The Final Storm Read online

  ALSO BY JEFF SHAARA

  Gods and Generals

  The Last Full Measure

  Gone for Soldiers

  Rise to Rebellion

  The Glorious Cause

  To the Last Man

  Jeff Shaara’s Civil War Battlefields

  The Rising Tide

  The Steel Wave

  No Less Than Victory

  The Final Storm is a work of historical fiction. Apart from the well-known actual people, events, and locales that figure in the narrative, all names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to current events or locales, or to living persons, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2011 by Jeffrey M. Shaara

  Maps copyright © 2011 by Mapping Specialists

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  BALLANTINE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

  Shaara, Jeff.

  The final storm: a novel of the war in the Pacific / Jeff Shaara.

  p. cm.

  eISBN: 978-0-345-52643-4

  1. World War, 1939–1945—Pacific Area—Fiction. 2. World War, 1939–1945—Naval operations, American—Fiction. 3. Pacific Area—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3569.H18F56 2011 813′.54—dc22 2011003096

  www.ballantinebooks.com

  Jacket illustration: © Robert Hunt

  v3.1

  For Brenda At Last

  TO THE READER

  The story of the end of the war in the Pacific pushes us toward a delicate line between what we know to be simple history (the facts) and what many of us prefer to think should have happened. Sixty-five years after the event, many of us sit in judgment on the way the Second World War was brought to a close, some of us wondering if there could have been a better way, or perhaps a more moral way to end the war. In the American psyche, those debates are likely to continue for a very long time. But those debates will not be found here.

  This story attempts to complete what I began in a trilogy that dealt with the war in Europe. Those stories involved America’s first involvement in the fight against the Germans and concluded with the fall of Hitler. Half a world away, there had been another, far more brutal war, against an enemy who was even more successful than Hitler in conquering a vast swath of territory and threatening to slice off an enormous part of the world from our definition of civilization. Had the Japanese been allowed to maintain the empire they sought (and nearly won), all of Asia, including China, Korea, and Indochina, Thailand, Burma, and Malaya, would have become part of an empire that would also have included Australia, New Guinea, the Philippines, Indonesia, and the thousands of islands that spread from those lands all the way east to Hawaii, and north to the Aleutians. What might have followed is speculation, of course. Would the Japanese have invaded the United States (which was one purpose of the conquest of the islands in the Aleutian chain, to serve as a base for such an operation)? Or, strengthened by the raw materials drawn from the riches of the lands under their control, would the Japanese have been strong enough to shove their armies across India, or drive southward to Central and South America?

  The urgency of meeting the challenge in the Pacific seemed to many Americans to be secondary to the threat posed to our allies by Hitler. Despite the grotesque insult inflicted upon the United States by the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, the government, particularly President Roosevelt, understood that Germany’s conquest of Europe, including England, was a more immediate threat. And so greater resources were poured out of American factories toward that part of the world. But the Pacific was hardly ignored. After Pearl Harbor, the United States struck back at the Japanese, and in what now seems an amazing feat, fought both wars simultaneously, against two very different enemies, in two very different ways.

  Though my plan had been to complete this story with Europe, I could not just walk away without touching upon the Pacific. (I was also inspired by letters received from a number of Marines, who were quite vocal that “ignoring” their story was altogether inappropriate. It’s hard to disagree.) Some have written to me, expressing frustration that I am not attempting to tell the entire story of the Pacific campaigns through another complete trilogy. There are reasons for that, which include the requirements of my publisher. My choice was to follow No Less Than Victory in rough chronological order, and move through the spring and summer of 1945, to the final collapse of Japan. Thus this story deals with the extraordinary fight on Okinawa, and then, an event unique in world history, the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The points of view vary considerably. Some are familiar: Admiral Chester Nimitz, President Harry Truman. Others are perhaps less well known: Colonel Paul Tibbets, General Mitsuru Ushijima, General Curtis LeMay. And then there are the unknown: Marine Private Clay Adams, Dr. Okiro Hamishita, whose voices have carried me far deeper into this story than I expected to go.

  If you are looking for either a strident argument in favor of the atomic bomb, or an apology for American immorality, you will find neither here. This story is told through the eyes of the participants, whose perspectives and decisions and experiences reflected what was happening around them. There is no judgment in hindsight, no moral verdict on my part. That just isn’t my job (and never will be). Libraries are filled with volumes that pursue an agenda, political or otherwise, about our role in ending the war. I am merely a storyteller, and this story is as accurate historically as I could make it, told by the voices of the men who made the decisions, who gave the orders, and who took their fight to the enemy. There was only one world for them, a world in which the enemy had to be defeated at all costs. That’s why I wanted to tell this story.

  Every day, we lose countless numbers of those who participated in this fight. In every case, when I have spoken with veterans, they remind me that once they are gone, their memories will go with them. Unless, as one GI said, someone tells the damn tale. Fair enough. This is my attempt.

  JEFF SHAARA

  April 2011

  CONTENTS

  Cover

  Other Books by This Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  TO THE READER

  LIST OF MAPS

  SOURCES AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  INTRODUCTION

  PART ONE

  1. THE SUBMARINER

  2. NIMITZ

  3. ADAMS

  4. USHIJIMA

  5. NIMITZ

  6. ADAMS

  7. ADAMS

  8. ADAMS

  9. ADAMS

  10. USHIJIMA

  11. ADAMS

  12. ADAMS

  13. NIMITZ

  14. ADAMS

  PART TWO

  15. USHIJIMA

  16. ADAMS

  17. ADAMS

  18. ADAMS

  19. PORTER

  20. ADAMS

  21. USHIJIMA

  22. ADAMS

  23. ADAMS

  24. USHIJIMA

  25. ADAMS

  PART THREE

  26. TRUMAN

  27. TIBBETS

  28. HAMISHITA

  29. TIBBETS

  30. TIBBETS

  31. HAMISHITA

  32. TRUMAN

  33. ADAMS

  AFTERWORD

  About the Author

  LIST OF MAPS

  THE PACIFIC ISLANDS

  THE INVASION OF OKINAWA—APRIL 1, 1945

  NORTHERN OKINAWA: THE MARINES SWEEP NORTHWARD—APRIL 1945

  MARINES ASSAULT SUGAR LOAF HI
LL—MAY 1945

  MARINES CAPTURE SUGAR LOAF HILL—MAY 20, 1945

  USHIJIMA WITHDRAWS FROM SHURI LINE—MAY 29, 1945

  MARINES OBLITERATE JAPANESE NAVAL FORCES ON OROKU PENINSULA

  AMERICANS DRIVE SOUTHWARD: USHIJIMA’S “LAST STAND”—JUNE 1945

  SOURCES AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  The following is a partial list of those original sources who provided voices for this story:

  THE JAPANESE

  Dr. Michihiko Hachiya

  Saburo Ienaga

  Prime Minister Hideki Tojo

  Colonel Hiromichi Yahara

  THE AMERICANS

  Private First Class George J. Baird, USMC

  Jim Boan, Sixth Division, USMC

  General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., USA

  Sergeant George R. Caron, 509th Composite Group, USAAF

  Lieutenant General James V. Edmundson, USAAF

  David E. Frederick, USN

  Dr. Jack Gennaria, USN

  Captain Hank Harmeling, 106th Infantry Division

  Sergeant Andrew Hettinga, 164th Regimental Combat Team

  Private First Class Irvine Johnson, Second Infantry Division, USA

  Sergeant Mack Johnson, 501st Anti-Aircraft Battalion, USA

  General Curtis LeMay, USAAF

  Sergeant Bill Lorton, Eleventh Field Artillery, USA

  General Douglas MacArthur, USA

  William Manchester, Sixth Division, USMC

  Private First Class Dick Mitchell, USMC

  Admiral Chester Nimitz, USN

  Journalist Ernie Pyle

  Captain Lawrence Renfroe, USN

  Lieutenant Louis Claude Roark, USAAC

  General Holland M. Smith, USMC

  Major Rick Spooner, USMC

  Sergeant Robert Stanfill, USMC

  General Joseph Stilwell, USA

  Seaman Richard Thelen, USN (USS Indianapolis)

  Colonel Paul Tibbets, 509th Composite Group, USAAF

  President Harry S. Truman

  Ken Vander Molen, 182nd Infantry Regiment, USA

  The following have graciously and generously provided me with research material. Thank you to all.

  Bill Baird, St. Petersburg, Florida

  Bruce Breeding, Lexington, Kentucky

  Dr. Celia Edmundson, Sarasota, Florida

  Charles Fannin, San Jose, California

  Edward Figlewicz, Jr., Skokie, Illinois

  Jared Frederick, Blacksburg, Virginia

  Major Richard Gartrell, USMC

  Dr. C. R. Gennaria, Winchester, Virginia

  Colonel Keith Gibson, Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia

  Hill Goodspeed, National Museum of Naval Aviation, Pensacola, Florida

  Scott Hardy

  Pete Harmeling, Danvers, Massachusetts

  Rick Henderson, National Cryptologic Museum, Fort George Meade, Maryland

  Vern Hettinga

  Vice Admiral Gerald L. Hoewing, USN (Ret.), Pensacola, Florida

  David Hoffert, Wabash, Indiana

  Captain William P. Hogan, USN (Ret.), Bellevue, Washington

  Phoebe Hunter, Missoula, Montana

  Victoria Hurd, Sarasota, Florida

  Helen Hutchison, Tallahassee, Florida

  Jack Ingram, Columbia, Maryland

  Dennis Lorton, Winter Haven, Florida

  Ken Lummus, Indio, California

  Cole McCulloch, Martinsburg, Virginia

  Cope Mitchell, Colorado Springs, Colorado

  Joe Moser, Long Beach, California

  Bruce and Linda Novak, Needham, Massachusetts

  James Ormsby, Leesburg, Georgia

  Bruce Poole, Hagerstown, Maryland

  Jim Reeb, USS Torsk Maritime Museum, Baltimore, Maryland

  Liz Renfroe, Tallahassee, Florida

  Stephen Roark, Denver, Colorado

  Bob Roffler, North Yarmouth, Maine Mort Rubin, USN

  Margaret C. Smith, Merritt Island, Florida

  Jim Tollerton, Sarasota, Florida

  Ken Urbach, Lake Mary, Florida

  Ray Voet, Ionia, Michigan

  Kay Whitlock, Missoula, Montana

  Mike Wicklein, Baltimore, Maryland

  Bill Zeilstra, Grand Rapids, Michigan

  INTRODUCTION

  Contrary to what many of us are taught, the Second World War does not begin on September 1, 1939, with Hitler’s army invading Poland. In fact, by that time, a war has already been fought on Asian soil for eight years.

  In the summer of 1931, the most militant among the Japanese Imperial High Command fabricate an incident that, to them, justifies an all-out invasion of Manchuria, China’s northernmost province. More “incidents” are revealed, which lead to attacks against the major Chinese cities of Shanghai and Nanking. The primitive Chinese army is no match for the well-trained and well-equipped Japanese, and in mere months, vast swaths of Chinese territory fall into Japanese hands. By the mid-1930s, Japanese aggression has inspired the League of Nations to offer what amounts to a slap on Japanese wrists. But the Chinese begin to counter, and under the command of Chiang Kai-shek, the Chinese army begins at least to slow the Japanese down. Though the political ramifications of a war between such distant (and foreign) cultures produce few concerns in the West, it is the massacres of Chinese civilians that begin to draw Western attention. The numbers of dead and the ferocity of the Japanese soldiers are staggering, reports causing President Roosevelt to issue a partial embargo on raw materials allowed to enter Japan. As the brutalities against Chinese, Korean, and Southeast Asian peoples escalate, Roosevelt ups the ante by freezing Japanese assets held in the United States. The Japanese respond with loud indignation and claim the need for self-protection from such aggression. They sign the Tripartite Pact, aligning themselves with Germany and Italy, each nation pledging to come to the aid of the others in the event of further hostility from their new enemies.

  In 1940, with war now spreading across Europe, a new power emerges in the Japanese government, whose civilian voices have grown increasingly weak. The army assumes increasing authority, and from that army comes General Hideki Tojo. Tojo is vehemently anti-American, a philosophy he imposes on Japanese culture whenever possible. Tojo also commands the Japanese secret police, a force that stifles dissent among the moderates, whose voices are all but snuffed out. In September 1940, building upon a reputation for ruthlessness in Manchuria, Tojo becomes war minister. Immediately he puts his harsh feelings for the United States into strategic planning. Tojo believes that both America and Britain have been weakened considerably by the war in Europe, and all signs point to Germany’s eventual victory. Thus a confident Tojo begins to plan for the ultimate achievement, a war to conquer the vast resources of the United States. It is not a view shared by the Japanese navy. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto delivers a scathing report that calls any engagement with the Americans utter foolishness, and he is supported by many of the admirals who know they will be on the front lines of a fight that must inevitably span the entire Pacific. Despite Yamamoto’s reluctance, Tojo orders him to create a plan that will ensure a swift and decisive victory. Yamamoto knows that boldness and surprise are the twin ingredients of success against a formidable foe. He plans to make exceptional use of both. Despite discussions between Japanese and American diplomats in Washington, Tojo has no intention of reaching any peaceful solution. Aware that Yamamoto’s plans call for a sneak attack at the very moment their diplomats are talking peace, Tojo remarks, “Our diplomats will have to be sacrificed.”

  What the Japanese do not know is that the Americans have broken their communications code and are fully aware that soothing words in Washington belie what is taking place in the Pacific. American intelligence knows that Japanese warships have put to sea, but there is no specific word of their mission. Regardless, on Hawaii, the two Americans in command, Admiral Husband Kimmel and General Walter Short, are informed that hostilities with Japan could begin at any time. Though he is warned that the Japanese seem poised to attack the Phi
lippines or Borneo, Admiral Kimmel never receives word that Washington believes Hawaii to be a target as well. Thus his preparations are minimal, ordering two attack aircraft carriers away from Hawaii to ferry aircraft to Midway and Wake islands. It is the only stroke of luck the Americans will experience. With no reconnaissance planes searching for trouble anywhere close to Hawaii, the American commanders are blissfully unaware that nine major Japanese warships, along with six aircraft carriers and a scattering of smaller escort ships, are steaming toward the U.S. fleet from the northwest. At 6 A.M. on December 7, 1941, the first of two waves of Japanese dive bombers, fighters, and torpedo planes begins an attack at Pearl Harbor that will cost the United States twenty-one ships, more than three hundred aircraft, 2,400 dead, and 1,100 wounded. Despite the isolationist sentiment that still pervades the mind-set of a vast number of Americans, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor shatters American complacency. America is in the war.

  Even while the smoke rises from Pearl Harbor, Japanese invasion forces surge into the Philippines, virtually obliterating a powerful force of American heavy bombers and fighter planes commanded by General Douglas MacArthur. MacArthur’s ground troops, totaling 100,000 Filipinos and 25,000 Americans, are routed completely, and despite a valiant American defense on the Bataan Peninsula and the island fortress of Corregidor, the Japanese prevail. Though MacArthur escapes, the combined forces, under American general Jonathan Wainwright, are forced to surrender, and thus begins the transfer of the prisoners to Japanese prison camps in what will become known as the Bataan Death March. Sixty thousand Filipinos and fifteen thousand Americans endure unmasked brutality and torture along a sixty-mile course that transforms how most Americans view their new enemy. Where barbarism and massacres in China had seemed a distant problem, now the realities of Japanese atrocities come home to the United States.

  Throughout late 1941, the Japanese surge engulfs Thailand, Korea, Hong Kong, and Indochina. In the Pacific, the American island of Guam falls, as well as the great chains of islands spreading all across the south and central Pacific, which now become Japanese strongholds. To the south, the Japanese conquer the British fortress at Singapore and sink two British battleships, Prince of Wales and Repulse, which were thought invincible. The combined blows are a knife in the morale of the British, who had believed their power in that part of the world was unassailable. But the Japanese continue to press forward, and by early 1942 they occupy and fortify the Dutch East Indies, the Solomon Islands, and New Guinea. Though Wake Island also falls, some five hundred Marines on the island make a valiant though hopeless effort to hold the Japanese away. What is only a minor thorn in the Japanese side becomes a significantly heroic symbol that gives hope to the Americans that the Japanese might not be unstoppable after all. That optimism is further fueled by two enormous engagements, one at sea, the other in the air. In May 1942, the two opposing navies engage in a slugfest in the Coral Sea, northeast of Australia. Though the American and Australian navies suffer the greater loss in warships, the fight ultimately prevents the Japanese from carrying out their planned invasion of Australia. Farther north, in June 1942, the Americans confront a massive Japanese fleet attempting to complete the work begun at Pearl Harbor. The Japanese attempt to lure the American carrier fleet into a trap near Midway Island, northwest of Hawaii. But planes from those carriers instead devastate the Japanese fleet. The loss of their largest and most modern warships, including most of their aircraft carriers, is a blow from which the Japanese will never recover.