Operation Influx
22
0100 March 1st 1949.
North China Army Headquarters. Stalingrad, Soviet Union.
The American invasions in Finland had been providing Kanin with his biggest headache ever since they had begun but the losses to the enemy Transport fleets during February had altered the situation dramatically.
The capture of Vaasa returned the entire Country to Japanese control with more troops now in place to prevent further landings along the open coastline.
0700 March 1st 1949.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Sevastopol, Soviet Union.
Hata had the opportunity to force more advances against the Allies in the center as enemy strength remained weak in some parts with no new troops approaching the area to bolster the defences.
Lt. General Kuribayashi received orders to attack Mogilev Podolski which was weakly defended. Bomber support had already targetted the organisation of the defending division which made the assault an easy one which was soon over. Kuribayashi was ordered to advance and capture the province.
0600 March 2nd 1949.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Fuso, In Transit.
BB Division 1 was moving along the coast of Africa in support of Operation Perfidious when Ozawa received word of an enemy invasion against one of the islands in the Pacific. There were no friendly fleets anywhere close to the landing site with Admiral Mikawa's CA Division 1 in Tokyo being the closest. Andreanof Island was the target once again which meant that Ichimaru and Genda would be the only immediate support.
Lt. General Ely had three divisions at his disposal on this occasion with Mj. General Komatsuzaki having to hold the island with only one division. The initial odds did not look favourable for the Japanese defenders but night, hills and the frozen ground would help Komatsuzaki to hold until daylight at least. Two Tactical bomber wings stationed in Tokyo were given orders to fly to Attu Island and assist in the defence. So far no fleet support was visible for the Americans but Calhoun could well be close with his Carrier Task Force.
By 1800 hours the defences had shown no weakness and the Naval bombers had arrived to assist. Initial contact was made with two of the three Transport Flotillas and no sign of any major fleet in the area. Both Transport flotillas would be sunk before 0400 hours on March 3rd.
The attack against Andreanof Island continued with only one American division remaining and Komatsuzuki confident of victory. The arrival of Kondo and the two Tactical bomber wings ended the invasion quickly as they sunk the final Transport Flotilla in short order. Kondo would remain in the area and assist the Naval bombers with patrols of the region.
0400 March 3rd 1949.
Africa Army Headquarters. Abadan, Persia.
No significant threat had materialised for Higashikuni's forces in Africa which allowed Itabana and his bombers to begin to expand their search radius from Djibouti.
Itabana encountered a British Infantry division in Entebbe which was far from the front line but heading east to try and block the Japanese advance. British controlled French troops were also in the area and heading east.
0600 March 3rd 1949.
The Skies Above the Gulf of Riga.
The Americans had not learned their lesson yet and were still attempting to send more troops towards the Finnish coast.
Obata found the Transport Flotilla in the Gulf of Riga and he was soon joined by Sakai. The enemy ships would not exit the Gulf of Riga alive.
0000 March 5th 1949.
The Skies Above Umnak Island.
The bombers protecting the Aleutian Islands had maintained their patrols in the hope of finding more enemy ships approaching which could targetted and sunk. They found something else instead.
Genda had strayed over Umnak Island and found himself in a one sided dogfight with two Brazilian Interceptor squadrons. Lacking any escort Fighters Genda had no choice but to withdraw as soon as possible with as little damage as he could.
He would not have to fight alone for long.
At 0100 hours Kondo's Tactical bomber group joined the battle to help Genda out. Kondo's squadrons were equipped with escorts and these would engage the Brazilian Interceptors. At 0200 hours Genda pulled out of the dogfight and headed back towards Attu Island but Kondo continued to fight the enemy aircraft over the island. At 0300 hours the Brazilian's fled after inflicting only minor damage to the Tactical bombers. One of Kondo's squadrons had lost all of it's organisation during the fight and would head back to Tokyo to recover along with Genda after he had refueled on Attu Island.
0600 March 5th 1949.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Sevastopol, Soviet Union.
The first enemy forces from the newer enemy Countries had arrived over the Western Front and these were aircraft which usually reached a new theater ahead of the ground troops.
Eight antique Spanish Dive bomber squadrons began to target the Japanese Armour in Bialystok. They could cause no damage to the tanks, which were heavily entrenched by now, but they did prevent them from moving as even these old aircraft could cause harm to moving forces. Tanaka and Fukui needed more time to rest in Minsk before they could begin flights to disrupt such attacks.
Japanese Dive bombers continued to operate behind the Allied front line with Shimoyama attacking enemy troops in Zamosc. Three divisions were present with two being Mountaineers from Switzerland. These troops moved rapidly in Winter and a large number of them could cause problems at the front line if they arrived. Time would indicate that almost all of the Swiss Army was made up of Mountaineer divisions and there were quite a large number of them.
The Spanish not only sent their Airforce to assist the Allies, they sent their Navy too. Much like the American ships operating in the Baltic the Spanish would find Obata less than accomodating as he led the attacks that would sink all three Flotillas.
Somewhat surprisingly the Americans had managed to manufacture a very modern Tactical bomber squadron which they sent towards Hata's Headquarters in Sevastopol. They had forgotten two things. Firstly such aircraft needed Escort Fighters and secondly Fukudome was still based in Sevastopol. The brand new bombers did not make it back to base to report on their aircrafts effectiveness.
0500 March 6th 1949.
Africa Army Headquarters. Abadan, Persia.
The British controlled forces operating in south eastern Africa would not sit and wait to be bombed or outflanked and began attacks of their own on March 6th.
Lt. General Sumida was ordered to withdraw back towards Lourenco Marques by Higashikuni after he came under attack from three enemy divisions to his north. The two Marine divisions were former South African troops and the Light Armour from Belgium.
Itabana continued to attack targets in the south central area of Africa and he targetted the three French divisions in Costermanville. He would not pursue them for long after receiving orders to move to Madagascar and support Sumida and other Japanese troops under attack in the south.
By 1200 hours on March 6th General Anami had captured Dire Dawa in Ethiopia where he received orders to advance on the capital of Addis Ababa. There were no defenders but he would need more than two weeks to march into the mountains.
Itabana began his southern attacks against an Infantry division in Tete province where he also discovered more enemy troops inland. Japanese ground forces would be unable to advance until these troops had been neutralised by Itabana.
Imamura and Banzai were unconcerned and had been picked up again and were soon landing on the beaches of Dar es Salaam behind the British front line in the south. They were beginning to run out of targets on the east coast and might have to switch to the west fairly soon but this was a much more dangerous proposition. Naval air cover was present on the west coast, which could provide some advanced warning of enemy shipping, but a strong fleet would also need to accompany the Marines as a protection force.
