Issue in doubt

A Last Secret 13

With the Japanese capture of the Gilberts, the Pacific War's front line moved south. Nanumea, a four square kilometre atoll in the Ellice group home to around 400 people, became the closest Allied point to Japanese held Tarawa, 440 kilometres to the northwest. 

It had a radio operator and two soldiers who began giving their masters a lot to worry about around August 1943.

‘Of late, laxity in keeping schedules in the early morning, has been noticed and suggestions regarding an improvement in service have been very ungraciously received and countered by insolent remarks,’ the Suva naval liaison officer reported.

A flying boat was sent from Funafuti to investigate. One soldier ‘made the excuse that he had had a high fever and added that a transfer to New Zealand in the near future would be beneficial to his health.’ This was a much grander problem than the men on the small atoll appreciated for the Americans were planning a move northward and so delicate was the balance they did not want any ‘change in procedure or traffic would arouse the suspicion of the enemy.’ The Japanese would notice a new radio operator.