Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki

[Capt. Harlock]

Has Mrs. Miharu been faithfull? Sorry to broach that subject, but war does strange things to people who are apart for long periods of time.

For shame![:D] True, it's a logical question given the previous lack of success -- but Cuttlefish's characters tend to be more honorable than that.

[ltfightr]

I come back from almost a year and 1/2 of being absent due money (both of our computers died and it took a little time to buy new ones) I have also several bad health episodes to find this truly wonderful AAR and have spent the last 24 hours reading all 100 pages of this most excellent story and I would add my own admiration of your work.
[&o][&o][&o][:)]

[Feinder]

Hey Parker!
 
Welcome back (again!).
 
I'll send you a note tomorrow (getting ready for bed).  And of course, if you want to send on that Team turn, we're all ready to return to our regularly scheduled bombing whenever you are!
 
-F-

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: ltfightr

I come back from almost a year and 1/2 of being absent due money (both of our computers died and it took a little time to buy new ones) I have also several bad health episodes to find this truly wonderful AAR and have spent the last 24 hours reading all 100 pages of this most excellent story and I would add my own admiration of your work.

Welcome back and I hope your health is much improved! I'm glad you enjoyed the AAR to this point; catching up from the beginning is getting to be a job not for the faint of heart.

[Cuttlefish]

March 29, 1944

Location: Osaka
Course: None
Attached to: Disbanded in port
Mission: None
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: Escort duties as assigned

---

Major General Kiyoshi Shigematsu, commander of the newly designated 48th Independent Mixed Brigade, sits in the back of a sedan approaching Osaka. He is studying a map spread across his knees when his driver and aide cheerfully informs him that they will reach headquarters in about ten minutes. He grunts in acknowledgment and continues to study the map.

Until very recently he and his men were part of the 11th Infantry Division, the Brocade Division, stationed in Manchukuo. But recent events in the Pacific have mandated that more veteran troops be made available to guard the chain of islands upon which Japan is depending for defense, and so here he is. His troops are not far behind him, but they will not be in Osaka long; ships are already waiting to take them to their new home.

He looks up from the map. Iwo Jima looks as though it has good terrain for defense. Though he wonders that any troops are needed there at all; the enemy carriers are reported to have sustained crippling losses and the Combined Fleet rules the waves. What are the chances that the enemy could ever get so close to Japan? Still, one never knows what those idiots in the Imperial Navy might do. It’s a good thing the Army is there to cover their backsides in case they mess things up too badly.

“What is the name of the naval officer in charge of our convoy?” he asks his aide.

“Lieutenant Commander Ishii, sir,” comes the reply.

“Contact him and arrange a meeting as soon as we arrive,” Shigematsu says.

“Yes sir,” says his aide.

“This Ishii had better not be an idiot,” grumbles Shigematsu. “I want my men to reach Iwo Jima alive and dry.” He thinks for a moment. “Oh, and have Colonel Izu see me as soon as he arrives, will you?”

“Yes sir,” says his aide. Shigematsu leans back. He would like to see some action, but he doesn’t think it is likely to happen on Iwo Jima. Ah well, he thinks, there is always the chance that they will be transferred some place more exciting later.

[tocaff]

Hehehehe, little does he know.............

[Capt. Harlock]

He looks up from the map. Iwo Jima looks as though it has good terrain for defense. Though he wonders that any troops are needed there at all; the enemy carriers are reported to have sustained crippling losses and the Combined Fleet rules the waves. What are the chances that the enemy could ever get so close to Japan?
. . . . .
“What is the name of the naval officer in charge of our convoy?” he asks his aide. “Lieutenant Commander Ishii, sir,” comes the reply. “Contact him and arrange a meeting as soon as we arrive,” Shigematsu says. “Yes sir,” says his aide. “This Ishii had better not be an idiot,” grumbles Shigematsu.

Uh, General . . . I have some good news, and some bad news.[:D]

I've wondered for a long time whether it would have been better to go for one of the other islands in the area. (Mind you, how were we to know that Kuribayashi would prove to have such a brilliant defensive mind?) After all, other Japanese bases were isolated and bypassed, like Rabaul and Truk. But it sounds like history is going to repeat itself -- and ahead of schedule.

[Durbik]

... or it's just a simple precaution

[tocaff]

Officially the US needed an airbase, a large one, that could handle damaged B-29s as Saipan & Tinian were a long ways off. 

At some point in time bypassing ceases to be an option.

Maybe it was just a way of demonstrating to the Japanese a continuing will to slug it out with them?

[histgamer]

I believe the US needs to take a few more islands before Iwo will be assaulted. CF is just setting the stage for a few months into the future. So who knows if it will be ahead of or behind historical schedule?  [&o][&o][&o][&o][&o][&o]

[Cuttlefish]

March 30, 1944

Location: Osaka
Course: None
Attached to: TF 12
Mission: Transport
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: Escort troop ships to Iwo Jima

---

“I still think that four escorts are not enough for nine troop transports,” says Major General Shigematsu. He leans back in his chair. “But I appreciate that that is not your decision, Captain.”

Captain Ishii, seated across the desk from him, inclines his head slightly in acknowledgement. “We will get your men there safely, General.”

“I hope so,” says Shigematsu. “I have done a little research, Captain. Do you know what happened to the last unit sent to Iwo Jima?” Ishii shakes his head. “It was an artillery regiment. Three freighters with two escorts. Of the three freighters two were sunk and one was damaged. Half the men and all but a little of their equipment was lost.”

“I had not heard that,” says Ishii slowly. “But I am not surprised. I have grown to respect the enemy submarines and their crews. They are skilled and fearless.”

General Shigematsu gets up and walks over to a map of Iwo Jima that he has pinned to the wall of the small barracks office that is serving as his temporary headquarters. He studies the map for a moment, then turns back to Ishii.

“Speaking bluntly, it seems a big risk for a fool’s errand,” he says. “Has the Imperial Navy lost confidence in its ability to control the seas? Why put a heavy garrison on Iwo Jima?”

“The Imperial Navy is doing its utmost,” says Ishii a little stiffly. “But a wise man prepares against more than one possibility. The enemy is growing strong, General. Very strong.”

General Shigematsu walks back to his chair and sits down. “We in the Army have more spine than that,” he says. “Does the Navy always anticipate defeat? I thought your mighty carriers were supposed to be keeping the enemy at bay.”

Captain Ishii stares at him. “What are you talking about?” he says. “Don’t you know?”

“Know what?’ says Shigematsu, looking sharply at him.

“Most of our carriers are at the bottom of the South Pacific,” Ishii says. “They were lost at Santa Cruz.”

Shigematsu stands. “You are lying,” he says. “Santa Cruz was a great victory!”

Now Ishii stands. “Do not accuse me of lying, you fool,” he says with heat. “I was there! My ship was riddled by shrapnel from Shokaku as she exploded and burned! While you have been playing soldier and visiting the geishas in Manchukuo my men and I have been fighting the enemy since the start of the war, fighting them from one end of the Pacific to the other. If I tell you our carriers are lost, you would do well to believe it!”

Some of the color drains from Shigematsu’s face. He looks piercingly at Ishii for a long moment, while the captain struggles to bring his temper back under control. “It is true,” Shigematsu says quietly. “I read it in your voice. Forgive me, Captain Ishii. My accusation was hasty and unjust.”

Ishii takes a deep breath. “It is I who begs your forgiveness, General Shigematsu,” he says. “My words were inappropriate.” The general sits down and after a moment Ishii does the same. The general reaches into a desk drawer and pulls out a bottle and two cups, setting them on the desk. He pours sake into the cups and pushes one across the desk towards Captain Ishii.

“Well,” Shigematsu says with a slight chuckle, “if I bring you up on charges of insubordination who will see my troops safely to their destination?” He picks up his own cup and drinks.

Ishii matches the gesture. “If the general would prefer another commander for the task force…” he begins, but Shigematsu waves him off.

“No, no,” he says. “I think I am beginning to like you, Captain,” he says. “I feel you will get my men through if anyone can.”

“Thank you, sir,” says Ishii. “I will.”

“Good,” says the general. “Oh, and Captain Ishii…I think you might find that facing the Soviets in Manchukuo is not quite the picnic you seem to believe.”

Ishii bows his head. “I am sure that is true, sir,” he says. “Again, I apologize…”

“Never mind that,” says Shigematsu, waving off his apology. “But please, Captain, obviously my mission is not the fool’s errand I believed. I need to know what you know.”

Ishii looks up. He is not supposed to talk about these things, but it is too late to close that door. He is not sure he would, anyway. No commander should go into a situation without full knowledge of what he is facing.

“Let us start with the Battle of Santa Cruz,” he says. “General, it did not go the way you have heard…”

[tocaff]

I often wondered at how Japan's & Germany's governments reported lost battles as victories to their people.  If you keep winning why is the enemy banging on your door?  How is that explained away?

[rtrapasso]

ORIGINAL: tocaff

I often wondered at how Japan's & Germany's governments reported lost battles as victories to their people. If you keep winning why is the enemy banging on your door? How is that explained away?

iirc, anyone who said their respective nation was being beaten was rather harshly dealt with as being a "defeatist"... so no explaining was necessary since people didn't dare talk about it... but the public eventually gets the true idea, especially when their cities start getting bombed and destroyed.

[Historiker]

ORIGINAL: tocaff

I often wondered at how Japan's & Germany's governments reported lost battles as victories to their people. If you keep winning why is the enemy banging on your door? How is that explained away?

I have every single german newsreel from 33-45 and I can tell you: we were never defeated [:D]

We evacuated as planned, our ships were sunk fighting bravely while facing superior enemy but still doing decicive damage, our fighters were shooting down the enemy bombers in huge numbers, our encircled troops like in stalingrad were holding out there just to let the rest of our troops regroup and fight on even harder...

It's quite interesting to see what they still say in 45. You see trains full of tanks while the speaker says: "Our busy and brave workers do there best and produce the weapons needed to defeat the enemy" "on every road and railroad, reinforcements, supplys and weapons roll to the front" "local breaktrhoughs..." etc.

And of course - you see A LOT enemy wrecked material and dead enemy troops.

[Historiker]

ORIGINAL: rtrapasso

ORIGINAL: tocaff

I often wondered at how Japan's & Germany's governments reported lost battles as victories to their people. If you keep winning why is the enemy banging on your door? How is that explained away?

iirc, anyone who said their respective nation was being beaten was rather harshly dealt with as being a "defeatist"... so no explaining was necessary since people didn't dare talk about it... but the public eventually gets the true idea, especially when their cities start getting bombed and destroyed.

"Wehrkraftszersetzung" (= something like "destroying power for defence") that what it was called. It could lead to a sentence to death. While this was inhumane, it had it's sense for the regime. A nation without hope does not fight on very well...

[rtrapasso]

ORIGINAL: Historiker

ORIGINAL: rtrapasso

ORIGINAL: tocaff

I often wondered at how Japan's & Germany's governments reported lost battles as victories to their people. If you keep winning why is the enemy banging on your door? How is that explained away?

iirc, anyone who said their respective nation was being beaten was rather harshly dealt with as being a "defeatist"... so no explaining was necessary since people didn't dare talk about it... but the public eventually gets the true idea, especially when their cities start getting bombed and destroyed.

"Wehrkraftszersetzung" (= something like "destroying power for defence") that what it was called. It could lead to a sentence to death. While this was inhumane, it had it's sense for the regime. A nation without hope does not fight on very well...

Yeah, i knew Germans were executed for this... i suspect it was similar for Japan... not sure about the other Axis nations (Italy, Romania, etc.)

[Cuttlefish]

Thanks for the interesting posts, Historiker. Like tocaff I have sometimes wondered in what ways the Axis governments tried to spin obvious defeat into assertions of victory.

"Defeatist" talk was grounds for imprisonment in Japan, though not for execution. This policy was laxly and inconsistently enforced near the start of the war but much more stringently so as things started to go badly. Beatings were used freely to elicit confessions and that there was little or no due process for accused citizens.

As the jails got to be too crowded, thanks to the zeal of informers, the Tokko, and the Kempeitai, citizens were often able to win their freedom by renouncing their statements and promising to toe the line in the future. The recidivism rate for those released in this manner was reportedly very low.

It was quite a bit different for military personnel, I think. Those who dared to speak the truth were sometimes shunted off to desk jobs in distant corners of the Empire, sometimes ignored, and sometimes even admired in a sneaky sort of way. Those who have read Hara's "Japanese Destroyer Captain" might recall the incident where he angrily harangues a bunch of superiors about the conduct of the war and gets completely away with it, somewhat to his surprise.

[Cuttlefish]

March 31, 1944

Location: Osaka
Course: None
Attached to: TF 12
Mission: Transport
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: Escort troop ships to Iwo Jima

---

While the men of the 48th Independent Mixed Brigade file aboard their troop ships Captain Ishii meets with the captains under his command and familiarizes himself with the capabilities of their ships. While none of the other warships are first-class destroyers all are capable escorts and submarine hunters and their captains seem to know their business.

Kisaragi is a Mutsuki-class destroyer, a decade older, a little slower, and forty feet shorter than Hibiki. Properly speaking Chidori and Kiji are torpedo boats and not destroyers at all – if they served in the American navy they would probably be called destroyer escorts. They are reasonably fast and well-equipped for submarine hunting, though hopelessly unsuited for front-line duty. But that is not what is being asked of them now, and both are veterans of many convoy runs.

The nine troop ships are an assortment of converted liners and passenger vessels, all of them reasonably large and fast for ships of their type. Even the fastest, of course, is far slower than Hibiki and a plump target for any submarine that can line up a shot. It is up to Ishii to see that that does not happen.

It will not be easy. Enemy submarines are now to be found right off the coast as well as further out. Attempts to penetrate the Kii or Bungo channels are rare but not unheard of. And Iwo Jima itself seems to be a popular gathering point for them. One officer Ishii speaks with likens it to a popular feeding ground for a school of sharks. The sharks may move away for a time, but they always return – and with healthy appetites. This is no doubt due to the fact that many of the convoys bound to and from the Marianas Islands pass near Iwo on their journey.

Captain Ishii makes what preparations he can. The rest, he knows, will be up to the skill of his crews, the machinations of the enemy, and to some extent to plain old luck. Hibiki has enjoyed had her share of that and more for a long time. Ishii hopes it does not desert him now.

---

Task Force 12:

[thegreatwent]

Those who have read Hara's "Japanese Destroyer Captain" might recall the incident where he angrily harangues a bunch of superiors about the conduct of the war and gets completely away with it, somewhat to his surprise.

These opinions were not isolated Saburo Sakai also expressed his frustration with with officers in his book. Still, Ishii by expressing his views may explain why his his history is blank after the war ends.

[Historiker]

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish

Thanks for the interesting posts, Historiker. Like tocaff I have sometimes wondered in what ways the Axis governments tried to spin obvious defeat into assertions of victory.

"Defeatist" talk was grounds for imprisonment in Japan, though not for execution. This policy was laxly and inconsistently enforced near the start of the war but much more stringently so as things started to go badly. Beatings were used freely to elicit confessions and that there was little or no due process for accused citizens.

As the jails got to be too crowded, thanks to the zeal of informers, the Tokko, and the Kempeitai, citizens were often able to win their freedom by renouncing their statements and promising to toe the line in the future. The recidivism rate for those released in this manner was reportedly very low

It was quite a bit different for military personnel, I think. Those who dared to speak the truth were sometimes shunted off to desk jobs in distant corners of the Empire, sometimes ignored, and sometimes even admired in a sneaky sort of way. Those who have read Hara's "Japanese Destroyer Captain" might recall the incident where he angrily harangues a bunch of superiors about the conduct of the war and gets completely away with it, somewhat to his surprise.

My comment is still incomplete...

While all I've written is true, I#ve not mentioned some points.

Until autum 1944, the German army was still that strong, that there wasn't an urgent need for worry - if you aren't informed. Of course, the bombardement of citys was obvious, but it was unimportant.

The government never lied about the fact that the enemy is much stronger. In 41-42, this strength was the argument for the war because the people could see, how important the attack was, as the "bolshewik" had attacked two to three weeks later (official language). After that, they slowly changed their language. From then on, the retreat wasn't hidden - but it was always planned. You see videos about german engineers blowing up bridges and towers, that "nothing falls in enemy hands". While the loss of the Crimea was a disaster, the newsreel tells that the evacuation was successfull.

Slowly but steady, it wasn't able to hide the change in war - but Germany still had an advantege:
1. the "wonder-weapons" (Wunderwaffen): Showing the people the V1 and V2 as well as rocket and turbine planes made good impression. Of course, if the Führer's Wehrmacht will have these arms in great numbers, soon - why should we worry?
2. The strength of arms: Even for military greenhors it was obvious, that the german tanks where stronger than everything in the west. As these tanks were new, it's ok that they didn't show their impact, yet.
3. The Bolshewik threat: The russian demon was created over the years. From the beginning on, the newsreels show nearly only mongolian soldiers. I can't remeber a single newsreel, where one can see the "russian arians" - which of course exist - just look at Alexandre Vinokourov... So the closer they came, the more this picture was shown. More and more fear was spread under the population (not without reason as history shows). So even if it was obvious the war is lost, the soldiers fought on not only of fear for the Feldgendarmerie (MPs) but to protect their familys, too. So the newsreels then showed about the Abwehrschlacht (defensive battles) and said things like "This is where the bolshewik hordes have to be stopped or europe is lost...

Moreover, it was important what you see.
It wasn't seen that the enemy has breaken through - it was only shown where a breakthrough was defeated and local counterattacks. It wasn't said "Half of the German army in the east is cut off in Kurland" - it was said "since month, the troops under Generalobert von Vietinghoff hold out for xy month now while the enemy suffers heavy losses"

So it always depends on what you tell. If you loose Noumea, a german newsreel will be:

1. Enemy forces of enourmus strength landed under the cover of a dozend carriers in noumea.

2. the glorious navy engaged the enemy fleet near new caledonia. after several days of bitter fighting, the enemy was driven back under heavy losses. After achieving their goals and fighting bravely against the enemy superiority, the crews of the ... stayed saluting on their ships while it was going down. (I'm uncertain about that, because germany could afford to loose ships as nobody had illusions about the strength of the enemy. Japan instead wanted to rule the waves. Germany would rather tell "30 ships with 267.000 BRT sunk" - without telling how many subs were lost)

3. After 25 days of harsh fighting and spending their last ammunition, the garrison of noumea did their final banzaii attack tonight. In this 25 days, the enemy suffered heavy losses. 62 tanks and 125 artillery pieces are confirmed destroyed. The enemy lost men in the strength of 3 brigades while desperatly trying to break through.

something like that [;)]

The enemy always suffers most and the focus lies on the good news - as every incidient may have its good point, you just have to search it.
There was i.e. a leaflet about italy. On it was shown, how far the allies have come and this route was compared with a slug/snail. In all this months, the allies didn't come as far as this slowls animal would have come.
Half of Italy was lost, but who cares? The Allies were slow in their advance - aren't they weak? You might tell that even a tree would have drifted farer and faster than they are now...
Morevoer, the focus is on the enemy losses.

Interesting, too:
The german media had headlines like this in summer to autum 1941:
- 500.000 enemy soldiers captured
- kiev conquered, 250.000 captured
- 500.000 captured and dead, enemy is about to crumble
- enemy defeat is imminent
- enemy will break in 8 weaks
- enemy can't hold out longer than 4 weeks
- 35 ships sunk with 250.000 BRT [:D]

So when the enemy wasn't breaking nor capitulationg, why write that? Simply take another good news as headline [;)]