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10 th June

A massive army marches upon Changsa.
Japanese troops occupy Cocos island
And allied command wonders, what is this, 1942?!

Extract from Shattering the Sword, a cantona production.

The First naval battle of Munda
Allied troops began unloading aganst light opposition shortly after midnight. keenly aware of the need to swiftly sieze the airfield, they try something different, landing tanks in the first wave.
They succeed in securing the beach head, and begin the advance uupon the field

The Japanese fleet , pin pointed at Truk, will need three days to appear.
Time enough.
The Japanese fleet appears at 0100 hrs.
Elderly light cruisers Tama, and Tenryu slice in towards the anchorage from the north, with only one objective.
To scatter the allies, and to force them to consume vital ammunition.

Battle ship Pennsylvania leads CLAA San Juan, CL concord, and 3 destroyers out to intercept.
Dawn is breaking, and a rare occurance for this war is about to begin, a day naval battle.

At 20000 yards, the great guns fire, but even with radar, the sleek fast cruisers, weaving frantically, and skillfully, are not hit.
At 10000 yards, first blood, the Tama strikes the battleship, she will never sink her, but how many AA guns can they kill?
7000 yards, and now both Japanese cruisers are in a forest of rising water mountains.
Inevitably, the hits start.

The long lances are launched, and both cruisers peel away, hoping that chance may yet be on their side.
At 9000 yards, her tubes nearly reloaded, in the act of swinging back to the attack, a 14 inch shell takes Tama in the guts
Steam bleeds from her bowels, and with it, life.

The allies close the range, the japanese fire defiantly back.
A torpedo splits Tama in two.
Tenryu, tubes empty, escapes

BB Pennsylvania counts her wounded -12 hits on her. Eaton, Edsall too
None of these ships need to retire for damage
Ammunition, after this long fight, is another matter.


Hidaka and Kato share Zuihos bridge.
Zuihos decks are loaded, her bombers astern, fish gleaming, the fighters ahead, engines warm, but still.
Around the little island, her pilots sit, waiting.
Yamaguchi has decreed that all of her planes will be in what ever strike is ordered.
He needs the best to go..........

It is hot, yet not even the heat can explain all of the sweat that sheens Hidaka's brow,
It is barely 10 am, and already some dozen submarines have been sighted, or attacked by the prowling patrols.
The waters must be swarming with the Buka's....

'News sir?"
Kato smiles. "24th flottilla has redeemed itself today. A single strike from Rabual. CVE long island sunk, no doubt in the report. Another CVE attacked, but missed. Losses heavy, but bareable"
Hidaka nods.
What is bareable? But then, 100 percent losses are bareable if its for the empire.
'We are ready sir. Any word on our plans?"
Kato shakes his head, glances over to Zuikaku. 'our masters deem it necessary to keep us in the dark. I think hoever, some of your pilots will be wishing they took the offer Hidaka, before this little show is over"

There is a little shade at the base of the island, but more importantly a good cool breeze is whipping down her deck, taking the bite out of the day.
Uto, Ogawa, Diogawa sit cross legged, playing cards. Hidaka joins them, and silently, they deal him in.
They are an island upon themselves, elite men of an already elite group.
Yesterday, all 4 of them had recieved an offer to transfer to training command, to japan, to normality, to a chance to live.
All have refused.
Diogawa looks at his commander. 'Roll sir?'
'How the Truk you don't get fat is beyond me Diogawa. But yes, thanks."
It is sweet, and warm. A good meal to eat before battle.
'News sir?'
'We are winning"

There are nods to that. Another hand is dealt. No words need to be said
"We are winning', is enough.

from "Falling Cherry Blossoms", a Japanese fighter pilots war.


There really was no choice. Not then. The chance for safety never entered my mind, nor, I think, my companions.
All of us, even then, in mid 43, thought the war winnable.
All of us, sitting there, in Truk lagoon, with so many ships about us, could never contemplate the chance of defeat.
We were winning.
And now, another battle in the offing. A battle that would finish it perhaps.
Pull out now? go to the bench five minutes from the winning siren? leave the last battle to our friends?
Would you?

Not in a million years.
Hidaka tells us we are winning.
I have made the right choice.

Wo Kikuchi still frowns.
is still sour.

Is still doing his job.

Today, however, is different.
today he flies a straight course, expecting to see something.
And, on cue, he does. 3 allied ships. A light cruiser, 2 destroyers.
Still lurking there on the horizon, barely moving across the oceans.

If they think they are undetected, bloody fool them.
if they think they are fooling anyone......twice fool them.
Northern command tracks them within an inch.

11 June

Zuiho goes to action stations at 0230 hrs
At 0316 hrs, a submarine attacks the flank of the task force, and her below deck men, feel the thud of the charges clanging against the hull
By 0430, the fleets ASW assetts are in the air, and the reports flood in
The fleet is apparently sailing across a carpet of the buggars as it streams south.

The enemy remain at Munda.
Battleship South Dakato is there -CL's Sendai and Isuzu have had their turn at long lance attacks during the night.

No word has been heard from them since the last contact report............

It does not matter.
At dusk, zuiho ships all burners, opens the taps.
Once again, once again for the upteenth time, Zuiho plunges through the night at full speed.
At Dawn the fleet will be abreast of Green island.

Will the enemy stay and fight?

Shattering the sword, a cantona production

The Munda battles continue, this the second day.
The tankers advance, slowly, steadily. By days end a quarter of the island is theirs, the field is not.
Tanks methodically blast bunkers, but there always seems to be another one , and another one.

Overhead, the sky rattles to aerial combat.
2nd air division flies 60 odd oscars, 20 odd Vals into the out lying fields, they keep the LRCAP busy, busy indeed.
CVE Sangomen is attacked by a mere 2 Vals through out the day, no others survive the allied fighters.
The mighty South Dak, shoots incredibly well during this nights battles.
Two Cls fall to her guns, the transports remain safe.

The japanese are coming. They really are coming.
decision time.
Stay, and fight?
Or retire, and abandon the regiment ashore?

Command is a terrible wieght to bare.............

North west of Changsa
3 japanese armies probe the defences.


another comes up from the north

160000 men prepare to defend
Nearly as many prepare to attack.

Is China still a paper Tiger?
Herbiesan will soon find out.

June 12th

The Allies, as befitting real men, stay and fight.

The Japanese will oblige them.


The weather will frustrate them both.
but the fighting will be bloody enough.

Kato and Hidaka meet awet, squalling dawn, the rain biting mens faces as they plow still at full speed towards green island
The rest of the fleet, what few ships they can see, mere shadows on the flanks.
Visibility less than 1000 yards.

Hidaka curses, not for the first time as he clears the flight deck, water streaming into his cockpit.
He climbs carefully, almost totally on instruments, and breaks abruptly into sunshine.
The day, it is clear, is going to be "difficult" Some poor saps will see terrible weather, others are going to wish for it.

Diogawa, Ogawa, Uto join him in a tight gaggle, circling the floating mountains at 10000 feet.
Below, the sky is breaking, patches of blue, patches of grey, glimpses of the fleet.

The sky rapidly becomes crowded, the CAP is thick.
100 plus fighters waiting to pounce.



South, Japan draws first blood.
herbiesan has copied the Germans, his submarines hunt in pack now, some as strong as 6 boats at a time.
You miss a lot of water this way, however, when you strike.
I-20, 21, 22, 26 operate in the slot south of Munda
In a savage action, which see's two boats surfacing and using guns, 5 large APs and a AK are sunk.
The real battle for Munda has begun

Yamamoto takes the message

Silently he hands it to Yamato's captain
he nods. "they want a fight, I see".
"Shall we attack sir?"


A last chance, perhaps, for these dinosours to act.
I cannot resist.
yamamoto closes his eyes, imperceptibly nods.

The bridge rings with the Captains words.
'Full ahead all!'



The report is heavy with detail. Another aspect of war, where the work of the unheralded means so much

3 battleships, 2 CVE, 6 CA, many ships Munda.
'They steam north'
Weather bad.

regrettfully, I am in an airport lounge, about to board 36 hrs of flights.
off to Spain

Updates when I get to heathrow I hope!

Funny thing, I am in Spain too. Leaving tomorrow, off to heathrow.

Our pilots are in the air.
Kato is on Zuihos bridge
Yamato is on the bridge of his mighty battle ship
The enemy are there, there at Munda.

The pieces in place, for another mighty battle.


Battles are of machines, of weapons, of tactics, of skill, of courage, and cowardice.
Of men.

Every man, every man is there in a battle. All, no matter what role they play, can, and should (if they survive) be able to say, with a pride no one can ever diminish. "I was there that day"

Hidaka will zoom down on the bombers, and brave the fire coming back.
Kato will manouvre Zuiho cleverly into the showers, to avoid each attack.
Yamato will give the commands that doom so many to die.

But are their actions any greater than those who wait and serve deep below the decks, stoking the boilers, filling the ammunition hoists, or manning the guns?
They will battle to. They will battle the fear of not knowing what is happening, of having to let fate run its course. It is a fearful thing to see the bombers bearing down.
It is even more fearful, to know they bear down, and not being able to see.

Hirate's day will begin at 0300 hrs, at action stations.
He will report to his damage control space, check for the ten thousandth time his gear, speak briefly to Tan, and then wait.
And wait
At 0500 hrs, some action, Zuiho will turn into the wind, and launch her fighters, they will hear them rumble overhead.
And they wait.
Food will come, and with it, the rumours.
There has been a battle. There has not been a battle.
And wait.
A different battle is then fought, the battle against sleep, against boredom, against a mind that runs wild with 'what ifs'
Hirate will fight in his mind a million crises, a fire in the hanger, a flood below.
How will they cope?
How will he cope?
Will he fail?
Or will he be brave?

And then the bells ring
'Standby, enemy aircraft attacking!"

Zuiho trembles about them, building to high speed, and here below decks, in this passageway, he tries to picture the world outside.
It is impossible.
Enemy attacking. How many?. What type?. Are they attacking them?. Or some one else?
You grit your teeth. And wait.

ZUiho heals under him, Kato is flinging her about...............the guns are silent though.........
'Stand down"

What happened?.

A man walks past, a gunner, soaking wet, seeking tea. He has few answers. The weather is crud, raining, its really raining.
But not enough apparently.
The bells ring again, and the gunner curses, racing towards the uppers, towards knowing at least what is going on.

This time, Zuihos guns fire.
The deep crash of the 4.5's, the starboard ones, steady, hard firing. bang, bang, bang, bang, each one a hammer blow down here.

Cordite stink fills his nostrils.
Hirate waits for the 25's to begin barking..........if they do, then they are in for it.

The guns stop.
And again, they wait.

1030 hrs
'This is the Captain speaking. Our rabual bombers have attacked an enemy carrier at Munda. We are manouvering for clear weather. Intend to launch at first opportunity. That is all"

And we wait.

Food comes again. And something more precious. news.
Liberators have bombed Shoho, Ryuho, but missed. Most, apparently, have been shot down.

Time crawls.
Zuihos bombers remain on deck, her 6 aloft fighters circle still.
Rain, apparently, continues to sheet down.

It is a long day this day for the men of Zuiho. Hirate will remain at his post until 2200 hours, when they finally fall out.
He will be required to start his watch in Port Engine room immediatly after that, those poor men have been at those posts all day long.
And they have recieved no news at all.

It is as he descends into the heat below that the tannoy finally speaks.
'captain speaking. Although we have not been able to strike today, Nagumo has. Battleship Arizona has been struck by over a dozen bombs, 6 transports and a destroyer sunk, for very little loss. We have had two zeros damaged, our pilots un hurt.
we continue the attack.
that is all"

he has seen no enemy
Fired no guns
Killed nobody
Hirate has fought his battle today.
As thousands of others have.
Fought his battles. And won.



But the battle for Munda continues on.

Yamatos bridge is shrouded in gloom.
In the uncomfortable silence, men attend their duties, and avoid each others eyes.
In the port corner, Yamamto broods.

He has much to brood about

The fleet steams North now, and there is no denying it. It steams north, tail between its legs.
A day of disasters.
Almost too many to catalogue

The fleeing enemy have gotten away, a mere two destroyers sunk by the prowling submarine net. The only plus for this negative day.
6 battleships have pounded Munda - and killed what?, a grove of palm trees.
The carrier decks closed totally by the weather.
The land based strike shredded.
But what has occurred to the far south.................
Japan has lost 5 light cruisers today, them and 2 destroyers, caught by dive bombers south of Munda.
Kitikama, Oi, others..........
They should not have been there.
They should have been retired.
A bad mistake. A very bad mistake.

And Munda has fallen.

yamamoto broods.
But he is not alone.
All on this bridge share the same thought.

An entire fleet deployed.
And still the island fell..................

I take weather forcasts very seriously in placing my carriers. They aren't always right, of course...

Thank you for comments Gridley 380, appreciated!

17/6/43

Extract from "shattering the sword" a cantona production

The Japanese fleet disapears to the North, and the cost of Munda can be counted.
Japan has lost no less than 7 light cruisers, and 4 destoyers in the fiasco of Iron bottom sound
Losses that will not be readily replaced.

Allied losses, an elderly CVE, 2 destroyers, a destroyer escort, 9 transports, will be replaced within a week.
This then, is the harsh mathematics of the war.
Allied troops probe south towards Akyab, and Changsha will settle into a bloody battle of attrition..

Few of Japans leaders can see the reality. They see the battle line still intact, Kido bharu still intact.
They delude themselves.
A few, however, do see the reality. One, maybe two, can even forsee the terrible fate that awaits should the war continue this way
One of them vows to do something about it.

19/6/43

WO Fuchida eats breakfast with his friends.
Dawn is breaking over rabual, the cool air swet upon the skin, the smell of the ground crisp, clean.
Soon, of course, the sun will rise, and the humidity will return, and the sweat will flow, the stink will begin.
But for now, he drinks the coolness, savouring this peace, this moment.

Behind them, the eagles await. No longer gleaming, now tattered, worn. Covered in palm branches, to hide them from the hunters above.
Munda is gone. buna is pounded daily, as is Shortlands. Kavieng too.
The twin tailed devils are yet to come here, it can only be a matter of time.

The silence is comforting. There is, anyway, very little to say.
They have been together so long, these men, conversation has little new to convey.
There is nothing to talk about anyway. Soon they will rise, fly, and probably fight.
If they do not die, then tomorrow, it will happen again.
The same breakfast, the same plane, the same fear, the same battle.
it gos on, and on...........and on

375 missions.
375 times he has risen.
how many more, before he rises, and just keeps on flying to the sun, to the heavens itself?
Will he feel pain, fear, or just slip seamlessly into the other plain?
Soon, he feels, he will find out.
The odds are against them all.


The enemy are coming.
Wordlessly, wearily, they climb into the machines, helped by tattered, skinny men.
Fuchida smells the alcohol on his ground mans breath. Food, spares, hope, all are short here now.
But not the booze.
Never that.
The jaws are closing on rabual. He cannot blame them really, booze will be the only escape.......


They race now over the battered field, the wrecks scattered so thickly about it, wheeling over the almost empty bay, climbing swiftly, breathing briefly the stink of the volcano, seeking the clouds, the soft grey bottoms, the coolness there.
A dozen or so zeros join them, they circle at 15000 feet, waiting.
There are ten liberators today.
So few. But so many bombs, so many deaths nestled in those fat bellies.

Without emotion, Fuchida wings over, throttles full, head on attack.
He takes the lead bomber, takes the point of maximum resistance, of danger.
All bullshit, he knows. Attack a liberator and every point is a point of maximum danger............

The range, as always, closes startingly quickly, the guns, as always, hammer, the tracer floats ahead, the points of bright white death float and flash back at him, past him.
he hits today, bright lights flashing climbing across the bombers inner wing.......an instantanous correction, another half a second burst, the bomber flashing past, its cockpit shattered, bright red painted..

Still banking, now banking, correcting, another great shape looming, the s turn aligning him so perfectly, another burst at this buka, the gout of flame, the dive, the stunning realisation as he curves away............

Sometimes the barsteds do fall...............


He lands, guns empty.
Drinks, drinks deeply. Life has sparked in him again.
10 liberators have attacked. 4 have gone down.
And Fuchida is ACE.........

He will not fly again today, his eagle develops a sudden fear of flying, four cylinders will not fire.
Maybe those two bullets impaled in it have something to do with it


They come all day today.
they rise against them, again and again
They fight, they die, they fly.

And then, as dusk comes, and the sweat dries, the miracle.

"You are posted to TRANCOM WO Fuchida. Congratulations. Please take a memory of us back to Japan, tell them what we do. Please don't let them forget............."

he boards the destroyer in the dark.
The cloak of death falls from him.
Maybe, just maybe, he will live his life yet.

Well said. I get tired just reading the entry. Nicely done...

WO Fuchida watches the dark shadow of Rabual slowly slide over the horizon, the small destroyers deck vibrating heavily beneath his feet.
How starnge to travel by this means.
How bewildering to leave so many friends and brothers behind so abruptly.has he done the right thing?
Should he not have refused?
No, do not think of this. That leads to madness.
Take what comes, and live.


The destroyer is brutally overcrowded. She, and her 5 companions have evacuated 24th air flottilla, they, unlike Fuchida, will continue the fight somewhere else.
For now, he must try to find some shade, and if he can, sleep.
The ship races on, wake streaming behind, wind whipping past. The air tastes of salt, of life.

It has taken a lifetime, but suddenly he sees it.
Now he can understand why his Father loves the sea.



A thousand miles to the North, his father works.
No engineering today. Today he is just another cog in the wheel of the war. Zuiho lies at anchor again, the ammunition ship alongside, a line of men stretching from its bowels to Zuiho's magazines.
The 4.5's are heavy yes, but not too heavy for a man.
They swing from man to man, precious lethal parcels.

The Charge swings his portion, and curses the aircraft that have cuased this work.


Few in Japan will hear of this day.
Not today
But they will.
Well, not in one sense.
There will be no headlines, no breathless broadcasts, no public announcments.
Just the little envelopes, the little harsh announcements that will destroy families and lives all over Japan.

Your Son/Father/Lover, has fallen for the empire.
Your empire thanks you.
Oh yes, they will hear. First a few letters, then a few more, then a flood of them, a great tide of misery to sweep over the land.
In some prefects, entire streets will plunge into mourning, each door, too many doors, decorated with those hateful little flags.

Herbiesan, his generals, have gambled at Changsha, and have attacked.
And they have lost.

The dead, alone, number 21000.

21/6/43

Japan flings itself at Munda
In a brutal day, 33 zeros, 10 betties are shot down.
The Allies lose 4 wild cats, and 4 Corsairs.
3 Mine layers, a small tanker, an AP are sunk

As the battle rages overhead, a new weapon, mini submarines slip into the very shallow waters.
Two AKs are sunk by these brave men.
Its hard to say who is more surprised, the submariners by their success, or the men they sink.

The shattered air units withdraw.
Tokyo rose announces 100 allied planes shot down, a battleship sunk.
For one side in this war, the myth of the invincible zero is living on.

Hidaka deals the cards.
High stakes Poker, a bottle of Scotch at stake.
Zuiho lies easily at anchor, the lagoon well protected from the storm raging outside.
Below decks, men while away the evening.
Her messdecks are filled with small goups of men.
Some play cards. some write. some play bones, others favourite games.
Not a few models have come out of hidden areas, and they inch slowly to completion.
Conversation fills the air, laughter too.

It is the noise of comradship, fellowship. Brotherhood.
Naval life is hard. Japanese naval life brutally hard. Yet these times, these hours go a great distance in softening the hardness.
Some of these men have been at sea for a great many, many years.
Some, if they are lucky, hope to do a great many more.

After, when these days are done, they will think back.
They will barely recall the hard times.
But these times, the good times, will fill their stories to the grave.

Zuiho is doing nothing for the war today.
Except strengthening her bonds of brotherhood into inseperable bands of steel.

And in the days ahead, this may be the most important thing of all.