The Whale Has Wings Vol 3 - Holding the Barrier (5 page)

South of French Indo China, the Japanese naval force had now consolidated and had moved a little south and west. After hearing the pleas from General Yamashita to protect his troop convoys, it was intended to use the fleet to cover a series of convoys into Siam.

The first raid of the Bomber Command winter offensive took place tonight against Hamburg. The RAF had been perfecting its bombing techniques over the last six months while waiting for the bomber force, and in particular the Lancaster force, to reach a level sufficient to do serious damage to its targets. The program of raids is also intended to see how the attacks work in practice. Later in 1942 it is intended, if these work as hoped, to add the new high-altitude bomber the Supermarine-Vickers Coventry to the raids. The tactics are fairly straightforward. The target will be marked by a Pathfinder squadron using the new Mosquito. Two other squadrons of Mosquitoes will perform deception raids and also engage night fighters. The Pathfinders will be followed by the first part of the Lancaster force, which will use high explosive bombs to damage and degrade the cities defences while opening up buildings with blast damage. This will be followed by the Halifax force, using incendiaries and some smaller bombs to keep the city from fighting the fires until they are well established. Finally, the last part of the Lancaster force will again drop HE bombs to hinder the firefighting and cause more damage. In order to confuse the Luftwaffe defences further, Wellingtons and Coastal Command will carry out Gardening raids on the coast and in the river/canal network in northern Germany.

In the Mediterranean, Operation Remus is put into operation. This has been planned in advance, a contingency plan if the Japanese were to attack in the East. It consists of a steady program of bombing raids on Italy (particularly on any harbours), small Commando raids, mining, and a general low level but continuous program of annoyance to keep the Italians busy and off balance. While there is still hope the spring offensive may go as planned (if perhaps late), Remus is designed to keep pressure on Italy while not forcing the Allies to commit too many forces.

The weather again causes a lull in the air attacks in the Philippines. With more pilots than planes, only experienced pilots are to fly, and the fighters are now reserved for reconnaissance missions.

In Malaya, the Japanese stage a heavy raid on Penang Island, attacking ships in the harbour and the town itself and causing significant civilian casualties. From a military point of view, the attack achieved little.  Most of the Japanese aircraft now established in Siam were engaged in aiding their troops to push south. This is a problem for the RAF; with fewer aircraft than the Japanese, they can either use them to attack the Japanese at sea or the army at land, but not both. For the moment, priority is given to the naval element, as the RAF units have not received much training in army support. Most of the operations in the north are now to be staged out of Taiping airfield, which is far enough to the north to allow raids while being the northernmost airfield inside the radar net. As in the Philippines, it is noted that the Japanese use a tactic of attacking an airfield in a number of small strikes, intended to catch planes after they have returned from a mission or from defence of the base, and destroy them on the ground. The results of the Luftwaffe raids on RAF airfields during the Battle of Britain had showed that it was very difficult to close an airfield down for long with bomb damage. The Japanese seem to be trying a different tactic which involves using small raids to keep the defenders busy, and catch aircraft on the ground when they inevitably have to refuel. The tactic has been quite effective on the exposed northern airfields, but the RAF command feels that it will be far less successful once the Japanese have to attack bases under the cover of the radar net, when it will be possible to concentrate the defending fighters against a small raid.

In a welcome boost to the defence force, 30 Beaufighters arrive from Australia. The versatile plane has suffered heavily in the past few days, and the new aircraft will allow the RAF to stage limited aggressive attacks again. While the pilots of the two squadrons are not sufficiently trained for Park's standards, there are experienced pilots available and these will be used in preference to the new pilots. There is also news that 50 Hurricanes have been removed from the Russian supply route in Iran and are being shipped east; they are expected in Ceylon in a few weeks, where they will be assembled and flown out to Singapore. Additional planes and equipment as well as replacement pilots are being loaded onto a convoy in Britain, but even going through the Mediterranean it will not arrive for some time.

Dec 12th

Force Z had now destroyed one Japanese reconnaissance plane, and fighters operating out of Singapore at least one more. The availability of radar is proving an increasing advantage to the Royal Navy, as unless they have been reported by a patrolling submarine, it seems they have got close to Borneo without being spotted. The same cannot be said for the Japanese fleet off Indo China, which has both been spotted by a Dutch submarine (which unfortunately was not in a position to make an attack), and by a Whirlwind sent specifically to photograph them. The fleet was now considered to consist of two battleships, two carriers, and a large number of cruisers. Although the Whirlwind had been spotted by a Japanese CAP, the pilot had simply flown away from them, the fighters quite unable to catch the 400+mph plane. Somerville and his air advisors are now debating whether to stage an attack at night or day on the Japanese once they are in range. With the knowledge that there are certainly Japanese submarines in the area, the thought is that a day strike would probably involve less submarine risk. Currently it is expected that the strike will be made far enough away that escorted land-based strikes will not be possible, although some of the air advisors are worried; a third Japanese carrier has still not been spotted, and either one is hiding somewhere or the Japanese planes have considerably more range than was thought.

Somerville has also been moving his submarine force; at present, except for intervention against some of the landings, the subs have been used in patrol lines. This is about to change; the four T-boats north of Indochina are moving a little south, and those in the south will be realigned on a line along the Indochina coast; assuming the strike on the Japanese fleet is successful, he hopes they will be well-positioned to take out any damaged ships. The U-class boats in the north are moving on the last-known position  of the Japanese fleet; with luck they may get some action, if not they will remain to interdict the Indo China-Siam sea route, probably supported by the southern group. Once the Japanese fleet has been neutralized, Somerville thinks any more landings on the eastern coast of Malaya will be unlikely, and the submarines will do better in the northern waters.

In the Philippines, the Japanese land another 2,500 men of the 16th Division at Legazpi, again against minimal opposition. Mutterings are starting to be heard in Washington as to why the Philippines army seems to be unable to contain or even attack the invaders while the Imperial forces are fighting hard and, for the moment at least, successfully, in Malaya. The USAAF in the Philippines sends six B-17's to bomb Vigan, but the raid causes little damage. The Japanese air force is starting to operate from the airfields they have captured; there are now over 50 Ki-27 Nate fighters in northern Luzon, with more planes arriving steadily. The Japanese continue their tactics of sending planes continuously over the Allied fields as much as possible, and an increasing number of American aircraft are being destroyed on the ground.

In Malaya, the Japanese 5th Division takes Kota Bharu and pushes south as the defenders move back to hastily prepared defensive positions. The withdrawal is made more difficult by the way that the Japanese troops press their advance, and it requires a retreat of 20 miles before they can break contact and re-establish a defensive line. The Japanese air force is not happy with the state of the Kota Bharu airfield. The men who designed its demolition had been briefed by an officer selected by Park from one of his men who had designed the ones for 11 Groups advanced airfields in case of a German invasion, and the result is that not much is left intact. The main buildings and supplies have been burnt, and the runway itself broken by explosives. Still, it will be possible with work to use the old un-surfaced runways, and the Japanese ground crews and engineers start working on the problem.

News has been received that the US island of Guam has fallen to a Japanese invasion force. The island was always at risk, and while the invasion was hardly unexpected, the preparations to relieve Wake, which it seems possible to hold, are going ahead as fast as possible.

Dec 13th

Alexander receives news that 250 Valentine tanks, due for shipment to Russia over the next three months, will be redirected to him. The first are already waiting in Iran for shipping. The Australians have been training men to form their own armoured division in North Africa; the plan is for these to be diverted to Ceylon to meet with the tanks, and then be sent on to Malaya to give Blamey the means to mount an offensive once the Japanese advance has been held. The tanks are some of the older versions, with the 2-pdr gun rather than the 6-pdr, but this is felt not to be such an issue against the Japanese, as the 2-pdr has already shown to be perfectly capable of destroying the Japanese tanks. Alexander is promised that if the Japanese do deploy more capable armour, some of the new tanks now starting to equip 8th Army will be sent to him. An additional British infantry division will also arrive before the end of January, although he is warned they will probably need a short period of acclimatization, as they will be coming from the UK.

The first of the American 'Flying Tiger' squadrons, originally based in China, arrives in Burma. Preparations are under way to prepare a field to allow them to operate.

In Hong Kong, the continuing pressure of the Japanese attacks has forced the Imperial troops defending the colony to retreat from the mainland.

Japanese troops move on the airfield at Victoria point. It has long been realized that the airfield would be unusable in the event of a Japanese invasion of Thailand, and the Japanese only find a carefully demolished base, with the unwelcome addition of a considerable amount of lovingly designed booby-traps.

Indian troops prepare demolitions at the oil installations in Sarawak and Brunei in order to deny them to the Japanese in case of invasion. While the British would prefer to keep this resource, the defence of Malaya is vital at this point and they would rather destroy the installations than let them fall into the hands of the Japanese.

While Stalin is unhappy at the British decision to suspend supplies of armaments to him for some months, the British are adamant that their own need in the Far East takes priority. They point to the Russian winter offensive, slowly pushing the German Army back, as evidence that the Germans are temporarily less of an immediate threat.

Force Z is heading north on a course to intercept the Japanese fleet south of Indo-China. The Japanese are finally aware of Somerville's presence, as a patrolling Japanese submarine spotted them last night. However its report on the fleet does not include all the ships present - the captain reports two battleships (rather than four), and two carriers (instead of three), plus 'cruisers and destroyers'.

Somerville and his staff have finally decided on their attack option. Given the relative sizes of the fleets involved, Somerville feels he has sufficient force, if correctly applied, to shatter the Japanese fleet and, hopefully, buy additional time by making them much more cautious. He accepts that he may get attacked by land-based aircraft, but after the Navy's experiences in the Mediterranean theatre, he feels confident he can cope with this while he withdraws. The plan is a mix of a night and dawn raid. The fleet will close to, ideally, about 150 miles during the first part of the night, then launch a full-strength raid with his torpedo planes. The main targets are obviously the carriers. They will be recovered as a dawn strike by his dive bombers (this time with a fighter escort) makes sure the carriers cannot fly off aircraft, then will sink or disable as many of the cruisers as possible. If the enemy battleships or carriers are still afloat, a second torpedo raid is possible, depending on the response to the first two strikes - if it looks too dangerous, he will leave any damaged ships to his submarines. Somerville's job is to stop the Japanese with minimal loss (Malaya will stand or fall on the actions of the Army, he can only help them), and so the option of sending in his battleships to take out any damaged ships has been ruled out in the face of an uncertain amount of land-based air power. Initial reports from the RAF have described a worryingly competent Japanese air force. While some of the RAF officers have dismissed this in preference to their pre-war opinion that the Japanese can't fly, Somerville's air officers are rather more cautious until they have combat reports from their own pilots.

For their part, the Japanese are looking to a combination of a heavy land-based escorted strike, and (if the enemy gets close enough) a night torpedo strike by cruisers and destroyers.  Admiral Kondo accepts that his two carriers, which only have some 50 planes between them, are too weak for a decisive strike and are better used to defend his ships while he closes to use the torpedoes on his cruisers and destroyers.