A Retrospective (December 1945)

Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King

Chief of Naval Operations

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 7, 1945

To think that all these poor boys died for something as stupid as this war. If the Japanese had a lick of sense, they wouldn’t have attacked in the first place, ‘cause they certainly didn’t have any chance of winning when they started it!

Sure, they hit us hard at Pearl, and if they caught Halsey’s carriers that day we wouldn’t have been able to act as aggressively as we did in 1942. With our building program, all that would have done was to delay “Midway” to sometime in ’43 or ’44.

And while that was going on, our submarine blockade would have been drawing the noose tighter and tighter around their necks. Their anti-submarine capability was a joke throughout the war, their merchant shipping construction rates even worse. Even with defective torpedoes and poor pre-war training and doctrine, we were already sinking more tonnage than they were building in 1942.

Thus it didn’t matter when our hammer blow fell, ‘cause when it did, they would never be able to recover from it.

Could they have stopped us from building that hammer? Not a chance. Hitting Pearl was already a stretch for them, there was no way that they were going to hit the yards on the West Coast. There was no way they could have taken Pearl either, certainly not after we reinforced it.

Could they have stopped us from tying the noose then? I admit it’s possible, but their high command seemed oblivious to the need to protect the ships carrying those vital supplies they started the whole war over in the first place! And they ignored it while constantly pushing outwards, towards the Solomons, the Aleutians, Australia, all efforts that would have drained even more resources for little gain.

Now, I’m not saying the Japs didn’t have a powerful Navy at the start, they certainly did! In a straight up fight, Mahan-esque Battle Fleet versus Battle Fleet we would’ve lost, no question. But as they say, it isn't how big it is, it's how you use it, and to paraphrase our dear Secretary of the Navy, or at least what I think good ol’ Frank Knox wanted to say, “These guys had no idea that they had no idea what the hell they were doing!”

The Beginning of the End (March 1945)

Sergeant Willie Blake

5th Marine Division, Iwo Jima

30th March 1945

Victory is upon us. Our win at Iwo Jima meant only one thing: that the Japanese have finally become weak enough to not be able to defend their own homeland. Iwo Jima also provided us with emergency landing strips for the thousands of planes flying the three-thousand mile trip from Tinian and Saipan. Okinawa should fall in no time. However the fight has not been easy. The Japanese have resorted to suicide kamikaze soldiers to inflict maximum damage on our ships. Thank goodness the British ships are tougher than any of ours and could withstood the attacks with minimal damage. On land, their defence has been stronger than expected. We have been fighting a war of attrition for a few days now. Our technology may have been better, but the harsh terrain nullified any of the potential benefits they may bring. What disturbed me most are the local Okinawans, peaceful traditional agricultural communities torn apart by attacks on both sides. While we have in place policies to deal with them, it is really difficult sorting them out as some of the women are fighting side by side with the Japanese soldiers!

The Beginning of the End (March 1945)

Lieutenant Suzuki Yuuki

5th Division HQ, Hiroshima

28th March 1945

The loss of Iwo Jima was a particularly devastating setback for us. We did not expect to ever lose to the Allies on our home soil. Though we have lost much of what we have gained in Southeast Asia, we were determined to exact a such a heavy cost in Allied lives as they start attacking our homeland. At the very least we would be able to get achieve a negotiated peace as a substitute for unconditional surrender and probably salvage part of our empire rather than losing it all totally. Iwo Jima is just 750 miles south of Tokyo. We have transformed it into a sophisticated observation platform and even erected more than one radar installation which would have made it a perfect base for forward fighters to interdict Allied air strikes on our other islands. Its defence was superior bar none, as it continued to stand even after heavy bombardment by the Allies. Now that we have lost it to them, the tide has turned against us. They are definitely going to use the island’s three airfields to aid in their progress up north towards Tokyo.

But we would not let that happen at any cost. We still have control over Okinawa, the final key island in the Ryukyu chain before mainland Japan proper. We have to defend it at all cost. But our chances look slimmer by the day. Word has it that the British are sending their most superior warships clad in super strong steel to participate in their first Pacific campaign together with the Americans. Once they establish control over the seas, it would be difficult to receive reinforcements and supplies. We have to trust the kamikaze fighters to neutralise those warships before they come any closer. Without supplies we our efforts would be hampered greatly as the Allies try to surround and cut us off from the mainland to strangle us.