The Whale Has Wings Vol 3 - Holding the Barrier (4 page)

Dec 9th-10th

In Britain, the first of the production Spitfire Mk8 is delivered to the RAF. It is hoped that this plane will even the odds over France, where the Luftwaffe's Fw190 has been taking a steadily  increasing toll of the MkV Spitfire. This is planned to be the last Spitfire model with the Merlin engine, development now concentrating on the Griffon-engined version. The RAF has been growing increasingly curious as to how the Fw190 manages such performance, combat photographs indicating something unusual about the cowling arrangement. A suggestion of a Commando raid to capture one and fly it back is receiving serious attention. The Mk8 also carries additional fuel to give it a longer range, something seen as more important now that the RAF is contemplating more offensive operations over enemy territory.

In North America the first of the production models of the Mustang fighter (with the Merlin engine) have been accepted by a joint RAF/USAAF testing unit for final acceptance trials. This project was already a priority even before the Japanese attack, but as a result of this, the unit has been told to 'get the damn thing certified as fast as possible'.

Hitler accepts the fact that the current Blitzkrieg attack on Russia has failed, and that a new campaign will have to be launched in the spring. The Germans are currently being slowly pushed back by the Russian winter offensive, but are planning for their own offensive once the weather again permits movement.

In the Mediterranean the news from the Far East has been greeted with dismay, not just because of the attack, but what it will likely mean to the plans for assaulting Sicily in the spring. Joint talks are started with the French on the (possibly optimistic) assumption that the supply of landing craft will continue and that the armoured force at least will be brought up to the needed levels. Wavell and his staff are told to see what units can be earmarked for the Far East if the situation there deteriorates. While there is not a huge time saving in sending troops from the Middle East rather than Britain, the troops are already acclimatised to hot weather conditions. If such reinforcement becomes necessary, fresh units will be sent out from Britain as replacements. The RAF in the Middle East is ordered to prepare some of the spare pilots kept as replacements and reserves for travel to Ceylon to meet up with the planes being diverted there.

Having consolidated their landings in Siam, the Japanese army started a planned move south. This was hindered in the west by the delaying tactics and units put out by the defenders.  Their job was to buy time for the British to stiffen their defences, particularly around Jitra which was seen as the key to the northwest part of Burma. In the east, Blamey was moving up elements of the 9th Australian division to reinforce the line between the 7th Australian in the west, and the 11th Indian Division (which was mainly spread down the eastern coast in case of landings). Reports had already reported the presence of Japanese tanks, so 2nd Armoured Brigade was used to reinforce the defence lines. It was known from exercises that the large-scale armoured manoeuvres of the desert would not work nearly so well in the jungle. The Brigade had been split - half remaining as a heavy armour force in case an opportunity for a counterattack emerged, the other 50-odd tanks used to stiffen the troops. While this was seen as somewhat of a return to outdated 'infantry-tank' tactics, in the jungle if the tanks were not close and ideally visible to the infantry they were of far less use. For their part, the tank crews were eager to see how good the Japanese tanks were - reports had indicated that they were on a level with the early Italian armour, which left the Brigade with few worries.

Park and his commanders (and a selected few senior pilots with earlier combat experience) were analyzing the initial performance against the Japanese. In general, they weren't too displeased, but there were a number of issues giving Park concern. The main one was the performance of the Japanese fighters, which was far better than had been anticipated. Preliminary reports from some of the squadrons indicated that the two most dangerous planes, the Oscar and Zero, were extremely manoeuvrable, even more so than the Italian planes some of them had experience fighting in the Mediterranean. If that was the case, then his pilots needed to avoid dogfighting and adopt other tactics. At least one senior pilot had noted that so-called boom and zoom worked well, and that allowed them to use their own advantages, tougher planes and a much heavier armament. There wasn't really sufficient data yet to decide on the best tactics, but it was pointed out by a couple of the squadron commanders that the pilots who got into dogfights tended to not have come back, while those who avoided them (or escaped out of them) had got back. Instructions to try these new tactics and to avoid a dogfight if at all possible would go out to the squadrons that evening, and they would be reviewed in some days to see if they worked. The experience of Park and some of his senior officers in such 'on the fly' evaluations and alterations during the Battle of Britain would be invaluable here.

Consideration was also given to the possibilities of supporting the Army, but in view of the heavy aircraft losses so far, Park had to reluctantly inform Blamey and Alexander that he did not think this feasible until he received reinforcements. At the moment, his main aim was to try and stop the Japanese getting command of the air. The good news was that they had recovered quite a few pilots, and that if they could get more aircraft they should have the pilots for them.

Late in the morning, the squadron from the Eastern Fleet under Admiral Somerville rendezvoused with Force Z west of Singapore. The fleet had added two more KGV-class battleships (Prince of Wales and Anson), the French battleship Richelieu, the two fleet carriers Implacable and Illustrious, plus four cruisers and another eight destroyers. It was Somerville's intention to be off the coast of Sarawak in two days. The fleet would be covered for the first day by Goshawks operating out of Singapore, as well as by its own fighters. Somerville had hoped to leapfrog some Goshawks forward to give extra fighter cover, but lack of suitable airfields had made this impractical.

In the jungle of northern Malaya, the Japanese had started to push south towards the airfield at Kota Bharu. This was the part of the line where it hadn't been possible to form too much in the way of a delaying defence. The Japanese infantry, led by tanks, was moving steadily in the direction of the airfield which seemed to be their target. The advance was held up a couple of times during the day by defensive ambushes by the Indians, but each time part of the Japanese force faded into the jungle, to appear again behind them. Both times this happened it caused panic to the still-inexperienced troops, and the Japanese breakthrough was only stopped when the lead tanks ran into a Matilda. The British tank, manned by a crew who had learnt their trade in Cyrenaica, proceeded to calmly put its 2-pdr rounds through four of the Japanese tanks, ignoring the shots aimed at them which merely bounced off the Matilda's armour. As two more Japanese tanks tried to pull back, they shot them up too, and then proceeded to machine gun the infantry until they had all gone to ground. This attack was credited with stopping a larger panic and breakdown among the Indians, but there was concern that more of this type of attacks might cause the units to break and allow an easy Japanese advance. To forestall this, Blamey ordered 18 Brigade of the 7th Australian division to back up the Indians in the northeast. Despite the holding of the Japanese advance close to the border, the airfield is simply too close now to be used safely, and Park orders the remaining planes and men to be evacuated and  the airfield and its satellite strips to be demolished.

Map 2 - The Philippines

In the Philippines, the proposed B-17 attack on Formosa had to be cancelled when Japanese troops from General Homma's 14th Army began landing in northern Luzon. Six transports, covered by a cruiser and destroyers, landed 2,000 men at Vigan, while another force landed a similar number at Aparri. The airfields were the invaders first priority, and they immediately secured the airfields near the two towns. A force from Batan Island (a small island north of Luzon which had been taken some two days ago) landed on Camiguin Island to secure another airfield.

The invasion force had been spotted at dawn, and a number of rather uncoordinated attacks had been made by torpedo-armed PBY's and bombing B-17's. No serious damage was done to the invasion fleet, or to its covering warships. The Japanese air forces on Formosa were taking advantage of the better weather to strike hard at the Philippines.  Both airfields and the naval base at Cavite were heavily bombed, and a number of planes destroyed on the ground as well as those shot down by the Zeros escorting the strikes. The most serious damage was to the naval base, where the bombing destroyed the Asiatic fleets stock of torpedoes and damaged two of the submarines at the base.  That evening Admiral Hart evacuated two destroyers and his few minesweepers south, leaving the defence of the islands to his submarines.

At Wake Island, the Japanese air attacks had left the defenders with only eleven Wildcat fighters for defence, although a number of Japanese aircraft had been destroyed in return. An invasion force of four transports, escorted by two light cruisers and four destroyers, was on its way. The invasion force was detected at 0300, but while the defences were alerted it was decided not to attack until the Japanese were close inshore. By 0645, the Japanese warships were within 2500 yards of the battery at Peacock point, which opened fire, hitting the Japanese flagship Yubari twice. As the ship pulled back, they hit her twice more.  The battery at Peale Island then landed a salvo directly on the destroyer Hayate, which exploded, breaking in two and sinking immediately. They then hit another destroyer and set one of the transport ships on fire. The second battery on the island hit two more destroyers, which made smoke and retreated behind its cover.

The Wildcats, each loaded with two bombs, were launched to attack the retreating force. Four of them attacked the destroyers, landing a hit on the Kisargi, which blew her up with her own depth charges. The other seven planes attacked the transports, hitting two of them and leaving them on fire, although none of them sank. The Japanese force retreated to its base at Kwajalein. Meanwhile at Pearl Harbor the seaplane tender Tangier was being loaded with ammunition and supplies as a relief expedition was made ready for the island.

In the eastern Mediterranean, the battleship HMS Barham is hit by two torpedoes from one of the U-boats operating in the Mediterranean. The old battleship is hit twice on the starboard side, and although the U-boat is attacked by her escort (and considered probably sunk), the Barham succumbs to the underwater damage, sinking an hour later.

Dec 11th.

The War widens as Germany and Italy declare war on the USA. In a gesture of reciprocity, Congress declares war on Germany and Italy. In other diplomatic initiatives, Nicaragua and Cuba declare war on Japan. The Japanese government shows no signs of concern over this.

In Malaya, the Japanese 5th division increases the intensity of its attack north of Kota Bharu, and finally makes contact with the outlying defences of the town of Jitra. While successful, the progress has been slower than anticipated. It has also resulted in more casualties, and General Yamashita is pressing hard to get more of his force into Siam.  Sea transport is proving expensive, as the RAF torpedo bombers have not been suppressed as planned, and so he is trying to bring as much as possible in from French Indo China by the land route. This is much slower than by sea, but he hopes that his reinforcements will be on hand by the time he needs to support 5th Division. With the airfield at Kota Bharu now destroyed, the Indian troops are falling back southwards, while elements of the 9th Australian Division are moved up in support. Blamey intends to hold far enough to the north to support Jitra, in the hope the prepared defences there can hold out for some time. If this proves impossible, he will form a defence line further south. The training exercises held during the autumn have helped to identify feasible lines of defence and choke points, but the capability of the Japanese to infiltrate around strongpoints has been an unpleasant surprise.

At sea, the reinforced Force Z was heading east for the coast of Borneo, covered by its CAP and a flight of Goshawks out of Singapore. While Somerville thought it unlikely he would be attacked this far south, he was hoping to intercept and destroy any reconnaissance planes to keep his movements secret. He was also worried about the presence of Japanese submarines in the area. A Spearfish from HMS Implacable had caught one on the surface during the night with its ASV radar, and while the plane's bombs had caught the boat unaware and sunk it, he was sure that there were more of them in his path.