French soldiers engaged in street fighting.
CHAPTER 9 – OPERATION ‘SAFEGUARD’
09:04 (China Time)
Friday, August 5, 1932
Naval infantry command center, Upper Deck
French aviation cruiser REDOUTABLE
Off the Chinese coast, Eastern China Sea
Led by one of the French junior officers provided to his battalion as interpreters and guides, Alexander Vandegrift, his company commanders and senior command staff officers went to the onboard command center of the French naval infantry after breakfast, expecting to be briefed about the French plan to land troops in Shanghai’s International Settlement and French Concession. What they didn’t expect was to see six women as part of the crowd of French officers standing around the big map table of the command center. All of them appeared to be mature women in their forties or fifties and one was a tall black woman with coffee-colored skin and short brown hair cut at the neck. Vandegrift then remembered what de Castrie had told him yesterday about the three civilian transport aircraft sent to help in the oncoming operation. Still skeptical about those women, he however didn’t remark about them and took place with his marine officers around the map table, opposite Captain Robert de Valmont and Lieutenant Colonel Maurice de Castrie. A number of French officers, either aviators or naval infantrymen, also stood around the map table, with the six women lined on one side to the right of Vandegrift. Throwing a discreet look at the women, Vandegrift was shocked to see that all of them had multiple medal ribbons sewn on their aviators’ coveralls, while one wore a Belgian Air Force flight suit with the rank shoulder pads of a major. Now thoroughly unsettled, he had to force himself to pay attention to Captain de Valmont, who was now speaking in English.
“Welcome to this command briefing, Major Vandegrift. Be assured that the help and military support provided to us by the United States in this war has been most welcomed by France.’’
“And France can be assured of the United States’ complete support in this war, Captain de Valmont. Know that a strong naval task force is being prepared and will soon sail towards Japanese waters to support your fleet.’’
“That naval task force will be most appreciated, Major, as this coming operation is only one small part of this war, which has as a final goal to break forever the power of the Japanese militarists who caused this war by their greed for power and conquests. We on the REDOUTABLE will be only the first blow against the Japanese in China and this operation will concentrate on saving our citizens who have survived to date the Japanese atrocities in Shanghai. I will now give the floor to Colonel de Castrie, who will direct this operation. Colonel…’’
De Castrie nodded his head once, then started speaking, also using English.
“Thank you, Captain! Since most of the people around this map table either speak or understand English, we will thus conduct this briefing in English, for the benefit of our friends from the United States Marine Corps.’’
Vandegrift nodded approvingly at that, having been a bit worried about problems of miscommunication between his men and the French. What probably had helped a lot in this was the fact that English was the international communication language of aviators around the World, while Europeans were recognized to be in general more fluent in foreign languages than the typical American. Also, he himself and some of his officers could understand French to varying degrees, having previously served for months or even years in Haiti, which had now been under American military occupation for about 35 years. Still, de Castrie used the services of one of the junior officers loaned as guides to the marines to translate in French at intervals what was being said in English, pausing frequently and long enough to allow the translating to be done. His first move was to have copies of air photo maps distributed around the table.
“What you are getting now, ladies and gentlemen, are air photo maps of various parts of Shanghai, the results of a number of air photo reconnaissance missions effected during the last two days by some of the TRIDENT jet fighter-bombers based on this ship. They are yours to keep and use for this operation. We will also distribute later on printed maps of Shanghai and of its surrounding area. Since we had until recently people in Shanghai actively engaged in keeping those maps current, I can assure you that those maps are still accurate and most relevant. Our reconnaissance planes concentrated their attention on the zones of the International Settlement and of the French Concession, plus the areas of Shanghai adjacent to them. They also looked for signs of Japanese troop deployment in those zones. Thankfully, a number of consulates in the International Settlement, while under Japanese siege, are still transmitting reports on their respective situations, reports that their governments were kind enough to pass on to France on receipt. You will be relieved to know that the American consulate, at the Kalee Hotel, is still sending periodic reports via its radio equipment.’’
“That is certainly good news, Colonel.’’ replied Vandegrift, feeling relief at that news. “What is the present situation at the American consulate? Is it surrounded by Japanese troops?’’
“There are a few Japanese troops blocking the access to your consulate, but the bulk of the Japanese forces in Shanghai are busy hunting for any French citizens they could find. Major Huntsman and a platoon of marines are defending the American consulate, but their reserves of both food and ammunition are getting dangerously low. They also have to care for over 300 American citizens who took refuge in the consulate at the start of the Japanese onslaught. They certainly could use a hand…and they will get it, Major. Substantial troop reinforcements have been arriving by air in Hanoi during the last few days and we are now ready to make our first move against the Japanese in Shanghai. Furthermore, we in the REDOUTABLE will make that first move in Shanghai.’’
Grabbing a long, wooden pointer stick, de Castrie then used it to point in succession at a few marked locations on the air photo map of downtown Shanghai.
“Our first priority will be of course to force the Japanese to lift their siege of the various consulates in the International Settlement and French Concession and to throw the Japanese out of downtown Shanghai, in order to rescue the foreign citizens trapped inside the city. To do so, we will land troops and vehicles at four distinct locations: the American consulate in the Kalee Hotel, the riverfront promenade on the ‘Bund’7, the boat ramps and wharves on the Whangpoo River near the French consulate and the campus grounds of the Shanghai American School. Unfortunately, it is too late already for the students and staff of the American School: the Japanese massacred them on the first day of killings and raped and murdered the teenage girls studying there. However, the wide grounds of the school’s sports field and track oval will constitute for us an ideal place to land our planes there.’’
Vandegrift and the marine officers present grimly nodded at that last sentence by de Castrie: they already knew about the massacre and mass rapes at the American School, something that had firmly decided them to have a policy of ‘no mercy’ towards the Japanese troops they would encounter in Shanghai. De Castrie then pointed back at the area of the Bund and its seafront promenade.
“The first troops to land in Shanghai will be the men of my naval infantry battalion, who will travel to Shanghai by landing craft, sailing up the mouth of the Yangtse River, then turning onto the Whangpoo River. We will use the boat ramps and wharves near the French consulate to unload our tracked armored amphibians from our LCTs8 and then drive up and down the Bund. Nearly simultaneously, eighteen of our SUPER COLIBRI ‘A’ assault transports will land at the vertical along the Bund’s promenade and will unload one company from my naval infantry battalion, which will have light trucks, plus one of your companies, Major Vandegrift. Their job will be to secure the Bund, chase the Japanese from that zone and then start advancing westward to free the foreign installations and grounds in the International Settlement. Also, at the same time, the three COBRA ‘C’ of Miss Clarkson will land at the vertical just beside the American consulate, in order to drop off one company of marines, which will then reinforce the defenders of the consulate. Finally, the remaining six SUPER COLIBRI ‘A’ based on this ship will land on the campus grounds of the Shanghai American School, in order to drop a marine company that will then secure the grounds and prepare it for the incoming planes of our second assault wave, which will arrive from Hanoi some thirty minutes after our first landings. H-Hour is set for 15:00 hours this afternoon, so we will have to move fast from now on. During our landings, the SUPER FRELON strike aircraft from the REDOUTABLE will fly as a protective cover and will provide close air support on call. Yes, Major Vandegrift?’’
“Uh, I don’t want to sound picky, but why use civilian planes for such a dangerous operation?’’
De Castrie, who had expected that question, pointed at the tall black woman standing with five other women around the map table.
“Because they are of an advanced design still not in service with French forces, Major. However, Miss Lenoir, the owner and founder of both Air France and of the Lenoir Industries Consortium, graciously offered the use of the three existing pre-series prototypes of the Blériot-Kruger COBRA ‘C’ VTOL transport, which are much faster than our present SUPER COLIBRI assault transport, can carry more troops and can land in smaller, more restricted landing zones, all things that make them perfect to land troops just beside the American consulate, which is not located directly in front of the open expanse of the Bund. If you were worried about being piloted by civilian aircrews, then you can relax: all of these ladies are decorated war veterans who flew combat missions during World War One, while two of them, Miss Terry Clarkson and Major Hélène Dutrieu, are recipients of the Légion d’Honneur. By the way, Major Dutrieu is a reserve officer of the Belgian Air Force and will carry in her plane, along with one of your platoons of marines, a reinforced rifle squad of the Belgian Army, which she will drop at the Belgian consulate after landing your marines at the Kalee Hotel. Another reason for their presence here is that they brought some gifts for your marines, courtesy of Miss Lenoir. Those consist of stocks of armored vests and helmets, advanced portable radios, some automatic weapons and twelve light all-terrain vehicles that will give your marines some mobility on the ground. All of those equipments are already in French Army use, by the way, and we have the spares to maintain and repair them if needed. Miss Clarkson will brief you further on those things after this meeting.’’
“Very well, Colonel. We will gladly accept that extra materiel, as we came rather bare bones and in a hurry from the United States. Talking of materiel, your ‘LCTs’ and armored amphibians are new concepts to me and the Marine Corps and I am really curious about them. I would thus like to be able to have one of my officers accompany your battalion, in order to observe your equipment and tactics in action.’’
“I see no problems with that, Major Vandegrift. If you will designate one of your officers, I will then have him introduced to our amphibious equipment and will bring him with me on my own tracked amphibian. As for your marines who will land by air, I have planned a short familiarity training session for eleven o’clock this morning, to show them how to board and unload safely from our assault transports. Please have your three rifle companies on the forward part of the starboard landing strip for eleven, ready for that training.’’
“They will be there, Colonel.’’ assured Vandegrift, feeling better by the minute about this mission. The truth was that the concept of ‘landing craft’ and ‘armored amphibians’ was totally unknown to the U.S. Marine Corps, which still used only rowboats or motor launches to effect landings on a hostile shore. Furthermore, marines who landed on a hostile beach did so with no heavy equipment at all, as they would have to wait for a port to be taken before transport ships could dock and unload vehicles, heavy weapons…and horses. As for this business of ‘vertical air landings’, it was also a totally new concept for him. Overall, this operation had the potential to teach a lot of precious lessons to the Marine Corps and Vandegrift was firmly resolved to learn as much as possible about French amphibious tactics and equipment, so that he could later submit a full report to the Corps Commandant, Major General Hebard Fuller.
The briefing turned out to be a rather short one, ending less than ten minutes later and freeing the various officers to go prepare their troops and equipment. After assigning his battalion’s second-in-command, Captain Gerald Thomas, to follow Lieutenant Colonel de Castrie during his sea assault, Vandegrift went to meet the six women present in the room, exchanging salutes with Hélène Dutrieu before shaking the hands of the women.
“Thank you for volunteering to support my marines on this operation, ladies. You will have to pass my appreciation for this support to Miss Lenoir on your return to France.’’
“It is a pleasure to help support your marines, Major. My name is Terry Clarkson, chief test pilot at Blériot-Kruger, and my companions are Major Hélène Dutrieu, Beatrix de Rijk, Jeanne Herveu, Hélène de Plagino and Louise Besson.’’ replied the tall black woman, who appeared at once to be the leader of the group of women, despite the presence of Major Dutrieu. That somewhat surprised Vandegrift: a civilian leading over a commissioned officer? Also, as a born Virginian, the notion of a black woman in a combat leadership position certainly felt wrong to him. He however didn’t remark on that as the black woman continued.
“May I ask first what kind of weapons your troops brought with them, Major? We may be able to garnish your arsenal a bit with some weapons we brought with us.’’
“Basically, the main individual weapon in my battalion is the Springfield 1903 bolt-action rifle in .30 caliber, while my squad leaders, typically corporals or sergeants, carry Thompson Model 1928 .45 caliber submachine guns. We also have a number of B.A.R. .30 caliber light machine guns and Browning M1919 .30 caliber medium machine guns. As for me and my officers, along with my machine gunners, we carry Colt 1911 .45 caliber pistols as personal weapons. We brought as well a few crates of fragmentation grenades.’’
“Hum…’’ said Terry Clarkson, apparently not impressed one bit. “While it would be a bit late to fully rearm your battalion, I can propose to you a few compact and light submachine guns to boost the firepower of your officers and machine gunners…if you are interested, of course.’’
“What do you have precisely, Miss Clarkson?’’ asked Vandegrift, out of pure curiosity. In response, she grabbed a compact weapon she was wearing from a shoulder via a sling and quickly unloaded it before presenting it to Vandegrift, who took it and started examining it with intense interest.
“This is a SC-1 submachine gun, chambered in 7.63 X 25 millimeters caliber. However, the extra SC-1s we brought for your men are a variant chambered for your .45 ACP pistol round. It weighs less than five pounds, compared to the ten pounds of your Thompson M1928, and is barely more than half its length when its stock is folded. It is fed by a thirty-round box magazine placed behind the pistol grip in a fashion called ‘bullpup configuration’, which makes it even handier and more compact to carry and use. Due to its twelve inch-long barrel, its muzzle velocity is 300 meters per second in .45 caliber variant, or 990 feet per second if you prefer. The standard model in 7.63 X 25 mm has an even higher muzzle velocity of 1,580 feet per second, which gives its bullets very substantial stopping and penetration powers. This weapon has been a standard weapon with the French forces for over a decade now and has proved very reliable in jungles, deserts and Winter environments.’’
Making sure first that the submachine gun had been properly unloaded and made safe, Vandegrift then tried its trigger pull and bolt catch before looking through the top sights, ending up quite impressed with its design.
“A really nice weapon, Miss Clarkson. Which company produces it?’’
“Mine!’’ was her answer, making Vandegrift snap his head up to look at her. “I own the ‘Clarkson Armaments’ company and am a qualified weapons systems engineer. I designed this weapon, along with most of the modern individual weapons now used by the French Army, Navy and Air Force.’’
That had the effect of making Vandegrift reevaluate quickly his first impressions about Clarkson: a black woman who was both the chief test pilot at Blériot-Kruger, arguably the most advanced aircraft manufacturer in the World at the moment, and the owner of a firearms plant, was certainly someone worth paying attention to. There was also the business of the triple row of medal ribbons sewn over the left chest pocket of her flight suit, medals which included the French Légion d’Honneur in Commander’s Grade.
“Miss, if you are really ready to offer this weapon to my men, then I will be happy to grab sixty of those SC-1s in .45 caliber. Do you have that many with you on this ship?’’
“I have in fact plenty to spare with me, Major. Apart from weapons, we also brought compact lightweight radios, armored vests and helmets and twelve light all-terrain vehicles, all intended for your battalion. One last point about all that equipment: they are now yours and the property of the U.S. Marine Corps, as gifts from Miss Tasha Lenoir, my close friend and employer. Consider them as a goodwill gesture from France to thank the United States for its support in this war.’’
That brought a grin on the faces of Vandegrift and of his officers.
“Such gifts are most welcome, Miss Clarkson. When would you like to start distributing your radios, helmets, vests and submachine guns?’’
“How about right now, before your men go train on the flight deck to familiarize themselves with our planes?’’
“That sounds fine with me, miss.’’
Leaving together the command center, Terry let time for Vandegrift and his officers to collect all their marines, then led them to the large compartment housing the quartermaster section of the French naval infantry unit. There, she showed a row of boxes piled to one side and three sets of armored vests and helmets lined up on the service counter, along with SC-1 submachine guns and a number of surprisingly small radio sets.
“We will start with the distribution and fitting of helmets and armored vests. Those come in three basic sizes: small, medium and large. In view of the average size of American men, I also added a few extra-large size outfits to the lot. If you will have your men lined up in single file in the passageway, we will start outfitting them one by one by making them try demonstration models first, then giving them one set of the correct size. Your officers and machine gunners will then be able to grab a SC-1, along with spare magazines, cleaning tools sets and magazines pouches. Since I don’t know about your precise battalion radio net diagram, I will let you decide who gets what kind of radio.’’
“Well, that last part should be easy enough.’’ replied with a smirk Vandegrift. “The only radios we normally have in the Marine Corps are at company level and up, and those sets are not exactly portable. For the rest, we mostly use field telephones and lots of loud shouting.’’
His answer made in turn Terry smile in amusement.
“In that case, indulge yourself fully, Major Vandegrift: we have pocket-sized radios with light headsets suitable for squad and platoon communications, plus light backpack radios for company and battalion communications. By the way, the same models of radios are in service with French forces, so you will be able to communicate with your French naval infantry comrades without problems, something that may prove crucial in this operation. Be aware that French close support aircraft have radios compatible with those ground radios, so you will be able to communicate with them if you ever end up in a jam.’’
“Excellent! Then, let’s start this show.’’
Vandegrift was the first to go through the distribution process and was pleasantly surprised at how light and comfortable the armored vests and helmets proved to be. A small but nice touch was the fact that the helmets had miniature American flags painted on their front, while detachable American flags and U.S. Marine Corps insignias were attached to the vests. With new water bottles, ammunition pouches and cargo pouches coming with the vests, they basically replaced completely the rather limited web gear used up to now by the marines, with the long bayonet for their Springfield 1903 the only original item left. From there, the process went on with commendable speed, with a number of French supply clerks helping with the distribution and fitting process. The whole thing took less than fifty minutes, at the end of which three days’ worth of field rations were distributed to each marine before they were sent back to their respective squad rooms in order to go store away their old web gear. From there, they regrouped and went up to the starboard flight deck, which was half packed with parked aircraft. The marines were just in time to watch a TRIDENT jet fighter-bomber land on the port side flight deck, its tail hook catching one of the arresting wires and then stopping well before the end of the 240 meter-long flight deck. The commander of Foxtrot Company, Captain Merritt Edson, who was a qualified naval aviator, looked on with envy.
“Damn! If only I could pilot such a plane…’’
Looking away with difficulty from the jet fighter-bomber, Edson then followed his battalion commander towards the bow end of the starboard side flight deck. There, close to one of the two huge aircraft elevators of the REDOUTABLE, were parked twelve small wheeled vehicles of rather unusual design. For one, they had six wheels attached to three evenly spaced axles. Second, their chassis had a very generous ground clearance of close to fifty centimeters. To top the cake, they all had a large, shrouded propeller with rudder at the back. The marines were still scratching their heads at that when Terry Clarkson spoke up, nearly shouting to be heard above the noise of the various flight deck activities.
“Please listen up, gentlemen! What you see here are twelve Kruger COCCINELLE all-terrain vehicles, also known as ‘The Bug’. These light all-purpose vehicles are fully amphibious and have six permanently engaged, large low pressure tires that give them a very low ground pressure, thus making them able to drive in mud, snow and sand. Its 73 horsepower engine can also be connected to the large shrouded propeller at the rear, which propels the COCCINELLE at speeds of up to eleven knots, while the top road speed is 56 miles per hour. It is steered via differential steering, like a bulldozer, and uses an automatic, four-speed transmission. While its chassis and frame are made of steel, the body is made of Durex polymer, an extremely tough plastic that is also lightweight and makes this vehicle basically bullet-proof. The windows are also made of Durex so, when the windows are rolled up, the occupants enjoy good protection all around, except for the top, which has only a flexible, accordion-like plastic roof sheeting that slides along rails fixed to the anti-roll bars of the vehicle. The vehicle can safely swim with six men inside, or while carrying up to 3,000 pounds of cargo. While it is not armed in its basic form, a variety of machine guns can be adapted to it. You may be interested to learn that, apart from equipping on a large scale French military units, its civilian variant is also on public sale in France and in the rest of Europe, where hunters, prospectors and other people traveling in the wild positively love the Bug. Those twelve COCCINELLEs now belong to your battalion and will help give you some precious mobility once on the ground in Shanghai. I will now ask Major Vandegrift to designate twelve or more marines who will be driving those in Shanghai, so that I could then give them a short training period on them. The rest of you may take rides as passengers if you wish so, but try not to get in the way of flight deck operations while watching the driver training. Major Vandegrift…’’
Vandegrift, quite happy at this latest gift, promptly stepped forward and designated 28 selected marines for driver and maintenance training before making the rest of his battalion sit a bit off the starboard flight deck, in a corner formed by the low bow superstructures of the centerline hull, where they would not run the risk of being in the way of either aircraft or circulating flight deck support vehicles, which actually included a few COCCINELLEs. After some twenty minutes spent giving a quick instruction period on the maintenance and operation of the COCCINELLE, Terry then got in one of the vehicles with a first marine driver, with Vandegrift and Captain Puller joining in as passengers. Even though Terry made sure that the marine driver didn’t drive too fast and stayed well within a safe, unoccupied zone of the flight deck, that driver and his two officers had true fun with the ATV, ending up doing ‘donuts’, on-the-spot turns and short speed dashes and occasionally yelling in delight as if he was on a horse in a rodeo. Thankfully, no accidents or mishaps happened during the one hour taken by the practical driver’s training, something that greatly relieved Terry, who had been afraid that an over-enthusiastic marine would drive the ATV off the flight deck and into the ocean, some 19.5 meters below the deck.
By the time that the driver training was completed, it was time for the marines to get familiarized on how to safely embark and disembark from the two types of aircraft they were going to ride in today: the CONDOR ‘C’ and the SUPER COLIBRI ‘A’. That training was actually completed much faster than the driver training, allowing the marines to go have an early lunch before preparing for combat in China. The one marine not to eat with the battalion was Captain Gerald Thomas, the deputy commander of the unit, who had to depart before lunch with the bulk of the ship’s naval infantry battalion in the four LCTs of the REDOUTABLE. Those thirty meter-long landing craft slowly backed out of their floodable dry docks at the stern of the three hulls of the cruiser, then turned west and picked up speed towards the Chinese coast, some 150 kilometers away. A light rain was starting to fall, while the wind was picking up, as Alexander Vandegrift watched the four LCTs disappear in the distance.
“Good luck, Gerald.