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RE: Dear Readers

 
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RE: Dear Readers - 3/10/2005 3:03:07 AM   
benway9

 

Posts: 133
Joined: 6/4/2002
From: New York City
Status: offline
i have to say that i find this the most entertaining AAR running. kudos to you Thayne. i have been reading your stuff since your previous effort. i like the style you use. strangely enough, it makes my immersion into my own games easier.

keep up the good work

benway

(in reply to Thayne)
Post #: 91
Introducing Thayne - 3/11/2005 4:56:40 AM   
Thayne

 

Posts: 748
Joined: 6/14/2004
Status: offline
My partner is still out taking care of business-related business.

So, I decided that I would provide you with a bit of insight concerning Thayne -- the character in the AAR, not me.

If you are one of the other contributors to this AAR, you might find this particularly valuable.

If not, it may be entertaining.

Enjoy.

Thayne


***********************************

There is no shade on Canton Island that man did not create. Even the few palm trees were imported, planted by a shipping company that had leased, and then abandoned the island.

Ethan Lynde -- "Thayne" to all who knew him -- found his shade under the wing of a PBY named "Lesley." His pilot, Frank Martin, had parked the plane at the end of the pier, facing into the lagoon to allow for a quick escape in case of attack. This put the wing of the PBY over the end of the pier.

"Thayne" was not the only pseudonym that the man used. His last name also hid his identity. Normally, his name would have been spelled "Lin" in English, but he adopted the Scottish spelling to avoid questions that would have otherwise caused problems.

"Lin" was the name that his grandmother had brought across the Pacific in 1850. This was the time of the great gold rush, and Chinese by the boatload saw as much opportunity in the new world as Europeans.

At the time she made the journey, Thayne's grandmother was not yet out of her teens. Mike Fitzroy, the owner of the Orient Steamer that her family booked passage on, found her quite attractive. By the time they reached America, he had negotiated with her grandfather to have her sign on as a part of his crew. She would become his personal servant, and translate for him in business dealings back in China.

Once in San Francisco, he set the rest of the family up with jobs and a place to live, then loaded up with supplies and started back to China. He did not like his new young servant's Chinese name, so he took to calling her Princess. In time, nobody remembered her by any other name.

Princess learned English quickly, and started her service as Fitzroy's translator immeidately after arriving in China. Also, during the trip, she had become his lover, and bore him a child before her first year of service was through.

Fitzroy did not want to publicly acknowledge the child as his own, and refused to give the boy a name, except to insist that the boy be called William. That also happened to be the name of Fitzroy's father, who had served as a naval officer in the War of 1812.

Trade during the Civil War years made Fitzroy wealthy, and the completion of the transcontinental railroad gave him a wealth of new markets for his Chinese imports.

As William grew older, he began to take over many of his mother's responsibilities. He proved to be easy to like, and a shrewd negotiator. Fitzroy was soon letting young William negotiate deals on both sides of the Pacific. He also made arrangements for William to marry into one of the most politically influential families in California. At the wedding, Fitzroy gave William a substantial portion of the Fitzroy Shipping Company. Many suspected that it was the easiest way for Fitzroy to arrange for William to inherit the company without formally mentioning him in a will.

Ethan was born into a world that had one foot firmly planted in the shipping business, and the other in politics. William still traveled to the orient arranging business deals for Fitzroy Shipping. His stops included Russia, Japan, and the European colonies, as well as China. He took Ethan with him and introduced the boy to influential people throughout the Pacific Ocean.

When Ethan was old enough to go to college, William made the arrangements to get him into Harvard. In the process, he changed the spelling of Ethan's last name. Ethan was, after all, only one-quarter Chinese, and it did not seem fitting to burden him with a foreign name. On the application, Ethan Lin became Ethan Lynde. His college friends shortened his name to Thayne.

Thayne graduated from college in 1905. Shortly after that, Japan attacked Russia. When Japan and Russia accepted Theodore Roosevelt's offer to negotiate a settlement, the state department scrambled to find people who could handle the job. Young and likeable Ethan Lynde, with business associates and powerful family friends in nearly every port on the Pacific, was quickly added to the delegation.

State department officials were more than pleased with Thayne's work. Though he was young, he soon moved from negotiating peace between Russia and Japan, to negotiating trade agreements between the United States and all of the Far Eastern countries.

The Great Depression brought a sudden drop in America's interest in trade and gave rise to a new interest in the Pacific. Japan signaled its intent on expansion by taking over Manchuria in 1931. From that moment on, Japan focused on becoming as powerful as possible, and the United States adopted a single-minded determination to make sure that did not happen. Thayne stood in a world between them.

At the age of 61, Thayne's graying hair had taken away the last remnants of oriental appearance. He stood shorter than most men, and had a darker complexion, but that could easily be taken to be signs of a Mexican or Mediterranean heritage, or Native American.


Radio operator Lieutenant Joe Hammond stepped out of the PBY and offered Thayne a dispatch. Thayne read it, and smiled.

"Good news?" asked Hammond.

"What do you think?" Thayne asked.

"I suppose, if the Aussies don't press for the 9th Division for six months, that takes some of the pressure off."

"The Aussies are not going to give us six months," said Thayne, handing the paper back. "The instant the Dutch army surrenders on Java, or Japan lands troops at Port Moresby, Curtin will call the 9th Division back to Australia, and there will be no talking him out of it. That won't take six months."

Hammond gave a sympathetic sigh.

"He might even be playing games with us," Thayne added. "If we forget about the 9th Division, then it will be available for Curtin to call on when one of those two events happens -- unless we can extract from him a promise to leave it in Africa no matter what happens in Australia before then."

The radio operator was about the only person Thayne could talk to. He had two guards who flew around with him, whose duty was to guard the plane more than to guard him. His pilot and copilot and their navigator were responsible for flying the plane, and knew nothing about the messages that its passenger sent and received. Hammond knew everything.

Yet, the message did take away some of Thayne's pressure. If Curtin was no longer threatening to call the division home immediately, Thayne did not need to devote his energy to preventing it. Thayne, too, had been given until the fall of Java or an attack on Port Moresby -- rather than the end of the week -- to arrange a peaceful settlement.

He stood up from his typing, stretched, and looked out across the island that surrounded him. Parked within the calm lagoon of the atoll, he could not look any direction without seeing land, except for a few small gaps in the atoll off to the west.

He put on his hat, buttoned up his shirt, and straightened his tie. He then reached into the plane and took his coat off of a hanger and put it on.

Hammond watched, shaking his head. Thayne put a great deal of stock in appearances and first impressions. Whenever he appeared in public, he was as well dressed as the opportunity allowed, regardless of how uncomfortable it made him. Even his shoes were polished.

Thayne headed off down the pier. Without a word, one of his guards stepped up behind him, following by a few paces, firearm at the ready.

On his way to shore, Thayne passed another PBY. A mechanic stood on the wing, wrestling with a stubborn bolt inside of an exposed engine. He and his partner were replacing the spark plugs and performing other routine maintenance. Most of the PBYs stationed at the island were out looking for a Japanese fleet. Each day, one or two stayed behind for maintenance.

The mechanics laid each part they took off the plane on a canvas in a simple array. Each part would go back in reverse order, and nothing would get lost. Thayne nodded a polite greeting as he walked by, but did not distract them with conversation. Thayne stepped carefully past them, and continued on to shore.

Where the pier met the coral sand, Thayne stepped between a pair of 40mm AA guns placed to protect the seaplanes. A three-man crew worked at each gun to grow the sandbag walls around it. He gave those who looked at him a friendly smile, and paused. He knew that they would think of the well-dressed man on this remote island to be odd, and perhaps eccentric, so he stopped for a moment.

One of the soldiers noticed, and snapped to attention with a salute.

"You don't have to salute him," said a companion. "He's a civilian."

Sheepishly, the young soldier let his hand fall.

"I appreciate the sentiment," said Thayne. "But it is I who should be saluting you. Don't think for a moment that I don't know the sacrifice you boys made to be here." He put his hands in his pockets, and acted as if he found something unexpected there. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes, then offered them to the least friendly looking soldier in the crew. "Do you want these? I don't smoke."

The soldier said "yes" with a wide smile, and took the gift. Thayne tipped his hat to the soldiers, and continued up the beach.

He avoided the buildings of the Pan Am complex. In the mid day heat, the buildings would be turning into ovens. Instead, he headed over to the mess tent. It stood with its sides rolled up to let the breeze pass through. Unfortunately, that breeze had crossed a thousand miles of ocean to reach the island, and could not possibly hold another drop of water. Sweat collected on the bodies of the soldiers gathered there and rolled off of them.

He passed a soldier laying on a makeshift bench reading a paperback book. After catching the soldier's attention, he tipped the book back a bit to get a look at the cover. THE VESPER SERVICE MURDERS.

"You're into spy stories?" Thayne asked.

"It's not a spy story. It's a murder mystery," the soldier answered.

Thayne looked at the title again. "I'm thinking about the later books. I think, in the next one, Hugh North starts working for G2. That's military intelligence."

"I guess," the soldier answered with a shrug. "My girl sent this to me. She said she would rather have me reading than looking for something else to do. Nobody thought I would be out here where there's nothing else to do."

"Your girl?" Thayne asked.

"Nancy," he said, putting the book down and quickly sitting up. In an instant, he had his wallet in his hand and was showing Thayne her picture.

"Nice," Thayne said. "You're lucky."

"Yeah," was all the boy could muster.

"I would take her advice," Thayne added. "She looks like she's worth it." I left him to his book. He seemed a little sadder than he was as he put his wallet away.

Thayne helped himself to some water and took a biscuit from a permanent stack of biscuits on the first table. Then he found an isolated corner of the tent and sat down, leaning back against a pole and closing his eyes.

He could hear his guard, no more than ten feet away, shifting his weight and standing ready to deal with any attacker.

While he sat, his mind raced through his memories of the communications he had received to date. Both the Australians and the English seemed to be unusually cooperative today. It made him nervous. The English were blaming Percival for inadequately preparing Malaya for the Japanese attack, rather than Thayne for mismanaging its defense. Thayne felt grateful, but wondered if he could have done more. A persistent thought had nagged him recently that, maybe, he could have gotten a cargo ship or two to the island before Japan took it, or used destroyers to take in extra supplies.

"It's too late," Thayne reminded himself. He realized suddenly that he had actually spoken the words, though not too loud. He opened his eyes. Nobody seemed to have noticed.

He caught Lieutenant Hammond coming toward him, holding a briefcase. For an instant, Thayne thought of running and hiding, but he forced himself to stay put.

Hammond took a seat across the table. Thayne dug a key out of his pocket, opened the case, and removed a single sheet of paper.

He read it through.

Then he read it again.

After looking around to see the distance of the nearest soldier, Hammond whispered, "I don't get it. We all know the Japs have an airbase at Tarawa. What does it mean that they hear radio broadcasts south of Apamama? It could just be Japanese scouts."

"Or it could be the Japanese carriers," said Thayne, tossing the paper back into the case. He took his hat off and set it on the table, than ran his hands through his sweat-soaked hair. "Or it could be that the Japanese think that we think they have left, and we are going to do something careless."

He sat up straight and looked at Hammond directly.

"It means, I think, that they're coming back."

< Message edited by Thayne -- 3/11/2005 4:07:39 AM >

(in reply to benway9)
Post #: 92
RE: Introducing Thayne - 3/12/2005 2:04:40 PM   
Raverdave


Posts: 6520
Joined: 2/8/2002
From: Melb. Australia
Status: offline
From: John Downer

Principle secretary to the Prime Minister

Department of the Prime Minister. Canberra.


Mr Thayne.

I am writing to you to express the concerns of the PM in regards to the poor situation in Singapore. I need not remind you that we have two Brigades fighting there, in what seems by all accounts a fight that cannot be won. Now while it is understood that there is little if anything that can be done to reverse the situation or indeed to even relieve the forces there, it nust be brought to your attention just what the impact will be here on the home front if Singapore should fall.

It has also been expressed that all efforts should be made to ensure that Lark Force, NGVR and the 101st RAAF base engineer unit are removed from the current situation that they find themselves in. To that end oders have been issued to these units to move towards Gasmata to await evacuation to Port Morsby. If needs be ships from the RAN will be used to transport them.

On the good news front, the 30th Australian Brigade has all but completed there training and will soon be ready for service overseas. It is thought that they will best serve the allied interests by being used in New Guinea and to this end movement orders have been issued to the unit's commander to prepare for embarkation from Sydney. Could you please arrange for shipping to be made available for transportation?

As you will already know, your 808th Engineer Battalion is currently unloading in Brisbane. I understand that the Mayor is planning a parade through the city as well as giving the keys of the city to the 808th's commanding officer. However there is still a problem with the fact that this unit has some black other ranks and this is bound to cause us some problems so could you ensure that leave is not granted to these troops just yet? The government would prefer that the unit simply reboard the ships and head strait to Port Morsby as was oringinally requested. Are we able to make any head way on this issue?

While we are on the subject of American units in Australia I must ask the question, what ever happened to the 26th USA FA Brigade that was expected in Brisbane? Victoria Barracks reports that there is no sign of this unit enrout to Australia. Is this true? Have they been re-tasked without consultation of this government?

It also seems that the British are up to their old tricks again, this time in regards to Royal Australian ships. HMAS Nestor, HMAS Napier, HMAS Nizam and HMAS Norman were due in Australian waters within the next one to two months, however it now seems that these ships have been tasked to India. Could you please use your contacts within the British government to ensure that they are returned to Australian without any further undue delay?

The Dutch units that are currently based in Alice Springs, while welcome as there are, are placing an undue strain upon the local resources of that small township, preventing RAAF units from being based there in readiness for future operations up north. I would suggest that these units would be better serviced if they were re located to Adelaide and Perth rather than clogging up the airfield at Alice Springs.

As most of the DEI is now under air threat from the Japanese, it is doubtful that we will be able to gain any further purchases of oil from that region, therefore it is hoped that we can increase our request of oil from the US from 50,00 tons to 100,000 tons? This oil is desperately need for our local industries and will go along way in seeing us over the curret shortage that we have found ourselves in.

Once again I will repeat my opening concerns in that I still fear for what might happen should Singapore fall, well to be exact, what the PM may do if such a catastrophe should come to pass, can you please relay to your government the serious concerns that the PM has about this?

Yours Sincerely


John Downer

_____________________________




Never argue with an idiot, he will only drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

(in reply to Thayne)
Post #: 93
To Gen Brooke: 01/13/1942 - 3/12/2005 5:15:13 PM   
Thayne

 

Posts: 748
Joined: 6/14/2004
Status: offline
To: General Brooke
From: Thayne

Singapore will fall within 48 hours.

This is the official estimate I have received from my staff.

Japan is already scouting future targets. Japanese scout planes have been spotted over Bankha, Padang, Palambang, Batavia, Tjilitjap, and Soerabaja.


Implications

As you noted, the loss of Singapore will end our control over the sea routes into the Indian Ocean. It is urgent that we consider how we are going to handle the disposition of our forces in India and Burma if (when) Japan gains access.

AS soon as this happens, shipping in the Indian Ocean will be in peril. This includes the use of cargo ships to deliver supplies from Karachi and Bombay to Diamond Harbor and Chadpur.

Presently, every effort is being made to move as much supply to the Calcutta region of India as quickly as we can, to build a stockpile. Our largest problem is moving these units inland, preferably to Dacca and Calcutta, where they will be less threatened by a Japanese landing in this area. The Southeast Asia Headquarters, presently at Dacca, is working on this problem, but having limited success.

In talks with General Pownall, commander of the Southeast Asia forces, we are presently considering the formation of a reserve force at Bombay, consisting of the 18th UK Division, several troop transports, plus cruisers and destroyers. In case of an attack on Ceylon, this group would be able to quickly move the 18th UK Division in as reinforcements.

Also, frighters that are presently travelling from Karachi to Diamond Harbor singly, may have to be formed into convoys once Singapore falls. Any ship at sea would be able to complete its assigned mission, but future efforts to supply Bombay by sea should take the form of a convoy under the protection of British carriers.


Japs: 13, RAF: 0

I thank you for the fighters. However, I have just received a report that has me worried that the Hurricane fighters, regardless of their merit against German air craft, may not have an advantage over a Japanese Zero. I am referring to the report of the attack on Mandalay, where just this morning, where 232 Squadron suffered the loss of 6 airplanes without inflicting a single casualty on the Japanese.

If the Hurricanes prove no better than the Buffalo, then it is safe to say that we have no air defense in India still.

Also, as you know, General Pownall took the risk of sending two squadrons of Buffalo fighters to Singapore in the hopes that the Japanese have become complacent and the airplanes could get a few kills. We noticed a few unescorted bomber strikes yesterday and sought to take advantage if the Japanese should try the same today.

The Buffalo suffered the same fate, losing 7 airplanes, again without inflicting a casualty on the Japanese. And they were not even fighting the Zero. They went up against Japanese Nate fighters.

With the loss of Singapore expected within the next 48 hours, we have once again withdrawn the two squadrons to Burma.


I cannot tell you how concerned I am that we have nothing in India that seems to be able to stand up to the Japanese airplanes.

In light of these results, I am seriously considering your request for the 24th Fighter Group presently in the Philippines. They shot down another 4 Zeros today with a loss of two of their own. However, giving the Japanese free reign in the air over the Philippines will only hasten the loss of this island.


Philippine Update

In the Philippines, the American and Philippino forces are presently involved in a pitched battle both in Manila and in the region around Clark Air Force Base to the north.

Manila is being defended by 15,000 soldiers, who are facing a Japanese force three times their number. Clark AFB is being defended by the bulk of the allied infantry in the region -- 50,000 soldiers facing a slightly larger Japanese force. While these battles continue, other units in the Philippines are busy building up a fortress on the peninsula of Bataan, where the units are determined to make their last stand.

There are still 40 serviceable airplanes in the Philippines providing air support. I mentioned above that the 24th Fighter Group continues to perform miracles. I have considered having the American Volunteer Group in China join them, but Chang Kai Shek will not stand for it.


Return of British Ships to Ceylon

Finally, I have given talks to A.P. Wavell, due to take over command of the ABDA Region on the 15th of January, about the disposition of the Java fleet. He has agreed to dispatch the following British ships to assist in escorting the Australian 7th Division from Ceylon. These are:

CLs Durban, Dragon
DDS Express, Electra, Tracian, Thanet, Tenedos, Scout

They will first arrive in Perth, Australia for fuel, then make the trip to Ceylon.

If you have not been so informed, DD Thracian suffered a fire in its engine room last week and is in need of some repair. It is still capable of participating in combat. Its speed has been slightly impaired by the damage and there is fear of the situation only getting worse until repairs can be affected.


Again, my principle concern is that we do an effective fighter in India to deal with the threat of the Japanese Zero. I am wondering if there is any chance that we could try out some of your Spitfires in this capacity.


Until later.

Thayne




Attachment (1)

< Message edited by Thayne -- 3/13/2005 1:48:34 AM >

(in reply to benway9)
Post #: 94
RE: Introducing Thayne - 3/12/2005 9:05:34 PM   
Herrbear


Posts: 883
Joined: 7/26/2004
From: Glendora, CA
Status: offline
I love your background on Thayne. It really brings him alive.

(in reply to Thayne)
Post #: 95
Tuesday, January 13, 1942 - 3/13/2005 3:17:44 AM   
Thayne

 

Posts: 748
Joined: 6/14/2004
Status: offline
Tuesday, January 13, 1942

Henry:

Summary

• The Royal Air Force got itself royally mauled, losing 7x Buffalo and 6x Hurricane fighters without bagging a single Japanese airplane. Details in Brooke letter.

• G2 has lost the Japanese carriers. Their best guess is that they are near Makin Island in the Gilberts.

• Bombardment missions against Rangoon being cancelled due to high casualties.


India: Slaughter of British Fighters

You will find attached (above) a letter to General Brooke describing the situation in India, including the loss of 13 British fighters to 0 Japanese fighters today. That letter also discusses the situation in the Philippines.


Japanese Carriers Missing

G2 tells me that they truly have lost track of the Japanese carrier force. We have put up an alert that they may appear anywhere – that we can expect a Japanese raid on any port in the South Pacific at any moment.

If I were to offer a guess as to where they are, at this point I would say northeast of Makin Island in the Gilberts, heading toward Johnson Island. Unfortunately, this is where we have three of our carriers, preparing for the operation to occupy Baker Island.

I am wondering if it is possible that Japan knows where these carriers are and intends to destroy them there. I wish that the Japanese would go to India and leave us alone over here for a couple of months.


Nimitz

If Admiral Nimitz ever asks for permission to speak freely, say, “No.”. All day today he has been speaking freely. And, to be honest, he did not even ask.

He dislikes the fact that I have consistently demanded that he hold his fleets back. He is anxious to take the action to the Japanese. Plus, he has Halsey shouting in his ear, and Halsey, it seems, is furious about the fact that we have not yet sent our carriers to bomb Tokyo. I worry that he is a bit reckless.

I am going to continue to insist that we hold our fleets in reserve until we know more about the disposition of the Japanese forces. There will come a time to risk our carriers, but it will be at a time and place when they have an opportunity to inflict even greater damage to the Japanese.

We have a double-shift of planes on search patrol out of both Johnson Island and Palmyra to cover this approach, looking for signs of the Japanese carriers. If we find them, my orders will continue to be to preserve the carrier force for future operations.

We reached a compromise of sorts. There is a cruiser convoy bringing supplies that had been detoured away then the Japanese carriers showed up. I told Nimitz to land the supplies, and to bring in a transport ship. These people do need fuel, ammunition, and better food than we have been getting. However, I stressed to him again that he is to keep all carriers and troop transports a safe distance until we know more about where the Japanese carriers are.

He wants to attack. And, honestly, I would like to support him.

Between us, we are working out a compromise. We have agreed that we have to agree to something by tomorrow night.


Rangoon

I received a communication from General Pownall a short while ago specifying that he intends to end the air campaign against Rangoon. The losses have been excessive.

This did not make it into my letter to General Brooke, but I suspect that Pownell himself will inform his superiors of this.

The bombers will instead be prepared to act against the Japanese infantry if it should decide to head north. We agree that it is vital to the future security of India that we not allow Japan to block the movement of nine Chinese “divisions” presently en route to Myitkyina, Burma.

According to our estimates, the first of these Chinese “divisions” will reach Myitkyina on or about February 1st.

If Japan starts to move north out of Rangoon, the bombers in India will immediately go to work attacking these formations as they march up the few roads in Burma, blowing bridges, and interdicting supplies and reinforcements.

If the Japanese decide to stay in Rangoon and move no further north, then, as soon as the Chinese units have reached their destination, we will once again set up air strikes against Rangoon.


Later

Thayne


< Message edited by Thayne -- 3/13/2005 1:49:06 AM >

(in reply to benway9)
Post #: 96
Wednesday, January 14, 1942 - 3/13/2005 3:38:40 PM   
Thayne

 

Posts: 748
Joined: 6/14/2004
Status: offline
Wednesday, January 14, 1942

Henry:

Summary

• I had an ‘intense discussion’ with Nimitz today. I fear he may resign.

• Manila, Philippines no in Japanese hands

• Japanese submarine destroyed at Lihu


Nimitz

I had my promised discussion with Nimitz today about the Central Pacific strategy.

Nimitz is most upset about my orders to hold the carriers back. Nimitz holds that carriers are offensive weapons and are to be used as such, and does not like them sitting in the rear.

For the record:

CV Saratoga is east of Canton Island covering the ships that contain the remnants of the 2nd USMC Division and 2nd USMC Defense Battalion.

Most of these two ground units had been unloaded onto Canton Island when the threat of Japanese carriers emerged. At that time, the task forces retreated east. They, hey have been drifting, waiting for an opportunity to finish their unloading. However, because I fear that the carriers may come back, I have not allowed these task forces to return to Canton Island.

CVs: Enterprise, Yorktown, Lexington are between Palmyra and Johnson Islands.

They were put here to cover the Baker Islands landings. The troop transports for those landings are on their way to Palmyrna. They need to drop off the 102nd USN Base Force and pick up the 115th USAAF Base Force.

I was ready to give in to Nimitz, but the intelligence I am getting is just making me nervous. Observers on Baker Island report signs of two Japanese submarines. Other sources – from radio traffic to observations from our own submarines – show a substantial Japanese air buildup in the Gilbert Islands.

I could not look at this and let Nimitz go ahead with the operation.

I compromised a little.

• Nimitz is bringing TF1020 to Canton. This is a “fast transport” task force with about 1,000 tons of supplies on the decks of a dozen ships. This island really does need supplies.

• AK Steel Voyager, a large cargo ship, is also on its way here. It’s got bombs for the B-26s that we had to send south.

For the rest of it, I’m afraid I insisted on to things from Nimitz:

• Unloading the rest of the Canton Island units on Pago Pago, and not risk moving these troops forward, except by fast transport or in small groups to avoid devastating losses.

• Unloading the Baker Island occupation force on Christmas Island.

One of Nimitz’ last words to me said, “If you want command of the Central Pacific Forces, then I will not stand in your way.” He did not formally offer his recognition, but he made it clear that he was considering it.

I would consider that a terrible loss.


Manila Falls

The 91st Philippine Army Division with support staff surrendered at Manila today. They were cut off and unable to retreat to Clark AFB. This puts the port at Manila in Japanese hands. However, they cannot use it, because we still control the fort at Corrigador, which controls the entrance to the harbor.

That’s another 15,000 allied soldiers in Japanese hands.

No doubt, the 40,000 Japanese soldiers who participated in this attack will now join their comrades at Clark AFB, which will speed up the deterioration of the situation there.


Japanese Submarine Sunk at Lihu

Seaplane tender AVD McFarland, stationed at Lihu – about 100 miles west of Oahu – had a sonar target while patrolling the waters around the island yesterday. Nimitz formed up an ASW task force to have a look. They found a submarine, and proceeded to sink it. This is a confirmed sinking – the crews of the destroyers found enough debris and oil to be confident that the ship had been destroyed.


Wavell takes command of ABDA tomorrow

This is just a reminder that General Wavell takes command of ABDA region tomorrow.

I spoke with him, focusing ultimately on the inevitable fall of Singapore. Wavell tells me that, if Singapore falls, Java will not be far behind. Japan’s next target after Singapore will be Sumatra, which he cannot defend. From Sumatra, Japan will have air cover necessary for landings in western Java. If we assume that even half of the 150,000 soldiers and 200 airplanes used in Malaya are dispatched to Java, he reports that he will not be able to hold the island for more than a month.


This is turning out to be a very bad week for us.

Thayne




Attachment (1)

< Message edited by Thayne -- 3/13/2005 1:35:37 PM >

(in reply to benway9)
Post #: 97
Thursday, January 15, 1942 - 3/13/2005 6:56:39 PM   
Thayne

 

Posts: 748
Joined: 6/14/2004
Status: offline
Thursday, January 15, 1942

Henry:

Jap carriers are back

G2 reports that the Japanese carriers are once again just off of Baker Island, northwest of here.

I called Nimitz to discuss how we are going to deal with this. I made sure not to gloat. I told him that there was a lot of luck in war, and I happened to win the coin toss. I could just as easily lose the next.

Anyway, it looks like he is not going to offer to resign. That’s good news.


Prepare for Attack

Supplies

In terms of supplies, we are better off than we have been. TF1200 showed up last night carrying 1,000 tons of supplies. They parked off shore. All night long, smaller boats ran the supplies to shore. Shortly after dawn, the convoy left.

This was before we knew the Japanese were coming. But, I had my suspicions, so I had them hurry.

This afternoon, AK Steel Voyager showed up. It will take days to unload the 5,000 tons of cargo that it has in its hold. I gave in to Nimitz on this. I wanted to send the ship away where it was safe. Nimitz said that we can get at least 500 tons of cargo off the ship before the Japs attacked.

Nimitz stressed that we were taking a gamble. We could run every time the Japanese showed up, or we could take a bit of a risk. Sometimes, we will lose. But, sometimes, we will have a shipload of cargo unloaded someplace which otherwise would have been starving for supplies.

So, we have one cargo ship sitting at each of 9 different islands in this area right now; Midway, Johnson, Palmyra, Christmas, Canton, Upolu. Pago-Pago, Tongatapu, and Suva. Some of those transports may get sunk. Elsewhere, the island will have thousands of tons of combat supplies it would not have otherwise had.

I had Major Jensen, the local Marine commander, have his men work on building a makeshift pier where the beech dropped off fairly quickly. Then, at low tide, I ordered Captain Portune to take AK Steel Voyager away from the docks and ground it near that pier. He did not like it, so I took command of the ship.

I do know how to pilot a freighter.

If Japan is going to attack that ship, I did not want it sinking at the docks. By grounding it at low tide, as we take the rest of the cargo off, we should be able to sail the ship again at high tide. In the mean time, the ship can not sink (though it can certainly burn to the waterline), and we can continue to unload it.

We used the ship’s cranes to lift the drums of airplane fuel and set them in the water, where the Marines rolled them up onto the beech. We used some of them as pylons to grow the pier, where we set additional palates that was the start of bucket brigades for the rest of the supplies.

As the tide rose, we had to keep tearing the palates down and rebuilding them. A few times, a drum palate would self distruct when the weight on the palates could not longer hold the fuel drums down. I think we have a dozen men in the infirmary. One of them lost a leg when a palate of 500lb bombs broke loose. He was lucky, I assure you.

We ended up dumping a lot of stuff into the ocean. A lot of it, we just picked up, hauled to shore, and set it out to dry. Some of it, we are leaving in the ocean for now. If the salt water won’t hurt it for a day, we can haul it out tomorrow night -- provided that there are no thunderstorms, and the tide does not push it around too much.

As I write this, marines are still out there working, for the second night in a row. The pilots and AA gunners, however, are working on a good night’s sleep.

Come morning, I am sending Captain Martin and Lesley to Pago-Pago without me. Major Jensen is saving a nice spot in a bunker the Marines have near the Pan-Am complex for me. They have promised not to let me get captured, though I am not expecting an invasion – at least not here.

The Japanese may be thinking of invading Baker Island, which is fine. New Zealand has some Hudsons at Fiji that we can transfer up here, and we can bring back the B-17s of the 5th Bomber Group from Noumea. Both of them can reach Baker Island from here. It would be nice to have Japan within bombing distance.


Fighters

We also compromised wit Nimitz on CV Saratoga. I sent the ship southeast, away from the Japanese. But, while it was still in range, Nimitz ordered its fighters here. This afternoon, we added 25x F4F Wildcats to our 40x P-40 Tomahawks.

If Japan does attack, maybe we can hurt them.

We lost one Wildcat on landing. We have no idea what went wrong. The plane came in, bounced hard, went back up into the air, winged over, and crashed. The pilot was dead on impact. The explosion blew apart a second Wildcat as well. We were supposed to have 27x Wildcats. We ended up with 25 planes that could still fly.

My major worry is that replacement Tomahawks are scarce. Most of what we do have are being sent to the AVG in China, or used on the West Coast.

I would seriously recommend upgrading the 55th Fighter Group in Seattle to Warhawks, and shipping the Tomahawks they use here on Canton Island.


China: Attack on Kweilin

Japan has moved its massive infantry to Kweilin, China. I think that China’s objective is still to secure the railroad, and it will not be pursuing these units into the interior of China. The bad news is that there is still a dozen damaged P-40 Tomahawks on the runways there. We have been trying to get them in shape to fly, but the Chinese mechanics simply are not familiar enough with our hardware.

Chang Kai Shek has ordered the AVG into action to defend Kweilin. In the mean time, Chinese fighters will be defending the AVG’s home base at Kweiyang.

Before I go to bed tonight, I still have to get a letter off to secretary Downer. All of my records are with Lesley, in case somebody needs to continue on where I have left off.

Until tomorrow.

Thayne





Attachment (1)

< Message edited by Thayne -- 3/13/2005 7:22:07 PM >

(in reply to benway9)
Post #: 98
Letter: Mr. Downer 01/15/1942 - 3/13/2005 10:20:39 PM   
Thayne

 

Posts: 748
Joined: 6/14/2004
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January 15, 1942

From: Thayne

Assistant Secretary of War for the Pacific Theater


Mr. Downer

It is still my contention that questions such as the disposition of the 808th Engineer Battalion should be answered by the commander of a newly formed Southwest Pacific theater of operations, as I mentioned earlier.

In my discussions with the President of the United States and the Secretary of War, we are of the opinion that it is important, for public relations reasons, that Australia ask for, rather than have America be seen as imposing, a leader for these operations.

It is my personal opinion that this not be a mere formality, where we secretly whisper in your ear the name of the commander. Whoever leads the forces in the Southwest Pacific (include Australia, New Buinea, the Bismarck Archipellago, and the Solomon Islands) must be somebody that you sincerely believe is best suited for the task.

Furthermore, prudence recommends (though we certainly will not require) that the officer be an American. Political realities are such that an American commander will have more luck securing an increasing number of American troops, American supplies, and American money, than a foreign commander.

The American officers who would be available for that command include:


Douglas McArthur

This would be an extremely awkward choice since I relieved him of command in the Philippines shortly after the start of the war. However, I understand that he has some popularity in Australia. Furthermore, he still has a great deal of political power in the United States.

Since his dismissal, he has taken every opportunity available to him (and invented a few that were not) to to criticize and condemn every decision I have made. No doubt, he thinks that he is more fit for this job than I am. Furthermore, he believes that there is nothing more important than to take an aggressive stand against Japan, with an attack north from Australia to the Philippines, then on to Japan.


Major General C.F. Thompson

Presently commanding forces in the Philippines. Unlike McArthur, who managed to get the bulk of the Allied air power destroyed in less than 24 hours, Thompson has managed to hold an effective air force together for nearly 6 weeks with no spare parts or reinforcements. It is my opinion that he has held the army together in the Philippines as well as can be expected under the circumstances, given the shortage of supplies and other adverse conditions he must deal with.


Major General L. H. Brereton

He has commanded the air arm under McArthur. I have not had many dealings with him, but I do hear that he enjoys making plans. This has annoyed General Marshall here, who once sent a message to Brereton stating, "We need actions, not plans." However, there is a difference of opinion on this matter. Actions without plans are reckless, and can lead to a great deal of unpleasantness.

One important factor relevant to Mr. Brereton's choice is his familiarity with air combat, and air power is showing itself to have a significant influence in this war. From Pearl Harbor, to the sinking of the Repulse and Houston, the air arm has influenced this war so far more than any other factor.


Lieutenant General G. H. Brett

You will soon be meeting General Brett, whether we name him as commander of allied forces in the Southwest Pacific or not. He has recently been promoted, and named the commander of all American forces in Australia. He is presently directly responsible for units such as the 808th Engineer Battalion. Like Brereton, he has familiarity with the air arm as well, having recently served two years as the Acting Chief of Air Corps.


The choice ultimately is yours, and is not to be considered limited to the names on this list.

It is, I believe, that this issue be settled in all haste so that we can get on with the business of fighting the Japanese.


Sincerely,

Thayne

(in reply to benway9)
Post #: 99
RE: Letter: Mr. Downer 01/15/1942 - 3/14/2005 11:58:59 AM   
Andy Mac

 

Posts: 15222
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From: Alexandria, Scotland
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To: Secretary Thayne
From: Alan Brooke (CIGS)

Thank you for the comprehensive update in your last note.

I agree with your assessment of the strategic position Singapore will fall within the next day or two at most. Orders have been issued that a demolition programme is to be set and utilised when it is apparent that resistance is futile.

The loss of Singapore and Rangoon will leave a void which we will be unable to fill which will leave the rest of the DEI and Indian coast exposed.

Regarding India I am not going to second guess you and General Wavell from London but I would strongly suggest concentrating the mobile reserves of 3 Corps in the Bangalore/ Hyderabad area where they can cover Madras and Bombay.

I will try to arrange for a second Corps HQ to assemble to take over responsibility for Calcutta/ Chandpur until such time as this HQ becomes operational SEAC will have to perform double duty.

I have written to General Wavell in general his appreciation matches yours. Sumatra and Java are not capable of being defended in the long terms without massive reinforcement. I believe he will be basing himself on Java in order to more closely monitor the situation in order to assess the battle as it progresses

Re Spitfires

There are physically no Spitfires that can be transferred to India we have less than three active Spitfire squadrons in the Middle East and will therefore need to send some from the UK.

A convoy left Liverpool two days ago with 100 Spitfire Vb’s crated up with spare parts. They will need to take the route via South Africa as the Med is effectively closed at present. I estimate two months for the aircraft to arrive in India. With the short endurance of these fighters no other route than by sea is possible.

On a general note the US entry to the war while welcome from a British point of view has played havoc with our US orders. We have already been informed by the PM from Washington that Tomahawk and Liberator deliveries scheduled from US factories are being diverted to front line US squadrons. As a result the planned upgrade of several Hurricane squadrons to Tomahawks has been postponed.

While the Hurricane is our best fighter in theatre I am informed by the Air Ministry that the variants in use in India are Ground Attack variants and not air superiority fighters hence the disappointing early results. Efforts are being made to re convert squadrons back to air superioirity variants of these aircraft.

Regards

General Alan Brooke

(in reply to Thayne)
Post #: 100
RE: Letter: Mr. Downer 01/15/1942 - 3/14/2005 1:26:47 PM   
Raverdave


Posts: 6520
Joined: 2/8/2002
From: Melb. Australia
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Classification

*Top Secret*

*Not to be opened before 16th January 1992.*



Printed copy of meeting between

Mr John Downer
Principle Secretary to the Prime Minister

and

John Curtin
Prime Minister

19:00Hrs 16th January 1942



*Not to be opened before 16th January 1992.*

Australian Federal Archives Office (Canberra).


PM: Good evening John.

JD: Good evening Prime Minister.

PM: So what do you have for me tonight?

JD: Well John, I was hoping to discuss the latest letter from Mr Thayne.

PM: Ah yes.

JD: Seems that the Americans wish us to choose whom will be the over-all commander of allied forces in this region.

PM Indeed?

JD: Yes they have put forward four names, all of which are in the briefing papers that you would have received earlier this afternoon.

PM: Yes.

JD: And I must say that is a very masterful diplomatic tactic.

PM: Yes John, my thoughts also.

JD: If we choose then the Americans...

PM: You mean Roosevelt.

JD: .........er yes, President Roosevelt can then say that we having nothing more to complain about as....

PM: ..........whom ever we choose was just that, our choice.

JD: Yes John, exactly so.

PM: So John what do you think?

JD: Well there is little choice for us, Mr Thayne is somewhat insistent that we make a decision and make is fast, and I must admit to being in agreement with him. At this point we are still blundering around with little in the way of unified command, and this is leading to resources being squandered and miss used, hell just look at the bloody mess that the ABDA has left in it's path. No Mr Thayne is correct, we need to make a choice and sooner would be better than latter.

PM: Yes indeed, but which of the four should we choose?

JD: Well Brett is here in Australia now, and has been named as the over all commander of American forces in Australia, seems that he is a capable sort.

PM: Uh huh.

JD: Then there is Brereton, seen as an able planner, more than likely better suited to staff work rather than that of a commander.

PM: Yes I agree.

JD: Thompson, really good bloke from all reports, doing or was doing a wonderful job in the Philippines with next to nothing and so may seem on the surface just the sort of fellow that we are looking for.

PM: And the last recommendation?

JD: Ah yes, we come to a Mr Douglas McArthur, from all accounts he is seen as some one whom is in love with his own over blown image of himself and somewhat stuffed things up in the Philippines to such a degree that he was sacked. Not the type of person that we could really use I should think.

PM: Well lets not be too hasty John, maybe we need to think this through a bit more.

JD: For what reason sir? I don't see how this McArthur fellow could be of any possible use, why he even clashes with Mr Thayne, whom I think was secretly glad to see him gone.

PM: Really? Now that is interesting.

JD: And we must remember Prime Minister, that whom ever we choose we must be able to get on with.

PM: Indeed John, what we are look for is someone whom has the same interests as we do, namely to prevent the Japanese from landing here, but not only that, we are looking for some one whom will fight as if it is their last fight, and have the connections to get the men and material that they need to do the job.

JD: John you can't be seriously considering McArthur?

PM: More so John, infact I think that we have found our man, lets look at the pros, one, he has been dismissed in shame and so will fight not only to win, but if I read McArthur correctly, will fight to win and see his name in lights as the one person whom single handed won the fight, this is his last chance to shine and he will know that. Two, he has some very good connections back in Washington DC which will prove useful to us in our constant battle to get supplies and aircraft. Three, he has been making a lot of noise about how the war should be fought against Japan, and he is saying that the counter strike should come from the North of Australia back up into the Philippines, which dovetails with our desire to see Australia protected.

JD: But he clashes with Thayne...

PM: Which is a good thing John. If McArthur is going to stage a counter offensive from Australia, he is going to have to clash with Thayne, remember John, Thayne is an American whom will be looking at the big picture, the American big picture, McArthur will be looking at only his own picture, which just happens to fit our needs also.

JD: But will we be able to control him?

PM: You miss the point John, we don't want to control him, we want to let him loose. No I think that Mr McArthur is the men that we want. Let Thayne know, and also advise him that Blamey is to be commander of Australian forces, second in command to McArthur.

JD: Yes Prime Minister.

_____________________________




Never argue with an idiot, he will only drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

(in reply to Thayne)
Post #: 101
Friday, January 16, 1942 - 3/15/2005 4:23:09 AM   
Thayne

 

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Friday, January 16, 1942

Henry:

Battles

Canton Island

• Allied air losses: 8x P-40B, 10x F4F
• Allied naval losses: AK Steel Voyager
• Japanese Air Losses: 2x Zero

Clark AFB

• Allied Air Losses: 4x P-40B, 6x P-40E, 4x P-26A, 3x P-35A
• Japanese Air Losses: 7x Zero


I was attacked!

The Japanese carriers struck right here at Canton Island today.

It was not the 135 Kate bombers they used at Rabaul. It was about 50 bombers (evenly divided between Kate and Val) with an escort of nearly 50 Zeros. At least, that’s what the intelligence officers, who have been debriefing people since the attack was over, have told me.

They went after AK Steel Voyager with a vengeance – treating it almost like they thought it was an aircraft carrier.

I said that I beached it where the ocean floor dropped off quickly, to get it as close to the shore as possible. The stern was still in deep enough water for them to get three torpedoes into it.

I had no idea what a torpedo could do to a ship!

They plastered the whole area with bombs. A lot of the supplies that I said we stored in the water went up as well by near misses.

However, we had abandoned the ship before the attack. More important, the Japanese were so intent on sinking the ship, they left most of the base installations alone. Our runways, beach defenses, and anti-aircraft guns are almost entirely intact.

I can’t say the same for our air force. That was depressing to watch. Officially, we have 18 pilots missing.

Intelligence tells me that the Japanese paid for their attack with the loss of 2 Zeros.

The ground crews and pilots are claiming more, of course. However, G2 says that they only have confirmed reports of two planes shot down. Those are cases where two or more people who had no contact with each other reported seeing the same thing.

This is pathetic. It is almost enough to make a grown man cry. We had everything we needed here. We were ready for them.

They just flew circles around us.

I bet, when this war is over and we can get a look at the Japanese naval records, we’ll discover that they won’t have even had an inkling of a suspicion that, on January 16th, the Japanese carrier-based air units were ambushed at Canton Island.

Only Three Carriers

G2 is also telling me that the Japanese only used the planes from three carriers in this attack. They are still trying to work out which ones. However, judging from the markings on the planes and the numbers involved, this was not the full force that the enemy could muster.

So, we still need to figure out where the other enemy carriers are.

It also means that, if we had enough supplies here to have equipped the bombers, we might have been able to get through and do some damage to them. But, the Japs drove our ships away before they could unload any of the good stuff.

AK Steel Voyager Wrecked

By the way, the damage was so extensive, that there is no hope of salvaging any of the cargo off of AK Steel Voyager. Three torpedoes destroyed the last half of the ship, and it was hit by so many bombs that there is nothing left to salvage. If anything survived the attack, the fires took care of them.

It’s a relic for the tourists to visit after all of this is over.



Fighter Sweep at Clark AFB

The Clark Field attack was a fighter sweep. There were no bombers – just fighters loaded for bear.

Naturally, the P-26 and P-35 fighters did not stand a chance. General Thompson informs me that he has no more P-35s to fight with, and he sent the last P-26 off to India through China. All that remains, really, is the 24th Fighter Group with a dozen airplanes, and the 3rd Fighter Squadron with a half dozen Tomahawks.

The 21st Fighter Squadron was also declared unfit for combat. PBY pilots ferried the last of the air crew to India, while the last three planes took off with the last P-26.


Singapore Lives

I think that Japan is settling in for a long siege against a well entrenched and well supplied defender. For the last two days, all they have been doing is shelling the city. Clearly, this is in preparation for an attack.

Apparently, they think that all of this shelling is necessary.

I am grateful for every additional day that the Japanese give us. If they want to sit back and shell Singapore for a month or two, that is fine with me. My official prediction for the fall of the city, then, is about 10 hours after the Japanese decide they want to take it. They will discover that they can simply roll past units that can do little else but throw rocks.

According to General Brooke, the defenders are rigging all important installations, particularly the naval yard, for demolition. They will wait until the last minute. Early destruction of the facilities will signal the Japanese that the allies have no more will to hold the place. We do not want to give them that kind of signal.


Overall

Does this not sound like it has been a depressing day? It is the second day in a row. Yesterday’s 13:0 loss against the Japanese in Singapore and Mandalay, in terms of air power, did little to boost my spirits either.

I was particularly shocked when General Brooke informed me that England had shipped the ground-attack version of the Hurricane fighters. I think we must also agree that the Warhawk is the ground-attack version of the Curtis P-40. The P-39 Aircobra is also more of a fighter bomber than an air supremacy fighter. And I would not trust the Australian Whirraway to deliver the mail.

The Tomahawk, I have been told, will only be provided in very limited numbers – so limited, that I just lost a one month quota of airplanes in one battle.

Could you not spare one squadron of P-38s? I just want Japan to get a taste of what they can look forward to in the future.


Tomorrow

I suspect that the Japanese are going to head away tomorrow. They probably think that they caught us by surprise. Now that we suddenly discovered where they are, and our airbase is undamaged, there is a risk that we can summon some bombers to this place and actually try to attack them.

They will not be around to find out.

I plan on going to American Samoa tomorrow. The Saratoga will show up there in a couple of days to pick up their fighters, and the remnants of the 2nd Marine Battalion are going to be dropped off there.

It would be a good place for Halsey’s headquarters, until we can secure the territory further west of here.

On that score, I am still concerned that no arrangements have yet been made to secure New Caledonia. We don’t have the forces to protect it. And the Australians keep dragging their feet, intent on defending Port Moresby rather than their lifeline. They told me that they have a brigade that will be completing its training shortly. They have asked for shipping to send it to Port Moresby. I will send them a letter to them tomorrow, saying that I have the shipping available, but only if they ship the unit to Noumea.


That’s it for today.

It has been a hard day.

I know that I was quite badly shaken by what I saw today.


Until tomorrow,

Thayne





Attachment (1)

< Message edited by Thayne -- 3/15/2005 3:49:31 AM >

(in reply to Raverdave)
Post #: 102
RE: Friday, January 16, 1942 - 3/15/2005 10:48:19 PM   
herbieh

 

Posts: 804
Joined: 8/30/2002
From: Sydney Australia
Status: offline
Great AAR
Great the way the game is being played, in a realistic manner
Keep it up
1st thing I do every day, is see how Thayne is going!

_____________________________

Big seas, Fast ships, life tastes better with salt

(in reply to Thayne)
Post #: 103
Jan. 17. Supplemental - 3/16/2005 3:08:38 AM   
Thayne

 

Posts: 748
Joined: 6/14/2004
Status: offline
Saturday, January 17, 1942

Henry:

I have been attacked again! This time, not by the Japanese, but by the Australians.

MacArthur?

I suppose I should learn to spell his name correctly. You know me, I've never been too good at spelling. I have always blamed it on my father dragging me around the world to every port in the Pacific, learning a half dozen different languages. I never learned any of them particularly well.

But, MacArthur?

I know, I put his name on the list. I did it to illustrate a point -- that I am serious when I say that the choice was theirs to make. I assumed that they would use this opportunity to make an intelligent choice.

This makes me question the intellect of the average Australian, or at least those that they elect into high office.

But, here's the part that really grinds my teeth. I have been bending over backwards to help them. I have worked with them for the return of the 6th and 7th Divisions, rather than having them diverted to some English cause. I have negotiated the shipment of a fourth fighter group.

They have decided to reward me by stabbing me in that very back.

I cannot think of anything more destructive that Curtin could have done. To hire the very person that I fired is to stand up on top of the tallest soap box and shout, "I hereby declare that I have no confidence in the decisions that Thayne is making about the course and nature of this conflict." Because, if I was not incompetent, I would not have fired him.

In a parliamentary legal system, when a leader gets a vote of no confidence, he resigns, and the people select a new leader in whom the people can feel confident. I know that Nimitz thinks I am too cautious, and I suspect that Churchill wants me drawn and quartered -- I know he thinks that I did not do enough for Singapore.

But, I serve at the will of the President of the United States.

I have sent a message to McArthur asking him to consider the position.

However, if I should continue in this position, then there are some rules that need to be made clear.

I do not want MacArthur to be able to requisition as much as a role of toilet paper without going through this office. If he should make any attempt at all to go around me or over my head or any direction at all other than through this office, I want that effort blocked.

The worst thing that you could do to me now is promise MacArthur the divisions for Australia that I have been asking for -- allowing him to take credit for a success where I have been impotent. If you do that to me, it will render me incapable of continuing to fulfill the roles of this office.

MacArthur will be looking for a way to shut me out and make me (and this office) irrelevant. If he is going to be allowed to succeed, then we should close this office down today and save him the trouble. If it is the will of the President that this office continue to serve in the role assigned to it, then efforts like those that MacArthur will inevitably make, will need to be slapped down and slapped down hard.

I also want it known that, I fired him once, and I can fire him again, if he should show the same lack of leadership that he showed on December 7/8, I will fire him again and this time he will stay fired.


Implications for the Strategic Situation

One mistake that I am certain that MacArthur is going to make yet again is not securing his supply lines. The greatest contributing factor to the loss of the Philippines is that Japan was able to get behind him. By capturing Davao and Julu, Japan stopped any hope of reinforcing and supplying the Philippine army. He let himself be cut off.

He is going to put himself in exactly the same situation in Australia. I have been begging the Australians to protect their supply lines -- to secure New Caledonia as a way of securing the future delivery of the men and materials they will need to fight this war. I think that I almost had them convinced to give up Port Moresby and occupy New Caledonia instead,

Now, that cause is lost. MacArthur is going to insist that the navy secure his supply lines, while he moves north. Port Moresby and Timor will likely be among his earliest targets.


New Caledonia

I cannot express the level of concern that I have that now, six weeks into this war, and I have not been able to get any assistance in controlling as vital a location to our situation as New Caledonia.

I am aware that General Patch is still working on putting together a patchwork division specifically dedicated to the defense of New Caledonia. However, I am afraid that this is going to come as a matter of too little, too late.

Somebody needs to give me something to put on that island, or Japan is going to put a very powerful guard on the doorway to Australia, and starve that country into submission. MacArthur will be moving the 38th Australian Infantry Brigade, and the 808th Aviation engineer Battalion to Port Moresby -- I am certain of that.


You will get your regular daily report at the regular time.

I just wanted to make sure that the relevant issues contained within got addressed as soon as possible.


Thayne





Attachment (1)

< Message edited by Thayne -- 3/16/2005 1:37:29 AM >

(in reply to herbieh)
Post #: 104
RE: Jan. 17. Supplemental - 3/16/2005 12:37:19 PM   
Andy Mac

 

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Joined: 5/12/2004
From: Alexandria, Scotland
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Diary Entry Alan Brooke Diaries Sunday 18th January


Good COS meeting today. PM’s latest scheme was to transfer convoy with Australian Divisions to Java. War Cabinet and COS over ruled him without even referring the matter to the Australian High Commisioner as it has no strategic or tactical value and will just lead to more troops being in the bag. Decisions made in PM’s absence expect fireworks when he gets back.

PM due back from Washington any day now. I will hopefully find out what else he has agreed when he returns.

Dill seems to think that PM has accepted that Singapore is lost .

PM is demanding an offensive from Auchinleck to exploit from Agheila towards Tripoli. Auchinleck is still very much focussed on the Persian/ Iraq front which he views as an equal priority to the Western Desert. If we lose those oil wells we lose the war.

I am concerned that we are unbalanced in the Desert. I have doubts that Neil Ritchie is up to the job after the Crusader battles. Taking Blamey out of Middle East command increases my worry about the command structure it leaves Auchinleck with no Deputy and a weak COS. But the Australians want him at home so he will be sent back.

I have asked Auchinleck for a report on the front.

The transfer of Hurricanes to Far East has denuded the Delta of fighter cover. No offensive is expected out of Rommel for at least two months and ULTRA is quiet so we should be ok but we are running a risk.

One of the three transports with Spitfires for the Far East was sank last night in the Bay of Biscay by a U-Boat additional escorts have been ordered to protect the convoy. No troopships were sank thank god.

Malta fights on. We need to get them some Spitfires to improve air cover.

(in reply to Thayne)
Post #: 105
Saturday, January 17, 1942 - 3/19/2005 5:47:29 PM   
Thayne

 

Posts: 748
Joined: 6/14/2004
Status: offline
Saturday, January 17, 1942

Henry:

• Singapore Falls. Implications for Java, Burma, and India

• Reinforcements for Week Starting January 18, including British CV and BB

• British Hurricanes lose again, 11 to 0

• Japanese Carriers Moving North


Singapore Falls

With the fall of Singapore, we should now look for the war to enter a new phase. The big changes are:

• Gen. Archibald Wavell’s ABDA Command is next

Japan wants resources, and those resources are found in the Dutch East Indies. We know where Japan is going to attack next. Balikpapan and Palembang will be the next targets, ultimately aiming at the capture of Java.

Can we hold Java with our available forces? No. Our problems are logistic. We do not have enough planes, and we do not have enough spare parts to keep the planes we do have flying. We do not have enough ships, and we do not have enough fuel for the ships we do have without sailing underneath the Japanese air umbrella. We have troops and ammunition, but nothing to support them with, at least not at this point.

The ABDA fleet has almost completely exhausted its available fuel reserves. We have a small stockpile left in Darwin. Other than that, the only way it has to find fuel is to visit a port like Soerabaja or Balikpapan. Either option would mean subjecting the fleet to a Japanese aerial attack – the same type of attack that cost us BC Repulse and CA Houston. We can expect a couple more of our combat ships to disappear, with nothing really to show for it.

The main distinguishing factor here remains air power. Japan does it, we do not. Japan can protect its ships from our air attacks, we cannot protect our ships from their air attacks. We cannot sail our ships under Japan’s air umbrella without losing them. We have no air umbrella for Japan to be concerned about.

Until we get airplanes into the ABDA Theater, Japan has free reign.

• Japan has troops available to complete the conquest of Burma.

No doubt, Japan is going to want the resources in Burma as well, and now has additional divisions it can throw into that fight. Japan may wait until Java has fallen, or it may take advantage of the fact that their soldiers are in the neighborhood and spare some troops for Burma right away.

Our main concern is with getting the Chinese soldiers to Burma before Japan closes that road. The first troops will arrive in a couple of weeks. I do not think Japan can reach Myitkyina in time to stop them. We will find out.

• Japan has uncontrolled access to the Indian Ocean

I have spoken with General Pownall about preparing the Indian Ocean fleet for the possibility of a Japanese attack. Our greatest concern is shipping to Diamond Harbor from Karachi. Since the start of the war, Pownall has been shipping supplies as quickly as possible from Karachi and Bombay to Diamond Harbor. Now, we can expect the Japanese to threaten these shipping lines.

The last 400 miles to Diamond Harbor is under the Japanese air umbrella flying out of Rangoon. This means that any ship that passes north of midway up the coast of India is at risk of getting sunk. I’m afraid that large task forces will give the Japanese air units multiple targets to shoot at. Smaller task forces will be at risk of attack from Japanese submarines.

This also means that Ceylon is at risk of attack. I am very much concerned about getting additional reinforcements to that island. Pownall has promised me that the next reinforcements that England releases to him will go there. England has made a number of promises, but no reinforcements are due to arrive in the foreseeable future.


Reinforcement Schedule

Speaking of reinforcements, it is that time of week again.

The highlights are the fact that the British are sending in CV Indomitable and BB Royal Sovereign this week, just in time to challenge Japan for control of the Indian Ocean.

The 30th Australian Brigade becomes available this week. Unless the Australians suddenly succumb to a bout of sanity, I do not expect to see these units in New Caledonia as I had hoped.

The specifics are:

Sunday, January 18, 1942

• CL Hobart at Sydney
• AK Mormaodove at San Francisco
• TKs: Deroche, La Plaontia, D.G. Scofield, W.S. Rheum, Antietam, Hadnot at San Francisco

Monday, January 19 1942

• CL Sumatra at Soerabaja
• AP President Hayes at Los Angeles
• AKs: Makena, Mormachawk, Red Jacket at San Francisco

Tuesday, January 20, 1942

• 30th Australian Bde at Sydney
• CV Indomitable at Karachi
• AKs: Mana, Mormacul, City of Rayville, Arcata at San Francisco
• TKs: Samuel Q. Brown, Dillwyn at San Francisco

Wednesday, January 21, 1942

• SS O23 at Soerabaja
• AKs: Wilhelmina, West Ira at San Francisco
• TK Empire Airman at Karachi

Thursday, January 22, 1942

• AKs: Mormaowren, West Planter at San Francisco
• TKs: Byron D. Benson, Gulfcoast at San Francisco

Friday, January 23, 1942

• 51st Aviation Regiment, San Francisco
• VP-9, 12x PBY Catalina, San Diego
• MSW Lismore at Sydney
• AKs San Angelo, American Leader, Sage Brush at San Francisco
• TKs La Purisima, Ruth Kellogg, Gulfdisc at San Francisco
• AK Empire Dryden at Karachi

Saturday, January 24, 1942

• BB Royal Sovereign at Karachi
• DD Russell at San Francisco
• TK Watertown at San Francisco


Hurricanes Lose 11 to 0

Japan attacked Mandalay again and shot down 11 Hurricanes without a loss.

In discussions with General Pownall, we have agreed to pull these two squadrons out of combat, appoint new leaders, and give them 1 week to get this unit back into fighting shape. In the mean time, the lack of fighter cover means that we also have to pull the bombers out of Burma.

This will limit our ability to hinder any Japanese advance up the road to Myitkyina.

I had no idea that the Hurricanes were this pathetically bad. In comparison, I now have pilots begging for transfers out of the Hurricane squadrons into the Buffalo squadrons. Some of my military experts tell me that the problem is not with the airplanes, but the pilots. To me, it does not matter much. What I know is that I still have nothing in India that can even start to challenge the Japanese for control of the air.


Japanese Carriers Moving North

The Japanese carrier force left the waters around Canton Island, and were spotted again east of Baker Island at Dawn. All ships within the Hawaiian Waters Defensive Triangle (Midway – Palmyra – Pearl Harbor) have been put on alert. Those ships who do not have vital duties to perform have been ordered to withdraw.

We have one operation at risk. TF1078 is delivering the 804th Engineer Aviation Battalion to Laysan Island, 300 miles southeast of Midway, to construct a stopping-off point for planes hopping to Midway. At Admiral Nimitz’ request, that operation has been ordered to continue.

Also, all supply operations at Johnson and Midway Islands will continue.

Nimitz has also ordered VMF 211 (19x Wildcat) and the 46th Fighter Squadron (23x Warhawk) to Johnson Island to intercept any Japanese attack. Other air units presently at Pearl Harbor have been put on alert.

Johnson Island has a big enough airstrip that it could provide significant assistance to a carrier battle in these waters. CVs Enterprise, Yorktown, and Lexington are close enough to be able to reach this area and intercept the Japanese.


Until tomorrow.

Thayne





Attachment (1)

< Message edited by Thayne -- 3/19/2005 8:36:16 PM >

(in reply to Andy Mac)
Post #: 106
RE: Saturday, January 17, 1942 - 3/19/2005 7:11:22 PM   
CapAndGown


Posts: 3206
Joined: 3/6/2001
From: Virginia, USA
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As an AAR writer myself I just thought I should let you know that I am greatly enjoying this AAR.

(in reply to Thayne)
Post #: 107
Letter from Curtin to Roosevelt - 3/20/2005 5:38:00 AM   
Raverdave


Posts: 6520
Joined: 2/8/2002
From: Melb. Australia
Status: offline
From:Prime Minister J Curtin

To : President Roosevelt



Mr Roosevelt,

The fall of Singapore even though it was expected has come upon this nation as a great shock. For decades now, Australia has always rested assured that Britain would be there to protect and defend this small out-post of western civilization against any threat from the north. How hollow this promise now seems.

I take no comfort from the fact that I saw this disaster coming, and if you recall even wrote to you this December just gone, expressing my concern about Singapore and it's ability to defend itself and asking you to help get our boys home. And now here we are only weeks latter having to come to terms with the loss of over eight thousand Australians. A very heavy price for such a small nation.

Looking at the conduct of the war in the Middle east and now in Asia I must seriously question the Allies conduct of the war thus far. Certainly from a British perspective it has been nothing less than a disaster, and as a result of this I find that my country is now under direct threat. The fact is now plain and simple, there is nothing between Australia and Singapore to stop the Japanese.

Australia now looks to the United States for direct support in our war against Japan as Britain is not capable of helping, regardless of the fact that we have sent thousands of Australians to Europe to help fight Nazi Germany it is clear that there will be no help coming from that quater.


Mr President, The Battle for Australia has now begun.

Sincerely

J Curtin
Prime Minister

_____________________________




Never argue with an idiot, he will only drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

(in reply to CapAndGown)
Post #: 108
Letter: Downer 01/18/1942 - 3/20/2005 9:30:53 AM   
Thayne

 

Posts: 748
Joined: 6/14/2004
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To: John Downer
Secretary to the Prime Minister

From: Thayne

By now you have likely heard of the fall of Singapore.

There is additional news that is also relevant to these developments.

• General Wavell informs me that there is a large Japanese invasion fleet in the waters just north of Batavia. G2 believes that this is an invasion fleet aiming at Batavia.

• The ABDA fleet, nearly out of fuel, is will be at Darwin in two days and will need supplies to continue operations.

• AK Bridge, containing airplane spare parts for Australian and Dutch military planes manufactured in America (e.g., the Hudson bomber) will be at Sidney in two days.

Given these developments, General Wavell has asked me to express his alarm and concern that his air units have been placed in such a remote location as Adelade. He wishes me to stress that he needs those units to fight for Java. Though he agrees that the situation in Java is hopeless, he at least hopes to put up a sufficient fight to buy the British and Americans some time to set up their defenses further south.

He has asked me to express his opinion that Australia, itself, could use some time to prepare its own defenses.

Toward that end, he has asked me to relay his request that the Dutch air units that have retreated to Australia move to Sydney or Brisbane where the air units can immediately obtain the benefit of the new parts and planes that will be arriving in a few days. As soon as his air units are built up, General Wavell would like to have those units return immediately to the front line to take part in the defense of Java.

He has expressed fears that it will take so long for spare parts to reach Adelade, that Java will be lost before the supplies can get to his troops and the troops can get back to the front line. The cost of this is that the northern coast of Australia will face a threat of invasion far sooner than it would otherwise have.

Sincerely,

Thayne





Attachment (1)

< Message edited by Thayne -- 3/20/2005 9:35:16 AM >

(in reply to benway9)
Post #: 109
Sunday, January 18, 1942 - 3/21/2005 6:02:08 AM   
Thayne

 

Posts: 748
Joined: 6/14/2004
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Sunday, January 18, 1942

Henry:

Weekly Summary

It is time for my weekly wrap-up.

In seven weeks of war, not including December 7, 1941, no week has been as bad as this one. In the last 7 days:

• We lost Singapore.

• The air war took a sudden downward spiral as Japan shoots down 77 allied airplanes in the past week. According to G2, we have shot down 115 Japanese airplanes since the start of the war.

• Our operation to reinforce Canton Island was interrupted by a Japanese raid, forcing our landing ships south to Pago Pago.

• Japan continues to force the Chinese back from Shanghai-Hanoi railroad.

• Japan continues to tighten its grip on the ports around Rabaul.

• MacArthur got a new job, leading the Southwest Pacific theater.


Ships Lost: 20 ships total, 1 in the past week

• BC Repulse
• CAs: Houston, New Orleans
• CL Danae
• PGs: Isabel, Asheville
• ASs: Otus, Canopus
• MSW Penguin
• SS S-38, KXV
• AP President Madison
• PTs: 21, 31, 32, 34
• AK Steel Voyager*, Taurus
• TKs: Gertrude Kellogg, Manatawny

* Ships lost in the past week

Air War: 776 Planes Lost – 97 in the past week

• 266 planes shot down (+76)
• 377 planes destroyed on the ground (+4)
• 20 planes shot down by AA
• 113 planes lost due to accident (+17)

Top 12 Air Loss by Type

• 124x P-40B Tomahawk (+16)
• 76x Buffalo (+7)
• 57x P-40E Warhawk (+10)
• 43x PBY Catalina (+1)
• 34x Hudson (+2)
• 33x Martin
• 30x Brewster 339D (+1)
• 28x SB-2c
• 27x P-36A Mohawk
• 27x Blenheim IV
• 24x P-26A (+4)
• 24x Blenheim I (+1)

The plane types with the biggest losses not on this list are:

Hurricanes: 18x lost in air-to-air alone
F4F-4 Wildcats: 10x lost in air-to-air alone


Summary by Region

North Pacific: We haven’t seen hide nor hair of the Japanese up here. I may not have mentioned this before, but we have a picket boat out looking for signs of trouble. MSW Oriole sits at Kiska Island. It sails around from time to time to take a measure of Japanese patrols. Actually, there aren’t any. TF1186 just arrived at Dutch Harbor carrying the 11th Air Force HQ. This is the first step in turning Dutch Harbor into a major forward port. After unloading the HQ unit, TF1186 will travel between Dutch Harbor and Anchorage, building up the garrison at Dutch Harbor. Meanwhile cargo ships continue to build stockpiles at Dutch Harbor, Kodiak, and Nome.

Central Pacific: The 804th Engineer Aviation Battalion finished dredging a port and building an airbase at French Frigate Shoals. It was then loaded onto the troop transport U.S. Grant and shipped up to Laysan Island, 300 miles southeast of Midway. There, it will work with the 34th USA Engineer Regiment to build a port and airstrip there.

Minelayers continue to sail all around the Hawaiian Islands dropping off mines. Every port from Midway to Hilo now has a respectable collection of mines.

Further south, the presence of the Japanese carrier fleet cancelled plans to occupy Baker Island. Had we continued with the operation, our landing force would have been at Baker at the same time that the Japanese carrier fleet sailed by.

South Pacific: The Battle for Canton Island was a slaughter of American pilots. We lost 18 fighters and the large cargo ship Victoria Steel. But the damage, overall, was minimal.

Cargo ships reached many of the southern islands with badly needed supplies. All of the garrisoned islands from Pago Pago to Suva have been visited by fully loaded cargo ships.

New Zealand is sending two brigades to Suva. They left Aukland just the other day. We also plan on dropping off the rest of the 2nd USMC Defense Battalion and 2nd USMC Division at Pago Pago as soon as the Japanese carrier fleet goes away. I think we can make the trip tomorrow.

I still have no units to use to put a garrison on New Caledonia. Sorry, Henry, but this is the sorest of the sore point that I have – even worse than my exasperation over how poorly the Hurricane pilots in India.

Southwest Pacific: The Australians picked Douglas MacArthur to lead SWPA. As far as I am concerned, this dooms the whole theater. Japan is consolidating its holdings around Rabaul – operations that have included the occupation of Lae on the northern coast of New Guinea. The Australians have increased the air garrison at Port Moresby, and even managed to get a cargo ship up there where it has unloaded military equipment for the last two days.

I have no doubt that MacArthur will order the 808th Engineer Aviation Battalion and the newly arrived 30th Australian Brigade to Port Moresby, even though I have begged the Australians to use them to garrison New Caledonia. MacArthur thinks that if he has two cops and a rowboat he can use them to capture Tokyo. The man is delusional, and the Australians pick him to lead SWPA. Sorry, I know, I’ve already been through this rant.

The good news is that AK Bridge, with 4,500 tons of crated airplanes and spare parts, will be in Sydney tomorrow. Immediately after it reaches port, its spare parts and planes will be sent out to the air units in Australia. No. 453 RAAF Squadron will get its Hurricanes, and Hudson bomber squadrons – now largely down to 1 or 2 planes each – will get their replacements. Other replacements include Brewster 339D fighters for the Dutch.

ABDA: All the Dutch can do is sit and wait for the Japanese to advance. They have no planes or ships to fight back with at this point. The recent arrival of spare parts and planes at Australia may change that – then the Dutch may challenge the Japanese advance. Until those planes can get to the front line, however, the Dutch can do nothing but sit and wait.

They do not need to wait for long. A Japanese invasion fleet sits in the water 100 miles north of Batavia, and a Japanese army is moving to Balikpapan from Tarakan. I think, in the next week, we can expect a Japanese attack at Batavia and for Balikpapan to fall into Japanese hands.

The ABDA Fleet will be pulling into Darwin tomorrow. Darwin is the only port in the area with enough fuel to maintain the fleet. It will not last long. MacArthur is asking that the ships be diverted to the Southwest Pacific Theater, where he can put them to use. Some of those ships are Dutch ships, and the Dutch are not going to be so quick at giving up on their country. The ships still Wavell’s to command.

Malaya We lost.

Burma: The Japanese have been sitting in Rangoon since they got here. They have made no attempt to try to secure the interior of the country, which does not upset me at all. I have 9 Chinese “Divisions” heading for Myitkyina in northern Burma. The lead units in this chain will reach the town in 2 weeks. If Japan wants to give me that kind of time, I am not going to complain.

Japan has been working on taking control of the air over Burma. General Pownall had built a sizable air force at Mandalay in central Burma, protected by the newly arrived Hurricane fighters. The Japanese have been slaughtering Hurricanes since they showed up. Right now the kill ration for Hurricanes is 18 to 0 – in favor of the Japanese.

Pownall has been using heavy bomber squadrons borrowed from the Philippines to bomb Rangoon – to no good effect. They fly in at an altitude where the Nates and Zeros cannot reach them, but the Oscars can, and the Oscars have been chewing the heavy bombers up with great efficiency. Pownall has not lost any planes, but it takes days to put what is left of the bombers back together after each mission.

India: With the fall of Rangoon, the shipping lanes to Diamond Harbor have become less secure. The cargo ships are now stopping at Columbo in Ceylon and Madras. In conversations with Pownall, he will be sending some supplies to Australia as well.

The British have put together a fairly large air force around Calcutta. There are 92x Fighters, 59x Heavy Bombers, 101x Medium Bombers, 12x Torpedo Bombers, and 18x Patrol Craft in the region. Now, all Pownall needs to do is to learn how to use these resources effectively.

One of the major problems in the India region is the lack of ground support crews. That problem will persist through the next week, then it will vanish. The 221st Royal Air Force is moving up from Karachi to stations in Dacca and Chadpur.

My main concern with this region is the security of the island of Ceylon. At my urging, Pownall has added the 26th Indian Division, as well as the 1st and 28th UK Forward Artillery Regiments to the garrison at Columbo. Our plans are to add the 7th Armored Tank Brigade when it becomes available in early March – if that is not too late.

China: Japan is clearing the Shanghai, Hanoi railroad with an army of over 200,000 soldiers. Right now they are at Kweilin, in southern China. For some reason, even though they have a numerical superiority, they have only been shelling the city. Chang Kai Shek has given permission for the Chinese army to retreat to Kweiyang. Chang is not interested in standing and fighting.

The AVG suffered serious losses due to not having enough skilled ground crew to take care of their airplanes. They retreated to Kweiyang as well, where they now have less than 40 operational planes. The Chinese are taking steps to build up the air support at Kweiyang to handle the fighters. In the mean time, the AVG is making plans to split into three squadrons and scatter across China.

Near Nanning, the Chinese have gathered a significant force. The generals down there are in a bit of a rebellion. Attempts to order them back to Kweiyang have been ignored. They are insisting on driving the Japanese out of Nanning, and they have collected a force of 6 divisions. I don’t think that they are going to accomplish very much, but I am pleased to see somebody there with some initiative and fighting spirit.

This is now things stand today.

We will see what new and exciting things will happen tomorrow.

Thayne





Attachment (1)

(in reply to benway9)
Post #: 110
RE: Letter: Downer 01/18/1942 - 3/21/2005 2:39:50 PM   
Raverdave


Posts: 6520
Joined: 2/8/2002
From: Melb. Australia
Status: offline
From: John Downer

Principle secretary to the Prime Minister

Department of the Prime Minister. Canberra.


Mr Thayne.


It is felt that to put the Dutch air units currently based in Australia back into the line is a mistake, as all of these units have been reduced far below operational ability. However if it the express wish of the Dutch government to waste good men and machines, then there is little that this government can do to stop it.

All support for these Dutch units will be given for their re-deployment if that is what infact the Dutch government wants.

General Wavell's views are just that, views and are not considered by this government as relevant to the current situation. General Wavell would do a lot better looking after his own problems rather than concerning himself with Australia.

In closing I would simply like to echo the words of Prime Minister John Curtin, "The battle of Australia has now begun".


John Downer.


_____________________________




Never argue with an idiot, he will only drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

(in reply to Thayne)
Post #: 111
Monday, January 19, 1942 - 3/23/2005 6:36:21 AM   
Thayne

 

Posts: 748
Joined: 6/14/2004
Status: offline
Monday, January 19, 1942

Henry:

Japanese Take Lae on New Guinea

The Japanese are starting to make a big push to consolidate their holdings in the Bismarck Archipelago. Today, I received reports of landings at Lae. We sent bombers against them. They had Zeros flying CAP this time. The Japs shot up the Whirraway escort with their typical efficiency, and also brought down one of the bombers. Five of our planes got through to the ships, but we have no reports of a confirmed hit.

It is turning out to be more difficult than we imagined to hit a ship from an airplane. Billy Mitchell’s demonstrations were against huge ships, sitting still, unable to fight back. If you significantly reduce the size of the target, put it to sea where it can twist and turn, and give the crew AA guns to frighten the pilots, and hitting a ship is turning out to be nearly impossible.

Japan will have full control of this port soon enough.

Admittedly against my advice, the Australians sent a supply ship to Port Moresby, which has been unloading much needed supplies there. I warned them that the ship would likely get sunk by torpedo bombers operating out of Rabaul. I was mistaken. AK Elcano has dropped off 1500 tons of supplies at Port Moresby, and will certainly get more cargo unloaded by morning.

I have to admit that I am glad that these military commanders do not listen to me from time to time. I also cautioned Nimitz to protect the ships delivering cargo to his forward bases. He ignored me and sent ships to all those bases. For the most part, his decision has resulted in the forward bases getting loads of supplies that they would not have gotten if I was giving the orders.

Against my advice, Nimitz began unloading the 804th Engineer Aviation Battalion at Laysan Island southeast of Midway last night. It now appears that he will have that unit fully unloaded without any interference from the Japanese.

The south Pacific islands from Pago Pago to Suva now have a healthy stockpile of supplies.


Australia Supplies

AK Bridge, with 4,500 tons of airplane supplies, will reach Sydney tomorrow. There is almost nothing that Japan can do to stop this shipment now. This will make a significant contribution to rebuilding the Australian and Dutch air forces. They are in such desperate need of planes by now.

It will take about a week to the parts to the bases and into the planes, and uncrate and reassemble the replacement airplanes. This is not an instant quick fix. But, it ends the downward slide that has inflicted the Australian and Dutch air forces since the start of the war.

Actually, the Australians have not done too badly. They have converted about half of their Hudson squadrons to Beauforts. The Beaufort shows promise of being an excellent anti-shipping weapon -- which brings me one again to the total failure of these planes to hit any of the ships at Lae. I have some fears that the Beauforts will demonstrate their potential against enemy ships the way the British Hurricanes have demonstrated their potential against enemy fighters.


Java

General Wavell is preparing for a Japanese landing at Batavia. Actually, he is suggesting that he does not expect the Japanese to hit Batavia directly at all, but to land at Merak, to the south. He has no units defending this port, but there are minefields blocking the Japanese path.

According to my conversations with the General, he was worried about the possibility of a Japanese attack directly on Batavia that might cut his soldiers off and force them to retreat into Merek. The Japanese attack on Merek itself means that his army will be able to negotiate a more orderly retreat across Java.

I believe that the Japanese are still not aware of the fortification work being done on Bali. I do not think they realize how large a force they will need to take that island. I hope that they seriously underestimate the island’s strength when they make their first assault, and we will have an opportunity to drive their first invading force back into the sea.

Bombing Rangoon

Pownall flew another bomber mission against Rangoon today. Preliminary reports came in telling of the confirmed loss of 2 Oscars. However, one of the bombers came in at a total loss. The pilot had the crew bail out over Akyab, then tried a water landing. The plane’s wing caught a wave cart wheeled across the water. Most of the crew is safe, but we lost the plane.

Bombing Rangoon at 35,000 feet meant that we did little damage. In fact, the bomb assessment suggests that the bombers hit a rubber tree plantation orchard about 3 miles away from the airfield.


That is about all of the news for today. Tomorrow, I am flying down to Pago Pago. The task force that retreated from Canton Island earlier, including CV Saratoga and the remnants of the 2nd USMC Defense Battalion and 2nd USMC Division, will be landing there tomorrow. I want to be there when the ships arrive. This means that another section of the Pacific Front becomes a little more secure.

Until tomorrow.

Thayne

(in reply to benway9)
Post #: 112
RE: Monday, January 19, 1942 - 3/23/2005 7:20:08 PM   
Andy Mac

 

Posts: 15222
Joined: 5/12/2004
From: Alexandria, Scotland
Status: offline
To Secretary Thayne, General Wavell, General Pownell

From General Alan Brooke (CIGS)

Convoy to India via Cape hit by extensive U-Boat Wolf Pack last night off of Gibralter.

Both transports with Spitfires suffered extensive damage and one sank with heavy loss of life.

With requirement for reinforcing Desert following DAK offensive and current retreat of 8th Army it is unclear how quickly replacement Spitfires can be sent to India.

I expect it to be at least June before Spitfires can be sent via a replacement convoy.

Alan Brooke

(in reply to Thayne)
Post #: 113
Letter: Sec. Downer 01/20/1942 - 3/24/2005 5:12:08 AM   
Thayne

 

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To: John Downer
Secretary to the Prime Minister

From: Thayne

I wanted to drop off a quick note to address several items of mutual interest.


MacArthur

At your request, Mr. MacArthur has once again returned to active military duty and given the rank of General, where he will take command of forces in the Southwest Pacific Theater. We expect that Gen. MacArthur will be able to assume command upon arrival in Brisbane on January 29th of this year.

However, I do not feel it is my place to pick the staff for any of the officers leading the troops in this war. Therefore, the status of General Blamey as Second in Command is an issue that you must negotiate with General MacArthur directly. On that issue, I wish you the best of luck.

Per your requirement that we formally ask for units to be assigned to the Southwest Pacific Theater of Command, on behalf of General MacArthur, I formally request that all active-duty Australian Armed Forces be transferred to the Southwest Pacific Theater of Command subject and that the orders of General MacArthur be regarded as if they came from the Australian goverment itself.

Anticipating your full approval of this request, General MacArthur has ordered AP Barnett to Sydney Harbor to pick up the 30th Australian Brigade for transport to Cairns, from which it will be transported to Port Moresby by the safest method available, followed immediately by the 808th Engineer Aviation Battalion presently in Brisbane.

I feel it is my duty to try one last time to persuade you that the security of New Caledonia is more important to the future security of Australia than Port Moresby, and that I fear that the fate of Australia should Japan succeed at cutting the supply lines from the United States. I urge you to use whatever influence you may possess to consider the defense of New Caledonia your top priority.


The Dutch

I have learned that arrangements have been made to deliver the new Dutch airplanes and parts to Adelade where, as I write this, are being used to rebuild some badly depleated air units. By the end of the week, I expect that they will be returning to do battle in Java.

News has reached me that the Japanese are likely to land at Marek, south of Java, within the next 24 hours. Their intent to take Java is clear. If they use anything like the 150,000 troops they used to take Singapore, I do not expect the island nation to last long.

However, the Dutch do expect to make a fight of it. They are doing nothing that I would not expect you and the nation of Australia to do if Japan should set food on your soil.


British Planes

AK Bridge has brought with it not only supplies for Australia, but elements of the 12th Bomber Group destined for India. That equipment is sitting at the docks in Sydney. We have been seeking arrangements to transport the equipment to Perth, where the Philippine transport Bisayas is waiting to pick up the equipment and transport it to Ceylon.

AK Bisayas will be escorted by a task force of British destroyers and the cruiser Durban and Dragon. Once this task force reaches Ceylon, their instructions are to return to Perth escorting the ships that will be bringing the 7th Australian Division back to Australia.

We urgently request expedited transport of these planes and pilots to Perth.



Sincerely,

Thayne

< Message edited by Thayne -- 3/24/2005 5:27:55 AM >

(in reply to Andy Mac)
Post #: 114
Letter: Gen. Brooke: 01/20/1942 - 3/24/2005 5:23:25 AM   
Thayne

 

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To General Alan Brooke

From Thayne

I have just recieved your news of the delay in getting fighters to India.

I have also just received news of a Japanese air attack on Diamond Harbor where twenty (TWENTY!) British fighters were shot down at the expense of zero (ZERO!) enemy fighters.

Concerning the urgency of getting decent airplanes and pilots to India, I will let these numbers speak for themselves.

Thayne

< Message edited by Thayne -- 3/24/2005 5:29:33 AM >

(in reply to Thayne)
Post #: 115
Tuesday, January 20, 1942 - 3/24/2005 2:09:58 PM   
Thayne

 

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Tuesday, January 20, 1942

Henry:

I came to American Samoa as soon as I heard the news about CV Saratoga.

I want to report that the damage is not as bad as first appeared. She was hit just out of port. The ship was able to sail into the port under its own power where the port’s own emergency crews are working with the ship’s crews to fight the fires. She was listing about 10 degrees to starboard. This has been corrected by counter-flooding. Now that she is in port, one of the things being done is to remove as many of the planes as possible.

We have confirmed that the submarine that hit Saratoga was sunk. The debris field is obvious and I have no doubts that these reports are true.

Honestly, the ship is not that badly damaged.

My biggest fear right now is that the Japanese, knowing where Saratoga is and that it is damaged, may reverse course and come down to finish it off. General Nimitz has ordered that Saratoga leave port as soon as possible. However, her planes are going to stay behind at American Samoa to protect the port and to be ready for the Japanese carriers if they should strike.


Air Losses -- Japan: 20; England: 0

We also have to deal with the air losses in India. Japan attacked Diamond Harbor today a little after noon. The Zeros escorting the bombers took down 12x Hurricane and 8x Buffalo Fighters. We have some reports that a Japanese Nell bomber might have put as many as three bullet holes in the tail of one of their Nell bombers.

Seriously, Henry, this is not acceptable. I need fighters in India that are capable of actually hitting a Japanese airplane.

I know of only one squadron that has a proven record of shooting down Japanese Zeros. That is the 24th Fighter Group in Bataan. I am fully aware of the ramifications of making it appear that we are abandoning the Philippines. The call has always been to provide those soldiers with as much help as possible, not take help away. However, I need something capable of stopping the Japanese air force in India, and this is the only thing available.

I have already sent the 6th and 21st Fighter Squadrons from the Philippines to Dacca. However, this is only because these units were so badly depleted that they had lost all combat effectiveness.

The 6th Fighter Squadron left with only one (1) fighter remaining – most of its pilots being ferried to Dacca on PBY Catalina transport planes.

I have ordered P-39 Airacobras transported to Dacca for this squadron.

I fear that Prime Minister Curtin may have wrongly assumed that the Philippine air force would withdraw to Australia. However, Australia is already getting four fighter groups from the US – the first due to arrive there within two weeks. India, on the other hand, as recent events prove, has no fighter protection worth mentioning at all.


Dutch Air Force: 0; Japan: 7

The Dutch Air Force was similarly mauled yesterday. The Dutch lost 4x Demon and 3x Brewster fighters to the Japanese in a raid on Soerabaja, again without suffering a loss. For all practical purposes, the Dutch are down to 15 bombers and 8 fighters in the entire theater.

Most of the Dutch air units have withdrawn to Adelaide, Australia. My original hope was that we could station them at Alice Springs, where they could be easily and quickly deployed to anywhere in Australia that Japan may threaten. However, the Australians wanted the Dutch pilots out of the way.

I am trying to get the Australians to help rebuild the refugee Dutch air units to send them back to Java. They have provided assistance, albeit grudgingly. Now that the invasion of Java has begun, I am hoping for no delay in delivering whatever reinforcements to the Dutch that we can get shipped.


Java Invaded

The invasion of Java has been such a hot topic that I have not felt the need to mention much about it in my reports.

Japan has firm control of Merek on the island of Java. Our attempts to mine the straights have proved unsuccessful. Japan has also occupied Jambi in central Sumatra, and is moving south toward Balikpapan on the eastern coast of Borneo.

The Dutch air force (of 15 bombers and 8 fighters) has assembled at Macassar, southeast of Balikpapan on the island of Slawesi.


Halsey

I have Nimitz sending me letters demanding that we launch a raid against the Japanese. I am certain he is getting pressure from Halsey.

I’m considering it. I have asked Nimitz for a battle plan for an assault north from New Caledonia, into the waters west of Nauru. I’m certain that Japan is anticipating a raid against its forward bases. But, it is best to hit them where they do not expect to be hit, and the best place for that is in the open waters between the islands. There, Japanese shipping is at its most vulnerable.

According to G2, there is a strip of water which is beyond the range of Japanese land-based fighters. Bombers, if they attacked, would have to attack without escort. We can strike pretty far north, as long as we know in advance where the Japanese carriers are.


Overall, it has been a very bad day. Across the entire Pacific theater, we lost 32 airplanes – 27 of them to Japanese air activity -- without taking down a single Japanese. The Saratoga has been crippled. The invasion of Java has begun.

I tell you, by the time the day was over, I was ready to just walk into the ocean.

It is hard to sleep tonight. In the darkness, I can see the flames from the Saratoga out the window. The side of the ship is actually glowing from the heat of the fires inside, and red flames flow in and out of black clouds climbing into the nighttime sky. It is not cloudy, but I cannot see the stars. The sky is too black from smoke and my eyes blinded by the lights used by the crews fighting the fires. If Japan were to bomb tonight, they would have no trouble finding us.

Crews are tackling the fires with everything they have, while every effort is being made to remove vital stores in preparation for the worse. They are dumping fuel, and throwing some bombs in the water as the fastest way to get them away from the flames.

Watching this; looking at the reports from India and Java sitting at my desk . . . .

I will write to you tomorrow, Henry. Maybe I will have better news.

Thayne





Attachment (1)

< Message edited by Thayne -- 3/24/2005 2:21:50 PM >

(in reply to Thayne)
Post #: 116
Letter to Thayne - 3/25/2005 7:39:13 AM   
Raverdave


Posts: 6520
Joined: 2/8/2002
From: Melb. Australia
Status: offline
From: John Downer

Principle secretary to the Prime Minister

Department of the Prime Minister. Canberra.


Mr Thayne.


This government looks forward to general Macarthur's pending arrival and have already put in place the framework for a unified Southwest Pacific command. How this is to work will be discussed in detail between General Macarthur, the Prime Minister, and the Australian Department of Defence when the General arrives, but let me reassure you the we see no problems arising in this area.
The movement of the Australian 30th Brigade to Port Moresby fits in well with our defence plans and is a valid example of how much intune the General is with Australia's needs.

Mr Thyane, in regards to the issue of New Caledonia I am going to be somewhat frank and to the point with you.
New Caledonia is not the key to the sea lines of communication between Australia and the US, it is infact the Fiji and Samoa Island groups as well as New Zealand . If New Caledonia was to fall, and at this point I will note that there have been no sign of Japanese activity in that local area, then the SLOC will not be cut as you continually stress, they will merely be bent, forcing convoys to steam further south and adding only a three to five days sailing time. If however the Fiji and Samoa Island group were to fall then yes that would cause major problems, but seeing as the New Zealand Government is sending a full Brigade to Fiji, I don't see this as being a problem. Nor do I see a direct threat to New Zealand if New Caledonia is taken, simply because of the great distance between the two. No bomber aircraft have the range to strike as far south as New Zealand from New Caledonia, so once again is seems unlikely that the Japanese will push that far south.

However what is a much more pressing situation is the Japanese push in PNG. From PNG Japanese bombers can reach the Australian mainland, and if PNG falls then the Japanese have a perfect jumping off point for their invasion of Australia, and the loss of Australia makes the entire issue of New Caledonia pointless, there is simply no point in worrying about SLOCs if there is no destination left for the convoys to sail too. The defence of PNG must be flagged as the key stone to the defence of the allied cause, and war fighting equipment and men must be allocated to this area in great haste. New Caledonia is not the pivotal point in this war, PNG is.

In regards to the remains of the Dutch airforce currently in Australia, we understand their desire to defend what is left of the Dutch East Indies, however foolish this plan is. We both know that to date the performance of the Dutch against the Japanese in the air has been poor, but this government understands the desire of the Dutch government to fight with all that it has and the Australian government is even willing to help by supporting the Dutch with No 2 Squadron RAAF, currently based in Perth, along with HMAS Vampire and HMAS Vendetta.

As for the disposition of the 12th Bomber group currently in Sydney, you can rest assured that all efforts will be made to help this unit reach it's destination.

Sincerely,



John Downer


< Message edited by Raverdave -- 3/25/2005 7:47:03 AM >


_____________________________




Never argue with an idiot, he will only drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

(in reply to Thayne)
Post #: 117
Wednesday, January 21, 1942 - 3/26/2005 4:20:35 AM   
Thayne

 

Posts: 748
Joined: 6/14/2004
Status: offline
Wednesday, January 21, 1942

Henry:

CV Saratoga Lives

The fires on CV Saratoga are out and the ship is resting comfortably. Crews are working on sealing up the damage to the hull.

We’re going to send it out to sea tomorrow. There is too much of a risk of the Japanese carriers showing up, looking to finish her off.

The damage really is so light that there is even talk of keeping her on the front line a while longer, just to surprise the Japanese. I am not paying attention to this talk. I am going to send the carrier back to the United States with one squadron of SBDs to scout for subs along the way. However, this does give you an idea of how little damage was actually done.

CV Enterprise took some damage when a Wildcat pilot cracked up on landing. It could use some time in port getting some repairs. I have been assured that the damage does not hinder its operations in any significant way. If we send it to port, then we will have two carriers out of the war for a while.

CV Enterprise is sailing with CVs Yorktown and Lexington north of Pearl Harbor. With much of the air force in Hawaii sitting on Johnson Island, it was thought prudent to guard the northern approaches to Hawaii as well.

The reason that the bulk of the Hawaii air force is at Johnson Island is in case the Japanese carrier force is intending to continue north. G2 has had trouble tracking it since it sailed past Baker Island a few days ago. It could show up anywhere from Midway back to Canton Island at this point, but Johnson Island is a likely point of attack, so Nimitz is building it up as a likely point of counter-attack.

If there turns out to be no activity at Johnson Island in a few days, Nimitz reports that he will draw the air groups back to Pearl Harbor.


Pearl to Fiji: Reinforcements

I thought I would fill you in on the status of reinforcements for the line from Pearl Harbor to Fiji.

• TF1083 at American Samoa with the support staff for the 2nd USMC Division and 2nd USMC Defense Battalion presently on Canton Island.

• TF1078 at Laysan Island unloading the rest of the 804th Engineer Aviation Battalion.

• TF1104: 250 miles east of Christmas Island. Its cargo includes (a) 102nd USN Base Force for Palmyra, the 250th Coastal Artillery Regiment and 206th Coastal Anti-Aircraft regiment for Baker Island – though these units will probably get unloaded at Christmas Island temporarily. It also holds the 2nd USMC Parachute Battalion destined for Tongatapu (between American Samoa and Fiji)

• TF1153: 500 miles northeast of Johnson Island with the 56th USA Coastal Artillery Regiment

• TF1154: 800 miles southwest of Fiji with two New Zealand battalions destined for Suva.

• TF1245: 1200 miles East by Northeast of Christmas Island. This task force has a number of stops planned. First, most of the 40th USA Infantry Division and the 188th Field Artillery Regiment will get dropped off at Christmas Island. The rest of the 40th USA Infantry Division will get dropped off at Palmyra. Then, the task force will sail north to Midway and drop off the 161st Regimental Combat Team. These units were included in one convoy because of a shortage of escort ships.

• TF1134: 1200 miles east by northeast of Pearl Harbor with the 205th Coastal Anti Aircraft Battalion destined for French Frigate Shoals.

• TF1133: 2000 miles northeast of Christmas Island with the 101st USN Base Force destined for that island.

• TF1170: San Francisco (leaving today) with the 27th USA Infantry Division destined for Hawaii – the big island.

Right now, a weak spot on our defensive line is American and British Samoa itself. The original plan called for elements of the 2nd USMC Division to first be unloaded at Canton Island, then elements sorted out for redeployment to Samoa. Those units got trapped on Canton Island. That island is now over-garrisoned (without support staff), and these islands are under garrisoned.

CV Saratoga, which was assigned the task of protecting the ships making the transfer, is now out of the action, so things may stay this way for a while.

I hope that Japan does not find out about this.

I am very nervously watching Nimitz as he has ordered that these units continue their missions unless there is an imminent threat of a Japanese attack. He does not seem to mind taking risks. Personally, it keeps me up night. But, he is the officer in charge.


MacArthur

Doug sent me his first request for units today. He wants three carriers and three divisions so that he can start to push north.

I laughed. I told him that all units are to make due with what they have.

However, we still have the outstanding issue of the 6th Australian Infantry Division (and the potential withdraw of the 9th Australian Infantry Division from the Middle East).

I will guarantee you, Henry, that if you postpone this discussion until Java or Port Moresby falls, Curtin will yank those divisions right out from under you. He now has MacArthur to lean on as well, and Doug is certainly telling him, “Recall those divisions, John. I want them here where I can use them.”

This is not a threat, Henry. This is a warning. You had better get me something to bargain with, or the Australians are going to pull those divisions right out from underneath you.


New Caledonia

I could overrule MacArthur and order him to send the 30th Australian Battalion to New Caledonia.

I am sorely tempted, I assure you. I can’t imagine that a nation that is having so little difficulty taking Hong Kong, Manila, Singapore, and Rangoon, is going to have any trouble taking Port Moresby. Any unit sent to that island is going to end up POWs within four months at this rate.

In addition, I need to show MacArthur who is the boss. I am going to find some excuse to pull his leash up short here within the next few days, just to get that message across.

However, I do not want to get into the habit of micromanaging this war. I want to show these leaders that I can trust them. Against that, I am already in enough trouble ordering Nimitz to hold the carriers in reserve. Halsey has been spitting nails for a month.

Give me something for New Calendonia, Henry. I need it, and I need it sooner rather than later.


China

Another hot spot that I need to report on is Kweilin, China. Chang Kai Shek is abandoning the city. He does not mind if Japan take it, as long as he keeps his soldiers. It has been an orderly withdraw so far – he has gotten his wish.

Japan is also advancing reinforcements on Nanning. There, Chang has assembled an army of about 25,000 soldiers. However, they are going up against 30,000 Japanese – soon to be more, as soon as the reinforcements get there.

I have no idea what his plan is down there. He may just be doing this as a token act of appeasement – his way of saying, “See, Thayne, I am attacking the Japanese. Now, send me more weapons.” But, it is not enough to do serious damage to the Japanese.

Honestly, I wish I could transport MacArthur or Halsey to China. It seems that I have exactly the type of leader I do not want in each of these theaters. The Chinese have a million men under arms. If they knew how to fight, they could give the Japanese a serious fright. But Chang Kai Shek is not interested in fighting. He is interested in surviving until we have taken care of the Japanese. Then, he will turn on Mao. A leader who actually wants to use those one million soldiers would do a lot of good right now.


That is the extent of the war right now, Henry. You can expect to hear from me again tomorrow.

Thayne





Attachment (1)

(in reply to Raverdave)
Post #: 118
Letter: Sec. Downer 01/22/42 - 3/26/2005 7:47:56 PM   
Thayne

 

Posts: 748
Joined: 6/14/2004
Status: offline
Mr. Downer

I thank you for interceding to arrange for the rapid transportation of the 12th Bomber Group to Perth.

Furthermore, the British have dispatched an additional four transport ships to Perth, each fully loaded with supplies. For their return trip they will be picking up additional bombers and transport aircraft that we would like to transport across Australia.


Fighters for Australia

Also, I wish to inform you of the due dates for fighter groups presently en route to Australia.

In case it has not been made clear, these units are assigned to the Southwest Pacific Theater and will be used in the defense of Australia.

All dates represent expected arrival time at Sydney.

(1) 8th Fighter Group: February 2nd
(2) 35th Fighter Group: February 13th
(3) 54th Fighter Group: February 16th
(4) 49th Fighter Group: February 18th

These are approximate times and subject to change according to travel conditions and any need to take detours due to enemy activity.


New Caledonia

If, as you say, New Zealand is safe from a Japanese invasion, then so is Australia.

Japan's tactic so far has been to cut off an enemy, and then to destroy it.

They isolated the Philippine army by taking Davao and Jolo.

They isolated Singapore by taking Kuching and Khota Bharu and loading them with planes that prevented the flow of supplies to the city.

They will take Australia the same way. Their first step is to cut it off. If we can prevent Australia from being cut off, we can prevent it from being attacked.

Fiji and Samoa are not crucial to these efforts. Because of recent Japanese attacks on Canton Island, we have been using a long route to get to Australia that bypasses even these islands. Your statement that the loss of New Caledonia will mean only a few days' delay in supplies applies to these South Pacific islands as well.

The only place where Japan can get bases on both sides of the route to Australia is to take New Caledonia and New Zealand. If they succeed here, Australia will starve and will be too weak to defend itself once Japan does attack.

If they take New Zealand, then we will be at a disadvangage because there are no bases near the islands from which to launch a counter-attack. Any counter-attack on our part would have to be on the line from Christmas Island, to Samoa, to Fiji, to New Caledonia.

Whoever controls New Caledonia controls Australia's future.

On the other hand, Port Moresby lends itself perfectly to the same tactics that Japan used successfully at Singapore. They will use air power to isolate the base. Then, with the troops starving and ill-equipped, and harrassed constantly from the air, they will move in.


Last Word

Having said that, I am not inclined to do nothing while we debate the issue. I am a firm believer that doing something, even if it is wrong, is better than doing nothing.

I will not be involking my authority to order MacArthur to garrison New Caledonia.

Thus, AP Barnett is due at Sydney in 2 or 3 days. As I understand it, minesweepers have been sent from Brisbane to provide escort, and ASW patrols along the east coast of Australia have become routine.

Those units will go where MacArthur orders them to go.

I would strongly caution having the entire battalion loaded onto one ship sailing to Port Moresby. Rather, I would argue for transporting the unit to Cairns. Then, using AP Barnett to carry only the heavy equipment, while destroyers and other ships transported the men and lighter equipment. This will prevent the possibility of the entire unit being lost in one Japanese air strike.

I will relay these concerns to General MacArthur as well.

There is no need to respond to this unless you have changed your mind about sending the troops to New Caledonia. The time for debate has ended. The time for action has come.

Thayne




< Message edited by Thayne -- 3/26/2005 8:12:45 PM >

(in reply to Thayne)
Post #: 119
Letter: Sec. Downer 01/22/42 Sup. - 3/27/2005 3:14:13 PM   
Thayne

 

Posts: 748
Joined: 6/14/2004
Status: offline
Secretary Downer

After giving some thought to my letter earlier today, I felt that you may find the attached intel documents interesting and useful.

Should the Japanese decide to attack Port Moresby, I suspect that you may expect to encounter a force that looks like those that participated in the attacks on Rabaul (Dec. 30), Tarakan (Jan. 7) and Java (Jan. 21).

In short, I expect an attack on Port Moresby to consist of:

(a) An invasion fleet well protected by capital and other surface combat ships

(b) A bombardment/surface engagement task force to prevent any fleet from interfering with the landing

(c) A small-carrier naval force to provide CAP over the base and, perhaps, participate in air bombardment of the target and naval attack against any allied fleet seeking to interfere with the landings.

In addition, I expect that such an attack will also have the support of the main Japanese carrier task force, presently located somewhere north of Baker Island in the Pacific.

I believe that Japan will assemble its invasion force at Truk Island or Rabaul. If it is the former, allied military intelligence will not likely learn of the attack until it is in progress.

I hope that this information proves useful.

Thayne





Attachment (1)

< Message edited by Thayne -- 3/27/2005 4:28:58 PM >

(in reply to benway9)
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