Operation Dilemma
16
0100 March 1st 1945.
North China Army Headquarters. Jinghong, China.
The two enemy armies competing for India had seen another shift in strength and disposition. Higashikuni currently had the upper hand after Tactical bombers had halted the British advance.
General Kawabe led the latest assault to re-establish the Japanese defensive line, as six divisions attacked the single motorised division defending Jabalpur. The battle did not last long.
0500 March 1st 1945.
The Skies Above the Mariana Trench.
Phase two of the air defence plans for the Marianas began with eight interceptor squadrons heading out on patrol to try and find the large amounts of enemy Strategic bombers terrorising the islands.
Six intercepter squadrons found four Strategic bomber squadrons over the South Mariana Trench. Three hours of aerial combat saw the bombers sustain significantly more damage and they would hopefully be unable to fly for several weeks.
0000 March 2nd 1945.
Intelligence Offices. Tokyo, Japan.
Kuniaki had received a visit from one of his research teams. They had stumbled upon a new type of technology that could greatly assist the Imperial Japanese Air Force.
Scientists from two fields had come together to work out how to put a turbojet engine on an aircraft without making it explode. The practical applications of this research required more time to iron out a few problems.
0300 March 2nd 1945.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, Gulf of Martapan.
Yamamoto had been receiving more reports of enemy fleet activites in and around Indonesia. One of these fleets could well be heading his way and he might need to take some evasive action to avoid having to engage it.
The French fleet had been sighted heading north east in the Sunda Strait and was likely to be heading towards the Mariana Trench.
Spruance and his modern Battleships looked to be heading towards Yamamoto and would need to watched closely. BB Division 2 was already safely in Singapore and Carrier Group C was heading for Colombo, which just left BB Division 1 vunerable for the time being.
While Yamamoto was reading the report on Spruance the guns of IJN Yamashiro opened fire to sink the 127th Transport Division as it tried to run the blockade of Rangoon.
0200 March 5th 1945.
North China Army Headquarters. Jinghong, China.
Japanese troops had advanced into Darbhanga in northern India which gave them the opportunity to attack the retreating British forces.
Two Nepalese divisions in Lucknow could not halt General Ueda's forces for very long having already been mauled in Darbhanga.
Japanese Tactical bombers operating in Burma had been targetting the single British division in Prome and had weakened its organisation considerably. Japanese troops from Arakan attacked to force the division out but did not follow up on the assault.
1000 March 5th 1945.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, Bassein.
Yamamoto had ordered BB Division 1 into the small harbour of Bassein to avoid a confrontation with Spruance, who had been spotted heading north through the Malacca Straits.
Reports from the Mariana Trench continued to arrive on his desk with monotonous regularity.
The latest message contained another interception, this time over the North Mariana Trench. Four more American Strategic bombers had been attacked by six Japanese interceptor squadrons. The battle was very unusual. The damage had been fairly moderate for an aerial dogfight that had lasted for eleven hours. The bombers had come off worse again.
Spruance's fleet was spotted heading south in the early hours of March 6th and Yamamoto ordered his fleet back out to sea to continue its blockade of Rangoon.
At 2000 hours it became clear that Spruance had advised Allied shipping that BB Division 1 was no longer in the Gulf of Martapan. His report was accurate but it failed to include that the Japanese Battlefleet had only been five hours away in Bassein.
Admiral Tovey had decided to try and escape the prison of Rangoon. Unfortunately for him Spruance had not stuck around to defend the area and he walked straight into Yamamoto's fleet.
The results were fairly predictable after the initial manouvers. Tovey had got close enough for his lighter ships to fire in the beginning, but Yamamoto corrected that after an hour and BB Division 1 began to inflict damage with three times the amount of ships in range.
The first to sink would be the Light Cruiser HMS Orion as she exploded from a direct hit to her magazine. No ship could accurately claim the lethal round.
At 2200 hours the Battleship HMS Nelson sank from fire from IJN Yamashiro which left just one badly damaged ship capable of returning fire for Tovey.
By midnight two more Light Cruisers had been sunk. HMS Emerald fell to the Battlecruiser IJN Kongo and HMS Dragon to IJN Yamashiro. HMS Ramillies, the remaining British Battleship was also close to sinking. Tovey managed to return to Rangoon before he lost any more of his ships.
Tovey had lost four ships and Yamamoto had suffered almost no damage at all.