Operation Obsolete
2
2200 January 8th 1946.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, Osaka.
Current intelligence reports indicated that Australian defensive forces had reacted to the invasions around Darwin as expected. This left them vunerable to attacks to the east of the initial assaults.
Lt. General Iida began his amphibious assault on Weipa at 2200 hours on January 8th and was due ashore at dawn on the 10th.
Ichimaru and Genda continued to harass Admiral Reeves as he turned his fleet north. He was now heading to the east of the Marshalls but would still be easily in range for several more days. So far Reeves had lost the Heavy Cruiser USS Pittsburg to the marauding Naval bombers.
Ozawa ordered the second trial of the latest island combat technique at 0000 hours on January 9th. The assault began an hour later as Japanese combined forces decended on Truk.
General Imamura would lead the amphibious assault from the sea while General Itakagi commanded the six infantry divisions on Satawan, who attacked across the narrow strait between the islands.
Support was provided by fourteen Tactical bomber squadrons and BB Division 2. The bombing of the island had reduced the defenders ability to hold off an attack and the marines in particular had the advantage during the assault. Even with massive support the battle would not be an easy one.
The latest reports from Australia indicated good progress as the final two defending divisions from Darwin were forced to retreat again, this time from Katherine. The Dive bombers had almost destroyed the fighting capability of the division in Borroloola where a headquarters division was also heading from further east.
The news from Truk was also good as the sun rose on January 9th. Japanese troops were taking casualties, mostly the infantry from Satawan, but so were the defending forces, led by a French division. Lack of supply was causing more problems for the defenders even though they did manage to receive a small amount at midnight. Japanese forces overcame the defences at 0200 hours on January 10th and five Allied divisions were captured.
Imamura was due to reclaim the island at 0600 hours on January 11th.
Iida landed in Weipa at 2100 hours on January 10th to open up a second beach head in Australia. Ozawa would now focus on joining the two seperate invasions into one solid front. Troops would advance south from Weipa along the coast to capture airbases in the region.
One hour before occupying Truk enemy aircraft were still visible on the islands airbase. They would not take off before Imamura captured Truk at 0600 hours. The amount of squadrons destroyed was unknown but any were a bonus. Only one island remained enemy controlled in the Carolines and Japanese forces now held all of the airbase and port facilities of the islands.
All six infantry divisions were embarked onto two Transport Fleets which sailed for Yap at 1300 hours. Yap's infrastructure would allow the troops to recover quicker from the assault on Truk which would in turn lead to an earlier invasion of Ngulu to secure the Carolines. The marines would wait on Truk to recover as they were in better condition. Defence of Satawan would be handed over to the Submarines patrolling the East Carolines for the time being. BB Division 2 and Japanese Tactical bombers were close by if required to assist.
By 0000 hours on January 12th Admiral Reeves had managed to get three more of his ships sunk. Two more Heavy Cruisers, USS Augusta and USS Tuscaloosa, had been sunk along with the 43rd Destroyer Division. Reeves would move out of Ichimaru and Genda's reach overnight and would be given some reprieve as a result. His fleet was no longer a threat to any major Japanese Battlefleet.
The Royal South African Air Force attempted to re-assert itself over the Carolines at 0500 on January 12th without much success. The single Interceptor squadron decided to attack seven Japanese Interceptors. Only seven squadrons survived the encounter and none were South African.