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ORIGINAL: mdiehl

Heh. I enjoyed the brief foray to Shark 7s AAR. Several cans of strawberries have arrived on Kasumi. All erudite WW2 scholars know how the Kasumi's former skipper would have reacted if the mess boys had eaten the last of the can.

Haha.

And don't forget the yellow channel marker incident. [;)]

But let's not hijack CFs AAR. Back to your regularly scheduled carnage. [:)]

ORIGINAL: tocaff
Hmmmm, maybe Shimura is a smart man whom doesn't want somebody in his command that doesn't want to be there?

Well, at least not soebody who knows that he is doing a job he doesn't want to do.

I don't think a warship like the Hibiki sailed all these years without any Tokeitai agent. And Riku will trust Lt. Miharu a lot in the future... Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I think they had a plan which actually worked.

Imagine that, a smart officer, a true rarity. [;)]

Military intelligence [;)]

January 13, 1945

Location: 30 miles southeast of Takamatsu
Course: North
Attached to: TF 43
Mission: Bombardment
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 380

Orders: Return to Osaka

---

Sundown finds the task force in the Kii Channel. Soon the ships will transit Tomogashima Strait and enter Osaka Bay. While the threat of further air attack is over there is still danger from enemy submarines lurking in the channel. They do not often come into these waters, as the Kii Channel is less than 80 meters deep, but every now and then an enterprising sub commander will try his luck here.

As darkness falls it becomes apparent that there are fewer lights visible ashore than usual, indeed noticeably fewer than when they left just two days ago. The men aboard the ships know why; radio intercepts during the day just past have told of swarms of enemy fighters over Tokyo. Fierce air battles have taken place there throughout the day and enemy reconnaissance planes have been seen high over Nagoya and Osaka.

It would seem that the war is about to come to Japan in earnest.

It would seem that the war is about to come to Japan in earnest.

It certainly would. Let's hope nothing serious happens to Hibiki in harbor. (Shades of a certain German submarine movie . . .)

January 14, 1945

Location: Osaka
Course: None
Attached to: TF 43
Mission: Bombardment
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: None

---

Never, thinks Lieutenant Miharu, has he seen his captain look so dismayed. The two of them are in Ishii’s cabin and Ishii is staring at his executive officer.

“You are sure of this, Exec?” Ishii asks.

Lieutenant Miharu nods. “Quite sure, sir,” he says. “My friend saw the order himself.”

“Special Attack Corps,” says Ishii. “That’s what you said they are calling it?”

“Yes sir. Just a couple of small air units at first, to try out the idea. If it works well I imagine we will see more.”

Ishii runs his hand across his forehead. “Oh, it will work,” he says, his voice bitter. “There is too much ruthless logic behind it for it not to work. One man for one ship. And so they will expand the program and more and more young men will go. Not all of them will want to, because no one wants to die, but how can they be seen as cowards when their friends are making the ultimate sacrifice?

“And where does it stop, Exec? When all the planes are gone, and all the ships, do we put knives in the hands of children and tell them to charge the enemy? Do we all die, every last one of us, like frenzied rats charging over a cliff? Where does it stop?” His voice has risen to a bellow. Ishii stops and makes a visible effort to control himself.

“I am sorry, Exec,” he says after a moment. “It is just…just that…” Words fail him.

“I understand, sir,” says the lieutenant. And he does. It is a terrible thing Japan contemplates, terrible but yet with a sort of dreadful beauty. It is as if what is best about Japan has been taken beyond its logical extreme and twisted into something much different.

“Yes, I believe you do,” says Ishii. He sighs. “The abyss yawns before us, Exec, yet what can we do but sail ever closer to the edge?” To this Lieutenant Miharu has no answer.

THIS scene is better then the combat scene before it.  Nice work.

“Special Attack Corps,” says Ishii. “That’s what you said they are calling it?”

Well written scene -- and yes, that's what they would call it before the word "kamikaze" came into vogue.

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

“Special Attack Corps,” says Ishii. “That’s what you said they are calling it?”

Well written scene -- and yes, that's what they would call it before the word "kamikaze" came into vogue.

Well I don't think the Japanese ever called them Kamikaze. That was purely the American's naming them that. The same way that we American's referred to the MX-7 Okha as the 'baka bomb' (Japanese 'baka' translating out to 'fool' or 'idiot').

My opponent, wolffpack, is on his way to Iraq today to begin his third tour there. The game will be on hold for a bit until he gets there and gets settled in.

This won’t have any effect on the AAR, because as usual it is quite a ways behind the actual game. But I wanted to mention it to acknowledge his service and to wish him good luck and a safe return.

January 15, 1945

Location: Osaka
Course: None
Attached to: TF 43
Mission: Bombardment
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: None

---

Shiro stands by the port rail looking down into the water. Many jellyfish are visible bobbing in the low swell, large ones with brown rays along their bells. Jellyfish are hardly an uncommon sight almost any port in the world, of course, but Osaka Bay has more of them than most places.

Oizuma comes hurrying past. He stops and peers down to find out what Shiro is looking at. He sees only jellyfish and harbor flotsam and looks curiously at Shiro.

“The jellyfish,” says Shiro by way of explanation. “I was wondering how I might carve one. It would be a challenge to convey their delicacy and lack of substance in something as solid as wood.”

“Ah,” says Oizuma. He looks back down at the water. “Akakurage,” he says, giving the Japanese name for what in the West is known as the Japanese sea nettle. “Their tendrils can be ten meters long, you know,” he says. “And they can hurt, too.”

“Not as much as I will hurt you for goofing off,” growls a voice from behind him. The two sailors whirl about and come to attention. Shun stands there glowering at Oizuma.

“I am sorry, Chief Shun,” says Oizuma. “I shall return to my duties immediately.”

“It was my fault, Chief,” says Shiro. “I know that Seaman Oizuma knows a great deal about animals so I asked him about jellyfish. I should have waited until he was off duty.”

“Jellyfish,” says Shun in a neutral tone. He gives no sign of whether he believes Shiro or not. He steps to the rail, arms folded, and looks down.

“Not many actually look at them,” he says. “Not after the first week at sea, when you’ve already seen thousands. They’re just there, like foam and driftwood.”

“They probably commanded more respect when they wore armor,” Oizuma says. When Shun raises one eyebrow at him he goes on. “It’s an old story my grandmother told me,” he says.

“Let’s hear it,” growls Shun. The tale of how the jellyfish lost its shell is known to most Japanese children, but Shun is not Japanese. So Oizuma tells the story of how the jellyfish was once one of the trusted retainers of the Queen of the world under the sea and was fitted with a magnificent shell which commanded the respect of all other undersea creatures.

Oizuma tells how the Queen fell ill one day and how it was determined that eating the liver of a monkey would cure her. How a monkey was thus brought under the sea as a visitor and how he was so cheerful and happy the jellyfish took pity on him and told him what was to be his fate. How the monkey tricked them and escaped and how the jellyfish was punished by having his shell removed forever more.

The telling is a bit more involved than this, of course, but Shun listens impassively throughout, his massive arms folded.

“A good tale,” is all he says when Oizuma is finished. “All right, back to work.” He turns and walks away.

“That was a close one,” says Oizuma after he is gone. “Thanks for covering for me, Kuramata!”

“Do you know any more good jellyfish stories?” asks Shiro.

“Not one,” laughs Oizuma.

“Then maybe you should go before Shun comes back,” Shiro suggests gently. Oizuma blinks, then nods vigorously and hurries away.

Best wishes to wolffpack and my thanks and that of my family.

wolfpack thanks you for your service

January 16, 1945

Location: Osaka
Course: None
Attached to: TF 43
Mission: Bombardment
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: None

---

Excerpt from a letter from Riku Ariga to his wife Nanami:


…and so I understand why you can’t leave. And I might be worrying over nothing. The enemy might not ever come to Okinawa.

If they do, though, I want you to remember something important. They will tell you that the Americans are devils, bent only on killing and destruction. Remember that they are not devils, just men. Men are sometimes as bad as devils or worse, I know, but the Americans only want to finish the war and go home, just like we do. And they are capable of kindness. Some of them can maybe even be trusted.

I worry more about our own soldiers and what they might do. They will be frightened and desperate and dangerous. Your father has told me that as far as most of them are concerned those from the Ryukyus are foreigners, like Koreans. And I have seen how Koreans are treated. Avoid our soldiers, if you can.

How uncertain everything is! It is hard to see past the war and everything to our future together. But I know it’s there, and someday we will get there. I know we will! After all, didn’t the fortune teller tell me that we would have six children? I know you tease me about that, but…

---

Note: When this letter arrived in Okinawa the envelope bore the red stamp indicating that the letter had been cleared by censors. Oddly enough, however, there was no sign that the pages inside had ever been reviewed or touched.

I worry more about our own soldiers and what they might do. They will be frightened and desperate and dangerous. Your father has told me that as far as most of them are concerned those from the Ryukyus are foreigners, like Koreans. And I have seen how Koreans are treated. Avoid our soldiers, if you can.

Tragically, historically accurate.

January 17, 1945

Location: Osaka
Course: None
Attached to: TF 43
Mission: Bombardment
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: None

---

Air raid sirens wail over Osaka around noon. Aboard Hibiki they man the anti-aircraft guns and watch the sky but before long the alert is cancelled. Osaka is not being attacked this day, though reports come in that there are once again many enemy fighters over Tokyo.

Preserving their air forces for the defense of Japan has been a cornerstone of Japanese strategy for at least the past year. It has never been stated that way, of course. It would not do for anyone to admit that it was inevitable that the Allies would eventually be in a position to bomb Japan. Yet somehow decisions were made that preserved both aircraft and pilots, even if it sometimes meant sacrificing the defense of more remote areas.

The unforeseen plague that has afflicted Japanese pilots has undermined this strategy to some extent, but enough pilots remain to put up a good defense. And they will be needed; the American P-51s that are now assailing Japan are superb planes. Against them the Navy fields planes such as the workhorse A6M5 and the N1K-J Shiden. The Army relies mainly on the Ki-43-II Hayabusa, the Ki-61 Hien, and the excellent Ki-84 Hayate.

Perhaps the Emperor steps outside his palace and watches the planes doing battle high overhead. If he does his thoughts go unrecorded as he watches dozens of aircraft come apart in the sky or turn into falling streaks of smoke and flame. It is impossible to tell from the ground, of course, who is victorious and who is dying.

Or perhaps he does not, though there are no bombers today and he would not be urged inside by nervous retainers. Either way the battle eventually comes to an end. The American planes retreat and the Japanese planes land. There are fewer aircraft on either side than when the battle started, though the Japanese have fared somewhat worse than their attackers.

But the Japanese know that the enemy will be back, and soon. This is just an opening skirmish in what promises to be a long battle.

Classic how you worked the pilot bug into the story. [:D]

Bump.

January 18, 1945

Location: Osaka
Course: None
Attached to: TF 43
Mission: Bombardment
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: None

---

“Has there been any further word from Tokyo, sir?” Lieutenant Sugiyura asks Captain Ishii. Ishii shakes his head.

“Not since the reports that there were many bombers over the city,” Ishii says. “Radio Tokyo said enemy losses were heavy and invited our foes to send more airmen over the city to die, things to that effect.”

“And then what, sir?”

“Nothing. They went off the air in mid-sentence and haven’t returned,” says Ishii. “That was about ninety minutes ago.”

“I see,” says Sugiyura unhappily. “Thank you, sir.” He asks no further questions.

January 19, 1945

Location: Osaka
Course: None
Attached to: TF 43
Mission: Bombardment
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: None

---

American B-29s return to the skies over Tokyo for the second day in a row. Their primary targets are again the airfields defending the city, and for the second day in a row these facilities take significant damage.

Radio Tokyo, which returns to the air, is not entirely wrong about enemy losses. They are heavy, though Japanese losses are worse. The stoutness of the defense prompts the Allied high command to throw additional forces into the fray. For the first time Allied aircraft carriers are committed to strike at the Japanese mainland.

The carrier forces, led by Admiral Spruance, depart Guam and head north. Though this operation is as yet unknown to Hibiki’s crew it will soon have they and their ship on the move once more.

excellent as always...[:)]