1943 (Kirov Series Book 27) Read online

  Kirov Saga:

  1943

  By

  John Schettler

  A publication of: The Writing Shop Press

  1943, Copyright©2016, John A. Schettler

  KIROV SERIES:

  The Kirov Saga: Season One

  Kirov - Kirov Series - Volume 1

  Cauldron of Fire - Kirov Series - Volume 2

  Pacific Storm - Kirov Series - Volume 3

  Men of War - Kirov Series - Volume 4

  Nine Days Falling - Kirov Series - Volume 5

  Fallen Angels - Kirov Series - Volume 6

  Devil’s Garden - Kirov Series - Volume 7

  Armageddon – Kirov Series – Volume 8

  The Kirov Saga: Season Two ~ 1940-1941

  Altered States– Kirov Series – Volume 9

  Darkest Hour– Kirov Series – Volume 10

  Hinge of Fate– Kirov Series – Volume 11

  Three Kings – Kirov Series – Volume 12

  Grand Alliance – Kirov Series – Volume 13

  Hammer of God – Kirov Series – Volume 14

  Crescendo of Doom – Kirov Series – Volume 15

  Paradox Hour – Kirov Series – Volume 16

  The Kirov Saga: Season Three ~1942

  Doppelganger – Kirov Series – Volume 17

  Nemesis – Kirov Series – Volume 18

  Winter Storm – Kirov Series – Volume 19

  Tide of Fortune – Kirov Series – Volume 20

  Knight’s Move – Kirov Series – Volume 21

  Turning Point – Kirov Series – Volume 22

  Steel Reign – Kirov Series – Volume 23

  Second Front – Kirov Series – Volume 24

  The Kirov Saga: Season Four ~1943

  Tigers East – Volume 25

  Thor’s Anvil – Volume 26

  1943 – Volume 27

  Kirov Saga:

  1943

  By

  John Schettler

  Kirov Saga:

  1943

  By

  John Schettler

  Part I – The Admiral’s War

  Part II – Everything Honorable

  Part III – Gung Ho

  Part IV – Shattered Gem

  Part V – Grim Reckoning

  Part VI – Shadow Fleet

  Part VII – The Rose

  Part VIII– In Flanders Fields

  Part IX – Eye of the Storm

  Part X – Assassin’s Creed

  Part XI – The Missing Egg

  Part XII – As You Like It

  Appendix:

  Order of Battle – Fiji Campaign

  Author’s Note:

  Dear Readers,

  Here we go into 1943, and with a book that will be exclusively devoted to action on the Pacific Front. If any of you happened to pick up the Roll of Thunder/Sea of Fire battle book duo, then with this book you will have the entire Pacific theater subplot in hand from Pearl Harbor to this action in January 1943.

  We’ll begin here with the strategy the US devises to begin offensive operations, as they have been pushed as far as they can afford to go, and can yield no further territory to Japan. Now it is time to fight back, and so in this volume we will be returning to the major ground battles fought on Viti Levu in the Fiji Group, and the subsequent naval engagements fought to support that battle.

  But the Americans have built up a great deal of strength through 1942, both with land forces and in the Navy. In this altered meridian, the arrival of each Essex Class carrier is accelerated by about 3 months, but as you will see, the Japanese also have a few tricks up their sleeve. I’ll also lay the groundwork here for a lot of new planes on both sides that will soon be entering the war.

  The year ahead is going to be very busy, as we now have both Patton and Monty gearing up for a big push on Tunisia. That will be next, and then it will be followed by the Spring thaw in Russia, and the Germans once again transitioning to offensive operations on the East Front. While the Soviets staved off defeat with Zhukov’s stunning winter offensive of 1942-1943, the battles to be fought in 1943 will decide the fate of Sergei Kirov’s Soviet Union, and by extension, they could very well decide the outcome of the entire war.

  I’m looking forward to writing it all for you, and as always, the major characters you have all come to know and love will play prominent roles in all this action. One last note… Somebody finally got the Kirov series in to Wikipedia! Halleluiah! You can check out the link here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirov_(novel_series) , and I am very grateful to whoever it was out there who took the time to do this. Thank you! - John Schettler

  Part I

  The Admiral’s War

  “I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast,

  for I intend to go in harm's way.”

  —John Paul Jones: 16 NOV 1778

  Chapter 1

  The plan that had brought the Admirals together had been a long time coming, first hammered out in the shipyards as the workers hastened to get new carriers to sea; then hammered out between the senior officers on every side, eventually refereed by Roosevelt himself.

  It was a plan as much born of necessity as it was from any sense of strategy. The enemy had pushed as far as the Allies could permit, and there was no more ground they could afford to give. That was as true now in the Pacific as it had been for the Russians that winter. It was time to dig in, to hold on, and then to start pushing back.

  At the Washington conference in early December of 1942, the Allies had met to discuss strategy in the Pacific, and assign responsibilities for the defense of that area. At that time, the 180th meridian, which was the dividing line between the east and west hemisphere, was selected as the demarcation point. The US would defend everything to the east of that line, and the Commonwealth everything to the west. That soon became impractical, when it was seen that the real thrust of the Japanese offensive fell to the west of that line, and that the Commonwealth was wholly incapable of stopping it. Now Admirals King and Nimitz had to decide how to intervene, and more, how to prosecute this war against Japan.

  It was Napoleon who once remarked that: “The passage from the defensive to the offensive is one of the most delicate operations of war.” Now King and Nimitz had to undertake that operation. They had done everything possible to defend the few islands that still remained, and with the overall goal of keeping the vital lines of communications open to Australia. There sat MacArthur, simmering and steaming, writing off directives and demands for the eyes of Roosevelt himself. To take that passage from defense to offense, there were two clear routes open that became the subject of heated discussion.

  MacArthur wanted to use Australia as his springboard to attack Papua New Guinea, then seize the Bismarcks, advance up the eastern coast of New Guinea to then attack the Philippines, followed by Formosa. This would not only eliminate the strong Japanese presence in these areas, but also cut off all the Japanese possessions in the Dutch East Indies, and establish a link to China, where it was thought that the US could then assist the Chinese War effort against the bulk of the Japanese Army on the ground. Yet to Nimitz and King, that road looked like a long and difficult slog against the bulk of the Japanese forces committed to the South Pacific.

  “Halsey had just enough force in hand to stop the Japanese,” said Nimitz, “but it cost us Lexington, Yorktown, Saratoga, and Wasp. Thankfully, we hurt the enemy too, and they lost four of their big carriers as well. So you might call it a draw, but it was a near run thing. We were barely able to get enough forces to Fiji in time to stop them from taking Suva. Now, however, the buildup there has led to parity, and with the arrival of 2nd Marine Division in theater, we’ll have an edge for the first
time on the ground.”

  To get that edge, the Army had contributed the 23rd “Pacifica” Division, which had once been called the “Americal” Division in the old History. It was holding the south coast of the island, along the important Queen’s Road that connected Suva to the west coast ports of Nandi and Lautouka. The Army 37th Division, the first to arrive in early 1942, was now holding the large secondary island of Vanua Levu, where the US was actively building numerous airfields to insure air superiority over the islands, even if no US carriers could be on hand. That was an expedient forced upon them by the fact that the carriers lost in the early actions had so diminished US naval power, that the fleet had to be withdrawn to Pago Pago in the Samoa group, and Tahiti.

  “Now we have three divisions tied down in the Fiji Group,” said King. “They put in two on the main island, the 38th and 48th, all troops they used to take the Philippines. After what they did to MacArthur in the Philippines, I’ll be honest and say I had my doubts we could hold Fiji at all.”

  “Our Marines are tough hombres,” said Nimitz. “That was what made the difference. And this time we have enough fighters at Suva to contest and hold the airspace over that island, but that may not last forever.”

  “Alright,” said King, “So we laid on the ropes for the last half of 42. Now it’s time to start punching again. But we may have to land one on MacArthur’s chin before we get things moving. First off, he wants command over the whole shebang, including our two Marine divisions. Well, to hell with that. I’ve insisted that you be named overall commander of all naval forces, and that includes the Marines. The Army can follow up and occupy positions we take, and MacArthur can run that operation.”

  “MacArthur won’t like that one bit,” said Nimitz. “He’ll say we’re trying to steal the whole show out here and relegate the Army, and his own illustrious self, to a secondary role.” He’s been insisting on his drive to Rabaul, which is complete lunacy at this stage. We can’t contemplate such moves until we have Fiji and Noumea. Can you imagine trying to lift three divisions out of Australia through the Coral Sea with Japanese air power right there in New Caledonia? It’s madness.”

  “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 tho
se 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.”

  “It’s risky,” said Nimitz. “If we put those Marines into the New Hebrides, we’ll have to be able to support them.”

  “That’s why this next carrier fight matters so much. In the meantime, I’ve got to win the fight against MacArthur first.”