The Bear
21
0200 September 18th 1946.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, Truk.
The lack of any reaction from the United States to recent island captures by Japanese forces in the Pacific led Ozawa to believe it was safe to move the only remaining Battleship fleet elsewhere.
BB Division 1 set sail for Colombo to try and sink the American Transport fleet that was continuously harassing the island.
0200 September 18th 1946.
North China Army Headquarters. Lanzhou, China.
Higashikuni did not have to wait long for Allied forces to try and remove General Abe from Multan province in India.
He was ordered to retreat to Bikaner before sustaining any losses as his job had been done. Allied troops were more vunerable to air attack now that they had left their trenches.
Further targetting problems over Mongolia led Higashikuni to alter his Tactical bombers assignment again. They would bomb the armoured formation in Gulja where they would succeed in destroying it. Soviet forces had captured the small airbase in Urumqi.
1200 September 22nd 1946.
Kwantung Army Headquarters. Mukden, Manchukuo.
The recent reversals for the Red Army in Manchuria had bought Terauchi some breathing space which was used to strengthen his position.
The Imperial Japanese Navy had not been completely idle for the last two weeks as Admiral Kaga had embarked on a short tour of various Pacific islands. Six Infantry divisions landed in Andong province to secure that part of the line. These divisions had come from New Guinea and the three Mariana islands which were no longer defended. The almost total lack of enemy activity in the Pacific allowed the stripping of Japanese defences closer to Japan.
At 0500 hours on September 26th General Krasnopevtsev led four Soviet divisions into Xinjing province in Manchukuo. Teruachi had wanted such advances to occur and ordered General Ando to remove the enemy troops. The attack used superior numbers forming an envelopment which would have been more than enough to dislodge Krasnopevtsev, the fact that he had crossed an invisible line also triggered eight Dive bomber squadrons from Dalian. None of the Soviet divisions, some being more modern, would leave Xinjing alive.
0000 September 28th 1946.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, In Transit.
Ozawa was not expecting any reaction from the enemy but he had inadvertantly crossed a line himself it appeared.
The invasion of Arorae had triggered a counter invasion from American forces which had cut off the single Japanese division on the islands. The Transport fleet in Vanua Levu was dispatched to pick the troops up before they could be captured. Ichimaru and Genda had managed to reduce the Submarine Divisions in Samoa to four, all of which were damaged.
Things became worse when another small American Carrier fleet was spotted in the Southeast Marshalls. Admiral King was commanding the USS Shangri-La which was heading north towards Hawaii. Six Japanese Carriers were waiting if he came close enough.