XLVI: Boiling Over, July 1943
General Sugiyama claimed that Nagano’s death was merely an unfortunate accident when questioned the following morning. If it had been, it was a very convenient one for the general. Sugiyama had been attempting to weaken the Navy’s influence on the war effort for the better part of a year, and there was hardly a better way to do that than by removing the second most prestigious admiral in the country from the equation. The junior Army officers that had directly led the assassination had made sure to cover up the details of the death, and in hiding the body they made Sugiyama’s lie believable to any who did not know otherwise.
Unfortunately for Sugiyama, one senior officer knew the truth, or at least enough of it to see through Sugiyama’s lies. Worse, he was someone who Sugiyama had been relying on for support. That man was Hideki Tojo, Prime Minister and Minister of War. As Minister of War, he was one of the most politically powerful men in the Army, while the office of Prime Minister gave him some power over the Navy as well. Sugiyama believed that the conflict with the Navy was very much a bipolar conflict, and because Tojo was an Army man, it would follow that he would support the Army. However Tojo’s loyalty lay first and foremost to the Emperor, and Hirohito had made it known in the past that he at the very least approved of Yamamoto’s plan for a decisive battle. When Tojo privately asked the Emperor if he still had faith in Yamamoto, he received a ‘yes’ in reply.
No replacement for Nagano had yet been found, and with the approval of the Emperor Tojo appointed Admiral Shimada to the post, making him both Chief of the IJN and its top Minister. Tojo was no stranger to the thought of taking multiple positions at once, for his own list of duties had grown several times throughout the war, and Shimada was both a political lightweight and quite friendly towards Tojo. Everyone knew that de facto control of the Navy had lain with Grand Admiral Yamamoto ever since his great victory in the South Pacific, and now that the only other admiral who could rival his prestige was gone that was likely to be even more true than ever. Shimada, Tojo had realised long ago, was merely Yamamoto’s messenger in Tokyo.
Tojo had also grown tired of the endless infighting between the services, knowing that such dysfunction reflected badly on him as Prime Minister. Relieving Sugiyama was out of the question, as it would not look good for him to sack his own superior officer. The only alternative was compromise between the Army and Navy, which had so far failed in the somewhat public environment of the Imperial Headquarters, but may still be possible if done in private, with Tojo acting as middleman.
Tojo ordered Yamamoto and Shimada to meet him in Yokosuka, outside of Tokyo to reduce the risk of any further assassinations. Yamamoto was pleased to see that at least one other senior officer seemed to recognise that the United States was Japan’s greatest threat. Tojo asked him what he, and by implication the rest of the Navy, would need to defeat that threat. Yamamoto replied with “a division for the Carolines, six months to get everything ready, and enough of a free hand to fight the battle without interference from the Army”. Tojo remarked that the Army had effectively given him two of those three things with the Two Black Lines agreement. To that Yamamoto shook his head, noting “that didn’t even last a week.”
When Tojo met with Sugiyama the next day, the reception he received was not nearly so friendly. “Yamamoto has already had his six months!” Sugiyama exploded, before insisting that only the Army could win the war, and if they were to do so they needed the troops that the Navy had “stolen” in the Central Pacific islands. Clearly, Sugiyama had no interest in any compromise with the Navy, or at least none that would see the Emperor’s support for Yamamoto respected. Tojo decided that if he was to honour the Emperor’s wishes, he would need the Emperor to give the order.
The opportunity for that came before the end of that week, when the Emperor summoned Tojo, Shimada, Sugiyama and Yamamoto to the Imperial Palace. All four officers were told of his extreme displeasure towards Japan’s armed services, who were more distracted by their infighting than in their duty to Japan. He ordered that all internal conflicts were to cease immediately and that Yamamoto be given official command of the division he requested as well as those disputed garrisons in the Central Pacific. Furthermore, Yamamoto was to be given all relevant authority with regard to the planning and execution of the decisive battle. Sugiyama was furious, but the Emperor rebuked him. “Where are your great victories, general?”
With orders from the Emperor in hand, Yamamoto left the Imperial Palace relieved that he finally had the power, and written proof of said power, in hand to fight his second decisive battle. His new group of well-trained pilots were showing promising results in their training, although they were still short of the elite fighters that had helped him bomb Pearl Harbour. The new planes were entering service too, with the B6N torpedo bomber starting to fill hangars on board his carriers. His flagship, the Musashi, had pride of place in Tokyo Bay, and her sister Shinano was nearing completion. MacArthur’s efforts into New Guinea and Timor had convinced him that while the Americans would be coming, they were still weak. If all went to plan, he would have enough time to beat them again before their factories put him out of action for good. A meeting with the Emperor looked to have finally gotten the Army off his back.
No mere meeting could put an end to the rivalry however. Sugiyama was just as sure that the Army’s plan – his plan – for defeating the Americans was the best way to win the war. More sure, actually, for he did not acknowledge the strength and industrial power of the United States in the same way that Yamamoto did. The Imperial Navy, Yamamoto principally, was a threat to that plan, taking resources away from the Army when there were never enough to go around. Now the Emperor had backed the Navy, and it seemed that Tojo too had had a hand in Yamamoto’s schemes.
Sugiyama smiled as he left the Imperial Palace, more than an hour after the other three officers were dismissed. While he had not ordered Nagano’s assassination personally, he was in close contact with the man behind the scheme: General Korechika Anami, commander of various armies in China and Manchuria, more recently known for his outspoken contempt towards Yamamoto’s “theft of Army glory” in Fiji. Anami was a perfect representation of Japan’s interservice rivalry, and had a reputation as a dangerous fanatic to go with it. Nagano’s death had not been enough, and Anami was eager to see the Navy eliminated from a position of influence. That could mean only one thing:
The assassin’s job was not yet done.
- BNC
