Upgraded ESSEX-Class fleet aircraft carrier.
16:04 (South Pacific Time)
Wednesday, December 16, 1942 ‘C’
South Pacific Theater of Operations headquarters Noumea, New Caledonia
Having gone to the Noumea airport to greet Admiral Chester Nimitz, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Vice Admiral Halsey led him to his private office on arrival at his headquarters and had a coffee service brought in before they sat down for a private conversation. Taking a first sip from his coffee cup, Nimitz nodded his head in appreciation.
‘’Now, that is good coffee, Bil .’
‘’Whatever we say about the French, they do make some great coffee, Chester.
Now, to what do I owe the honor of your visit in Noumea?’’
‘’I came to discuss with you about the developments of the last couple of months in your sector, Bill. I am very pleased with what has been accomplished and with the way the Japanese have been beaten back.’
Instead of being flattered by those words, Halsey gave a cautious look at his superior.
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‘’To be frank, Chester, the merit for this should go mostly to the Fifth Air Force, and in particular to the 99th Air Wing of Colonel Dows. Dows’ tactics and the prowess of her unit worked miracles in the South and Southwest Pacific. Without her, my fleet would still be in big trouble and the Japanese would probably have pushed us out of the Solomon Islands by now.’’
‘’Aren’t you exaggerating a bit the accomplishments of that young woman, Bill?
She’s not even old enough to have the legal right to drink alcohol.’’
‘’Not one bit, Chester. You know that I would be the first one to claim credit when it is owed to me but, to be totally frank, this girl is a true military genius, on top of being a top combat aviator. General MacArthur, no slouch when it comes to hog the glory around him, has fully adopted the strategic plan proposed by Dows in early December and is not making any major move without getting first her opinion. My advice about Dows is that we should also listen to her very seriously, Chester.’
‘’You’re serious, Bil ?’’ said Nimitz, shocked and surprised. Halsey nodded his head firmly and looked into Nimitz’ eyes.
‘’Very! That young girl is no ordinary person and has demonstrated some incredible psychic powers. Did you know that she remembers her past incarnations, which cover 7,000 years? One of those past incarnations was as a Chinese emperor, while she was once a Spartan warrior who died with King Leonidas at the Battle of Thermopylae.’’
As Nimitz looked at him with incredulity, Halsey added more on.
‘’She proved that to me while she was helping guide me through the reading of a copy of the Hourglass Files brought from the future by Nancy Laplante, the Canadian time traveler, who by the way was her adoptive mother. When she was insulted by one of my staff officers, that officer suddenly felt an intense headache for a moment, apparently triggered by Dows’ mental powers. She is also abnormally strong for a girl of her size. All this, according to her, started while she was in London in 1940, where she was getting some secret teaching from Nancy Laplante.’’
Nimitz took long seconds to digest this before looking back at Halsey.
‘’So, what is this young Dows proposing as a strategy that we should adopt?’’
‘’Well, my reading of those top-secret Hourglass Files did support her opinion, which is that we should avoid making frontal amphibious assaults on the various garrison islands held by the Japanese in the Central Pacific and that we should instead simply bypass and blockade them to starve those Japanese into submission. In the
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meantime, she has been busy systematically striking from the air and at night the various Japanese bases around Port Moresby, destroying on the ground the Japanese aircraft still intact and sinking the Japanese ships her aircraft encounter. She noticeably has six AC-142G heavy gunships as part of her air wing, which she uses to drop five-ton Fuel Air Explosive bombs powerful enough to flatten and incinerate everything within 500 yards. When dropped on a Japanese airfield, one such bomb basically blasts all the planes on that airfield to bits. She has struck up to now sixteen Japanese bases with FAE bombs, with the result being that Japanese airpower has basically ceased to exist around Papua New Guinea, Rabaul, the Solomons and the Bougainville Islands. This has allowed me to surge forward my remaining battleships, cruisers and destroyers and to enforce a sea blockade against the Japanese-held islands in the South Pacific. More recently, Dows has also started to hit the Japanese airfields around the Celebes and the Dutch East Indies, in order to eliminate the air threat from those territories. As a result of all this, my submarines now have a much easier task of blocking the various straits between the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines, thus strangling the Japanese tanker and cargo traffic between Japan and South-East Asia.’’
‘’And what is my fleet supposed to do in the meantime in the Central Pacific, sit down and simply look on, Bil ?’’ replied Nimitz, getting irritated. ‘’And what about the marine units I have been preparing for amphibious assaults around the Central Pacific?’’
‘’Prepare them for an eventual retaking of the Philippines, Chester. I can now see that this should be our main objective in the Pacific, and not Formosa.’’
‘’I see!’ said Nimitz in a cold voice, obviously not buying Halsey’s arguments.
‘’Anything else that you think should be done, Bil ?’’
Halsey sighed in disappointment then but didn’t fight back on that point, instead covering another subject he had wanted to discuss with Nimitz.
‘’Yes! We definitely need to start using helicopters on our ships, and not only on our carriers. The AH-4 attack helicopters which attacked Truk Lagoon and the Japanese Combined Fleet in the Torres Strait have proved to be very efficient weapons against the Japanese ships, especially since they have been modified to be able to carry torpedoes and can attack at night. On its part, the UH-1 light helicopter has proved very useful for liaison duties, medevac missions and search and rescue operations. It would be particularly useful to the Navy as a ship-to-ship liaison aircraft and for ocean surveillance ahead of a fleet.’
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‘’Hum! That does make a lot of sense to me, Bil . I will have my staff study this on my return to Hawaii.’
The way Nimitz phrased his reply ticked off Halsey, who threw a hard look at him.
‘’Chester, I would urge you to consider very seriously everything I just told you.
The Hourglass Files I read gave a very bleak picture of what will happen if we go on with our planned amphibious assaults through the Central Pacific. In Nancy Laplante’s history, those assaults, from the Marshall Islands to the Mariannas, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, cost us over 80,000 marines and soldiers kil ed or wounded. That’s the equivalent of four full divisions, Chester! And for what? The capture of a few airfields and ship anchorages? On the other hand, if we concentrate our forces on the recapture of the Philippines, we will end up with a large base of operations within bomber range of Japan and will also free tens of thousands of our men who have been living through Hell as prisoners of the Japanese. By the way, did you have a chance to look at those Hourglass Files since 1941?’’
‘’Er, no! My headquarters never got a copy of those files.’’
The utter absurdity of this left Halsey speechless for a moment. While he knew Nimitz to be a competent and energetic naval commander, the fault here was clearly with the Navy staff in Washington, which probably had deemed unnecessary to disseminate that precious source of intelligence knowledge.
‘’Then, go visit General MacArthur in Port Moresby, so that he could show you his copy of those files. You could also find useful to discuss those files with Dows, who was the one, with her late husband, who brought that copy to MacArthur in Manila.’’
Halsey somehow expected Nimitz to again ignore his advice but, to his surprise, the Pacific Fleet commander finally relented.
‘’Very well, Bil . I wil go to Port Moresby after my visit here. By the way, I do have a piece of good news for you: the newly-built USS ESSEX, the first of our new class of fleet aircraft carrier, has just been completed and will sail next month to join your fleet. Another new fleet carrier should then join up with you another month later. Both carriers wil come with fully equipped squadrons.’
‘’Now, that is what I call good news, Chester. I will eagerly await their arrival in the South Pacific.’
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13:32 (California Time)
Thursday, January 28, 1943 ‘C’
Hughes Aircraft plant, Culver City, suburbs of Los Angeles California, U.S.A.
Lieutenant General Henry ‘Hap’ Arnold, accompanied by a small group of his staff officers and led through the Hughes Aircraft plant by Howard Hughes himself, had to stop at his first sight of the big prototype parked on the tarmac in front of the main assembly plant building.
‘’Wow! Look at this big beauty!’
‘’This is the prototype of my Hughes XA-11B VULTURE long-range, ultra-fast bomber, General.’ said proudly Howard Hughes. ‘’Its design is derived from that of my previous D-2 heavy fighter, which was earlier rejected by the Army Air Force Materiel Command staff. However, I incorporated to my XA-11 a number of modifications and additions based on the lessons our aviatrixes of the 99th Air Wing learned in combat in the Pacific. The most significant of those modifications were the adoption of the same engine and contra-rotating propellers used in the Fairchild C-142A; the enlargement of the bomb bay in order to be able to accommodate our five-ton FAE bomb used to such good effect by the 99th Air Wing and the addition of the same suite of thermal imaging cameras and night vision goggles used in the various aircraft of the 99th. I also got a number of very useful counsels and tips from Colonel Dows on what would be best around the Pacific.’
His words, carefully selected to put Arnold on his side, seemed to work, with the head of the Army Air Force nodding his head while still admiring the sleek lines of the big, twin-engine aircraft.
‘’Your XA-11B certainly looks like a true greyhound of the skies, Mister Hughes.
What kind of performances has it demonstrated to date during its test program?’’
‘’We are stil testing it but its top proven speed is 490 miles per hour, while its cruising speed will be well above 430 miles per hour. The preliminary results of our fuel consumption tests have shown me a probable maximum range on internal fuel of over 6,000 miles, and this while carrying three tons of ordnance.’’
Arnold, like his accompanying staff officers, stared at Howard Hughes as if he was a magician.
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‘’Over 6,000 miles with three tons of bombs and at a speed of up to 490 miles per hour? How did you manage such incredible performances?’’
‘’By making my prototype as aerodynamically clean and profiled as possible and, more importantly, by using Pratt & Whitney R-4800W engines, each rated to 4,200
horsepower at maximum continuous power, in conjunction with the same paddle-blade contra-rotating propellers used by the C-142A. That way I both got lots of power and also used a proven engine of high reliability. It also will help us by ensuring a commonality of parts and maintenance procedures with the C-142 family, plus it also helped me cut the development time of my prototype.’
Arnold, liking all those points enumerated by Hughes, nodded his head in approval.
‘’A wise development philosophy, I must say. What kind of armament does your XA-11B have?’
‘’The XA-11B VULTURE, the fast bomber variant of my new family of combat aircraft, is armed with four fixed 20 mm cannons in its nose, plus twin rear-firing 20 mm cannons in a manned turret and a large bomb bay able to accommodate up to six tons of bombs, including our biggest bombs. The photo-reconnaissance variant, the XA-11R
CONDOR, will have two fixed forward 20 mm cannons and a pair of rear turret-mounted 20 mm cannons, on top of a battery of six high-resolution reconnaissance cameras. As for the XF-11N FALCON night fighter variant, it will have six fixed forward 20 mm cannons, a rear-mounted turret with two 20 mm cannons and two retractable rocket launcher pods, each containing 32 76 mm rockets able to shred to pieces the biggest enemy bombers existing. It will also be equipped with a nose radar. Finally, I am going to build as well the C-11T SEAGULL fast liaison transport, which will be able to cross the Pacific at a cruising speed of up to 450 miles per hour while carrying up to sixteen V.I.P.s or six stretcher cases on medical evacuation flights.’’
By then, Hughes knew that he had his visitors sold on his aircraft.
‘’If I may make a suggestion, General. If you wil authorize the production of a limited pre-series of my aircraft in order to test it in combat, then I would suggest that you let Colonel Dows and her aviatrixes fly them against the Japanese. My aircraft’s huge autonomy was designed specifically for the Pacific Theatre, with its very long distances between various points, and would thus be perfect as a fast raider against the Japanese.’
Henry Arnold grinned as he imagined Ingrid Dows at the commands of a XA-11, pounding the Japanese with it.
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‘’Hell, you just sold me on your airplane, Mister Hughes. After doing a close-up tour of your prototype, we will go back inside your plant to discuss business together.’
It was then the turn of Howard Hughes to grin as he led his visitors closer to the XA-11
for a detailed tour of it.
When General Arnold and his staff retinue left the Hughes aircraft plant some four hours later, he left behind with Howard Hughes a signed contract for the production on an urgent basis of eight XA-11B fast bombers, two XA-11R photo-reconnaissance models, two XF-11N night fighters and one C-11T liaison aircraft, along with a cheque to cover their production cost. Arnold also made a promise to secure from Congress a contract for many more XA-11s, once they would prove their worth in combat. As Howard Hughes relished this commercial success for his aircraft brand, the eccentric billionaire sobered up as he thought about his good friend, Katharine Hepburn, who was presently fighting in the Pacific, along with Hedy Lamarr and the other women of the 99th Air Wing. Maybe sending a gift to them, along with his first XA-11s, would help sustain their morale.
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CHAPTER 21 – THOR’S HAMMER
16:06 (PNG Time)
Tuesday, March 23, 1943 ‘C’
Wards Airfield, near Port Moresby
Papua New Guinea, Southwest Pacific
Ingrid, imitated by most of the men and women in Wards Airfield, came out to watch as six big, sleek twin-engine planes landed one after the other on the field’s runway, followed by one C-142A heavy transport. George Kenney, who came out with Ingrid, had glee in his eyes as he eyed the Hughes XA-11s in the process of landing.
‘’God, those planes look positively gorgeous, Ingrid. I hope that I will have a chance to take one of them out for a spin.’’
‘’Sorry, sir, but the crews I have selected in advance to train on them will have to have top priority on flying them.’
‘’And you are part of those lucky selectees, I suppose, Ingrid?’’ sneakily replied Kenney, making Ingrid smile.
‘’I am, but not because I want to push rank on my pilots, sir. I simply make a point of qualifying on every type of aircraft used by my air wing. That way, I know better what they can and can’t do and plan my wing’s missions accordingly.’
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‘’A valid reason, I must say.’ recognized Kenney. ‘’Stil , those are beautiful, sleek aircraft. They also look quite mean, which is another positive point for them. Shall we go and inspect them from up close?’’
‘’Hell yes, sir!’ replied Ingrid before walking quickly with Kenney to her jeep, parked in front of the Fifth Air Force headquarters building. Jumping in it and taking the wheel, Ingrid then drove towards the main tarmac of the airfield, where the XA-11s and the C-142A were starting to pivot and take the parking spots indicated by the women acting as airfield guides. Stopping her jeep behind the first of the XA-11Bs, one of the four bomber variants to have arrived, Ingrid then stepped out of her jeep with Lieutenant General Kenney and walked to the big twin-engine aircraft as an access hatch opened up under its belly. One of the airfield guides hurried to put in place a short ladder as the first of four men started coming down from the cockpit section. To Ingrid’s and Kenney’s surprise, that first man turned out to be none other than Howard Hughes, making Ingrid suck air in.
‘’Wow! Talk about a surprise entrance in the Southwest Pacific Theater, Mister Hughes.’
The billionaire grinned at her remark as he stepped on the tarmac.
‘’And you didn’t think that I would want to fly my newest product myself, Ingrid?
And don’t worry about the Army Air Force getting mad about this: General Arnold gave me his permission to come to Port Moresby, along with a team from my company who will help your women train and get familiarized with my new XA-11. This way, your aircrews should be able to qualify more quickly on it.’
‘’A good and judicious idea, Mister Hughes.’ replied Kenney while smiling.
‘’Should we expect more of your XA-11s in the coming weeks and months?’’
‘’Another four XA-11Bs will be delivered to you as soon as they are built, which should happen by the end of next month, General. After that, General Arnold will wait for your preliminary combat trial report before signing a contract for more of my planes.
Essentially, the more successful in combat you will be with my planes, the faster you will be able to get more of them. Buth I am sure that Colonel Dows will have ways to make my XA-11s perform in combat against the Japanese in ways which wil get everybody’s attention in Washington, right, Ingrid?’’
‘’Damn right you are, Howard! And what is the C-142 which flew in with you transporting?’’
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‘’Basically, stocks of spare parts and specialized tools meant to maintain those pre-series planes during their combat trial phase. I also have brought with me a little gift for your brave girls, but you will need to get an armed escort for it if you don’t want to see a riot occur when it will get off that C-142.’’
‘’An armed escort? What did you bring for my girls, Howard?’’
The billionaire grinned with malice before answering Ingrid.
‘’Individual care packages for all your women, with each package containing a box of luxury chocolate, beauty products and a small bottle of perfume of the best brand I could find in Los Angeles.’’
Ingrid’s eyes widened as she sucked air in again.
‘’I’m going to call my MPs right away. Anything else, Howard?’’
‘’Only one thing: would it be possible to see my two friends, Katharine Hepburn and Hedy Lamarr? They are still in good health, I hope?’’
‘’Don’t worry, Howard: they are wel and were not flying today. I will have them picked up right away at their airfields and brought to here. You and your team can lodge during your stay with the male Filipino guerrillas we recuperated in the Philippines four months ago and who are now serving as part of my aircraft maintenance units. You wouldn’t want your people to be assaulted by hundreds of young women, would you?’’
Howard Hughes, who suffered from a severe phobia about microbes and dirtiness, shook his head as his smile faded somewhat.
‘’I will let my people free to do what they want, within the confines of your military regulations, Ingrid. As for me, being able to see Katharine and Hedy will be plenty to make me happy. Do you have an idea about how you wil use my planes?’
‘’I do, Howard.’’ answered Ingrid in a sober tone. ‘’The fantastic capabilities of your planes will finally enable me to do something I have been dreaming to do for quite a while already: to go cut the head of the serpent rather than just its tail.’
01:06 (PNG Time)
Wednesday, April 14, 1943 ‘C’
Wards Airfield’s main tarmac
As she was about to climb aboard their four XA-11B and one XA-11R with her eighteen aviatrix she had selected for this mission, Ingrid was asked a question by a
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curious Helen Richey, the commander of her bomber group, who was going to pilot one of the four XA-11B fast bombers, which bore the name ‘Freyja’.
‘’Ingrid, why did you name our new planes according to Norse mythology?’’
‘’Simple, Helen: one of my past incarnations was as a Norse carpenter and boat maker who strongly believed in his gods and goddesses. ‘Mjolnir’ is the name of the magic war hammer yielded by Thor, the god of war and thunder. Your plane’s name,
‘Freyja’, is that of the goddess of love, beauty, sex and war. Delphine’s plane, ‘Sif’, bears the name of the goddess of earth, while Jean’s plane, ‘Hel’, is named after the goddess of the Underworld. As for Adela’s photo-reconnaissance plane, ‘Frigg’, it is named after the goddess of prophecy.’
‘’Oh, I see! Those names are certainly appropriate for the mission we are about to fly, Ingrid. What about the four extra XA-11B bombers we received two days ago?
Wil you also name them after Norse goddesses?’
‘’Since the Norse female pantheon is limited, I wil name those four bombers after some of the Valkyries of the Norse pantheon, the female mounted warriors tasked with collecting the dead warriors who distinguished themselves on the battlefield, to then bring them to the Valhal a, the Norse warriors’ paradise. I personally favor plane names which have significance, instead of the often-corny names our male pilots give to their aircraft.’
‘’To fly into battle in planes named after female gods and warriors riding winged horses: now that is to my taste.’ pronounced Jean Hixxon, who was like the other women selected for this mission among the most experienced flyers and combat veterans of Ingrid’s wing. Ingrid smiled at that and pointed at their waiting planes.
‘’Then, let’s mount our magical mounts, girls: we have a serpent’s head to cut off in Tokyo.’’
A few dozen meters away, on the edge of the tarmac and safely away from the five XA-11s, General Douglas MacArthur, Lieutenant General George Kenney and Brigadier General Julian Barnes all saluted at attention as the XA-11s, led by Ingrid in
‘Mjolnir’, started rolling towards one of the two runways of Wards Airfield. They stayed silent as they watched the five sleek planes take off one after the other, to then disappear in the night sky. Only once they were out of sight did MacArthur speak in a solemn voice.
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‘’Our brave aviatrixes are now gone on a mission which could well change the course of the war in the Pacific, gentlemen.’’
‘’I am certain that they wil succeed, General.’ said George Kenney. ‘’Only a mechanical breakdown could stop them now.’
Julian Barnes didn’t say anything then but simply crossed his fingers in his back.
06:14 (PNG Time)
XA-11s’ flight, approaching the eastern coast of Japan at 12,500 meters Seventy miles from Tokyo.
Myrtle Cagle pushed a blow of relief as she returned to her copilot’s seat after visiting the tiny toilet compartment of Ingrid’s bomber.
‘’Ooof! I real y needed that toilet break. Thank God that Howard Hughes put a real toilet aboard his new planes, instead of simply installing a stupid piss tube, like in the other bombers of our air force.’
‘’Well, that must have to do with the fact that he eyed us as his first users, Myrtle.
With such a long range, he also had good reasons to provide a toilet for the crews of his XA-11s, be they male or female. You better strap yourself in: we are going to be over Tokyo in less than fifteen minutes. Helen, how are we doing with our navigation?’’
‘’We are pretty much where we wanted to be, Ingrid. This part of the Japanese coast is pretty easy to recognize and we have the Tokyo Bay in sight ahead of us.
Hopefully, the maps of Tokyo we have wil stil be accurate.’’
‘’They should be, Helen: while residential areas can change a lot in mere years, official buildings tend to stay pretty well the same through the decades and the maps we have, which were obtained from the State Department only two years before the war, should still be up to date concerning the various ministries and military establishments around Tokyo.’’
Ingrid’s radio operator and rear gunner, Lieutenant Hazel Pracht, then got on the intercom from her rear-facing cannon turret.
‘’How strongly do you think that the Japanese will react to us, Ingrid? Can their fighters reach us this high?’’
‘’No! None of their fighters can reach our altitude, Hazel. However, remember our attack plan: we are soon going to dive to a much lower altitude, in order to be able to bomb with the utmost accuracy. Also, if we stay this high, our condensation trails will
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make us visible to anyone looking up at the sky. We are now approaching our first way point on the coast: get ready for action, girls.’
Ingrid then got on the radio for the first time since they had flown away from Port Moresby.
‘’Valkyries callsigns, from Valkyries Leader, we are now approaching our first land way point. Valkyrie Five, hold position until you get the go from me. The rest, follow me in a dive down to our attack altitude and reduce your speed to 350 knots. We will spread out towards our respective objectives once over Blue Blotch.’
Ingrid then pushed her controls, making her bomber dive towards the entrance to Tokyo Bay, which bore the codename ‘Blue Blotch’ for this mission. As for Valkyrie Five, the photo-reconnaissance variant of the XA-11 which was participating in this raid, it stayed at high altitude but lowered its speed considerably and adopted a holding pattern, waiting for the word from Ingrid which would make Adela Scharr head for Tokyo in order to take bomb damage assessment photos of the results of their raid.
In Tokyo, in a small section of the Imperial Japanese Navy intelligence department, located in the same big brick building as the rest of the Navy headquarters, a radio intercept operator scanning the radio frequencies stiffened when he heard for a couple of seconds words in English spoken by a woman. Frantically coming back to the frequency on which he had heard those words, he listened in vain for long seconds but didn’t hear more words in English. Putting this on an abnormality in radio atmospheric propagation from a distant station, he forgot about it and continued his slow scan of the radio frequencies.
In a coastal fort protecting the entrance to the Tokyo Bay and facing the Sagami Bay, a Japanese lookout scanning the horizon and sky with a pair of binoculars stiffened when he thought that he saw four rapidly approaching dots in the sky. Adjusting the focus of his binoculars, he was then able to catch a glimpse of four fast aircraft flying at about 300 meters of altitude and heading towards his fort. Since the shock caused by the American bombing raid on Tokyo about a year ago, any suspicious aircraft sighting was now taken very seriously, so the lookout didn’t wait to confirm further his sighting before shouting out in alarm.
‘’ALERT! INCOMING AIRCRAFT AT LOW ALTITUDE FROM THE
SOUTHEAST, APPROACHING FAST!’
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The young junior officer on visual watch duty at that time barely had time to raise his own binoculars before four big twin-engine planes zoomed past over his head. While he didn’t have time to identify their types, he didn’t miss the large white and blue stars painted under their wings. His heart racing into his chest, the young lieutenant jumped on the field telephone connecting him with the command room of the fort and frantically cranked its handle. To his fury, it took over five seconds and another turning of the handle before someone answered the telephone.
‘’Captain Miura speaking!’’
‘’THIS IS LIEUTENANT SUGIMOTO, ON THE TOP SOUTHERN PARAPET: FOUR FAST AMERICAN PLANES FLYING LOW JUST ZOOMED PAST OUR FORT.
THEY ARE HEADING FOR TOKYO.’
‘’American planes? Are you certain, Sugimoto?’’
‘’YES, CAPTAIN! I SAW THE WHITE AND BLUE STARS UNDER THEIR
WINGS.’
‘’What type were they, Sugimoto?’
Frustrated by the slowness of his superior into reacting, Sugimoto shouted again in his telephone receiver.
‘’I DON’T KNOW AND I DON’T CARE, SIR: THEY ARE AMERICAN PLANES
AND ARE HEADING FOR TOKYO. WE MUST PASS THE ALERT TO OUR ANTI-AIRCRAFT DEFENSES AT ONCE.’
Captain Miura was taken aback by the fury in Sugimoto’s voice and was nearly tempted to bark back at him but, realizing that any delay which would cause avoidable damage in Tokyo would come back to hit him, he swallowed his pride and quickly answered his lieutenant.
‘’Very well: I am going to sound the alert now.’
Miura then put down that telephone, then cranked the handle of another telephone which connected his fort with the command center in Tokyo directing the guns defending the capital.
‘’Hello? This is Captain Miura, in Fort Number Four. Four American planes just overflew my position at low altitude and high speed, heading towards Tokyo. Sound the air raid alert at once!’
‘’American planes, here? But that’s impossible: the nearest American airfields are over 3,500 kilometers away.’ replied the duty officer in Tokyo, clearly incredulous.
Furious, Miura barked into his telephone.
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‘’DON’T YOU REMEMBER WHEN AMERICAN BOMBERS FLYING OFF
CARRIERS BOMBED TOKYO A YEAR AGO? GET OFF YOUR ASS AND SOUND
THE ALERT, DAMMIT!’
Miura then slammed down his telephone’s receiver, leaving the Tokyo command center officer to look with indecision at his own receiver. After a couple of seconds he finally decided to sound a general, city-wide air raid alert and went to the covered button of his duty station, opening the cover and pushing the large, red button, before speaking in the microphone of the public alert loudspeakers system.
‘’Attention! Attention! American bombers are approaching Tokyo. Go to all available shelters immediately.’
He then switched to another circuit, which linked his command center with the various anti-aircraft gun batteries and fighter airfields defending the capital.
‘’Warning! Four enemy bombers are approaching Tokyo at low altitude, coming from the Southeast. They are presently over the Bay of Tokyo. Scramble all fighters! I say again: scramble all fighters! Man all guns!’
Unfortunately for the Japanese, Ingrid’s had carefully chosen the timing of her raid to coincide with the time in the morning when Japanese officers and staff, along with yard workers, would be arriving for work and exchanging shifts with the night duty personnel. As a result, most Japanese soldiers, airmen, staff officers and yard workers were caught in the middle of their morning meal or during shift debriefs, causing mass confusion and more delayed reactions. The pilots of a fighter squadron equipped with Nakajima Ki-44 SHOKI fighters, nicknamed ‘TOJO’ by the Americans, alerted in the middle of eating their frugal breakfast, had to run to their planes and then put on their parachutes, helmets and inflatable vests before climbing into their cockpits, a process that took many precious minutes. The leader of that fighter squadron was about to start his aircraft’s engine when he heard and saw distant detonations and the shockwaves of bombs exploding to the East of his airfield, making him swear.
‘’BY THE KAMIS! THEY BOMBED YOKOSUKA!’
Due to the shorter distance to her objective, Jean Hixxon’s XA-11B was the first to reach her target, the important Yokosuka Naval Arsenal. Due to the nature of her objective, her aircraft was loaded with twenty 500-pound General Purpose bombs, rather than with a five-ton FAE bomb as carried by the other three bombers of her flight.
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Arriving at an altitude of 300 meters and a speed of 300 miles per hour, she only had seconds to evaluate her target and decide where she would drop her bombs for maximum effect on the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal. She quickly decided to go for the densely packed lines of workshop halls, where hundreds of arsenal workers and technicians would be. Those workers would be particularly difficult for the Japanese to replace and their loss would thus considerably reduce and slow the productivity of the arsenal for months and maybe years. She thus ignored the various ships either in drydocks or at quay, reasoning that future raids would eventually strike them, and lined up her aircraft’s nose towards the workshop halls as she spoke to her navigator-bombardier for this mission, Captain Elizabeth Gardner.
‘’Lizzie, go for the workshop halls! You have the controls for this bomb run.’’
‘’Objective in sight! Opening bomb doors now and arming our bombs.’’
Helped by the autopilot of their XA-11, which kept their plane level and pointed in the right direction and altitude, Elizabeth set the release interval between her bomb drops in order to hit along a long straight line which would walk at an angle across the workshop halls. Another few seconds and she pushed her release button while shouting in her microphone.
‘’DROPPING BOMBS NOW!... BOMBS GONE: ACCELERATE TO THE
MAXIMUM, JEAN!’
‘’GOING TO MAXIMUM POWER!’ shouted back Jean Hixxon as she pushed forward her engine throttles and triggered the water injection system which would push each of her engines to their war emergency power of 4,700 horsepower. Her sudden acceleration forward actually saved her plane, as the anti-aircraft gunners defending the naval arsenal belatedly opened fire as she was zooming over their heads. Streams of 25 mm tracer shells thus missed her XA-11 by some fifty meters but her high speed didn’t give those gunners a second chance to aim their cannons at her plane. Then, the twenty, 500-pound bombs crashed through the thin roofs of the arsenal’s workshop halls, where the various parts for ships under construction were made. Set on short delay fuzes, the bombs dug themselves into the thin concrete floors of the halls before exploding, creating large craters and projecting in the air pieces of concrete, machine tools and bodies of workers. All that was captured by the bomb damage assessment camera of Jean Hixxon’s aircraft, which pointed downward and rearward. As more anti-aircraft guns were making futile attempts at shooting her down, Jean performed a tight turn in order to return to the open sea, all the while speaking on her radio.
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‘’VALKYRIE FOUR TO VALKYRIE LEADER: OBJECTIVE HIT, AM
WITHDRAWING.’
The next aircraft to hit its target was that of Delphine Bohn, whose target was the Yokosuka Imperial Japanese Navy Academy, situated near the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal. Having gained some altitude while slowing down before dropping her five-ton FAE bomb, she saw on approach to the academy that the naval cadets had been lined up in parade order on the school’s large parade square, probably to perform the daily morning salute to the flag raising ceremony. Right now, as bombs exploded on the nearby arsenal, she could see hundreds of Japanese running in all directions but still on the parade square.
‘’Perfect! My big petard should make maximum effect on such a target. YOU
HAVE THE CONTROLS, EDNA! BLAST THOSE YOUNG FANATICS TO HELL!’
‘’BOMB AWAY! GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE BEFORE IT BLOWS US TO
BITS, ALONG WITH THOSE JAPS!’
‘’YOUR WISHES ARE MY ORDERS!’ replied Delphine as she went to war emergency power. Down on the parade square, the hundreds of naval cadets and their instructors running to find some shelter saw a huge bomb drop from the fast enemy bomber, with a small parachute deploying from its tail and quickly slowing it down while making it point down towards the ground. A long, thin rod also emerged from its nose, locking itself into place. When the tip of that rod finally impacted the surface of the parade square, the big fat bomb burst open, projecting around the 4,000 kilos of ethylene oxide contained in its thin-walled body. The volatile hydrocarbon had time to expand to a large cloud of mixed ethylene oxide and ambient air before an ignition charge trailing behind a long wire made that gas cloud explode. The shockwave and fireball created by that explosion swept the whole of the parade square and hit the surrounding buildings and barracks of the naval academy, blowing them away and incinerating them at the same time. Over 800 naval cadets, instructors and nearby anti-aircraft gunners died at once as a huge fireball rose with a mighty rumble over the destroyed academy, watched with utter terror by the Japanese civilians living nearby.
Those civilians, while spared the full power of the FAE bomb, still saw the roofs and windows of their houses being blown away by the expanding shockwave from the bomb.
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The third XA-11B to hit its target was that of Helen Richey, who was targeting the headquarters of the Imperial Japanese Navy, in Tokyo. She also had a five-ton FAE
bomb in her aircraft’s bomb bay in order to deal with her target. She made a mean smile when she saw a lineup of military staff cars busy dropping off what had to be dozens of senior navy officers at the main entrance of the three-story Victorian-style brick building.
‘’Excellent: more spectators arriving for my show. You have the controls for our bomb run, Mary.’
Mary Gresham, Helen’s navigator-bombardier for this mission and who was normally the operations officer of the 1772nd Bomber Squadron, nicknamed the FIRE GIRLS, aimed her bomb sight at the brick front façade of the IJN headquarters, as planned before their departure, and dropped her big bomb as they were still approaching the building at an altitude of 300 meters and a speed of 400 miles per hour. With her bomb nose fuse set for direct impact and short delay, the nose fuse rod which would normally spring out as the bomb dropped down stayed inside the bomb body, even though the tail parachute deployed. Decelerating while pointing down, the bomb hit the base of the front façade at an angle of about 45 degrees, with its kinetic energy making it smash through the brick wall before the bursting charge was fired. Instead of expanding into open air, the cloud of ethylene oxide was projected all around inside the building, penetrating its rooms via the various doors and hallways of the headquarters, to mix with the air inside the building. Many of the Japanese already in the building actually were knocked down by that expanding hydrocarbon cloud mixing up with ambient air before the trailing initiating charge ignited the vapors. With the internal and external walls containing at first the exploding cloud, the effect of the bomb was horrific, with the whole building blowing up like an overinflated balloon and being totally razed to the ground. Even the command bunker complex in its basement levels was destroyed, the ethylene oxide penetrating the underground complex via its ventilation shaft before being ignited.
As the Imperial Japanese Navy headquarters was being pulverized, Ingrid’s plane approached her own target: the headquarters of the Imperial Japanese Army. In her mind, the militarists of the Japanese Army’s officer corps were the most guilty of starting this war, having pushed for Japan’s war of conquest in China and Southeast Asia while intimidating or even assassinating the Japanese politicians opposed to their aggressive plans. The Japanese Army, thanks to its medieval Bushido code of conduct, which declared that enemies who let themselves be taken prisoners as not worthy of
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humane treatment, was also by far the worst offender in terms of war crimes, be they committed against prisoners of war or against conquered populations. Ingrid thus felt zero consideration for those Japanese Army officers she was about to kill as her navigator-bombardier, Helen Richards, released their five-ton FAE bomb on the large manor-like building in the Shinjuku District of Tokyo which housed the IJA headquarters.
That bomb was set the same way as the bomb dropped by Helen Richey and it basically did the same effect, blowing from the inside the big building to bits. Again, the few anti-aircraft guns which were supposed to protect the headquarters building proved pitifully slow to react to her surprise attack, with their firing wild and completely inaccurate against such a low flying target coming in at 400 miles per hour. Ingrid muttered to himself as her plane, speeding away while turning towards the East, was shaken by the shockwave from her bomb.
‘’I hope that this Tojo16 bastard was in that building this morning.’’
Next, she got on the radio and sent a coded message to Adela Scharr, who was still circling high and off the coast in her photo-reconnaissance XA-11R.
‘’VALKYRIE LEADER TO VALKYRIE FIVE: END RUN, OVER!’
‘’Valkyrie Five, end run acknowledged.’
Ingrid then zoomed to medium altitude but stayed over the Tokyo area, intent on covering Adela Scharr’s photo run, a very dangerous task during which Adela would have to fly straight and fairly low in order to take as clear pictures as possible of their now destroyed objectives. Seeing Adela’s XA-11R approach the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Ingrid spoke in a sober tone on her intercom channel.
‘’Hold on and keep your eyes peeled for enemy fighters, girls: we are diving in again.’’
Her radio-rear gunner, Hazel Pracht, didn’t reply to that but checked again that the safety on her twin 20 mm cannons was off and braced herself for some wild flying. In that, she was not disappointed. Zigzagging constantly to avoid the growing Japanese anti-aircraft fire, Ingrid then dove towards the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, intent on attracting on her the fire from the Japanese guns there as Adela started her photo run.
However, Ingrid did a lot more than simply attract the enemy’s attention: she also poured 16 Tojo: General Hideki Tojo was Japan’s Minister of War from 1940 to 1944 and also Prime Minister from 1941 to 1944, Minister of Munitions from 1943 to 1944 and Chief of the Army General Staff in 1944. He was eventually judged for war crimes and executed on December 23, 1948.
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20 mm shells from her four fixed forward cannons down on the Japanese gunners trying to shoot her down, succeeding into blowing to bits one gun crew and forcing another gun crew to hurriedly jump into their protective trenches. Once past the naval arsenal, Ingrid accelerated and pointed her cannons at the nearby Navy Academy. However, she had no need to fire at that target, as all the anti-aircraft guns protecting the academy were silent, with their servants presumably kil ed by Delphine’s FAE bomb. She thus turned towards the next objective to be photographed by Adela Scharr: the headquarters of the Imperial Japanese Navy. That was when her copilot, Myrtle Cagle, acting as an extra pair of eyes, shouted a warning.
‘’FOUR ENEMY FIGHTERS COMING LEVEL FROM EIGHT O’CLOCK!’
‘’GOT THEM!’ replied Ingrid at the same time that she reversed her turn and pointed her nose at the incoming four Ki-44 fighters. In a frontal duel, those Ki-44 were simply no match for the XA-11B, with its four nose 20 mm cannons opposed by four heavy machine guns per Ki-44. The XA-11B also had a sophisticated gun sight, compared to the rather rudimentary gunsights of the Japanese fighters. The biggest factor then was however the quality and experience level of the pilots. The four Japanese pilots were mostly green pilots with no combat experience, while they were facing in Ingrid the top Allied air ace, with 96 air victories to her credit and with one and a half years of combat experience. As American gunslingers said rightly: there is no second-place winner in a gunfight. The leading Ki-44 was shred to pieces and exploded while its guns were still out of range of the XA-11. Ingrid then changed her aim in a flash and fired a short burst at the Japanese’ wingman, cutting off its left wing and sending him down in a terminal spin. The two remaining Japanese pilots, with little practice at air gunnery, tried to shoot at Ingrid but missed by a wide margin the impossibly fast American plane. They then reversed their turns in order to go after Ingrid but, not looking widely enough around them while turning, did not see her as she performed a zoom climb followed by a tight looping. When the Japanese had completed their turn and looked for her, they found an apparently empty sky. One of them then spotted Adela Scharr’s plane as it was flying towards the ruins of the Navy headquarters and, not having a radio, as was the case with many Japanese fighter planes, tried to signal it by hand to his wingman. Not getting a reaction from his wingman, that pilot then decided to go after Adela’s plane by himself, wingman or no wingman. What he didn’t see was his wingman then being shot down by Ingrid, who had dived on the hapless Japanese pilot. Twisting her plane around and raising its nose, Ingrid then exploded the
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remaining Ki-44 with a short burst. As she turned yet again to go bother the Japanese gunners around the destroyed Army headquarters in advance of Adela’s arrival, Ingrid muttered to herself a lesson she had learned from the German ace, Adolph Galland, while she was still a Luftwaffe female auxiliary serving in France.
‘’It is the enemy you don’t see who wil shoot you down.’’
Ingrid smiled when she saw that Adela’s rear gunner, Margaret McCormick, was not simply sitting at her rear turret as the XA-11R flew away from the destroyed Navy headquarters building: she was returning fire with her two 20 mm cannons at the Japanese guns trying to hit her aircraft.
‘’Good for you, Maggie!’’
The opposition around the Army headquarters soon proved non-existent, as the guns had been positioned close to the demolished building and had been taken out at the same time as the headquarters building by Ingrid’s FAE bomb. Satisfied, Ingrid got on the radio again.
‘’All Valkyrie callsigns, time to go home. Meet me at Point Zulu.’’
She then got acknowledges from all of her four planes, making her blow air out in relief as she zoomed upwards, followed by Adela Scharr, heading for an altitude which was out of reach of both Japanese fighters and anti-aircraft guns. She knew how good she was as a combat pilot but the success of this mission truly rested on one factor: their Hughes XA-11 planes. In her wing’s B-25NGs and P-38Ns, she would have most probably suffered a number of casualties during this mission. However, when General Arnold was going to see the results of this raid, done from a distance at which all other American planes would be way out of range, then he would have no logical choice but to order the mass production of the XA-11. If she could then sweet-talk Arnold into replacing her B-25s and RP-38s with A-11Bs, A-11Rs and F-11Ns, then she was going to be able to accomplish even more in the Pacific.
13:41 (PNG Time)
Main tarmac of Wards Airfield
Near Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
General MacArthur, General Sir Thomas Blamey, Lieutenant General George Kenney and Brigadier General Julian Barnes were back on the main tarmac of Wards
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Airfield, waiting for the return of Ingrid’s five planes from Tokyo, when Captain Angie Dickinson and two other female MPs arrived in a jeep and dragged out of it a man protesting in a distinct Australian accent.
‘’LET ME GO, YOU BITCHES! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO ARREST ME LIKE
THIS: I AM AN ACCREDITED WAR CORRESPONDENT FOR THE BBC AND ABC.’
Sir Thomas Blamey seemed to recognize the man at once and shouted at him, clearly angry.
‘’YOU AGAIN! I THOUGHT THAT I HAD KICKED YOU OUT OF PAPUA NEW
GUINEA.’
Blamey then looked at the tall and strong Angie Dickinson.
‘’Alright, Captain, what did this bloody asshole do this time?’
In response, Angie raised her left hand, which was holding a 35 mm camera equipped with a zoom lens.
‘’We caught him taking photos of the four parked XA-11 we received two days ago, sir. He even slipped under the tarps which were put over our new planes to hide them from Japanese spies. We saw him when his camera flash gave him away as he was taking pictures from under the tarps, sir.’
Blamey gave the Australian war correspondent a poisoned look before taking the camera offered by Angie. He then opened the camera, pulled out its film cartridge and unrolled the film, exposing it to sunlight and ruining it.
‘’Search him for more films, Captain.
MacArthur and Kenney approached the group as Dickinson searched the man, who was still vainly trying to wiggle out of the grips of the two matrons holding him.
‘’What’s the deal with that man, Sir Blamey?’’
‘’That man, General, is a war correspondent for the BBC and ABC. His name is Reginald Wilmot and I already had to kick him out of Port Moresby for publishing defamatory articles about my command. Apparently, he found a way to come back here and to disregard your interdiction on taking unsupervised pictures of your planes.’’
It was the turn of MacArthur and Kenney to stare hard at the reporter. Angie, having found more used film cartridges in the man’s pockets and camera case, handed those to Blamey. MacArthur’s jaw tightened in anger on seeing those films.
‘’Mister Wilmot, God knows I am liberal with the freedom of action of the members of my press team but you just went too far, way too far. Do you realize that the planes you just photographed are highly classified pre-series combat aircraft? The
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fact that they had been covered with tarps for security reasons should have been indication enough for you to stay away from them.’
‘’The Australian public has the right to know what is happening at the front, General.’ protested Wilmot. ‘’I am an accredited war correspondent and have the right to report on the war the way I see fit.’
‘’No, you don’t, Mister Wilmot! Your accreditation is declared null and void by me as of right now and you will be charged with trespassing and endangering military secrets. Your political and press connections will not save you this time. You will now be detained until you can be flown out to Australia, where you will be judged in front of a military tribunal. Captain Dickinson, make sure that this man’s cell doesn’t have a window giving a view of this airfield, so that he can’t see our returning warplanes.’’
‘’Right away, sir!’ replied a smiling Angie while saluting MacArthur. She then had her two MPs put handcuffs on Wilmot before they dragged the swearing and cussing correspondent back to their jeep. Julian Barnes shook his head in disgust as he watched the jeep drive away.
‘’First, we had Australian stevedores pulling work-to-rule strikes, then had to repeatedly tell your newspapers and radio stations to refrain from reporting on sensitive military information. We also had residents on Thursday Island protesting that our aviatrixes attacking the Japanese fleet in the Torres Strait had dug protective trenches in their precious little park. Now this! What the hell is wrong with Australian civilians in this war, Sir Blamey?’’
Blamey could only shrug in embarrassment at that.
‘’That is unfortunately part of our national psyche, General Barnes: we are quite hard-headed and independent by nature. It must come from the fact that our ancestors were mostly convicts brought from Great Britain as prisoners.’’
Some ten minutes later, the group spotted the arriving five XA-11 planes and then watched them land one by one. George Kenney, who examined them with the help of binoculars, blew air out in relief.
‘’I can’t see any damage on our five planes, General. The five of them seem to be intact.’
‘’Thank God! I can’t wait to hear Ingrid’s verbal mission report.’
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MacArthur’s wish was fulfil ed some four minutes later, when Ingrid’s plane stopped in its assigned parking spot and its belly access trap opened. Ingrid climbed down first from her aircraft and went to stop at attention in front of MacArthur, saluting him.
‘’Mission accomplished, sir! We suffered no damage or malfunction and hit all our objectives, then filmed the results. The Yokosuka Naval Arsenal suffered heavy bomb damage, while both the Japanese Army headquarters building and the Japanese Navy headquarters building have been blown to bits. As for the Japanese Navy Academy, it was flattened by our FAE bomb and hundreds of naval cadets and instructors were killed as they were standing on their parade square. I will also be claiming four new air victories against four Ki-44 which tried to intercept us, sir.’
‘’Goddam!’ couldn’t help exclaim MacArthur, most happy. ‘’And how much would that get your air score to, Colonel?’’
‘’A round one hundred, sir!’ answered a grinning Ingrid. ‘’I believe that this mission has truly decapitated the Japanese military. With luck, the Japanese emperor will now think twice about continuing this war. However, if he doesn’t give up, or if some bunch of fanatical militarists assassinate him and take control of the country, then we will have to continue our hammering against Japan. By the way, we brought back some excellent bomb damage assessment photos with us. I will have those films developed as soon as possible today, sir, so that you can inform Washington of our success.’
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CHAPTER 22 – NOW WHAT?
19:54 (Tokyo Time)
Wednesday, April 14, 1943 ‘C’
Emperor Hirohito’s private library
Imperial Palace, Tokyo, Japan
Emperor Hirohito was in his private library, studying a book on marine biology, a subject which passioned him, when a servant knocked on the side of the entrance door before kneeling and bowing.
‘’Your Majesty, Lord Kido wishes to see you about an urgent matter.’
‘’Let him in.’’
‘’Hay!’
Seconds later, the Keeper of the Imperial Seal and political confidante of Hirohito entered and went to his knees before bowing to the Emperor.
‘’Your Majesty, I came to tell you that Prime Minister Tojo is confirmed as dead, kil ed in the bombing of the Army headquarters.’
Hirohito took a few seconds to digest that information before asking a question to Lord Kido.
‘’What about Field Marshal Sugiyama? What about Admiral Nagano?’’
‘’Also dead, Your Majesty. They were about to attend a high-level command conference meant to discuss how to respond to the more recent attacks by the Americans and Australians when the enemy bombers struck.’
‘’Then, who is left alive of the Imperial War Council, Kido?’’ asked a shocked Hirohito.
‘’Right now, we can’t find any member of that council alive, Your Majesty. The problem is that the corpses of those killed by those awful new bombs were dismembered and incinerated and are next to impossible to identify.’
‘’And what about those bombs themselves? They weren’t standard bombs, no?’’
‘’Certainly not, Your Majesty. While extremely powerful and deadly, they seemed to work differently from usual explosives bombs, with a wider blast radius but less peak
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pressures than normal explosives like TNT have. Our experts are still studying their effects and possible nature but they all agree that they are weapons to fear greatly.’
Hirohito was again silent for a moment before speaking again.
‘’Lord Kido, find out who are the most senior general officers left alive in Japan tonight and make a list of them. We need to replace General Tojo and the members of our war council as quickly as possible if we want to avoid chaos to descend on our military command structure. Then, I will want to speak with them, so that I can ask for their counsel on how to pursue this war.’
‘’Hay! If I may, Your Majesty. Late Admiral Yamamoto once told me just before the start of this war that, once we initiated war against the United States, we then may prevail at first for the first two years of that war but that, after that, the industrial might of the Americans would start tipping the balance against us. It seems that his words are now proving to be prophetic, Your Majesty.’
‘’Indeed!’’ could only reply Hirohito with a bitter tone of voice.
14:50 (Manila Time)
Friday, April 16, 1943 ‘C’
Japanese Army Philippines Command headquarters Manila, Luzon Island, Philippines
Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita, commander of the Japanese Army troops in the Philippines, shook his head in both frustration and discouragement after finishing to read the message from Tokyo announcing the full implications of the American bombing on Tokyo two days ago. Essentially, all army commanders in and out of Japan were enjoined to hold and defend their positions but not launch any new offensive or attack until the command situation in Tokyo had been made clearer. This basically meant to Yamashita that he was on his own until further notice. No new reinforcements would come, either in men, aircraft, ships or even supplies. As for the latter item, supplies, the resurging American navy had already severely cut the supply lines between Japan and its various conquests, through submarine barriers and anti-shipping air patrols. As for the American forces in Papua New Guinea, General MacArthur had by now succeeded in retaking all of New Guinea, with the few Japanese garrisons there surrounded, blockaded and left starving and short of ammunition, while Japanese airpower in the South Pacific was now mostly a thing of the past. The one
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thing Yamashita could count himself lucky about was the fact that his forces in the Philippines were not at risk of starving, contrary to the Japanese garrisons around the Central and South Pacific which were now isolated and cut off. Local Filipino food production was sufficient at this time to feed his troops via local requisitions. However, that left him with limited stocks of ammunition, fuel and military equipment.
‘’We have pretty well lost this war already. How wil Japan survive this?’’
Yamashita was still rehashing that question in his head when he heard the start of heavy rifle shooting coming from downtown Manila. Jumping on his feet and running to a window of his office, he looked around outside, worried that this announced some kind of mass guerrilla attack on the Japanese troops in the city. He however quickly dismissed that notion as his well-exercised hearing recognized that the shooting was done by only one type of weapon: this was one-sided firing. Going to his telephone, Yamashita called his chief of staff and barked an order.
‘’Muto, find out what the hel is happening in town. Who is firing at who?’’
‘’Uh, yes sir!’’
Hanging up, Yamashita then returned to the window to try to see what was happening, swearing to himself: things were already bad enough around the Philippines and he didn’t need more trouble right here in Manila.
His telephone rang after about ten minutes, making Yamashita return to his desk.
‘’Yes?’
‘’Sir, this is Muto! The shooting is being done by the naval infantry of Rear Admiral Iwabushi: he apparently ordered his marines to avenge the bombing of Tokyo by going around and killing Filipino civilians in Manila.’’
‘’WHAT? Did you order him to stop this nonsense?’
‘’Yes sir, but he replied that he is not taking orders from the Army, only from the Navy.’
Yamashita became furious on hearing this, not because Filipinos were being killed but rather because Iwabushi’s refusal to obey his command constituted rank insubordination.
‘’If this continues, the whole of Luzon could descend into uncontrolled chaos, Muto, something the enemy could exploit. Send our troops in town and have them stop these damn navy thugs. As for Iwabushi, have him arrested for insubordination.’’
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‘’Yes sir!’ could only reply his chief of staff before Yamashita hung up, furious: in addition to having to fight the Americans, he now could well have to fight the Navy on top of everything. Thinking about it, he bitterly thought that the long-lived rivalry between the Imperial Japanese Army and the Imperial Navy could well turn to a shooting one, especially now that command chaos had descended on Tokyo. If that happened, then only one person could put an end to such stupidity: the Emperor.
10:27 (PNG Time)
Saturday, April 17, 1943 ‘C’
General MacArthur’s field headquarters
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Douglas MacArthur nodded his head on seeing Ingrid and Lieutenant General George Kenney enter at a quick pace his operations center, where Sir Thomas Blamey, Brigadier General Stephen Chamberlin, Macarthur’s operations officer, and Major General Willoughby, his intelligence officer, were already standing around the large map table of the center.
‘’Thank you for coming so quickly, General Kenney and Colonel Dows: I have received some awful news from the Philippines and we may need to react to them quickly.’
‘’And what is going on in the Philippines, General?’’ asked Kenney.
‘’An abomination!’’ answered MacArthur in a grim tone. ‘’Basically, the Japanese soldiers there are taking revenge for our bombing of Tokyo by slaughtering both Filipino civilians and our men held as prisoners of war there.’’
On hearing that, Ingrid froze and became pale, deeply shocked by that news.
‘’Oh my God! But we are stil too far from the Philippines, with too few ground troops to intervene in any effective way to stop such a massacre.’’
Chamberlin, a highly competent staff officer and the man responsible for planning and executing operations for MacArthur, nodded in agreement at her words.
‘’You are correct, Colonel: as much as I would like us to be able to intervene in the Philippines to stop this monstrosity, we simply don’t have the means to do it at this time. We may unfortunately have to simply watch as things happen in the Philippines...unless you come up with a truly outstanding idea, Colonel Dows.’
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Ingrid then understood with a shock that she had been called in as a near-act of desperation by MacArthur’s and his staff. Walking slowly to the map table, she looked at the various symbols covering the Philippines Archipelago, then looked with profound sadness at MacArthur.
‘’Sir, the Japanese troops in the Philippines may lack air and sea cover but they are still way more numerous than what we have here in the whole of Papua New Guinea and Australia in terms of ground troops. Any operation by us in the Philippines would thus have to limit itself to save and extract our men who are prisoners of the Japanese there. However, we won’t be able to ensure the safety of the Filipino people at the same time, short of a miracle. Even while limiting in that way the scope of any operation in the Philippines, this would still be an extremely risky and costly endeavor, General.’
‘’I fully agree with you, Ingrid. However I refuse to simply do nothing about this.
Take a moment to think, then tell me if you have an idea I could use...any idea.
Whatever you say, I am ready to support it with all the resources I have.’’
Ingrid was again silent for a moment, deep in thoughts, before looking into MacArthur’s eyes and speaking in a resolute tone.
‘’I may have an idea, General, but we won’t have time for any planning discussion, rehearsals or writing down of comprehensive operational orders. Everything will have to be done verbally, according to a single set of directives: my directives, once you approve my plan. We will also need the immediate and unreserved assistance of the Navy. I may sound a bit like a demagogue but time is of the essence and this is truly a time when too many cooks wil spoil the sauce.’’
‘’Ask and you wil get, Ingrid.’ replied Douglas MacArthur.
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CHAPTER 23 – A HALF-BAKED IDEA
16:30 (PNG Time)
Saturday, April 17, 1943 ‘C’
Flight deck of the escort carrier USS SANGAMON (CVE-26) Part of Carrier Division 22, steaming northward at full speed Coral Sea, South Pacific
The two American sailors standing near the small bridge island of the escort carrier USS SANGAMON and enjoying a smoke break eyed the three other sisterships of the SANGAMON, the SANTEE, SUWANNEE and CHENANGO, which were sailing as a group with their own carrier, then the empty flight decks of all four ships.
‘’If we sailed out on such short notice for a supposedly urgent combat mission, then why did our captain ordered all the planes stationed on our flight deck to fly off first, leaving us with only a few aircraft in our hangar? And why send four escort carriers with empty decks on such a mission?’’
‘’Beats me, Dave. Hopefully, someone wil eventual y tell us something.’’
That sailor had just finished speaking when his comrade turned one ear towards the Northwest.
‘’Wait! I think that I can hear the sound of aircraft engines approaching. We may get an answer to your question soon, Jack.’
The two sailors focused their eyes in that direction and soon saw a large group of dots appear, flying low over the sea and towards the group of escort carriers. After a couple of minutes, their shapes became more identifiable, which made Jack jump up with joy.
‘’Helicopters! We’re again going to have a bunch of young women on our carrier, Dave.’’
‘’Hallelujah!’ said Dave, ecstatic. Both of them watched on as a mix of sixteen UH-2 medium transport helicopters and eight AH-4 attack helicopters landed one by one on the SANGAMON, to immediately fold their rotors and be pushed towards the aft part of the deck, where sailors parked them tightly before tying them down. At the same
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time, another sixty or so helicopters of various types, including six giant UH-3 heavy transport helicopters, landed on the three other escort carriers of their division, which were being escorted by nine destroyers, one light cruiser and one heavy cruiser. The glee of the two sailors as dozens of young women climbed out of their machines vanished when over 300 heavily armed paratroopers from the 11th Airborne Division also came out of the UH-2s.
‘’Urk! Those are not what I would call the ‘sexy’ types, Dave.’’
‘’Yeah! Wel , we better get back inside now: our duty shift is about to start.
Wherever we are going, this definitely looks like some very serious business.’
17:00 (PNG Time)
Sunday, April 18, 1943 ‘C’
Tarmac of Wards Airfield
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Douglas MacArthur accompanied Ingrid Dows, Jesus Villamor and George Kenney to the foot of the access ladder of the EC-142E flying command post before shaking hands with them.
‘’Good luck in your mission, lady and gentlemen. May you succeed in delivering the Filipinos in Manila from those barbaric Japanese. Once you will fly off, I will send a warning message to Washington, to advise our leaders about the atrocities the Japanese are committing in the Philippines and about our plan to stop those killings.
Hopefully, Washington should then redirect more of our forces in the Pacific towards the Philippines.’
Ingrid had doubts about that wish by MacArthur but kept her mouth shut while saluting MacArthur.
‘’Thank you, sir. We wil do everything humanely possible, General.’
‘’You always do, Ingrid.’’
On that, the trio climbed aboard the big airborne command post aircraft as MacArthur stepped away to a safe distance. The EC-142E, along with eight XA-11Bs, two XF-11Ns and six AC-142Gs heavy gunships, then started its engines one by one before starting to roll towards one of the two parallel runways of the airfield. MacArthur waited until all of the planes had taken off and had disappeared in the sky before climbing back into his jeep and returning to the headquarters of the Fifth Air Force, where he was going to be
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able to send an encrypted message to Washington, advising the President and his military chiefs about what was happening in the Philippines and about the initiation of
‘Operation Lifesaver’. First, however, he was going to instruct his chief of intelligence, Brigadier General Charles Willoughby, to fully activate via the Allied Intelligence Bureau, or A.I.B., the numerous and efficient Filipino guerrilla groups operating throughout the Philippines and which counted well over 120,000 fighters, so that they could support Operation Lifesaver. The message to Washington would come as a second priority for MacArthur.
23:58 (Manila Time)
General Yamashita’s headquarters (in old Commerce Ministry Building) Intramuros district of Manila, Luzon Island, Philippines Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita went to bed angry, frustrated and deeply worried. Angry about the indiscipline and insubordination of too many of his units, which had started slaughtering Filipino civilians and interned enemy civilians alike without orders; frustrated by his lack of control of his own forces, some of which, like the Kempetai military police units in the Philippines, actually escaped his direct command; and deeply worried about his overall less than firm control of the Philippines as the Americans demonstrated their growing strength in the Pacific. He barely had time to go to sleep before he was rudely awakened by the thunderous explosion and building shaking from the first 1,000-pound bomb to hit his headquarters building after being dropped in dive-bombing mode from a XA-11B. Yamashita had time to swing his legs out of his bed and sit down on it before the second of five 1000-pound bombs hit the wing of the building containing his suite, pulverizing it and killing him.
The old Commerce Ministry building was far from being the only one inside the Intramuros, the walled Old Manila City, to be hit by bombs. At nearly the same time, the Central Post Office, which housed the hated Kempetai military police Manila detachment, was also bombed to rubble. Using to the maximum the extensive intelligence gathered for over a year by Filipino guerrilla groups on the various locations of the Japanese garrison centers and barracks in Manila and the Philippines, bombs delivered with precision via dive-bombing mode by the eight XA-11B overflying Manila destroyed the main Japanese headquarters facilities and troop barracks inside the
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Intramuros, killing or seriously wounding over 12,000 Japanese soldiers and officers in the process.
At about the same time as the XA-11Bs attacked the Japanese housed in the Intramuros, two of the six AC-142G heavy gunships which had flown in formation with the ten XA-11s, twenty C-142A heavy cargo aircraft and the one EC-142E, on which Ingrid Dows was directing and monitoring the air strikes on Manila, delivered five-ton FAE bombs on Nichols Field and Nielson Field, the two military airfields just south of Manila, despite the fact that the Japanese aircraft and installations there had already been destroyed by FAE bombs in preceding air attacks a few weeks ago. However, there was a firm reason for those apparently useless strikes: for one, those bombs were going to destroy the few replacement Japanese aircraft which had flown in during the past couple of weeks and would also flatten the new hangars and buildings which the Japanese had been building to replace the older ones. Secondly, and most importantly, they were going to kill the crews of the anti-aircraft guns protecting Nichols Field and Nielson Field.
00:14 (Manila Time)
Monday, April 19, 1943 ‘C’
Lead C-142A GLOBEMASTER of the 117th Transport Group (Heavy) On tactical landing approach to Nichols Field
South suburbs of Manila
‘’Dear bums of the 7th Marine Regiment, we are now about to land in Nichols Field, just south of friendly Manila, where Japanese soldiers are eagerly waiting to party with you. Please buckle your seatbelts and brace for impact on landing. Thank you for travelling with Angel Airlines and have a nice crash landing.’
Betty Huyler, who was at the commands of their C-142A heavy cargo aircraft, threw an amused glance at her copilot, Dorothy Scott.
‘’That was a rather non-standard pre-landing warning, Dorothy.’
‘’Hey, I’m sure that those marines needed something to help them relax as much as I did myself.’
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In the large cargo cabin of the C-142A, Lieutenant Colonel Lewis ‘Chesty’ Puller, couldn’t help chuckle with the 120 other marines of his battalion sitting on folding jump seats.
‘’Hell, you really can’t say that these girls don’t have a sense of humor.
ALRIGHT, BUMS OF ‘A’ COMPANY, FIRST BATTALION, YOU HEARD THE LADY!
MAKE SURE THAT YOUR SEATBELTS ARE BUCKLED AND HOLD ON TO YOUR
WEAPONS. ANY MAN WHO WILL LOSE GRIP ON HIS RIFLE WILL HAVE TO DO
FIFTY PUSH-UPS, WITH A KICK IN THE ASS BY ME BETWEEN EACH PUSH-UP.
SERGEANT PETERS, YOU WILL LET OUR MEN RUN OUT BEFORE ROLLING OUT
WITH YOUR TRUCK.’
‘’YES SIR!’ shouted back the NCO sitting in the Dodge ¾-ton light truck chained down to the cargo floor of the big transport aircraft and which carried extra ammunition, water and rations for the marines of ‘A’ Company. Despite the joke made by Dorothy Scott, the marines sitting in the cargo hold waited nervously for their plane to touch the ground and let them out into combat: this was the first time that marines, or any American infantrymen, would participate in what they were told was going to be an ‘air assault’ operation. The female loadmaster of the C-142A, who was connected to the cockpit by an intercom headset, then pushed the button operating the big rear cargo ramp, but only opened it partially, with the ramp about two-thirds down.
‘’TWENTY SECONDS TO LANDING! YOU WILL BE GOING OUT AT THE
NORTHERN END OF THE RUNWAY.’
Puller, looking around his men to judge their state of minds, saw the four young women wearing combat uniforms and armed with carbines and revolvers also prepare to run out.
Those women also each carried a pair of flashlights equipped with long orange plastic cones and were going to act as airfield aircraft guides, signaling to the landing transports where to turn and in which direction. Doing such a job at night while yielding luminous batons near Japanese positions certainly took a lot of guts in Puller’s opinion. He eyed in particular the youngest of the women, a teenage beauty with curly red hair who was most pleasant to male eyes. When Puller had come aboard, he had chatted a bit with all four women and remembered that young beauty’s name to be Norma Jeane Mortenson, who had claimed to be eighteen. What Puller couldn’t know was that young Norma Jeane was in reality sixteen years-old and had
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used a falsified birth certificate in order to enroll in the Army Air Corps and join the Fifinellas. A shout from the loadmaster then returned Ful er’s mind on the present moment.
‘’TOUCHDOWN IMMINENT! HOLD YOUR OVERHEAD HANDLES!’’
Puller grabbed at once the rubber handle attached above his jump seat, just in time as the C-142 bumped none too gently on the runway it was landing on. Then, the plane slowed down quite brutally, using both wheel brakes and propeller reverse thrust.
Holding on to dear life to the overhead handle as the plane decelerated quickly, Lewis Puller then felt it do a tight half-turn to the left, probably to leave the runway and let other planes free to land on it. Then, their C-142A came to a stop and the loadmaster finished lowering the cargo ramp to the ground while shouting to the marines.
‘’OUT, OUT, OUT!’
As the marines ran out in a double file, the loadmaster hurried to go undo the chains holding the light truck to the cargo deck, helped by the four female airfield guides. As soon as the truck rolled out of the plane and onto the ground, the four airfield guides grabbed the bicycles they had brought with them in order to go around the airfield faster when needed and rolled out as well, leaving the loadmaster free to raise and close the cargo ramp before calling the pilots.
‘’THE RAMP IS UP AND EVERYBODY IS OUT!’
‘’THANKS, LYNDA!’ replied Betty Huyler before making her aircraft roll down the taxiway parallel to the runway, in order to take a takeoff position, as a second C-142a touched down on the runway. This was only the first of the trips between Port Moresby and Manila she was due to do in order to airlift American soldiers and equipment into Manila.
At the northern end of the runway, Lewis Puller led his first company at a run towards the perimeter fence of Nichols Field, intent on taking positions there in order to stop any Japanese possible counter-attack. On the way, he ran past the burned and mutilated corpses of Japanese soldiers who had apparently been killed by the terrifying big bomb which had exploded over Nichols Field just before their landing. Wishing to never die in such a horrible fashion, Puller finally crouched behind the remains of a small sort of shed near the perimeter fence and signaled Sergeant Peters and his driver to drive their truck to his position, then took hold of the receiver of the backpack radio carried by his signaler.
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‘’Six Mike Seven, this is Six One Mike Seven: I am now in position at the northern end of the perimeter, over.’
‘’Six Mike Seven acknowledged!’ replied his regiment’s commander, who had been in the second C-142A. ‘’Hold position until all our men are in place, over.’
‘’Six One Mike Seven: understood, out!’
Puller then used his night vision scope, a brand-new addition to the marines’ equipment which he found positively fantastic as a tactical tool, in order to look for any Japanese soldiers or guns. He did see two Japanese anti-aircraft guns visible within 150 meters of him but their servants were apparently all dead, lying around or over their guns. He nodded his head in satisfaction at that: up to now, this operation was going very well indeed. His degree of satisfaction then increased measurably as four M5 STUART light tanks brought in by the C-142As rolled to a stop in an extended line just behind his marines. Puller was however more than a little surprised to see as well four jeeps mounting .50 caliber heavy machine guns and towing small trailers joining the tanks and his marines. Getting up and going to the nearest jeep, he was shocked to see that three young women were in that jeep.
‘’Uh, excuse my language, ladies, but what the fuck are you doing here, in Nichols Field?’
The female corporal manning the heavy machine gun gave him a disarming smile.
‘’Well, just doing our job, sir. We are in charge of security at the airfields used by the 99th Air Wing. Since this airfield is now going to be operated by our wing, we came to secure its perimeter, so that you could be free to advance towards Manila, sir.’
Puller, flabbergasted by that unexpected but correct answer to his question, could only nod his head and smile back to the young corporal.
‘’A most logical answer, I must say. Carry on with your duties, ladies.’’
‘’Thank you, sir.’
Puller’s next surprise was when a group of armed men waving a white flag approached him from the direction of Manila. The young platoon lieutenant nearest to Puller scratched his head in confusion.
‘’I thought that the Japanese never surrendered and fought to the death, sir.’
‘’Normally they don’t, Son. However, I believe that those guys are not Japanese.
TO ALL MARINES, HOLD YOUR FIRE! HOLD YOUR FIRE! POSSIBLE FRIENDLIES
APPROACHING!’
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Puller then got up and started walking towards the newcomers, meeting them at the ruined perimeter fence. The man holding the white flag, apparently a Filipino, whore an old-style American ‘barber bowl’ helmet and carried a Springfield 1903 bolt rifle. He then spoke in a relatively fair English to Puller.
‘’I am Captain Manuel Romero, of the Hunters ROTC guerrilla group. Did you come as part of a simple raid or to stay, Colonel?’’
‘’We are here to stay, Captain Romero. My regiment of marines just landed on this airfield, while a second regiment is landing in Nielson Field. Our transport planes are now on their way back to Papua New Guinea, where they will load up with more American troops before coming back. How many guerrillas do you have with you, Captain?’
‘’I presently have about 160 fighters with me, Colonel, but have another 300
guerrillas dispersed around the southern suburbs of the city, fighting the Japanese and stopping them from slaughtering more of our people. Your marines will be like a miracle sent to us by God, Colonel.’
Puller grinned at that.
‘’Well, we certainly will be most happy to perform an exorcism on those Japanese demons, Captain.’’
‘’And we wil be happy to guide and support you around Manila, Colonel.’
As Romero finished speaking, what looked like a fire lance came out of the sky, hitting a Japanese anti-aircraft gun which had been trying unsuccessfully to find and shoot one of the roaming AC-142Gs.
‘’Wow! You brought dragons with you, Colonel?’’
‘’Bingo! Those heavy gunship aircraft belong to the Dragon Ladies of the 99th Air Wing, Captain.’’
‘’Ladies? You also have women fighting the Japanese, Colonel?’’
‘’Uh, what do you mean, ‘also’? You have women guerrillas with you?’
‘’Not in my group, Colonel, but we have a number of guerrilla groups formed of women, notably the Escoda Group, the Daughters of Tandang Sora and the Daughters of Liberty.’
‘’Oh dear! Wait until Ingrid Dows hears about that.’
An air of absolute revelation and ecstasy then came to Romero’s face at the mention of Ingrid’s name.
‘’Lady Hawk is with you, Colonel?’’
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‘’Uh, yes: she commands the 99th Air Wing, whose planes are presently pounding the Japanese around Manila.’’
‘’May the saint Virgin Mary be praised! We are saved!’
Puller could only scratch his head at that: there definitely were a lot more women than he had expected involved in this mission.
14:09 (Washington Time)
Tuesday, April 20, 1943 ‘C’
The Oval Office, The White House
Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
‘’Alright, gentlemen, what the Hell is going on in the Pacific and in around the Philippines?’’
General George Marshall, the head of the U.S. Army, answered the President first.
‘’It happens that, after getting reports that the Japanese had started to slaughter our men held as prisoners of war in the Philippines, as well as killing indiscriminately the Filipino people around them, General MacArthur decided to act and launched a lightning rescue operation to save our men and the Filipinos, Mister President. He was able to get the support of Admiral Halsey, in Noumea, who lent him the use of four escort carriers, so that the helicopters of the 99th Air Wing, based in Port Moresby, could be brought to within range of Manila. At last news, General MacArthur has succeeded in landing by air two marine regiments and one paratrooper battalion in and around Manila.
Those troops are in turn supported by the heavy gunships of Colonel Dows and also gained the effective support of thousands of Filipino guerrillas. If I can believe MacArthur’s latest reports, most of the Japanese in Manila are now dead or cornered like rats.’
Roosevelt nodded his head at that, then looked at Admiral Ernest J. King, the head of the Navy.
‘’And what are your objections about that, Admiral? It seems to me that General MacArthur has acted promptly and for a most legitimate purpose, which is to save the lives of our men held captive by the Japanese in the Philippines.’
‘’My objections are about how he obtained the help of Vice Admiral Halsey, Mister President. Halsey never asked permission from either Admiral Nimitz or me before loaning the services of a full escort carrier division and of the First Marine Division
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to General MacArthur. When I finally heard about this, I ordered him to make his carriers turn around and to keep the First Marine Division in reserve in Australia.
Halsey, through Nimitz, then flatly refused to obey my order, so I relieved him of command for insubordination, Mister President.’
King, who had expected that Roosevelt would support his command authority, was then shocked by F.D.R.’s reaction, who would have jumped out of his wheelchair from rage if not for his physical disabilities.
‘’YOU WHAT? THOSE ESCORT CARRIERS WERE ON THEIR WAY TO HELP
SAVE OUR MEN HELD IN THE PHILIPPINES AND YOU WANTED TO HAVE THEM
TURN AROUND? WHAT KIND OF UNCARING EGOMANIAC ARE YOU, ADMIRAL
KING? I WANT HALSEY REESTABLISHED AS COMMANDER OF THE SOUTH
PACIFIC THEATER OF OPERATIONS RIGHT AWAY! AS FOR YOU, YOU ARE
RELIEVED AS CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS. THE DEPUTY CNO WILL TAKE
YOUR PLACE UNTIL A MORE PERMANENT REPLACEMENT IS CHOSEN BY ME.
NOW, GET OUT OF MY OFFICE!’
Watched by the other stunned service chiefs and by Admiral Leahy, the President’s military advisor, King could only salute before walking out, furious and humiliated. Once King was gone, Roosevelt gave a hard look at Marshall, Arnold and Leahy.
‘’Well, gentlemen, now that I have made myself perfectly clear about what I think of General MacArthur’s flash initiative and about Admiral Halsey’s support of his rescue operation, what could you do to quickly reinforce his rescue force in Manila? Do we have extra troops here that we can spare and then send quickly to Manila?’’
Marshall thought for a moment before nodding his head.
‘’I can see two units which could be sent right away by air to Manila: the First and Second Filipino Infantry regiments. They are composed of ethnic Filipino-Americans and of native Filipinos who were able to escape from the Philippines before the Japanese took the islands. They are presently training in California but are rather lightly armed by our normal infantry standards. Since General MacArthur has succeeded in capturing almost intact two airfields near Manila, we could transport those two regiments by air directly to Manila, via Hawaii and the Samoa Islands.’’
Lieutenant General Arnold, the head of the Army Air Corps, then spoke up.
‘’I could temporarily assign the two heavy transport groups equipped with C-142s that I have within our country to carry those two regiments to the Philippines, Mister
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President. However, any vehicles and heavy equipment they have would necessitate many more roundabout trips by C-142s or follow by ship, under Navy escort.’
‘’That is still a good start, gentlemen.’ approved Roosevelt. ‘’General Marshal , I know from numerous rumors I heard about those Filipino units that they were often discriminated against and got only inferior or old equipment. See to it that those men are fully reequipped with modern weapons and equipment before they leave the states.
What about our airborne units? Can we send at least one airborne division to Manila? It seems to me that this is a golden opportunity for us to strike a deadly blow to the Japanese if we could succeed in retaking the Philippines, or at the least isolate and render impotent the Japanese forces there, no?’’
‘’Indeed, Mister President. However, our two airborne divisions are slated to soon go to England, in preparation for the day we wil land in France.’’ answered Marshall, making Roosevelt shake his head in disillusionment.
‘’...In preparation for the day we will land in France... General, I have heard many promises of action to come soon in Europe and have agreed to nearly all the requests for help from Prime Minister Churchill. Yet, nothing concrete seems to be happening over there. Our troops in England are languishing in training camps while supplies and equipment are piling up in the depots there. As for our bombers, they are suffering awful losses at the hands of the Luftwaffe while apparently causing little true damage to the Germans. On the other hand, I have General MacArthur progressing at lightning speed and who now has landed his forces in the Philippines, a full year before our most optimistic predictions. Can you tell me what is MacArthur doing that our generals in England should be doing, gentlemen?’’
Marshall was left speechless by Roosevelt’s question, either unable or unwil ing to give him a satisfactory answer. However, Henry Arnold, grabbing his courage with both hands, cleared his throat and spoke up.
‘’If I may, Mister President, I would say that you should not praise General MacArthur for his recent successes, but rather a young woman who commands his 99th Air Wing: Colonel Ingrid Dows. Colonel Dows suggested a number of times some daring operational plans which none of our staff officers would even dare consider or propose.
In turn, her suggestions repeatedly turned to gold for General MacArthur. If I would refer to the most recent events I know of, Dows was the one who suggested and then implemented the plan to bomb Tokyo from Port Moresby with her new XA-11s, a plan that effectively decapitated the Japanese high command of both the Army and the Navy.
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She was also the one who attacked the Japanese Combined Fleet as it tried to get to Port Moresby and bombard it with its heavy guns. The taking of Buna was also thanks to her novel helicopter air assault tactic, which succeeded with very little casualties.’’
‘’And how old is this military genius, General Arnold?’
‘’Uh, I believe that she is actually nineteen years-old, Mister President.’
Roosevelt bowed his head while shaking it at the same time.
‘’Nineteen... If I had a rival this young and this talented facing me in the next presidential elections, I would get trounced. Anything else I should know about her?’’
‘’Uh, I believe that you already know about her remembering her past incarnations, Mister President.’
‘’I do! I must say that facing a political rival with 7,000 years of experience would be a humbling experience for me. And she is a lieutenant colonel?’’
‘’A full colonel, Mister President. Many of my generals are already eating their socks and complaining about that.’
‘’Let them eat socks!’ replied Roosevelt, paraphrasing a famous historical saying from France’s history. Both Marshall and Arnold had a good chuckle at that.
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CHAPTER 24 – OPERATIONAL SWITCH
13:51 (Manila Time)
Tuesday, April 27, 1943 ‘C’
Nichols Field, southern suburbs of Manila
Island of Luzon, Philippines
Douglas MacArthur, with President Quezon of the Philippines at his side, saluted as soon as he stepped on the tarmac after coming down the stairs from his personal transport aircraft, a four-engine Douglas C-54 SKYMASTER. A small military band that had been hurriedly brought to Nichols Field then played the American national anthem, followed by the Filipino anthem. At the end of the second anthem, Lieutenant General Hodge, who commanded the American ground troops in the Philippines, came forward and saluted both MacArthur and Quezon.
‘’Welcome to liberated Manila, Mister President, General. While there are still plenty of Japanese outside of the Greater Manila Area, the city itself has been thoroughly cleansed of Japanese soldiers and their Filipino collaborators and the Japanese are now out of artillery range of Manila. Both the Malacanang Palace and the Manila Hotel are safe and ready for occupation.’’
MacArthur, feeling happier than he had been in a long time, strongly shook hands with Hodge while grinning.
‘’Your troops have accomplished a fantastic job in Manila, General Hodge. Their valor wil be recognized, I assure you.’
‘’Then, General, two other groups would deserve at least as much praise as my troops: the women of the 99th Air Wing, which gave my troops first class air support and are still pounding the Japanese around the Philippines; and the tens of thousands of Filipino guerrillas who guided and supported my soldiers and marines during the fighting inside and around Manila. Without those guerrillas, we would still be fighting the Japanese inside Manila. I would strongly recommend that we do our utmost to properly arm and equip those guerrilla groups, so that they could continue the fight for the liberation of the whole Philippines.’
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‘’I wil certainly appeal to Washington for more weapons and equipment for these heroes, General Hodge. Uh, talking of the women of the 99th Air Wing, I was expecting that Colonel Dows would be present for this arrival ceremony.’
Hodge had a gentle smile at that question.
‘’Colonel Dows has been a very busy young woman during the past week or so, General. She is presently flying a mission over Japan with her XA-11 bombers, targeting the Japanese shipyards and naval bases in Kure and Sasebo. Here, her heavy gunships and attack helicopters are busy patrolling the whole of the Philippines, strafing and pounding any Japanese Army units they find or to which they are directed to by Filipino guerrilla groups. However, while the Japanese have been mostly cut off from their logistical supplies, there are still close to a quarter million of them spread around the Philippines, so the fight will still be long and difficult, General. We definitely would need a lot more troops to finish the job here.’’
‘’I hear you, General Hodge. I am planning to go to Washington after the situation stabilizes further here, in order to plead directly with the President for more troops and support. From what I can see here, Nichols Field’s infrastructures, if you except the runway itself, would need to be completely rebuilt before it could be used to the full.’
‘’The same would apply for Nielson Field and Clark Field, General. We would need at least two engineering and construction battalions, ideally three or four, to rebuild those airfields and thus allow our supporting aircraft to move to here from Port Moresby.
We would also need a couple of tankers to be sent, so that we could rebuild the local reserves of fuel. And there are of course the needs of the Filipino population in food and medical supplies to take care off.’
‘’I wil also plead for that with the President, General Hodge.’
promised MacArthur, now looking and sounding most sober.
19:43 (Greenwich Mean Time)
Friday, April 30, 1943 ‘C’
Command hut of the 305th Bombardment Group (Heavy) RAF Chelveston, Northamptonshire, England
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Colonel Curtiss LeMay, the commanding officer of the 305th Bombardment Group, equipped with B-17 four-engine heavy bombers, angrily threw away his copy of the latest edition of ‘Yank, The Army Magazine’.
‘’A bunch of young women aviatrixes are busy bombing Japan, and this after helping MacArthur retake the Philippines in mere days, while we keep being getting cut to shreds by the Germans, with little concrete results to show for our losses.’’
LeMay then took a couple of deep breaths to calm down as he thought about what he had just read. In truth, he could only admire what those young and brave aviatrixes were accomplishing in the Pacific. His real beef was with the obtuse and inflexible way his superiors at Eight Air Force were leading, or rather misleading, the young airmen under their command, airmen who were dying by the hundreds each week because of the incompetence of those old farts at Eight Air Force headquarters and at Army Air Force headquarters in Washington. Grabbing back the magazine he had thrown against a wall, LeMay opened it to the page showing a color picture of Colonel Ingrid Dows, young, beautiful and looking most resolved while standing in front of the partially obscured image of a XA-11B, in which she had just bombed the Japanese naval base in Kure.
‘’This is the kind of leader we should have here in England, rather than this Spaatz old fart.’
18:15 (Washington Time)
Monday, May 10, 1943 ‘C’
Washington National Airport passenger terminal On the western shore of the Potomac River
At border between Washington, D.C., and Arlington, Virginia U.S.A.
General George Marshall was waiting for them in the passenger terminal of Washington National Airport, due to the light rain that was falling on the capital region, when Douglas MacArthur, George Kenney, Ingrid Dows and a few aides and staffers came down from MacArthur’s plane. Before Marshall shook hands with them, he couldn’t help look at Ingrid for a moment, fascinated by her youth and beauty. Returning his mind to serious things, Marshall returned the salute of his three main visitors as a
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crowd of reporters and photographers kept in check by military policemen photographed the newcomers.
‘’Welcome to Washington, lady and gentlemen. I’m sorry about the rain but, unfortunately, I don’t command the clouds...yet.’
‘’That’s understandable, General.’ Replied a smiling MacArthur while shaking hands with Marshall. ‘’I myself can’t. May I present to you Lieutenant General George Kenney, Commander of the Fifth Air Force, and Colonel Ingrid Dows, Commander of the 99th Air Wing and my designated miracle worker.’
Marshall shook hands with both Kenney and Ingrid and was surprised by the strength of her grip but didn’t remark on it before looking back at MacArthur.
‘’You must undoubtedly be tired after over a day or air travel through eleven hourly zones, so the command conference was put back to tomorrow afternoon, so that you can rest a bit. Rooms have been booked for your group at the Hay-Adams Hotel, which sits across Lafayette Square from the White House. I have staff cars waiting for you outside the terminal.’
As he was starting to accompany MacArthur towards the exit of the terminal, Marshall recognized with a shock a woman in uniform that was part of the group of staffers accompanying MacArthur’s party. He then whispered to MacArthur, so that the reporters around them wouldn’t hear what he said.
‘’Uh, that Army Air Force major from the Fifinel as, isn’t that the famous actress Hedy Lamarr?’’
‘’It is effectively Hedy Lamarr and she came as Colonel Dows’ assistant for this conference. She is the electronic warfare officer of the 99th Air Wing and has already flown many combat missions aboard our flying command post aircraft, notably over Rabaul, Truk, Manila and Tokyo.’’
‘’Hedy Lamarr flew over Tokyo?’ exclaimed a bit too loudly Marshall, prompting Ingrid in putting a finger up to her lips.
‘’Careful, General: cameras have microphones here. Besides, many more of my aviatrixes have flown over Tokyo in the last few weeks. With most of the Japanese fighters based around Tokyo now destroyed on the ground and with our bombing campaign targeting the main aircraft and engine plants around Japan, the Japanese will soon be reduced to flying wood and canvas biplanes, so flying over Tokyo these days, especially at night, is not as risky as it was before, General.’
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‘’Stil . And how many missions over Tokyo or Japan have you flown to date, Colonel?’’
‘’Nineteen over Japan, including twelve of them over Tokyo, General.’ answered Ingrid, not sounding pretentious one bit. Marshall could only reflect then on the fact that the commander of his Eight Air Force in Europe, Lieutenant General Carl Spaatz, had not personally flown yet a single bombing mission over Germany. That didn’t mean Spaatz was a coward, but it suggested to him that maybe Spaatz was failing to connect with the reality of modern air war over Europe. Once outside the terminal, Marshall led his visitors to a line of waiting staff cars and military police jeeps which included a bus meant for the staffers and for the baggage of the newcomers. While Marshall went in a staff car with MacArthur, Kenney travelled with Ingrid in the next staff car. As the official convoy started moving, Ingrid looked dreamily at the lights of Washington, across the Potomac.
‘’I haven’t visited a real city for months now, George, and I am real y tempted to walk a bit around the hotel after supper.’
‘’You should real y get some sleep instead, Ingrid: we are liable to have to counter many skeptics at the command conference tomorrow afternoon and we will need to be fresh and alert.’
‘’I slept most of the time during our air travel, so I am not really tired, George.
Besides, Hedy had offered to show me a few good places around downtown Washington, including a restaurant specializing in German cuisine.’
‘’In German cuisine?’’
‘’Yes! Please remember that I was born and grew up in Berlin, while Hedy was born in Vienna and started her acting career in Austria. We are both dying for a good plate of Schnitzel Mit Spätzle. At the worst, we will go for a good delicatessen restaurant, as we were both Jewish.’’
‘’Okay!’ could only reply Kenney, amused.
After crossing the Potomac River on the Highway One bridge, the convoy rolled north up the 14th Street Northwest, then turned on H Street Northwest and rolled past part of the Lafayette Square before arriving at the Hay-Adams Hotel. Again, Marshall accompanied his guests to the reception desk of the hotel, where they received their room keys and collected their suitcases from the bus. Before leaving them, Marshall spoke again to MacArthur.
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‘’The command conference wil start at two in the afternoon tomorrow. Staff cars wil collect you and the hotel’s main entrance at one fifteen. I will now wish you a good night sleep, General.’
‘’Thank you, General Marshal .’
With a small army of valets carrying their suitcases, the group from the Pacific went up to its assigned suites and rooms, whose windows faced Lafayette Square and overlooked the White House and its lawns. While MacArthur and Kenney each got a suite, Ingrid ended up with Hedy Lamarr in a large room with two large beds and a bathroom. First unpacking her suitcase, Ingrid then went on her balcony and admired the view of Washington it gave, noticing at the same time that the rain had stopped.
‘’Hey, Hedy, the rain has stopped. What do you say to go search for that German restaurant?’’
‘’I’m game! We go as we are, in our dress uniforms?’’
‘’Yes, but less our jackets: the climate in Washington is quite warm and muggy right now.’’
‘’Deal!’
A few minutes later, the two women went down to the reception lobby and went out to the taxis waiting lane in front of the hotel. As soon as she got in one taxi, Hedy asked a question to the driver, a graying man with a bit of a paunch.
‘’Would you know by chance the ‘Vienna Hall’ restaurant, sir?’’
The man reacted by looking at her with some misgiving.
‘’Uh, the Vienna Hall restaurant closed in 1942, like the other German restaurants and hotels in Washington, miss. How long ago was your last time in Washington, if I may ask?’’
‘’The last time I came here was four years ago.’ answered the disappointed Hedy Lamarr. ‘’Why did they all close then?’
‘’Their owners were interned as enemy aliens, miss. Do you want to go instead to another type of restaurant, miss?’’
‘’What good European restaurants do you know in town, mister?’’ asked Ingrid.
‘’Well, if you are looking for fine cuisine, then I would counsel the ‘Restaurant de Bourgogne’, miss: it is a very good French restaurant, a bit pricy but with an extensive menu. It is in the Georgetown District.’
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Ingrid exchanged a look with Hedy, then nodded her head.
‘’Go for the ‘Restaurant de Bourgogne’, mister.’
‘’Right away, miss.’
Thankfully, the taxi driver was not the kind that kept trying to engage in conversation with his customers, so the trip to Georgetown was a quiet one, allowing Ingrid and Hedy to look around at the streets of Washington while rolling. The taxi finally stopped in front of a small restaurant with terrasse which looked nice enough to Ingrid.
Getting out of the taxi and paying the driver, leaving him a good tip, Ingrid and Hedy then walked to the restaurant’s entrance, where a mature couple was being received by the Maître D’. To their shock and irritation, the Maître D’ shook his head with a closed face as they approached him.
‘’I am sorry ladies but you can’t get in: women wearing pants are not allowed in our restaurant.’
Ingrid stared hard at him on hearing that.
‘’Are you serious? We are wearing U.S. Army dress uniforms, mister.’
The man replied to her in a rather smug attitude and voice.
‘’Miss, ‘dresses’ are not trousers. I am sorry but you can’t enter.’
Ingrid, who was getting quite hungry by now, then raised her voice by a notch.
‘’Get your manager, NOW!’
Instead of replying directly to her, the Maître D’ turned around and snapped his fingers to attract the attention of one of the waiters.
‘’Léon, get the owner!’
Then facing Ingrid again, the man made a gesture of the hand meant to tell her to step aside.
‘’Could you please step aside for a moment, miss? I have customers coming in.’’
‘’You can call me ‘Colonel’ instead of ‘miss’, mister.’ replied Ingrid, who still stepped to one side to let in two couples in suits and evening dresses. A couple of minutes later, a short, stocky man in his fifties came from the inside and briefly looked at Ingrid and Hedy before speaking to the Maître D’.
‘’What is the problem, Jacques?’’
‘’Those two young women want to come in but are wearing trousers, Monsieur.’
‘’Those trousers are part of our U.S. Army uniforms, mister, and we just arrived from the Pacific.’ cut in Ingrid, doing her best to contain her anger. The restaurant
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owner then eyed her rank insignias and her multiple rows of medal ribbons pinned to her tan shirt before doing the same with Hedy.
‘’You look very young for your rank, ‘Colonel’.’
‘’That’s because I am young, mister, but that didn’t stop me from becoming the American ‘Ace of aces’, with 108 confirmed air victories in the Pacific. Don’t you read the newspapers from time to time? I am also known as ‘Lady Hawk’ and this is my electronic warfare officer, Major Hedy Lamarr. So, will you still turn us around because of your sexist dress rule?’’
The names ‘Lady Hawk’ and ‘Hedy Lamarr’ finally made the owner realize who they were. Looking at the Maître D’, he then gave him a firm order.
‘’Find a good table for these two Army officers, Jacques.’
‘’Uh, yes, Monsieur.’
The owner then faced Ingrid and bowed to her.
‘’Please accept my excuses for this incident, Colonel. We wil get you a table right away.’
‘’Merci beaucoup, monsieur17.’ replied Ingrid in her fluent French, making the owner smile and bow his head in salute to her.
‘’You are welcome, Colonel.’
The owner then returned to his office next to the kitchen, leaving the Maître D’ to guide Ingrid and Hedy to a free table next to the front windows, where he put two menus and a wine card on the table before returning to his position next to the front entrance. Ingrid had a malicious smile while opening the wine card.
‘’Technically, I am stil too young legally to drink alcohol in the United States, something which I find downright ridiculous, and I don’t want to create more disturbance by ordering wine for myself. I will thus let you order the wine, Hedy. If someone asks why I am not drinking, just say that I am a teatotaler.’
Hedy, who was definitely a sharp cookie, threw a questioning look at Ingrid.
‘’And how old are you, Ingrid...officially?’
Ingrid bent forward over their table and used her right hand to hide the movements of her lips.
‘’Officially, I wil be twenty years-old in September.’
‘’And...unofficially?’
17 Merci beaucoup, monsieur: Thank you very much, sir.
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‘’Unofficially, you can call me a ‘jail-bait’, Hedy. Now, let’s look at the menu: I am real y famished.’’
Her mind in turmoil at the confidence Ingrid had just made to her, Hedy opened the menu and looked for dishes which would remind her of her native Vienna. While she didn’t see any German or Austrian recipes, she did find an item that she had often eaten in Vienna and liked.
‘’I wil go with the Beef Bourguignon with butter noodles.’’
‘’And I will go for the Coq au Vin. I don’t think that I could get arrested for that.’
Hedy chuckled at that, then consulted the wine card. She quickly selected a bottle of fine red Bourgogne and announced her choice to Ingrid before asking a question with a smirk.
‘’And what will the teatotaler drink with her Coq au Vin?’
‘’Mineral water: it is stil an expensive drink, being mostly an import item, and it will look classier that a simple glass of milk. The one thing I will drink at the end is a cup of espresso coffee. I am so tired of the brown water the Army calls ‘coffee’.’
‘’I can sympathize with you on that. Let’s order now.’
Calling a waiter to their table, Ingrid and Hedy placed their orders, both using their fluent French to do so.
As they waited to be served, Ingrid discretely watched if the other dinners around their table were looking at her or appeared to recognize her, or were simply curious about her medal ribbons and those of Hedy. With her exploits in the skies of the Pacific, she had been featured more than once on the front pages of American newspapers.
While she herself seemed to be ignored, Ingrid did notice that a couple of men dressed in expensive suits kept glancing at Hedy, as if they were wondering if she was the one they thought they recognized. The arrival of the wine waiter at their table, with their bottle of red Bourgogne and bottle of mineral water, thankfully seemed to make the two men forget about Hedy...or make them more discreet about the way they looked at her.
Their food then arrived after another twelve minutes and Ingrid dived with gusto in her Coq au Vin, while Hedy closed her eyes with delight at her first bite of Beef Bourguignon.
‘’God! I real y missed good cuisine. Any way you could tell your cooks to serve Beef Bourguignon from time to time, Ingrid?’
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‘’Are you kidding? My female cooks are good but what could you realistically do with Spam18, or worse, Australian Bully beef19?’’
Hedy shivered at the mention of ‘Bully beef’.
‘’Please, don’t mention that slop, Ingrid: you could ruin my appetite.’
‘’Sorry about that, Hedy.’
By the time that they finished their supper and left the restaurant to hail a taxi and return to their hotel, the fatigue from their long air travel and from the change in time zones started to weigh on both Ingrid and Hedy, with the latter also feeling the effect of the wine she had drank. When they arrived in their room at the Hay-Adams, they barely managed to take a quick shower before getting in their bed, where they fell asleep in seconds.
13:49 (Washington Time)
Tuesday, May 11, 1943 ‘C’
Cabinet Room, West Wing of the White House
Washington, D.C.
Ingrid’s group, led by General Douglas MacArthur and Lieutenant General George Kenney, arrived a few minutes in advance for the strategic command conference called by President Roosevelt. A presidential staffer then led them to the Cabinet Room, where the President normally met with his cabinet for in-depth discussions. There, they found General Marshall, Admiral Nimitz and Lieutenant General Arnold already milling around the room while sipping on cups of coffee. There was an exchange of handshakes then, with a steward next serving coffee to the new arrivals. The group from England, General Dwight Eisenhower, Lieutenant General Carl Spaatz and Major General Jimmy Doolittle, arrived a couple of minutes later, along with a number of their 18 Spam: type of tinned meat that was often found in American military rations in WW2.
19 Bully beef: Widely used nickname for one of the most despised military rations served in the Pacific Theater during WW2. ‘Bully beef’ is a deformation of ‘boiled beef’, which was essential y what it was. The variety produced in Australia then often was of very low quality and was composed of an equal amount of melted fat and actual meat, with a generous amount of salt mixed in.
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staff officers. More handshakes followed, with Doolittle grinning to Ingrid as he shook her hand.
‘’So, you are the young woman who bombed Tokyo and killed all those Japanese generals and admirals? That was a hel of an outstanding job, Colonel Dows.’
‘’Thank you, General. I must say however that me and my aviatrixes were greatly helped by the superlative performances of our Hughes XA-11s.’
Doolittle’s eyes glinted at the mention of the XA-11.
‘’Very little was said publicly about the XA-11. Could you tell me about it?’’
‘’With pleasure, General.’
Ingrid was still describing the XA-11 to Doolittle when President Roosevelt entered the Cabinet Room, sitting on his wheelchair pushed by a steward. All the officers immediately came to attention, prompting Roosevelt into gesturing to them.
‘’At ease, ladies and gentlemen. Please take your seats: we have some heavy decisions to make about this war.’
With Roosevelt sitting at the head of the conference table and with the junior staffers sitting on chairs lined along the walls, Ingrid and the generals sat around the table, the Pacific Theater participants sitting on one side and the European Theater sitting opposite them, while Marshall and Arnold sat nearest to the President. Roosevelt first looked around the table at the conference participants before starting to speak.
‘’Welcome to this command conference, ladies and gentlemen. I called this conference mostly because of the lightning-fast advance and successes of General MacArthur’s forces in the Pacific, which in my mind would justify a reassessment of our national priorities in this war. His landing in the Philippines and the bombings in Japan in particular have profoundly changed the situation in the Pacific and we now must consider how to reinforce that success and follow on with a coherent strategy.’
Both Eisenhower and Spaatz frowned on hearing that, now fearing that the President was going to switch the national war efforts from Europe to the Pacific. Roosevelt then continued after a short pause.
‘’I would now like to let General MacArthur describe briefly the main events which occurred in his theater of operations during the last seven months. General...’
‘’Thank you, Mister President.’ said MacArthur while getting up from his chair.
He then went to a large map board set on a tripod and grabbing a pointer, started designating locations on the map of the South and Central Pacific displayed on it.
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‘’Gentlemen, ladies, until last September, my command and that of the Navy’s South Pacific Theater were in a rather precarious situation. Our marines were having a hard time on Guadalcanal; our fleet suffered a number of defeats and painful losses around the Solomon Islands and Japanese troops were advancing along the Kokoda Trail towards Port Moresby. I was then short of troops and planes, while the Navy had lost all but one of its aircraft carriers, along with a number of cruisers and destroyers.
Then, I received a big gift from General Arnold: the 99th Composite Air Group of then Major Dows, equipped with the latest models of fighters, bombers and transport aircraft, plus what has since proved two winners in the Pacific: helicopters and EC-142E
electronic flying command post aircraft. Along with the 99th Composite Air Group came another big gift: its commander, then Major Ingrid Dows. She started as the civilian wife of a Marine Corps officer freshly posted to Manila in 1941, an officer who came from London with a very precious package: a copy of parts of the Top-Secret Hourglass Files concerning this war in the Pacific. Those files then allowed me to adjust my defensive strategy for the Philippines, with great success. Ingrid Dows immediately proved her worth by adding additional information to these files, using personal discussions on the war she had with her late adoptive mother, Nancy Laplante. I thus hired her as a female auxiliary working in my Manila headquarters. Later on, she convinced me to push President Quezon to hire her as a fighter pilot for his own small air force. From then on, she quickly proved to be a top ace. Even more important to me and my command, she used new air tactics and pushed their use against the Japanese aircraft attacking the Philippines nearly daily. I mention this because her proposed new tactics and various counsels proved a godsent for my command, which was then able to resist much longer to the Japanese than it did in the original history as known to Nancy Laplante. I thus adopted fully those tactics and counsels and never regretted doing so since then. Now, to return to the situation in September of 1942. When the 99th C.A.G. arrived in the South Pacific, it was first rejected by Vice Admiral Ghormley, who was in command of the South Pacific Theater of Operations. That stupid mistake by Ghormley then turned into a gift to me, as I was able to integrate the 99th C.A.G. to my own command. I then sent it to Port Moresby, where a number of newly-built airfields were sitting mostly empty, due to the lean resources assigned at the time to the Pacific. Major Dows then started accomplishing miracles with her air group, first bombing the big Japanese base in Rabaul, causing huge losses in aircraft and ships to the Japanese, then by supporting my troops fighting along the Kokoda Trail with her helicopters. She also sent of her own
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accord a helicopter detachment to help our marines in Guadalcanal and also used her squardron of C-142 heavy cargo aircraft to fly in supplies for our marines in Henderson Field. That, along with the neutralization of Rabaul as a Japanese airbase, relieved much of the pressure for our marines in Guadalcanal, which constituted in my opinion a great example of interservice cooperation on the battlefield. Then, in October, a powerful Japanese force of aircraft carriers, battleships and cruisers was spotted approaching the Torres Strait, evidently bent on hitting Port Moresby. Major Dows, using her planes, helicopters and, in particular, her EC-142Es flying command post aircraft, struck that Japanese fleet hard, sinking two carriers, four battleships and five heavy cruisers, plus a number of destroyers. That Japanese fleet, or rather what was left of it, was then forced to withdraw back to Dutch East Indies water, losing more ships on the way after having lost its commander, Admiral Yamamoto, who sank with his flagship, the battleship YAMATO. That battle, which has not been sufficiently studied by our national military staffs in my opinion, turned out to be a crucial turning point in the Pacific. With the bulk of the Japanese fleet’s heavy units sunk, the situation around the Southwest Pacific improved dramatically, notably by preventing more Japanese resupply by sea of their troops on Guadalcanal. That victory then prompted me to ask General Arnold to send both replacements and reinforcements to the 99th C.A.G., which had suffered some significant losses during its first two months on the frontlines. Again, General Arnold obliged and sent enough new planes and aviatrixes to enlarge the 99th into a full-size air wing. He also sent a new type of airplane to be tested in combat, the Fairchild AC-142G heavy gunship, armed with a new weapon for us: Fuel Air Explosives bombs, or F.A.E. in short. Those heavy gunships and their five-ton F.A.E. bombs then hammered the Japanese bases near Port Moresby, destroying in turn the Japanese airfields in Lae, Wewak and Rabaul before flattening the Japanese Army camp in Buna, which was then immediately assaulted by air, using helicopters transporting a reinforced battalion of Australian infantry supported by four light tanks. Next, in November, after obtaining the support of Vice Admiral Halsey, who had just replaced Vice Admiral Ghormley in Noumea, the planes and helicopters of now Colonel Dows went to attack the big Japanese base in Truk Atoll, with her helicopters carried on the escort carrier SANGAMON. That attack was a huge success and basically convinced the Japanese to stop using it as a waypoint in the Central Pacific. In the command meeting I held in Port Moresby after that strike on Truk, me and Vice Admiral Halsey decided that our strategy would from now on be to isolate and jump over the various Japanese garrisons in my
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command sector and in the Solomon Islands, in order to prepare for our next big objective: the Philippines. In March of this year, I received yet another gift from General Arnold: ten pre-series Hughes XA-11s in fast bomber, photo-reconnaissance and night fighter variants. Only three weeks after receiving those XA-11s, time to train her crews on them with the help of a training team sent by Hughes, Colonel Dows flew from Port Moresby to Tokyo with five XA-11s and utterly destroyed the Japanese Army and Navy headquarters there, along with the Japanese Navy Academy, and caused serious damage to the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, near Tokyo, and this while suffering zero losses herself. However, barely two days after that bombing, we learned that the Japanese troops in the Philippines had started to take revenge for this by slaughtering our men prisoners of the Japanese and the Filipino civilians living in Manila. That same day, I gathered my main subordinates to find how we could possibly help our people in the Philippines and stop that slaughter. Again, Colonel Dows came up within minutes with an audacious plan, which I approved. I then asked Vice Admiral Halsey for his support by lending me four escort carriers which would carry the 99th Air Wing’s helicopters to within range of the Philippines. Colonel Dows also immediately implemented a program of airstrikes to destroy what remained of Japanese aircraft in the Philippines and to provide air support for our troops, which then landed directly on airfields next to Manila, after those airfields were flattened by FAE bombs dropped by her heavy gunships. Only ten days later, I was able to fly to Manila with President Quezon, with Manila cleansed of the Japanese and with our people held there rescued and then evacuated to safety.’
MacArthur then pause for a short moment and looked straight at the leaders from the European Theater.
‘’Some of you may now wonder why I gave this long monologue and apparent praise for one of my officers, gentlemen, thus let me expose the points I want to push here at this command conference. First, this was truly meant to praise the one person who merited the most in my sector during the last few months: Colonel Ingrid Dows.
Second, I also want to emphasize why she was so successful with her air unit. The reasons for her successes and those of my command are this: flexibility of thinking; the capacity to quickly devise new tactics and strategies adapted to the situation of the moment and to then apply them; the maximum use of our advantage over the Japanese in advanced military technologies and, finally, the willingness to depart from official military doctrine when needed. Gentlemen, we are now on the verge of defeating the Japanese in the Pacific, and this in only seven months, thanks to allowing and using
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those new ideas and tactics. I now submit that, in view of our successes in the Pacific and of the prolonged morass our forces in Europe have been experiencing, that our nation should now reinforce success rather than continue supporting a costly stalemate.’’
From the visible reactions she saw on the faces of the generals posted in Europe and North Africa, Ingrid sensed that their reactions would be fierce. In that she was not mistaken, with General Spaatz throwing a poisoned look to MacArthur.
‘’How can you justify calling our bombing campaign in Europe a costly stalemate, General MacArthur? My bombers have been pounding the German military industries and their bases and airfields in occupied Europe, causing an appreciable diminution of German war production. Further, we are facing in Europe an adversary of a much higher caliber than the Japanese.’
Ingrid stiffened with anger in her chair and immediately looked at MacArthur.
‘’Sir, permission to refute those points!’
‘’Fire away, Ingrid.’’ answered MacArthur, smiling, knowing that Ingrid always said what was on her mind. In that, he was not disappointed, with Ingrid locking eyes with Spaatz.
‘’General Spaatz, let me correct you on the points you just said. First, about the efficiency and results of your bombings in Europe, let me say that your claims are mostly wishful thinking. In reality, most of your bombs are killing cows and turning over fields around Europe, when they are not hitting cities rather than factories, needlessly killing non-combatant civilians. If you would objectively examine your bomb run pictures, you would see little more than open fields, forests and residential areas receiving your bombs. As for your claims of significantly hurting German war production, I again call
‘bunk’ on you. In truth, German war production has been steadily increasing despite of your bombings. Those bombings have in turn been very costly for your bomber units, which still insist thanks to your directives in attacking in large, slow formations against concentrated German anti-aircraft and fighter opposition. Their lack of bombing precision is also partly due to your order that only the lead bomber uses its Norden bombsight, with the rest of the formation then bombing ‘on command’ when they see their leader dropping its bombs. Your bomber units have been suffering an average of five to ten or more percent losses PER MISSION over Europe and your bomber crews have virtually no chance of surviving the required 25 missions before they could go enjoy a break in the United States. I know that because I was able to talk with many bomber crews reassigned from England to Port Moresby. As for your assertion that we faced in
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the Pacific an inferior enemy compared to the Germans, I call that simple racism, General. The Japanese may not be as advanced technologically as the Germans are but I know no German pilot who would willingly commit suicide by crashing on an enemy ship or ramming an enemy aircraft. Your claim of the Japanese being an inferior enemy is nothing less than a gross insult to the courage of our sailors, marines and aviators who have been fighting and dying in the Pacific.’
As a fiery Ingrid continued on, MacArthur saw Admiral Nimitz nodding his head in approval at Ingrid’s last sentence while throwing a hard look at Spaatz.
‘’Now, tell me, General Spaatz: why are you stil forcing your bomber crews to follow the obsolete strategic and tactical elucubrations of an Italian air force general of the 1920s who served when fighters and bombers were still made of wood, canvas and string? Why are you still sending your bombers to their objectives without providing them a fighter escort all the way? I can tell you from personal experience over the Philippines that unescorted bombers will NOT get through when faced with a competent fighter opposition. I know that because I personally shot down dozens of such Japanese bombers. Maybe you should personally lead your attacking bomber groups and see by yourself the reality of their predicaments. I say, change your bombing tactics before our bomber units are completely decimated by the Germans.’
Spaatz, enraged, shot up from his chair and laid both fists on the table while staring hard at Ingrid.
‘’NOW LISTEN, YOU YOUNG PRESUMPTUOUS BITCH!...’
‘’GENERAL SPAATZ, SIT DOWN! NOW!’ shouted Roosevelt, interrupting the boss of the European Theater American bomber forces. Spaatz reluctantly obeyed him and sat down, still fuming. Roosevelt then looked at Lieutenant General Henry Arnold, who appeared to be in his small shoes.
‘’General Arnold, do you have informations and facts which would refute what Colonel Dows said about our bombing campaign in Europe?’’
Arnold, who had been a long, firm proponent of the present American bomber strategy and tactics but who had started gradually to doubt it when faced with the successful tactics used by Ingrid, took long seconds to answer, something that Roosevelt noted.
‘’Mister President, the results of our bombing operations in and around Europe are presently being reassessed by my headquarters, along with the air actions recently flown in the Pacific.’
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‘Waffle, waffle, waffle!’ thought to herself Ingrid, while Roosevelt was clearly not convinced.
‘’General, I would like to review personally some of those bomb runs film footage from our raids in Europe, along with factual statistics about their results. Colonel Dows, I would like you to stay here after this meeting, along with General Arnold.’’
‘’I am at your service, Mister President.’
‘’Excellent!’ said the President before he looked hard at Spaatz, Eisenhower and Doolittle.
‘’Gentlemen, the American public is presently cheering our recent successes in the Pacific, while I am getting more and more poignant calls and letters from the families of our aviators killed over Europe. I now believe that you could benefit from studying the methods and tactics used by Colonel Dows to such good effect in the Pacific.’
As Spaatz paled at that remonstrance from the President, Roosevelt then delivered a hammer blow.
‘’Up to now I have been approving and supporting every request from assistance from Prime Minister Churchill and thus gave top priority to the European Theater, to the detriment of the Pacific Theater. However, this will change as of today. The American people demands it and I now demand it, gentlemen. General Marshall, General Arnold, Admiral Nimitz, I want you to reinforce as quickly as possible our ground, air and naval units in the Pacific, using if need be units previously due to move to the European Theater. I want in particular to see sufficient reinforcements, equipment and supplies sent to our units in the Philippines, in order to allow us to fully cleanse the Philippines from the Japanese troops still there.’’
‘’But, what about the British, Mister President?’’ objected Eisenhower. ‘’Without our full support, they are liable to suffer greatly under German air and missile attacks.’
Roosevelt gave a sober look at his top commander in Europe.
‘’What about our people just freed from captivity in the Philippines? What about the brave Filipino people, who had confidence in our protection against the Japanese?
When we were still desperately defending the Philippines from invasion in order to stall the Japanese offensive in the rest of the Pacific and in Southeast Asia, the British didn’t raise a finger to help us in or around the Philippines. Instead, Prime Minister Churchill concentrated solely on reinforcing the territories he had not yet lost in Asia and also drastically cut the supply of arms and equipment he had been sending to Australia, forcing us to compensate for the slack he created. Enough is enough! I will call him
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tonight to tell him that our efforts in Europe will now be put on pause until we will have decisively defeated Japan and will have fully retaken control of the Philippines. As General MacArthur said earlier, let’s stop flogging a dead horse. I wil want to see a new air strategy written and adopted in Europe within a month, gentlemen. As for General MacArthur, may I assume that you already have a plan about how you intend to continue your campaign in the Southwest Pacific and the Philippines?’’
‘’I have, Mister President: Colonel Dows already gave me a few good ideas about it.’
Roosevelt stared for a moment at young Ingrid before looking at Henry Arnold.
‘’General Arnold, correct me if I am wrong: our air wing commanders normally wear the rank of brigadier general, right?’’
Carl Spaatz turned purple on hearing that, while Ingrid stiffened, not having expected this. As for MacArthur and Kenney, they simply smiled to themselves as Arnold answered Roosevelt.
‘’My air wing commanders are effectively brigadier generals, Mister President.’
‘’Then, see that Colonel Dows’ status be upgraded to that of temporary brigadier general rank, with her permanent rank raised to full colonel. General MacArthur, be assured that you from now on will get what you need to continue your campaign in the Pacific.’
‘’Thank you, Mister President!’ replied a most happy MacArthur.
17:45 (Washington Time)
Hay-Adams Hotel, Washington D.C.
Ingrid closed the door of her room, then leaned her back against it while blowing air out as she looked with big eyes at Hedy Lamarr.
‘’My God! I never imagined that things would happen this way, Hedy.’
‘’Well, it seems that, contrary to my own experience, opening your big mouth can be profitable, after all. Brigadier general rank insignias, plus a second Distinguished Service Medal, a Legion of Merit medal and a new Distinguished Flying Cross, all for mouthing off at a general: quite an accomplishment, I would say. On the other hand, General Arnold was nice in pinning a DFC on me at the same time.’’
‘’Damn, how could I properly celebrate such a day?’’
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‘’How about going to try the Beef Bourguignon at the Restaurant de Bourgogne, Ingrid?’
‘’After the President publicly pinned my new rank insignias in front of dozens of reporters? I’m going to get publicly mugged if I show up there tonight.’
‘’Maybe but it would also be a fine occasion to smear that Maître D’ with a pie in his face.’ added Hedy in a sneaky tone, making Ingrid grin.
‘’Hell, let’s go then! We should call in advance in order to reserve a table.’’
‘’Then, check first with General MacArthur and with General Kenney, to see if they would like to go dine with us.’
‘’Again, a great idea, Hedy.’
Ingrid was on the telephone, speaking with Douglas MacArthur, when someone knocked on the door of their room.
‘’Damn! I hope that this is not some pesky reporter.’ said Hedy before looking through the peephole of the door. What she was was a hotel valet carrying a big box.
When she opened the door, the valet smiled and bowed his head to her while presenting the box he was carrying.
‘’Gift package for Miss Dows!’
Surprised at first, Hedy then accepted the box and was about to tip the valet when she realized that she had no money on her. She then tipped the surprised but delighted valet with a kiss on his lips.
‘’And a big thank you from Hedy Lamarr, mister.’
‘’Why, thank you very much, Miss Lamarr.’ replied the valet before walking away.
Closing and locking the door, Hedy then carried the big box, which had to weigh a good fifteen kilos, to her bed, on which she put down the box before examining it. It didn’t bear any post stamps or return address, just Ingrid’s name and hotel room number.
Now deeply suspicious, Hedy stared at it, unwilling to open it. Ingrid, who had just finished her calls to MacArthur and Kenney, approached while looking at the big parcel.
‘’Uh, what’s that, Hedy?’’
‘’A hotel valet just brought it. He said that it was a gift package but I am not sure if it would be prudent to open it: you do have a few enemies after all, Ingrid.’
‘’Too true!’ said Ingrid just before a female voice which she knew very well resonated inside her head while apparently not being heard by Hedy.
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‘Do not worry and open it, my dear daughter: it is a gift from me. Keep on doing your things in the air: you are doing great.’
To Hedy’s surprise and sudden fear, Ingrid then started ripping the paper wrapping the parcel, uncovering a simple cardboard box. She then opened the box itself and looked inside it: it contained what looked like a hard-shell pilot’s helmet, an aviator’s inflatable vest, a khaki flight suit, a pair of flying gloves and what Ingrid recognized as a type of advanced G-suit Nancy had once shown her a photograph of, plus an envelope. Taking first the envelope and opening it, she extracted and opened a gift wish card, reading it aloud with growing emotion.
‘’To my beloved Ingrid, from a proud mother. Congratulation for your latest promotion and for your successes in this war...signed: Nancy.’
‘’Nancy? As Nancy Laplante, your dead adoptive mother?’’ said a stunned Hedy, making Ingrid nod her head as a tear rolled down her left cheek.
‘’One Nancy Laplante. I wil explain that to you later. Now, let’s examine the content of this parcel.’
Taking out the items she found inside the box, she lined them up on the bed and examined them with growing glee as Hedy also looked at them with stupor.
‘’A 21st Century jet pilot’s outfit! I love it!’
‘’A 21st Century outfit? How could this be possible?’
In response, Ingrid gave a solemn look at Hedy.
‘’Nancy was a time traveler, remember? Also, she told me that she suspected that her time travel trip had created a parallel universe to that she came from. Let me put this outfit on: I am burning to look at myself in the mirror while wearing it.’
Ingrid quickly put on the flight suit, the G-suit, the inflatable vest, which also was a bullet-resistant vest, the flight gloves and, final y, the pilot’s helmet, before smiling to Hedy.
‘’So, how do I look now, Hedy?’’
‘’Like a brand-new bitch, Ingrid.’’ was her response.
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CHAPTER 25 – A BRAND NEW BITCH
13:26 (Manila Time)
Friday, June 25, 1943 ‘C’
Main tarmac, Nichols Field, Manila suburbs
Island of Luzon, Philippines
When Ingrid came down from the cockpit of
the F-11N night fighter she had piloted during her wing’s latest bombing mission over Japan, it was to find Lieutenant General George Kenney waiting for her on the edge of the tarmac, next to a waiting jeep. Kenney smiled while shaking his head as he eyed the approaching Ingrid, clad in her 21st Century pilot’s outfit which had made all the other aviators of her wing jealous of her. Kenney himself was jealous of her for the same reason and wished such flight suits and helmets could be produced in sufficient quantities to equip all his aviators. However, he realized that there were much higher priority items that needed to be procure than fancy helmets and flight suits. The one item which had merited special attention was her G-suit, an advanced design that didn’t need to be connected to a pressured air pump or even to an electrical connection in order to work, since it functioned by using simple liquid-filled bags judiciously distributed along the legs and torso of the wearer’s G-suit, which looked like a pair of trousers combined to a wide belt.
Flight testing by Ingrid had shown that this G-suit increased the resistance to G forces of the pilot wearing it by at least three Gs, thus giving a very appreciable advantage in combat to a pilot engaged into an energetic dogfight. In view of those results, Colonel Paul Gunn, a genius when it came to thinker with aircraft and their equipment, had been put in charge by Kenney of a special project team tasked with replicating that G-suit, using only commonly available materials and simple tools.
‘’So, Ingrid, how did that mission go?’
‘’Perfectly, sir. We suffered no losses, while the Nakajima aircraft engine plant is now nearly completely destroyed. Our supporting EC-142E detected no Japanese radar emissions during our raid, showing that the Japanese have been unable to replace the radar stations we destroyed during the previous weeks. With the low level of training
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and experience of most of their remaining pilots and with their lack of radars, the Japanese are mostly unable to oppose us at night. Give us another few weeks and Japanese airpower will be a thing of the past, opening Japan’s skies wide to even daylight bombing raids. In another few months, Japan will be reduced to an impotent adversary with no planes, no major warships, no oil and no mineral resources left to it.
Then, our Navy will be able to blockade at will the Japanese islands and starve the Japanese into submission, all at little human cost to us. What about our forces in England and Norway? Has the Eight Air Force finally adopted the new tactics President Roosevelt pushed on our ‘Bomber Mafia’20?’’
‘’You mean the new tactics you pushed for via the President? Yes, it seems so, Ingrid. However, the Eight Air Force is rather slow in adapting to those tactics. The two biggest problems right now for our bomber force in Europe are the generally low level of training and experience of our aircrews, due to its past horrible loss rates, and the design of its actual heavy bombers. The B-17 and B-24 were designed according to the mission criteria of the Bomber Mafia of the 1930s and are thus too slow, too short-ranged and have too small a bombload capacity. In comparison, your A-11s are years ahead in terms of design and capabilities, as our bombing campaign against Japan is proving. What I am afraid now is that most of the production run of A-11s could be diverted to Europe, instead of continuing to replace the B-25s and RP-38s of your air wing.’
Ingrid sighed in response; a bit frustrated by this situation. On one hand, she strongly wanted to reequip her air wing with the Hughes A-11 in fast bomber, photo-reconnaissance and night fighter variants, something that would make her air unit so much more potent than it already was. On the other hand, she also wanted her comrade aviators in Europe to get new planes which would help them survive in their fight against the Germans.
‘’Well, we real y can only take care of what we are facing in the Pacific, sir. We simply can’t win the war in both the Pacific and Europe just because a bunch of old fools took too long to look reality in the face.’
20 Bomber Mafia: Term used in WW2 to describe the old-fashioned Army Air Corps officers who were the proponents of unescorted mass heavy bomber attacks over enemy territory and who said that ‘the bombers wil always get through’. Most U.S. Army Air Corps senior officers belonged to that ‘Bomber Mafia’ at the start of WW2.
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‘’Well, those old fools are mostly on the way out, Ingrid. While General Spaatz resigned and left the service after that May command conference in Washington, I have just been informed that General Arnold is also resigning after being severely criticized by the President. General Marshall is now looking for a replacement for Arnold and I just got an offer from him to go to Washington and replace Arnold at the head of the Army Air Force.’
Ingrid was immediately alarmed by that and she stared directly into Kenney’s eyes while speaking in a firm tone of voice.
‘’Don’t take that offer, sir! You are too important here in the Pacific and there is still so much left to do before Japan could be truly defeated. One big reason for my successes and that of my air wing was and still is your support for my new air tactics and operational plans. If you go to Washington, then we don’t know what kind of old schmuck would replace you at the head of the Fifth Air Force.’
‘’What if that ‘old schmuck’ is you, Ingrid?’ replied Kenney. While he somehow had hoped that Ingrid would say ‘yes’ to that, she responded the way he had expected of her.
‘’Me? No way, sir! I have no wish to end up behind a desk, pushing paper and playing politics. I belong in the air, with my aviatrixes.’
Kenney nodded his head at those words, his expression sober.
‘’I know, Ingrid, and I wish that more people around Washington would better appreciate the full value of your service. If it can reassure you, I already sent a message to General Marshall, telling him that I am not interested to move to Washington.
Hopefully, he won’t order me to take Arnold’s place.’’
‘’I hope so too, sir.’ said Ingrid, feeling a bit reassured now.
The growing noise of approaching aircraft engines then made her and Kenney look up at the eastern sky of Wards Airfield. They then saw a group of fifteen A-11Bs fast bombers, twelve F-11Ns night fighters and four A-11R photo-reconnaissance aircraft, plus four C-142A heavy transport aircraft and four C-11T fast liaison aircraft, approaching at low altitude and preparing to land. Ingrid grinned with joy at that sight.
‘’Here comes the girls of the Demon Girls and of the Silver Foxes, back from their familiarization training on A-11s in California, at the commands of their new planes. With them, I will now have two of my three medium bomber squadrons equipped with the A-11B, while my photo-reconnaissance unit will now be a mixed night fighter and
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reconnaissance unit equipped with A-11Rs and F-11Ns. This will be worth celebrating at the mess tonight, sir.’
‘’That indeed calls for celebration, Ingrid.’ said approvingly George Kenney, also smiling. ‘’Decidedly, things are starting to fall into place here.’
‘’Yes! The Japanese better brace for even more trouble now.’
Ten days later, the U.S. Army and Navy construction units working on rebuilding the facilities at Clark Field, northwest of Manila, declared the airfield safe and ready for operational use. That allowed Ingrid to move her air wing to Clark field, which had more extensive runways and taxiways than Nichols Field and Nielson Field. That in turn allowed General Kenney to move most of his other squadrons and air groups still in Port Moresby to take the place of the Fifinellas in Nichols Field and Nielson Field, while Australian Air Force squadrons occupied the now nearly empty airfields in Papua New Guinea. This consolidation of the Fifth Air Force’s air units did a lot to improve its overall efficiency and further helped in the long, arduous fight to eliminate or neutralize what was left of the Japanese Army units still in the Philippines. Once installed at Clark Field and with the male squadrons of the Fifth Air Force taking care of dealing with the Japanese Army remnants in the archipelago and of interdicting any Japanese ship movement in the region, Ingrid was now free to fully exercise her considerable airpower directly against Japan itself.
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CHAPTER 26 – MILITARY COUP
Emperor Hirohito and his family in 1936.
18:31 (Tokyo Time)
Wednesday, August 4, 1943 ‘C’
Emperor’s private apartments, Imperial Palace
Tokyo, Japan
‘’Tell me the truth, my husband: are we losing this war?’’
Hirohito paused for a moment at that whispered question from his wife, Princess Nagako, who was having a family supper with him and their six youngest children, the youngest one being Princess Takako, now four years-old. He finally decided to answer her, but also in a whisper, in order that his children would not hear him.
‘’Yes! It is only a question of time before our military becomes mostly impotent, except maybe in China. The new American planes, ships and weapons are proving superior to what we can produce and we simply can’t compete with the industrial might of the United States.’’
‘’Then, what are we to do, my husband? Will we continue this war until its ultimate end?’
Hirohito perfectly understood what his wife meant by ‘until its ultimate end’: it was a softer way to say ‘until Japan is defeated and destroyed’.
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‘’I stil don’t know, Nagako. If we don’t surrender soon, then the Americans will continue bombing and blockading us until our people will starve in the dark and the cold.
However, surrendering would mean lasting dishonor and shame for Japan. I am not sure which one of the two is the worse. I have asked Lord Kido, the Keeper of the Seal, to quietly seek the advice of our still living elders on this question. With most of our generals and admirals now dead, I can’t count anymore on the counsels of my regular Imperial General Staff.’
‘’Why don’t we simply bring our army back from China, so that we could properly defend Japan? You said that our army there is mostly intact.’
‘’It is, for the moment, Nagako. However, it has few aircraft and even fewer ships and the Americans will undoubtedly target at once the ships used to carry our troops back from China. Those American devils have simply become too good at sinking any of our ships that they can find.’
‘’And the British? Our people talk a lot about the Americans but I heard next to nothing about the British lately.’
Hirohito snickered at that question: his wife was right about the British having shown little activity in the last few months of the war around the Pacific: they were too busy fighting the Germans in Europe to spare much of their military power in Asia and the Pacific.
They had simply concentrated on blocking the Japanese advance towards India, the so-called jewel of the British imperial crown.
He was about to reply to Nagako about the British when a dense exchange of shots was heard, coming from inside the walled imperial grounds. Alarmed, Hirohito got up and gave an urgent order to his wife.
‘’Quick, Nagako, bring the children back to their rooms and stay there with them.
I am going to see what is happening.’
Nagako knew better than to dispute that order and urged her children to quickly follow her. Hirohito was still walking towards the entrance door of their dining room when it was violently pushed open by a young imperial guards officer whose left arm bled from a bullet wound.
‘’YOUR MAJESTY, MUTINEERS ARE ATTACKING THE PALACE. THEY
MANAGED TO ENTER THE IMPERIAL GROUNDS AND ARE NOW LOOKING FOR
YOU TO KILL YOU.’
‘’WHAT? WHO ARE THEY?’’
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‘’YOUNG ARMY CADETS, YOUR MAJESTY. MY MEN ARE PRESENTLY
OPPOSING THEM BUT THEY HEAVILY NUMBER US. YOU MUST FLEE THE
PALACE AT ONCE WITH THE IMPERIAL FAM...’
A rifle shot then rang from close by, inside the hallway. The young officer fell dead at Hirohito’s feet, to the utter shock of Hirohito. Knowing that the lives of his wife and children were now at grave risk, Hirohito bent down and grabbed the Katana saber worn by the dead guards officer, then stepped in the hallway while brandishing the saber with both hands, facing in the direction the shot came from. Maybe those mutineers would think twice before shooting at their own emperor? What he saw was at least a dozen armed young army cadet officers coming at him at a near run. The cadets stopped abruptly on seeing Hirohito, giving to the latter hope that they could still turn back.
‘’HALT! LEAVE MY PALACE AT ONCE OR SUFFER UNENDING DISHONOR.’
The captain leading the cadets threw a hateful look at him in response.
‘’YOU ARE THE ONE WHO IS BRINGING DISHONOR TO JAPAN, BY
CONTEMPLATING SURRENDERING OUR COUNTRY TO THE ENEMY. FIRE!’
Before Hirohito could react to that, seven of the cadets fired a rifle volley, killing the Emperor at once. As Hirohito slumped to the floor, dead, the captain gave another order to his cadets.
‘’FIND THE IMPERIAL FAMILY AND KILL THEM TO THE LAST! THIS
TRAITOR SHALL NOT SEE A SON SUCCEED HIM ON THE IMPERIAL THRONE.’
09:22 (Manila Time)
Friday, August 6, 1943 ‘C’
Fifth Air Force headquarters, Clark Field
Island of Luzon, Philippines
Lieutenant General George Kenney didn’t like the expression on Ingrid’s face when she walked in at a hurried pace inside his operations and planning room. Ingrid then handed him a single paper page.
‘’Sir, this is a translated transcript of a Japanese public radio broadcast that is now being emitted all over Japan and which my intercept specialists recorded. It announces the death of Emperor Hirohito, who was allegedly killed by one of our bombing raids on Tokyo Wednesday evening, along with his whole family. The problem
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is that none of our aircraft flew over Tokyo that evening: we were busy bombing the Japanese naval base in Kure.’
Kenney quickly read the short transcript, then looked at Ingrid, obviously confused.
‘’Then, why would the Japanese pretend that we were the ones who kil ed Emperor Hirohito?’
‘’The reason is simple enough, sir: Japanese militarists probably murdered Hirohito and are now putting his death on us in order to firm up the resolve of the Japanese people to resist us. If General MacArthur was hoping to influence Emperor Hirohito into eventually ordering his soldiers to lay down their arms, then all possibilities of that happening just vanished.’’
‘’Dear God! And I was starting to hope that the Japanese could soon become reasonable. General MacArthur won’t like this one bit.’’
‘’Of that you can be sure, sir. However, this has one consequence which will impact at once our men held in Japan as slave workers. Like when we first bombed Tokyo, the Japanese may again take revenge on our people, but in an even more savage and cruel fashion. Before you ask me, no, I don’t have any plan or idea that could possibly help the Allied prisoners held in Japan: there are simply too many of them, dispersed all over Japan in locations we know too little about. Any decisions about how to react to this are anyway well above our pay grades, even that of General MacArthur. This hot potato is now Washington’s business.’
Kenney passed a hand on his face in discouragement.
‘’I hate to say this, Ingrid, but you are most probably correct about that.’
16:58 (Washington Time)
Monday, August 9, 1943 ‘C’
The Oval Office, The White House
Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt sat back in his wheelchair after finishing reading the latest intelligence briefing on the situation in the Pacific, both utterly appalled and disgusted. Then, his disgust turned into anger and he pushed a button on his intercom box, calling his military advisor, Admiral Leahy.
‘’Admiral, please come and see me right away in the Oval Office.’
‘’On my way, Mister President.’
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Since Leahy’s office was only a few doors down from the Oval Office, the old admiral showed up within a minute. The moment he was in, Roosevelt showed him the cover of the briefing book he had just read.
‘’Have you read these reports about the slaughtering of Allied prisoners by Japanese soldiers, and this across the whole Pacific and in China and Southeast Asia, Admiral?’’
Leahy’s expression became somber at that question and he nodded his head once.
‘’Yes, I have, Mister President.’
‘’Then, how should we respond to these Japanese atrocities, in your opinion?’’
Leahy took a moment before responding, obviously conflicted.
‘’My first, initial reaction to reading those reports about the massacres being committed by the Japanese Army was to want us to unleash Hell on Japan. Then, I received a personal message from General MacArthur on this subject. Actually, it was sent via General MacArthur’s communications channels but was in reality a message written by Brigadier General Dows, the commander of the 99th Air Wing, and sent with MacArthur’s consent.’
‘’Dows? What did she have to say on this?’’
‘’Basically, she was pleading for us to show judgment and restraint towards the Japanese people in general and to limit our attacks to legitimate Japanese military targets and to Japanese war industries. She was also pleading for the Japanese-American citizens presently interned in camps in the United States to be protected from lynch mobs when the news of these massacres will become public, which should happen fairly soon. We won’t be able to censure such awful news from the American public for very long, Mister President.’
‘’Yes, I already can see the newspapers’ front pages on this. Do you have that message from Dows in your office? If yes, I would like to see it.’
‘’I wil go get it right away, Mister President.’
While Leahy was returning to his office, Roosevelt’s mind worked overtime, trying to figure out why an illustrious and capable officer like Dows would send a message to Washington on this awful subject. He then remembered that Dows had personally recruited a number of Japanese-American young women for her new female unit, even going directly to at least one internment camp to find and recruit those women. Leahy then came back and put a message form on Roosevelt’s desk.
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‘’Here is Dows’ message, Mister President.’’
Taking the single sheet of paper, Roosevelt then read it slowly, in order to fully grasp its content and goals.
This message, sent to the office of Admiral Leahy, is actually meant for the President and is a personal plea from me for restraint and a measured response to the awful actions of the Japanese military against Allied prisoners held by them.
Dear Mister President.
I want first to say that the first news I got about the killing of Emperor Hirohito, which triggered this wave of massacres, came from the intercept of a public radio address made on Radio Tokyo and broadcasted across Japan. That radio intercept was actually made and translated by one of my radio intercept specialists working in my air wing’s intelligence section, Sergeant Mary Takahashi. I personally recruited Mary Takahashi, along with nine other American women of Japanese descent, into my original air group during a visit I made to the Manzanar internment camp for Japanese-Americans in California in May of 1942. I say ‘American women’ because that is who they are, irrespective of their racial traits. Mary Takahashi, like the other Japanese-American women I recruited into my air unit, has always showed utter loyalty to the United States and has been serving in combat with courage and efficiency, flying multiple missions over enemy-held territory for over nine months now.
Next, I wish to emphasize the fact that the Japanese militarists, who more than probably were the ones who assassinated their own emperor and his family, lied to the Japanese people, both to hide their role in the death of Emperor Hirohito and to incite hatred towards us and thus harden the resolve of the Japanese people to resist us and continue the war. Then, those same Japanese militarists used that lie to justify slaughtering our military personnel and civilian citizens held by them, along with other Allied prisoners. The Japanese militarists, and particularly the officer caste of the Japanese Army, are the sole ones responsible for these latest atrocities and war crimes, which are not the first ones they have committed in this war, by far.
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In view of the present events, I would urge you, Mister President, and our nation to do the following:
First, to not equate the Japanese people in general to those Japanese militarists and their supporters in charge of their war-oriented industries and to refrain from indiscriminate bombings against Japanese population centers. My air wing is presently continuing to strike at the Japanese military units we find and at legitimate Japanese industrial targets, like naval arsenals, aircraft factories and oil refineries, and will continue such strikes until Japan surrenders.
Second, to protect from lynch mobs the Japanese-American citizens presently interned on American territory and to not make what I still consider an unjust treatment of them even harsher. You just need to remember what racist lynch mobs have shown themselves to be capable of against African-Americans during the past decades in the United States to understand how very quickly things could turn ugly.
Third, about the treatment of eventual Japanese soldiers captured by us.
I am as disgusted and incensed as anyone else about the atrocities being committed by Japanese soldiers around Asia and the Pacific. While we have been up to now respecting the Geneva Conventions concerning the treatment of prisoners of war, I believe strongly that the Japanese military, and particularly its Army officer caste, has placed itself outside of the international legal norms and should be considered and treated as a criminal organization unworthy of the treatment normally given to legitimate prisoners of war. I strongly believe that we should thus, as a nation, declare that Japanese soldiers and officers will no longer enjoy the protection of the Geneva Conventions and thus be accordingly shown no mercy. I also believe that the Japanese industrialists who have been supporting the Japanese military and who have been willingly employing our people imprisoned in Japan as slave labor should pay for their crimes and should not be protected in any way by us for some post-war political purpose. The list of atrocities and war crimes committed for many years by Japan in this war and in China is a long one which deserves the
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harshest of punishment. I would at this time urge you, Mister President, to consult the Hourglass Files we have in Washington in order to document yourself about what the Japanese military has been doing and is still doing in this war, including the use of chemical weapons in China and the horrific ‘medical’ experimentations and vivisections done by their Unit 731 on Allied and Chinese prisoners in Manchuria. Such documentation should be enough of a legal justification to revoke normal Geneva Conventions rules when it comes to the treatment of Japanese Army personnel and of Japanese industrialists who have been using Allied slave labor in their factories and mines in Japan and around Asia.
Finally, I would counsel that we start a campaign of counter-propaganda aimed at the Japanese people, with the goal of unmasking the role of the Japanese militarists in the death of Emperor Hirohito. This may, at long last, convince the average Japanese citizen to stop supporting the militarists in this war.
I will conclude this message to you, Mister President, by urging you to show both resolve and justice at this time: resolve to bring just punishment to the Japanese militarists and their industrialist and political supporters; justice by ending the unjust internment of people who are American citizens victims of baseless racist fears. If you consider that latest plea as a demonstration of a lack of loyalty by me towards the United States and states so, then I am ready to present my immediate resignation as an officer of the United States military.
Yours humbly
Brigadier General Ingrid Dows
Commander of the 99th Air Wing
CMOH and Cluster, Distinguished Service Cross and two Clusters, Distinguished Service Medal and Cluster, Purple Heart, Legion of Merit, Silver Star and two Clusters, Distinguished Flying Cross and four Clusters, Bronze Star, Air Medal (7).
Roosevelt slowly put down the message on his desk and then looked up at Leahy, still waiting and standing in front of the presidential desk.
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‘’What do you think about this message, Admiral?’’
‘’That Dows is walking a dangerous path by sending you this message, Mister President. Any lesser officer would be court-martialed and dismissed from the service, or worse, for what many would consider as gross interference with our political chain of command.’
‘’But she is no such ‘lesser officer’, Admiral.’ shot back Roosevelt, raising his voice, disappointed by the rigid thinking shown by his military advisor. ‘’She has more than proven her loyalty to the United States in this war, as her decorations and successes in combat amply prove. Furthermore, she has a special knowledge and understanding of this war, through both the teachings she got from her adoptive mother, Nancy Laplante, and through her souvenirs of past incarnations. Dismissing her letter as inappropriate or even as a proof of disloyalty would be both short-sighted and stupid.
I will at once follow one of her counsels and will read through the pertinent parts of our Hourglass Files concerning the war in the Pacific and Asia, then will decide our conduct towards the Japanese. Please have a copy of the Hourglass Files we are holding delivered to me as quickly as possible. In the meantime, I will veto any attempt at disciplinary action against Dows which would be done because of this message from her.’
‘’Very well, Mister President. I wil have those files brought to you before the end of the day.’
‘’Good! Thank you for having brought that message to my attention, Admiral.’
Leahy saluted Roosevelt, then left the Oval Office. Thoughtful, Roosevelt then picked up his telephone and called his wife Eleanor, who was probably in her little office in the East Wing of the White House.
‘’Eleanor, could you please come in to the Oval Office? I have just received a message that I would like to read, so that you could give me your opinion of it... Thank you, my dear!’
Less than a minute later, his secretary announced by intercom that Secretary of State Cordell Hull wanted to see him. When Hull entered, Roosevelt immediately saw the disturbed look on his face.
‘’Something is wrong, Cordel ?’’
‘’You may say that, Mister President. I just got a call from the Swiss ambassador that was both astonishing and shocking. He was relaying to me a message from the
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Swiss ambassador in Tokyo, who was relaying that message...from the German ambassador in Tokyo.’’
‘’The German ambassador?!’ exclaimed Roosevelt, surprised. ‘’Why would the German ambassador in Tokyo want to send us a message?’
‘’It seems, Mister President, that German Ambassador Stahmer was appalled by something he saw in Tokyo. While passing by our old embassy in Tokyo, where our ambassador and his staff were being held under house arrest by the Japanese, he saw the heads of Ambassador Grew and of his diplomatic staff planted on the piked entrance gate of our embassy. Ambassador Stahmer was so shocked and disgusted by this that he then decided by himself to inform us of this via the Swiss ambassador in Tokyo.’’
Roosevelt had to restrain himself not to bang his fist in anger on his desk.
‘’THOSE DAMN BARBARIANS!’
The President then did his best to regain his calm and looked soberly at Hull.
‘’Please thank Ambassador Stahmer via the Swiss, for informing us of this.’
‘’I wil , Mister President.’
Hull was about to leave when Roosevelt took a quick decision.
‘’Please stay a bit more, Cordell: I have something that I would like you to see.’
Hull, curious, came back near the presidential desk and took the message handed to him by Roosevelt.
‘’Please read this and tell me what you think about it, Cordell. By the way, I am showing this to you in confidence.’
‘’I understand, Mister President.’ said Hull before going to sit in a nearby chair and starting to read the message from Ingrid. Roosevelt saw him frown nearly at once, with Hull then looking up from the message he was holding.
‘’That young girl is quite presumptuous, to give you her advice like this, Mister President.’
‘’That young girl, as you called her, is a brigadier general and we have been winning the war in the Pacific during the recent months thanks mostly thanks to her and to her tactical and strategic genius, Cordell. Don’t dismiss her just because she is not a man. So, what is your fair assessment of her message to me?’
Understanding that he had to present an opinion he could defend rather than one Roosevelt would dismiss outright, Hull reread the section containing her actual advice to Roosevelt. That actually changed the initial impression his first, partial reading, had given him.
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‘’She actually makes a number of valid points, Mister President. Ambassador Grew often told me before the war that the real power in Japan lay with the military officers and their supporters among the big industrialists and politicians. I also agree that, in view of the unspeakable atrocities committed in this war by the Japanese military, we would have a valid justification to treat them as proven war criminals and to judge them as such summarily and execute them. I doubt that few people here would protest such a measure, Mister President.’
‘’And what do you think about her plea for us to both protect from lynch mobs and treat more fairly the Japanese-Americans presently interned in the United States, Cordell?’’
‘’I don’t know about that, Mister President. When you issued your executive order to intern all the citizens of Japanese descent because they represented a possible treat to the security of our nation, you were acting according to a legitimate concern shared by most Americans.’’
‘’Yet, according to Dows, the Japanese-American women she enrolled in her air unit have shown to be loyal to the nation in combat. Could I indeed have made a grave mistake by issuing my Executive Order 1066?’’
‘’Again, I don’t know about that, Mister President. Uh, what are those Hourglass Files she mentioned in her message?’
Roosevelt then remembered that only a few very select members of his cabinet had been given access to the Hourglass Files provided by Nancy Laplante, or even knew of their existence.
‘’The Hourglass Files are a set of documents brought from London by the late Canadian time traveler, Nancy Laplante, in late 1940. Those documents were in essence extracts from historical documents describing in detail this war and produced decades after our time, some as late as the year 2012. Those files also contained much priceless information and data about future technology, some of which we were able to use in order to improve our arsenal in this war.’
Hull opened his eyes wide on hearing that.
‘’My God! I would kill to be able to read those files, Mister President. Did those files support what this Ingrid Dows says in her message?’
Roosevelt nodded his head at that question.
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‘’They do, as far as I remember their content. I was going to review them again later today, in order to refresh my memory about a few specific points mentioned by Dows. So, you would mostly agree with her recommendations, Cordell?’’
Roosevelt saw Hull do some hard thinking before he answered him.
‘’Yes, Mister President. I especially agree with her point about withholding the protection of the Geneva Conventions from the members of the Japanese military, especially in the case of Japanese Army officers, for their monstruous conduct during this war. You should have our Judge Advocate General formulate a legal argument in order to justify our future treatment of Japanese military personnel, Mister President.’
‘’I wil certainly do that, Cordell. Thank you for your advice on this and for passing that information from the German ambassador in Tokyo.’’
‘’It was my pleasure, Mister President.’
Hull then got up and left the Oval Office, leaving Roosevelt alone to think things over.
10:03 (London Time)
Tuesday, August 10, 1943 ‘C’
British Prime Minister’s office
Home Ministry building, London
England, UK
‘’All our men held as prisoners of war by the Japanese, dead?’’
‘’Not only them, Mister Prime Minister.’ answered Churchil ’s military secretary, Lieutenant General Hasting Ismay. ‘’The Japanese also slaughtered all the Commonwealth citizens held by them, including women and children, along with the Dutch citizens captured in the Dutch East Indies. If we count only our own citizens and soldiers, we just lost over 90,000 people. If we add to that the civilian citizens and soldiers from Commonwealth countries, that total climbs to over 200,000 killed, massacred by the Japanese.’
‘’And the Americans held by the Japanese? Were they also slaughtered?’’
‘’They would have been, if not for the incredibly fast reaction of General MacArthur to the first news about those massacres and his air landings of American troops in Manila. Most of the Americans held by the Japanese in the Philippines were thus saved in the nick of time by that airborne assault, Mister Prime Minister.’
Winston Churchill shook his head in disbelief at that information.
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‘’And I thought that MacArthur was little more than a wind bag.’’
‘’Uh, actually, General MacArthur was not the true architect of that airborne assault and, most uncharacteristically for him, he publicly said so while pointing at the true person to be credited for that quick and efficient response.
‘’And who was that military genius, General?’’
Ismay answered by extracting a picture from the file he held and then putting it on Churchil ’s desk.
‘’None other than a young German girl whom we once held as a prisoner of war in the Tower of London, Mister Prime Minister: Nancy Laplante’s adopted daughter, now known as Ingrid Dows. She is by now a Brigadier General and commands the 99th Air Wing, the Americans’ only female combat air unit.’
‘’Nooo!’’ said Churchil in utter disbelief. ‘’But, wasn’t she a minor then before we pardoned her and let her go in 1940?’’
She certainly was, Mister Prime Minister. According to our files, she will be eighteen years-old this coming September.’’
‘’And the Americans stil let her serve in combat and promoted her all the way up to the rank of brigadier general?’’
Churchil ’s naïve reaction made Ismay smile slightly.
‘’It is obvious that they don’t know her real age, Mister Prime Minister. Even the Germans didn’t know about that when she enrolled as a Luftwaffe female auxiliary in 1940. Her real age was discovered by Nancy Laplante shortly after then Ingrid Weiss was captured in a commando raid on Wissant, on the French coast. It seems that this young girl was quite good at passing for an adult. She also apparently put to good use the teachings she got from Nancy Laplante.’’
Churchill examined with interest the picture Ismay had handed to him, which showed a smiling Ingrid Dows in her flying outfit and with the insignias of a full colonel on her collar.
‘’I remember her now. Quite an intelligent and spunky girl... Quite beautiful too.’
‘’Uh, should we tell the Americans about her dirty little secret, Mister Prime Minister?’’
‘’God, no! She would then be thrown out of the U.S. forces and everybody would then lose the benefits from her strategic talent. Let her be, General, and hide this little piece of information from the Americans.’
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CHAPTER 27 – RUNNING OUT OF TARGETS
15:35 (Manila Time)
Thursday, September 30, 1943 ‘C’
Command center of the 99th Air Wing
Clark Field, northwest of Manila
Island of Luzon, Philippines
When George Kenney entered the operations command center of the 99th Air Wing, which was next door to his own command center in Clark Field, he found Ingrid Dows standing next to the big map table set in the center of the room and in apparent deep thoughts. He then walked to the map table and waited for Ingrid to react to his arrival, something that she did nearly at once by looking up at him and smiling to him. That smile warmed up Kenney but he didn’t let that show up as Ingrid spoke up.
‘’Yes, sir? What can I do for you this afternoon?’’
‘’Well, you could first tell me what you were thinking about, Ingrid.’’
‘’Oh, that? I was reflecting on the fact that my air wing is running out of valid, worthwhile targets. We have destroyed pretty much every significant Japanese base, garrison, command center, aircraft, ship, supply center and war industry to be found in Japan. The surviving Japanese forces within our area of operation, including in the Philippines, are now hopelessly cut off from Japan and are without any air or sea support, while all the maritime routes between Japan and its conquered territories are effectively cut by us and by the Navy. Also, Admiral Halsey has now enough new carriers and battleships to be able to maintain a tight blockade around Japan and to continue our air bombardment of selected Japanese targets. The only worthy targets left for my planes are to be found in Malaya, Sumatra, Indochina and China, all of which do not belong to the Southwest Pacific Area of Operation. The problem is that we won’t be able to completely defeat the Japanese Army until we will have destroyed its units occupying those territories, especially in China, where the Japanese started their war of conquest before they attacked us and where they still have close to one million troops.
On the other hand, I have no wish to fall under the control of General Stilwell, who
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controls the American forces operating in China, or that of the British. To be frank, I believe General Stilwell to be a poor strategist who is mostly busy managing the political and military intrigues between the various Chinese factions and warlords. He also happens to be a racist with a mean temper and with little regard for the welfare of his troops. It is not for nothing that he is widely called ‘Vinegar Joe’, sir. As for the British, they showed little efforts in Asia except for what was needed to protect India from Japanese Army advance, all the while we in the Philippines were helping them by making the Japanese bleed.’
‘’I would tend to agree with you on those points, Ingrid. Stilwell has a much too abrasive type of character for the multi-national force he commands. As for the British, they flatly let us down in the Pacific.’’
‘’So, what was the reason for your visit, sir?’’
Kenney paused, managing the effect of what he was going to say.
‘’I came to announce my departure from Manila, Ingrid: I was just promoted to the rank of four-star general by General Marshall and will be going to Washington to replace General Arnold at the head of the Army Air Force.’
Ingrid opened her eyes wide and grinned in response to his announcement, then shook hands with Kenney.
‘’Well, congratulations, sir! You more than earned that promotion. Who will replace you at the head of the Fifth Air Force?’
‘’Major General Julian Barnes, whom you know well, is favored by General MacArthur to succeed me and will be promoted to the rank of lieutenant general for that purpose. By the way, I would like you to accompany me to Washington, to discuss with me and General Marshall the next role of your air wing, as I believe that your air wing would be best employed in a more challenging environment than what the Southwest Area has become by now. What remains of the Japanese forces in the Pacific can now be dealt with by the Navy and by our Army units.’
Somehow, his request to her to go to Washington with him definitely didn’t appear to enthuse Ingrid.
‘’Damn! I hope that General Marshall wil not glue me to some desk in Washington. I also hope that he won’t disperse my squadrons and air groups around other theaters: my air wing fights best when working as one entity.’
‘’Don’t worry, Ingrid: I wil tell him to be sensible about how he wil use you and your air wing.’ assured Kenney while patting gently her back.
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09:16 (Washington Time)
Monday, October 4, 1943 ‘C’
Office of General George Marshall
The Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia
U.S.A.
The military secretary working in the anteroom of the Chief of Staff of the U.S.
Army, General George Marshall, got up from behind her desk and saluted George Kenney and Ingrid Dows when they entered the small room.
‘’Good morning, sir, ma’am! General Marshall is ready to see you first, sir.
Brigadier General Dows is welcome to have a coffee while waiting in this room.’
‘’Very well!’ said Kenney before looking at Ingrid. ‘’I wil try to prepare the terrain for you in advance, Ingrid.’’
‘’Thank you, sir.’
As Kenney entered Marshall’s office and closed the door behind him, Ingrid went to the coffee machine sitting on a corner table and poured herself a cup, then sifted through the nearby rack containing an assortment of magazines and newspapers and chose the morning’s copy of the New York Times before going to sit on a sofa. She then started reading her newspaper while sipping on her coffee, as she was interested to see what were the news like on the home front. Most of the main articles dealing with the war proved to be centered on what was happening in Europe...or rather what was not happening in Europe. The one article about the Pacific front was actually comparing the quick progress done in the Pacific and around the Philippines to the costly stalemate in Europe. She was stil reading the newspaper when Marshall’s secretary told her that she could see the general now. Replacing the newspaper in the rack, Ingrid adjusted her wedge hat on her head and entered Marshall’s office, taking a few steps in before stopping at attention and saluting Marshall, who was sitting behind his desk.
‘’Brigadier General Ingrid Dows, reporting as ordered, sir.’
‘’Please sit down, General Dows.’ replied Marshall, his expression serious, while returning her salute. Ingrid didn’t miss the fact that Marshall had not gotten on his feet to come shake hands with her. She thus sat next to Kenney on a sofa set near Marshall’s desk and waited. Marshall made a point of staring at her for a moment, his hands joined and his elbows on his desk, before speaking to her in a rather cold voice.
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‘’General Dows, I must tell you that I didn’t exactly appreciate the fact that you took on you to send a personal message directly to the President, and this to give him advice on a matter of grand strategy.’
‘’Sir, I did so with the knowledge and approval of both General Kenney and General MacArthur. My intention...’
‘’But you didn’t pass by me. I am the one who is supposed to brief and counsel the President about Army matters, not you.’
‘’Sir, we were facing a situation of utmost urgency which called for a quick response. Since we were not getting any official reaction or directives from Washington on that subject, General MacArthur authorized me to propose a line of action about how to react to the massacres being committed by the Japanese, sir.’
‘’And you thought that we in Washington were not working on a response to that, General Dows?’’
‘’What we thought in Port Moresby was that we needed a quick reaction from Washington and that it wasn’t coming, sir.’
‘’And you thought that you could think better and faster than me and my staff, General Dows?’’ replied Marshall, hardening his tone. Seeing where this was going, Ingrid got up from her sofa and stared back at the Army Chief of Staff.
‘’With all due respect, sir: yes! I know and understand better than anyone else the information on this war that my adoptive mother brought from the future and I have also proven that I am able to use that information quickly and efficiently. If General MacArthur would have waited for directives from Washington about what to do about the ongoing massacre of our people held by the Japanese after I bombed Tokyo for the first time, we would not have been able to save the tens of thousands of American men, women and children held in the Philippines. So, General MacArthur asked for my suggestions and then let me plan and direct our rescue operation, which ultimately allowed us to retake the Philippines at least a year in advance of the most optimistic operational plans we had. I am sorry, sir, but I will not apologize for thinking outside the box in order to solve an urgent problem, sir!’
That was when Kenney also got on his feet to stand next to Ingrid.
‘’Sir, I fully support General Dows on this, and so is General MacArthur. We were able to save over 26,000 of our people from certain death, along with at least 100,000 Filipinos, thanks to her quick, unconventional thinking. And she would be disciplined for her strategic and operational talent, sir? We need more officers like her,
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General, not less. If you are going to discipline her for sending some judicious advice to the President on a matter of great urgency, then you can look for someone else as your new head of the Army Air Force, sir.’
Marshall sat back in his chair, not having expected such a backlash. He stayed silent for long seconds before finally speaking again.
‘’Very well, let’s forget that business of her message to the President. This leaves me with the question of what to do with her air wing. Where should it go and what should it do then?’
‘’Sir, as your new commander of the Army Air Force, I believe that this would be my decision to take, sir.’
‘’True!’ recognized Marshall. ‘’So, what are you proposing about her wing, General Kenney?’’
‘’Sir, while me and Dows discussed that subject during our air trip from the Pacific, I would need to see the operational reports from Europe and from the China-Burma-India theater, to see where General Dows and her 99th Air Wing would be most useful. I however believe that the CBI theater would not be the best place for the 99th Air Wing, for many reasons.’
‘’Which are?’ asked Marshall.
‘’I would start with our American commander in China, Lieutenant General Stilwell, sir. He has been alienating everybody there, be they Chinese or British, with his insults, racist remarks and utter disregard for the welfare of his soldiers. How do you think that he will treat an all-female air combat unit placed under his command, sir?
There is also the matter of the extensive graft and corruption rampant across the Chinese government and armed forces, plus the fact that the Nationalist Chinese of Chiang Kai-shek spend about as much time fighting the Chinese Communists as they do fighting the Japanese. I believe that sending the 99th Air Wing to China would be a waste of a fine combat unit.’
