VIII: The Longest Night, July 1942
As dusk began to fall over Fiji on the night of the 29th of July, Admiral Yamaguchi ordered his ships to begin unloading the troops. His task force was built around the carriers Soryu and Hiryu, the latter serving as his flagship. Two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser and fifteen destroyers were also tasked with escorting the nineteen troopships (the entire allocation for FS save those sent to the New Hebrides) and the handful of smaller vessels accompanying them. 12,000 Army soldiers were to be landed on the island of Viti Levu. A quarter of them would be delivered to the island by destroyer – an innovative way to stretch Japan’s limited resources.
A night landing, typically considered a hazardous operation, was Yamaguchi’s idea. Japanese intelligence knew that Viti Levu was heavily defended, and with half of his forces still waiting in Rabaul, Yamaguchi knew that storming a defended beach as had been done at Port Moresby and Efate would too greatly weaken his force before he could support it with the second wave. The choice of location, 75 kilometres west of Suva, was also unconventional: a short beach with many steep hills not too far behind. Had it been defended, the area would have resembled Gallipoli. Yamaguchi was gambling that it wasn’t. In another stroke of fortune, he could count on a full moon to help the sailors find their way*.
The landings began well, as the soldiers were dropped on the beach, along with what heavy equipment was considered important enough for the first wave. This included several light artillery pieces, which would be invaluable in setting up a defensive perimeter on the western flank of the landing site. Taking positions in the mountains, the battalion ordered to hold the line would have the most important job of the entire force: if the Allies could break through there before the Japanese could take Suva, the operation would have to be called off. But the Allies did not discover the landing efforts, and by 0400 all of the troops had landed. Yamaguchi had hoped to get the equipment ashore as well, but with dawn only three hours away, he decided it more important to keep the secrecy of the operation intact, and withdrew the ships from the coast. They could return and finish the job the following evening.
When the Allies sent up reconnaissance aircraft the following morning, they found the Japanese fleet south of the small island of Mbengga. Yamaguchi redirected some of his own fighters, attempting to destroy them before they could be used to find the Army, although this effort was unsuccessful and the Zeros soon prepared for the Americans to attempt a strike against the carriers. A squadron of B-26s was sent from Fiji with orders to sink the carriers, although this action too appears to have had only a minor impact, with only a few planes destroyed on each side, and no ships sunk. The Americans did hit the heavy cruiser Mogami with one torpedo, damaging the ship but not crippling it. Only when the ship returned to base was it found that a second torpedo had struck the ship. A defective Mark 13 model, the torpedo had failed to explode.
Despite his best efforts however, Yamaguchi could not keep his army hidden forever, and by 1200 a RNZAF Hudson had confirmed the landing site, first located by local coastwatchers earlier that morning. When the report was sent back to headquarters, the Americans were left confused. At Espiritu Santo and Efate, the Japanese Navy had rushed back to base as soon as they had unloaded the infantry, and Fiji was even further from Truk or Rabaul. Some believed that the landing, in difficult terrain far from any likely objective, was just a diversion, and that the cargo ships that had been spotted with the carriers still held another army, soon to be landed in Lauthala Bay. Forces on the ground were ordered to prepare for another landing, while Admiral Ghormley ordered the naval forces in the area to assemble east of Suva. To avoid Japanese bombers, which were now bombing several locations across Viti Levu, Ghormley would seek a night battle.
Yamaguchi never found out that his landing site had been discovered, but his bomber crews reported that the Allied navies were operating in the area. Some bombers had even attacked the destroyers in Suva harbour instead of installations on land, with no apparent effect, but as sunset approached it would be too late to order a full strike against the destroyers. Unwilling to compromise the landing effort, and also seeking a battle with the Americans, he split his forces in two. All of the cargo ships, the damaged Mogami and five destroyers would return to the landing site to deliver the tanks, armoured cars and supplies to the army. The rest of his navy: two cruisers (one heavy) and ten destroyers, would stay in the Kandavu Passage. The carriers, positioned somewhere between the two groups, were ordered to have the bombers ready to strike at dawn, to finish off the Allied navy if the surface fleet could not.
Commander Stephen Roskill, captain of the HMNZS Leander and the senior Allied officer in the Battle of the Kandavu Passage, very quickly realised that Ghormley had ordered him into a trap. His force was almost the equal of Yamaguchi’s detachment, with New Zealand’s two light cruisers and six US destroyers, and he was operating in friendly waters. While his stock of torpedoes was virtually worthless, regular gunnery should have been sufficient to battle the Japanese to a draw. But the Japanese had trained their sailors specifically to fight night actions. The Allies had not, and the difference soon showed.
Roskill’s battle plan was fairly straightforward, having only had a matter of hours to plan it out. The other Japanese heavy cruiser, Kumano, was to be targeted if at all possible, and his destroyers would attempt to keep the Japanese destroyers away. No attempt was made to control the sea specifically: if Efate was any example to go by, the Japanese Navy would leave Fiji before too long anyway. Yamaguchi had similar intentions – the destruction of Roskill’s cruisers, although he was determined to maintain control of the Kandavu Passage for the night, so that his subordinates could finish unloading on the beaches.
As the Allied ships closed in for a gunnery duel, the Japanese destroyers launched a swarm of torpedoes into the Allied force. The dreaded Type 93 ‘Long Lance’ torpedo had sunk six ships at the Battle of the Java Sea, and in Fiji they proved just as deadly. Two destroyers and both light cruisers were sunk by the Long Lances, and another destroyer was sunk by Japanese gunfire. Yamaguchi lost just one destroyer, and decided not to pursue his defeated foes. Had he done so, it is very likely the other three destroyers would have been sunk as well, but with the landing effort completed he recognised the need to get the Navy out of Fiji as quickly as possible. The Americans would surely be back, and the Japanese had neither the fuel nor the ships to fight a decisive battle in the Kandavu Passage. When the sun rose on the 31st, Yamaguchi ordered his strike aircraft to attack suspected Allied positions as the army began to move. Once the bombers returned, the Navy headed for Rabaul.
* = This was a genuine moment of good fortune for the Japanese here, not just me declaring them lucky: I planned the Japanese timetable out and only afterwards looked up the lunar cycle for the relevant dates. Turned out there was a full moon on July 28th 1942!
- BNC