2000 December 19th 1947.
East Asia Army Headquarters. Chita, Soviet Union.
1200 December 20th 1947.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, East Somali Basin.
0600 December 21st 1947.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Ashgabat, Soviet Union.
0800 December 22nd 1947.
Imperial Japanese Airforce Offices. Tokyo, Japan.
East Asia Army Headquarters. Chita, Soviet Union.
The situation was similar for all of Japan's advancing armies as they encountered sporadic resistance as Soviet troops deployed in their paths. Terauchi would also have to deal with such events.
Only one division had arrived in Ulan-Ude so far which was no real threat but enough of these encounters could cripple his army's organisation and force a long march backwards if it faced a moderate enemy force.
The Tactical bombers, this time led by Lt. General Sakai, provided some intelligence for Terauchi as they arrived to destroy the retreating enemy in Ulan-Ude. There was an enemy army in Kyzyl, the only province belonging to Tannu Tuva. Half of the troops appeared to be marching towards Ulan-Ude with the remainder dug in.
1200 December 20th 1947.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, East Somali Basin.
Ozawa continued his patrol around the Arabian Sea and encountered another enemy fleet as he moved into the East Somali Basin.
The single Transport Division had no hope of escaping and would sink to an unknown shell within an hour of being sighted.
A report from Tanaka's Interceptor wing operating from Colombo gave Ozawa some room for thought as it was unlikely that the Brazilian Airforce would operate close to Ceylon if there were no plans to invade the island. It could just be coincidence and it would take something pretty major to actually threaten the island now. Ozawa resisted the temptation to sail towards the Gulf of Mannar with BB Division 1 as there were four Naval bomber squadrons as well as all of Japan's Aircraft Carriers in Colombo should the need arise. Tanaka would chase the attacking Brazilians away with minimal losses to his own air wing.
0600 December 21st 1947.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Ashgabat, Soviet Union.
The more reports Hata received from the Middle East the less he liked what appeared to be happening. The Lebanese Army alone was large enough to force a withdraw but there were increasing signs of Allied troops mustering in the region.
Obata's latest air raid over Beirut had spotted at least two more British controlled divisions arriving in Haifa. The air raid would not be very successful as the two divisions in Beirut had been digging in. The Allied troops could be redeploying to Haifa or being shipped to the region, either way their numbers seemed to be increasing.
To the east things were progressing very well as Okada arrived in Samarkand and continued on towards Tashkent, which was the first resource objective in the area. There were still no signs of a Soviet reaction to this latest thrust by Japanese forces.
0800 December 22nd 1947.
Imperial Japanese Airforce Offices. Tokyo, Japan.
The situation in China had reversed quickly and Jun saw no reason to leave two of his strike groups operating around Lanzhou as there were no longer enough targets for one group let alone two.
He ordered Shimoyama to fly to Singapore where he would commence Naval patrols of the Malacca Strait after a brief rest period. Jun was effectively relegating Shimoyama's air group to a rapid response reserve roll and had placed it centrally to allow it the chance to move anywhere without becoming totally dis-organised during the transit. Dive bombers were becoming less useful as the Imperial Japanese Army advanced out of their range which would leave the Tactical bombers to support offensive operations for the time being. Jun would re-evaluate the situation as and when new airbases became available.