1942 Page 9

  “I know,” King muttered.

  The truly great fear was the collapse or defeat of Great Britain. If that occurred, Spain would likely join the Axis, who would conquer neutral but pro-American Portugal and then overwhelm Gibraltar, thus isolating the Mediterranean. Should that occur, the Germans would swiftly mop up Egypt, the Suez, and Palestine. They would then link up with Japanese armies attacking Europe. On the way, it was conceivable that they would take the vast oil reserves of the Arabian Peninsula.

  The fall of Great Britain might also result in the Nazis’ taking possession of the Royal Navy, while a treaty between Germany and England could conceivably result in a pro-German Canada sharing a common border with the United States. It was a nightmare scenario in which the United States would be totally isolated.

  Great Britain and the Soviet Union must not be permitted to fall. It was as simple as that, Roosevelt thought. Why didn’t King and the others understand? Why didn’t the American people understand?

  “You know,” the president said to the admiral with a forced calmness, “there were those who said I shouldn’t appoint you to head the navy. They said that, along with irrationally hating the British, you were an alcoholic and a womanizing lecher. I said I could accept all your faults because you were a tremendous fighter. However, you must work with us to win the war in the way that is most beneficial to the United States in the long run. Admit it, Admiral, even if you wished, you couldn’t mount a relief expedition to either the Philippines or the Hawaiian islands at this time. While you may have a number of ships remaining, General Marshall still doesn’t have an army. Isn’t that true, General?”

  “It is,” Marshall said.

  The American army now consisted of more than two million men, but they were as yet untrained and ill equipped. What newspapers were calling the Arsenal of Democracy existed largely on paper and in people’s imaginations. Factories were still being converted to wartime production, and it would be the better part of a year before the newly forming army was ready for offensive operations; what trained units there were had been shipped off to England and Australia.

  Australia had been an unexpected problem. With the Australian army off fighting the Nazis in North Africa, the Aussies had quickly realized that they were defenseless against the Japanese. Thus, they had presented England and the United States with a choice: Either American troops would be sent to Australia or the Australian army would be pulled out of North Africa. In response, American troops were landing to defend Australia.

  Ironically, the navy was better off than the army despite the disaster at Pearl Harbor. Since it took years to construct a warship, it was almost providential that the buildup of the American navy had commenced nearly two years earlier. Thus, while King fretted over the limited resources presently available, he knew that the fleet under construction was larger than the fleet currently in the water. If only the Japanese would have waited, he thought bitterly, the American navy would have kicked their asses from Hawaii to Tokyo in record time. What really teed him and others off was the nagging feeling that the Japanese were really a second-rate power hiding behind the skirts of a first-rate power, Nazi Germany. The Japs had some good leaders and some good weapons, but nowhere near enough of either.

  As if to punctuate that fact, German subs were wreaking havoc along the Atlantic coast in what the Nazis called Operation Drumbeat, while a handful of Japanese subs lurked off Puget Sound, San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles. Flaming war had come to the coasts of America. Burning ships could be seen sinking off both coasts while people stood on the sands and watched.

  “The resupply convoy?” Roosevelt asked, interrupting King’s thoughts. “When will it depart for Honolulu?”

  “As soon as we determine the exact target of the Jap raiding force. It’s actually three convoys totaling more than a hundred merchant ships, and they will be escorted by twenty destroyers and light cruisers. Along with military stores, they will carry foodstuffs for the civilian population and as much fuel as we can provide. The fuel situation is causing difficulties, because we had to ensure that the ships in the convoy would be able to go to Hawaii and back without refueling from island stores. There was no point in sending fuel to Hawaii and then having the ships that brought it there guzzle it.”

  Marshall made a wry comment about a Civil War wagon train that was supposed to bring fodder to Grant’s cavalry. By the time the wagons arrived, the horses pulling the wagons had eaten it all. Roosevelt thought it amusing and ironic. King did not.

  “Then the fuel situation is truly acute?” the president asked.

  “It is,” said King. “We lost four and a half million gallons on December 7, when the Japs hit the fuel storage area. A normal shipment from the States gives the islands less than two weeks’ supply. At the rate they’ve been using up what they have left, we don’t think there’s enough to sustain operations for more than a week or ten days.”

  “Neither the army nor the navy has sufficient fuel to patrol efficiently and still have enough to fight a battle,” Marshall added. “Although, for once, the two services are cooperating in their efforts.”

  About time, Roosevelt thought. Germany and Japan were the enemy, not the other American services. The president wheeled over to where his cigarettes lay on a table. He made a show of lighting one to hide his concerns. King’s comment disturbed him deeply. A week or ten days was all the fuel they had? The convoy had to get through, and the buildup had to begin immediately.

  But, of course, nothing could happen until the Japanese raiding force came and went. “What about Hawaii, Admiral?” Roosevelt asked. “Have they been warned?”

  All potential targets have been warned in such a manner as not to betray that the information came from Magic. Fortunately, the Japanese are not all that concerned about radio silence at this time, so we’re able to report on their buildup in a general and logical manner. We’ve said nothing about any infantry being onboard; that would be too much detail and could give away the game. We hope that can be inferred by our people. At any rate, it is far more important that the secret of Magic be kept.”

  “What arrogance,” Roosevelt hissed. “The Japs will pay for this.” He then dismissed Marshall. King remained alone with him.

  “Tell me, Admiral, are you with us or against us?”

  King flushed. “With you. You’ve given me an opportunity, and I will not fail you.”

  “Good. While I respect your opinions and wish to hear them, I desire and require your utmost cooperation. You must understand that the decision to implement Rainbow 5 has been made and is no longer an issue.”

  “Yes, Mr. President. You are aware that everything you said about me, the drinking and the skirt chasing, is all true, aren’t you?”

  “Yes. Rest assured, Admiral, I do not promote people on their worthiness for sainthood. If I did that”-he chuckled-”we’d never get anything done around here.”

  As the admiral exited the White House, he saw General Marshall standing by King’s staff car.

  “Did you notice how he looked?” Marshall asked.

  King had. “He looked fatigued, almost exhausted. This whole thing must be a terrible strain on him,” he replied.

  “Yes, although I fear it may be more than that. He is not a well man. The effects of the polio have weakened his body, and the pressures of running a war are starting to pile up on him. I point this out so you will know how important it is to not aggravate him unduly. If you think he is wrong, speak it, but don’t push for a Pacific-first war when he cannot give it to you, even though he wants nothing more than to exact revenge on Japan for Pearl Harbor.”

  “I know.” King sighed. He then told Marshall of his brief conversation alone with the president.

  “Good. Think about something else. If something happens to FDR, then who becomes president?”

  King paled. “Henry Wallace. Good God, General, the man’s almost a Communist.”

  Marshall smiled. “I wouldn’t go quite
that far, but he is quite a liberal, and he does seem to think that the sun rises and sets on Joe Stalin and the Soviet Union. Let’s face it, under a President Henry A. Wallace, it is unlikely that you would get a rowboat for the Pacific while the Soviets were in any danger whatsoever.”

  “True enough,” King admitted. Roosevelt had earlier agreed to an aggressive defense and had also sent a few additional warships to the Pacific. Not enough to take on the Jap fleet, but at least it was something. This conversation with Marshall was the second lecture he’d received this day on the need to be a team player. He would do it. He would swallow the bile of having to let the Pacific wait and to aid the British and Soviets instead.

  God help the Philippines and Hawaii, he thought. On the other hand, God help the United States if Henry Wallace ever became president. Why the hell hadn’t Roosevelt taken more care in selecting someone who was only a heartbeat away from the presidency?

  CHAPTER 6

  Is Captain Jake Novacek entered the small, cluttered office at Hickam Field, he started to report formally to his new commanding officer in G-2, the Intelligence Department. Before Jake could utter a word, the colonel behind the paper-strewn desk scowled and abruptly waved him to a chair.

  “Novacek, you are the sorriest sack of shit I have ever seen. You are the biggest mistake West Point ever made, and you could spend an eternity with those bars on your shoulder and you still wouldn’t be a gentleman. Not only that, your reports are pure, unadulterated bullshit, and they are so barely intelligible that I wonder if you speak English at all.”

  “I’m glad to see you too, Colonel. I was beginning to think you didn’t like me anymore.”

  With that, both men laughed and shook hands. Colonel Joseph Lawton Collins was forty-six, a man of medium height and a trim, athletic build. He had a square, solid face and clear eyes that hid a wicked sense of humor. Joe Collins had been an infantry tactics instructor at the academy, where the two men had formed a close friendship. Collins had admired the grim determination of the young cadet Novacek, who would not take the easy way out by resigning and returning to his old NCO rank when things got tough.

  Collins offered a cigarette, which Jake accepted. “Jake, it’s good to see a face I recognize and trust around here. I’m not an intelligence man, I’m a line officer,” he told the junior officer.

  Jake understood. “I heard a rumor you actually told General Marshall that you didn’t want any more Washington desk jobs and he listened.” Putting Collins in a desk job was akin to caging a tiger.

  “It’s close enough.” Unsaid was the fact that no one demanded that the army’s chief of staff do anything.

  “Are you on his list for general?”

  Collins smiled. “I’m supposed to get my star in March.”

  “Congratulations in advance, then. I wish I could get on Marshall’s list, although with my luck, it’ll be his shit list. In a little while I’ll be the oldest captain in the army with an academy ring.”

  “I know,” Collins said. “I got an earful from General Short and Colonel Phillips about your report that the local Japs were harmless. A lot of people aren’t all that happy that you were right and that you went on record about it. On the other hand, telling the truth can turn out to be a virtue.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Collins leaned back in his chair and grinned smugly. “Do you know Ike Eisenhower?”

  “I met him once, I think. Wasn’t he MacArthur’s chief of staff?”

  “Ike’s a temporary brigadier general in War Plans in Washington, and very high on Marshall’s list. I wouldn’t be surprised if he got a lot more stars before this mess is over. At any rate, just before the attack, someone on Short’s staff, maybe Phillips, sent Ike a copy of your report with a notation that this was the kind of asshole Short had to work with and could Ike help them replace you with someone who could actually think.”

  “Jesus.”

  “Ike got it just a day or two before the Japs attacked, remembered it, of course, and gave it to Marshall, who wondered why your assessment wasn’t believed, especially after it turned out to be correct. According to my sources, Marshall is really pissed off at Short for losing his air force by parking it close together on the ground. If the planes had been dispersed, as you and others had recommended, then the Japs wouldn’t have been able to paste them like they did. At any rate, Jake, you are not on anybody’s shit list, and both Marshall and Ike are a little intrigued about you.”

  Jake laughed. “You mean I may make major before the war’s over?”

  Collins gestured for Jake to close the office door. “Nothing’s official, but don’t be surprised. It might not come until Short’s relieved, but that shouldn’t be all that much longer. Short’s just being kept on until the situation stabilizes, then he’s gone. Keep this under your hat, my friend, but Major General Delos Emmons will replace Short, and I will replace Phillips as chief of staff around here. It’s not exactly a combat command, but, with the Japs just over the horizon, it’s the next best thing.”

  Collins ground out his half-unsmoked cigarette. “Now, off the record, what the hell is going on around here? I’ve only been here a couple of days, and I don’t know who I can trust. Hell, I don’t even know if the Japs are going to attack or not.” He gestured angrily at the stacks of paper on his desk. “And what am I to make of all this crap?”

  “First, you can trust Bicknell,” Jake said. Bicknell was a lieutenant colonel and the number two man in G-2. “Bicknell’s like me. He’s a little too rough around the edges for Short’s taste. He was a cop in civilian life and doesn’t have much military background, but he’s good. When you relieve Phillips, he can take over here. For the time being, do what Fielder did and let Bicknell do all the work.”

  Collins nodded. Short had a reputation for appreciating style over substance, and it was rumored that the deposed G-2, Colonel Fielder, had been given his job because he was sophisticated, suave, and a good dancer, and that he knew little about intelligence work. The point about dancing was significant because Fielder often wound up taking Mrs. Short to social events when the general was too busy.

  Collins glared at the papers on his desk as if they were the enemy. “Is any of this important? I’ve glanced through it, and most of it seems to be from old ladies seeing Japs on their beaches or parachuting onto their roses. There are more alleged sub sightings than the Japs have got subs. What the hell’s going on?”

  Jake shrugged. “Overreaction and a little panic, causing excessive imagination. When the Japs come, they’re not going to skulk around, like these reports indicate. Any Jap saboteur would have to be nuts to land now. Most of the reports you can disregard, especially the parachutes. Some of the sub sightings might be real, but nothing could be done until it’s too late, and nobody wants to waste fuel on a wild goose chase.”

  “You in good enough with the Japanese community here?”

  “Enough to know that nothing’s gonna happen from them and that no one’s hiding any spies. With the major radicals on their way to California, any Japs who would try to sneak in would have no place to hide. A lot of the people in the community really do prefer us over their cousins in Tokyo.”

  Jake wondered just where that left Toyoza Kaga. To date his information had been perfect. Would it continue if the Japanese did attack? Kaga was a survivor, and that worried Jake. How far would he go to survive? But Toyoza Kaga was one of the real leaders in the community, and Jake would continue to depend on him. What other choice did he have?

  “Okay,” Collins said. “Now, what’s your professional guess? Will the Japs attack again?”

  Jake answered without hesitation. “Yes. They’d be crazy not to.”

  “Can we stop them? What’s your assessment of the Hawaiian Division?”

  The question surprised Jake. “You’d know that better than I, wouldn’t you?”

  “First, Jake, remember that I’ve only been here a few days. Second, while I’ve read a lot of reports, I
really haven’t seen the Hawaiian Division in action. I’ve got my opinions, but now I want yours.”

  “Okay. The division is too much spit and polish and not well trained or equipped for this war. If this was 1917, they’d be in great shape. Nothing can be done about the equipment, which is as bad as everyone else’s, but the training deficiencies could be corrected. If they were going to France to live in trenches, they’d be okay. But that’s not going to happen. When the Japs come, the Hawaiian Division’s going to fight a superbly trained and highly maneuverable enemy army that’ll cut them to shreds, particularly since they won’t have any air cover.

  “Everybody keeps underestimating the Japanese military, and it’s going to cost us dearly if and when they actually do come. Somehow, we’ve got to stop thinking of the Japs as nearsighted, buck-toothed, and stupid when they’ve proven they are anything but. As it is currently configured and trained, the Hawaiian Division will fight bravely and hard, but it will be defeated should the Japs come in force.”

  Collins agreed. It had been his assessment as well. The structure of the Hawaiian Division was a relic of World War I, too unwieldy for the war of maneuver that had just occurred in France and Russia.

  To compensate for the lack of mobility, the Hawaiian Division’s four infantry regiments had been dispersed across Oahu. Two were in the approximate central part of the island, at Schofield Barracks; one outside Honolulu; and one in the north of the island, near Haleiwa’s famous beaches.

  “You agree with Short’s disposition of the troops?”

  “Yes. Under the circumstances, there’s not much else he can do. I might be tempted to have a second regiment near Haleiwa, since that’s the most logical place for a landing and only twenty miles from Pearl Harbor, but, hell, we’ve done a bad job of outguessing the Japs lately.”

  “What’s the navy doing?”

  “Bailing out as fast as they can. The Pennsylvania’s the only big ship still here, and she’ll leave in a couple of days at the most. We’ve got a handful of subs and a few destroyers, but that’s it. There are a number of damaged ships, but they aren’t going anywhere. A few navy ships are passing through from the Philippines, but all they do is use up what little fuel the navy still has. Most of the navy’s shore facilities are shutting down and moving out too. It’s a mess, Colonel, and from what I hear, the navy still isn’t patrolling more than fifty miles out. The fuel problem again. Of course,” he added ruefully, “not many of our planes are in the air, either.”