Ah, yes, now we get our war with Japan!!!
Just about there! I've got to transfer forces first, of course.
Chapter 2.10 - Shadow over the Pacific
Britain remains the last hope of resistance. Although many formations were able to escape, this was all that could escape - a number of scattered divisions, lacking military equipment and drawn from several different militaries. The British Army was weak and the Home Islands vulnerable to attack should the North Sea Fleet fail.
The British Empire had been thoroughly defeated. There was no great escape for the British Army, and few of her forces were able to escape unharmed. Two divisions of Frenchmen and three divisions of the British Army were able to escape with most of their equipment intact. Under heavy pressure from the Germans, most of the later evacuations took place under fire and without a great deal of heavy cargo capacity. Most troops were simply loaded onto ships as quickly as possible, and not everyone was lucky enough to make it out of France. In all, the Germans captured over one million British and French forces in western and southern France - heavy losses that the Allies could not afford.
The Germans were quick to issue a declaration of war on the Yugoslavians. It was believed that Hitler was dissatisfied with Mussolini's performance in the Mediterranean, but also that he was displeased about the previous backtracking of the Yugoslavians out of the Axis' alliance. This gave them the potential to solve both problems in one fell swoop, and would put increasing pressure on the Allies as more and more friendly territories slipped out of their grasp.
Yugoslavia did not fight alone, but was joined by the Greek Army.
Although resistance was deemed futile, the Yugoslavian and Greek States had to make a strong stand against German and Italian Imperialism. Greece honoured a guarantee upon their Yugoslavian neighbour and their army was mobilized for war even as Slavic and Italian forces clashed in Dalmatia. Italy claimed much of the Croatian coastline as theirs and the Germans claimed large tracts of Slovenia, due to German populations leftover from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They would have to pay for it in blood.
On October 14th the news broke: Hong Kong had surrendered to Japanese troops with the loss of almost 9,000 men garrisoning the city. Malaya held only thirty thousand men to defend herself and the all-important naval base at Singapore. British Command sent an urgent message to the Australians begging for reinforcement and the next day, Australia responded. It was planned to take spare forces from Sardinia and Libya to reinforce the East Asian front as soon as possible.
Aerial Reconaissance revealed few signs of Italian forces beyond Reggio.
Australian commanders regretted the lack of manpower at her disposal; the opportunity to land near Bari and cut Calabria off from the rest of the country was, in Bingham-White's words: "...too good to resist." The British were unwilling to spare troops for such an offensive, citing the heavy pressure from Iraq and Ethiopia as well as the entrance of Japan into the war. Surviving manpower was prioritised to garrison England against any invasion attempts by the German, however foolhardy those attempts were regarded. The mauled RAF and thinly-stretched Royal Navy also offered little support to the operation, and Australia was forced to maintain defensive lines for the time being.
Australian troops land at Tortoli and move to strike Cagliari for the last time. Bingham-White feared that these repeated actions could lose an entire Corps, but Sardinia simply had to stay out of Italian hands for the safety of British shipping through the Southern Med.
Major General Dougherty was placed in overall command of the offensive on Cagliari despite the presence of two men of equal rank in the offensive. Although the Italians had brought more men than their previous attempts, the speed and mobility of Robertson's cavalry combined with the raw firepower of the Australian infantry left little hope for the entrenched men at Cagliari. It was obvious that within a few days, the city would fall and Australia would have yet another mass of prisoners to deal with. Australia's prisoner of war camps were growing quite sizeable as Italian and Ethiopian soldiers were deported from the front lines to the Home Country itself where they could contribute to Australia's industrial needs under careful guard.
Ethiopia was a difficult battleground, where lack of infrastructure made fighting more like a series of bloody skirmishes than open field battles.
In East Africa, the British and Free French were slowly regaining the initiative; despite great losses in the south, reinforcements from Egypt had halted the Italian advance into Sudan and the French had secured Eritrea, giving the Allied forces easier access to supply lines. Although the front was far from won, the situation for Britain was stabilizing; this was a breath of fresh air for the thinly stretched Australian Army, who had only so many forces to deploy across the world. The Italians, although poorly supplied, continued to fight defiantly against all odds.
ANZAC troops push up into Tunisia, hunting down surviving an estimated three Italian divisions.
Italian forces were offering little resistance in Tunisia. Several brief skirmishes were fought but they had few supplies and like in the central desert, they were soon drive into a corner...
Two battles - two easy victories. Few Italian units put up a fight, most simply surrendered after being surrounded by fast-moving New Zealand infantry. The ANZAC forces would soon have free reign of the region as two full divisions were captured at Mahres and Silliana near the borders of French controlled territory. Only a single Italian division continued to put up a real fight, but it wouldn't be much longer before it surrendered. The surrounded division put up a fight for merely an hour before issuing its surrender. The Battle for North Africa was a complete victory.
On October 16th, news reached Mediterranean Command that Italian bombers had pierced the Commonwealth's air cover east of Sardinia and made it to the island. They began a series of bombing runs that caused heavy casualties amongst the attacking Australian divisions, delaying the capture of Cagliari. Between the bombers, the artillery and the street fighting, the city had become heavily damaged and most of the inhabitants had fled to the countryside.
By the 18th, Cagliari fell. The Italians suffered thousands of casualties in the battle and most of those who weren't wounded or killed were captured by the Australian Corps. Although the
HMAS Vanguard was in the area, the Italian fleet managed to escape the area unharmed by her planes. On the evening of the 20th, thousands of soldiers were being loaded onto transports at Cagliari and Tripoli; their destination: Asia. Roughly 30,000 men had been allocated to reinforce the British at Malaysia and they would be transported to Singapore under the cover of the
HMAS Vanguard and her squadron.
The bombings did not go without response. RAAF fighter squadrons intercepted the bombers returning from one of their raids on the morning of the 18th. Exposed and vulnerable, dozens of Italian bombers were shot down in the battle, resulting in a massive defeat for the RA. The Italians had lost most of their experienced bomber crew at this point and the efficiency of Italian bombing campaigns had dropped drastically.
Italy responded in force. RAAF forces were met by a large force of Italian fighters. The ensuing fight was short and violent; faced with overwhelming numbers and few options, the Australian fighters were forced to retreat back to Sicily proper. For the first time, Italy shot down more fighter planes than Australia, but only just - it was a minor victory, but one that the Regio Aeronautica had been in desperate need of.
East Asian fronts had not changed much...intelligence suggested the IJN was heavily occupied by clashes with the United States Navy.
October 30th, news reached the world that the Thai government had, under enormous pressure, accepted a difficult and restrictive treaty with the Empire of Japan. Officially, Prathet Thai was an independent state. Unofficially, the treaty reduced her to nothing more than a puppet state. Forced to grant the Japanese Military full access to the country, the Thai Army was placed under Japanese command and Thai diplomacy was forcibly aligned to match that of Japan. The last free country of mainland East Asia was reduced to nothing more than a puppet of the Empire. Now, at last, Japan had easy access to Burma and Malaysia on the ground. The difficult terrain of the Chinese-Indian border had resulted in brief but bloody battles and a Great War style stalemate. In spite of that, the war was expected to gain momentum soon in the Jungles of southeast asia.
HMAS Vanguard and veteran ANZAC troops arrive at Singapore, ready for action.
On November 6th, Australian forces landed at the key city of Singapore. Lieutenant General Alan Ramsey was put in charge of the Australian Malaysian Forces. He was given a clear objective: neutralize the threat of the Thailand at any cost.
October 12th-November 6th
Royal Australian Army:
853 soldiers killed in action
Royal Australian Air Force:
22x Hawker Hurricane fighters lost
7x Supermarine Spitfire fighters lost
Regia Esercito:
2,474 soldiers killed in action
38,659 soldiers captured
Regio Aeronautica:
19x Fiat G.50 Freccia fighters lost
8x Macchi MC.200 Saetta fighters lost
79x Savoia Marchetti SM.79-II bombers lost
