Stuart Slade: A Mighty Endeavor

The Navy delegation was sitting down. Takeda looked at them.

Isoroku Yamamoto, the commander-in-chief of the navy; a gambler, rash and erratic but brilliant. With him was Chuichi Nagumo, commander of the Kido Butai; a stolid, cautious, analytical man. I wonder which would have been the best way to order these men? Takeda thought. Yamamoto, the brilliant, incisive gambler to drive on the cautious, painstaking Nagumo or the careful, analytical Nagumo to restrain the headstrong, impetuous Yamamoto ? Then there was Osami Nagano, Chief of the Navy General Staff; a cipher who was Yamamoto’s creature and little else. Tamon Yamaguchi, commander of the aircraft carrier Hiryu . The man had a personality cult building around him for reasons that mystified Takeda . Despite what the Navy thinks, drunken oafishness and mindless aggression do not equal intelligence. The man is a peasant. Then there was Minoru Genda and Mitsuo Fuchida, the experts on carrier air operations. Finally, there were the commanders of the submarines, the land-based air force, the scouting forces and finally the Navy Minister. Ten men in all.

Accordingly, there were ten men from the Army. In Takeda’s eyes, only one of them was of any note. For him, he had respect. General Akihito Nakamura limped in, shaking aside any offer of assistance. Wounded and cut down by Thai rifle fire, then terribly burned by a Thai flamethrower, he had been written off as dead. Six Korean laborers had crossed the river late at night to bring back his body. There had been a thread of life left in it. The General had been nursed back to something approaching health, even though his injuries had left him crippled and cruelly disfigured. It took a real warrior to inspire that kind of loyalty from the lowest members of his command. In such a man, the spirit of the Samurai still lived. Takeda had ‘found evidence’ that the six Koreans weren’t really Koreans at all, but pure-blooded Japanese descendants of the troops that had fought in Korea over three hundred years earlier. As a result, they’d been reinstated as true Japanese citizens. Anybody who wished to argue would have to debate the matter with the Tokubetsu K Kempeitai .

There was one other member of the Army delegation. Colonel Masanobu Tsuji. Takeda had to make a great effort not to chuckle on seeing him. Word of the insults he had received from the Thai ‘Ambassador’ had spread around the Headquarters, though none dared laugh openly. None save the members of the Tokubetsu K Kempeitai.

Twenty men, plus two from the Tokubetsu K Kempeitai and two from the Palace. The Emperor himself was not present, of course. The recommendations of the Conference would be taken to him for his approval by the 25th man, the chairman of the Conference, Hideki T. He rapped the gavel and the meeting settled down. “We are here today to decide on whether the Navy strategic plan for a thrust against the Southern Resource Area should be expected or whether, by default, the existing operations should be continued. Admiral Yamamoto?”

“In September of this year, the large aircraft carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku will be joining Kido Butai . At that time, the Hosho and Ryujo will be withdrawn and assigned to support the Philippines operation. The campaign will open with an attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor by all six large carriers of Kido Butai . This will eliminate the American Navy as an obstacle to our assault on the southern resources area. They will be incapable of resistance for six months and, in that period, I will run riot.

“Following the attack, the 5th Army Air Force Division and the 11th Naval Air Fleet will attack American bases in the Philippines in support of an invasion by three Army divisions and one independent mixed brigade. These forces will then to attack Manila in a pincer attack. After this, the islands of Manila Bay will be taken. The 28th and 38th Army Divisions will attack the western islands of the Dutch East Indies, The 48th Division will assault Java in the central Dutch East Indies and the Sasebo Combined Naval Landing Force and 1st Yokosuka Special Naval Landing Force will occupy the Celebes. Other Navy troops will occupy minor American bases such as Guam and Wake Island.

“On land, the 18th, 31st, 33rd and 56th Infantry Division will cross northern Thailand and invade Burma…”

Yamamoto’s flow was interrupted by a contemptuous snort from General Nakamura. The surge of agreement for the General’s reaction from the other army officers went completely over Yamamoto’s head. He continued as if it had never happened. “The 5th and 18th Divisions will land in Southern Thailand and invade Malaya, advancing on Singapore. The island has no landward defenses and its fall will be quickly accomplished. The Navy will cover these operations with the surface fleet and aircraft based in Indochina.”

Yamamoto’s voice droned on, describing the naval groups and logistics side of the operation. Eventually, he summed up. “And so, within six months of commencing operations, the entire southern resource area will be in our hands and we will be able to resist any counterattack.” He sat down to ecstatic applause from the Navy. The silence from the Army ranks was deafening. They were mostly interested in continuing the war in China. This southern adventure was a distraction made tolerable only by the need to seize the resources they needed for the China campaign.

Time to inject a little reality into this fantasy . Takeda thought as he turned to Katsuyori, his aide and long-time comrade. “I wonder if General Tojo would find an up-to-date assessment of the forces we will face if this plan is executed of value.”

Katsuyori gave the appearance of careful consideration. “I think he would. It is fortunate we have two maps available. I suggest we use one to show the situation in June 1940 and the other today, almost a year later.”

The others in the room swallowed their annoyance at the exchange. It was well-known that the Tokubetsu K Kempeitai rarely talked to lesser mortals. They discussed things amongst themselves and others were, sometimes, allowed the privilege of listening. That was all.

“An excellent idea. Very well. A year ago, India had three squadrons of its own, all equipped with biplanes from the 1920s. There were eleven RAF squadrons; six with the same obsolete biplanes, two with Vildebeest torpedo bombers in Singapore and three squadrons of Blenheim bombers, one in India, one in Burma, one in Malaya.”

Takeda put three blue circles on the June 1940 map. “Less than fifty modern aircraft and no fighters at all. That has all changed. The RAF and Indian Air Forces have effectively merged and they have been reequipped. They now have ten squadrons of fighters, all equipped with Mohawk IVs. Two in Ceylon, two in Singapore, one in Malaya, one in Burma and four in northern India. The two torpedo bomber squadrons in Singapore have equipped with DB-7Cs. There are six other DB-7 light bomber squadrons; two in Singapore, the rest in Malaya, Burma and Northern India. They have two maritime reconnaissance squadrons in Ceylon; one with Hudsons, one with Catalinas. Their air force continues to expand as more pilots are trained or arrive from Britain.

“It is the same with their Navy. A year ago, three old cruisers and a halfdozen destroyers. Now, a battleship, two carriers with fighters and torpedo planes, a dozen modern cruisers and two dozen or more destroyers.” Takeda finished putting blue circles on the 1941 map and it already was starting to look crowded.

“In the Dutch East Indies, it is the same position. In 1940, nothing but a handful of old biplanes, mostly dating from the 1920s. Now, over a hundred modern monoplane fighters, including Brewster Buffalos, Hawk 75s and Curtiss-Wright Demons. Two more squadrons of DB-7C torpedo bombers and over a hundred Martin medium bombers.” More blue circles joined the Indian ones.