Islands of Destiny: The Solomons Campaign and the Eclipse of the Rising Sun by John Prados

Author:John Prados [Prados, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: eBook, WWII, PTO, USMC, USN, Solomon Islands, Guadalcanal, Naval, Rabaul
ISBN: 0451414829
Google: OBcI5xxMeDsC
Amazon: B007X5ZE0Q
Goodreads: 16674639
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2012-10-02T07:00:00+00:00

THE PENDULUM AND THE PIT

Perfectly predictable, the aftermath of Admiral Kondo’s withdrawal from battle brought great pain to the Japanese. The Cactus Air Force and American artillery pulled out every stop to blast the transports their adversary had fought so hard to get to Guadalcanal. Stacks of stores landed from the beached ships were also shelled. Commander Emura reported through the day on November 15: At 9:00 a.m., two of the beached transports were burning; at 10:15 all of them were aflame; later several Allied destroyers were bombarding the area. A certain number of troops joined General Hyakutake, but not as a fresh infantry division in battle trim. Messages reported the salvage of 360 cases of ammunition for field guns and 1,500 bales of rice—just a few days’ supply. On November 20 senior staff officer Kuroshima returned from a visit to the front. Captain Kuroshima warned that men at Rabaul were in despair. The pendulum hovered and Japanese were in the pit.

Americans on Guadalcanal, if not despairing, at least continued to feel themselves beset by the enemy. At the Cactus Crystal Ball, radioman Philip Jacobsen insists that through the end of the campaign the South Pacific bastion never experienced a moment of diminished threat. But in the map rooms of the high command, the tense atmosphere softened into one of opportunity, not desperation. There is an almost palpable sense of elation. Here is the CINCPAC war diary for the day after Kondo’s battle: “It is now definite that the enemy offensive was completely stopped…it appears that now is the time to move in supplies and to relieve the tired Marine amphibious troops.” Pearl Harbor knew that carrier Saratoga was crossing the equator on her way to SOPAC. With her was the battleship North Carolina. Both had been healed of their wounds. The older battlewagons Colorado and New Mexico lay at Fiji. Another new battleship, the Indiana, was transiting the Panama Canal. Two new escort carriers, two cruisers, and a passel of destroyers in the Atlantic had been alerted for Pacific duty. Aircraft reinforcements were arriving in increased numbers. The war had begun shifting in Allied favor.

The admirals had no difficulty attributing the margin of difference to the pillars of intelligence. At Pearl Harbor, Nimitz issued a commendation, perforce sent over the classified Copek circuit:

ONCE AGAIN RADIO INTELLIGENCE HAS ENABLED THE FIGHTING FORCE OF THE PACIFIC AND SOUTHWEST PACIFIC TO KNOW WHERE AND WHEN TO HIT THE ENEMY. MY ONLY REGRET IS THAT OUR APPRECIATION, WHICH IS UNLIMITED, CAN ONLY BE EXTENDED TO THOSE WHO READ THIS SYSTEM.

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