John Schettler - 1943

“MacArthur was quick to clarify his position last week,” said King. “He says he never had any intention of striking at Rabaul before we had obtained favorable positions in the Solomons and on the east coast of Papua New Guinea, but that isn’t going to happen any time soon.”

“Agreed,” said Nimitz. “Frankly, all this talk of an offensive now is premature in my view. We still haven’t licked the Japanese Navy, and until we do that, our own carriers won’t be able to go after places like Noumea and beat them down. So it’s going to come down to another big rodeo with the Kido Butai, and this time we’ve got to come out on top.”

“Right,” said King. “With the addition of the three new Essex Class carriers, we’ve reached parity again. We can out build them, which argues we might continue to wait for more carriers to gain an advantage, but we’ve been dragging our feet long enough. I’ve obtained permission from the President and Joint Chiefs to commit the Navy to offensive operations. The only question now is where?”

“Let’s look at this from the other side,” said Nimitz. “What will Yamamoto do? He’s taken Ceylon, and that really has the British up in arms, and he’s reinforced his troops on Fiji. It’s clear that they mean to consolidate and hold everything they’ve taken. Noumea is getting more supplies to sustain that operation, and they’ve started moving fighters from the New Hebrides to Nandi and Tavua on Fiji. At the same time, they’re starting to build up forces at Tulagi in the Solomons.”

“So we have to hit these operations, and strike at his line of communications to Fiji,” said King. “That’s where he’s placed most of his chips. The Japanese have more ground troops there than they have in all the rest of the south. I say we try and saw off that tree limb, and cut the supply lines to Fiji.”

“Their base at Noumea is a good location for logistical support. They run supplies down from Rabaul through the Coral Sea, and then from Noumea to Fiji. They moved bombers there, but it’s still too far for them to really bother us in the Fiji group. For that, they’ll need to build up in the New Hebrides, and so I think we ought to hurt them right there, at Efate and Luganville. Tulagi is secondary, but we ought to hit it too.”

“So what do you propose?”

“I’ll want the new Essex Carrier Group under Halsey, and have him move down to Baker Island. Spruance has the Enterprise and Hornet there, and that will give us all five fleet carriers. As for the escort carriers, I’ll send them in as advanced scout groups to try and locate the enemy carriers before they find us first. I’ll form up the fleet carriers here, northwest of the New Hebrides. That will put them outside of the range of Jap air power in the Fijis and Noumea. We pound Efate and Luganville, and put a stop to their development of those bases. That will get their attention, and they’ll likely come at us from the west of those islands. Remember that little affair the first week of the war with the Pensacola Convoy? That just might be a template for how this thing could shape up—the Second Battle of the New Hebrides. Rey, that’s the center of the board. Hell, if I had those two Marine Divisions free, that’s where I’d hit them next, and forget about MacArthur and his delusion of taking Rabaul for at least another six months.”

That put a light in Admiral King’s eye, for it was a plan he had contemplated himself, and Nimitz had come to the same conclusion. If the Navy was going to have any offensive punch beyond hitting enemy ports and airfields, it needed those two Marine Divisions, and free and clear of MacArthur’s interference. Yet there was MacArthur, clamoring for carriers, planning his attack towards Papua, as if the Fiji problem was simply beneath his notice, something the Navy had done to encumber his Army divisions with garrison duty.

“The only way we’d be able to free up the Marines is if MacArthur agreed to take over the fight on Fiji. That would mean he’d have to bring in two of his three divisions to stand in for our Marines. You think he’d agree to that?”

“It would throw the whole ground offensive to him,” said Nimitz, “just what his lordship wants. And it would leave the Marine divisions under our control, and give us freedom to move.”

“I like it,” said King. “In fact, I had the very same idea, and now I think I’ll take it to Marshall.”

“How will you get him to agree?”

“Oh, I’m an old cuss if ever there was one. I’ll just dig in my heels and refuse to relinquish command of the Marines to MacArthur. Then, when the whole thing is at loggerheads, I’ll let it slip that if MacArthur and the Army want to run the show then he ought to move his own troops in. Marshall will bite at that. He’s a master of the art of compromise. If I let slip that he has an opening there, he’ll run with it.”

“Good enough,” said Nimitz. “But realize this will delay things a bit. It will take time to swap out divisions, even if MacArthur agrees, so that means we’re likely looking at January of 43 before we can roll.”

“The carriers won’t be ready till then anyway.”

“Yes, but realize this would mean MacArthur would also have to abandon his idea about moving through the Coral Sea to Papua New Guinea.”

“Well, all we can do is offer the compromise. Let’s see what Marshall and the Joint Chiefs say about it.” King knew the final decision would have to rest there with the Joint Chiefs.

“You realize this also assumes we can control the waters around the Fiji Group during the transition,” said Nimitz.

“We’ll just have to time it right, so we’ll need good reconnaissance. The Japs have been rotating carriers to cover Fiji, but occasionally they pull everything back to Truk or Rabaul. We find a window like that, and Spruance can move in quick from Pago Pago and we can get the 25th Division to Suva. The Marines can get on those same boats and off they go. Give them a few weeks in Samoa to rest up, bring in the 2nd Marines, and we’re ready to go to bat against the Japs with more punch than just those carriers.”

“That’s where this business regarding Efate and Luganville matters,” said Nimitz. “If they take the bait and move the Kido Butai in to contest that operation, then we damn well have to beat them there. If we don’t, then it comes down to the ground battle for Fiji, and we’ll have to put the Marines right back where they started. We won’t be able to cover any major move of other divisions from Australia either. So everything hinges on the carriers. We’ve simply got to win this next fight.”

“I have every confidence in that,” said King. “Halsey did a fine job when he mixed it up with the Japs. Yes, we got hurt, but he landed a lot of leather on them, and they damn well felt it. My bet is that he’ll do the same this time out. Even if we do get hurt again, he’ll hammer them darn good and send them packing for Rabaul or Truk to lick their wounds. That’s when I want those two Marine Divisions ready to move. We’ve got those three fast battleships at Pago Pago. They can lead in an assault and we can take ground.”

“In the New Hebrides?”

“Where else? If we take Efate and Luganville on Espiritu Santo, then we start flanking Noumea and also throw up a defensive front there to protect our shipping to Fiji and Samoa. With those two Marine Divisions, we can take both those islands. You know damn well the Japs will build up there soon. Their bombers can operate there and raid Suva every day. Noumea is just too far for them to do that now, and basing bombers on Fiji itself is too risky. We hit their airfields damn near every day, just like they hit Suva.”