Operation Influx
10
1000 November 22nd 1948.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Sevastopol, Soviet Union.
The pace of the air War continued to increase as more modern and escorted Strategic bombers began targetting Japanese front line airfields and industry.
Watanabe intercepted a three squadron American Strategic bomber wing over Baranowicze but would not be joined by Fukudome during the dogfight. One of Watanabe's squadrons took excessive damage during the encounter but two of the American squadrons were destroyed during the four hour battle.
In the south Tanaka and Fukui strafed two Hungarian divisions in Beltsy causing minimal damage.
Japanese strike aircraft were re-arranged on November 23rd with Saboru continuing to escort the Tactical bombers as they bombed Bielsk with Shimoyama attacking Stanislawow without any escort. Nakajima joined Tanaka to attack Beltsy with his Dive bombers causing much more damage.
1200 November 23rd 1948.
BC Division 1 Flagship. IJN Haruna, Southwest Madagascar Basin.
Koga's presence off Reunion Island was proving to be profitable for the Imperial Japanese Navy as BC Division 1 intercepted another Transport fleet.
Admiral Sprague would lose both the Light Cruiser USS Honolulu and his Transport Division after four hours of gunfire. The Battlecruiser IJN Ikoma would claim both.
0500 November 25th 1948.
North China Army Headquarters. Kaunas, Lithuania.
Higashikuni had little offensive front to command with Hata taking charge of the main western line which relegated Higashikuni to Finland and the northern Soviet Union. Allied invasions had ceased in the Pacific a long time ago and had also been halted in and around the Indian Ocean with the Americans in particular suffering large losses. The Mediterranean landings had also stopped which left the Allies with Transport capacity not being used for much other than harassing Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean.
Higashikuni was a little surprised to learn of an invasion in his area of operations as American troops landed in Finland.
They had taken Helsinki, the former Finnish capital, with what looked to be two Motorised divisions. Obata's Tactical bomber group headed north to Leningrad to find out the composition of the enemy force and to begin attacks against them. The Allied invasion was a little worrying as the Japanese High Command had not thought that the Allies would operate in the Baltic. More troops would be required to defend an expanded coastline but none would be forthcoming. The Imperial Japanese Army was too thinly spread to send more divisions north and would concentrate on the main front line.
Obata arrived over Helsinki at 0700 hours on November 26th to find that a third American division had arrived overnight and two of the defenders were actually Mechanised forces. Should the invasion expand much further then a Close Air Support group would be needed to destroy the more armoured force that had landed.
Air combat continued to erupt all along the western Front as more Allied aircraft began to seek out targets of opportunity. The highest priority for all Japanese Interceptor squadrons was enemy Dive bombers and two Canadian squadrons had targetted Japanese ground troops on November 25th. Watanabe, now only using three squadrons as one repaired, intercepted the Canadians as they tried to approach their target by sea on November 26th. Neither would be shot down but they would need a large amount of time to conduct repairs before they could return.
A full British Strategic bomber wing attacked the airbase in Minsk at 1200 hours on November 26th resulting in Saboru scrambling his Interceptors to try and reduce any damage to his airfield. He would only engage for two hours after his squadrons began to take unacceptable losses. Two Japanese wings were required to seriously damage the main Allied Strategic bomber forces with a few exceptions.
One such exception was Mj. General Fukui whose pilots could handle any even battle with relative ease. The interception of only a single American bomber squadron over Stanislawow led to its destruction. In Helsinki one of the three invading divisions had been destroyed by Obata and no further reinforcements had arrived by November 28th.
The Americans expanded their beach head on November 29th as they captured Turku. The Allies were demonstrating a clear willingness to launch invasions around the Japanese flanks after already landing in Odessa and now in Finland. Japanese planners would have to take this into account as they made decisions on future operations. The forces for the next operation had mustered in Ahmadabad and would set sail after a brief rest period. All Japanese reinforcements had arrived on the Western Front except for the Armour, which was due in the next two weeks.