Chapter 23 – January 1946
AuthAAR’s Note: Welcome back to the front, dear readAARs! We continue the grim War in the Far East, with the snows of winter. And my current 'quick and dirty' presentation format to keep things going along, even if the update rate is slowed a little (noting this is one of four AARs I’ve got going on rotation).
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1. Eastern Sector
As the new year of 1946 opens, winter continues to exert a firm grip. The latest Soviet attack on
Ushumun, which began on 30 December, goes on, while a major new Soviet attack began on
Chegdomyn on 1 January: it would prove to be one of the biggest battles of the campaign so far, with the air forces of both sides weighing in. For example, the poor weather in
Chegdomyn lowers the effectiveness of the Soviet attack by an estimated -21.9%.
Japanese air attacks - by at least six different TAC wings, some with escorts - on Soviet troops attacking
Chegdomyn from
Imeni Poliny Osipenko, Solnechny and
Sofiysk on 2 and 3 January caused a total of 2,886 Soviet casualties, while strikes by the VVS on
Chegdomyn itself killed 556 defenders from 1-3 January.
With no effective Soviet fighter cover nearby, a brand new air base (one was being held ready) was built in
Nikolayevsk na Amure. A base upgrade to level 2 facilities was started the next day, as hardly any repairs were yet possible in the bare-bones base.
Five INT wings in two groups from
Mutina were transferred, to start providing interception cover. Despite still being low on organisation after re-basing, they were soon in action to good effect, first over
Imeni Poliny Osipenko.
The battle for
Chegdomyn ended in Soviet victory on 3 January and (whether from the interceptions or the battle ending) the enemy bombing raids also ceased.
On the morning of 5 January, the last of the northern pocket was eliminated in
Susuman.
After skirmishes that saw
Mordaga lost on 5 January but then regained the next day, the next major battle was a renewed Soviet attack on
Ushumun from 8-12 January against newly arrived Japanese reinforcements, won again by the Soviets. Weather continued to hamper the attack (-20.3%) and slow down movement. This dose was repeated from 15-17 January, after which the Soviets finally occupied
Ushumun on 28 January: then having to defend it against a Japanese counter-attack from 28-30 January.
Early on 8 January, all the transports in
Ulya were merged into the Red Banner Pacific Fleets, the 1st Marine Division was loaded up, and they all sailed south for the first Soviet amphibious operation of the war. Their destination was
Okha in northern
Sakhalin, opposite
Nikolayevsk na Amure, which was now crucially able to offer air cover for the invasion fleet.
They were offshore by 1800hr the same evening, discovering no Japanese garrison in place. The 1st Marines would continue to operate under the direct (ie human) control of HQ Far Eastern Theatre.
Okha was liberated early on 10 January, with the marines ordered to advance the length of the island, if possible – but the weather meant it would be slow progress. Interestingly, there had been no Japanese opposition on the ground, in the air or at sea. Having done its job, the fleet re-based to nearby
Nikolayevsk na Amure.
From 11 January onwards, the Japanese heavily bombed Soviet forces in the east and caused very heavy casualties, clearly using new bases that were now in range, while Soviet air support continued, but was more stretched.
At first, VVS interception from the new forward air base would contest these raids and largely suppressed them until mid-month. But by 14 January, with little ability to rest and repair, the VVS’s ability to stop the raids had begun to falter. This would eventually lead to very high casualties, and enemy air support for some significant Japanese counter-attacks by the end of the month.
A major action was fought to take
De Kastri, on the Pacific coast from 18-24 January, ending in another Soviet victory, despite atrocious weather (-34.7% attack) and difficult terrain (-35% attack). Japanese air raids on
Bogordskoye also attempted to disrupt the attack but were contested by nearby INT from
Nikolayevsk na Amure, though many were still able to get through.
The Japanese launched a major attack on
Solnechny, with heavy air support, on 21 January. The Soviets were forced to retreat on 26 January, after losing 3,587 men to air attacks, in addition to over 800 from ground combat. The VVS was unable to stop them, though
Tyndinsky-based aircraft were still able to conduct ground support missions against the Japanese throughout this period.
A concurrent large Japanese attack on
Sofiysk was also going on around this time, lasting from 25 to 30 January, but this one was ultimately repulsed. However, another 2,664 men were lost there to Japanese air attacks. This time, the weather (-25.9% attack) was working against the enemy.
The Japanese occupied
Obluchye (after a previous victory there) on 25 January.
But despite local supply problems, the Soviets counter-attacked soon after. The battle was fought and won between 26-29 January, with active VVS support (644 enemy killed in air raids).
Eastern Sector Operations – January 1946.
The lion’s share of fighting on the ground, and all the combat in the air, had been fought in the Eastern Sector this month. A clear Soviet superiority in ground fighting had been balanced almost exactly by the new-found preponderance of Japanese air power, with total casualties on both sides almost exactly even. Despite this, the Soviets had still managed to push forward on balance, with
Obluchye likely to be reclaimed in February, though the earlier gain of
Chegdomyn was now under threat after a loss there late in the month.
A summary of battles and advances.
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2. Central Sector
Very little of note occurred in the Central Sector during January, with neither side willing or able to attack much.
Mogucha was reoccupied on 1 January, after a successful Soviet attack there the month before. On the boundary with the Eastern Sector, a Japanese attack on
Aksenovo Zilovskoye was beaten back from 1-3 January. It would be the only battle fought in the sector for the rest of the month.
The main reason for this inaction, on the Soviet side at least, was clearly recurrent supply problems.
By the end of the month, there had been a wholesale pull-back from the front line, including the abandonment of
Mildigun, despite it being an assigned objective of both 1st and 7th Armies.
Central Sector Operations – January 1946.
A summary of battles and advances.
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3. Western Sector
The Western Sector at least had reasonable supply, though no VVS air missions were flown there for the month, probably due to issues of range and poor supply in
Irkutsk. A limited series of offensive and defensive battles were prosecuted.
An evenly contested battle for
Ulaanbaatar was fought between 4-11 January and ended in a Soviet victory. It was liberated soon after Japanese resistance ended. The old Mongolian capital had been liberated – only a few months after their surrender had appeared imminent!
A few small battles were enough to see
Sharangad secured by 14 January, after which a couple of more determined Japanese attempts to retake it were defeated (14-20 and 29-31 January).
Of interest, the (AI-controlled) Archangelsk and Lwow Theatre HQs each transferred a group (four wings total) of CAS into the liberated air base in
Ulaanbaatar early on 27 January. Though not sought by HQ Far East, they were accepted and allocated to 7th Army.
Western Sector Operations – January 1946.
A summary of battles and advances.
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4. Production and Logistics
Level 3 radar station upgrades were completed in
Kaunas, Lwow and
Brzesc Litewski on 15 and 16 January, part of the growing radar network on the Western Front. Improvement of each to the next level was started immediately and given the highest production priority.
As January drew to a close, the supply position across the Far Eastern Front remained poor, especially in the centre, but also now in places further east.
[Question: apart from infrastructure, does anyone know if poor weather also affects supply distribution/throughput, noting it affects ordinary ground movement?]
By the end of the month, over 45% (180 IC) of industrial capacity was being devoted to supply production, just to keep the stockpile around its minimum preferred 30,000 benchmark.
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5. Research
The first week of the new year saw advances in fighter ground crew training and navigation radars for medium sized aircraft. The VVS modernisation program continued with the new projects started on better TAC ground crew training and also NAV pilot training – the latter being the first such program in the Soviet Union.
With a now massive pool of trained agents in reserve, on 13 January the KGB and GRU spy schools were mothballed, with the freed leadership effort split between starting a new research project (to improve small air search radars) and increased officer training.
The next two projects completed boosted the submarine program: both engine and torpedo research was continued.
And as January 1946 ended, Stalin was apprised of progress in three core and highly classified areas of strategic research. In mid-February – just a few weeks away – Soviet scientists were confident they would be able to start building the first nuclear device. Theoretical jet engine design was also due to advance at around the same time. And in another area of strategic warfare, the first flying bomb design should allow construction of this first level of unguided devices from early May 1946, paving the way for more advanced rocket engine research.
6. Espionage
With little undue attention on Soviet agents overseas and a large reserve of agents, on 24 January the effort in Spain (down to only one domestic agent after losing two to that point in January) was reset to 50% counter-espionage and 50% political influence, as the local Communist party had been losing ground. Other missions were left unchanged.
By the end of the month, a 29 enemy spies had been neutralised in the USSR or in the four foreign missions (11 fewer than in December 1945). Only one Soviet agent had been lost (in Japan) but four trained up to 13 January, so overall strength rose to 70 Soviet agents in the field or in reserve.
In terms of political results, NU in Japan and Manchuria had been eroded a little more. Communist Party support in Spain was down, but up a little in Turkey (where the political influence mission had been in operation all month).
7. Theatre Summaries
As noted above, fighting was intense in the Eastern Sector of the
Far East as the fierce winter was endured and the Northern Pocket had been eliminated. Total casualty rates were higher again, but especially from a massive increase in Japanese air attacks.
South East Asia was again largely static, though the US had secured
Guam from Japanese occupation.
And the Allies had now completely occupied
Hong Kong and the surrounding Japanese enclave in
southern China.
Malaya had been treated with its usual neglect: a single US Marine division under British command seemed to be the only assigned force, doing ‘picket duty’ on
Kuala Lumpur.
The campaign in
Australia had been successfully wrapped up, however
[giving your humble authAAR a warm inner glow, at least ].
And in
New Britain (an island province of New Guinea) a heavy build-up of HQs (!) and aircraft was spotted, though it seemed only a single airborne division was present and seemed to only have a Japanese theatre HQ in opposition.