To get there, the 163rd would be crossing relatively open ground, rising gently in elevation and presenting no real terrain obstacles beyond the winding course of a few small streams. One battalion veered right toward the small hamlet of St Vincent, its mission being to cut the main road there. The other two battalions assembled in the flat open ground and then headed north towards the airfield. The base itself was screened from on its northern flank by the Tambeo River, a small watercourse no more than 50 feet in average width. To the south, the meandering course of the small La Tamoa River joined the Tambeo before they made their way through thickening mangroves to the sea. There the river could widen to over 300 feet, and the boggy groves made an attack from that direction impossible.
The only way to take the field would be to first cross the Tamoa River to reach the main road, called Route 1. The road and river then ran roughly parallel to one another, separated by a kilometer of open fields. As the troops approached, they would have scant cover in a few lines of trees gracing the course of small streams. Then they would meet the best organized defense on the island, for Colonel Kiyano Ichiki was at the airfield when the landings began.
Chapter 24
The 2nd Battalion under Major Nobuo Kuramoto was well concentrated to defend the field, with most of the machineguns in the detachment sited as AA emplacements on the edges of the long 3000 foot landing strip. He had four companies under Lieutenants Higuchi, Sawada, Maruyama and Chiba, all up to strength. The battalion was further strengthened by Lt. Komatsu’s MG Company, a small gun platoon under 2nd Lt. Hanami, and an engineer company to work on the field under Lieutenant Hideo Goto. In all, there were about 916 officers and men, and this was the same force that had been Ichiki’s first echelon when it had landed at Guadalcanal in Fedorov’s history.
The reputation of Ichiki’s force had been forged over many years of fighting in Manchuria, and it was considered among the very best in the Army. It was a unit fired at the outset with rigid discipline and training, often brutal by American standards. The soldiers themselves endured physical hardships, severe beatings, the clenched fist of a superior officer, or a rifle butt or sword haft being liberally applied for any perceived shortcoming. It was no surprise then that the men forged by that training regimen were a hard hearted and brutal lot themselves.
The Colonel had been chafing for some time, knowing that the Army had placed two full divisions on Viti Levu and believing that his detachment, the first to arrive in this theater, had been overlooked. He wanted to get into the war again, not to sit in garrison duty, with a third of his men working the mines before rotating to a two-week billet in Noumea, and then moving to the Airfield before they repeated that sequence. His men were restless, particularly after the Americans bombed the field, and all the planes were ordered out. The sight of the transports burning in the harbor was most disconcerting. The Colonel took that order very personally, thinking that he and his men had not been able to properly defend the airfield and harbor, but what more could they do?
The Navy had sent only one squadron of the better Type-Zero fighters, and it was said that they were now busy moving new troops to build up forces in the New Hebrides. Rumors were flying like fireflies that the Americans had landed on Efate, which was the reason why all the ships and planes had been ordered elsewhere. He imagined that they were now busy preparing to attack the Americans, and had no word that any threat to his command was imminent.
So it was with great surprise that Ichiki awoke in the darkness of the early morning to hear the deep boom of heavy gunfire. He knew it was not his own artillery, nor that of the French. This was something bigger, more ominous sounding, and it immediately honed his guard up for battle. The Colonel would soon receive a call from Noumea where Colonel Mizuno had the 1st Battalion. The harbor was being shelled, and the dark silhouettes of many enemy ships could be seen in the bay.
The sudden realization that the war had found him again at last was like a jolt of energy for Ichiki. He rushed out, soon fining his adjutant, Captain Yokichi Togashi, and ordered the battalion to stand to arms. Many of the men thought this was another of the Colonel’s surprise training drills, which had seemed endless in spite of their backwaters deployment, but now they could sense there was something more in the air that morning. The sound of battle rode the still airs like a rumble of thunder. The Americans were landing!
Colonel Ichiki resisted the immediate impulse to send his men to the harbor defense, knowing that he was already sitting on the ground the enemy really wanted. So instead he ordered his men to begin strengthening all their defensive positions, and when the troops of the 41st finally began to approach the airfield, they would face a well concentrated defense. The Japanese troops would now be fighting under the eyes of their Regimental Commander, and were burning to get at the Americans once they realized the surprise landings had been carried out before dawn.
“We are not going to the harbor?” asked Captain Togashi. “That is where they are landing!”
“Do not worry, this is what they came for, not the harbor.”
“But if they take the city they will have most of our supplies.”
“There are two battalions there already.”
“The French are useless!”
“True, but Colonel Mizuno is there with them. He will hold the harbor, or die if he should fail. As for us, we must keep this airfield from falling into enemy hands at all cost.”
“Then you will just sit here and order the men to dig in?”
“Of course not. I will wait until the Americans come, and then annihilate them. In the meantime, the men should not be sitting idle. So yes, they will dig in, and shore up the AA gun positions in case more American planes arrive.”
“More American planes…” Togashi shook his head. “Where are our planes now? It was shameful to see them fly off two days ago as they did.”
“I am told they went to Luganville to prepare the counterattack on Efate. That island is much closer to Tulagi, which is now operating as a forward supply base for the New Hebrides.”
“This was supposed to be that base,” said Togashi. “Something tells me the enemy has awakened, like a sleeping dragon that stirs in the dark. How could they still hold Fiji when all of the 38th and 48th Divisions were sent there? How could the Americans fight that battle and yet also attack Efate, and now Noumea?”
“Useless questions,” said Ichiki stoically. “We need only concern ourselves with this moment. We will wait here until the Americans think to advance up Route 1 and take this airfield. Then I will attack and destroy them. How many troops could they have landed? A thousand? Two thousand? We have more than enough men to destroy them if that is the case. Have you sent word to 3rd Battalion?”
“Yes sir. Colonel Goto is already marching to Noumea to join Colonel Mizuno. Are you certain we should not do the same?”