For King and Country

[unmerged(28944)]

Okay, I'm feeling very embarrassed an I donna know why... can someone clue me in on my error regarding Upholder's skipper?

 

[PrawnStar]

Trust me to lower the tone o

I'll PM

 

[unmerged(28944)]

Okay, I feel much better now... no major faux paus on my part... well, at least not yet... I think...

 

[Falastur]

Okay, I feel much better now... no major faux paus on my part... well, at least not yet... I think...

None on yours at all. Just a little...unfortunate naming...on the part of a real historical figure, and perhaps a little bawdy thoughts from PrawnStar and myself

 

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CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FOUR – Part Four​

An Anglo-American Arrêt à bon temps​

In the western Pacific the Japanese, as had been mentioned previously, were encountering a derailment of yet more portions of their grand plan of Operation Kami No Ikari (Divine Wrath).

Having set sail from Formosa the evening before the storming of the Imperial embassies and at sea when the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force launched their attacks against Hong Kong and the Philippines the sailors and soldiers that were apart of the Japanese invasion fleet headed for Luzon were first aware of potential problems with the Supreme War Council’s plans when the significant numbers of aircraft of Lt. General Hideyoshi Obata’s 3rd Air Army failed to pass over the fleet upon their return flight from Luzon.

Moving at a top speed of ten knots, due to the merchant transports lower maximum speed, the convoy carrying General Homma and the 14th Army was Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondō’s Southern Expeditionary Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s 2nd Fleet. Comprised of five heavy cruisers (Furutaka, Aoba, Kako, Kinugasa and Myōkō which both the Royal Navy and the United States Navy classified as a pocket battleship), five light cruisers (Kuma, Tama, Yura, Sendai and Naka), twenty destroyers (of the Minekaze, Kamikaze and Mutsuki classes), three seaplane tenders, and twenty transports, the fleet was one of the largest within the Imperial Japanese Navy and was considered by Tokyo to be far stronger than any British or American naval force it might encounter. IJN planners, however, failed to take into account the possibility of an aerial threat.

So it was that in the midst of the Japanese aerial attacks upon Hong Kong and the Philippines the wakes of the Southern Expeditionary Fleet were spotted by a Short Sunderland from Fleet Air Arm Squadron 662 flown by Lieutenant D.W. Baird of New Zealand. Those wakes were quickly followed by actual sighting of the Admiral Kondō’s ships sailing southward. Baird quickly radioed his sighting to Hong Kong and began to shadow the slow moving Japanese convoy. He also radioed the portion of Strike Group 7 that was his own shadow, Lt. Commander Esmonde of Squadron 754 and Major W.H.N. Martin (Royal Marines) of Squadron 825 to alert them of his find and his position. Cmdr. Esmonde and Major Martin quickly conferred and made a decision for Martin’s squadron to rendezvous with Baird in case Hong Kong ordered for the convoy to be attacked.

Back at HMS Tamar, the Royal Navy stone frigate in Hong Kong (i.e. the Royal Navy’s onshore headquarters for the Far East Station), Baird’s sighting report was forwarded to Admiral James aboard his flagship HMS Labrador, who promptly ordered the information to be sent to the attention of Admiral Holt’s squadron sailing from Singapore, Admiral Thomas C. Hart, at Cavite Naval Base in the Philippines, Luitenant-Admiraal Helfrich, at the KNIM base at Tandjong Priok and to Admiral Decoux at Haiphong. The information was most useful to Admiral Hart who was in the midst of getting his ships to sea (the heavy cruiser USS Houston, the light cruiser USS Marblehead, thirteen Clemson-class destroyers (colloquially as “four-stackers”) and twenty-nine submarines of various classes). He provided the information to his submarine commanders with orders to head for the area and engage the convoy while at the same time forwarding the information to both FEAF (Far East Air Force) HQ and USAFFE (United States Army Forces in the Far East) HQ.

Upon receipt of the information from his naval counterpart, General Brereton, who had also received notice of the approaching Japanese invasion fleet from a Lockheed A-29 Hudson of the 2nd Observation Squadron flying out of Nicholas Field, signaled the bombers of the 19th Bombardment Group (Heavy). The 14th and 28th Bombardment Squadrons commanded by Major Emmett “Rosy” O'Donnell were ordered to break off their intended attack on the Japanese aerodromes on Formosa and hunt down the Japanese fleet while 30th and 93rd Bombardment Squadrons commanded by the Group’s commander, Major David R Gibbs, would continue on to Formosa.

Twenty minutes later the O’Donnell and the 14th and 28th arrived over the Japanese fleet. Noticing the zigzagging maneuvers of the Japanese ships, O’Donnell ordered his two squadrons to descend from their normal bombing altitude to a much lower altitude of six thousand feet. It was later determined that this simple fact was what allowed the American bombers to sink four of the transports (the Imperial Japanese Navy transport Najima and the merchant transports Nichiryu Maru, Myoko Maru and Kyokusei Maru). Of the four lost ships, the most damaging to invasion force was the loss of Kyokusei Maru which held a large portion of General Homma and the 14th Army’s artillery pieces. More importantly Kyokusei Maru had on board the Imperial Japanese Army’s authority on IJA artillery, Maj. Gen. Kineo Kitajima, and his staff, the loss of which Homma knew would hamper his efforts in cracking the American fortresses in Bataan and Corregidor.

The 14th and 28th Bombardment Squadrons flying toward the Japanese invasion fleet. The lead bomber is being flown by the 14th’s commander, Major Emmett “Rosy” O'Donnell’s.​

The bombing had caused the convoy to disperse as the majority of the transport captains took great efforts to save their individual ships in lieu of maintaining the protective formation organized by Admiral Kondō, despite a strongly worded order the admiral. Dispatching two destroyers (Oite and Hokaze) to recover what survivors there might be from the transports, Kondō began the work of reforming the convoy’s formation as quickly as possible in an effort to limit the delays to the fleet’s continuation to the Philippines. General Homma and his staff were, despite the attack by the American bombers, still confident that their intended landings at Lingayen Gulf and Lamon Bay would be not only unopposed but also come as a complete surprise to the American and Filipinos.

Several miles away and several thousand feet above the sea, as the American bombers retired from the area and the Japanese convoy began to reform, Royal Marine Major Martin was faced with a dilemma. He understood that despite the loss of four transports the Japanese invasion force the remaining eleven transports were carrying enough troops on board to be problematic for either the Americans (if the Philippines were the true destination of the Japanese), or for the Empire (if the Japanese convoy was to be used to attack Malaya). Radioing his intentions to Esmonde and Hong Kong, Martin and his Royal Marines dropped from their cruising height and launched their attack to come upon the Japanese convoy at “masthead” altitude, a height that placed the British attack aircraft only twenty to thirty feet above the waves.

A Bristol Torbeau of Fleet Air Arm Squadron 825 (Royal Marines). Along with several other squadrons, 825 was a Royal Navy experiment in providing the Royal Marines Corps their own dedicated air arm, akin to the United States Marine Corps’ capabilities. ​

Back at sea level the crews of the Japanese ships, splitting their concentration between the withdrawing American bombers and reforming the convoy into a semblance of order, were unprepared for the arrival of the FAA aircraft. So unaware were the crews that the attacking Torbeaus were amongst the Japanese ships and Major Martin had already launched his torpedo before the British aircraft were even spotted. The initial attack run by Squadron 825 resulted in torpedo hits upon six transports, Aiyo Maru, Kembu Maru, Oigawa Maru, Shinai Maru, Taimai Maru and Teiyo Maru. All six were heavily damaged and immediately began sinking. General Homma’s army suffered significantly from this attack in that Oigawa Maru and Teiyo Maru had been transporting the 4th and 7th Tank Regiments while Kembu Maru carried his combat engineer battalion and all of their heavy equipment.

Even though significantly damaging the Japanese invasion force, Major Martin and his Royal Marine aviators were not yet finished with Admiral Kondō and his Southern Expeditionary Fleet. On their second attack run the Torbeaus that had already fired their torpedoes approached at low level to give the impression they were making another torpedo attack, this time targeting the warships, while the second wave of torpedo carrying Torbeaus targeted the remaining ten transports. As Kondō’s warships changed courses to present a bow on approach and thereby minimize the British pilot’s target opportunities all efforts at maintaining formation were clearly tossed to the way side. Intending to maximize the damage to the convoy’s escort screen, the Royal Marine flyers singled out of Kondō’s flagship, Myōkō, the heavy cruisers Kako and Kinugasa, and the light cruisers Kuma, Tama, Yura, and Sendai for attack while the second flight of Squadron 825 began their attack run on the remaining transports. As Major Martin and his flight closed with the warships, they began firing their four 20mm nose cannon and six wing-mounted .303 machine guns, strafing the bridges and upper decks of the cruisers, inflicting heavy casualties among the exposed gun crews. Martin himself inflicted a devastating blow upon the bridge of Myōkō, killing not only the majority of the bridge crew but also Admiral Kondō and his staff who had elected to view the battle from the bridge of his flagship.

The second flight, led by Capt. Guy Griffiths, successfully torpedoed four of the remaining transports (Kinugawa Maru, Toa Maru, Aikoko Maru and Fujikawa Maru) during the strafing attacks upon the cruisers. Due to the overall disruption of the Japanese convoy, thanks in part to the efforts of the Japanese ship captains to protect their individual ships and in part to the sudden loss of Admiral Kondō, Griffiths ordered his flight to immediately target the closest ship for strafing once they had launched their torpedoes. As devastating as the Torbeau’s cannon and machine guns were to the superstructures of the Japanese cruisers, they were even more devastating to the unarmoured hulls and superstructures of the transports.

Still photo taken from gun camera footage of a gunnery attack run on a transport, possibly Kogyo Maru
​

In short order two more transports were on fire and sinking (Kogyo Maru and Shinkoko Maru), and the remaining transports (Olympia Maru, Kyokuzan Maru, Okikawa Maru and Toreshima Maru) all suffering significant damage and heavy casualties. The surviving transports would have continued to have been attacked by the Royal Marine aviators had the crew of Lt. Baird’s Sunderland not spotted the approach of aircraft from the aircraft carrier Ryūjō which had been spotted by American observation aircraft twenty minutes before the start of the Royal Marine’s attack. Quite pleased with the damage his squadron had been able to inflict upon the Japanese convoy with the loss of only one Torbeau and not willing to face the approaching Japanese fighters with low fuel and lower ammunition, Major Martin radioed the position of the Japanese vessels and then ordered his squadron to regroup and return to Hong Kong.

Japanese efforts to make a series of quick victories demoralize the British and the Americans had failed. That their attacks had inflicted serious damage to the American navy and came as a shock to the American public, there was no doubt. However, that shock had become tempered by the quick recovery and counterattack that the U.S. Navy was able to prosecute against the Imperial Japanese Navy’s Kido Butai. In Asia the opposite had occurred, namely a pair of damaging victories that had come as a demoralizing shock to members of the Japanese high command. Not only had the aerial attacks upon Hong Kong been repulsed with devastating losses, the invasion of the Philippines failed to reach the beaches before being nearly annihilated by the combined efforts of the Americans and British, the few surviving ships limping back to Formosa and hunted by the submarines of both the U.S. Navy's Asiatic Fleet and the Royal Navy's Far East Station.

However, the war was still very young and the might of the combined Sino-Japanese armies were yet to be brought to bear against the British while the Imperial Japanese Navy still held an advantage over the Americans. To the Supreme War Council (Gunji sangikan kaigi) in Tokyo, while things had hardly gone as anticipated, the war was far from over and they immediately set about planning on operations that would reinforce that understanding to both the British and the Americans.

 

[trekaddict]

Well, the Japanese were taught about the proper application of Air Power, now up is mechanization of Armies and the awesomeness that is the Spitfire.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

I have the feeling that Admiral Kondo must be grateful to the Beau. As he has being straffed he has been spared from having to commit seppuku...

 

[Nathan Madien]

Martin himself inflicted a devastating blow upon the bridge of Myōkō, killing not only the majority of the bridge crew but also Admiral Kondō and his staff who had elected to view the battle from the bridge of his flagship.

Four out of five Admiral staffers prefer to watch battles from the comfort of their command post.

One out of five Admiral staffers are grateful they choose not to.

 

[Vann the Red]

Strong blows against the Japanese there. Seems odd to be reading of Japanese ships falling in droves to naval bombers in the opening stages of the war.

Vann

 

[trekaddict]

Strong blows against the Japanese there. Seems odd to be reading of Japanese ships falling in droves to naval bombers in the opening stages of the war.

Vann

The descendants of the crews of Prince of Wales, Repulse and the escorts will be especially happy about that.

 

[El Pip]

Excellent shooting from the Torbeaus, the torpedoes were bad enough but the morale effect of any survivors then being raked by heavy cannon fire must be huge.

This next Japanese operation. With the PI untouched and after a bloody nose in Hong Kong I think the Japs will go elsewhere. I'm going to guess at Guam. I believe official US doctrine was they were indefensible, which probably neatly matches what the AI has done with them!

 

[Falastur]

Perhaps we should all put bets on when Japan will surrender by? If the current in-game is...what was it? the 21st of November 1941? then I'd say Japan will be gone by the end of July 1942.

They don't seem to be able to catch a break here.

 

[Vann the Red]

This is the US AI, though, Pippy. It may have 34 mech divisions sitting on it out of supply.

Vann

 

[Nathan Madien]

This is the US AI, though, Pippy. It may have 34 mech divisions sitting on it out of supply.

Vann

If only the Mechs could dig a tunnel from Guam to Japan.

 

[El Pip]

This is the US AI, though, Pippy. It may have 34 mech divisions sitting on it out of supply.

Very true. It's one extreme or the other, certainly the US AI will never send just a couple of garrison divisions to Guam.

 

[KiMaSa]

Good start on culling down the transports. There will be time to kill the battlewagons later.

 

[Lord E]

Excellent work Draco. It seems in this timeline it is the Allies who understand the importance of airpower and the Japanese seems to be unaware of the danger a determined air attack can do to a fleet. This will surely be considered bad news in Tokyo, but I am afraid the Japanese won’t give up yet, and they still have a lot of forces in mainland china and in japan, so the war will be hard for the allies still, and especially so for the defenders of Hong Kong because I am guessing that is where the Japanese will attack next…

 

[unmerged(28944)]

trekaddict - I do believe the Japanese are now have a full appreciation of the power of air power, however, they will miss out on the awesomeness of the Spitfire and witness the majesty of the Typhoon! And mech infantry? Quite possible.

Kurt_Steiner - Aye, I do not believe the Japanese Supreme Command would have greeted Kondō's return with anything less than a execution.

Nathan Madien - :rofl: How true it is!

Vann the Red - Truthfully, when I saw that report I about fell out of my chair.

trekaddict (2) - I would have to agree with you on that one!

El Pip - I know I wouldn't have wanted to be on the business end of those Beaus! As for what the Japanese, American AIs and London does...That's still yet a secret.

Falastur - It's still a bit early to be making those kind of bets, my friend. While it would be nice if it pans out that way, I would not be comfortable putting money on that bet. o

Vann the Red (2) - That I have seen before... much to my utter amazement. I just love it when the AI of an ally does something stupid like that but can't bloody well do something easy like put garrison troops in thier own bloody capital!

Nathan Madien (2) - HeY, that's not a bad idea... if it could work.

El Pip (2) - Now why do that? That would be a waste of oh-so-valuable garrison troops!

KiMaSa - Quite right! Best let the destruction of the IJN battlefleet come from the guns of the RN's capital ships, eh?

Lord E - Very true, my friend, very true. Now as to where the Japanese go next... The Western world waits with baited breath while the Imperial Intelligence Office (specifically MI-6) works hards at finding that out ahead of time!

**

Sorry for the delay, I have been dealing with family from out of town coming for a funeral at Arlington National Cemetary. Everything is slowing going back to what passes for normalcy in my household which means I should be able to get back to writing. Look for an update in the next couple of days.

 

[unmerged(28944)]

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE – Part One​

Ryuu Tsutsukimasu​

Following the audacious invasion of Kwangtung Province by the British on December 1, 1941, an invasion that resulted in the momentary occupation of Canton by Australian and New Zealand forces from Hong Kong as well as the embarrassment of General Takashi Sakai’s 23rd Army being repulsed from Hong Kong with much heavier than expected casualties, Marshal Hisaichi Terauchi of the Southern Expeditionary Army Group received permission from the Supreme War Council to deviate from the original blueprints for Operation Kami No Ikari (Divine Wrath). Terauchi argued successfully that due to the inability to successfully storm Hong Kong without sustaining unacceptable losses, the mixed results of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s attack upon the Americans at Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, the disastrous loss of the majority of General Homma’s 14th Army to air attacks and the greater than expected strength of the Royal Navy in the South China Sea, Kami No Ikari’s call for the Philippine Islands, the Dutch East Indies and the island chains in the Southwest Pacific would need to be postponed indefinitely.

Field Marshal Hisaichi Terauchi, former War Minister and recently promoted commander of all Imperial Japanese Army troops on the Asian mainland.
​

In lieu of those operations (Operations A and M) Marshal Terauchi called for the Imperial Japanese Navy to conduct a sortie into the Indian Ocean while an assault by the Imperial Japanese Army would march into French Indochina, Burma and India. The proposed IJA assault to the west would, Terauchi explained, expose British and French weakness to the indigenous peoples and allow anti-colonial agitation to bring allies to Japan, and the IJN’s mission would lure Admiral James’ Far East Station into a set battle that would allow for his destruction and the subsequent raids in the India Ocean would force the British to redeploy vessels to India or East Africa (in the event that the IJN was unable to come to grips with Admiral James’ squadrons). Terauchi called the proposed operation Ryuu Tsutsukimasu, Dragon Thrust.

The IJN’s component of Ryuu Tsutsukimasu had been planned out before the war by Admiral Yamamoto and Captain Sadatoshi Tomioka, the head of the Navy General Staff's Planning section, and several steps had been taken before the war to provide for the operation.

Several weeks prior to the start of the war, Yamamoto sent a convoy of ten of the IJN’s new I-400 super submarines, ten of the latest AM class submarines and thirty of other submarines to Christmas Island (220 miles south of Jakarta) and the Cocos Islands and Keeling Islands (southwest of Christmas Island and approximately midway between Australia and Ceylon). Having arrived several days before the onset of hostilities, the crews of the submarines and the one hundred Japanese Marines secured the facilities at both locations (including the wireless telegraph station on Direction Island which was a vital link between the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand). The true mission of the submarines was then undertaken, the unloading of supplies of fuel and ammunition from their specially designed holds.

The I-400s had original been conceived to be capable of making three round-trips to the west coast of the United States without refueling or one round-trip to any point on the globe while storing and then launching two to three attack aircraft armed with one torpedo or one 1,800 lb bomb. By not carrying the aircraft or defensive torpedoes, the I-400s could transport several tons of supplies​

After unloading, the submarine fleet left the Japanese Marines on the islands and then raced back to Japanese territory in order to reload and make a second supply run for the newly occupied islands. As the Kido Butai struck Hawaii, the submarine fleet once more headed for Christmas Island the Cocos Islands and Keeling Islands.

In Tokyo, Yamamoto and Tomioka reworked their original pre-war plan as the Kido Butai steamed back for the Home Islands. Directing the fleet to make for Formosa, Yamamoto arranged for the sunk Sōryū to be replaced by the two new Hiyō-class aircraft carriers Hiyō and Jun'yō, and the heavily damaged Kirishima to be replaced by the battleship Nagato. After replenishing stores, aircraft and aircrew, the newly reinforced Kido Butai, still under the command of Admiral Chūichi Nagumo, would sail from Formosa southward through the Philippine Sea, cross through the Seram Sea to the Sea of Timor, and thence conduct a air raid upon the port city of Darwin in northern Australia. The Kido Butai would then proceed westward into the Indian Ocean, conducting raids upon targets in Java, Sumatra and Singapore before sailing into the Bay of Bengal to attack targets in Burma, India and the Royal Navy anchorage in Ceylon.

Captain Tomioka, seated far left, and his planning staff. While the Indian Ocean Raid was partly his brain-child, Tomioka had strongly proposed launching an invasion of Northern Australia rather than the Raid and but had been over-ruled by Yamamoto.​

While the IJN was creating havoc in Australia, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean, Marshal Terauchi plan called for the IJA to be doing the same by way of a three pronged offensive against both British India and French Indochina. The central thrust of the Imperial Japanese Army’s offensive would itself a two-pronged attack by Lieutenant General Shōjirō Iida and his 15th Army (comprised of the highly regarded 12th, 18th, 33rd and 55th Infantry Divisions). The southern attack would, from bases in somewhat allied Thailand, cross over the jungle-clad mountain ranges into the southern Burmese province of Tenasserim and across the Kawkareik Pass to march for the city of Moulmein at the mouth of the Salween River. The northern prong would march from bases near the Chinese city of Baoshan in Yunnan province and cross into Burma with the target being the capital of Rangoon. Following the successfully prosecution of the initial assault Iida would then send his southern corps (the 18th and 33rd Divisions) south into Malaya while the northern corps (the 12th and 55th Divisions) would march northwest along the coast of the Bay of Bengal toward Calcutta.

The second thrust of Terauchi’s offensive would take the Indochina Expeditionary Army led by Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada (made up of Sawada’s 13th Army (the 2nd Guards, 5th Infantry, 40th Infantry Divisions and the 14th Tank Brigade) and Chinese troops of General He Zhuguo’s 15th Army Group) south from the city of Yamchow in the Chinese province of Guangxi and toward Hanoi and Vientiane. Upon securing of those two cities, the plan called for Zhuguo’s 15th Army Group to march along the mountainous interior of French Indochina and Sawada’s troops to march along the coast to capture Đà Nẵng. Following the capture of Đà Nẵng, the Chinese would continue southward to Saigon while Sawada’s troops would board ships and sail for Malaya to link up with Iida’s 18th and 33rd Divisions to assault Singapore.

In conjunction with these activities in the south, the northern prong of the IJA attack would be led by General Tomoyuki Yamashita and the 25th Army (consisting of the 3rd Guards, 7th, 28th and 56th Infantry Divisions, 1st, 3rd and 6th Tank Brigades, and the 18th Field Artillery Brigade) which would march out of bases in Sinkiang (known alternatively as Chinese Turkestan, East Turkestan or to the Chinese as simply, Xinjiang) centered upon the oasis city of Kashgar. Yamashita’s target would be the relatively unprotected territories of northern India, specifically the Punjab and Rājputāna, with the ultimate goal being the capturing of the capital of British India, New Delhi.

Type 1 medium tanks, known as Chi-He, of the 5th Tank Regiment of the 1st Tank Brigade. An improved version of the Type 97 Chi-Ha tanks, the Type 1 were anticipated to be the workhorse of Yamashita’s drive in to British India serving as not only the armoured thrust for the 25th Army but also a main form of transport for the Army’s infantry divisions.​

The Imperial Japanese Army’s heaviest tank, the Type 95, seen here in a training exercise in China sometime in the spring of 1941, was modeled from German and Italian tank designs and featured two turrets, the main armament being a 70mm cannon with the secondary turret mounting a 37mm gun and two 6.5mm machine guns. The Type 95s of the 1st Heavy Tank Battalion of the 2nd Tank Regiment, 3rd Tank Brigade, were sent on the difficult trek into British India to by used to quickly demolish both the defenses and the morale of any British unit that attempted to delay the 25th Army’s march​

Following the capture of New Delhi, Marshal Terauchi’s plan called for half of Yamashita’s 25th Army to march eastward to link up with the 12th and 55th Divisions in Calcutta and the rest of the 25th Army to march south first to Surat and then onward to Bombay.

Against this operation, the British and French were virtually defenseless. It was true that Hong Kong and Macao were still strongly held by the Australians and the New Zealanders under Generals Bingham-White and Freyberg, despite serious casualties suffered during the taking and subsequent retreat from Canton, yet the rest of Southeast Asia was not as fortunate.

On paper the French had Indochina relatively well protected with a French Foreign Legion regiment, a colonial infantry regiment and an artillery regiment north of Haiphong (the 5e Régiment Etrangère d'Infanterie - Foreign Infantry Regiment of the French Foreign Legion and 4e Régiment d'artillerie Coloniale - Colonial Artillery Regiment near the city of Lang Son and the 9e Régiment d'Infanterie Coloniale in Haiphong), two colonial infantry regiments (11e and 16e Régiment d'infanterie Coloniale) in the Luang Prabang province of northern Laos on the boarder with Siam,
a colonial infantry brigade in northern Laos (Brigade d'Annam-Laos - Annamite-Laotian Brigade), one infantry regiment (3e Régiment Tirailleurs Tonkinois - Tonkinese Rifles Regiment) in Đà Nẵng, one infantry regiment (Régiment de Tirailleurs Annamites - Annamite Rifle Regiment) in Saigon, two infantry and one artillery regiment in Phnom Penh (10e and 19e Régiment Mixte d'infanterie Coloniale - Colonial Composite Infantry Regiment, and 5e Régiment d'artillerie Coloniale) and one infantry regiment in Battambang (4e Régiment de Tirailleurs Tonkinois)

A squad of the 19e Régiment Mixte d'infanterie Coloniale on patrol near the French Indochina-Siam boarder in November 1941​

However, in reality the French forces in Indochina were stretched very thin against the threat of Sino-Japanese invasion from the north and the more credible threat of invasion from Siam to the west. In addition the regiments themselves were at less than half strength as the French Army had pulled men from those units for service in the war in Europe or training in France. That being said, the state of the defenses in British India (India proper and Burma) and Malaya were far worse.

Garrisoned in the capital of Burma, Rangoon, and tasked with the defense of Burma as well as all of Malaya north of Singapore was Major General Nigel M. Wilson’s British Army of Malaya. Sadly, Wilson’s entire army was comprised of a single Imperial regiment, the Rangoon Rifles, and a sole company of colonial police. On the plus side for General Wilson, the majority of his army/regiment, was comprised of Anglo-Burmese, Burmese Indian of Punjabis descent and many Shans (natives of the Shan States of eastern Burma), and armed and trained on par with the rest of the British Army’s regular regiments.

Members of 2nd Battalion, Rangoon Rifle Regiment during a training exercise sometime in the autumn of 1941 ​

To the west of Burma, and tasked with defense of all of British India, was General Lewis M. Heath’s British Army of India. Prior to the outbreak of war the BAoI was comprised of the separate entities, the Indian Army (which was comprised of regiments recruited locally and permanently based in India and officered by expatriate British officers and indigenous Indian and Anglo-Indian officers) and the British Army in India (consisting of British Army units posted to India for a tour of duty, following which would then be posted to other parts of the Empire or back to the UK). Following the re-organisation of the British Army following the ascension of King Edward VIII, the Army of India was created and was simply a tandem organization of the Indian Army and the British Army of India. Further re-organization of the British Army, under order the Secretary of War Alfred “Duff” Cooper in 1938, created the current BAoI which was a full integration of the former Indian Army into the British Army.

Traditionally a large force the BAoI at the outset of the war found the regiments of the former British Army in India transferred to East Africa to form General Claude J.E. Auchinleck’s British Army of Sub-Sahara. The remaining regiments, the 2nd and 6th Indian Infantry Regiments, were left to form the cadre of the BAoI and were used as training units for replacement troops to be deployed throughout the Empire following the completion of training. In early 1941, with the completion of the integration reforms, the 2nd Indian Infantry Regiment was rechristened as the Wallajahbad Light Infantry Regiment and the 6th Indian Regiment was likewise rechristened as the Garhwal Rifles Regiment. With the heightening of tensions and the Empire of Japan, the War Ministry in London authorized the raising of multiple regiments within India, and when the Japanese attacks on Hong Kong, the Philippines and Pearl Harbor were launched, General Heath ad his two regiments were quickly training four new regiments (the Bombay Grenadiers, Queen Victoria's Own Rajput Light Infantry, King George's Own Ferozepore Sikhs, and the Rajputana Rifles Regiments).

The force dispositions of the British Army in Burma, Malaya and British India was well known to the Imperial Japanese Army, and despite a healthy respect for the abilities of the individual soldier of the British Army of India, neither Field Marshal Terauchi nor the Supreme War Council (Gunji sangikan kaigi) in Tokyo considered there to be sufficient defenses in the entire British Far East to defeat Ryuu Tsutsukimasu, Dragon Thrust. A mere two days following the presentation of their plans, Terauchi and Yamamoto were ordered by the Emperor and the Supreme War Council to commence the operation.

As signals were sent out, and were intercepted by British Intelligence, once more the British Empire was forced to react. But would it be enough and would it come in time?

**

Thanks for waiting for this update....
Stay tuned for the next one in which we may or may not learn what the Empire has planned in order to defend India and the Far East.

 

[El Pip]

Things are looking very thin in the East and I worry about the grand plan for the region. As I recall there was a lot of mention of trading space for time in the defence of India, something I'm not too sure will go down that well with the locals. Abstract ideas about trading space become a lot less palatable when it's you home being traded away!