8.(20-22) Thermopylae at Guadalcanal

Slim Novel 8 - http://adventuresofkimi.blogspot.com - See Homepage


20. Trust My Atheist Goddess

During the week, Kawaguchi puts the troops through training. Surprise will be the key. Kawaguchi will not repeat Ichiki's idiocy of marching morons along beaches. Instead he will approach from the jungle.

   The night before the operation I sleep well in a tent dreaming of Sunday after the war. Just as I am mounting my lady, an explosion collapses the tent on me. Struggling out of the mess, I see sky lit by brilliant flashes accompanied by earth-shaking roars. Like me, hundreds of men stand in shorts looking east in amazement and terror. Fuji comes out of tent, takes one look and mutters “Monkees! Damn Yankee Monkees!”

   We race to Kawaguchi’s bungalow. He says “We are under heavy bombardment from offshore and US Marines are landing.”

   I realize Kawaguchi has lost control of the logic of his strategy – surprise attack. Now that that is out, the rational response should be to defend the beach at Taivu Point but that means tying down our forces and calling off Kawaguchi's 3-prong attack. He came here with fixed idea to carry out his plan. Now logic deserts it and the General appears a pied piper. And all of us following him are we not rats he leads to oblivion?   

   My mind is working on how to get out alive and uninjured. I shall trust my Atheist Goddess.

21. Twenty-One Hours: Attack

Ferocious biting flies; giant land crabs that stand ground and watch boldly as we tramp by and grinning monkeys dropping feces from treetops.
   Then, night falling.

Up at dawn; lurch forward again. Later we burst onto grassy plain dominated by Mount Austen. To right, the steep jungle-clad slopes separate us from the Marines at their newly named Henderson Field.

Night comes on. Kawaguchi divides the troops into groups. Fuji will lead Group C in a coordinated banzai attack up the ridge slope against the Yankee Marine machine-gun emplacements. He will take me along. May my atheist goddess protect me!

22. Thermopylae

Early evening, sitting at makeshift table writing and suddenly a hand claps me on back: Who else? – Fuji!

As Sun sets, we walk single-file in shoulder-high saber-sharp grass toward the command post at foot of ridge where the attack will commence. I wear fatigues so as to blend with terrain and I also carry grenades and sub-machine gun. We pass hundreds of men squatting in rows of 10 with faces charcoaled, helmets camouflaged by shrubbery cuttings and combat fatigues smeared with dark dirt; busy checking rifles. “8:30 PM” my glowing dial reads: 30 minutes to go.

   At forward point, Fuji leaves me and goes to check the preparation of his attack force. When he returns he relates the plan: At 9, the men will start moving up the ridge and should reach the Marine's line as darkness falls; then they will banzai-charge in waves. He is banking on heavily outnumbering the Marines but they are in ideal defense positions with heavy firepower. He will use General Ulysses S. Grant’s tactic of repeated frontal blows and damn our casualties while whoever commands the Marines will be the Greek Militiades at Thermopylae who stopped a superior attacking force of Persians by fighting to the last defender.

   Fuji orders me to follow his back. “If I'm salivated, Kimura, to use American cowboy lingo, I prefer going to hell with you."

   My atheist goddess please preserve me!
      To read on, click 8.(23-25) Up and At 'Em - The Battle of the Ridge...