Japanese watching watchers

A Last Secret 8

Just before Christmas 1941 coast watchers still at their posts were given authority to send the ‘standard’ Christmas greeting to one person in New Zealand. Sir Harry Luke sent a message saying they were ‘not forgotten in your lonely front line post’. Their work was important and he trusted ‘you will come through all dangers unscathed’.

Pat Nichol did not know where exactly his brother Jack might be but he understood what Pearl Harbour meant: ‘We realised what he was doing was dangerous.’

Japan's grand strategy would have seen it occupy most of the Pacific, including New Zealand, Fiji and part of Australia. While they were making great decisive strides in Asia, the Pacific objectives were mostly secondary. The Solomon Islands were important to the Japanese seeking to capture New Caledonia and isolate Eastern Australia. For the Allies, trying to work out strategy, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands looked like stepping stones toward the more significant southern objectives. For the coastwatchers it meant a different role. No longer looking for German raiders, they had become human trip-wires. They were, for the moment, the only way for the Allies to know where the Japanese were. Apart from a small garrison on Butaritari the Japanese were not manning any of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. They were content with occasional visits to Tarawa.