Operation Enlightenment
9
1200 July 1st 1948.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Bokovskaya, Soviet Union.
Hata's Central Asia Army continued to advance against very limited opposition as it headed towards the resource rich Ukranian provinces.
Having captured Stalino Yokoyama Isa turned south towards Melitopol to isolate the Crimea from the rest of the Soviet Union.
0200 July 2nd 1948.
North China Army Headquarters. Uralsk, Soviet Union.
Soviet troops were more numerous in the North China Army area of operations as they moved from west to east to try and block Japanese advances.
Higashikuni ordered Hoshinata to attack Melekess to dislodge the single Soviet division in the province as a much larger enemy force moved towards the province from the west. Numerous Soviet divisions had moved east into Osa and continued east where they were safe from Nakajima's bombers as they did not have the range to operate in that area.
At 1400 hours General Nishio attacked Naberezhnye Chelny with Armoured support to try and capture the industrial complexes in the province. Victory would be swift with support from Nakajima's bombers arriving soon after the battle began.
1400 July 2nd 1948.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Bokovskaya, Soviet Union.
The Middle East had quietened down a little after the failed Allied invasion but enemy bombers stepped up their bombing campaign in the region.
Watanabe's Interceptor wing engaged American Strategic bombers over Eilat in the late afternoon and things did not all go the Japanese commanders way. Losses were not high to either side but the bomber Escorts managed to cause a fair amount of damage to Watanabe's Interceptors during the encounter.
On July 3rd the main strike force of the Central Asia Army arrived in Kashary and continued west attacking a Polish division in Kamensk-Shakhtinski. Only Saboru's Interceptor wing provided support but General Ueda did not require any help on this occasion as he easily overcame the defences.
Further east an attack against a severely depleted Soviet division in Frolovo was also successful as Japanese ground forces advanced north from Stalingrad.
Itabana's bomber group had spent two days destroying the anti-aircraft defences of Port Said and had completed the task which allowed them the freedom to attack the large Transport fleet in the port. Six Transport flotillas were using the port and their loss could help prevent further invasions along the sparsely defended coastline.
0900 July 3rd 1948.
North China Army Headquarters. Uralsk, Soviet Union.
Hoshinata's advance into Melekess came to an abrupt halt on July 3rd as he encountered a large enemy army that had advanced into the province.
Higashikuni called off the attack and would allow Nakajima some time to reduce the number of enemy divisions in the area before ordering the advance to continue.
0100 July 4th 1948.
The Skies Above Omsk.
The area to the north of Semipalatinsk was causing a few problems for Terauchi and the East Asia Army and it was decided to send Obata's Tactical bomber wing to the region to clear the area of enemy forces.
Four divisions had managed to reach Omsk as well as one further south that had already been destroyed by Obata and Sakai who alternated leading the bombers. Japanese troops had managed to advance into Novosibirsk and had not been counter attacked.
