Eclipse of the Rising Sun,a 1944 Japan AAR
Episode 4
'' Inaction and indecision in the present is because of fear of consequences of the future '' - L.Ron Hubbard
The Burma battles July-August 1944
The fighting who had the less attention since the beginning of the war was by far the region of Burma. With the Allies driving the Nazi's army off French soil and the furious pacific battles, Burma was last on the list. However, the fighting was as terrible as anywhere else, maybe even more; jungles, swamps and mountains was the terrain to fight on.
The British Advance
Since the beginning of 1944, the British had received heavy reinforcement from Africa, since Suez had been secured thanks to Operation Torch(invasion of Africa by American forces). These experienced troops helped greatly to stop the Japanese advance, and during early summer 1944, the Rising sun was slowly losing their grip at the Burma regions. Things looked grim, but peace with China revived all hopes. The divisions stationned in China were going to be transfered slowly but surely to fight the British. However, the process would be slow, as all transport ships were needed for the Pacific island's conquest.
In yellow:the Japanese defensive line
The British Field Marshall Alanbrooke decided to give a strong blow to the Japanese army during the month of July, by attempting to cut off the 3 Japanese divisions guarding the north border. His operation did well, and it looked extremely bad for the Nippon troops stationned north. By the beginning of August, the british troops had almost cut off the army guarding north. Seeing this, the commander of the Burma troops, Field Marshall Kanin(writers note:theres no FM in the Japan army i believe, but whatever) decided to prevent the encirclement of those 3 divisions, by counter attacking Alexander's troops hoping to get them off guard and force them to fight in a double front war(north and south). This attack would be known has:The August Offensive.
The August Offensive
The 3rd August, every piece of artillery did an heavy barrage against enemy lines for a few hours, and it was followed by attacks from every troops available in the south. Fighting in marshes, jungles, mountains, or any kind of terrain possible, the brave Japanese soldier's slowly opened a breach trough the British lines. On the 10th of August, report's were made that some South troops were able to meet some soldiers of the north army. Kanin's plan had worked for now. However, Field Marshall Alanbrooke had something that Burma HQ commander Kanin hadn't expected. The 8th Armored british division, making its way in jungles and marshes, came to secure the breach that had been made in british lines. Anti-tank were weapons were no where to be found. Soldiers fought furiously, attempting their best to stop the metal monsters as they called them, but rifles and bayonnettes were no match for the power of armor. The armored division slowly closed the opening that had been made in the English line, and the 3 divisions in the north were trapped once again. Repulsing countless counter-attacks from Kanin's army south to relieve the divisions north, the british forces slowly shrinked the defensive ring of the 3 divisions in the north. On the 20th, Field Marshall Kanin and the newly arrived Inanba Satoru (Chief of Army), decided to meet to take some decisions on the situation.
After hours of discussion, they both came to the same conclusions after noticing the degrading state of their army who tried countless attacks to liberate the northern pocket; the north army was doomed. At first,they both agreed that soldiers would just fight to the end trying to take out has many british soldiers they could. However, the Emperor himself had ordered that kamikaze's divisions had to be disbanded and that soldiers should be captured instead of dying to a lost cause. No one really knew why he had ordered such a thing, but rumors said the Emperor had gained a lot of compation for the soldiers since he was really in charge of the nation. Kanin, on the new orders from the emperor, sent this message to the high officers of the North army trapped:
- On new orders from the Emperor himself, soldiers are to surrender, instead of sacrificing themself for a lost cause. We have attempted all to break the encirclement of your forces, and we were not able. It is in shame and dishonor that we have to ask you to surrender to the United Kingdom forces of burma.
The officers first tought it was a joke, but after receiving a second similar message, it was clear.They would have to surrender.
On August 25th, it was over. After being totally cut off for almost two weeks, the soldiers surrended. Burma had suddenly re-appeared on the cover of newspapers. ''Japanese soldiers surrending;is it the Eclipse of the Rising sun?'' and ''The Indian/British army get their hand of something rarer then gold;Japanese pow's!'' and all sort of headlines similar. On the other side, the Japanese high command was divided; many agreed that human lives should not be sacrificed for a lost cause, while others believed that battling to the end was the way to fight. However, the emperor had took the decision, therefor no one could even attempt to counter the order. Japan had entered a new era of the war.
The Hunt for the Illustrious - August 1944
If there was one thing that the IJN could be blamed for, it was his submarines. Their submarines were powerful and fast, yet a lack of radar and awful commanding made them nearly useless. At the beginning of the war, Japanese submarines had sunked several ship, but mainly because of a total surprise effect, as british and american fleets were caught totally off guard. However,the Allies got their radar working and it was the beginning of the end for the IJN submarines. The problem laid in the doctrine used; making them ''shadowy capital ship killers''. Of course, this had become useless since 1942 with enemy destroyers being on alert at all times; submarines had a hard time getting close enough to hit the capital ship. Losing submarines after submarines,it was time for a change by summer 1944. New chief of Staff Akiro Shima, ordered all submarines captain's to employ a new doctrine; the ''u-boat'' warfare tactics. Submarine's main role was now to attack supply convoys, just like the Kriegsmarines U-boats. During the month of July, many convoys were caught off guard and sunk by the sensuikan's(writers note:japanese word for submarine). However, by the middle of July, the Royal Navy and the US Navy noticed the change of tactics and started protecting heavily its convoy's: Destroyers, Cruisers, Battlecruisers and even Aircraft Carriers were used to protect the vital convoy lines. Of course, this did not stop the IJN submarines from trying to do their mission...
At the beginning of August, submarines were to hunt for convoy's in the micronesian islands(marshall islands) to weaken the enemy for what was next; Yamamoto was going to hit once more. Carriers and Submarines would allie to strike the island of Enewetok. The sensuikan's would hit the supply lines, while the carriers would get the ships stationned at Enewetok.
The newly formed Royal Pacific Navy, quickly formed to help the U.S. Navy who struggled in the past month, based itself at the island of Enewetok. This was perfect for Yamamoto, as he knew most of the officers on the british fleet had never fought Carrier fleets. Most of them only had experience against U-Boats in the Atlantic, so the Grand Admiral knew that their inexperience would be in his favor. On the 13th August, Yamamoto ordered his Carrier fleet to get moving towards the Royal Navy at Eniwetok. They were followed by the reformed 2nd light cruiser fleet and 1st Destroyer fleet. On the 14th, at the rise of the sun, it began.
The entire carrier force of the Imperial Japanese Navy, or the ''Nihon Kaigun'' launched their planes in 2 waves. The British Navy, caught totally off guard suffered extremely during the first wave. The british commanders tried their best to resist the countless number of torpedos hitting their ships, however the situation was hopeless. At 7h30, the first wave was gone. Enewetok layed in ruins.
The Pacific British Royal Navy and the sunked ship after the first wave.
English commanders knew that a second wave could arrive in any second, so they quickly reacted by ordering the abandon of the island. Ships were to rebase at Kwalajein(an island south east of Enewetok) where it would be covered by the American navy. The ships who had survived the first wave quickly got moving south east hoping to not be caught by the so-probable second wave. Every English ship covered Carrier Illustrious, who had suffered terrible damage but hadn't got enough damage to be sent at the bottom of the sea. Luck was on British side, as the Second wave had been delayed by terrible weather and by the time the planes arrived at the enewetok naval base, most English ships were gone. When the second wave came back to the Aircraft Carriers and reports were made, Yamamoto realised that he had just left a terrible chance to totally sink the Pacific Royal Navy Carrier Force. However, the IJN submarines patrolling for convoys would finish the job...
The sensukai's were ordered to look out for any large fleet between Kwalajein and Enewetok. After hours of patrolling, at 21h00pm Admiral Sakonji, commander of the Nippon submarine force, spotted a large fleet , who seemed to escort a damaged carrier. He ordered immediatly 4 submarines to launch torpedo's at the fleet, from a relativly long range. Other submarines quickly joined the battle, and torpedo's started moving around the british ships. The english sailor's, already exhausted by the carrier strike, where helpless versus the torpedo's. Confusion was total amongst them and by 23h00, after the british had already lost one Heavy Cruiser, a loud explosion was heard. A torpedo had made its way to the already badly damage Carrier Illustrious. Water infiltrated the carrier and by 1h00 AM, it was all over. The HMS Illustrious had been sunked.
Shortly after this, the Japanese marines captured the island of enewetok. Chief of Staff Akiro Shima was relativly glad with this news, however Burma worried him extremely. Decisions had to be made for the Pacific first tho. Him and the Chief of Nihon Kaigun(IJN) Nagano Osami, looked at the pacific map .Enewetok back in Japanese hands, they had a base to launch operations nearly everywhere. What was next? It was obvious that the final objective was Hawaii,but when? As they were speaking, Inanba Satoru, chief of army, quickly arrived out of breath. ''Wake island ... the americans, they got it back!Akiro quickly turned is head back at the map, and then looked at Osami.What should be done?
What should Akiro do?
Plan A:Quickly re-capture wake island then capture midway, wich gives us a naval base close enough to attempt an invasion of Hawaii.
Plan B:Finish off the Micronesian islands and the Caroline Islands first.