0300 December 16th 1946.
North China Army Headquarters. Lanzhou, China.
Higashikuni was still waiting for a reconnaisance report on the enemy forces in Bayan Nur which he would receive from the Dive bombers operating in the area.
They had completed their mission to destroy the enemy forces in Hohhot province and found six Headquarters divisions in Bayan Nur which would become their new target. Higashikuni knew that his own defences were safe from such enemy forces and would need to take no action for the time being.
0900 December 16th 1946.
Kwantung Army Headquarters. Mukden, Manchukuo.
Osami wished to know the current forces stationed in Vladivostok so that he could adjust his plans for invasion accordingly.
The Tactical bombers from southern Korea would find out after they had completed the destruction of the enemy division in Tetyukhe province. A second garrison division had arrived with an Armoured division also present for the time being. There was clearly no chance of a direct invasion succeeding now so Osami thought of another way to try and capture the province.
On December 18th the final enemy divison in Ulan Hot withdrew leaving the Dive bombers free to investigate the defences of Xinjing province. Nine enemy divisions had taken up residence in the capital of Manchukuo and would require a major effort to remove them. Terauchi would assign his Tactical bomber wing to the task as well as the Dive bombers to try and reduce the defences as quickly as possible before further enemy troops could arrive.
0500 December 19th 1946.
North China Army Headquarters. Lanzhou, China.
The American Strategic bomber forces operating in India were making a nuisance of themselves as they continously bombed both infrastructure and industry throughout northern India. Higsahikuni had an Interceptor wing in Ahmadabad with which to respond but they had not been upgraded yet. The bombings needed to be halted though and the orders were given to see what the Interceptors could do now that the enemy bombers had started to bomb areas closer to Ahmadabad where the Interceptors could reach.
Mj. General Saboru's wing took off in search of the bombers on December 19th and encountered an enemy wing over Jaipur province. Unlike previous encounters between Japanese Interceptors and Allied Strategic bombers and their escorts this one would show the difference between the older non-turbojet aircraft and their more modern counterparts.
By 0900 hours the damage was clear to see as two of the enemy bomber squadrons were close to being completely destroyed by Satoru and his aircraft. The battle was not completely one sided but the Interceptors could compete on equal terms with the bombers now. The two most critically damaged bomber squadrons would not survive the encounter leaving only two to return to base. This enemy bomber wing was not the only one operating in India and Satoru would be required to attack again soon.
Further north a Japanese headquarters division had re-taken Erenhot and was immediately forced to return to Changde province. The same orders were given for the Headquarters to destroy as much of the infrastructure as possible during its withdrawal.
Higashikuni had not been the only commander to notice the damage to India's northern infrastructure by American Strategic bombers. Soviet forces tried to remove General Abe from Lahore while they had a slight advantage. They chose to attack at night and would not succeed, but the assault had proved to Higashikuni that the Red Army was aware that Japanese forces controlled India and may well try and intervene in that area.
Satoru's Interceptors would be called into action again on December 20th as an American Strategic bomber wing targetted their home province of Ahmadabad.
The battle would not go quite so well on this occasion but Satoru's Interceptors did manage to inflict similar damage to the enemy as they received. The bombers would be out of action for some time but so would Satoru. Higashikuni would need a second Interceptor wing to halt the bombings but he would have to wait for upgrades to complete before they would arrive.
The arrival of two Soviet divisions in Erenhot caused a switch in the Japanese bombing targets. The Dive bombers that had been targetting Bayan Nur moved to Erenhot with the Tactical bombers that had been operating over Sinkiang moving to cover Bayan Nur for the time being. Erenhot was a vital province in the Japanese defences and a large enemy force could not be allowed to stay there or it could undermine the entire center of the Japanese lines. There was a large Japanese ground force around this area but Soviet forces were also heading in this direction in large numbers.
