Operation Enlightenment
17
0800 September 8th 1948.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Fuso, Diego Garcia.
Ozawa had moved the Combined Fleet to Diego Garcia to increase it's range in the southern Indian Ocean. After a short period required for re-supply the fleet sailed once again.
The destination would be The Seychelles where an advanced Submarine reconnaisance mission had already been conducted which found the island to be lacking any defensive forces. Both gun fleets and Carrier Groups provided escort for the two Marine divisions embarked on the Transport fleet.
While the campaign in the Indian Ocean was going very well for the Imperial Japanese Navy the defence of Andreanof Island was not. After twelve hours of fighting Lt. General Imai's defence was crumbling and Suekuni's Submarine Flotilla had failed to intercept the invading fleet. An hour later, at 2300 hours on September 8th, Imai lost his fight for survival on Andreanof Island but was able to withdraw to the nearby island of Kiska which demonstrated a lack of firepower support for the American invasion.
Ichimaru and Genda finally arrived over the West Aleutian Trench at 2200 hours but were too late to prevent the overwhelming of the Japanese defences on Andreanof Island. They discovered two Transport Flotillas which they began to attack immediately. Defeating the defenders of an island was one thing, actually getting ashore with your forces was something else entirely.
Armed with the knowledge provided by the Naval bombers Suekuni was finally able to detect and close with the enemy Transport Flotillas and managed to chase them off after four hours. The American amphibious assault had turned from a decisive victory into a phyrric one in short order.
The Naval bombers returned to Aleutian Islands at 1700 hours on September 9th to try and finish off the Transport Flotillas.
They encountered Cooke's small Carrier Task Force instead which had just moved into the West Aleutian Trench. Genda would begin the attack with Ichimaru joining him a few hours later. The American Aircraft Carrier, the USS United States, would be sunk during the attacks.
0600 September 10th 1948.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Sevastopol, Soviet Union.
The defence of the Middle East was being conducted largely by one Tactical bomber wing with small ground forces protecting key provinces. Hata had little option but to continue to conduct a mostly defensive operation in the region until more troops could be spared.
Itabana had cleared the nearest enemy troops to Port Said and had moved further south to attack an Armoured division in Aswan province. The South African tanks had little chance of advancing far even though Itabana's wing was short of three squadrons. Fukui was both escorting the bombers and providing limited ground attack assistance.
0600 September 10th 1948.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Fuso, East Mascarene Plateau.
Ozawa's invasion fleet had made good time towards The Seychelles which allowed the invasion of the island to begin shortly thereafter.
Imamura led the Marines towards the tranquil island where they were due to arrive in the late afternoon on September 12th.
Two American Destroyer Divisions tried to interrupt the landing without much succes but they did somehow manage to close with the Japanese Submarine Flotilla and sink it before they in turn were sent to the bottom. The 46th Destroyer Division claimed 55. Unterseebootsflottille before being sunk by the Battleship IJN Yamashiro, and IJN Fuso accounted for the 47th Destroyer Division.
By 2100 hours on September 10th Ichimaru and Genda had hunted down the last of the American Transport Flotillas that had tried to invade the Andreanof Islands and sank it soon afterwards.