Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji had to watch helplessly as the enemy battlecruiser came up. He ordered the crew to fight to the bitter end. As long as the enemy pursued them, the transporters were safe.
+ + +
On the Kawachi, Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi read the latest messages that had been brought to him from the radio room. Then he shook his head.
"What's the point? Why do you change the plans without consultation?"
Questioningly, the captain of the Kawachi Kaigun-taisa Inoue Shigeyoshi turned to his admiral:
"Are there any problems, Mr. Admiral?"
"The High Command has decided in its wisdom that the attack has a greater chance of success by bombing the enemy positions by land-based bombers. That's why bombers were launched from the Kitakyushu and Sasebo bases to support us."
Inoue Shigeyoshi now also shook his head:
"By the time they're here, it's all long gone."
"After all, these bombers could then attack us if they want to - or have to - show a successful sinking at home!"
+ + +
The Russian battlecruiser was in a real attacking mood. He not only continued the shelling of the Takao, but now also took the Mogami under fire. Although the Takao defended itself to the best of its ability, the few hits on the Russian capital ship did not seem to impress it.
+ + +
It was now five o'clock on the morning of the twenty-second of May, nineteen hundred and thirty-five, and it had become a beautiful, sunny morning of crystal-clear beauty. There was no trace of early morning fog as one had hoped, but that had become inconsequential. The battle had been raging for over two and a half hours and the Russians knew what to expect.
Morning fog as cover no longer played a role. The invasion fleet was still about twenty thousand yards from the landing zone and would gradually move into the range of land-based artillery, if there were any.
The enemy ships were concentrated on the Japanese heavy cruisers, and a number of ships, of which neither type nor damage were known, were last seen running towards Kidō Butai before they went out of sight.
All in all, it went quite well so far, but as soon as the troop transports dropped anchor, they were more than easy to take under fire. Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi had actually calculated that there would be no contact with the enemy at all, but since the Russian fleet was present, more forces had to be expected. Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi could not and did not want to believe that this coincidence was a complete coincidence.
+ + +
For the Takao, it was now only a matter of time. The enemy shot at the cruiser and escape was impossible. But then Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji listened attentively. Reconnaissance number Eighty-Eight of the Ibuki reported several unknown ships southeast of the position of the Japanese heavy cruisers, including three aircraft carriers.
Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji calculated the information and came to the conclusion that the reconnaissance officer must now actually be somewhere in this area. He had released the Ibuki from his cruiser group hours ago and in the meantime the damaged cruiser had joined the Kidō Butai. But that didn't stop the pilot of the reconnaissance aircraft from continuing to fly.
Takao had also retired from the Japanese 31st Cruiser Division, but he was able to help the two remaining cruisers in the division. If he now deliberately slowed down a little and kept the enemy battlecruisers busy, the heavy cruisers Mogami and Suzuya could take the opportunity to pursue these aircraft carriers. It was a risk because the carriers certainly had escort protection, but the chance to capture and sink the Russian aircraft carriers was just too tempting.
+ + +
Again, Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi received the report of land-based air support. This time, however, the message said that the reported enemy aircraft carriers would be attacked. This was finally something meaningful, Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi thought and put the message aside. If the bombers from Japan tried their luck in the south, they couldn't get in his way. It was hard to say what danger emanated from the Russian carriers. The probability was far too great that the reconnaissance aircraft had spotted a group of sperm whales instead of aircraft carriers. It would show. If there are really Russian carriers there, one would have to expect enemy aircraft at any time.
+ + +
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi was right. Only a few minutes had passed when the heavy cruisers reported enemy bombers approaching!
More serious, however, was the report of the cruiser Suma, which had identified unknown contacts and also reported that two ships known as battlecruisers had turned around and let go of the Takao.
Now her course led her directly to the invasion fleet!
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi had to react on the spot and ordered the Japanese 23rd Destroyer Flotilla to launch a frontal attack on the enemy battlecruisers.
He himself had to keep his battleships ready in order to be able to either take action against the enemy ships, or against any coastal positions on land.
While the command was still being issued, the loudspeaker crackled:
"Cruiser Mogami reports heavy air attack, lies in a hail of bombs from enemy carrier aircraft, starboard center artillery hit by bombs amidships and destroyed. Air raid continues!"
+ + +
Two reports arrived from the Kidō Butai. The next wave of attacks would begin and take care of the battlecruisers, so sacrificing the destroyers was no longer necessary at this moment and the heavy cruiser Ibuki, which had reached the carrier fleet in the meantime, had a destroyed radio system. The commander of the cruiser reported considerable structural damage and a water ingress that has not yet been brought under control by flag signal.
The commander asks for permission to disembark the crew and to keep only one hull crew on board who is trying to save the cruiser.
The cruiser has so far been kept stable by compensatory trimming, but capsizing must be expected shortly if the water is taken further.
+ + +
Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji steered the Takao close to land. On the one hand, the crew had a real chance of reaching the shore as soon as his cruiser began to sink, and on the other hand, he could try to spot a canal in the shallow water areas that would allow a refuge in the offshore island world.
With the best will in the world, no enemy positions have been found on the beach of the invasion zone so far. If there were any, they were excellently camouflaged. For Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi, however, this also means turning around with his battleships to seek battle with the battlecruisers. His heavy ship guns were not needed to support the landing troops.
+ + +
The order appeared innumerable times at Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi:
"I report..." the young sailor began his report
„… our aircraft carriers are already launching the second wave of attacks. Several squadrons are on their way to us and to the enemy carriers."
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi thought it was all too risky. He let the destroyers continue to act against the enemy. It would take some time until the bombers were over the target and what they could then achieve was not clear. The enemy ships would probably already be within range before that.
The destroyer crews would probably have to pay dearly, but that's how the war has been since it existed!
He himself was now almost within attacking distance and let a battleship run across the enemy in order to be able to work with all the guns. At that moment the sirens blared, and a screaming sailor had stumbled through the door of the bridge from outside:
"ENEMY PLANES – THERE ARE ENEMY PLANES ABOVE US!"
Then the staccato of the flak broke out and a conversation was out of the question.
+ + +
Even before the air attack could be reacted to, explosions could be seen on all other battleships.
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi stared out of the window in disbelief, then noticed Kaigun-taisa Inoue Shigeyoshi patting him on the shoulder.
"These are our broadsides, Mr. Admiral, no bombs. We opened fire on the enemy!"
Another orderly appeared:
"I report: The troop transports have dropped anchor and are beginning to disembark the troops."
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi had a blank stare. It all came together, an enemy air attack on his battleships, the opening of fire on the enemy and now also the disembarkation of the troops. Now the transporters were the most vulnerable and the enemy bombers were guaranteed to notice this very quickly.
Then the Kawachi also tilted to the side and the first broadside thundered over the deck!
+ + +
Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji began to breathe a sigh of relief. The enemy battlecruiser turned along. It is possible that the risk of running so close to land on an unmarked sandbank or an unknown underwater rock was too great for his opponent. However, the enemy could now bring all his guns to fruition, which had not been possible before.
Over the radio, Gotō Eiji listened to other units submitting their status reports, the Kasagi, the Amagiri, Keyaki and Kaki. It was his turn to report when there was a wild knock against the bridge armor and several windows shattered.
"Air raid croaked a sailor of the bridge guard..." and Gotō Eiji whispered quietly to himself, "That's why the battlecruiser turned away..."
The next messages came from the loudspeaker:
"Battleship Fuso – bomb hit aft – rudder does not react – rudder possibly destroyed!"
"Transporter Hikawa Maru – air raid – we are under fire!"
You could think what you wanted of the Russian attacks, they definitely had an effect, the formations of the Japanese units were completely in disarray. This was a certain advantage for the approaching enemy battlecruisers, because the shelling by the Japanese battleships had lost power.
On the bridge of the Mogami, Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka concentrated on the horizon. In fact, the lookout had been right, smoke could be seen on the horizon to port, exactly where the last reconnaissance report had located the enemy carriers!
Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji on the Takao also had the enemy in sight, but in the form of the torpedo bombers of these same enemy aircraft carriers!
The Japanese attack waves were still gathering with their carriers, but the start was abruptly interrupted when the wind turned its direction almost exactly one hundred and eighty degrees and the Japanese carriers now also had to turn in the opposite direction.
+ + +
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi tried to bring order to his battle formation, which took far too much time, to his chagrin. Now he would have to work with all guns against the enemy to give cover to the destroyers, but this was not possible. He expected a slaughter among his destroyers.
Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji tried to evade the enemy air attack, but the enemy battlecruiser had long since resumed pursuit. Every small change of course brought this battlecruiser closer to the Takao faster.
Then the Russian pilots showed all their skills and flew a pincer attack on the Takao.
It didn't matter which heading Gotō Eiji had applied, he would definitely get into the trajectories of some torpedoes!
The jammed rudder of the Fuso brought the giant directly into conflict with the light cruisers of the Reconnaissance Division and thus caused hectic maneuvering for them as well.
Then the slaughter began practically at the same time. The enemy battlecruiser near the Takao made a dangerous hit on the waterline of the Japanese heavy cruiser.
The other two battlecruisers fired everything they had at the destroyers and literally blew away the stem of the bridge of the Nokaze.
Surprised, Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka squinted into the sun on the Mogami, then the cruiser's flak screamed and several explosions appeared in the sky. The air raid on the Mogami came out of nowhere. No one had noticed the approach of enemy bombers until it was too late. Across the Mogami, torpedoes slapped into the water and headed for the cruiser.
Author's note: Actually, the air attack was supposed to be aimed at the Takao. Apparently the computer just "beamed" the torpedo bombers to the Mogami?
+ + +
Frantically, the helmsman of the Mogami turned the rudder, but it was too late. A torpedo headed directly for the cruiser and hit.
Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka held on to the card table, but nothing happened. "Dud," hissed his first officer, wiping beads of sweat from his forehead.
Then it tore both of them off their feet!
"Torpedo hits amidships!" it roared from the loudspeaker and black smoke clouded the view from the windows.
The captain of the Nokaze stood on his feet again and looked ahead – the side of the bridge was gone, but otherwise the helm was intact, he shouted an order into the intercom, then the artillery of the destroyer hit the enemy with a broadside and shredded several unarmored superstructures and the launches of the battlecruiser!
+ + +
Then, to everyone's surprise, morning mist settled over the sea and visibility decreased drastically. Only the destroyers were still in full combat, the other ships no longer had valid targets for their guns.
Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka decided to give his cruiser a breather. In the side, water penetrated the hull through a man-sized hole and so damaged the cruiser could not go into battle. The carriers would certainly have cruisers as escorts in the convoy and that would mean the certain end for the Mogami. First, the water ingress had to be stopped. Fortunately, the larger part of the hole was above the waterline and was easy to get under control at a short speed.
The situation was different on the Takao. Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji had to acknowledge that the waterline hit had caused irreparable damage. The enemy shell had torn open the ship's side several meters and the cruiser was already a good meter lower aft than at the bow.
Now it was only a matter of time, but there was nothing to prevent the Takao from sinking!
The haze was a bigger problem for the artillery, but not for the enemy bombers! Another wave of planes appeared over the battleships, and Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi had to stand idly by while these bombers could do whatever they wanted. Although the carriers had long since ordered hunting protection to the battleships, there was no sign of them so far.
+ + +
The artillerymen of the Nokaze vented all their anger over the bridge hit on the enemy battlecruisers. Although the destroyer's 5inch guns could hardly sink the battlecruisers, everything from the deck superstructure that was not armored was sifted through. Almost every shot was a hit and the enemy ships would have to go to the shipyard anyway. But now all the destroyers together had fired so many torpedoes that the battlecruisers had to be careful which course they took.
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi could breathe a sigh of relief that most of the planes had turned away from his battleships, but they only did so because they now pounced on the transports again.
He was all the more surprised when there was a bang on the Yamashiro and smoke rose from one of its towers of the medium artillery.
"Where are those damn fighter planes?" Takahashi Sankichi roared to the orderly, who left the bridge towards the radio room at a run.
At least the Mogami reported that the water ingress could be stopped.
What happened to the destroyers was exactly what Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi had expected. They were shot down! However, modern destroyers have many more torpedoes on board than previous torpedo boats. The tactic of simply firing volleys of torpedoes in different directions had an effect and there was a first hit on one of the two Russian battlecruisers.
On the Takao, the crew did superhuman feats and were able to significantly reduce the water ingress. However, the cruiser was not yet saved.
+ + +
The rudder system of the Fuso was functional again and finally the Japanese fighters appeared in the sky, now Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi had to form his convoy into a proper battle line again, which would take some time.
Southeast of the convoy, an enemy battlecruiser lay motionless in the water and demanded attention. Theoretically, he was a found fodder for the destroyers, but whether they would still be able to fight in a few minutes was not certain. After all, they now brought the most notorious Japanese weapon to full advantage.
+ + +
The sacrifice of the Japanese destroyers was rewarded by numerous torpedo hits. The enemy battlecruisers would probably no longer pose a threat to the invasion fleet. Among the destroyers, however, they were able to continue to let off steam.
+ + +
A single destroyer of the Japanese 23rd Destroyer Flotilla had so far remained undamaged, but the enemy battlecruisers lost speed and began to smoke in. Now all that remained was to give them the rest, then the order was to march to the nearest base.
Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji had little hope about the success of the leak barrier and he was right. Once again, planes appeared over the Takao, which was already badly battered and could only offer little resistance.
+ + +
The Takao had a considerable pitch, but the water intrusion was now practically stopped again. With only six knots left, the cruiser was now fair game for everything and everyone who wanted to try.
Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka also had to endure another air attack on himself and his mogami, but at least he was still fit for combat and was approaching the supposed carrier of the Tsar's fleet. Soon he wanted to turn the tables. Only minutes later he had to watch how the Suzuya in front was hit in rows and black smoke rose above the cruiser.
The battle was now again like right at the beginning a wild slashing and stabbing and while Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji had to report heavy hits again, the first troops had gone ashore without resistance and were able to establish themselves there.
+ + +
The ship's side, which had just been sealed, was torn open again and again large amounts of water penetrated the hull of the Takao. Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji ordered the fight to the last shell, but there was no prospect of effective hits on the enemy battlecruiser.
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi had ordered the fire of the battleships, which were still not in formation, to be distributed. He fired on everything that was somehow within reach in order to support the battered destroyers in the best possible way.
Then Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka heard a brutal bang on the Mogami and thought that his last hour had struck. He hissed at his orderly:
"Damage report – damage report!"
The answer came quickly: "I report: We were not hit Mr. Commander!"
"Not hit? – But what?"
Then one of the bridge guards came in from outside:
"Mr. Commander – look there..."
Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka stepped outside - far northeast - where the heavy cruiser Takao might be - a huge black cloud rose into the sky as he had never seen before...
Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka immediately ordered radio contact with the Takao, but the cruiser failed to respond. But Michitarō Tozuka couldn't do much more, because he himself would probably be in battle himself in a few minutes and almost nothing was known about the number and composition of the opponent. The two remaining heavy cruisers were battered, but giving up was out of the question.
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi listened to the radio traffic, but he couldn't do anything for the Takao either. The landing went satisfactorily, but his escort ships were busy wrestling down the enemy ships in sight. This was mainly at the expense of his destroyers, but his battleships also fired shell after shell at everything within range.
+ + +
From cruiser Suzuya finally came the longed-for message. In fact, the enemy aircraft carriers had been found. Since the entire enemy formation ran at high speed instead of facing a battle, the hope arose that it was only the carriers and a few destroyers. Cruisers or even heavier ships would otherwise almost certainly face a battle.
At six twenty a.m. local time, the Japanese heavy cruiser Suzuya opened fire on a classified light aircraft carrier of the Russian fleet.
+ + +
The resistance of the Russian battlecruisers had noticeably weakened. Both ships lay almost motionless in the water and had a clear side. Now it was only a matter of time before these ships would sink.
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi concentrated on another battlecruiser lying quietly in the water. This ship must have been hit so badly in the darkness at the first collision that it could not continue. Only one destroyer had remained nearby and was now causing greater concern to the departing badly damaged Japanese destroyers.
+ + +
Five minutes after opening fire, cruiser Suzuya reported that the enemy was now beginning to swarm out. Now it would become clear whether they were death-defying destroyers or whether the brash appearance of the Japanese cruisers would be punished. When the lookout reported both an enemy battlecruiser and a heavy cruiser, the hunting fever suddenly changed to fear.
+ + +
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi had been notified of two more ships that were gradually coming within range of the Kawachi at a short speed or possibly only driven by the current. This much was certain: There were still a number of enemy ships here and the sighting reports of the maritime reconnaissance aircraft were absolutely worthless.
The only thing he could do at the moment was to give the order to fire at his own discretion. Orderly formations were out of the question given the condition of his ships and the scattered enemy ships.
+ + +
At least one of the enemy ships was referred to as a battleship, but seemed to run off in the direction of the Japanese carrier fleet. At its current speed, however, it would not reach it so quickly unless the wind turned again.
+ + +
The second sighting also turned out to be a battleship, but lay motionless in the water. Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi was holding the news of another torpedo hit on the southern battlecruisers when a brutal bang drowned out all the gun noise from his battleships.
"Bullseye – bullseye!" thundered from the voice tube of the Kawachi's artillery control center. Takahashi Sankichi looked out of the window and where the enemy battlecruiser had just been, a huge cloud of black smoke wafted over the sea.
Kaigun-taisa Inoue Shigeyoshi approached him:
"It tore him apart, Mr. Admiral!"
"Was that us?"
"Yes, Mr. Admiral – direct hit by 18inch shell of our turret B"
"Steep fire at this distance?"
"Not steep fire, but penetration. The 18inch guns may be downright crap, but when they hit the mark, they really do!"
"You're probably right, Inoue – then let's get these two battleships now!"
"Yes, Mr. Admiral!"
+ + +
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi asked in vain where and which ship they were aiming for, but he also had to acknowledge that the battlefield was completely chaotic and he could only hope that the pilots knew the difference between Russian and Japanese ships?
+ + +
The classification was still "capital ships", but that could not be in terms of behavior. If these were enemy battlecruisers, the Suzuya would have long been within range of enemy guns. But there was no enemy fire and so the only explanation was that the lookout had drunk too much sake. Wherever did they get the rice wine from?
The fears of Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi did not come true. In return, the bombers disputed the sinking of the battleships. He saw through his binoculars how four dive bombers went into a dive as if hanging on a string of pearls, pulled up at a low altitude above the battleship, followed by a clearly visible explosion on the deck of the battleship.
"Hit," he muttered to himself and didn't know whether he liked it or not? He preferred to see some of his own 18inch grenades hit there and they had the better hit effect anyway.
Then he could hardly believe what he was seeing. The battleship tilted to the side and sank.
"An aerial bomb? A single damn aerial bomb?"
+ + +
Then messages came over the radio that made him sit up and take notice. Bomb hits on ships out of sight. These ships could only be between him and the Japanese aircraft carriers and that was not good news!
The battle was now somehow rippling along and there was a reason for that. Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi wanted to wait and see what the planes could do before he opened up in order to be able to fight the enemy better himself. He still did not trust the skills of the pilots. However, this may have been self-evident, because the carrier fleet announced that the torpedo stocks on board were running low.
Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka had also ordered restraint. He wanted to catch up with the Suzuya with the Mogami and not let it run to its doom alone. However, it was now certain that there were no capital ships among the Russian carriers. The entire behavior clearly spoke in favor of destroyers and perhaps light cruisers, nothing more.
The enemy battlecruisers lay more or less motionless in the water and most of the destroyers began to pull away so as not to catch any more unfortunate accidental hits, but the resistance had almost come to a standstill.
After Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka was sure that he was not a danger himself, he ordered the fire to be directed at the enemy carriers. It was necessary to prevent the flight operations of these ships, then one could target all ships one after the other.
+ + +
Finally clarity about the enemy formation came about and indeed one had to deal with more or less defenseless ships of the enemy. The centerpiece, in fact, was the large aircraft carrier Leningrad, and according to the known facts, this was the only large Russian aircraft carrier. If Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka was lucky, he could destroy the core of the Russian delivery weapon here and now. In addition to Leningrad, two light aircraft carriers of the Russians were also recognized. If he was able to sink all three, the enemy would still have three more light carriers and these were partly conversions from cruisers, so not to be taken seriously.
To his delight, a squadron of bombers that had taken off from Sasebo and now also flew in attack formation shortly before the enemy carriers reported.
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi was also allowed to take note of the next air attack, but the hit position of his ship guns was now very good even at longer range. The bombers now bothered him more than he perceived them as a benefit.
+ + +
Then the time had come and Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka was able to watch the bombers attack. However, the hit messages that could be heard over the radio did not come from the aircraft supporting his cruisers, but from the carrier aircraft of the Kidō Butai. For him it didn't matter who hunted down the enemy, but he knew that the commanding admiral judged it differently. For him, on the other hand, it was clear that today he might be in the last major artillery battle ever. The development of the air force had recently progressed so quickly that it was only a matter of time before only aircraft would still have enemy contact.
The airstrike on the Russian carriers, despite his opinion on the future of the Air Force, was spectacularly unsuccessful. But the air raid had one effect. The enemy was forced to turn around and now very quickly came close to the two Japanese heavy cruisers.
+ + +
The air raids were hardly worth mentioning. Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi noted for himself that the first wave of an air raid had a high striking power, but the second wave was already much weaker. The High Command had to take this into account in its urge to rebuild the entire fleet.
The hit situation of his battleships, on the other hand, was all the more pleasing.
+ + +
The sky was now filled with Japanese carrier aircraft and the tasks were widely scattered. The enemy battleships were the most obvious and, due to their size, also the most rewarding targets. However, several pilots also targeted some downright vagabond enemy destroyers and a larger group would try to reach the enemy aircraft carriers. Confused was probably a good description to characterize the use of carrier aircraft.
+ + +
It was now seven o'clock local time and Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi was preparing for a long day. Although they scored goals everywhere, there were many places and too few goals to achieve quick results. It became apparent that they would spend several more hours trying to find all enemy ships.
A pilot has just reported bomb hits on a heavy cruiser, but where this cruiser was supposed to be was unknown. Of course, it might have been only one of the destroyers, but if a heavy cruiser was reported, it would have to be investigated.
At least the last known enemy battleship could no longer withstand the combined fire of the four Japanese battleships. Although it had been literally dispersed by the 18inch and 16inch guns of the Japanese, it sank upright and dignified in the East China Sea.
But the next enemy ship came into view at that very moment. Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi wondered if this could be the reported heavy cruiser?
Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka had finally caught up with the Suzuya with his Mogami. Although both cruisers were damaged, the enemy had no heavy artillery to offer. As long as the two Japanese cruisers kept enough distance not to run the risk of being hit by destroyer torpedoes, they could calmly fight down the enemy.
The situation was completely different with the departing Japanese destroyers. At least four enemy ships were on interception courses. They were probably also destroyers, but they were certainly in better condition than the Japanese. Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi ordered the Japanese destroyers to move south to gain time. Sure, the Russian battlecruiser that had hunted down the Takao was still in the south, but if its commander had any sense of strategy, he would try to reach its carriers instead of chasing Japanese destroyers.
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi himself would run with his battleships to the Japanese carriers. There had to be larger Russian units between him and the Kidō Butai. Too many sighting reports from the pilots spoke of it, even if none of it had been concrete. It was also completely unclear whether these were fleeing ships from the night battle or a previously completely unrecognized formation with fresh units.
At least the disembarkation went undisturbed and according to plan. The invasion was already a success, that could not be taken away from him.
+ + +
The Russian fleet carrier had already been badly hit. Whatever the reason for this conspicuous ship having been classified as a battlecruiser for far too long, at least the carrier had already been unsuspectingly set on fire. Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka was satisfied!
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi was disappointed. The supposed heavy cruiser turned out to be a destroyer and the fact that several squadrons announced an air attack could not improve his mood, because no one gave exactly which targets were attacked where.
But then he could see who the bombers were attacking. As before with the Russian battleship, the pilots of the Kidō Butai now disputed the destroyer!
+ + +
It was pure waste! Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi had to watch as two entire squadrons pounced on a damaged destroyer. Didn't the bombers have orders to fly south to the enemy carriers? Whatever this form of naval warfare meant, for Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi it was clear that it could not go on like this.
It was a classic of naval warfare, a far superior ship should have no problems against a weaker opponent. However, all ships had a weak point, no matter how big and powerful they were. Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka had to learn that now. The enemy's light cruisers could hardly harm the armor of the Mogami, but they could damage or destroy the rudder, and that's exactly what had just happened!
+ + +
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi had to smile. Over the radio, he was able to overhear Japanese land-based bombers carrying out an air raid on the enemy airfield Chemulpo. The only thing he missed was precise information about what exactly was bombed and what the results were.
These pilots were no better than the pilots of the aircraft carriers and he was sure for today that the Kidō Butai was of no use!
The Mogami was ready for battle again and fortunately did not become the target of a destroyer attack. Nevertheless, one had to act more carefully in order not to become the hunted oneself.
+ + +
The Russian carrier rapidly lost speed and tilted to starboard. Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka was satisfied, this ship was something like the main prize of the day and the fact that he had hunted it down in classic whites with gunfire would give military strategists all over the world pause for thought.
+ + +
The next news brought Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka less joy – the ammunition supply had fallen below fifty percent. He would have to close the gap to the enemy to increase his hit rate. In addition to the fleet carrier, there were also the two light carriers and he wanted to sink all the Russian aircraft carriers present.
Just at the moment when Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi was reported air torpedo hits on an enemy destroyer, a much more significant message came: The Russian battlecruiser that had sunk the Takao was not on its way to the Russian carriers, or on an interception course to the fleeing Japanese destroyers, as suspected, it was seen sneaking close under land to the north.
This battlecruiser was on its way to the troop transports and there was no Japanese ship of equal importance in the vicinity to intercept this enemy.
+ + +
"Report to the admiral, enemy fleet carrier takes water and seems to slowly sink away aft over starboard." Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka watched the orderly, which disappeared in the direction of the radio room.
The girder had not yet sunk, but that was now only a matter of time. Now he could pursue the two light carriers.
Of the original four light cruisers of the Japanese 35th Reconnaissance Division, three were still in the formation and only the Suma had remained undamaged. Now these three light cruisers, supported by two destroyers, had to hunt down a far superior enemy. Kaigun-taisa Kiyohide Shima had taken command of the division with the Suma after the Akitsushima had lost its important communications equipment in battle. Now he was facing perhaps the biggest test of his career so far.
Kaigun-taisa Kiyohide Shima ordered interception to the battlecruiser and said a prayer!
+ + +
Across the starboard, Kaigun-taisa Kiyohide Shima saw some planes in the sky and they seemed to be heading for the battlecruiser as well. Apparently, not all pilots were incompetent and had recognized the impending catastrophe.
The Russian battlecruiser snapped around a shallow waterhole and opened fire on the Suma!
In the meantime, the last other combat-capable Japanese destroyers did everything they could to keep the enemy destroyers away from the retreating Japanese units, and at the latest after the unplanned air attack with two torpedo hits on the enemy, the Japanese had taken the initiative here as well.
Kaigun-taisa Kiyohide Shima couldn't believe his eyes. The Japanese bombers simply flew on and made no attempt to attack the battlecruiser. What was that supposed to do? He did not even think of dictating anything to the orderly. He ran to the radio booth himself, grabbed the microphone and covered the radio traffic with wild insults!
+ + +
The tantrum seemed to have been of some use. In fact, the bomber squadron turned around and now flew a direct attack on the battlecruiser. But the enemy also still had aircraft ready for action and began to fly attacks on the troop transports as well.
Kaigun-taisa Kiyohide Shima was boiling with anger because the Japanese bombers now seemed to be flying after the Russian bombers. What were the pilots thinking? Didn't they realize that they were enemy bombers or had they recognized exactly that and did they want to prevent the Russian bomber attack?
The confusion was maximally perfect!
Kaigun-taisa Kiyohide Shima kept his light cruisers at a distance and hoped that the destroyers would succeed in a successful attempt. He no longer counted on the bombers!
+ + +
The battlecruiser had an easy time with the Japanese ships. A heavy hit was enough to take the Suma out of the fray. Kaigun-taisa Kiyohide Shima could only hope that the rest of the ships would pull off a feat, otherwise the invading troops would still have a hard time.
To the astonishment of Kaigun-taisa Kiyohide Shima, the Japanese pilots seemed to have finally understood which ship to attack and at least they got the enemy to maneuver with their approaches. This could be the opportunity for the destroyers to save the day.
The enemy fleet carrier was still swimming and was now being attacked by land-based bombers, while Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka had not yet completed the circumnavigation of this formation. He wanted to sink the two light carriers, but could not ignore the opponent to the north. Once the fleet carrier had finally sunk, his escort had nothing else to do but attack the Japanese heavy cruisers, and then he found himself between two enemy formations. He wanted to avoid that, no matter how much he wanted to rush at the light carriers.
+ + +
Two battered destroyers turned away from the enemy without success. After all, the battlecruiser had turned south, now that Japanese destroyers were heading towards it from three other directions. And then finally the bombers attacked the battlecruiser. It was now even two seasons that had possibly tried to coordinate all the time?
What to think of the 帝国海軍航空隊 (Teikoku Kaigun Kōkūtai - Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force) had to be evaluated by the Admiralty. Kaigun-taisa Kiyohide Shima could now at least watch as the pilots put six torpedoes into the Russian battlecruiser and that should be the end of this ship.
The destroyers could now take over the mopping up in peace.
While Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi could hardly believe his luck that these good-for-nothing pilots had prevented a catastrophe at exactly the right moment, Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka had to admit to himself that the first reports about the sinking of the fleet carrier had been too optimistic. The wearer was still swimming and didn't sink any lower. He still had to improve here. After all, for whatever reason, the escort ships had left and thus cleared the way.
The torpedo bombers had left the Russian battlecruiser motionless, the Japanese destroyers completed the work of destruction and completely torpedoed the hull of the giant over a length of several meters with their torpedoes. The sinking was now only a matter of time and it would probably be sooner rather than later.
+ + +
The next few minutes the battle was again quite tough. However, this changed with the unpleasant appearance of further enemy aircraft, which seemed to be looking for stricken Japanese destroyers as targets.
After all, the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force had sown blood after the last attack and were also trying to achieve further successes. However, when approaching the remaining Russian light aircraft carriers, they were discovered and attacked by enemy fighter planes.
+ + +
As suspected, the end for the battlecruiser came quickly. In the meantime it was clear that no other large units of the enemy were present in this battle area. Apart from scattered destroyers, there was nothing left here that posed a danger. Thus, in fact, only the two light aircraft carriers of the Russian fleet remained, which could cause trouble with their bombers.
Apart from the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force's own aircraft, only the Mogami and Suzuya could do anything against these ships, and these two cruisers were slowly but surely running out of ammunition.
For the Japanese bombers, however, the large and wide flight decks were a perfect target for achieving success even with little ammunition. Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka saw through his binoculars how a large group of Japanese bombers plunged down from a height onto the Russian carriers, almost giving the impression of crashing into the carriers himself, only to pull up seconds before impact and release their bombs – boom – hit – he could no longer observe the remaining aircraft because of the cloud of fire.
+ + +
It was now shortly before ten o'clock in the morning and a few minutes ago the Japanese carriers had come within sight of Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi. He had decided to mingle with the Kidō Butai in order to benefit from their hunting protection on the one hand and to be able to summon up firepower on the other hand in case a Russian capital ship should appear unexpectedly.
From the south came the news that the two heavy cruisers had now taken the light carriers under fire and in the center some light cruisers were chasing the Russian destroyers.
Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka had imagined it differently, but it couldn't be changed. The Russian carriers had suddenly lost considerable speed, so that he had caught up with the enemy with his cruisers. This was probably intentional, because it was now within the range of the artillery of the light carriers and the Russian crews knew how to handle it.
+ + +
Then the next long-winded phase began with a few meetings and time-consuming maneuvering back and forth.
+ + +
In the end, however, the light carriers simply had too few guns to be able to inflict serious damage on the Japanese cruisers. So Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka simply needed time to fight down the enemy.
+ + +
It was not until shortly after eleven o'clock that the first light carrier was sinking, and Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka wondered if his ammunition stocks were sufficient to carry the second light carrier to the bottom of the sea? At least other Japanese carrier aircraft came to his aid, even if they took the already sinking carrier as their target as another brilliant achievement.
+ + +
Half an hour later, Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka at least had visual contact with the second light carrier again. Whether he still had enough ammunition available would therefore soon become apparent.
To the disappointment, however, it was only one of the escort destroyers, whom his artillery stopped with a magnificent shot with only one hit. The rest was hard work.
+ + +
In the end, the missing carrier was found in the tangle of the South Korean islands, where he tried to hide together with another destroyer.
After the last events, Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi ordered all combat-capable ships to swarm out and finally sink all detected enemy ships. In his opinion, major problems were no longer to be expected. At best, chance hits by enemy bombers might still be a danger, and this danger would also diminish hour by hour.
+ + +
Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka did not need an order to search for and sink enemy ships. He was still behind the last enemy aircraft carrier with the two cruisers and his problem was the ammunition supply. He had long since decided to reduce the distance considerably, even if he did not know whether the destroyer escort still had torpedoes or not. He urgently needed to increase his hit rate and this could only be achieved by a short distance to the enemy.
+ + +
Shortly after thirteen o'clock local time, several enemy ships were spotted near the sinking site of the Takao. Course calculations quickly revealed that these had to be the escort ships of the sunken Russian fleet carrier. Like the battlecruiser before them, these ships tried to sneak north close to land.
Someone on the Russian side had probably realized to throw everything that could still sail towards the invasion fleet. This realization probably came many hours too late, or the person who was now in command had been aware of it all along, but the previous superiors had probably been of a different opinion.
+ + +
After the sinking of the Russian battlecruiser, the air forces of the Kidō Butai had consolidated as much as possible and flew up and down the sea area in squadron formation if possible in order to be able to react quickly to sightings. Thus, it took just under an hour for several bombers to attack over the rediscovered Russian escort ships and score their first hits.
+ + +
The Russian destroyer had run away and preferred to try to save itself instead of protecting the aircraft carrier, and maybe that had been the only right thing to do, because it was simply no match for the two Japanese cruisers. Thus, Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka had free rein to sink the last light carrier.
For the two light cruisers on a northerly course, fate was also sealed. After a few but effective bomb hits, both ships began to lay smoke screens and at the same time had to admit their critical condition. Here, too, it was now only a matter of time.
+ + +
Around fifteen o'clock only a light cruiser of the enemy was still able to make some speed. All the other ships lay more or less motionless in the sea or sailed so slowly that the current had an easy time with them. Everyone had to endure a moderate but constant barrage.
+ + +
Whenever Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi was sure that there would be no more surprises, he was proven wrong! Even now, previously undiscovered ships appeared on the scene, but as slowly as they crept north, they were already badly damaged ships.
But one thing was clear – a ship is only sunk when it has been confirmed to have sunk!
So it was only the old doctrine according to which it was right to fire at an enemy until it had sunk irrevocably. Otherwise, even severely damaged ships would always appear unexpectedly somewhere. He didn't have to look at the enemy at all. Currently, many of his own destroyers are limping to the nearest base, some of them at a speed of only one or two knots. Some had holes in the hull big enough to pass through with a launch, but they swam and made speed!
+ + +
After two air torpedo hits, one of the two enemy light cruisers finally sank into the sea. Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka had let go of the burning aircraft carrier in the meantime and chased after the fleeing destroyer to use his few remaining shells for this target. Much to his delight, its captain accepted the battle, but the Suzuya felt it.
Then the artillery control center of the Mogami reported that the last shell had been fired!
+ + +
The battle had now dragged on for more hours and the evening was approaching. It wouldn't be too long until dusk and almost all ships in battle either had no ammunition left or only small remaining stocks.
In the end, the Bombers scored important goals again. The second light cruiser broke in two when one of the dive bombers placed its payload directly in the middle of the ship and then disappeared back into the air with a victory gesture.
Kaigun-taisa Michitarō Tozuka had lost sight of his goal when a fog bank was approaching, and accordingly frustrated he set course for Sasebo.
+ + +
The bombers also completed the last act with a series of hits on a destroyer, which immediately lost speed and remained stranded. A good twenty minutes later, the ship capsized and sank. After that, the Japanese units shifted to picking up shipwrecked people from both sides. Before the order for the general march back to Japan was given by Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi at about eighteen o'clock.
+ + +
Shortly after eighteen o‘clock, the light cruiser Chitose picked up some leftovers on the wreckage of the heavy cruiser Takao. Among them was the badly injured Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji, and the captain of the Chitose was unsure whether fate had been good or bad for Gotō Eiji?
Dusk set in about fifteen minutes before nineteen o'clock, and an hour and a half later darkness silenced the darkest day in the history of the tsar's fleet.
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi declared the battle over and he knew that he had practically completely destroyed the Russian East Asia Fleet except for very few ships - which were still approaching somewhere!
Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Wednesday, May 22, 1935
It was getting late, but Osaki Satoshi was still engrossed in huge stacks of paper that stood on his desk. He rummaged through all the documents that had anything to do with Korea and occupations by foreign powers. Which armies have sought their way to Korea so far and how have they done so?
In fact, most of the invasions against the empires on the Korean Peninsula were not very successful. But stubborn opponents managed to do this from time to time.
The last significant attempt on the part of Japan led back to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who tried for six years from 1592 to 1598 to subjugate Korea, then called Joseon, which he did not succeed in.
"Toyotomi Hideyoshi" whispered Osaki Satoshi, because this name commanded some reverence in Japan. Toyotomi Hideyoshi was responsible for the flourishing of the samurai, but also for a good thirty years without a shogunate. The centuries before there were only very short periods without a shogun. It was only after the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi that Tokugawa Ieyasu succeeded in establishing a new shogunate, and this was the last one, which lasted until 1867. The Tokugawa shogunate was the last episode of ancient feudal Japan. Significant events in Japanese history took place during this period.
The village of Edo, for example, was a tiny fishing port of no major importance. Tokugawa Ieyasu nevertheless made it the administrative seat of his shogunate and to this day it has remained the administrative seat of Japan, even though it is now referred to as Tōkyō (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edo_period).
Then Osaki Satoshi's mind jumped and he whispered, "What a coincidence!"
"It all goes back to this Anjin-san..." he continued to whisper.
This Anjin-san had a significant influence on Tokugawa Ieyasu and ultimately it was this Anjin-san who built the first modern Japanese sailing ship of European design.
"Actually, this could have been the beginning..." Satoshi continued...
"... but then came the 鎖国 (sakoku – the time of the closure of Japan)..."
"Where would Japan be, where would the Japanese fleet be today without the sakoku?"
Osaki Satoshi had a questioning face!
Only now - three hundred years after this Anjin-san had built Japan's first truly ocean-going ships - did the Japanese Empire once again have ships on a par with other great seafaring nations (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams_(samurai)).
"Only now – we have been asleep for three hundred years..."
"Rampampammpammm" it suddenly thundered out of the radio, which had been playing quietly in the background.
"The High Command of the Imperial Japanese Navy announces:"
"Today, on the twenty-second of May, combined naval and air forces of the Imperial Japanese Navy have transported the remnants of the fleet of the Russian Tsarist Empire to the bottom of the sea in an eighteen-hour naval battle. At the same time, the daring soldiers of the Marine Infantry and the Imperial Army have begun an invasion of Korea. South of Chemulpo, the Imperial troops successfully landed, which was considered impossible! Soon the Korean Peninsula will be under the control of its rightful owner and the European imperialists will be expelled."
+ + +
Osaki Satoshi sorted his thoughts in a flash. Damn how right he was that it had to happen soon with Korea and now it had happened. Certainly, this pompous radio broadcast full of dripping national pride was only to be taken seriously to a limited extent, but he hoped very soon to hear from his son again exactly what had happened there during the day.
He got up and ran to the door, but before he got there, it swung open and his editors squeezed through into his office.
"Get to work. You've heard it – south of Chemulpo – get maps and check the archive to see if we have any photos of this region? We'll do it like last time – we'll deliver photos and maps! What the radio can't do!"
As quickly as the room had filled, it had been empty again. Nevertheless, his thoughts went round in circles – he now had not only the military and their secrets as an enemy, but also the radio, which disputed his position.
He knew that he could never be that fast, extra sheet or not. But comprehensive details, he could provide that, he had to provide that!
Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Thursday, May 23, 1935
The Japanese were considered dignified, level-headed and calm, who could not be easily disturbed. Even the simplest everyday things often followed stringent rituals that consistently prevented surprising and emotional behavior. Outbursts of anger were an extremely private matter that even the closest family circle did not always notice.
When Osaki Satoshi picked up one of his predecessor's old vases and hurled it against the door of his office, his editors outside the office first thought it was an attack. The vase smashed through the glass pane of the door with force, flew across the corridor and smashed with a loud crash on the shelf opposite. Everyone quickly ran to the boss, only to hear the worst rant that had ever been heard in modern Tōkyō.
Then Osaki Satoshi looked up questioningly from a pile of newspapers and spoke only one word:
"How?"
Only minutes earlier, one of the errand boys had gone to Satoshi's office and placed several extra sheets of the competition on his desk, which were already being sold on the street. But it wasn't the fact that the competition was faster to put the latest news on paper, no, it was the content.
Several editors stared at the spread out newspapers and understood immediately.
Pictures 173 to 177: Title pages of Japanese daily newspapers on May 23, 1935
Sources: AI image generated by the author of this AAR
Then such a violent screaming spread that the employees from the other floors now also became aware and stormed into Osaki Satoshi's editorial offices.
As suddenly as the riot had started, it fell silent again. Then one of the young editors took the floor:
"Boss – how can that be? Where did the other publishers get these photos from?"
Osaki Satoshi turned his head to his editor:
"I don't know, I don't know where these Pictures come from."
Then he looked at the edition of the Tōkyō Shinbun, which he was about to release for printing, and said:
"That's crap, we can pack up. No extra sheet, the extra sheet is cancelled today!"
+ + +
>> Memorandum of Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi on the invasion of South Korea, May 22, 1935 <<
Honored officers and members of the 大本営 (Daihon'ei),
I'll report! The invasion of South Korea was a great success! In the meantime, our troops have advanced further and there is no trace of enemy resistance. The plan will succeed!
However, what happened during the naval and air battles was also memorable. This encounter should never have happened and enemy reconnaissance has completely failed here! The fact that Japan emerged as a lucky actor in the first minutes of the battle can and must be described as a fateful coincidence.
If the formations had been only a few nautical miles off, or if the Russian torpedoes had found their targets and not the Japanese, it would have been a disaster and we would have lost the best infantrymen in Japan.
The fact that neither the secret service nor the daily aerial reconnaissance knew even the slightest hint of enemy movements must have consequences.
And this brings us to the topic of the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force.
I'm at a loss for words!
I don't know how to describe the achievements of the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force? On the one hand, the start of the air operations came far too late to develop direct benefits, but when the first wave had achieved its goals, there were enough hits to put the opponent on the defensive.
After all, this has enabled our destroyers and battleships to inflict considerable damage on the enemy and escort the transports to their destination in a largely safe manner. However – and this must be emphasized – this was due in no small part to the Russian commander's lack of foresight and little assertiveness. The existential threat of the troop transports was latent for hours and we must probably attribute it to karma that the happier ending was on our side.
After the first exchange of blows, however, I have to attest to a complete failure of the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force. The second wave arrived uncoordinated and disorganized over the combat area and the pilots lacked any self-evident information regarding position and classification reports. There was no chance to say which ships had been sighted and attacked where. Several times it seemed that my own battleships became the target of our bombers, only to see that the planes turned away at the last moment to regroup.
However – and this is what makes the whole battle so incredibly bitter – our bombers were once in the perfect place at the perfect time and produced outstanding hits against the enemy.
Without this successful attack by the torpedo bombers on the Russian battlecruiser 'Oleg', which had already sunk our heavy cruiser Takao, we would certainly not only have lost several destroyers and light cruisers, but certainly also all transports and with them at least half of our soldiers.
Throughout the day, our pilots did not really succeed in a sufficient attack, only in this one moment, when a successful air attack decided the weal and woe of the entire invasion, the naval air force was able to show what is possible.
And this - and this is the clear and irrefutable essence of this day - was also complete coincidence!
Gentlemen – it cannot go on like this. It must be clarified whether this is simply due to a lack of experience and training – or worse – whether it is due to defective aircraft. The worst, however, would be the fact if naval aviation pursues fundamentally wrong strategies and tactics or if disastrous whites cannot achieve continuously better results in principle.
I recommend that the 大本営 (Daihon'ei) set up a commission of inquiry as soon as possible, which will relentlessly take on all concerns of naval aviation in order to make an independent judgment on the future of aircraft carriers within the Imperial Japanese Navy.
It remains to be noted as a side note that on the twenty-second of May we saw a classic artillery duel and the massive use of torpedo attacks that were supposedly never to happen again. To my regret, I had to be convinced of the moderate usefulness of the 18inch guns of my flagship. When our 18inch shells found their target, the impact was devastating, especially at shorter distances. However, the cadence and consequently the hit rate of these guns were far too low. The designers had promised more here than was ultimately kept. The installation of 18inch guns should be reconsidered. The announcements regarding the imminent availability of better 16inch guns make this caliber appear to be the better one in the future, if new battleships should be built at all.
Of course, despite all the criticism that has been voiced, it must not be overlooked that we have almost completely destroyed the Russian East Asia Squadron. If the information of the secret service is correct, the Russians still have four destroyers present in Northeast Asia and two battlecruisers in Southeast Asia.
We must take advantage of this momentum of the impossibility of Russian interventions and I await your further orders for the next course of action in this war!
+ + +
Thus, the officers of the 軍令部 (Gunreibu) of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the 参謀本部 (Sambō hombu) of the Imperial Japanese Army, as well as the 海軍省 (Kaigun-shō) may take note of the prepared and illustrated course of the battle for the invasion of South Korea on May 22, 1935 of the year.
Long live the Rengō Kantai, long live the Imperial Japanese Navy, long live the Emperor!
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi, May 24, 1935
+ + +
Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Saturday, May 25, 1935
It had taken two days to find the photographer and he hadn't really come to the Tōkyō Shinbun publishing house voluntarily. Osaki Satoshi listened to the photographer's story for two hours and slammed his clenched fist on his desk several times. Then he released the man from this regular interrogation and paid him respect.
He had to do that, because this photographer was a devil of a guy. He couldn't blame the photographer either, how could he? It wasn't the photographer who had made a fool of him, it was the other publishers.
Time and time again, the Tōkyō Shinbun had been the fastest and best-informed newspaper. If you wanted to know what had happened, read the Tōkyō Shinbun. Other publishers had almost always been left behind, because Osaki Satoshi had always been at least one step ahead of them and Osaki Satoshi's good connection to the Ministry of the Navy was almost legendary.
In fact, all the other publishers had joined forces, because one alone would never have been able to finance this undertaking. The competing publishers had actually acquired an old aircraft, hired a pilot and hired this photographer. For this purpose, several sailors were bribed to obtain information. When these informants made it clear that something big was imminent, the photographer and pilot were put on the plane and sent on their way.
Sure, a thousand things could have gone wrong, but that wasn't the case, much to Satoshi's annoyance. It was easy, it was dangerous, and it was now clear that the military police had been very rough with some of the publishing directors, but the coup against the Tōkyō Shinbun had succeeded.
The competing publishers had opened with real photos of the events of the invasion. The plane, pilot and photographer had made a daring flight, taken some photos from the air and by the ground troops, even received jet fuel with the greatest impudence and made their way back to Japan.
While Osaki Satoshi had listened to the special report on the radio, the competition was already developing the photographs.
For Osaki Satoshi, for the Tōkyō Shinbun, it was a disaster across the board. The other newspapers had real Pictures of the front, while he only wanted to have a Picture artist "paint" something again.
This time the others were better, he had to acknowledge that. Full of anger at the radio, he had been blind to the fact that the work of newspaper editors also had to change. How simple but ingenious was the idea of capturing news and Pictures directly on site and transporting them by plane faster than you could think?
He should have had this idea, such actions had been his collar size. He felt old and sickly, he had been beaten and defeats were not part of his repertoire so far!
Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Monday, May 27, 1935
The shock was deep and Osaki Satoshi had anything but recovered from it. A smile came to his face when there was a knock on the door and his son Giichi was standing outside the door. No new pane had yet been inserted into the door and so he had a clear view of the outside.
Giichi entered, and Satoshi rushed at him to embrace him. But he noticed right away that something was wrong.
"Were you also present at this battle?"
"No, father, you know that the navy denied me seaworthiness after my deployment on the Hirado."
"Oh yes, so your seasickness also has something good."
"Something good?"
"Here on land, your life is less in danger than at sea. I still don't know if anything happened to your brother? I had hoped that he would tell me personally again what happened?"
"Okada is doing well, the Minister of the Navy told me personally. The Akagi has entered Wēihǎiwèi to bunker and then go straight back to sea to provide air support to our troops."
"Oh, that's a pity, I thought he would have time to visit me again. But so your work in the Navy Ministry is paying off?"
"Since I see the minister every day, I am well informed. So there will be no more problems with photos. The Kempeitai turned everything upside down in the other publishing houses and threatened charges of high treason and the pilot of this undertaking was unceremoniously drafted!"
"That's good, good – thank you for telling me that. But then why do you look so sad?"
"Don't you know?"
"Knowledge? What to know?"
"Katsu and Shiko will be transferred to the front!"
"WHAT?"
"So they didn't tell you?"
"I haven't seen your two younger brothers in months. They have not been at home since the outbreak of the war."
"Yes, there is nowhere near as much freedom in the marines as in the naval air force."
"Why did the two of them have to volunteer after their military service!"
"Well! You weren't so worried about me and Okada!"
"You're on land in the ministry, the last place where the Russians can do anything and your brother Okada is – as I've been told – one of the most capable fighter pilots in the whole country. He can take care of himself on his own. But with the infantry, you're just cannon fodder, nothing else."
"Things are going well in Korea. So far, our troops have advanced without much resistance. That's why we urgently need more soldiers there now, otherwise the front will be overstretched."
"Do you know when they embark?"
"They already have that, they would have to be disembarked in Korea in the course of the day."
"Then I'm calling it a day now, there's not much new at the moment anyway. Will you come home with me? It's going to be a hard day for your mother."
"Yes, I'll come with you, I don't have to be back at the ministry until tomorrow morning."
+ + +
Editors of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Sunday, June 2, 1935
Osaki Satoshi sat thoughtfully in his office. The publisher's own craftsmen had repaired his door in the meantime, but that didn't matter today. Apart from him, there was no one present in the editorial office, so it was almost deathly quiet. Only from the open window did the noise of the street reach his ears, but he did not perceive it either. The last few days had been hard because his wife Natsuko couldn't stop crying since he had told her that both younger twins were in Korea.
It had been an unusually warm cloudless summer day for the beginning of June, which was now replaced by an oppressive sultriness towards evening. Lightning could already be seen in the distance and the storm was slowly but steadily approaching from the direction of the Bōsō Peninsula.
At first he didn't even notice it, but then even a dead man couldn't ignore it anymore – dead – in the last few days everything revolved around this word. Someone literally banged on the door. He didn't come in to say, he noticed that a Picture was already opening up in front of his desk. He looks at...
"Giichi?"
"Good day, honorable father!"
"Giichi – what – what is? Otherwise you won't come by for weeks and now twice within a week?"
"I thought I'd tell you right away! You should get your employees, right now!"
"What? Why?"
"We have taken Korea, nobody knows yet. The Russian garrison surrendered without a fight."
"Without a fight?"
"Without a fight – yes – there were no fights. This doesn't mean that Katsu and Shiko are safe and sound, but let's assume that they are."
"Is that true?"
"Yes, that's it—you should fire up the printing presses for an extra sheet. Even the radio doesn't know anything about it yet, so you should hurry! The photos here are from the day of the invasion, but no one notices when the Pictures are now printed for a victory announcement."
Suddenly, Osaki Satoshi's negative mood was gone. He took no further notice of his son, but reached for the telephone. Although telephones were far from being standard, they were still widely used. His editors and other important employees of the Tōkyō Shinbun all had a telephone, and one by one he called everyone and ordered his people to the publishing house. Since the large stone building promised some cooling from the humidity, they were only too happy to comply with the instruction.
Picture 178: Japanese soldiers after the victory
Source: AI image generated by the author of this AAR
>> Battle of the Cruiser off British Malaya 11 June 1935 <<
Kaigun-taisa Takagi Takeo had been given command of the battlecruiser Ikoma only a few days ago. After embarking in Takao, he had left Formosa only five days ago with the order to disrupt the enemy's trade at the eastern entrance to the Strait of Malacca.
The second mission, and only Kaigun-taisa Takagi Takeo knew it, was to act as an outpost. If, and this was to be expected, the Italian fleet were to make an advance into Asia, then it would almost certainly pass through the Strait of Malacca.
The Ikoma was built for such tasks. Fast enough to break away from superior forces and strong enough to be able to fight smaller units.
Ikoma had not taken a direct course, but had snapped back and forth several times. If the ship was discovered, mainly by British reconnaissance, they would hardly be able to tell the Russians or Italians anything meaningful, if they would do so at all.
In the last thirty-six hours, the Ikoma cruised off the Riau Islands without having discovered anything interesting. In the morning hours of the eleventh of June, this changed when the lookout reported smoke on the horizon.
The nearest Japanese base was Saint Jaques in Cochinchina. The expansion of the base was still in full swing since it had been taken over by France as a tribute, but there was still a sizeable force of the 帝国陸軍航空隊 (Teikoku Rikugun Kōkūtai - Imperial Japanese Army Air Forces). However, the Ikoma was just outside the range of the aircraft of the base, so that support from the air was not to be expected.
Whatever Kaigun-taisa Takagi Takeo had discovered, the Ikoma had to be enough for him to deal with it.
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Kaigun-taisa Takagi Takeo ordered an interception course and the launch of the Ikoma sea reconnaissance aircraft to get at least a slightly better overview. Relatively quickly, Ikoma was able to approach the contact, as he was probably also curious about who arrived there and therefore did not attempt to escape.
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Faster than expected, the target could be classified as an Italian light cruiser and thus it was clear that Russia's ally had indeed advanced into East Asia. Since the enemy was already within range of the Ikoma's main guns, Kaigun-taisa Takagi Takeo immediately opened fire!
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The Italian captain understood very quickly that he had problems and turned away. Now there was a question to be answered: Was this a lone driver chasing Japanese merchant ships, or was this light cruiser part of a reconnaissance division of the Italian battle fleet?
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Ikoma went along with the change of course and was able to score a first goal. This already slowed down the enemy, so that further hits were not long in coming.
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An hour after the start of the battle, the Ikoma had almost caught up with the enemy, so Kaigun-taisa Takagi Takeo ordered smaller, quick changes of course to reduce the risk of torpedoes. However, there was not much resistance.
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After a series of direct hits, the light cruiser began to fog, but this was not to help the ship much. Only minutes later there were signs that the light cruiser began to sink.
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Less than two hours after sighting the enemy, Kaigun-taisa Takagi Takeo noted in the Ikoma logbook:
„Enemy light cruiser Ancona-class of the Regia Marina sinks over stern while continuing to fire. Approach to rescue shipwrecked people because of hostile behavior despite distress at sea is omitted out of self-protection.“
>> Memorandum of Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi on the cruiser battle off British Malaya 11 June 1935 <<
Honored officers and members of the 大本営 (Daihon'ei),
I'll report! There are not many words to say about the cruiser battle off British Malaya today. Kaigun-taisa Takagi Takeo has received an assignment and he has fulfilled this assignment. The battlecruiser Ikoma was able to successfully bring its design specifications to bear and fully met the expectations regarding its original mission.
Now that it has been established that the Regia Marina is only intervening in this war with a few light forces, all possibilities are open to us. However, since our invasion capacities in the south are not sufficient to drive Russia out of there by force, a negotiated solution may promise more success!
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Thus, the officers of the 軍令部 (Gunreibu) of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the 参謀本部 (Sambō hombu) of the Imperial Japanese Army, and the 海軍省 (Kaigun-shō) may take note of the prepared and illustrated course of the battle for the cruiser battle off British Malaya on June 11, 1935 of the year.
Long live the Rengō Kantai, long live the Imperial Japanese Navy, long live the Emperor!
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi, June 11, 1935
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Editors of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Tuesday, June 11, 1935
The extra sheet on the events off British Malaya was on the street, but it was a thin extra sheet. To provide at least some content, the Tōkyō Shinbun explained what the appearance of the Regia Marina in Southeast Asia meant. The battlecruiser Ikoma was shown in detail on a complete page, plus the biographies of Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi and Kaigun-taisa Takagi Takeo.
However, Osaki Satoshi had thought about it and he had dared something new to regain the lost position of the Tōkyō Shinbun on the road.
The last page of the extra sheet was dedicated to a look into the future!
He predicted that there would be a peace agreement within four weeks at most, and that nothing really significant would come out of it. This was a provocation, because Japan could hardly tolerate Russia being allowed to keep the island of Bougainville, but Satoshi only needs to look at the maps to know that the Imperial Japanese Navy could not land there on its own. So Russia had no reason to hand over the island and there were no other targets for Japan. Vladivostok was too heavily fortified and the garrison was enormous. An invasion of Vladivostok was hopeless. Russia no longer had a fleet, Italy largely stayed out of it and Japan could no longer land anywhere.
This meant that there was no longer any reason for war and this statement hit the street like a bomb!
Osaki Satoshi had made it, at least for the moment. The Tōkyō Shinbun was on everyone's lips that evening and the thin extra sheet sold better than any issue had sold for a long time. He would not be able to land such a coup again and his predictions still had to come true.
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Editorial office of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Monday, July 1, 1935
It came exactly as Osaki Satoshi had fabulated it and it came exactly in the time frame he had mentioned. The editors had used the time to write a comprehensive extra sheet, in which only the date and the official photo had to be inserted. When the government announced the conclusion of the peace negotiations, it took only minutes for the printing presses to rotate.
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Extra sheet of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Monday, July 1, 1935
>> PEACE – THE WAR IS OVER – RUSSIA HAS SURRENDERED! <<
Japan has put the European aggressor in its place!
Due to his hopeless situation in Asia, the envoy from Moscow to the Japanese Foreign Ministry signed a peace treaty with Japan today. Russia renounces the return of Korea and will not make any claims in Asia for the next ten years. In the presence of representatives of the Imperial Japanese Army, Russia handed over all documents on the defense installations in Korea. This will allow our troops to take complete possession of the peninsula without danger to life and limb. The negotiations were concluded so quickly that the envoy from Rome has not even arrived in Japan. However, it was announced that Rome had signalled that it would not pursue any further ambitions in Asia and that the loss of the light cruiser Ancona would not stand in the way of a peace agreement.
Picture 180: Russia's envoy signs the peace treaty with Japan
Source: AI image generated by the author of this AAR
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Imperial Japanese Navy awards the 旭日単光章 (Kyokujitsu tankōshō - Order of the Rising Sun) to the pilots of the Kidō Butai who sank the Russian battlecruiser Oleg. It was only thanks to the daring efforts of these fearless young men that the invasion of South Korea was successful. Just as the battlecruiser Oleg was on its way to attack the Japanese invasion fleet, these pilots sank the Russian battlecruiser.
Picture 181: Russia's envoy signs the peace treaty with Japan
Source: AI image generated by the author of this AAR
>> Memorandum of Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi on the Third Russo-Japanese War of 1935 <<
Honored officers and members of the 大本営 (Daihon'ei),
In deep gratitude for the tasks entrusted to me, I have the privilege of sharing my experience with you as a commanding officer in the Third Russo-Japanese War.
We have significantly influenced the outcome of this conflict in our favour with our surprise air attack on Vladivostok. This allowed us to invade South Korea quickly. The fact that there was an unexpected confrontation with the enemy could have ended in disaster, but it became perhaps the most successful naval battle of the Imperial Japanese Navy ever.
This is due to a dashing luck, but also to our superior ship designs. And yes, also of the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force, even if their results are to be viewed very ambivalently. Our pilots certainly made the magnificent victories possible off Vladivostok and South Korea, but our destroyers and cruisers did the job. This would not have been possible with the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force alone.
So you can literally speak of a 聯合艦隊 (Rengō Kantai - Combined Fleet).
I think this combination is expedient!
With the current state of the carrier air force, I consider it dangerous to focus solely on aircraft carriers. For the sole reason that our aircraft cannot be used operationally in the dark, a pure fleet of aircraft carriers and some escort ships would be doomed to death in a night battle with cruisers or battleships.
We should therefore structure the role of our fleet in such a way that new capital ships are also designed and built, even if only as heavily armed escorts of our aircraft carriers.
Long live the Rengō Kantai, long live the Imperial Japanese Navy, long live the Emperor!
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi, July 5, 1935
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#014 Focusing on the future of Asia
Editors of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Saturday, July 6, 1935
Osaki Satoshi sat alone in the editorial office. The whole week since the end of the war had flown by with celebrations and receptions. Today alone he finally had time to rest. He looked at the issues of the Tōkyō Shinbun from the last five days, which contained a reappraisal of the events of the last six months. In addition, officers and soldiers who had distinguished themselves were honored.
It filled him with pride that his son Okada had been among them. Okada had a few plane kills to his name, but also distinguished himself as a lifesaver for his squadron mates and in protecting the bombers, even if this had not always come into play in successful shoot-downs of enemy aircraft.
Just as Kaigun-taisa Genda Minoru had been promoted to Kaigun-shōshō and had now become the head of all pilot training in the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force, Okada had also risen through the ranks. As Kaigun-taisa he was now responsible for the training of fighter pilots as a direct subordinate of Genda Minoru.
His son Giichi, on the other hand, was stuck in the rank of Kaigun-shōsa and worked in the Ministry of the Navy in the field of communications. However, Satoshi had only found out on the day of the peace treaty and now understood why Giichi was so damn well informed about everything. Almost all reports from the fleets passed through his desk and from there often directly to the Minister of the Navy or vice versa. He knew the decrypted messages, which certainly did not apply to many people. In fact, his relationship with Giichi was much less close than that with Okada. Of course, he knew that Giichi had attended radio school after his inglorious performance on board ships, but he didn't know that Giichi had become an excellent radio technician. Now it all made sense, since Giichi had a lot to do with encryption and also with the secret service, secrecy and secrecy were among his most important virtues, so to speak.
"Is that why we were so often silent for hours?"
Osaki Satoshi whispered to himself.
The other two twins – Katsu and Shiko – were 5 years younger and both served with the rank of Kaigun-tai-i in the 特別陸戦隊 (Tokubetsu riku sentai - Special Landing Forces of the Navy). Unfortunately for their parents, both had been seconded to the 4th Yokosuka Special Landing Unit, so they were always on the road together. If something happened to one of the two brothers, the risk was astronomically high that the same would happen to the second. Both served in the 2nd company, but each in a different platoon as platoon leaders.
The Special Landing Forces of the Imperial Japanese Navy were the spearhead of landing operations. If there was a place to be guaranteed to die, it was with the Special Landing Forces. Satoshi was correspondingly agitated, although the guns had been silent for a week now. He had heard of several killed Japanese soldiers who had fallen victim to Russian snipers who did not want to resign themselves to defeat. One or the other also stepped on booby traps, which were still fully effective.
No, he was sure!
Only when both were back in Japan could he fully rest.
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The afternoon was well advanced when Osaki Satoshi began to look at the latest news and think about the future of Japan and Asia.
War has always been a driver of innovation, and this one has hardly been any different. The aviation industry in particular became an increasingly important industry, with steadily increasing production capacities. Kawasaki in particular stood out at the moment and the fighter plane that his son had raved about not so long ago would soon be retired. The new Kawasaki Myojo was worlds better based on the files.
Then his gaze wandered to the map of the world. He quickly realized that the Imperial Japanese Navy had a problem. The range for effective invasions was too short. In the north, the only interesting destination was Kamchatka, which was much less well fortified than Vladivostok. But there was a lack of reach. It was hardly any different in the south. British Malaya was just within reach, as were the remnants of French Indochina.
The Philippines was no longer meaningfully vulnerable, and the United States of America was a formidable adversary that had stayed out of it all for the past 35 years. The US Navy was able to rearm at its leisure without ever having been called upon. However, this also meant that the US Navy had little practical experience.
A giant who may not have known how to fight?
And in the South Pacific, the Japanese possession was far away from any other enemy.
What could the Navy do? Research to be able to carry out further invasions, but otherwise? In order to cement Japan's claim to power and free Asia from the yoke of the European and US imperialists, it was actually obvious:
"Southeast Asia – everything else makes no sense for Japan!"
it slipped softly out of Satoshi's mouth...
"Exactly!"
Osaki Satoshi started in shock and almost fell off his chair. He was just able to cling to the edge of his desk, then he felt two strong hands gripping him. He hadn't noticed that someone had entered and was standing next to him, so engrossed was he in his thoughts about the cards.
"Giichi!"
"Father — mother asked me to look after you — did you forget dinner?"
"Dinner?"
Again it went through Satoshi and this time the shock was fundamentally deep. He had really forgotten about it. He and his wife Natsuko were invited to Miyu's parents.
"What time is it?"
"There is still time if we leave right now!"
This time, Satoshi wouldn't get off so easily. He knew exactly that Natsuko would make sure that he wouldn't forget this shame so quickly! Miyu was Okada's future wife and today he was supposed to meet her parents. If something went wrong, he could either commit seppuku or leave Japan forever.
He dropped everything and followed his son out the door.
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Monday, August 5, 1935
For the rest of July, Natsuko had made sure that Satoshi hadn't spent too much time at the publishing house. Now at the beginning of August, everything had returned to normal and the population enjoyed the summer in Japan, which had been initiated by a severe storm at the beginning of July, but was otherwise moderate. At the beginning of August, however, a significant intensification of the typhoon season had to be expected, as was usual at this time of year.
So now Osaki Satoshi was allowed to go back to his work and he limited himself to the usual collection of naval news from all over the world. There was no way around it, because apparently the entire world seemed to be on summer vacation in Asia after the war.
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Editorial office of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Monday, September 02, 1935
The autumn began with upheavals in parliament. The hardliners demanded more funding for the navy after it announced the scrapping of several submarines. Officially, these U-boats were outdated, but behind closed doors it could be learned that the Navy's budget could not be compensated for by the cuts after the war and that savings had to be made everywhere. The political traditionalists saw this as a danger to Japan, because a weakened fleet supposedly meant the loss of the conquests of the last thirty years. In the end, the navy received more money, but the budget was still not balanced.
Editorial office of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Monday, September 9, 1935
Osaki Satoshi said goodbye to the messenger, who formally thanked him for having successfully completed his assignment. Then he took the envelope which the messenger had brought him, and opened it with exaggerated caution. Under no circumstances did he want to damage the contents.
The photographer was good, but it was a completely different style than the photographers of his publishing house showed. Well, they weren't photos of warships, but the Pictures from last Saturday.
Of course, June would have been best, because the tradition of the June brides was hundreds of years old and very much sought-after, but in June there were still the last fights before peace was concluded. However, waiting any longer – for example for June of the following year – was out of the question.
Okada would soon be thirty-one years old, and that alone was a bad sign. A Japanese who was not yet married at the age of thirty was considered an eccentric at best, but mostly a failure!
The fact that Okada and thus also Giichi were late could perhaps be explained by the upheavals after the Great Tōkyō earthquake, because in the following years Japanese society had other things to do than marry off their children. But now it was time. It had to be and the plan to choose a bride for Giichi at this event seemed to have been successful! Everything strictly according to the お見合い (Omiai).
So now Okada was married and the ceremony, which had been performed in the Butsuzen style, had gone great all in all. Natsuko would have liked a Shintō-style ceremony, but Miyu's family was Buddhist and Okada also felt much more comfortable in his going out uniform than in a hakama, which would have been almost impossible to prevent at a Shintō ceremony.
And then there was Katsu and Shiko, both in their mid-twenties and only returned home from Korea a few days before the wedding. Shiko walked with crutches, because he was nearby when a comrade stepped on a mine and was hit by the detonation. With the two younger twins, it was not allowed to wait until they were also thirty. But it was not yet clear whether Shiko would ever be able to walk normally again and looking for a bride for a cripple would be difficult, very difficult!
Osaki Satoshi sank into his family thoughts and completely forgot what he had planned for the new week.
Picture 182: The wedding couple after leaving the temple
Source: AI image generated by the author of this AAR
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Monday, December 2, 1935
Natsuko had prevailed and seized her chance when she had recognized her. After Satoshi had been in such a family mood after Okada's wedding, she had not only pushed through an extended family vacation, but also that Satoshi took care of the family home. She made it very clear to Satoshi that there would certainly soon be educational tasks for the grandparents as soon as Okada had fulfilled his marital duties to care for offspring.
Almost twenty-six years had passed since they moved into the house at the 多 摩丘陵 (Tama-kyūryū). In the meantime, the place was more densely populated and there were already new buildings nearby, which made a great impression. Although the Osakis' property was still a bit remote, a conversion and renovation were overdue.
As a result, Osaki Satoshi had not entered the editorial office for almost three months. But now he felt that he had fulfilled his family duties and had to take care of his work again. Although his superiors had agreed to his request after three months of vacation, Satoshi was suspicious of this patronage from the outset. He felt that his position in the publishing house was no longer the same as before the war. It took him some time to admit to himself the shame that this time he had been just one of many and no longer the news editor of the past.
So now he sat in his office and realized that at least fate had still been on his side. In fact, there was simply not a single piece of news of importance in the three months of his absence. The boredom was written all over the faces of the employees and everyone was amazed that with the appearance of Osaki Satoshi at his desk, new messages immediately arrived!
The war had only just ended and the military was already starting to ignite again. A collision between a Japanese and a British warship was a perfect match to increase tensions.
Picture 183: Osaki Satoshi's home
Source: AI image generated by the author of this AAR
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Friday, January 3, 1936
Things were going well! The plan to marry Giichi to a niece of Miyu began to take shape. Why shouldn't his twins both marry into the same family? There was agreement among the parents and the spouses simply had no say in it. What didn't work out with Okada and Miyu would certainly be possible with Giichi and Saki now – a wedding in June.
Last but not least, Satoshi somehow found it nice to marry his son Giichi to "Saki", as his family name Osaki already contained the character string Saki. Osaki Giichi and Osaki Saki – that would certainly be a topic of conversation!
Katsu had decided to stay with the 特別陸戦隊 (Tokubetsu riku sentai - Special Landing Forces of the Navy), but Shiko retired from military service due to his injury. For the moment he had brought Shiko to the publishing house, but as a racing reporter he was useless with his broken leg. He would have to come up with something, especially since Natsuko had already hinted that June would be an excellent month for a triple wedding!
Without a good job and with a broken leg, however, hardly any woman befitting her status would dare to enter into marriage.
At least now Shiko trudged in the door and brought the latest news from all over the world to his father.
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Editorial office of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Monday, January 6, 1936
After all, Shiko was busy and had collected the data over the weekend that Osaki Satoshi had demanded from his son. At the turn of the year, there was a large military parade in honor of the successes of the Japanese Empire. In the course of these newspaper articles, Satoshi wanted to clarify the position of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the world and therefore needed all kinds of Pictures and maps.
Picture 184: Great parade in honour of past successes
Source: AI image generated by the author of this AAR
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Tuesday, February 4, 1936
In February, the navy resumed its routine, which had allowed it to rest somewhat since the end of the war. Continued high military expenditures had not been justifiable immediately after the war, but now new bombers were ordered and at the 小野浜造船所 (Onohama Zōsenjo - Kure Naval Shipyard) the signs of new modern aircraft carriers were increasing, even if nothing could be learned about them.
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Wednesday, March 11, 1936
The upheavals in parliament from last fall came to the fore again unexpectedly when the US Navy's newest and most modern heavy cruiser arrived in Yokosuka on its commissioning tour. The hardliners in parliament even said that this cruiser was tantamount to a declaration of war, although this ship could not even compete with the soon to be completed new Japanese heavy cruisers. The Yakumo would probably leave the shipyard as early as April and move to the equipment quay. At 38,000 gross tons, this class of cruisers was in conflict with battleships, but certainly not with this tiny US Navy cruiser.
Nevertheless, the masters of the military retained the upper hand and the budget of the navy was increased again!
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Tuesday, April 21, 1936
The navy got more money, Osaki Satoshi didn't! He had long expected that his large staff would not be able to be maintained after the war. At the beginning of April, the publishing house management had instructed him to release half of his editors. That fell right on his feet because the headlines were piling up in April. As a ray of hope, however, he was allowed to hire his son Shiko, albeit with a pretty low salary. Since Shiko was basically tied to his desk, he was able to do a lot of paperwork and that paid off now. Especially since Shiko could write so quickly that he replaced three editors. For the sake of fairness, of course, only as far as the paperwork was concerned. He couldn't go out and research, he needed some extra work. But errand boys and photographers were cheaper than editors, so it was still worth it.
Since Shiko also lived at home in his parents' house again, it was also very pleasant for Satoshi to be able to maintain a lively exchange of ideas with his son. Also as far as the topic of wives was concerned, because June was approaching!
Satoshi had a woman in mind for Shiko, even if she wasn't entirely befitting of her status. At least it wouldn't be a pure makeshift and together father and son might succeed in convincing Natsuko of the lady as well. It was obvious that Shiko had no objections, because in fact Yuki was even the first choice for him, even if he would never have admitted it because the groom's wishes were not provided for in the parental mediation system.
The fact that Yuki came from the same village and that the two had spent a lot of time together in their childhood had apparently not escaped even Satoshi and that suddenly made his father appear in a completely new light for Shiko.
Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Tuesday, May 6, 1936
Very gradually, tensions in the world rose again. The Grande Nation was accused of quietly and secretly stealing other secret documents as part of a military deal. But it was still quite peaceful in the world, apart from the house blessing of the Osakis. There would indeed be two weddings in a joint ceremony in June, but Natsuko wanted to marry off all three other sons and felt betrayed. The accusation was that Satoshi had not made enough effort to find a wife for Katsu as well.
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Monday, June 29, 1936
The two weddings together went as planned and Natsuko was appeased by the fact that Miyu had announced the happy news of her pregnancy during the ceremony. So now the time had come and Osaki Satoshi could look forward to becoming a grandfather. He took this information outwardly calmly, but inwardly panicked. He couldn't assess the whole thing and decided to throw himself into his work at the publishing house. However, this was sabotaged by criminally few news.
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Friday, July 3, 1936
The dispute over military spending saw its third round at the beginning of July and this time the moderate forces prevailed, which led to a significant reduction in the naval budget. As a result, the Imperial Japanese Navy began to improve its financial capabilities on its own, agreeing to almost any request for arms treaties from even its worst enemies. Everything that could be made into money was turned into money!
The reason quickly became obvious, because the navy awarded more orders at the beginning of July than it had for a long time. Practically all bases outside Japan were expanded and the submarine force was to be fundamentally modernized, for which new submarines were ordered.
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Editors of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Monday, August 10, 1936
The military was still annoyed by the reduced financial leeway and staged some incidents in the Asian region in order to enforce higher allocations. Although this was successful, it did not go unnoticed abroad.
However, Osaki Satoshi could not really take care of the details because the pregnancy of his daughter-in-law Miyu was not without major complications. Stays in hospital were almost the order of the day. Satoshi asked his son Shiko to take on a little more responsibility in the editorial office, but this was visibly difficult for him. In the publishing house, he was made to feel that he was not only the son of the editor-in-chief, but also a cripple.
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Wednesday, September 16, 1936
Osaki Shiko had at least received a lot of practice in putting normal daily reports on paper. The fact that there was hardly anything significant to report made things much easier, but that Tanaka Hiroshi – the deputy editor-in-chief – spent more time finding errors in Shiko's work than making a substantial contribution, even the publisher had noticed. Of course, the boss still did nothing, because he simply considered it Osaki Satoshi's job to keep the editorial office running.
Extra sheet of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Monday, October 5, 1936
>> The European Problem of Asia <<
The Grande Nation Has Learned Nothing - an editorial by Osaki Shiko
Last Friday, the Japanese 22nd Battleship Division, which was highly decorated in the last war, moored three of its four battleships – including the glorious Kawachi – in the port of Marseille. After the end of hostilities with Russia, the Kawachi had set out on an extensive circumnavigation of the world together with the Fuso and Shikishima as well as several cruisers and destroyers in order to let the whole world participate in Japan's Victorious ship constructions.
After the previous stopovers in Singapore, Perth, Sydney, Auckland, San Francisco, Panama City, Lima, Santiago de Chile, Port Stanley, Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, Port-au-Prince, Jacksonville, Norfolk, New York City, Liverpool, Wilhelmshaven, Rotterdam and Barcelona, Marseille was now the first French port on the agenda. Even before the Japanese Fleet Squadron set sail in the Bay of Marseille, it was met with sheer hatred upon arrival. Several dozen smaller and larger yachts signaled their displeasure with the Japanese warships with large banners. Most of the posters were adorned with the slogan: "Le Tonkin n'est pas oublié" - トンキンは忘れられない - Tonkin wa wasurerarenai. Some also give the date: "31 décembre 1921" (1921 年 12 月 31 日).
Of course, December 31, 1921 is also fondly remembered in Japan. It marks the devastating end of the French East Asia Fleet in the Second East Asian Colonial War. A month later, the Grande Nation had capitulated.
But dear readership, that was over fourteen years ago!
Even the British Empire, which also suffered a devastating defeat at the hands of the Japanese Empire, has received our ships with encouraging benevolence. Official relations with France, of course, were never as good as they were before the Second East Asian Colonial War, but they weren't really bad either. It might have been dismissed as an incident of a few civilians who suffered family losses, but in the light of what Vice Admiral Georges Durand-Viel allowed himself to do by the Chef d'état-major de la Marine, it must have been state-organized protests.
On the evening of October 2, Squadron Commander Kaigun-shōshō Inoue Shigeyoshi held a reception for the French dignitaries aboard the Kawachi. Vice Admiral Georges Durand-Viel is quoted on his arrival with the following words of welcome:
"What do you want in France? And no, I don't mean tonight in Marseille!"
The rest of the evening is said to have ended with further taunts by French officials, with the noble restraint of the Japanese officers and crews after the shortest possible time.
The Grande Nation has learned nothing!
What audacity and impudence is it that France still speaks of Southeast Asia as France today? Has this nation learned nothing from the last thirty years? What do these European imperialists think when they visited?
The Japanese Empire liberated the oppressed peoples of Asia!
Not only in French Indochina, but also in the rest of Asia from the yoke of the English, Russians and Germans. But France still has other colonies that are oppressed and it seems to be time for France to learn another lesson. Britain also presents itself as imperialist on many occasions, and only the United States of America has not yet engaged in hostilities beyond meaningless diplomatic notes.
After this affront, we explain in our extra sheet which nations still believe that Asia, including Japan, belongs to them and what steps the glorious Imperial Japanese Navy must take to finally put a stop to this goings-on!
Picture 185: Protests in Marseille
Source: AI image generated by the author of this AAR
Picture 186: Protests in Marseille
Source: AI image generated by the author of this AAR
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Thursday, November 12, 1936
Osaki Satoshi spent more time in the editorial office again. He had been quite appalled by his son's warmongering editorial and he had to realize that he could either take care of his job or his family with full commitment, but not both.
Shiko was banished to the archive for the time being in order to familiarize himself with the war chronicles of Imperial Japan. Tanaka Hiroshi fared little better, who was assigned the exclusive task of making new and better overview maps of Japanese coastal shipping. According to Osaki Satoshi, this is important in order to know exactly how to ensure regional supplies in the event of enemy attacks.
Then Satoshi took on his actual work, because here November brought plenty of political upheavals. Encouraged by the recent success of reducing arms spending, there was another attempt to do so, which was also able to pass parliament. Immediately afterwards, there was a tangible government dispute with the result of a new transitional government until orderly conditions were restored. With these new political possibilities, arms spending was immediately increased again!
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Editors of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Monday, December 7, 1936
It was a well-awakened weekend characterized by despair and hope, which finally had a good end early Sunday evening. And it seemed to become a tradition in the Osaki family that the women gave birth to twins. So now Satoshi was a grandfather of two with grandchildren Sora and Katsuo.
Nevertheless, Osaki Satoshi had little time to enjoy the family happiness. One of his few remaining editors asked him to come to the editorial office immediately.
It turned out that his editor's uncle was also present and had good contacts of his own, as he put it.
"I have something for you here, Mr. Osaki, that you will burn as soon as you have seen it."
"Now I'm curious – you can't make such hints in a newspaper editorial office, Mr. Katō! What is it?"
Katō Daichi pulled an envelope out of his coat pocket and took a single photo from it, which he placed on the table in front of Osaki Satoshi.
"I say goodbye now, Mr. Osaki, because you won't hear more from me. Remember to burn this photograph!"
Even before Osaki Satoshi had processed this sentence and looked up from the photo, Katō Daichi had turned around and was already standing at the door he was opening. Satoshi refrained from calling the man back, he stared at the photo again:
It slipped away from him, but he had no idea what had just happened here, why it was so secret and what he was dealing with? And much more, this photograph showed a British shipyard. Hadn't there been a demonstration in front of this shipyard just a few days ago? He rummaged through the reports of the last week and yes, he was right. Protests in front of British shipyards. Is there a connection, it flashed through his head?
+ + +
Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Monday, January 11, 1937
The new year began as the last one had ended, more funds were approved for rearmament. The newly composed government was simply in the process of creating facts!
+ + +
Ministry of the Navy of the Imperial Japanese Navy – Friday, January 15, 1937
Just two months ago, Osaki Satoshi had had pretty good contacts with the navy, but now after the political upheavals, things looked different. On December 1, 1936, Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi handed over command of the 聯合艦隊 (Rengō Kantai) to Kaigun-chūjō Yonai Mitsumasa. Satoshi knew remarkably little about this man, even though he had an impressive career. But this officer had traveled a lot abroad and probably never really got into Satoshi's point of view.
Today, this changed because Osaki Satoshi was lucky enough to get an interview with Navy Minister Nagano Osami. Nagano Osami had also not been in office for long. Satoshi suddenly realized that since he had been kept up to date by his son Giichi, he had criminally neglected his contacts in the navy.
Osaki Satoshi had to admit to himself that many things had not been going as well as they used to for several years.
When had it happened that he had begun to neglect his own standards and principles?
He had to admit that the cold attitude of the publishing house management towards him had probably not come about entirely without reason. So it was more than just the one problem with the photos during the last war.
Today he would try to polish up his old qualities!
One thing had not changed: in the minister's office there was still this flat, oval wooden table, the top of which was made of marble and framed in the wood and decorated with gold.
Although he wasn't sure if his son deserved it, he had taken Shiko with him.
So now he and Shiko were sitting at this beautiful table and opposite them were Navy Minister Nagano Osami, Kaigun-chūjō Yonai Mitsumasa and an officer he didn't know and who hadn't been introduced to him before.
"Well, Mr. Osaki," the Minister of the Navy opened the conversation, "so this is your son, who would like to see Japan in the next war?"
Osaki Satoshi was visibly touched with a blow and turned red in the face.
"Um — yes, Minister! That's why I immediately instructed my son to become more familiar with Imperial Japan's war chronicles so that he could see all the consequences of Japanese wars."
"That's very commendable, Mr. Osaki, but your son probably has his reasons, too, when I look at this wooden stick on which he has to lean when walking?"
"Yes, Mr. Minister, I suppose you..."
Navy Minister Nagano Osami interrupted Satoshi:
"Yes, Mr. Osaki, I am aware that your son suffered a war injury in Korea. I am also aware that this happened due to a landmine after the end of hostilities and that her son was subsequently discharged from military service due to lack of suitability. But I've also heard that he did a lot during the invasion of Korea. Not necessarily against the enemy, but he probably saved the lives of several other soldiers during the landing who got into a reef with their boat?"
Puzzled, Satoshi turned his head to his son.
"Honorable Minister," Shiko now began to reply, "my father doesn't know anything about it, Minister. Nobody in my family knows about it. Not even my twin brother Katsu, although he had been only a few meters away."
"But, Mr. Osaki, do I understand correctly – you concealed your heroic deed from your father?"
"Yes, Minister, if my mother found out about it – and that would certainly have happened – she would reproach me for the rest of my life. My mother was already very desperate because my brother and I started military service in the first place. It is not easy for mothers when husbands and sons go to war and in our case there are four of us. This rescue almost cost me my own life. It was very close, Minister!"
"Yes, Mr. Osaki, I can accept that as a reason. So you are more than a warmonger, even if these two things contradict each other!"
"I apologize for having to contradict you, Mr. Minister, but there is no contradiction. I am a patriot like any good Japanese and ready to sacrifice my life for the country and our emperor. But it is the same patriotism that makes me honor my mother, because in case of doubt we give our lives for it - for the good of our neighbors?"
"Yes, I think it won't be that easy, Mr. Osaki, but that's also a reason I can accept!"
In the meantime, Osaki Satoshi was no longer red in the face, but chalky pale. Has his son just had a war of words with the Secretary of the Navy and received covert praise from the same Secretary of the Navy?
"Well, Mr. Osaki, your son is quite right! Maybe you can let him come out of the Dark Archive again, into rooms that have a little more light!"
"Yes, Mr. Minister, that's how it must be!"
"Well, Mr. Osaki, you certainly didn't ask for an interview to learn from me about your own family. What can I do for you?"
"Well, Minister, after all the turbulence in recent months, there is a certain irritation among the population as to what plans the Imperial Japanese Navy is currently pursuing?"
"You mean that after all the budget allocations and cuts, the state of the Navy is not recognizable?"
"That's exactly what Mr. Minister. The overseas bases are being expanded, but apart from the recently handed over new heavy cruisers, there are now only four light cruisers under construction. You wouldn't need these larger bases for that?"
"Only four light cruisers, Mr. Osaki?"
"Yes, there are certainly two more dry docks occupied, but in fact I have to admit that your counterintelligence service is doing a very good job here! Nobody knows what is being built there. Initially, there were rumors of aircraft carriers, but these ships are probably too big for that. But too small for battleships, if you look at the last battleships commissioned."
"And further, Mr. Osaki?"
"Battlecruisers never seem to have been as important to our navy as they were and are for the fleets of other nations. So there should be more heavy cruisers, but the Navy has commissioned four very large ones over the last few months."
"Counterintelligence Mr. Osaki, you're just mentioning something! I completely forgot to introduce you to Kaigun-taisa Hashimoto Shozō. Kaigun-taisa Hashimoto Shozō is in charge of counterintelligence in the 呉鎮守府 (Kure chinjufu - Kure Naval District)."
Osaki Satoshi and his son stood up to bow to Kaigun-taisa Hashimoto Shozō, who then also stood up and indicated a bow in turn.
"Counter-espionage, Mr. Minister?"
"That's right, Mr. Osaki, Kaigun-taisa Hashimoto Shozō has been wondering for a few days now, how do you know Kaigun-chūsa Katō Daichi?"
"Kaigun-chūsa?"
"Kaigun-chūsa Katō Daichi"
Now it dawned on Osaki Satoshi – the uncle of one of his editors!
"Mr. Minister, Mr. Katō is a relative of one of my editors. I only got to know him recently when my editor gave me documents that had to be checked by me before printing. He was probably traveling with his uncle and therefore present, I didn't know that he was also an officer."
"Well, Mr. Osaki," Kaigun-taisa Hashimoto Shozō began, "so it may have been, but I have another theory:"
"Kaigun-chūsa Katō Daichi works at the Imperial Japanese Naval Engineering School and we are missing some documents in his field of work. My theory is that these are the same documents that you, as you yourself have just admitted, received from your editor!"
"Mr. Minister – am I accused of anything?"
"Not yet, Mr. Osaki, but that could change in the course of this conversation. Depending on the..."
Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Friday, January 15, 1937
Osaki Satoshi sat behind his desk in his office again. He thought about what he had just gotten himself into when there was a knock on the door.
"Please come in," he called to the door, expecting one of his photographers. To his surprise, a young woman was now standing in front of him:
"Good day," he addressed the lady.
"Good afternoon, honorable Mr. Osaki, may I introduce myself to you?"
"I beg you!"
"I'm Saigō Riko, my great-great-grandfather was Kamata Itachi..."
Osaki Satoshi's eyes widened – Kamata Itachi – his old teacher and foster father?
"Was?" it popped out of him.
"My great-great-grandfather Kamata Itachi passed away this morning after a long and blessed life of one hundred and four years. My uncle asked me to inform you personally immediately to give you the opportunity to attend the funeral."
Osaki Satoshi barely noticed a tear, then he spoke in a low voice:
"My last trip to 小川村 (Kogawa) lasted several days, I assume the funeral will take place in the next day or two?"
"Dear Mr. Osaki, my great-great-grandfather spent his last years here in Tōkyō in my uncle's house. Only a few members of our family still live in 小川村 (Kogawa) or nearby, and none of them were able to take sufficient care of the old gentleman."
"Oh, that's right, but why didn't Itachi get in touch with me?"
"I don't know all that exactly, but he hasn't been on good terms in recent years. He probably didn't want you to see him like that. But I can say that he was very interested in your career until the end. Every day, someone from the family had to buy your Shinbun and read it to him word for word. He hasn't really been able to see for years."
"Here I have written down my uncle's address. May I tell my uncle that you will be here tomorrow?"
Osaki Satoshi looked at the young lady with narrowed eyes:
"Of course, I mean of course you can tell your uncle that I will be present for the funeral tomorrow."
+ + +
Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Saturday, January 16, 1937
For the rest of yesterday, Osaki Satoshi had not found any further concentration. Most of this Saturday had passed with the mourning ceremony for the Honorable Kamata Itachi, which, according to the old rite, had to take place within one or two days after death. Apart from the profane reasons that the Japanese climate does not allow for a long lay-out, dead people are also considered impure and had to be restored to a pure and non-threatening state as quickly as possible with the burial ceremony, while maintaining piety.
Now in the late evening, Osaki Satoshi sat alone in the editorial office to catch up on the work that had been left behind. First and foremost, he had to think about what exactly had been discussed yesterday in the ministry and how he would implement it? Nevertheless, his first act was a note in his calendar: the mourning period would be 49 days. After that, he wanted to call on Kamata Itachi's family.
The lady Saigō Riko was just the right age, he had to find out if she was already promised?
Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Monday, January 18, 1937
Osaki Satoshi had gotten up early. He wanted to be the first in the editorial office and prepare something before the others came. When he tried to open the door to his office, he could already see that someone was sitting in his chair in his office.
When he entered, he looked into the dark, narrow eyes of his boss, Fukuzawa Toyokuni. Fukuzawa Toyokuni was hardly older than he himself and had taken over the management of the publishing house only a few weeks ago after his father had to retire for health reasons. Fukuzawa Toyokuni did not have sole responsibility for the publishing house, there was also his brother Fukuzawa Shigetarō and his father's brother named Fukuzawa Sojirō. Just as Fukuzawa Sojirō only formally ran the publishing house together with his brother, but had stayed out of the day-to-day business, Fukuzawa Shigetarō also wanted to leave the day-to-day business to others.
And yes, there was also the third brother, Fukuzawa Saburo, from whom Osaki Satoshi had inherited the post of editor-in-chief. Formally, Fukuzawa Saburo was also involved in the publishing house's management. Fukuzawa Saburo had never gotten over his fate of being in a wheelchair and it was said that he would only get through the days with strong drugs.
Fukuzawa Saburo was the eldest of the three brothers and was still most suitable for the newspaper business. For Osaki Satoshi, the problems thus grew steadily. He didn't know how the Fukuzawas wanted to deal with the publisher, but he had the feeling that he would find out now.
He bowed to Fukuzawa Toyokuni and apologized to him for disturbing him.
"Well, Mr. Osaki, we've known each other for a while now and my father and uncle have had an impression of you for much longer. And before you say anything – I and my brother Shigetarō are aware that you don't like our older brother Saburo."
"Mr. Fukuzawa – please excuse me – but don't like is perhaps an inappropriate term."
"Unsuitable?"
"Yes, you see, noble Mr. Fukuzawa – aptitude – that's the term around which everything revolves."
"Yes, my father told me that you like to get straight to the point. That's why I'm here and also because we had a visit from Navy Minister Nagano Osami last Friday."
Osaki Satoshi's eyes widened!
"The minister was visiting you?"
"Yes, the acting Minister of the Navy is an old friend of the family."
"I see."
"No, I think you don't understand. Interestingly, the Secretary of the Navy has approached us with a request that revolves around a topic that we have also recently discussed within the family."
"Would you be so gracious, dear Mr. Fukuzawa, to tell me about this topic?"
"You, Mr. Osaki – the subject is you!"
Picture 190: Publishing director Fukuzawa Toyokuni sits at Osaki Satoshi's desk
Source: AI image generated by the author of this AAR
Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Monday, January 18, 1937
Osaki Satoshi was still as white as chalk!
Two hours had passed since the conversation with Fukuzawa Toyokuni and he felt bad. When he saw the publisher sitting in his office in the early morning, the time had come for him to think about more often in recent days and weeks. He had made too many mistakes and was no longer competitive. This was also reflected in the sales Pictures. Although sales of all daily newspapers declined, the Tōkyō Shinbun lost a lot of popularity compared to its direct competitors!
Still this thought flashed through his head — again and again — it wouldn't let him go!
He didn't notice how his son knocked on the office door, he didn't notice how he had entered without being asked. It was only when his son shook him vigorously that Osaki Satoshi came to.
"Wa – What?"
"Have you been asleep, father?"
"Wa – oh no – no – everything is fine – I was in my thoughts..."
"But those must have been intense thoughts?"
"Yes – yes – yes, those were intense thoughts – Fukuzawa Toyokuni was here this morning. Here in my office, he was already sitting here when I arrived."
"The boss – that's unusual!"
"We are getting more staff!"
"WHAT?"
"You get your own office!"
"WHAT?"
"I get more freedom!"
"WHAT?"
"All on the condition that we stick to the agreements with Navy Minister Nagano Osami!"
"By the way, the Minister of the Navy also keeps his word. We get first-hand information, but he is very clear about what we can and cannot publish. Today, the documents that he promised us have already been handed over. Also the document with the information that absolutely must be published."
"So the document with the false reports!"
"Please Shiko – you must never say that again – never use that word again!"
"Yes, father, it was the last time!"
"Is there anything else new?"
"I think mother will be very happy that I have probably found a wife for your brother Katsu!"
"WHAT?"
"I'll explain that to you later, now look at this here from the ministry. In addition to the two giant aircraft carriers, Kaigun-chūjō Yonai Mitsumasa has ordered to plan new battleships that meet the requirements of his predecessor."
+ + +
Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Monday, February 22, 1937
After a good four weeks, the renovations in the publishing house were completed. The layout of the rooms had been significantly changed and Osaki Shiko was able to enter his own office for the first time today. His father's was now at the other end of the open-plan office and overall there were more and larger workplaces. The many shelves had moved to the eastern wing of the building and the editorial staff there had to make do with wooden barracks in the courtyard for the moment until the publishing house could move completely into a new building.
The Fukuzawas had decided to completely rebuild the publishing house. The newspaper was to be fundamentally strengthened and the merger with another publisher was possibly imminent. War reporting would continue to make up a significant part, but trivial topics would be given more space, which would require new editorial offices. There was not enough space for this in the current publishing house. There were also to be new, modern printing presses that had already been ordered in Germany.
But the real hit was a separate recording room for radio broadcasts, which were then to be brought to a friendly station to be broadcast.
Fukuzawa Toyokuni had explained to his father that he no longer sees a future in daily newspapers alone. Fukuzawa Toyokuni had recently attended a demonstration by Takayanagi Kenjirō and was sure that neither daily newspapers nor the radio would stand against this moving image system. He said that publishers will have to position themselves more broadly in the future and saw an opportunity in providing the content for these new technologies. Because both radio and television were dependent on it, and newspaper publishers still had by far the largest information network in the world. Fukuzawa Toyokuni wanted to use this to get back to the top of the daily news in Japan.
One last thing was to be the attempt to publish non-fiction books, which was also the real reason for the new printing presses. Osaki Satoshi in particular would have so much specialized knowledge that he should put it on paper in books.
+ + +
But now Osaki Shiko had to take care of the day-to-day business. He grabbed the compilation with the current news and sorted out a very special report, about which nothing was allowed to be reported under any circumstances.
+ + +
Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Wednesday, March 3, 1937
The new system in the publishing house had some teething problems, but this was basically due to the many new employees who had to be accommodated and instructed. The actual work had to suffer, but at least there were very few reports at the moment, so that little could be done wrong.
+ + +
Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Thursday, April 15, 1937
April now showed a significant increase in news reports. More and more news came from the laboratories and from the engineers and also the mutual snooping increased significantly! They were the unmistakable signs of increased military activity that had preceded every war so far. Only the fact that barely two years had passed since the last armed conflict made one wonder. The population longed for peace more than ever before. Every word of an emerging conflict currently generated a defensive reaction and the military did not seem to understand this.
Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Friday, May 7, 1937
In May, there were also plenty of reports from all areas of the navy and it was visibly uncomfortable for Osaki Satoshi to cut back.
He wondered if it would be noticed that messages were missing? Was the readership able to notice that the scope differed slightly from the last few months?
And how would he fare if another publisher published something that the Tōkyō Shinbun deliberately concealed? On this question, however, his son Shiko reassured him. Shiko made it clear that the navy had probably not only asked the Tōkyō Shinbun to conceal certain messages.
That's how it had to be!
He left the writing of the articles to his son in the next few days. Natsuko had insisted on it, because there was the next ceremony to prepare. The Kamata clan had raised no objections to a union between Riko and Katsu. On the contrary – Itachi himself had probably already said something in this direction months before his death, as Riko would fit in well with the publisher's environment.
Satoshi had called as planned after the end of the forty-nine days of mourning and negotiated the wedding of Saigō Riko to his son Osaki Katsu. Just in time for the upcoming June!
+ + +
Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Tuesday, October 12, 1937
Osaki Satoshi had had almost more time to take care of the family in recent months than he would have liked. The wedding of Riko and Katsu had been very pompous and also became known with plenty of coverage. When two families with a long tradition in the publishing world join forces, it should attract attention. After that, summer fell over Japan and the whole country seemed to have fallen into an unknown calm.
There was almost no news, which is why the work in the editorial office had almost come to a standstill. Natsuko used this to call the family, which had grown quite respectably in the meantime, together again and again to spend time together. Especially the Tanabata festival reverberated in the village for a long time, because Satoshi carelessly set fire to one of the bamboo bushes, which was hung all over with the wish lists. The resentment was enormous and from then on Satoshi was held responsible for every shattered hope in the village.
Osaki Satoshi thus had only one wish of his own: that the editorial team finally got something to do. And contrary to the "burned" wishes of the inhabitants in the 多摩丘陵 (Tama-kyūryū), Satoshi's wish had come true. October was bursting with news.
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Monday, November 8, 1937
After that, the situation calmed down and the end of the year approached.
+ + +
Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Monday, January 10, 1938
The year nineteen hundred and thirty-seven again said goodbye very quietly. 1938, on the other hand, began with a wealth of news and it seemed as if it would continue, because the Navy indicated that it wanted to work out a completely new fleet plan.
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Editors of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Friday, February 4, 1938
In fact, the Imperial Japanese Navy seemed to back up its insinuations with substance. In mid-January, the scrapping of a good part of the cruiser fleet was announced and at the turn of the month the shipbreaking yards were already working at full capacity. It was also said that this was not the end.
Pictures 191 and 192: Numerous older Japanese warships during scrapping
Sources: AI image generated by the author of this AAR
+ + +
Editorial office of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Monday, March 7, 1938
In addition to other cruisers, destroyers were also sent for scrapping from March onwards. However, what replacement it was supposed to be was not announced.
Natsuko unexpectedly used her husband's maritime language for this.
Satoshi immediately realized that something unusual must have happened, because he couldn't remember the last time Natsuko had visited him in the editorial office.
Without further ado, Natsuko began her rehearsed lecture:
"The Minister of the Interior of the Imperial Japanese Family Osaki announces:"
"The keel laying of the offspring of Osaki Okada and Osaki Miyu!"
"The keel laying of the offspring of Osaki Giichi and Osaki Saki!"
"The keel laying of the offspring of Osaki Katsu and Osaki Riko!"
"The keel laying of the offspring of Osaki Shiko and Osaki Yuki!"
Satoshi didn't understand!
"Wa – what? What is it?"
"Fool hissed Natsuko – Our daughters-in-law are pregnant – all four of them!"
Satoshi wanted to say something, but no words came out of a mouth!
