Japanese Emperor Hirohito in imperial garb. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
CHAPTER 14 – OF EMPERORS AND PRESIDENTS
23:09 (New York Time)
Tuesday, November 8, 1932
State Governor’s residence, Albany
State of New York, U.S.A.
“…and with over sixty percent of the votes counted, WNBT can predict with confidence that Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the actual governor of the state of New York, will win this presidential election in a landslide, defeating President Herbert Hoover. WNBT will continue to cover the ballot counting until the results will become official.’’
The twenty or so people assembled in the lounge of the Roosevelt and watching the results of the elections on the large flat screen color television set exploded in cheers on hearing the prediction made by the WNBT news anchor. Eleanor Roosevelt bent down to kiss her husband, who was sitting in his customary wheelchair.
“Congratulation, dear: you are going to be the 32nd President of the United States.’’
“Thanks, Eleanor! However, I still have to wait four more months before I will be effectively the President: inauguration is only next March. Hopefully, Hoover will not use those four months to try to sabotage in advance my presidency. His inaction and wrong policies about the Depression already cost the country much.’’
“Well, the way you convincingly defeated him should make him cautious about that, Franklin. Your main task now, apart from continuing your work as Governor of New York, will be to think about your future national policies, in order to be able to enact them as quickly as possible after your inauguration. Maybe you should seek some counsels about them from someone overseas.’’
“You mean Lenoir?’’
“Exactly! Look at how her investments and technology transfers helped our state and the New England states. Hell, just look at this television set we just watched, along with the fact that New York and Boston now have the only working commercial television stations in the whole of the United States, stations using the best television technology in the World by a far shot. Many doubters tried to pull you away from her projects, saying that her anti-segregation conditions were tantamount to foreign interference in American policies. Yet, none of their doom and gloom predictions came true, while the state’s economy is now mostly out of this damn Depression. You don’t even need to make public the fact that you would be taking advice from her: Tasha Lenoir doesn’t care about personal fame and her actions have only been motivated to date by altruism and humanism. She also has a social vision that I wholeheartedly subscribe to.’’
The President-elect nodded his head at that last sentence, knowing how close the respective visions about a future society that his wife and of Tasha Lenoir held were. If anything, Eleanor was probably the biggest cheerleader for Lenoir in the United States. However, he didn’t consider that as a negative point, far from it, as the profound honesty, business savvy and sense of care of the French woman had also struck him. Compared to her, most of the big American industrialists and bankers he knew were little more than greedy amateurs.
“I think that your idea has a lot of merit, Eleanor. I will send Harry Hopkins to France for a few days as soon as I can let him go from here. I will need him a lot in the coming days and weeks while I assemble my cabinet.’’
It was then the turn of Eleanor to nod her head: if there was anyone who was in the same class as Tasha Lenoir, it was Harry Hopkins, Franklin’s top assistant and also a good friend of Eleanor. Like Lenoir, Hopkins was scrupulously honest, was a very efficient and competent administrator and cared deeply about others around him, having started as a social worker. Lenoir and Hopkins were truly a pair made to understand each other.
08:52 (Tokyo Time)
Monday, December 5, 1932
Imperial study, Imperial Palace
Tokyo, Japan
Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan, Shishaku (Viscount) Makino Nobuaki, went to his knees and bowed deeply, until his forehead touched the tatami carpet of the imperial study.
“Your Majesty, I have the report you requested.’’
“Good! You may read it to me now.’’ replied Emperor Hirohito, also known as the Emperor Shôwa, who was kneeling on a cushion behind a traditional low table supporting sheets of paper, pens and an ink bottle. The 71 year-old, bald and bespectacled viscount nodded his head and extracted a folder from a thin wooden box he had brought with him, then started reading the document inside it.
“Your Majesty, I am sad to say that the situation is bad…very bad. At sea, our navy has all but ceased to exist and it now counts only a few coastal patrol ships, minesweepers and tugboats. All of its high seas warships have been sunk, either by the guided rockets used by French warships or from air attack. As for building new warships, it is now impossible to do so: all of our naval arsenals and shipyards able to build warships have been totally destroyed by rockets, bombs or enemy battleship shells. Furthermore, powerful French and American battle squadrons are continuing to cruise up and down our coasts while bombarding our shore installations and ports as they go. Enemy bombers are also adding to the damage by systematically bombing our military industries and facilities. Recently, these bombers started switching to civilian industries, like steel plants, electrical powerplants and oil refineries. The latter ones were anyway not working, since no shipment of oil has been received for months now. The whole country is now about out of fuel, except for coal, and transportation has generally ground to a halt. There is now a real possibility that some of our population will freeze to death this Winter, while also suffering from hunger due to the enemy blockade against our maritime trade.’’
While keeping an impassive face, as was expected of him as the Japanese Emperor, Hirohito was severely shaken by the words from Makino.
“What about the Army? Is it winning against our enemies in China and Manchuria?’’
“I actually had great difficulties in obtaining some answers to my questions on that subject, Your Majesty. Part of the reasons for that is the fact that our military command centers in Japan were destroyed early in the war by French long range rockets, with many of our top military leaders killed at that time. Another reason is that we have huge difficulties in keeping radio communications open between Japan and China, while army command centers in China and Manchuria have been systematically bombed from the air for months now. From what I could gather, the Army has suffered heavy losses and is retreating nearly everywhere. It also is out of fuel and is running out of ammunition. Even our infantrymen are running out of rifle bullets. The Soviets have now taken over two thirds of Manchuria and are closing in on Mukden, while the French and Americans have gained full control of Shanghai and its surrounding area. Our troops around Shanghai are also out of fuel and nearly out of ammunition, while the enemy sea blockade is preventing us from sending in fresh supplies to China. Soon, our soldiers will be down to only their bayonets.’’
“How? How could all this happen? Our soldiers are the best and bravest in the World. How could those Gaijins11 defeat our soldiers and sailors so decisively?’’
“The answer is simple, Your Majesty: superior weapons and technology. The French possess weapons that we could only dream about. They have guided long range weapons that they can fire from well beyond the range of our own weapons, while their planes are faster and better armed than ours. As for our army, it found itself facing armored forces against which it was ill-equipped to resist.’’
Makino then hesitated for a moment before continuing.
“Your Majesty, I must report to you another factor that has contributed to the setbacks suffered by our army in China. It concerns its leadership.’’
Hirohito’s eyes narrowed while staring hard at his Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal.
“Go on!’’
“Your Majesty, I found out that most of our army leaders in China are not obeying anymore the directives sent from Tokyo. They are also fighting independently from each other and no longer follow a single plan of operation. That is mostly due to our heavy losses of senior commanders and to our difficult radio communications, but there also have been clear cases of insubordination, with some local commanders ignoring directives from above or squarely refusing to obey them. Overall, I expect our Army in China to be utterly defeated and wiped out in the weeks and months to come, especially in Manchuria, where the harsh Winter conditions will make the situation even more unbearable to our supply-starved troops.’’
“What about here, in Japan? Could the Army resist an enemy landing and invasion?’’
“I am not sure about that, Your Majesty. However, there are no signs that the enemy is planning any ground invasion of Japan. Right now, the French and Americans are content with cruising up and down our coasts while bombarding them with heavy guns and with bombing our infrastructures from the air. I do not believe that they have the stomach to risk the kind of casualties a landing would cost them. To be frank, they don’t need to land to defeat us: they just need to keep their sea blockade of Japan tight and let us starve in the dark during this Winter.’’
“What about the Soviets? I was told a month ago that they were trying to take our possessions in the Kurile and Sakhalin Islands.’’
“I regret to have to inform you that the Soviets have actually already captured all our possessions in the Kurile and Sakhalin Islands, Your Majesty. They could now attack Hokkaido12 at any time with little opposition. This concludes my report on the war situation, Your Majesty.’’
Makino then fell silent, waiting for any possible directive or command Hirohito could give him. Hirohito, hiding his agitation and emotions, mentally debated for a long moment about what to do, if anything, to try saving Japan from such a catastrophic situation. The biting, bitter irony was that this catastrophic situation was mostly of Japan’s own making, with the arrogance and thirst for power of the militarist class having obscured its better judgment. In this, Hirohito had to attribute some of the blame to himself, for believing the promises from those same militarists. When he finally spoke, it was on a tone that clearly amounted to an order.
“Get a scribe at once! I need to proclaim an imperial edict.’’
“Right away, Your Majesty.’’ Replied Makino, bowing deep, before crawling backward and leaving the study. He was back a mere three minutes later with the head scribe of the Emperor, who quickly set up his ink, pen and paper on a small portable low table. Hirohito spoke again as soon as the scribe was ready.
“I, your Emperor, have contemplated with growing dissatisfaction the evolution of the war situation. It is now time to reconsider Japan’s future actions in order to ensure its continued integrity and to keep our enemies away from sacred Japanese soil. I expect our army and navy commanders to draw the necessary conclusions from the present situation and to do what is honorable. I, Emperor Shôwa, spoke! Publish this edict across Japan and send it by air messengers to our army leaders in China right away.’’
“Hay!’’ replied in unison Makino and the scribe before withdrawing on their knees from the study.
00 :17 (Tokyo Time)
Tuesday, December 6, 1932
Main gate of the Imperial Palace
Imperial Grounds, Chiyoda Ward
Tokyo
Captain Junko Asagara couldn’t say why, but he couldn’t help feel especially nervous tonight. Taking his nervousness as a premonition, he had taken on himself to reinforce the night guard force at the main gate of the Imperial Palace, in which he was in charge of. The gate, situated at the end of the Seimon Ishibashi Bridge, was actually a strong, solid wooden gate which was part of the defensive wall surrounding the Imperial Grounds, which were in turn surrounded by a deep, water-filled moat running outside the walls. Maybe it was the unusual darkness of Tokyo at night, due to the lack of fuel and subsequent cuts in electrical power, which caused his nervousness. Right now, Asagara was standing against the guardrail of the walkway perched atop the wooden palisade of the main gate and he could see hardly anything through the obscurity around him. Only the light from some oil lamps showed through the windows of a few houses in the district surrounding the Imperial Grounds.
Asagara was about to go down to the level of the gate, in order to go check on how vigilant his imperial guards soldiers were, when he suddenly saw movement in the public park situated on the other side of the Seimon Ishibashi Bridge. The growing noise of feet marching in cadence then made him tense up. Soon, the movement he had perceived turned into a thick, long column of marching soldiers approaching the bridge. Feeling bad about this and not wanting to take any chance, Asagara quickly went inside the guard house, situated at the same level as the walkway, above the entrance gate, and shouted at the few soldiers sitting in their guard room.
“A STRONG COLUMN OF SOLDIERS IS APPROACHING THE BRIDGE. WAKE EVERYBODY UP AND MAN THE WALLS.’’
Next, he ran down the wooden stairs and went out of the guard house, then ran to the gate proper, where four of his soldiers were posted. Once at the gate, he gave firm orders to his men there.
“I am going to go out to identify these soldiers and learn why they are here. Lock the pedestrian door as soon as I am out and don’t open it unless I personally tell you so. Warrant Nomura, you will be in charge if something happens to me. I smell something bad about this late night arrival.’’
“HAY!’’ replied the grizzled NCO while bowing to him. Asagara then stepped quickly through the pedestrian door, with the heavy steel bolts of that door being immediately pushed in place behind him. By then, the column of soldiers, led by an officer, was starting to cross the bridge in cadence. With his left hand on the pommel of his katana sword, Asagara walked to meet the newcomers halfway down the bridge. The officer leading the column shouted an order then, making his men stop. Once near him, Asagara was still unsure of what were the insignias on that officer’s uniform, so deep was the darkness. The unknown officer then saluted Asagara while presenting himself.
“Lieutenant Fujimori, sent with 200 men of the Imperial Guards Division to reinforce the defenses of the Imperial Palace, sir!’’
That made Asagara’s eyes narrow.
“I was not informed about the sending of such reinforcements, Lieutenant. I am sure that Colonel Ito would have advised me of this in advance.’’
Lieutenant Fujimori smiled at that remark, the white of his teeth showing in the obscurity.
“Colonel Ito himself was only informed at the last minute of the need to reinforce the palace guard force, sir.’’
While Asagara nodded briefly his head to that, as if to acknowledge it, his body immediately tensed up: there was no Colonel Ito on the staff of the Imperial Guards Division.
“Just a moment, then: I am going to tell my men to open the gate for your soldiers, Lieutenant.’’
Turning around as if to shout an order to his men, Asagara then grabbed his sword with his right hand and, pulling it out in a flash, delivered in one smooth motion a slashing blow straight out of the scabbard. The razor-sharp blade took the head of Lieutenant Fujimori, or whoever he really was, clean off, sending it roll down on the pavement of the bridge. Asagara then immediately shouted at the top of his lungs to his soldiers standing on the walkway above the gate.
“SOUND THE ALARM! THESE ARE TRAITORS ATTACKING THE PALACE!’’
The guards captain then turned back to face the column of soldiers, only to be shot four times in the chest from close range. Falling on his knees, Asagara had the satisfaction before dying of hearing one of his soldiers blow hard in the big horn used to raise the alarm across the Imperial Grounds. The horn was blown another two times before the intruders, passing by Asagara’s body, tried to rush the gate, hoping that the pedestrian door would be still unlocked. In that they were severely disappointed, slamming in vain their shoulders against the thick reinforced wooden door. The guards standing on the walkway then started firing in the dark mass of soldiers banging on the gate, with two of the guards priming grenades and then letting them drop into the mass. The effect was horrific, with sixteen men being immediately killed by the explosions and with another nine men being wounded by grenade fragments and by the explosive shock wave. An intense exchange of rifle fire followed between the guards on the walkway and the soldiers trying to break through the gate, with casualties quickly piling on both sides. What finally decided the outcome of the battle was when the guards posted inside a watchtower opposite the bridge, some 120 meters away, started firing with a machine gun into the mass of attackers, downing them by the dozens. More palace guards, alerted by the alarm horn and by the gunfire, soon arrived on the walls to deliver additional rifle fire against the assailants. The latter, trapped at the foot of the main gate, continued with fanatical desperation to try to break open the pedestrian door, but to no avail. Some of the attackers even tried to scale the wall by forming a human ladder, but were shot down in quick order. A volley of grenades thrown from the top of the walls and from the walkway then finished the fight by killing or wounding the surviving attackers. With torches thrown down on the surface of the bridge to provide some illumination, the guards atop the gate’s walkway then methodically shot any attacker that was still moving or moaning, until silence fell around the gate. Warrant Nomura, his sword in hand and with four guards at his back, cautiously went out via the pedestrian door to check the bodies from up close. Any doubt about a particular corpse attracted at once a katana slash or a bayonet stab. Nomura finally arrived where the body of Captain Asagara lay. Checking first if his officer could still be alive by some miracle, he lowered his head in sadness on finding no pulse at all. Getting back on his feet, Nomura then bowed deeply over his fallen commander.
“May the Gods honor your spirit, Captain.’’
15:22 (Tokyo Time)
Emperor’s study, Imperial Palace
Tokyo
“So, Viscount Makino, do we know who attacked the palace last night?’’
“Yes, Your Majesty: they were a mix of young army cadet officers from the Imperial Army Academy and of men from the Kempetai13.’’
“The Kempetai? Why them?’’
“We are not sure, Your Majesty, but I suspect that the Kempetai is unwilling to see Japan withdraw from China. As for the army cadet officers, the staff of the Imperial Army Academy is well known for favoring a leading government role for the militarist faction.’’
What Makino kept to himself was the fact that the said militarist faction had long been supported by Hirohito himself, who had dreams of leading a vast Japanese empire encompassing most of Asia. Hirohito had personally agreed to the invasion of Manchuria and had privately condoned the harsh conduct of the Japanese Army in China towards Chinese civilians and soldiers alike. On his part, Hirohito felt bitter at seeing the Army, which he had supported for years, turn against him like this. If he didn’t assert his imperial authority quickly and in a decisive manner, he was liable to see more such attacks on him from the militarists. While he disliked it, he now had no choice but to push back against them. For that, he had the perfect person to lead such a pushback, someone he could count to stay loyal to the Imperial family and with whom he ironically had many heated discussions in the past about the powers given to the Army.
“Tell Prince Takamatsu14to lead sailors and soldiers loyal to the Imperial House in arresting the staff at the Imperial Army Academy and at the Kempetai headquarters in Tokyo. Furthermore, I want the Kempetai dissolved and made powerless across Japan: we cannot allow it to try again to usurp imperial authority. Those who will be arrested are to be accused of high treason.’’
“It will be done, Your Majesty.’’ said Makino before withdrawing outside the study.
Now alone, Hirohito mentally reviewed the present, sorry state of Japan. Instead of seeing his dreams of a Japanese Asian empire becoming reality, he now had a defeated, ruined Japan facing cold and starvation in the dark this Winter. Worst even, he couldn’t even count anymore on his old allies and supporters in the militarist camp. His mistake had been to believe the promises made by the militarists and to underestimate the level of arrogance and thirst for power of those same militarists. Now, he would have to reverse steam completely and disavow the Army if he wanted to save his authority as Emperor and avoid seeing Japan revert to being little more than a pre-industrial state.
11:39 (China Time)
Friday, December 16, 1932
SUPER COLIBRI ‘B’ from the aviation cruiser REDOUTABLE
Yellow Sea
“Radar to pilot: a group of surface contacts have just appeared on my screen.’’
“What kind of contacts? How far and in what direction?’’
“I have over a dozen contacts right now. However, they are weak and small and appeared when only 26 kilometers away, at our heading 340. They may be made of wood rather than steel, which would explain their weak radar echo.’’
“Fishing vessels, maybe?’’
“Possibly, but have you ever seen fishermen travel together as a large group on the same heading? My father is a fisherman and he would never guide other fishermen to a good fishing spot: he would keep it all to himself.’’
“Alright, we will go investigate those mystery ships.’’
The pilot of the SUPER COLIBRI ‘B’ maritime patrol aircraft then pushed forward his engine throttles and turned his plane slightly to his left. They were already flying fairly low, both to stay under the thick gray cloud cover which was announcing a possible storm and to be able to visually inspect the surface of the sea. Some two minutes later, the copilot pointed at something ahead.
“THERE! I see a flotilla of boats. They have sails.’’
“Fishing sailboats, this far at sea in this kind of weather? Something is wrong here.’’ replied the pilot. Their navigator/bombardier, who was using binoculars, then spoke up.
“They definitely look like fishing boats, all fourteen of them, but they are not trailing any nets. Furthermore, they are sailing as a group towards Japan.’’
“All this smells suspicious as hell. Observers, stand ready with door guns! Richard, be prepared to fire our cannons and rockets.’’
“Understood!’’ said the copilot, who then selected their four 25mm cannons on his weapons control panel. Their navigator spoke up again once they were within 800 meters from the nearest Chinese junk.
“WARNING! THE DECKS OF THOSE JUNKS ARE FULL OF JAPANESE SOLDIERS.’’
“I knew it! With their own ships sunk and being short of fuel as well, the Japanese must have decided to requisition Chinese fishing junks to transport their soldiers back to Japan. If that’s the case, the Japanese are liable to use hundreds of such Chinese sail ships to evacuate their soldiers out of China and back to Japan. François, send a message to the REDOUTABLE and warn it about the Japanese using Chinese fishing boats to transport their troops back to Japan. Our fleet will have to start doing a wide and tight surface search across the Yellow Sea, in order to stop and sink those troop-carrying ships.’’
“Transmitting now!’’ said their radio operator. Next, the pilot flew closer to the group of junks, in order to do a lateral flyby from 300 meters away.
“Okay guys, I want maximum eyes on those junks. I want to know if those Japanese soldiers are alone on those boats or if they forced their Chinese owners to man their junks for them.’’
The answer to that came a few seconds later, along with a few rifle shots.
“Starboard observer to pilot: I saw Chinese men at the wheel of those boats, with Japanese soldiers close to them. I even saw on one boat a small group of women and children forced by soldiers to stand along the bulwarks of their ship.’’
“The bastards! They are using the Chinese families living on those junks as human shields.’’ raged the pilot, who was now facing a difficult moral dilemma. There was no way he could let pass those Japanese soldiers and allow them to return safely to Japan. On the other hand, with the common habit of Chinese fishermen to live with their families on their boats, they could easily have over fifty or more innocent Chinese civilians aboard those junks, civilians who would be killed by his weapons fire alongside the Japanese soldiers. Shooting a hateful look at the Japanese aboard the junks, the pilot decided to pass that dilemma to a superior level.
“François, call again the REDOUTABLE. Tell it that the Japanese are using Chinese civilians aboard the junks as human shields. Request instructions on what we should do.’’
The radioman didn’t reply to that before activating again his microphone. The answer he finally got made his shoulders sag.
“Radio to pilot: the orders from the REDOUTABLE is to sink those junks regardless. None of those Ja