Japanese pushed and prodded them with their bayonets toward the water and then into it. It might be late summer, but the water was very cold and Ruby could hear the screams coming from the prisoners as they were pushed into water that came up to their chests.
The Japanese soldiers fired in front of the prisoners and stabbed slow-moving Americans with their bayonets. The message was clear, swim or die.
Swimming only delayed the inevitable. Tears streamed down her face as a couple of GIs tried to return to shore and were shot. The wounded and nonswimmers had already disappeared under the waves, while others attempted to strike out for the opposite shore and the illusion of safety. When they were maybe a hundred yards out, the Japanese opened fire. It was little more than target practice. Splashes surrounded the dozen or so heads remaining, and soon there were none.
Ruby pulled herself to her feet. She was not going back to Anchorage. Doubtless there were civilians still there who would also become prisoners of the Japanese. She might not be killed because she was a civilian, but she’d also heard what they did to women.
Along with her sleeping quarters behind the kitchen of the restaurant, she had a cabin a couple of miles away and well into the woods. There, she’d get some decent gear, another weapon, and head farther into the forest. But where to go? South to Seward or Valdez was an easy choice, but were the Japs landing there as well? Maybe heading inland toward Fairbanks and the Canadian border was the best idea.
She left the house and walked into the nearby bushes where she heard strange noises. She stood with the shotgun ready. She lowered it when she looked into the frightened faces of a handful of very young and scared American soldiers who’d escaped the massacre.
“Where you boys headed?” she asked, her voice surprisingly calm.
They looked at each other. They hadn’t thought that far. They’d run like they were on fire when the shells cut their unit to pieces. One, a PFC, shrugged. “Don’t know. Sure as hell can’t go back to the barracks. The Japs’ll be sacked out in our bunks pretty damn soon.”
Ruby slung the shotgun over her shoulder. “Then you’d better come with me.”
CHAPTER 7
WITH A FEW BEERS AND A FINE STEAK COOKED MEDIUM RARE causing an overfull belly, Dane drove cautiously back to his quarters, fearful that he’d doze off and get into an accident. A couple of cups of coffee had helped, but he still felt fuzzy when he finally made it back to the base. He’d planned to shower and change, but a message told him to get his ass to Spruance’s offices right now.
When Dane arrived, it was clear that a number of others on the admiral’s staff had also been off base and were still arriving. Like Dane, some even in civvies. Thus, it was early evening before Spruance let Merchant begin. He stood in front of a large map of Alaska and the western states and started with the obvious. The Japanese had landed troops at Anchorage and did not appear to be planning to leave. It was an invasion, not a raid.
“They were first spotted by military personnel on the Kenai Peninsula along with a number of civilians who promptly contacted everyone they could by ham radio or by telephone. Just for the record, most telephones in the area are still working, so we’re getting a lot of good intelligence.”
Merchant continued. “The spotters said there were half a dozen Jap battleships, which is clearly an exaggeration. Cooler heads and some ex-navy types said there were two cruisers and four destroyers followed by a dozen or so transports. There were planes, so we have to assume at least one carrier, although probably a small one. We estimate they landed approximately five thousand soldiers and we think most of them came from their existing garrisons on Attu and Kiska, which we believe were heavily reinforced just recently. It is also likely Attu and Kiska have been abandoned.”
“So what are their plans?” asked a clearly annoyed and impatient Spruance. Merchant had used the words “think” and “likely” too often. The admiral wanted something more precise. The damned Japs had just invaded the mainland of North America and were again showing how impotent the United States Army and Navy were.
Merchant was unfazed. “Sir, they don’t have enough men to conquer Alaska, much less threaten the United States, although people in Alaska and the West Coast are starting to panic over the possibility. Even if they do heavily reinforce their men on the ground, they might be able to take some nearby towns, but Alaska is so vast it’d still be an enormous undertaking and a logistical nightmare to maintain. Hell, it’s almost six hundred miles from Anchorage to Juneau and much of it is truly miserable going. In my opinion, Admiral, they took Anchorage because they could, and because they could rub our noses in it, and maybe because they think it’ll goad us into doing something stupid.”
“Which is not going to happen,” snapped Spruance. “But you will tell me what we can do.”
“Which isn’t much,” Merchant said and earned a glare from the normally even-tempered Nimitz, who had just entered. Dane stifled a smile. Merchant wasn’t afraid of the brass, which was good. Too many intelligence officers fed their superiors what they thought their superiors wanted to hear, rather than the unvarnished and sometimes painful truth. On the other hand, Nimitz, for all his apparently easygoing personality, was reputed to be a solid tactician and a proponent of attacking. Doing nothing had to be killing him, Dane thought.
Merchant continued. “The problem is distance. I assume we have some submarines heading for Cook Inlet to try to make life miserable for the Japs, and I also assume that any surface ships have been told to stay clear.”
“True,” said Nimitz. “We had two old destroyers patrolling Cook Inlet and they were lucky enough to neither see nor be seen. If they had spotted the Japs, they might have gotten off a slightly earlier warning, but it wouldn’t have mattered, and they likely would have been sunk for their efforts.”
“Right now,” Merchant continued, “Alaska cannot be reached by either road or rail. As you’re aware, we’re building a so-called highway to Alaska, but it won’t be ready for some months and will likely close down during the winter if it’s not through to Fairbanks. All supplies for the engineers working on the road coming down from the north have to come in by ship and I presume that lifeline has just been cut. I’ve been told by General Bruckner, who commands Alaska, that the army wants to pull those men out since they are so exposed and they aren’t combat troops in the first place. Many of them are Negroes and there is serious doubt as to how well they will fight. I assume we’ll try to speed up its construction from the south, but there’s only so much you can do. As to rail, there ain’t none. Also, the handful of planes we had at Fairbanks got shot up pretty badly by Jap carrier planes.”
Spruance shook his head. “Damn place is larger than Texas and might as well be on the moon.”
“Sir, the army’s admitted that they have a true Hobson’s choice regarding the troops they now have in Alaska. Even if the road-building troops up there are poorly trained, they are still soldiers and should be able to help in the defense of Fairbanks and Ladd Field. However, we must have that road through Canada, so the army doesn’t want them to stop road-building. Also, the Alaska National Guard has fewer than three thousand men and they are scattered all over the territory.”
“So that leaves air,” Spruance said, uncomfortably acknowledging that the Japanese controlled the seas. He had a good idea what was going to be said next.
Merchant smiled grimly. “That’s right, sir, and we have little to work with right now. We have plenty of planes, but they don’t have the range to make it to Anchorage or Fairbanks and back. Hell, some of them couldn’t even get there in the first place, much less return. Even if we based our planes on Canadian soil, at Vancouver for instance, it’s more than thirteen hundred miles from Vancouver to Anchorage, and those are crow-fly miles that would require a lot of flying over the ocean and maybe running into Jap carrier planes on the way. If we take the overland route, we’d add several hundred more miles each way. The air force has B17, B24, and B25 bombers that could make it from Vancouver to Anchorage, but couldn’t make it back. They’d need a place to land and refuel. There’s a small base near Fairbanks called Ladd Field, but it’s not adequate and needs a lot of improvement. Besides, the Japs just bombed it.”
“Suggestions?” said Nimitz.
Merchant jabbed his pointer at the map. “Juneau. It’s six hundred miles from Anchorage to Juneau, and eight hundred from Vancouver to Anchorage. It’d be tight, but the planes should make it. Unfortunately, it’s going to take time to prepare a proper base. I don’t know if Vancouver has an airport that can handle planes as large as our bombers.”
