The Fighting Agents Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  I

  II

  III

  IV

  V

  VI

  VII

  VIII

  IX

  X

  XI

  XII

  XIII

  XIV

  Afterword

  PRAISE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING MEN AT WAR SERIES

  “WRITTEN WITH A SPECIAL FLAIR for the military heart and mind.” —The Kansas Daily Courier

  “SHREWD, SHARP, ROUSING ENTERTAINMENT.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “CAMEOS BY SUCH HISTORICAL FIGURES as William ’Wild Bill’ Donovan, Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., David Niven, and Peter Ustinov lend color . . . suspenseful.” —Publishers Weekly

  W.E.B. GRIFFIN’S ACCLAIMED BESTSELLERS

  BLOOD AND HONOR

  “ROUSING . . . AN IMMENSELY ENTERTAINING ADVENTURE. ” —Kirkus Reviews

  “INTRICATELY PLOTTED and packed with those accurate details that fans of Griffin have come to expect.” —Booklist

  HONOR BOUND

  “A TAUTLY WRITTEN STORY whose twists and turns will keep readers guessing until the last page.” —Publishers Weekly

  “A SUPERIOR WAR STORY.” —Library Journal

  W.E.B. GRIFFIN’S CLASSIC SERIES

  THE CORPS W.E.B. Griffin’s bestselling saga of the heroes we call Marines . . .

  "THE BEST CHRONICLER OF THE U.S. MILITARY EVER TO PUT PEN TO PAPER.” —Phoenix Gazette

  "A BRILLIANT STORY . . . NOT ONLY WORTHWHILE, IT’S A PUBLIC SERVICE.” —The Washington Times

  “GREAT READING. A superb job of mingling fact and fiction . . . [Griffin’s] characters come to life.” —The Sunday Oklahoman

  “THIS MAN HAS REALLY DONE HIS HOMEWORK . . . I confess to impatiently awaiting the appearance of succeeding books in the series.” —The Washington Post

  “ACTION-PACKED . . . DIFFICULT TO PUT DOWN.”

  —Marine Corps Gazette

  BROTHERHOOD OF WAR

  A sweeping military epic of the United States Army that became a

  New York Times bestselling phenomenon . . .

  “A MAJOR WORK . . . MAGNIFICENT . . . POWERFUL . . . If books about warriors and the women who love them were given medals for authenticity, insight and honesty, Brotherhood of War would be covered with them.” —William Bradford Huie, author of The Klansman and The Execution of Private Slovik

  “Brotherhood of War gets into the hearts and minds of those who by choice or circumstances are called upon to fight our nation’s wars.” —William R. Corson, Lt. Col. (Ret.) U.S.M.C., author of The Betrayal and The Armies of Ignorance

  “Captures the rhythms of army life and speech, its rewards and deprivations . . . A WELL-WRITTEN, ABSORBING ACCOUNT.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “REFLECTS THE FLAVOR OF WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE A PROFESSIONAL SOLDIER.” —Frederick Downs, author of The Killing Zone

  “LARGE, EXCITING, FAST-MOVING.” —Shirley Ann Grau, author of The Keeper of the House

  “A MASTER STORYTELLER who makes sure each book stands on its own.” —Newport News Press

  “GRIFFIN HAS BEEN CALLED THE LOUIS L’AMOUR OF MILITARY FICTION, AND WITH GOOD REASON.”

  —Chattanooga News-Free Press

  BADGE OF HONOR

  W.E.B. Griffin’s electrifying epic series of a big-city police force . . .

  "DAMN EFFECTIVE . . . He captivates you with characters the way few authors can.” —Tom Clancy

  "TOUGH, AUTHENTIC . . . POLICE DRAMA AT ITS BEST . . . Readers will feel as if they’re part of the investigation, and the true-to-life characters will soon feel like old friends. Excellent reading.” —Dale Brown, bestselling author of Storming Heaven and Fatal Terrain

  “COLORFUL . . . GRITTY . . . TENSE.”

  —The Philadelphia Inquirer

  “A REAL WINNER.” —New York Daily News

  “NOT SINCE JOSEPH WAMBAUGH have we been treated to a police story of the caliber that Griffin gives us. He creates a story about real people in a real world doing things that are AS REAL AS TODAY’S HEADLINES.” —Harold Coyle, bestselling author of

  Team Yankee and Sword Point

  "FANS OF ED McBAIN’S 87TH PRECINCT NOVELS BETTER MAKE ROOM ON THEIR SHELVES . . . Badge of Honor is first and foremost the story of the people who solve the crimes. The characters come alive.” —Gainsville (GA) Times

  “GRITTY, FAST-PACED . . . AUTHENTIC.”

  —Richard Herman, Jr., author of The Warbirds

  Titles by W.E.B. Griffin

  HONOR BOUND HONOR BOUND BLOOD AND HONOR SECRET HONOR

  BROTHERHOOD OF WAR BOOK I: THE LIEUTENANTS BOOK II: THE CAPTAINS BOOK III: THE MAJORS BOOK IV: THE COLONELS BOOK V: THE BERETS BOOK VI: THE GENERALS BOOK VII: THE NEW BREED BOOK VIII: THE AVIATORS BOOK IX: SPECIAL OPS

  THE CORPS BOOK I: SEMPER FI BOOK II: CALL TO ARMS BOOK III: COUNTERATTACK BOOK IV: BATTLEGROUND BOOK V: LINE OF FIRE BOOK VI: CLOSE COMBAT BOOK VII: BEHIND THE LINES BOOK VIII: IN DANGER’S PATH BOOK IX: UNDER FIRE BOOK X: RETREAT, HELL!

  BADGE OF HONOR BOOK I: MEN IN BLUE BOOK II: SPECIAL OPERATIONS BOOK III: THE VICTIM BOOK IV: THE WITNESS BOOK V: THE ASSASSIN BOOK VI: THE MURDERERS BOOK VII: THE INVESTIGATORS BOOK VIII: FINAL JUSTICE

  MEN AT WAR BOOK I: THE LAST HEROES BOOK II: THE SECRET WARRIORS BOOK III: THE SOLDIER SPIES BOOK IV: THE FIGHTING AGENTS BOOK V: THE SABOTEURS

  PRESIDENTIAL AGENT BOOK I: BY ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT BOOK II: THE HOSTAGE

  THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

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  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  THE FIGHTING AGENTS

  A Jove Book / published by arrangement with the author

  Copyright © 1987 by W.E.B. Griffin.

  Originally published under the pseudonym Alex Baldwin.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form

  without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in

  violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  For information, address: G. P. Putnam’s Sons,

  a division of Pen
guin Group (USA) Inc.,

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

  eISBN : 978-1-436-21961-7

  JOVE®

  Jove Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

  JOVE is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  The “J” design is a trademark belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  For Lieutenant Aaron Bank, Infantry, AUS, detailed OSS (later, Colonel, Special Forces) and Lieutenant William E. Colby, Infantry, AUS, detailed OSS (later, Ambassador and Director, CIA)

  As Jedburgh Team Leaders operating in German-occupied France and Norway, they set the standards for valor, wisdom, patriotism, and personal integrity that thousands who followed in their steps in the OSS and CIA tried to emulate.

  Prologue

  Since General Douglas MacArthur’s departure for Australia from the Fortress of Corregidor in Manila Bay was in compliance with a direct order from President and Commander -in-Chief Franklin Delano Roosevelt, it was the General’s belief that the move was nothing more than a transfer of his headquarters. He believed, in other words, that the battered, outnumbered, starving U.S. and Philippine troops in the Philippine Islands would remain under his command.

  He believed specifically that Lieutenant General Jonathan M. Wainwright, a tall, skinny cavalryman who had been his deputy, would, as regulations and custom prescribed, remain under his orders.

  General MacArthur’s last order to Wainwright—on the small wooden wharf at Corregidor just before MacArthur, his wife, his son, and a small staff boarded the boats that would take them away—was verbal: He told Wainwright to “hold on.” Wainwright understood this to mean that he was forbidden to surrender.

  Since he had been promised reinforcement and resupply of his beleaguered forces by Roosevelt himself, MacArthur believed that as long as the Fortress of Corregidor held out, Roosevelt would be forced to make good on his promise of reinforcement. The island of Luzon, including the capital city of Manila, had fallen to the Japanese. But there were upward of twenty thousand reasonably healthy, reasonably well-supplied troops under Major General William Sharp on the island of Mindanao. That force, MacArthur believed, could serve as the nucleus for the recapture of Luzon, once reinforcements came.

  MacArthur accepted the possibility that Corregidor might fall. But if that should happen, he believed that Wainwright should move his three-starred, red general’s flag and the other colors to Mindanao, assume command of General Sharp’s troops, and continue the fight.

  Before MacArthur reached Brisbane, however, traveling first by PT boat and then by B-17 aircraft, General Wainwright began to receive orders directly from Washington, from General George Catlett Marshall, the Chief of Staff.

  General MacArthur and General Marshall were not friends. For instance, some time before the war when Marshall was a colonel at Fort Benning, MacArthur, then Chief of Staff of the Army, had officially described Marshall as unfit for command of a unit larger than a regiment. Several such incidents did not bring the two closer.

  It was made clear to General Wainwright by the War Department that he was no longer subject to General Mac-Arthur’s orders, and that the conduct of resistance in the Philippines was entirely his own responsibility.

  Without MacArthur’s knowledge or consent, the decision had already been made by President Roosevelt, acting with the advice of General Marshall and Brigadier General Dwight D. Eisenhower (who had once served as Mac-Arthur’s deputy in the Philippines), that not only was reinforcement of the Philippines impossible—given the relative capabilities of the United States and Imperial Japanese navies—but that the first priority in the war was the conflict against the Germans in North Africa and Europe.

  On May 1, 1942, there were thirteen thousand American and Philippine troops (on a three-eighths ration) in the granite tunnels of Corregidor Island. These included a large number of wounded and all the nurses evacuated from Luzon in order to spare them rape at the hands of the Japanese. That day, Japanese artillery fired sixteen thousand rounds at Corregidor, one heavy shell landing every five seconds. And that many shells were fired the next day. And the next day. And the next.

  On the night of May 5, 1942, when it became evident to General Wainwright that the Japanese were about to make an assault on the fortress, he radioed General Sharp and other commanders elsewhere in the Philippines, releasing them from his command.

  Although most of the heavy coast artillery cannon on the island had already been destroyed by Japanese artillery, there were enough smaller cannon and automatic weapons still available to Wainwright’s forces so that Japanese losses in the assault were severe. But the Japanese were both determined and courageous, and a foothold was gained.

  The fall of Corregidor was no longer in doubt.

  There was nothing to be gained by further resistance. In fact, further resistance would have meant that the Japanese would have trained cannon at the mouth of Malinta Tunnel. These would have swept the tunnel clean of nurses and wounded and the rest of the garrison as effectively as a hose washing down a drainage pipe.

  Wainwright sent his aide, carrying a white flag, and a staff officer to treat with the enemy.

  Soon after that, General Wainwright met with his counterpart, Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma, on the porch of a small, bullet-pocked frame house on Luzon. The shaven-headed Homma, although he spoke fluent English, addressed Wainwright through an interpreter.

  Homma was not interested in the surrender of Corregidor. He demanded the absolute, unconditional surrender of all American troops in the Philippine Islands. If General Wainwright were not prepared to offer absolute surrender of all U.S. forces, he would resume tactical operations. By this, he clearly meant wiping out the Corregidor garrison.

  Accompanied by a Japanese lieutenant named Kano, who had been educated in New Jersey, General Wainwright was taken in a captured Cadillac to the studios of radio station KZRH in Manila. There he broadcast a message to all commanders of all U.S. military and naval forces in the Philippines. As senior U.S. officer in the Philippines, he ordered all American forces to immediately suspend hostile action and to make all preparations to surrender to the Imperial Japanese Army.

  Not all Americans chose to obey General Wainwright’s final order.

  I

  1

  HEADQUARTERS, MINDANAO-VISAYAN FORCE UNITED STATES FORCES IN THE PHILIPPINES 28 DECEMBER 1942

  Brigadier General Wendell W. Fertig, Commanding, Mindanao-Visayan Force, wore two items not commonly seen on general officers of the U.S. Army: a goatee with mustache and a cone-shaped, woven-reed hat perched at a cocky angle on his head. From this dangled what looked like a native bracelet.

  General Fertig, a trim, red-haired man of forty-one, was not a professional soldier. He had not gone to West Point; rather, he had entered the military service of the United States just over a year before, directly commissioned as Captain, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army Reserve. The U.S. Army in the Philippines had been delighted to have the services of an experienced civil engineer, in particular one who was familiar with the Philippines. When he had entered the Army, Fertig had sent his wife and family to safety in Colorado.

  From the time of the Japanese invasion until the surrender ordered by General Wainwright on May 5, 1942, Fertig had been primarily involved in the demolition—usually by explosive—of roads, bridges and tunnels, supply and petrol dumps, and other facilities to deny their use to the enemy. Many of the facilities he destroyed he had built before the war.

  On May 5, 1942—by then twice promoted—Lt. Colonel Fertig willfully and with full knowledge of the consequences elected to disobey the lawful order of his military superior, Lt. General Jonathan Wainwright, to immediately cease hostile action against the Imperial Japanese Army and to make all preparations to surrender.

  He went instead int
o the mountains of Mindanao, with every intention of waging what hostile action he could against the Japanese. With him at the beginning were Captain Charles Hedges, another newly commissioned reserve officer of the Army, Chief Petty Officer Ellwood Orfett, USN, and Private Robert Ball, USA.

  Things did not go well at first for the little group. To avoid Japanese capture, they had to live in the jungle, eating what they could find there. Or else they ate the native food Moro tribesmen furnished them every now and again—at the risk of their lives.

  Once, they watched from the jungle as a long line of American prisoners—their officers bareheaded and with their arms tied behind them—were moved to a prison camp.

  Although they encountered some yet-to-surrender Philippine troops, there was no rush to Fertig’s colors. Most of the Filipinos, in and out of uniform, sadly suggested to them that the war was over and that the only logical course for the ragtag quartet to follow was to surrender.

  But Fertig, if personally modest, had a somewhat grand notion of the role he could play in the war. He kept a diary, which has survived, and in it, in a rice paddy near Moray, he wrote:

  “I am called on to lead a resistance movement against an implacable enemy under conditions that make victory barely possible. . . . But I feel . . . my course is charted and that only success lies at the end of the trail. . . . If we are to win only part of the time and gain a little each time, in the end we will be successful.”

  Lt. Colonel Fertig gave a good deal of thought to the reluctance of the Filipinos and other Americans who had not surrendered to join him. He finally concluded that this was because they quite naturally thought he was simply one more middle-level brass hat, one more American civilian temporarily commissioned into the Army.

  They would, on the other hand, follow a real soldier, he realized. He improved on this: If there were a general officer who announced himself as the official representative of the United States and Philippine governments, that individual would command the respect of everybody.