Thayne
Posts: 748
Joined: 6/14/2004 Status: offline
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Thursday, December 11, 1941 Henry: Man, I feel rotten. If my last letter was a bit rambling, it is because I am under the influence of some Jap sympathizer flu virus. I had somebody put a cot and a case of Coca Cola for me in the communications building while I negotiated with the various factions in this fight. Except, nobody stopped to think that if somebody asks for a case of coke, they might also need a bottle opener. Losses Naval • AK Taurus. Cargo ship trying to escape the Philippines, caught between Mindanao (the southernmost Philippine island) and Palau (Jap island to the east). 4 Torpedo hits, sunk almost immediately. Air • Bombardment attack on Manila. Zeros shot down 5x P-40s. 4x Betty brought down by AA. Fighters were flying CAP too high to intercept bombers. • Naval bombardment of Del Monte Airfield (Cagayan base, N. coast of Mindanao Island, Philippines). Severe damage to airfield, but no effect on the bombers. Gains None Leadership: Malaya Army I have heard enough to remove General Percival from command of the Malaya Army. I am not saying that the harsh criticism that I have heard about him is justified. At this point, it does not matter. The people working under him do not trust him, and that is not what the Malayan army needs right now. When I asked for a list of likely replacements, I was surprised to find a "Colonel C.E. Wavell" on the list. I have no idea why a Colonel's folder would be in that stack. However, as it turns out, he seemed to be just the person that I would like to see in that position. Starting tomorrow, I have been promised that I will see an entirely new strategy on the Malayan peninsula. I have been promised a long conversation with Colonel Wavell this evening to discuss his plans. I think that I want to pull the Prince of Wales and Repulse into the defense of the Dutch East Indies, rather than keeping them bottled up at Singapore. Oh . . . that reminds me. Submarines and seaplanes have spotted a Japanese fleet sailing out of Camranh Bay, Indochina, that looks more than a little threatening. They report transports escorted by at least three battleships and a like number of cruisers. They gave me course and speed, and my guess is that they are heading for Kuching. We received intelligence reports on the first day of the war saying that there were plans underway for the occupation of Kuching, so this would not be a surprise. I asked the Dutch to send a few submarines into the area to intercept the landing force. It will not be able to stop them, but it may make the attack a bit more painful than it otherwise would have been. Dutch East Indies After extensive conversations with the Dutch, I think I have convinced them to make some changes in their defense. They will be pulling some units they have on the fringes of their country and pulling them in toward the center in order to bolster their defense. Specifically, they have sent troop transports to Padang and Palembang on the southwestern coast of Sumatra to pick up the garrisons for these ports, and to take them to Bali. Bali has the potential to be a significant thorn in the Japanese side, if it is properly garrisoned. It also has the capacity to operate a sizable air force for the protection of eastern Java. Also, as you know, I had given a lot of thought to how I would defend the Dutch East Indies from a Japanese attack, and another useful piece of real estate I discovered in my studies is Aru Island. The main benefit of this island is that it does not seem to suffer from the problems with malaria that inflicts other south sea islands. I am not sure why this is the case, but the research that I have done seems to consistently identify this island as free of the disease. It is perfectly situated to be able to protect Darwin and the north coast of Australia from the Japanese. Or, alternatively, to be used by the Japanese as a place of relative safety against Darwin. The latter is not something that I want to see happen. Phiippines General Thompson has decided to try to hold out as long as he can on the Bataan Penninsula. He has already succeeded in getting as much food and ammunition as he could out of Manila and into supply caches in this area. He also managed to get the 71st and 11th Philippine Army Divisions out of Tuguegarao and on the road to Clark Air Force Base. Landings earlier at Vigan threatened to cut these units off. That risk has been seriously reduced. He has also called for the 41st Philippine Army Division to retreat to Bataan from Naga to help secure the Bataan defenses. He reports that he has some fear that the Japanese might land somewhere between Manila and Naga and, thus, cut off the southern force. Yet, he does not wish to abandon the southern fortress entirely, so this is a compromise position. The Bataan Penninsula is a fairly thick jungle, where it is believed that a determined defender can hold up for a long time. Thompson says that he will try to keep the Japanese army tied up until April, giving us some time to build up our containment line. I can only assume it is difficult to go out and lead an army that one knows is going to lose. What we will see at Bataan is something akin to the Alamo, with the number of holdouts in the tens of thousands. These people know they have lost, yet they are determined not to give up. I mentioned above, that the Japanese are taking steps to eliminate the Del Monte airstrip at Cagayan. This airstrip was supposed to be the home of the bombers because it was supposed to be safe. It proved to be a little less safe than expected, with Japanese surface ships shelling the airfield. Intelligence reports have also reached me that Japan has a task force at sea heading to Davao, on the large southernmost island of the Philippines. Landings are also planned for Lingayan, north of Clark Air Force Base on the northern island. It's a bit frustrating, knowing all of these things, and being able to do so little about it. Hawaii The Japanese carrier force seem to have disappeared. Whatever that force was that cut south between Hawaii and Pearl Harbor, it has since turned west and vanished. Patrol planes flying out of Johnson and Midway have lost track of it. As a result, Admiral Nimitz is starting to take moves to establish a more secure defense for the islands, and to secure the naval route to Australia. He has ordered the 3rd and 4th USMC Defense Battalions loaded up onto transports. One of those battalions will go to the Line Islands south of Hawaii, unloading at Christmas Island and the Line Islands. He's sending the carriers south as well, to escort the ships. The quest to try to find Japanese submarines around Pearl Harbor has proved fruitless, and I am starting to think that this is because they are not there. Nimitz has had minesweeper task forces sailing all over the islands without sign of a contact. Airplanes spotted a sub about halfway between Pearl and Johnson Island, but that still leaves the Hawaiian home waters fairly secure. In order to expand the range of searchplanes, Nimitz sent seaplane tenders to Kona (on the southern tip of Big Island) and Lihu (100 miles east of Pearl Harbor) with a squadron of PBYs to look for Japanese ships. Two more transport ships headed off to Hawaii from San Francisco yesterday, taking the southern route. If AK Aldeberan does not make it to Hawaii, it is hoped that this second ship will succeed. Japanese Air Force Japanese airplanes came out in force yesterday. • 52x Betty, 48x Zero from southern Formosa for Manila • 3x Tojo, 24x Sonia from Amoy to Hong Kong • 47x Sally from Phnom Phen to Kuantan (central Malaya) • 14x Sally, 47x Lily from Kompong Trang to Alor Star (N. Malaya) A lot of the Japanese Betty bombers seem to be missing. I have some reason to believe that what I thought might have been a Japanese move to reposition its forces was, in fact, a spat of bad luck in the weather. They simply could not get off of the field. However, the weather seems to have moderated somewhat, allowing the Japanese to fly again. Maryland I have been getting some pressure to scuttle BB Maryland and to put the resources required to repair it to work on other, more productive projects. BB Maryland is certainly in very bad shape. It's going to take a lot of work to get it back in fighting formation, and the effort we put into salvaging BB Maryland is work that is unavailable for other projects. All of this is perfectly true. But, this is not a game of mere numbers here. We have to keep in mind that there are human emotions involved as well. Right now, I am able to honestly claim that, though Japan did damage several of our battleships, none of those ships were actually sunk. Well, technically, Maryland is sitting a bit deep in the mud right now, I am of the opinion that if you can still walk on parts of the deck without getting your feet wet, the ship is not actually "sunk". If we scuttle BB Maryland, this will certainly hit the press. The American public will know of one lost battleship. Worse, the Japanese will see this as a partial success. When it comes to the Japanese, I do not want to add one iota to their morale or confidence. I want them to be asking themselves, "What went wrong? Why did we fail?" I can do that best as long as I can honestly say, "We lost no battleships at Pearl Harbor." So, I am not scutting BB Maryland. At least not yet. In a year or so, it will not matter. Maybe, then, I'll say that it is not worth any more effort. For now, however, we are keeping the ship. New Orleans I hear that the government of Louisiana has passed emergency legislation to build a new cruiser. In case you were too busy to catch this item in the papers, they authorized the formation of a committee to sell a special issue of war bonds, which will be donated to the Federal Government to pay for the construction of a new Baltimore class Heavy Cruiser, to be named the USS New Orleans. I would like to know why the legislature for the state of Louisiana thinks that what I really want with that money is another cruiser. Give me an aircraft carrier; that will make me happy. Well, the will of the people and all that. I'll take the cruiser, happily enough.
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< Message edited by Thayne -- 3/8/2005 3:52:12 AM >
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