"You sound as if you disagree."
"So far as I’m concerned, we should let the Germans and the Russians bleed each other to death," Pickering said. "But my theories of how the war should be fought have so far not been solicited."
"So what happens now?" Fowler asked.
"Well, we try to keep the Japanese from taking both Australia and New Zealand, which are obviously on their schedule. And we try to establish bases in Australia and New Zealand from which we can eventually start taking things back. It’s six thousand five hundred miles from San Francisco to Brisbane. At the moment that sea lane is open. MacArthur has already been asked, politely, to leave the Philippines and go to Australia."
"What do you mean, ‘asked’?"
"I mean asked. If he doesn’t go, I suppose Roosevelt will eventually make it an order. General Marshall’s been urging him to do it right away. MacArthur and Marshall hate each other, did you know that?"
"I’d heard rumors."
"When George Marshall was a colonel at Fort Benning, MacArthur was Army Chief of Staff. He wrote an efficiency report on Marshall, saying he should never be given command of anything larger than a regiment. MacArthur thinks Marshall- who’s now in MacArthur’s former position, of course-was returning the compliment when he recalled MacArthur as a lieutenant general."
"I don’t understand."
"MacArthur retired as a general, a full four-star general, when he was Chief of Staff. Then he got himself appointed Marshal of the Philippine Armed Forces. When Roosevelt called MacArthur back from retirement to assume command in the Philippines, he called him back as a lieutenant general, with three stars-junior to a full general, in other words. MacArthur thinks Marshall was behind that. I frankly wouldn’t be surprised if he was. Anyway, their relationship is pretty delicate.
"So the idea is that MacArthur will go to Australia. And that we will stage out of Australia and New Zealand. That’s presuming we can hang on to New Zealand and Australia. There are no troops there to speak of. They’re all off in Africa and England defending the Empire.
"And the Japanese know they can take it unless we can maintain a reasonably safe sea route to Australia and New Zealand, and they have already made their first move. On January twenty-third-which is what, three weeks ago?-they occupied Rabaul. Here."
He pointed at the map, at the Bismarck Archipelago, east of New Guinea.
"They’ve already established forces on New Guinea, and if they can build an air base at Rabaul, they can bomb our ships en route to Australia and New Zealand. And, of course, they can bomb New Zealand and Australia."
"And we’re doing nothing about that, either?"
"In that briefcase you won’t look at-"
"I told you why."
"-there is just about the final draft of an operations order from Admiral King. Unless somebody finds something seriously wrong with it, and I don’t think they will, he’ll make it official in the next couple of days. It orders the soonest possible recapture of Rabaul. To do that, we’ll have to set up a base on Efate Island, in the New Hebrides."
"Where the hell is that?"
Pickering pointed to the map. Fowler saw that Јfate was a tiny speck in the South Pacific, northwest of New Caledonia, which itself was an only slightly larger speck of land east of the Australian continent.
"Why there?"
"It’s on the shipping lanes. Once they get an airfield built, they can bomb Rabaul from it. And again, once the airfield is built, they can use it to protect the shipping lanes."
"Have we got any troops to send there? And ships to send them in?"
"Army Task Force 6814, which isn’t much-it’s much less than a division-is already on the high seas, bound for Efate," Pickering said.
"Not even a division? That’s not much."
"It’s all we’ve got, and it’s something."
"What about the Marines?"
"What about them?"
"Where are they? What are they doing?"
"The day the Japanese landed at Rabaul, the 2ndMarine Brigade landed on Samoa, reinforcing the 7thDefense Battalion. The 4thMarines, who used to be in China, are on Bataan. They’re forming Marine divisions on both coasts, but they won’t be ready for combat until early 1943."
"This is all worse than I thought. Or are you being pessimistic?"
"I don’t think so. I think ... if we can keep them from taking Australia, or rendering it impotent, we may even have bottomed out. But right now, our ass is in a crack."
"I heard ... I can’t tell you where . . ."
"Can’t, or won’t?"
"Won’t. I heard that Roosevelt has authorized the launching of B-26 bombers from an aircraft carrier to bomb Japan."
"B-twenty-fives," Pickering corrected him. "The ones they named after General Billy Mitchell. They’re training right now on the Florida Panhandle."
"What do you think about that?"
"I think it’s a good idea. It may not do much real damage, but it will hurt the Japanese ego, and probably make them keep a much larger home defense force than they have at home; and it’s probably going to do wonders for civilian morale here. That’s probably worth the cost."
"What cost?"
"I talked to Jimmy Doolittle. He used to be vice-president of Shell. Very good guy. He left me with the impression he doesn’t really expect to come back."
"Jesus!"
"There are lieutenant colonels and then there are lieutenant colonels," Pickering said.
"You’re talking about the one you buried?"
"You accused me of being cold-blooded."
"OK. I apologize."
"I wish I was," Pickering said. "Cold-blooded, I mean."
"I was going to use my knowledge of Jimmy Doolittle and the B-25s to dazzle you, and get you to tell me about the Marine Raiders."
"Same sort of thing, I think. Roosevelt is dazzled by all things British, and thinks we should have our own commandos. We have to have some kind of military triumph or the public’s morale will go to hell."
"You think that’s all it is? A public-relations stunt, for public morale?"
"I think there’s more, but I don’t find anything wrong with doing something to buttress public morale. And Roosevelt’s at least putting his money where his mouth his. His son Jimmy is executive officer of one of the Raider battalions, the 2nd, now forming at San Diego."
"Tell me about it," Senator Fowler said. "You say you were out in San Diego?"
"After dinner. I didn’t have any lunch."
"You buying?"
"Why not?"
They ate in the hotel’s Grill Room, lamb chops and oven-roast potatoes and a tomato salad, with two bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon.
"Did I tell you," Pickering said, as he selected a Wisconsin Camembert from the display of cheeses, "that the 26thCavalry in the Philippines just shot their horses? They needed them for food."
"Jesus Christ, Flem!" the Senator protested.
"Why don’t I feel guilty about eating all this? Maybe you’re right, Dick. Maybe I really am cold-blooded."
"I don’t know whether you are or not, but that’s the last you get to drink. I know you well enough to know there are times when you should not be drinking, and this is one of those times."