Operation Dilemma
13
0600 February 14th 1945.
Carrier Group C Flagship. IJN Zuikaku, Gulf of Khambhat.
Admiral Nagano was looking at his maps to plot his fleets new course away from western India when there was a knock on his cabin door.
"Come in." he said.
"Admiral you are needed on the bridge immediately." a heavy breathing messenger informed him.
Nagano laid down his dividers and allowed the messenger to lead him to the bridge of IJN Zuikaku as he considered why he would be needed so urgently.
The sudden sound of the alarm for Action Stations was not unexpected as there was an enemy fleet heading their way from Bombay. This could just be normal. Nagano thought otherwise. Something was definately not right.
Arriving on the bridge he knew he had been correct. This much activity was not normal for an airstrike against a small sized Transport fleet. Judging from the action around him IJN Zuikaku was already turned into the wind and looked to be preparing to launch just about every single aircraft at her disposal. That only happened for one reason.
"Enemy Carriers?" he asked Captain Notomo.
"Yes Admiral, at least four." Notomo replied with a certain degree of concern.
"There is something else Captain?"
"Five Battleships and a similar number of Heavy Cruisers."
"I think we might want to keep them as far away as possible. Lets start opening the distance between them and us before this gets even uglier than it already is." Nagano ordered.
Carrier Group C's eight Aircraft Carriers would face the four more modern British Carriers, led by HMS Victorius and commanded by Admiral Fraser. The two Carrier fleets were of equal size but Nagano had to try and protect a Transport fleet, which would severely limit his options.
Luckily the British fleet was extremely top heavy. There were a mere three escort ships to protect the Carriers and Battleships which would place similar constraints upon Fraser.
Had this battle occurred without the Transports in tow Nagano would be confident of a decisive victory, as it was he would settle for keeping his fleet in tact.
Four British Submarines had arrived late to the battle and bolstered Fraser's numbers to twenty but these just placed even more strain on the escorts. The battle was almost totally inconclusive as the range remained outside of the enemy big guns and both Admirals seemed more concerned with protection than causing damage.
Only one ship was sunk, unfortunately Japanese, the Transport Flotilla 9 Yuso Sentai. Several Carriers had been damaged but none critically when Fraser opened the range far enough to escape north.
Much to Nagano's surprise Yamamoto ordered him to pursue the enemy fleet while the Transports of Godo headed towards Colombo.
The British Battleship fleet that had been sighted around Indonesia was re-acquired at 0100 hours on the 15th. It had altered course and was now heading west towards southern India. There was a chance that it was after the Aircraft Carriers but that could not be confirmed.
Yamamoto was now trying to keep track of two Battleship fleets, one British and one American, as well as two Carrier Fleets, one British and one French. All four of these fleets could be converging on the Indian Ocean, which would mean that the Imperial Japanese Navy would be leaving if it was the case.
The next message to arrive, at 0300 hours, was fairly urgent and from Lt. General Yokoyama Isa. He had a problem, a much more serious one than was normal. The American's had learnt how to try and invade.
This time there were no tanks. Properly led marines and infantry were the exact thing that Yamamoto did not want to see trying to take Guam. He had no idea if there were any escorts for the invading fleet but the lack of Gunfire Support made it unlikely. There was some chance that the American's could win this battle, although Genda was already on the scene with his bombers.
The Submarines in the area had reacted quickly and were closing on the transport ships within an hour. The arrival of Ozawa with his bombers made things look even better and by 0800 hours one of the Transport Divisions had been sunk along with its infantry division.
The battle ended shortly afterwards with the Submarines chasing the enemy ships away. Even three defending divisions might not be enough for these islands.
Carrier Group C had failed to beat the enemy Carrier Task Force to the Mouths of the Indus but they knew where the enemy fleet was.
At 1200 hours Japanese aircraft took off and headed for the harbour of Rajkot to try and inflict more damage to the enemy fleet.
Only one ship would be sunk, the 6th Submarine Flotilla, falling to aircraft from IJN Junyo. The British carrier HMS Indomitable managed to survive the raid but only just. Several other ships received damage but nothing major as Nagano ordered his fleet away from the area, before a second enemy fleet could close with his own.
Yamamoto was fairly sure that the current situation throughout the Pacific was more or less back under control when he received another urgent message. Ozawa was not someone who cried wolf and if he said it was urgent it usually was.
Admiral Halsey had brought his Battleship fleet to the Mariana Trench at 0800 hours on February 16th, led by the USS Colorado. Should the Transport fleets return with this fleet to guard them Guam would be in serious trouble. Halsey's fleet was still showing signs of earlier tangles with Japanese Naval bombers as Ozawa and Genda tried to inflict enough damage to make the hostile fleet leave. They only had two hours until nightfall which was not enough to inflict any serious harm.
A new day would see Halsey regret not leaving immediately after being spotted.
Ozawa returned at 2300 hours with the Submarines already safely in port. By 0200 hours the Battleship USS Maryland, which had been the most damaged ship prior to the bombing run, had been sunk and the Japanese bombers switched targets to the USS Colorado.
The crew of the USS Idaho plucked Admiral Halsey from the waters of the South Mariana Trench as orders were given to head south east, away from the destruction from above. The USS Colorado had only lasted two hours under the heavy bombardment from Ozawa and Genda.
0000 February 17th 1945.
Intelligence Offices. Tokyo, Japan.
Kuniaki was given the latest update on current research projects which included the completion of improved Doctrine for ground forces.
Hisaichi Terauchi had finished Central Planning Doctrine and Kuniaki ordered him to continue along his research path and look into Infiltration in Depth, which would actually give Japanese an advantage under some circumstances, most notably night fighting.
0200 February 17th 1945.
North China Army Headquarters. Hinghong, China.
Higashikuni had found something for his Tactical bombers to do in India that would not require them to waste their bombs.
General Kawabe led an attack against Jabalpur which would allow the bombers to wreak havoc behind the defenders front lines. After a brutal battle lasting over twenty four hours the British defenders managed to valiantly hold on and repulse the attack. Unlike the Japanese troops they would not have the luxury of reorganising after the battle as the bombers kept harassing them.