Part 8 (2/2)
”Pipe down! Get back in cover! This isn't a d.a.m.n playground!”
Ferucci returned, knelt down close to his squad, said, ”Well, boys, you've got fresh meat today. Seems the infiltrators you took out last night had fur. You a.s.sholes killed a flock of goats.”
10. Us.h.i.+JIMA.
THIRTY-SECOND ARMY HEADQUARTERS,.
BENEATH SHURI CASTLE, OKINAWA.
APRIL 5, 1945.
”We should not have allowed them to take those airbases. Not without shedding their blood. I offer this only as a respectful suggestion, sir!”
Us.h.i.+jima did not look at Cho, let the words slip past. He closed his eyes, the smell of the tea comforting.
”You tell me what I already know, General. But the power of the American fleet gave us no choice.”
”What power is that, sir? They only bring numbers, they do not bring the code of the Bus.h.i.+do, they are not warriors!”
Us.h.i.+jima kept his eyes closed, but Cho's energy was poisoning his calm. He took a long breath, tried to relax, but Cho's presence would never allow that. He could hear the man's agitated breathing, opened his eyes, looked up at him from his cus.h.i.+on on the floor, said, ”It will take more than spiritual strength to prevail in this war.”
Cho crossed his arms, his usual stubbornness.
”It never has required anything else! Never! Not in all our history! You were in China, you saw for yourself how easily we prevailed. There were those in Tokyo who thought that we should never awaken such a ma.s.sive dragon. What kind of dragon did we find? One who steps aside and bows to our victories. It will be the same again, right here! Sir!”
The added show of respect punctuated every outburst from Cho, a theatrical afterthought. It is mere performance, Us.h.i.+jima thought, for some invisible set of eyes that are watching us, judging us, in every gesture we make. He felt drained by Cho's energy, but he would never allow Cho to know that. Cho was, after all, his subordinate. He took the small teacup in his hands, soothed by the warmth, tasted the flowery liquid.
”I was not aware the war in China has concluded. From my experience there, we were victorious over armies of poorly armed peasants. We swept away troops who were more suited to fight Neanderthals. But China has changed. There are greater forces against us there, perhaps too great. China has rallied her friends and those friends have brought better troops and better arms. And the Chinese are fighting on their own soil. Never forget that. No matter how weak an army, they are strengthened when they fight to protect their own homes.”
Cho bent low, as though testing Us.h.i.+jima's vision, a mocking test of whether he was ill, and Us.h.i.+jima thought, he was never in a cla.s.sroom, he has never studied the great lessons of history. Why do I waste my words?
Cho's response came in a syrupy, patronizing tone.
”We have won every battle. We occupy an enormous amount of Chinese territory, territory in Burma, Indochina, Korea. Soon the entire Asian continent will lie in peace beneath our emperor's flag. The Chinese do not know of honor, of the code of the Bus.h.i.+do.”
”And yet they fight us. No one in Tokyo has indicated to me that there is any end to that campaign, that we are close to conquering China ... we might as well try to conquer the moon. If our army here was to be increased by a handful of those divisions, those good men who are buried in the mud in Manchuria ...”
”Manchukuo, sir! Forgive me for correcting you.”
”Yes, yes, Manchukuo. I will play the game. That is what our children will be taught. I suspect the Chinese maps will still read Manchuria.”
He knew he had crossed a dangerous line, that Cho still had influence in Tokyo that would treat this kind of talk as treasonous. But Us.h.i.+jima clearly understood his place now, his role in the spectacle that was being played out for the emperor's benefit. When Manchuria had been conquered, a government had been put into place there, a Chinese aristocrat who of course answered only to the j.a.panese army that kept him in power.
Cho stood straight, stared past him, the arrogance unyielding.
”If there are Chinese fools who do not accept their fate, then we shall manage that in the only way possible. They would play with maps? We shall burn every last one of them, until they accept their destiny.”
Cho's dreamlike confidence was overpowering, and Us.h.i.+jima had no patience for it. He had not slept well for days now, not since the Americans had come ash.o.r.e. The preparations for the Shuri defensive lines had been intense and continuous, and he had marveled how the tireless Colonel Yahara seemed to be everywhere at once, every hour of the day and night. Us.h.i.+jima pulled himself to his feet, the tea forgotten, any pleasantness swept away by Cho's noisy version of patriotism. Cho stood back, hands clasped behind his back, rocked slowly on his heels, a show of impatient obedience, waiting for Us.h.i.+jima to speak. Us.h.i.+jima tugged at his jacket, straightened his uniform, stretched his back.
”General, let us pay more attention to those things we can control. I agree with you about the airfields. I very much regret that we could not hold the Americans away. But you are certainly aware that if Tokyo had not thought it so wise to take away the Ninth Division, this army would have had the manpower to put up a far more formidable defense. But I will not make excuses. Had we done as you proposed, and manned those positions near the water's edge, those men would have died uselessly. You saw the American bombardment, you saw how they targeted the coastline. As much as I mourn the loss of so many fine soldiers, sacrificing them would not have prevented the enemy landing. We must fight the war with the tools we have been given.”
”We have been given the code of the Bus.h.i.+do. That is the greatest tool of all. Sir!”
Us.h.i.+jima knew there was nothing to be gained by continuing any argument with Cho, thought, does he truly believe that? We shall win because we are more spiritual than the Americans? Us.h.i.+jima moved out of his room, turned toward the map room, a short walk down the hall. Cho moved with him, stayed a pace behind, appropriate. There, two officers were staring at the enormous map of the island, one man with a thick stub of blue chalk, marking a line across Okinawa's narrow center. They were suddenly aware of the commanders, stood back at stiff attention, and the man with the chalk said, ”Forgive me, sir. I was adjusting the enemy's position.”
”Yes, I see that. Then it is confirmed? They have reached the eastern coast, severed our connection with the north?”
The man seemed to hesitate, a glance at Cho. Us.h.i.+jima knew why, said, ”You may speak, Major. Give me the report. The accurate report.”
The man nodded toward the table close to the large map.
”Just arrived, sir. I was going to bring it to General Cho in one minute. I had been ordered to correct the maps as quickly as possible. My apologies for the delay.”
Cho started to speak, and Us.h.i.+jima interrupted him, knew that the major would get a las.h.i.+ng for no good reason. It was Cho's way, bombast and fear, as though no one would do their jobs without the crack of his whip.
”Thank you, Major. Have all the line commanders communicated with us?”
”Those in the south, yes, sir. We have been unable to reach Colonel Udo.”
”No, I suspect not.”
Cho stepped forward, pointed at the northern part of the island.
”Udo will do his duty. He will b.l.o.o.d.y the enemy and drive them into the sea!”
Us.h.i.+jima did not respond, moved close to the map. He had studied every detail of the geography, stared at the curving lines that represented the hills over the northern half of the island. Udo will fight with what he has, he thought, and we can give him nothing more. He knew Udo well, had studied alongside him at the Imperial Military Academy. But Udo had shown very little of the dignity Us.h.i.+jima had expected, seemed to spend his energies endearing himself to General Cho. Colonel Udo was said to have brutalized the Okinawan civilians in the north, which kept many of them from willingly serving the army as much-needed laborers. Us.h.i.+jima had planned that the north be lightly defended, and so Udo was given that command, which kept Udo out of the way from the more critical defenses in the south. Us.h.i.+jima understood that he did not have the luxury of replacing Udo with another experienced commander. If Udo's bad habits got in the way of his performance against the Americans, Us.h.i.+jima just didn't want to hear about it. After a long silence, Us.h.i.+jima said flatly, ”Colonel Udo knows his duty. He will do what we have asked him to do.” He glanced at the paper, troop movements, brief reports from several of the field commanders, all communicated through the radio room nearby. ”The American Marines are driving northward, which will weaken the forces who face us here. That is the best we can do with the resources we have. We shall continue to strengthen our position in the south, using this part of the island to our advantage. I expect Colonel Udo to do what he can against the Marines, engaging them at every suitable opportunity. His greatest duty is to allow the pa.s.sage of time, to keep the Marines far from our strongest point.”
”He shall succeed! And he shall accomplish much more! I am certain of it! Sir!”
Us.h.i.+jima ignored Cho's bombast once more, studied the southern half of the island.
”I am greatly pleased with the work we have done to strengthen our defensive lines.” He turned to Cho. ”You are pleased with the strength of our lines, yes?”
Cho seemed not to notice the change of subject.
”I accept the shame we must endure by fighting from the defensive, sir. But I must admit that our men have shown the kind of spirit we must have, even as they bring shame upon their ancestors.”
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