon Division, and the Festival Division is the 15th. Every one of these has seen combat in China. The Army is finally getting serious about the war here in the south. At last we will have the troops we need to fight the Americans and all their allies. In fact, there may even be forces to allow us to reconsider a limited invasion of Australia.”

This sudden infusion of ground fighting power to the Strike South plan was going to change the entire course of the war. MacArthur thought he would simply secure the southern end of New Caledonia, and then plan his recapture of Port Moresby to take the war to New Guinea. Nimitz thought he would secure Efate and Espiritu Santo, then select targets in the Solomons, or even bypass those steamy islands altogether and move right into the Marshalls. But if Yamamoto could deliver 3rd Division to Vanua Levu, and keep it supplied, all those plans would have to be shelved.

The US had initially placed the entire 37th Infantry Division under General Beightler there, but two of his three regiments had been ferried over to the Main Island to reinforce Patch and Collins, so he had only his 148th Regiment on that massive island, along with Seabees, A few Marine Defense Battalions, and the 112th Engineers.

The regimental HQ and two battalions were at the main airfield at Lambasa in the center of the island; the Division HQ was 35 kilometers to the south on the broad Savusavu Bay with the third battalion; and the engineers at Bua field on the southwest end of the island. Most all of the airfield and support troops were to the east around the deep intrusion of the Natewa Bay. For an island encompassing over 2,150 square miles, that was a fairly thin garrison. The Americans thought that Halsey would prevent any move on the island… But Halsey was now 650 nautical miles to the northeast at Pago Pago.

His two carriers were anchored in the bay and taking on fuel, the ships watering, replenishing food, aviation fuel and ordnance, the squadrons filling out their dance cards. It might take him four to six hours to get out to sea again in an emergency, and then it was 18 to 24 hours to reach the scene of the planned Japanese invasion, and he would have to face down the Japanese carrier covering force under Admiral Hara.

When HYPO got wind of the arrival of 3rd Division in theater, it set off a lot of alarm bells. The initial assessment was that the Japanese were planning to reinforce Efate and garrison other holdings, but that would be work for their 6th Division. Nimitz still had 8th Regiment of the 2nd Marines in the bullpen for Efate, and all of 1st Marines for his mission against Luganville. So now it was a question of who would get there first.

“This is a first rate outfit,” he said to Vice Admiral Charles ‘Soc’ McMorris, who was now serving as his Chief of Staff. McMorris had come from the war plans office for the Pacific Fleet before taking an at-sea command of a cruiser division. Nimitz had wanted Ray Spruance for his CoS, by the was still operating with the carriers, so McMorris was next in line in Nimitz’s mind.

“Yes sir, 3rd Division has been raising hell in China since 1937. If they moved a unit like that here, then they mean business.”

“Soc, you figure they plan to counterattack?”

“Those aren’t the sort of troops you farm out for garrison duty,” said McMorris.

“But where?” asked Nimitz.

“They could hit us anywhere. We’ve got the Japs on Fiji in a vise—penned up in a 40 square kilometer pocket on Viti Levu. So they may be trying to reinforce there. Then again, they could also hit Efate. They’ve only put in a single regiment of their 20th Division there, and that was a back waters reserve division from Korea.”

Neither of those options were on the table for the Japanese, but they seemed logical choices from the US standpoint. Nimitz nodded. “They could do both,” he said. “It was a come as you are party when we hit Efate. All they had in theater was the 20th, but now we may have uninvited guests. I was going to reinforce with 8th Marines, and I thought that would give us an edge on these people to clear that island. If we move fast, we might still do that.”

“Halsey moved to Pago Pago, but I’m a little troubled by this latest information we had out of Rabaul. We thought they were landing the 3rd Infantry there, but it stayed put on those transports. In fact, HYPO says it could be out to sea from the sound of signals traffic coming out of Rabaul yesterday.”

“Now you went and ruined my day,” said Nimitz.

“Should we crank up Halsey? He could be back to Efate in 48 hours.”

Nimitz thought about that. “And the Japs could be there in that same timeframe too, and they’ve patched up Kaga and Soryu at Rabaul. So if Hara moves to cover anything big, then he could be coming at us with four fleet carriers. We’d need to pull in every flattop we have to counter that. To send Halsey in alone to try and bust up their operation would be a mistake. So we’re going to have to play this another way. Get a message off to Ray Spruance. Tell him I want Essex and Lexington out to sea immediately, but I want him here.” Nimitz pointed to a position between Noumea and the Fiji group, and a little south.

“As for Halsey, let him replenish, and then he can join Spruance when he’s ready.”

“But that may be too late to stop anything if they want to land troops on Efate.”

“Correct,” said Nimitz. “Halsey is sitting on the last fleet carrier we had afloat when the japs hit us at Pearl two years ago. That’s a lot of sting. Everything else we can bring to the game now, we had to build after they hit us. We managed to get three Essex class carriers in theater, and thank god for that, but I want to operate differently with them now. We don’t even have parity yet, so we play defense for a while longer. In some ways, these amphibious operations we rushed out last month still seem premature in my mind. Yes, they made good headlines, and the President loved it, but we weren’t really ready. So I want Halsey and Spruance together before we contemplate any move. If that means the Japs get troops onto Efate, so be it. When they withdraw, we move 8th Marines in to see their bet.”

“What about Bunker Hill?” said McMorris. “She’s brand spanking new, and sitting right out there in the harbor. For that matter, we’ve also got the other two Escort carriers, Belleau Wood and Long Island.”

“Those escort carriers need time on sea trials. I was going to use them to ferry planes to Pago Pago, and that will be all we ever use the Long Island for anyway. I also wanted to give Bunker Hill time to work up some steam,” said Nimitz. “But under the circumstances, she may have to get in the game early. Let’s give her to Ziggy Sprague. He’s already got the two escort carriers down near Wallis Island. I’ll want him to link up with Halsey and follow him down to meet Ray Spruance. Maybe it’s time we put some real metal under his seat.”

“One big happy family,” said McMoriss. “With Bunker Hill active, that will give us 436 Planes at sea.”

“Let’s hope they stay happy,” said Nimitz.

Chapter 3

The Japanese Operation Suriyoko (Thrust) would get underway on the 11th of March, as all the various task forces assigned began to make their rendezvous east of the Solomon Islands. Yamamoto wanted to make a wide approach towards Tuvalu, and then come down on Vanua Levu From the north. The waters in the rendezvous area were swept by long range Mavis seaplanes the previous day, to look for prying enemy subs or ships that might spot the Japanese armada.

That would be a fitting description of the force now getting underway. Admiral Hara had his flag on the carrier Taiho, with Tosa, and Junyo in attendance, along with the battlecruiser Kongo, two heavy cruisers and four destroyers. Admiral Yamaguchi was given command of Akagi and Soryu, with the light carrier Hiyo, two heavy cruisers and five destroyers. They would both be joined by Admiral Nagumo coming down from Truk with the Shado Force battle carriers: Ryujin, Kinryu, Kitsune, Gozo Kaya, and Gozo Kiryu. The Troop Transports would be escorted by Yamamoto himself aboard Yamato, with heavy cruiser Myoko, three light cruisers and nine destroyers. It was every fleet carrier the Japanese had, carrying 440 planes, and only three lighter escort carriers were on duty elsewhere. In effect, it was an operation on a scale greater than that devised for the Midway campaign, but the American fleet would also be much stronger on defense.

Admiral Halsey would have the Enterprise and Yorktown II, three heavy cruisers and four destroyers. He would be met by Admiral Ray Spruance out of Brisbane with Essex and Lexington II, with his cruisers and DDs in escort, and then Ziggy Sprague would come down with the newest fleet carrier Bunker Hill, and the two escort carriers Princeton and Independence. Admiral Lee would divide up his battleship squadron so that each of the three US carrier groups would have one in escort. At the same time, both Gettysburg and Vicksburg were now repaired and again escorting Marines to Efate, this time the 8th Regiment. They would boldly take up a position north of that island, barring the way between the landing site and Luganville, where the Japanese had dive bombers and Nell twin engine torpedo bombers.

Halsey was itching to get out to sea and into another fight, but Nimitz had made it very clear that he was not to do so alone. No attempt would be made to seek or engage the enemy until all three carrier groups were within easy supporting distance from one another. Their rendezvous point would be mid-way between Noumea and the Fijis, where all groups arrived on the 14th of March.

The first sighting report Hara received came in that same day from a Japanese submarine, indicating 1 carrier, two battle carriers, and two heavy cruisers. The intrepid sub Captain had it partly right. He had seen Gettysburg and Vicksburg enroute to Efate, mistaking one of the US APDs for a carrier. A US Catalina had better dope for Halsey a day later. He would learn of six Japanese carriers of various types cruising west of Funatfuti, which seemed rather far afield considering the US intelligence estimate of Japanese intentions.

“Now that can’t be right,” Halsey said to his new Captain aboard the Enterprise, Osborne Bennett Hardison, or simply “Ozzy” for short. “This report has the Japs some 600 miles east of where they should be.”

“Well,” said Hardison, “If they were where they should be, I wouldn’t want to be aboard those transports headed for Efate now. Six carriers? That’s a lot of wallop.”

“HYPO said they’re up to no good,” said Halsey. “That’s probably what spooked Nimitz. He wouldn’t let me take the gloves off until Spruance and Sprague got into position.”

Captain Hardison scratched his head. “600 miles is a good long haul. If they went that far east, then they did so for a very good reason. Could HYPO be screwed up on the target of this big Jap operation?”

“Stranger things have happened,” said Halsey.

“Maybe the pilots got it wrong,” said Hardison, but either way, Halsey had his carriers all within arm’s reach, and now he had a decision to make.

“Let’s wait and see if the intel firms up. We’ll wait here tonight and get squadrons ready for action.”

So far things had been very quiet, but eight hours later a combat report came from Gettysburg, and Halsey’s first thought was that he had waited too long. He had images of all those Japanese dive bombers descending on the 8th Marines, and with only those two brave battle carriers there to try and cover them. Yet when he looked at the message, he realized this enemy strike could not have come off the decks of six carriers.

“Why, they got hit with a dozen Vals and a handful of Nells. There was no more than seven or eight Zeros flying cover. That had to come from Luganville.”

“Then where are those six Jap flattops?”

Halsey rubbed his chin, his eyes dark beneath those big grey brows. “Come to 45 northeast. Signal all groups to follow.”

A sixth sense told him that if the Japs were that far east, then they wanted the Fijis, and he was going to head northeast to cover those islands just in case. He was looking for trouble, but with seven carriers bearing 400 planes, he would be ready for it. Even as he gave that order, the Japanese carriers were turning southeast, intending to interpose themselves between the American carriers and the troop transport convoy, which Yamamoto was taking further east towards Wallis and Funafuti Islands. That was going to set up a collision at sea, and it would all happen on the 17th of March.

“1908?” said Volsky. “I feel a very bad case of déjà vu coming on when I hear that.”

“The root of the problem lies there,” said Karpov. They were meeting aboard Kirov, now sailing about 200 nautical miles due west of Nauru. Karpov had taken Kirov well out into the Pacific, far from Truk, Rabaul, or any sea lanes that Japanese were likely to be using. Nauru was an outlier of the Marshall Islands, which were well to the north, so it was relatively isolated. There was a small Japanese garrison there, and they had built an airstrip, but they were not concerned about discovery. The Japanese might have a few seaplanes on the island, but in the unlikely event of a search directly on their heading, they would see the plane long before it ever got close to them.

“Our plan to try and cleanse this time cannot succeed.” Karpov began to summon the line of reasoning he had shared with Fedorov. “It was long odds to simply get Takami, but now look, we’ve another entire Japanese task force out there, and getting all those ships is not likely. I had to use a nuke just to survive our first encounter with them, and consider the impact that could have on this time if we fail to sink each and every ship.”

“Yes, this is certainly a complication we never expected,” said Volsky. “Can we kill them? Captain Gromyko, what do you think?”

“I got Takami, and I could have probably put that other destroyer down too—the Takao. But we didn’t engage, and for good reason. There were still a lot of other ships out there, and they all carry helicopters that can find and kill Kazan. Even if I evaded, how many more ships do they have? I only have so many missiles, and it can take a good many to kill a single ship. If you order me to engage, I will get you one or two more, but I cannot promise you I can get them all, or even find that carrier.”

“You see?” said Karpov. “And if their carrier survives, it will wreak havoc here. It could devastate the American fleet—change everything.”

“So your solution is to shift backwards and leave this task force here to do exactly that? I don’t understand.” Volsky folded his arms.

“It’s simple, Admiral,” said Karpov. “We have no real assurance that we can get all those ships, and that pretty much rips our little plan to shreds. So we can’t do what we planned here in 1943. We simply don’t have the power. Even if we did sink all those Japanese ships, what about Volkov? Yes, we have a contract out on him now, but that might not work. He’s a very clever and crafty man, and his security is very tight. How long do we wait while we run one operation after another to try and get him? But even that is irrelevant, because if we did kill him, his Orenburg Federation will still be there, and someone else will just take over. There’s simply no way we can cleanse this meridian of Orenburg. I knew this all along.”

“Then why were you so eager to sign on to this plan?” asked Volsky.

“That’s simple—to make certain our Captain Gromyko here would not do what he was sent here to do. I had no desire to get into a shooting war with Kazan.”

“So you went along only to save your own skin?”

“Correct. Then we get F-35’s in the sky, and I knew at that moment that the entire plan was doomed to fail. We can’t fix things here, but in 1908, we become all powerful.”

Volsky took a long breath. “We moved heaven and earth to go back there and get to you,” he said, just a little anger creeping into his tone. “We saved the ship, and we thought you were dead, only to find you survived to work your way into this history again. So now you are head of this Free Siberian State, and it surprises me to hear you suggest that we go back to 1908 and make certain that state never arises.”

“Anything else we do is a half measure,” said Karpov. “Yes, I’ll miss my little throne here. Being head of State is rather comfortable. At one point I decided I would do better here than I could anywhere else. I decided to stay and fight my war here too, to live or die here, come what may.”

“And now you are willing to give all that up; forsake the power you’ve worked so hard to grasp here?”

“It was rather self-serving,” said Karpov. “Listen to our Mister Fedorov. He’s figured out more of this than you may care to hear. Once he warned me that we might do something, change some key event, and it would mean that the future that arises never conceives a ship like Kirov. How’s that for a nice humbling experience. Yes, I was having a good deal of fun sailing about and bullying the Japanese Navy, and I was only getting started. Now, however, that navy can shove back, and I’m not one to flirt with death. Are you?”

“So this is all just to save your skin again, this time from the Japanese.”

“Think so if you like, but realize that anything we do here is futile. It will never be enough. Understand? 1908 is the only place where we can get a real lever on these events. From there we are powerful enough to change everything. We can eliminate Mironov—Sergei Kirov. Sadly that will put Stalin back in the picture, but Stalin wins this war, as we all know. We can also get Ivan Volkov before he ever builds his Orenburg Federation, and so we solve that problem very easily. Yes, that means the Bolsheviks unite all Russia, as in the real history, and that united Russia defeats Germany. Doing this is the only way to reset the clock, and get the history back on the right track—and that history is what gives rise to Kirov.”

Volsky had to admit that this was true. From 1943, they could simply not accomplish their desired mission. From 1908, it seemed a simple affair. “Fedorov,” he said. “What is the plan?”

“We haven’t really finalized that yet sir. This meeting was the first step. It’s something we all have to agree upon and support.”

“Well how in the world would we go there? You know how risky it is to use that old control rod.”

“You mean Rod-25?” said Karpov. “Yes, I have it here aboard the ship, but it isn’t the old rod. It’s practically unused. In fact, it has only been used once, to bring this ship here from 2021. Remember, this isn’t the original Kirov, and not the old Rod-25 either.”

“So you think we can dip that rod and it will simply take this ship back to 1908?”

“I do.”

“But why? It could take us anywhere, just as it did before.”

“I don’t think so. Look, this situation needs resolution. Time has been slapped around and bent over the couch by us for long enough. If we expose ourselves in another shift, and with the intention of resolving this nightmare once and for all, then I think she’ll cooperate. 1908 is the only place where we can fix things. I know that, Fedorov knows it, and so does Mother Time. So yes, if we shift, that’s where we’ll go. I’m sure of this. Fedorov, tell him. Tell him about this Absolute Certainty.”

The Admiral looked at Fedorov again, one eyebrow raised.

“It’s a concept from Dorland’s Theory of Time,” said Fedorov. “It’s easy to see that we have all been Prime Movers in creating this history. Each one of us has thought to shoulder the blame. I thought it was all my fault, Karpov will say it was his doing, and you will think that you are to blame. In any case, we did change things, and that means we have power—real abiding power to influence events. Dorland calls us Prime Movers. If we set our minds on something, the theory says that a condition of Absolute Certainty arises. This is why Karpov believes we’ll get where we intend to go if we try a shift—to 1908. But it will take all of us together in this to create that condition of Absolute Certainty.”

“So you say if we all agree, then our combined will forces things?”

“Correct,” said Karpov.

Volsky smiled. “Unless a Japanese task force has a modern carrier with F-35 stealth fighters. Didn’t we all agree on the previous plan? What happened to your Absolute Certainty in that?”

“Interesting,” said Fedorov, looking at Karpov. “That’s a good point. We did set our minds on one goal, but now we’ve come to the conclusion that it is fruitless.”

“So the same thing could happen with this new plan,” said Volsky.

“No…” Karpov’s voice was quite firm. “The previous plan failed because I knew it was futile from the beginning. I was merely paying it lip service. In fact, I simply wanted to use Gromyko and Kazan to help me get rid of Takami. Then we got… complications.”

“Quite a confession,” said Volsky. “So you were never really on board. This is what you say now? And this is why there was no real combined intention on our part that could win through.”

“Admiral, you are very astute.”

“But now you are convinced that this new plan—1908—is the only solution.”

“Well can you think of anything else? Solve it then. You come up with a plan that gets Volkov, removes his Orenburg Federation, expels the Japanese from Vladivostok and all our other territories. And don’t forget beating the Germans in that too.”

“Alright… I admit that 1908 is a decisive year, and that from there we can have a profound effect on how the timeline moves forward.”

“I knew that the moment I first found myself there,” said Karpov. “And if we decide to go, we’ll get there. Hell, Fedorov got there all on his own, even against my direct order, and with no Kirov, and no Rod-25 at his command. He got there on a goddamned blimp! How’s that for willpower? Well, I could do the same. In fact, I could get there in seventeen little steps, if I wanted. You forget about Ilanskiy.”

“Suppose this is true,” said Volsky. “Suppose we do get there. When do we arrive? Fedorov has said we cannot go to a time where we already exist, so how could he go back there again?”

“I was only there very briefly,” said Fedorov. “I was there on June 30th, the day of the Tunguska Event, perhaps for just an hour. And I returned again, present through July 1st, and with a mission very much like the one Karpov suggests in mind. But…. I failed.”

“And you were also there on Anatoly Alexandrov, and then we were all there for those unfortunate events off Iki Island.”

“We’ve worked out the dates,” said Karpov. “I arrived on the 10th of July, 1908. To my great surprise, Fedorov contacted me by shortwave on the 17th of July.”

“Yes, the Anatoly Alexandrov shifted back on that day, and for another 48 hour period. That’s how we discovered where you were.”

“And I was there through the 25th of that month,” said Karpov, “so those dates are out for me.”

“Then when would we appear if we attempted this?” asked Volsky. “Assuming time cooperates with us as you believe.”

“We would have that window, from July 2 through the 10th,” said Fedorov. “Then the next opportunity would not occur until after we finally attempted our shift home, late July of 1908.”

“And where would Volkov and Mironov be by then? You both may think we have all the time in the world, but we could do this thing and still show up late…”