The History of the Malaya Campaign

Markus

Banned
Episode I: Malaya at peace - A country for old men

This is the true, amazing and funny tale of the Malaya Campaign and it´s most unusal heroes.


In mid-April 1939 Group Captain(ret.) Sir Miles Browning, DSO, DSC is reactivated, promoted to Air Commodore(=AC) and made head of the newly established Malaya Department of the RAF´s Far East Command(RAF-FEC-MD). AC Browning is told his great experience and familiarity with the region made him the first choice. Being Canadian, but nevertheless literate in British understatement he knows that means: “We need all, the good ones for the real war, let´s give this backwater to some dinosaur.” Like 59 year old Sir Miles, who retired in 1931 and went on to sell British and American aircraft in Asia. First mainly civilian planes, but later he was doing a lot of business for Curtiss in China, where he got to see the Japanese military in action first hand and to this day he is reminded of it whenever the weather changes or someone scratches his lower back(=butt).


His new command is most unimpressive: Two squadrons of Vildebeests, one with Singapore III flying boats, few and small airfields, weekend warrior pilots in Harts and Audaxas and the communications are even worse than early warning. But since any war will be fought in Europe, the sorry state of the RAF-MD is more cause for action, than alarm. Thus the priorities are:

-construction and improvement of airfields.
-improvement of command, control and communications
-intensified training of Straits Settlements Volunteer Air Force(SSVAF) pilots
-procurement of additional planes

Fortunately there are reinforcements coming quickly: On August 7 and 12 two squadrons of Blenheim I bombers arrive, two more follow in September. The war at the other end of the world is not troubling anyone in Malaya; the closest possible enemy is Japan and they need to get past French Indo-China(FIC). Not that anyone expects the Japanese to take on two major powers, while they are bogged down in China.

All told 1939 ends good for RAF-MD: They now have four squadrons of fast, light bombers, good long range recon capabilities(SingaporeIII) and limited anti shipping capability. The airfields have their runways widened and drainage is installed, dispersal areas are prepared.
3C and early warning remains poor and modern fighters are absent.


1940 however starts bad and keeps getting worse.

In February 230 Sqn. and their flying boats leave for Alexandria, followed in April by half the Blenheims and another two month later Italy has declared war, France has fallen and FIC is Vichy controlled. Now AC Browning feels there is reason to be alarmed. It will only be a matter of time before the Japanese make a move and stopping them will take a lot more than the two dozen Lockheed Hudsons and 18 Wirraways the Australians are sending.


AC Browning makes an urgent request for more of anything, warning the Japanese will soon put pressure on FIC and the UK and at least demand to close the supply lines to the Chinese.
The morning after receiving the answer Sir miles wakes up in his office with his head resting on the desk, a huge headache and sees and empty bottle of Scotch on top of what appears to be London’s answer to his request for three fighter squadrons(preferably one with Spitfires), one light and two medium bomber squadrons(Blenheim/Wellington), a squadron of long range recon planes(Sunderlands/Singapores) and Beauforts for his two torpedo bombers squadrons. Plus radar sets, modern AA-guns(40mm and 3.7inch), radios sets and first and foremost personnel with combat experience.
Reading the documents is literally sobering, but his headache gets worse: Absolutely nothing of what he wants is available!

After taking a shower Sir Miles barks at his adjutant to round up the staff and the COs, EXECs of the squadrons, order his favourite Chinese food and get another bottle of Scotch – it will be a long day.
After the Japanese invasion of northern FIC in September 1940 another request for warplanes is made. For Hawker Harts, Hinds, Furys, Sharks, Baffins, Gladiators and Wellesleys. The surprised superiors are puzzled at the request of obsolete aircraft. They are being told the planes are mostly for training, basic trainers no one will miss when they get damaged in accidents, but actually RAF-MD has different intentions. By now it has become clear that Malaya has mot a low, but a “no”-priority and everybody is worried unless they get something, they will ends up fighting with nothing. And once that conclusion has been reached it is a process of elimination. Since no modern planes are available, RAF-MD has to make do with obsolescent and obsolete aircraft.

Airfield construction goes into overdrive. No more are there a few hours of work done in the morning, followed by a long pause and a few more working hours in the evening. Now it´s “diggin for dusk till dawn”.

The civilian flying clubs and the SSVAF are merged into the new Malaya Volunteer Air Force(MVAF). Most of it´s “active” pilots are not eligible for combat operations by RAF standards due to their age, but RAF-MD has no choice as skilled personnel are as short as modern equipment.

And one of the most unusual recon units is formed: 1st Patrol Sqn. The unit is equipped with … yachts! Sir Miles has called on member of yacht clubs to join and armed with binoculars and radios sail into the South China Sea between Malaya and FIC and report air and naval activities. The members- mostly older gentlemen, many with a military background are delighted someone is tapping into their skill and experience and got to work most enthusiastically, not knowing that AC Browning has very different motives for enlisting them.

One decision take at “The Conference” was to start an off-the-books operation to get what is needed. Instead of sending reinforcements London took away SSVAFs Harts and Audaxes for use in the East African Campaign, which made AC Browning announce that the command should consider itself at war! At war with the thieving “bastard bureaucrats of Britain” So a procurement operation is started that circumvents, bends and breaks the rules, like administrative shanghaiing of experienced personnel who travel through Malaya. They suddenly find themselves transferred to a Malayan unit instead of going back to Europe or the Med. As the shanghaiing goes and in hand with generous “for the duration”-promotions, the victims hardly put up an resistance.

But what Malaya really needs is a “good old boys”-network that works for them and the Yacht clubs are a key part in it. It´s members are politically, economically and militarily well connected. AC Browning, his staff officers and squadron commanders keep close in ouch with 1st Patrol Sqn´s men, who thus come to see the many shortages and suddenly stuff starts appearing: radios for the com network, 3inch AA-guns from India, even BoB-veterans on official duty.



When 1940 closes RAF-MD feels the situation is slowly improving.


A major breakthrough has been made on the intelligence front. After the USA confiscated as batch of plane sold to the Royal Thai Air Force/RTAF), the Thais have purchased a number of Ki-30 and even a few Ki-21 from Japan. Knowing that the Thai military as divided about weather to support or to oppose Japan, AC Browning contacts a few friends he made in the RTAF when he worked as a sales representative for Curtiss-Wright selling them Hawk II and III fighters. The Thai officers are more than willing to supply Curtiss-Wright technicians with most detailed information about the Japanese planes. As Curtiss made aircraft and engines are in use in Thailand, DEI and Malaya their frequent travels don´t arise any suspicions and soon RAF-MD has both planes manuals at hand. … And does not like at all what they find in them. So an American MVAF pilot poses as a C&W employee and travels with others to Thailand where he is given the opportunity to take a flight with both bombers. The impact of his report can not be overestimated. So far AC Browning’s efforts to convince his subordinates of the Japanese capabilities have been met with intense scepticism, but after half a dozen high ranking officer had been relieved on the spot, the RAF´s personnel at least took the “Old Man´s” wrath serious. As one of their buddies now tells them that everything they have heard about the Ki-21 so far was rather an understatement, attitudes began to change.


The volunteer pilots have been subjected to relentless training – the number of biplanes lost to accidents dropped considerably in the last three month of the years. The MVAF has also become a part of the Empire Air Training Programm and starts to turn out “actual” combat pilots – some of whom are kept “off the books” and thus in Malaya. London even promised to send Fairy Battles and Miles Masters for advanced training.

25 airfields have been mostly completed, all feature wide runways -17 have all weather concrete ones- spacious dispersal areas with camouflaged shelters for individual planes and over half even have underground fuel tanks. All buildings are surrounded 5 feet high with a wall of earth for blast and shrapnel protection. AAA is adequate. Given the lack of protection of Japanese planes large numbers of water cooled Cal.30 and some Cal.50 Vickers machine guns are considered effective anti-strafer weapons. 40mm Bofors guns for low and medium altitudes are still very short in supply, but they are coming forward through official channels. The semi-official acquisition of 3inch guns is going well. That way attacking airplanes can be targeted up to an altitude of 20,000 feet. AC Browning knows the Japanese can hit a target from this high up, be not even they can tell the difference from a real plane or building and a dummy from up there.
Thanks to the mobile radio trucks and advice from the UK´s fighter command the 3C-system is now working smoothly and swiftly. One radar station called AMES for security reasons is already operational in Singapore.

Aircraft are still short.
On top of the two Blenheim Squadrons and two with Hudsons only an under strength recon Sqn. with Avro Ansons is operational. Torpedo bombers are 30 Vildebeests, 6 Sharks.12 Wirrayways and 11 Hectors complete RAF-MDs bomber arm.

While technically obsolete or obsolescent the pilots have faith in their skill and their planes. The Battle of Taranto showed the value old planes can have under the right circumstances and changes and tactics are designed to make it right. Speed it the best protection bombers have, so level bombing, glide bombing is trained. Even a shallow glide allows the Blenheims to pick up a lot of speed and thus make them hard to intercept. The Hudsons are field modified into torpedo bombers.


The picture the fighters are presenting is less bright.
6 Hawker Furys and 9 Gladiators are all three is. While the fighter pilots are well trained enough to take on the current generation of Japanese fighters(Ki-27, A5M), speed is a huge problem. Twin engine bombers like the G3M and Ki-21 are known to be faster than anything RAF-MD has. If only Malaya would be as fortunate as the Philippines who just received 48 actual fighters(P-35A).



Fortunately 1941 starts well and keeps getting better and better. At least as far as airplane acquisitions go.

In January the Battles and Masters arrive. Enough planes for two Squadrons each. Half the Battles and Masters sent to the RAF to form an additional light bomber and one fighter Squadron. At the suggestion of a former FAA Sea Skua pilot dive bombing tactics are tested with the Battles. Furthermore the quite fast planes(by Malaya standards) are turned into Ersatz-fighters by installing four additional forward firing machine guns. The following month “official” reinforcements arrive in form of 21.Sqn. with Blenheim IF “fighter”-bombers.

RAF-MDs bomber strength has just increased by 50% and it´s sort-of fighter strength more than doubled. At that is just the beginning, official requests, private complaints and the end of the critical phase of the East African Campaign trigger an inflow of obsolescent biplane bombers. First to arrive are 17 Sharks from New Zealand. Phased out by the RN in 37 they were sold to NZ where they were about the be scrapped. They are followed by more and more biplanes like the much sought after Harts and Hinds.

But the most valuable addition to RAF-MDs fighting strength was the arrival of the first true fighters in March: the Brewster Buffalo. Originally a navy fighter the Model 339 is the de navalized version. The plane is everything Malaya wanted since September 1939, a fast, well armed and well protected fighter. Obviously not that well made, but the RAF´s mechanics have climbed higher hurdles. Speaking of mechanics, they too used to be in short supply but the MVAF neatly solved this problem. Many candidates had been turned back by the RAF as the were a bit too tall, too short, to fat, too whatever. So when when “the word” had been spread, they came from all over the Commonwealth and the globe. On top of many Americans, the MVAF has Spanish(Republican), White Russian, two Chinese and even a Frenchman from FIC in its ranks. As applicants quickly outnumbered available planes, candidates were offered jobs as mechanics until further aircraft can be made available. The same offer was made to those actually unfit for military aviation and it was taken by almost all men.
The transition from Masters to Buffalos was proceeding smoothly and swiftly, when serious problems arose. In a full power climb the engines quickly overheat and spewed oil. And absolutely nobody could explain it. The engines were installed by Brewster, but all the mistakes Brewster’s workers made had been corrected. The engines itself are Wright Cyclones, which power a wide range of military and civilian airplanes all over the world –including the Hudsons -and are know to be very reliable. Just like C&W is known for high quality design and manufacturing. It is suspected that the reason is the use of reconditioned civilian Cyclones, but C&W reps and mechanics alike disagree. That job had been done well.

So with a sigh and a shrug the doubled climb time is accepted and over the loud protests of the civilian government more radar stations are moved north to ensure sufficient warning time. AVM Browning reminds the pilots, that: "England won´t give us the super Spitfires, no matter how hard you wish for them. In spite of the lower speed and the poor climb rate, we can get all right with Buffaloes out here. They are quite good enough for Malaya, provided you guys use the appropriate tactics."

A bright spot are the Kestrel powered Miles Masters. An MVAF pilot remembers something he rad in an aviation magazine years ago and with the help of two resourceful Sergeants he goes to work to increase the engine power. The results exceed the wildest expectations. The 750hp version makes 285 mph.

On the negative side PM Winston Churchill promises Josef Stalin 200 Hurricanes and 200 P-40B in August 1941. After hearing that the recently promoted Vice Air Marshall Browning uses the PM´s photo for dart practice! In public!

Equally troubling is some intel a friend of his is sending from China. Claire Chennault provides information on the next generation of Japanese fighters(A6M, Ki-43) that causes great scepticism first and considerable concern later as they remember how they previously misjudged intel on japanese bombers like the Ki-21.

Two critical decisions were taken that summer that should greatly influence the outcome of the war. The first one concerned alleged indiscipline in the Patrol Boat units. Recon pilots reported the Yachts cruising outside their assigned search areas and on a visit to the Yacht club of Malacca AVM Browning raised the issue, only to find himself on the wrong end of a severe shitstorm! One member suggest the “insolent youngster” –that would be 60 year old Browning to be keelhauled. At which point he realized just how dumb he was! Even the 30 somethings have been sailing longer in these waters that most airplanes crews are alive and plenty of the old guys have been in the RN or merchant marine for decades. What are the chances of some 20 year old navigating better than these guys? It is put to a test. RAF crews are to conduct mock intercepts of RN vessels.
When the results came into AVM Browning’s office a torrent of English, American, Chinese, Thai and Yiddish curses came back out! The Old Man is furious; each time the flyboys have reported utterly wrong positions and also misidentified ship classes. When they were told to look for a CL they reported finding one, even though it was just a sloop or destroyer. After apologizing to the female secretaries, he rushed to his personal Audax to relieve the imbeciles. But his staff stops him in time. As they point out the crews are highly skilled in any regard, but this one and if they get fired there is no one to replace them!
AVM Browning sees the logic, but the matter still needs to be resolved. Recon is crucial for Malaya´s defence. He retreats to his offices with a bottle of scrotch to think of something.

Ten days later the CO of 1.RAAF Sqn. Storms into the office of the 243 Sqn´s CO. Immensely pissed off he he ues some colourful expressions to make his displeasure of 243 Sqn known. His counterpart just grins and swears he and his men had nothing to do with it, although they would love to take credit, for this is a prank of historical dimensions. The kind of thing you tell your grandkids about. 1.RAAF Sqn CO storms out and when no one else on the Airfield claims responsibility he reluctantly pick up the phone and calls HQ, still convinced someone played a bad joke. To his surprise he is connected the the Old Man himself, who confirms it is no joke. He has send him new navigators and observers “to accompany 1 RAAF´s planes” on routine search flights.


So icily the CO welcome eight men from Patrol Boat Sqns 1 and 2: The youngest of which is 47, the oldest 62 and all are happy as a baby in a playpen for having the opportunity to get into modern bombers. At the time the action cause a lot of laughter, but in December 1941 it should have far reaching consequences. Just like another “crazy idea” of AVM Browning.

The German invasion of the Low Countries and Norway made the world aware of the potential of airborne landings. Initially the airmen have been given a short “how to dig a trench and fire a rifle” course, but after the loss of Crete RAF-MD sees the need to improve airfield security by adding full time infantry. As the RAF´s infantry experts –retired infantry officers- point out that is not possible. Infantry needs to conduct a wide range of operation, including offensive and defensive mobile operations. Something a unit can not learn in a few month unless it has a high number of veterans. Who are not around! But luckily the RAF does not need actual infantry, but fortress troops. Soldiers who just need to be able to defend an prepared position, conduction no manoeuvre more complicated that a platoon size counterattack to retake a lost trench. And that one can learn quickly, provided one can come up with the necessary manpower. While getting volunteers for the prestigious post as pilots is easy, finding someone who wants to serve as a glorified night watchman will be harder.
Fortunately it turn out to be less difficult. ACM Browning has always been bewildered by the indifference of the local Chinese population (2,2 million) to the threat from Japan. The Japanese are committing the most horrifying war crimes in china on a daily basis and the local Chinese fail to see there is a mutual interest in keeping the Japanese out.
So with the help of his Chinese mistress he begins to polish his …. language skills and confers with local Chinese leaders, who are more than bewildered to have a white devil request their help … in pretty good Chinese of all things. The conservative community leaders are not convinced, but ACM Browning efforts are accompanied by those of Christian missionaries who have lived in China and at least the young men start to listen. Enough to join the MVAF Airfield Defence Units by the hundreds.


So where does this leave us on the eve of war:

The personnel situation is fine. Active RAF aircrews are well trained, the MVAF is in remarkable shape too.
Airfields have improved further. All first class airfields(22 out of 36) have concrete runways, at least 8*3inch guns and 6*40mm gun to defend them. Kotha Baru is the best defended with four batteries with 3inch guns and three with Bofors.
Ten radar stations are operational, three more are under construction.

Now to the warplanes(OTL numbers in brackets)

Brewster Buffalo: 60+52(same)
Blenheim I, IF and IV: 57+15 reserve planes, +8 detached from Burma for gunnery training(same)
Lockheed Hudson: 24+7(same)
Vickers Vildebeest: 40+16 (29+12)
Miles Master: 24+9(none)
Fairy Battle: 28+16(none)
CAC Wiraway: 18+8(8)
Avro Anson: 11+3(none)
PBY Catalina: 5
Blackburn Shark: 6(same)
Blackburn Baffin: 12+3(none)
Gloster Gladiator: 12+5(none)
Hawker Fury: 6+3(none)
Bristol Beaufort: 6 unarmed and unarmoured planes (same)
Fairy Swordfish and Albacore: 8/5(same)
Hart, Hind, Hector: appx. 30+12(none)


What will the future bring? That you will learn in Episode II “Malaya at war: The Empire strikes!”
 
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CalBear

Moderator
Donor
Monthly Donor
Interesting.

Still that unhealthy love for the F2A I see.:D

Look forward to the next installment.
 

Markus

Banned
Still that unhealthy love for the F2A I see.:D


Thanks for reminding me. I totally forgot to add the infamous Brooke-Popham quote. And by the way, a Buffalo is an excellent fighter ... compared to the Masters and Gladiators they poor guys in Malaya did not have in OTL.
 

Markus

Banned
The History of the Malaya Campaign - Part II

History of the Malaya Campaign, part II

(please read: "Malaya at peace - A country for old men" first)




“Malaya at war: The Empire strikes!”


The first day of war (sort of):

October 22nd 1941: Col. Tsuji, 25th Armies Chief of operations takes off in a Ki-46 to personally reconnoiter the future battlefield. They fly to Singora and Patani first. All Thai airfields are small and in a poor condition with the sole exception of the one near Rag. RAF´s Kota Bharu and Alor Star are in an excellent state. Col. Tsuji feels the JAAF needs to capture both ASAP to be able to operate in northern Malaya and Kota Bharu alone could defeat the landings at Patani if the RAF used the field well. These thoughts prove to be more prophetic than the Colonel liked. As the pilot proceeds towards Sungai Patani one of 8 Buffaloes finally has the altitude and position to attack the impossibly fast Ki-46. Diving out of the sun two lines of red tracers are the first sign of warning … and the last sight Col. Tsuji sees before a cal. 303 bullet scatters his brain inside the cabin. Capt. Ikeda pushes the throttle forward, lowers the nose and before the Buffalo can make a second run; the Ki-46 escapes out of range with the Colonels aid and his notes.

Upon landing the pilot –enraged at the malfunctioning of the cal.50 guns- reports he attempted to intercept a Jap bomber, was shot at by the rear gunner and fired back in self defence. All in strict accordance to orders.
AVM Browning is most pleased at the way things went. He has an excuse to issues shoot on sight orders, the subsequent interceptions reveal more malfunctions of the cal.50 guns and the Japanese pilots skill is duly noted by his fighter pilots and he has one more reason to reinforce northern Malaya at the expense of over defended Singapore. The exodus of RAF units is accelerated by the Army’s Matador plan that requires considerable air support to succeed. Eventually all but one Squadron of Buffaloes, the Ansons, PBYs and liaison and training units are send to Kota Bharu, Alor Star, Butterworth, Sungai Patani, Gong Kedah, Machang and Taiping.

In the following weeks several more cases of intercepted recon planes opening fire on RAF fighters are reported to HQ, which makes ACM Brooke-Popham remark how strange of a tactic this is. It almost seems they do it on purpose to incite being shot at. AVM Browning guesses the Japanese aircrews do not know about the RAF´s orders and therefore expect being shot at regardless what they do. Afterwards the issue is no longer addressed by the two men.


December 2nd: The arrival of Repulse and Prince of Wales is greeted by most in Malaya, but for the RAF the ships are just one more thing to worry about. Nevertheless a liaison officer is send and plans for a CAP are drawn up in case the ships sortie.
Over the next two days the Japanese intentions become clear. First 21 transports are spotted in Cam Rahn Bay in FIC, intelligence upgrade the Japanese air strength to 180 air craft in FIC including 90 heavy bombers. In light of these reports Adm. Phillips is urged to get his ships out of the area and join with the US Asiatic fleets destroyers. Repulse sails, but not at full speed. Had anybody know the true strength of the Japanese PoW and Repulse would not even have gone to Singapore in the first place.

We take this case of faulty intelligence to compare the actual strength of the opposing forces.

Japan:

25th Army, commanded by Lt. Gen. Yamshita is to capture Malaya. It is composed of the crack, motorized 5th Division, the 18th and the inexperienced Imperial Guards Division. Total strength is 42,000 men, 80 tanks, 40 armoured cars and 2 regiment of field artillery. The 56th Div. is in reserve.

15th Army operates north. It has just two divisions to occupy Thailand, the Kra Isthmus and than advance into Burma.

They are being supported by 2 BC, 1 CVL, 4 cruiser squadrons and four DD flotillas.
Air support is provided by the 3rd Air Division and the 22nd Air Flotilla. Taken together they have 93 first rate fighters (Ki-43, 44 and A6M), 135 second rate fighters (Ki-27 and A5M), about 80 single engine bombers (Ki-30, 51, 15 and 36) and close to 300 twin engine bombers. App. 200 are Army Ki-21 and -48, the rest are 72 G3M and 27 G4M.


The defenders of Malaya are much less numerous.

Two under strength Indian Inf. Div. defend northern Malaya, with a reserve of one Inf. Bde. An under strength Australian Inf. Div. is in the south and one Inf. Bde. With little artillery is the strategic reserve. All other units are fairly well supported by artillery, but AAA and AT-guns are short in supply, tanks are not available at all.

The RN has PoW, Repulse, Revenge, 4 cruisers (3 old ones), and 9 DD (five under repair and refit) at Singapore and one CVL and A CA at Ceylon. The Dutch have 3 cruisers, 7 DDs and 14 subs.
Their air strength stands at 58 totally unprotected Martin 139, WH-3 bombers, and 80 fighters (Buffalo, Hawk 75, CW-21) and around 40 seaplanes (PBY, Do24).
RAF-MD has 60 first rate fighters(Buffalo), 42 second rate fighters(Master, Gladiator, Fury), 115 first rate bombers(Blenheim, Hudson and Battle), 70 biplane torpedo bombers and 48 light bombers(Wirraway, Hart).



Dec. 4th:

18 troopships depart Hainan with the vanguard of the 25th Army, protected by cruisers and eight DDs and a covering force of 4 CAs and 3 DDs.
Bad weather grounds all airplanes at RAF Kota Bharu.

Dec 5th:

Another 7 troopships, one cruisers and a frigate from Saigon join the convoy. 2 more with air force personnel depart form Phu Quoc Island. At total of 26,000 are at sea now, closing in on five different landing sites in Thailand an Malaya. Also underway are two seaplane tenders with 22 E13A, F1M and E8N floatplanes for immediate air support of the landings in southern Thailand.

Dec6th:

Things get hectic. The convoy is sighted by several Hudsons of 1 RAAF Sqn. They report 20+ transports, a Sendai class CL, a Takao class CA and a small Katori class CL. The great detail should have made AVM Browning suspicious, but he is distracted by other events. Namely ACM Brooke-Popham not ordering the start of Operation Matador and also prohibiting air raids. The latter turns out to be a moot point, the weather is so bad in the gulf than subsequent recon planes fail to locate the Japanese ships.

Dec 7th:
The weather has not improved, but all PBYs and Ansons keep searching, while the Hudosns are held back for a torpedo attack. Unknown until after the war, the shooting war starts at 8:20 hrs, when Ki-27 fighters shoot a PBY that is lsot with all hands.
At the same time a total of 28 transports split up. 18 head for Singora and Patani, 3 for Kota Bharu and the rest towards more northern objectives in Thailand.


Dec 8th:

Kota Bharu:

In the night from Dec.7/8th the sky are clear, but just before midnight heavy clouds extending up to 50 miles out and sometimes almost down to sea level hide the invasion force of 3 transports, the old CL Sendai, 4 DDs and four smaller vessels.

Shortly after midnight Indian soldiers see 3 20 foot landing barges heading into the mouth of a river right north the airfield. At 0:30 hrs and artillery barrage is fire at the beach, just 15 minutes later the first wave –four lines of landing barges- approaches the beach.

The Japanese could not possible have choose a worse place to land. RAF Kota Bharu is the most important, best equipped RAF base in northern Malaya. The base has been on high alert since Dec. 6th and considerable airpower has been concentrated for support of Operation Matador. Air power that is unleashed at 01:10 hrs against the three unsuspecting troopships.
Luckily for the Japanese the very first Hudson is flown by the most inexperienced crew of a whole Squadron. The plane flies past the three transports and attacks a minesweeper that easily evades the torpedo. However the significance of a Hudson armed with a fish is not lost on the captain of the Sakura Maru carrying more than 2,000 infantrymen: There will be more, where this came from and his slow tub has no chance of escaping an attack! He orders his ship to be beached RIGHT NOW! As she heads towards the beach more mono and biplanes approach and in spite of intense and well aimed AA fire two torpedoes strike the ship, less than a minute before the keel hits the sand. The Ayatosan Maru is les lucky. In quick succession she is struck three times portside and capsizes in little over five minutes, taking 600 combat engineers, half a dozen 75mm guns and the gunners with her. Awazisan Maru is luckier, she takes one in each side and sinks rather slowly in shallow water, allowing most men to escape, but he supplies are lost. The ordeal of Sakura Maru however has just begun. Now dozen of planes are in the air and the largest visible target is …her. Within 20 minutes more than half a dozen torpedoes tear her wide open, while bomb after bomb hits her decks, starting fires and killing the infantrymen who frantically try to leave the ship.

At the beach Major General Takumi helplessly watches as his command is wiped out at sea and pinned down at the beach. He has little over 1,000 men ashore; another 700+ escape from the Sakura Maru with nothing but their uniforms and most of his artillery is gone, while massive artillery fire rains down on his men, who are pinned down between the waterline and the pillboxes manned by the 8th Indian Bde.
Than luck intervenes. Many more soldiers are washed ashore, most are too exhausted and disoriented to prevent being taken prisoner or get shot, one is obviously gone crazy. He points to the sea shouting “Errol Flynn” and “Captain Blood”. At the interrogation the sailor swears their landing barge was attacked by “English pirates”. Two black painted motor boats came out of the dark firing at them, flying pirate flags. A dancing skeleton on the first and two skulls on the second. The officer is very sceptic and explains that must have been a motor gun boat, but the young sailor is adamant. The entire crew wore head cloths, two were wielding sabres and one raised his skirt so one could see his pale ass shining in the moonlight. Not exactly the behaviour of the RN isn’t it.
The other sailor’s English is worse, but the mate is pointing out young Hiro Nakamura is addicted to Hollywood swashbuckling movies.

Than the interrogation is cut shot:
A semi organized force of 110 armed men lands by sheer coincident at the extreme flank of the Indians and starts rolling up the defences.
After seeing the utter destruction at sea the Indians had not expected a massive flank attack and the shock is all the more intense, turning a withdrawal into a rout. Only the weakness of the Japanese prevents a disaster, but the perimeter of RAF Kota Bharu is reach by the first units before sunrise and they don’t like what they see:

Within 500 to 700 yards no tree or bush is standing, the grass is neatly cut and powerful electric lights illuminate the area in front of them and hide the one behind. But there is a ray of light –metaphorically speaking. From Japanese national living in Singapore the commanding officer knows the base is defended by the units of the 1st RAF Volunteer Infantry Regiment made up almost exclusively of detested Chinese. Back in China a few artillery shells, some machine gun fire and a bayonet charge have been enough to make them run, so he orders an attack.

As the 400 men charge across the flat, coverless ground they quickly realize this time it will be different. Seconds after the men have started running a number of light machine guns open fire, very quickly followed by considerable rifle fire. As the attacker are half way across the first of 9 belt-fed, water-cooled AA-machine guns opens fire, but the Japanese still keep coming, right into an improvised minefield. 100 yards in front of the allied trenches the ground is criss-crossed by wires. Soldier trip, fall and impale themselves on sharpened bamboo stakes. They keep coming nevertheless and hit the 15 feet wide, 5 feet deep moat in front of the 3 feet high earth wall from behind which IEDs are being thrown at the attackers, including a number of 20 lb shrapnel bombs.

And the end of the charge is as sudden as its start. All left are wounded –who can´t walk any more kill themselves and the few who are still on there feet run straight into two platoons of Indian stragglers, who have been attacked by the sound of friendly small arms fire. A few Japanese are shot or stabbed, but most are too disoriented to resist being knocked down by a rifle butt.

An hour later 90 Japanese actually manage to break into the trenches at the weakest spot, but the Chinese infantrymen and the airmen hold the flanks and any movement back or forth is made impossible by the flat runway and a torrent of fire from Vickers, Bofors and 3inch AA-guns. The rest of the night sees no action, but sniping and small scale artillery fire.

The airfields commander reports being under siege, repulsed one attack and contained a second. Enemy losses are massive, his own are small, but small arm ammo is expended at a high rate and the strength of the enemy is not known. The airplanes have all send to nearby Manchang and Gon Kedah. He requests re supply, air support at dawn and … a relief force.

All of which is provided. Right before dawn an old, bend up Avor Tutor takes off. The plane is armed with the most powerful weapon man has ever invented – a wireless radio. At sunrise MG Takumi has less than 30 minutes to live. After reconnoitring the beach the Tutor flies inland and the observer redirects the 3inch gun´s fire. The barrage kills the General and most of his staff and disables the last long range radio. What is left of the once 5.000 men strong Takumi Detachment is now decapitated and allied air activity is only getting more intense.

First on the scene are Hudsons and commandeered civilian airliners flying in small arms ammo and soldiers, the wounded and POWs are flown out. Fairey Battles dive bomb Japanese positions and at noon even the MVAF´s biplane bombers show up in considerable numbers. Japanese air activity is limited to a few offensive patrols by a small number of Ki-43. The planes prove every bit as good as Intel has said, but the radar station gives enough early warning for the bombers and transports to evade contact with the high flying Oscars. Some of the older Ki-27 make it to the area undetected, but the Allies have very good Intel on this plane and thus very little respect for it.
A formation of six Nates considers itself lucky as it runs into Miles Masters – 250mph slow trainers armed with just one machine gun. The first indication of something not being right is the speed of the intended “victims”, it´s far too high. Final proof of the Japanese pilot´s error in judgment is provided by not one but three to six lines of tracers coming from the “trainers”.

Generally speaking even the older allied warplanes turn out to be dangerous prey for the obsolescent and poorly armed Nates. The standard defensive formation is a “diamond”: three planes in a V with one behind and below to give the rear gunners are their twin Vickers machine guns an optimal field of fire. A further problem for the Japanese is the proximity of RAF-Kota Bharu. When spotting fighter, the allied planes head for the airfield at low altitude and full speed. The AA-gunners quickly get the meaning of it and brush any fighter foolish enough to follow off the bombers tail.

During the morning it becomes clear that the situation is far less serious as feared during the night. After sunrise there have been no more infantry attacks. The airfield is sporadically shelled by half a dozen light guns causing so little interference that the base is reopened for operations, allowing the warplanes to rearm and refuel.




Events elsewhere explain the pathetic Japanese reaction:


Singapore:

03:20 hrs: Radar detects an incoming air raid. Flt. Lt. Tim Vigors –night fighter qualified BoB veteran- takes 6 Buffaloes of 243 Sqn. in the moonlit air over the still illuminated island. The attackers are 17 G3M of the Gezan Kokutai from Saigon. Most of their bombs fall on Chinatown killing 100+ civilians, the port, naval base and airfields sustain minimal damage in exchange for 5 G3M being shot down.


Thailand:

The Japanese have started landing at Singora and Patani at 04:00. Thai resistance is weak and short lived. Singora´s air field is quickly secured and the first of 100+ Ki-27 fighters from three Sentai based in southern FIC begin to arrive right after daybreak. Several of which flipped over after touching down on the wet, grass field. Clearly this airfield is unsuited for any but the most robust planes. Until midday Thai units still shell the field sporadically, but that is a mere nuisance.


The Allies have a very different experience.

The landing at Kota Bharu requires the planned air raid on the Japanese transports to be called off – a moot point as recon planes can´t even find the transports in the horrible weather- and most airfields are plagued by very low clouds, heavy rain and no information is coming from the recon Beauforts until 08:00 hrs, but than reports of many airplanes at Singora reach RAF-HQ and the various bomber and fighter units in northern Malay not already supporting Kota Bharu swing into action.

Quickly 52 Bristol Blenheims and 30 Buffaloes take off and head for Thailand. Still inside Malaya they fly at under 1,000 feet dropping to 500 as the border is crossed, then the group splits evenly and head for their respective targets. Shortly before reaching them they start climbing.

The Pattani group reaches its empty target first. The flight leader orders 14 Blenheims armed with 250 lb bomb to attack the runway and buildings, the reaming 12 are to fly to Singora. The attack is most anticlimactic. With no planes on the field, the Ki-27 fighters are watching the three transports anchored off shore and are thus in no position to catch the Blenheims before they hole the runway. The Nates can´t intercept them, because the Blenheims have picked up too much speed in the glide to be caught.


Minutes later at Singora all hell is breaking loose. There the airfield has received a late warning and the Ki-27 are scrambled. Due to a lack of radios the ones watching over the dozen transports can not be alerted in time. The Ki-27 is very fast for a plane with a fixed landing gear and climbs fast. The JAAF pilots are confident their skill will allow them to dispose of the attackers as always. They are in for a rude awakening. Their fire is on the mark, but two rifle calibre machine guns have little effect on a plane that has 100 lb of armour and externally protected fuel tanks. The fire coming from the allied planes is less accurate, but 2*.303 and 2*.50 Browning machine guns don´t need many hits to kill the unprotected and lightly build Japanese planes. 4 out of 6 fighters are swept from the sky and the leader of the 2 survivors makes a frontal attack on a Blenheim. Which happen to be an IF with 4*.303 forward firing machine guns.

After cutting through the fighter like a hot knife through butter a deadly firework starts. Literally, half the bombers carry 40 and 100 lb bombs, plus many flares. Long months of training now pay dividends: 250lb bombs blow apart buildings, while a carpet of small bombs rains on the neatly parked fighters, shrapnel fills the air, literally cutting into pieces men and machine, fuel seeps out of ruptured tank and magnesium flares ignite fire after fire.

The JAAF´s 1st, 11th and 77th Sentai have been dealt a mortal blow, 60 out of 100 fighters have been destroyed, dozen of irreplaceable pilots and mechanics killed and crippled. 15 more planes fall victim to the rerouted planes from Patani. Allied looses are minimal, four bombers and 3 fighters are shot down or damaged beyond repair. And a long bad day for the Japanese has just started:

After 10:00 Army bombers arrive on the RAF´s radar screens airfields. In most cases they are not protected by fighters at all, which result is much fewer of them arriving over the airfields, which they attack at altitudes of 10,000 an less and pay dearly for their lack of respect for AAA. At Alor Star 8 Ki-21 come in as low as 1,200 feet and get slaughtered by 12*3inch and 8 Bofors guns. Four have already been shot down by Master Fighters. An hour later 27 equally unescorted Ki-27 attack while the returned Blenheims are just being refuelled. The contrast to Singora could not be harsher. 7 had already fallen victim to fighters, AAA broke up their formation and they fell for the dummy planes, while the actual ones were tucked away in their camouflaged shelters. The two dozen unescorted Ki-21 attacking Sungai Patani suffers less casualties, but cause equally little damage.

The miserable weather over the Gulf takes also a heavy toll on the Japanese, 1 Ki-48, 5 Ki-21, and 5 Ki-43 just vanish and 18 more are lost in landing accidents on the muddy grass airfields.

In the meantime the RAF is in a hurry to prepare a second strike. The weather has improved a bit and recon planes report 15 to 20 ships and small craft in port at Patani and twice the number at Singora. Less welcome is news of a large number of motor vehicles on the Singora – Alor Star road. With Operation Matador not having been conducted, RAF-MD now needs to worry about the security of six major airfields near the border. Hence it is decided not to attack both Thai ports. Pleas by 36th and 100th Sqn. to send them fall on deaf ears. AVM Browning is considering using the obsolete biplanes in broad daylight, not even when the targets are 30 miles off the border.

Deciding which port to attack is settled by readiness reports from 1st and 8th RAAF Sqn. After non-stop operations since midnight the Hudsons are in need of maintenance and the crews need rest. Little more than half a dozen are operational right now. So the smaller target it will be:

Eventually nine Lockheed Hudson torpedo bombers, 13 Fairey Battles with 1000lb bombs and 19 Blenheims with 4*250lb HE-bombs and 8*40lb shrapnel bombs, protected by 16 Buffaloes head for Patani, while 12 Blenheim IF, 5 Battles, 11 Wirraways, 8 Masters and the same number of Buffaloes are determined to score as much road kill as they can.


Singora, Thailand, some time after sunset.

The Japanese sailors have greeted the darkness with a collective sigh of relief. One heavy air raid has hit the airfield and another one the port of Patani, but they have not been attacked at all. Unloading has been getting faster and faster with each report of allied attacks, some ships have already left and by sunrise most will be safe at sea. Then Lt. JG Hosato Takei hears something very, very bad.

The sound of one, two, many engines in the dark. Minutes later his fears are confirmed as a flare turn replaces the darkness with a pale with light and two black biplanes suddenly come out of nowhere, drop longish objects and are gone in the dark. Two large heads of water appear on the ships side and seconds later the 7,800 ton Kobayashi Maru vanishes in one large bright ball of fire. For a split second the flash illuminates the entire port and the skies, skies full of dozen of black biplanes carrying torpedoes.





December 9th:
French Indo China, Japanese Army Air Force HQ, early morning.

The door get´s kicked in, by General Count Hisaichi Terauchi. The General´s head is deep red and he is shouting where in god’s name the inept bungler in charge of this sorry excuse for an Air Force is hiding. When the Commanding General –white as a sheet- arrives it takes all General Terauchi all his self control not to slam the papers on the desk instead of his counterparts face.

The Kota Baru invasion force: Can´t be contacted, probably lost!
Three Seantais of fighters: Gutted!
Several motorized columns of the 5th Division: Wrecked!
Fighter and bomber losses: Gone through the roof!

And now this: Eight ships sunk and even more damaged at Singora and Patani by what? A sorry ass force that has 50 odd Buffaloes, the same number of Blenheims, a handful of Hudsons and all sorts of training aircraft and 3rd Air Division with four times as many planes and another 100 Navy bombers can´t wipe them out? The 3td better do better or it´s CG needs to make room for a replacement and not by the way of being relieved of duty! Says it and storms out without one more word.

Had the General known that three Japanese airfields in southern Thailand had been attacked just after dawn, he would have probably told the CG to go get his sword.



Singapore a short time later:

RAF-MD´s HQ is in a celebratory mood. The ubiquitous Beauforts have brought back pictures of last nights attacks and the devastation is most comforting to everybody. All the more because out of the 63 biplanes(41 torpedo planes, 12 for illumination and 7 minelayers) just 13 have failed to return. Under the circumstances and considering the damage done a more than acceptable casualty rate. The one of the Patani group was of course much lower and the biggest problem for the dawn raiders was the deteriorating whether. It´s especially bad over the sea, limiting the effectiveness of recon planes to almost zero.

The rest of the day no major offensive action is undertaken any more. Most of the bombers are in urgent need of maintenance and the JAAF´s bombers are keeping all available fighters very busy, thus limiting the air support received by ground forces to the occasional pair of Wirraways.

This time the Japanese attack less targets, but in greater strength and all are escorted by Zeros and Oscars – which are all ID-ed as Zeros by RAF pilots. RAF fighter tactics receive their first big test and pass with flying colours. The “dive in – shoot once – dive out and stay away from Zeros” works fine enough. Naturally the Japanese bombers are not stopped by such attrition and force preservation tactics, but RAF losses are very light and these of the JAAF are higher. Although not as bad as on Dec.8th.


This day ends with a return of the torpedo bombers to Singaora and Patani to do some mopping up of cripples and start what will become their No.1 – night harassment raids on airfields.




December 10th:


The JAAF starts the day by trying a large dawn attack on airfields in northern Malaya, but naturally end up bombing empty fields after being intercepted by allied fighter with altitude advantage. Their targets are bombing Japanese ground troops in Thailand in the meantime.

Shortly before noon preparations for follow up strikes are rudely interrupted by a message of RAF Patrol Boat No.13: “Prince of Wales, Repulse, 4 DD” followed by time, course and position.
To the sheer horror of everyone both ships are not somewhere south of Singapore, but north near Kuantan.

On Dec.8th Adm. Tom Phillips had told of his intention to sail north to intercept Japanese shipping, but the RAF advised against it. At first the situation at Kota Bharu was too uncertain to spare fighters, then the fighters were needed to intercept the numerous small and medium size raids and last but not least the afternoon air raid at the port of Patani went so well that sending the two capital sips into harms way was not considered necessary any more. Phillips had copied this message, but proceeded north anyway. Late that day, the PoW radar repeatedly picked up airplanes and Force Z made a U-turn at 20:45 hrs. At midnight a landing near Kuantan is reported, but it turns out as a false alarm. Force Z does not get the “all-clear” and continues to Kuantan, arriving by dawn. With the RAF´s attention focussed at Singapore and the North just the “Provisional 1st Fighter Squadron” is conducting training missions in this relative backwater. As the trainees are to stay over land no one has an idea who is in the area.


Which soon includes bout 80 IJN bombers took of searching for the British ships and a snooper found them at 10:15. Less than an hour later the first attack is made – luckily by bomb armed G3M who score one hit on Repulse that does marginal damage.

Help is already on the way. Virtually any airplane and base in the region has been ordered to redirect anything that is not needed for minimal self defence to PoW and Repulse. Buffaloes, Hudsons, Ansons, Battles, even a flight of Hawker Furys head towards Force Z.

First on the scene are the three Hawker Furys who watch in frustration the bombing as their planes are way too slow to catch the fast Nells. Meanwhile a Hudson disposes of the snooping G3M. In a manoeuvre that would have made Adm. Nelson proud the Australian pilot bring his plane along the Nell, the Hudson’s rear gunner – Michael “Mad Mike” Kozlowski- fires three short burst from his cal.50 Vickers gun killing the , front, rear and a side gunner and two slightly longer ones into the left wing. The first holes the tank, the second sets the fuel vapours on fire.

At 12,000 feet the Furys spot more Nells. 16 planes heading for PoW at sea level and thus being much slower. The Japanese pilots are more amused than surprised to see three biplanes diving at them. One is unceremoniously shot out of the sky by concentrated machine gun fire, return fire sets one Nell ablaze before the front gunner concentrate their fire on the second Fury which goes down after passing above the Japanese formation. The third –flown by Sgt. Geoff Fisken, who recently transferred from Wirraways to fighter training- goes underneath the Nells to avoid the machine gun fire. But not before setting a second Nell on fire. Sgt. Fisken than turns his plane around and makes a textbook attack on the leftmost Nell which explodes in mid air. Before he can make another run the Bombers have cornered PoW, launch 7 torpedoes and score two hits at 11:40 hrs. One hits an anti torpedo blister, causing little damage, the other explodes right next to the port side propeller shaft. The shaft twists like a spaghetti, rips breaches watertight compartments and one engine room is flooded. Her speed drops from 30 to 15 kts, she lists, looses steering, internal communications and suffers ship wide power outages.

Sgt. Fiskin get´s one more Nell –now much lighter and faster- at max. range expanding all his ammo and considers ramming a smoking straggler as suddenly one, two, three Nells turn into plumes of fire. The Buffaloes have arrived, too late to save PoW, but not too late to take bloody revenge. The Nells are being chased to the bingo point and beyond. All but 4 fail to return to their base, as two Buffaloes who run out of fuel near the shore.

Force Z´s peril is not yet over.

A second, small group of bomb armed Nells escapes unharmed, as the Buffaloes are short on fuel and need to return, but they cause little damage. A group of eight torpedo armed Nells is not so lucky. First they run into the lone Hudson and it´s sharp shooting gunner – gone are two Nells, the rest come under attack from 4 Blenheim IF. Three Nells make it to Repulse, who easily evades the torpedoes.

The last attack is literally made at high noon by 26 of the brand new G4M. The pilots have listened to demise of the second group of Nells, but decided to attack anyway. Their Bettys are 35 mph faster and they have three times the numbers of the Nells. Surely a handful of light bombers can´t hurt them.
But in the meantime one dozen Fairy Battle “Ersatz”-fighters, two fights of Masters and the crack 453 Sqn. have reach the scene. Flt. Lt. Vigors has interpreted his orders in the sense that the AAA is sufficient for minimal defence and taken all 10 operational Buffalos with him.

Altogether nearly 30 allied planes attack them from all directions. Not one Betty makes it within torpedo range. The last hits the sea at exactly 12:20 hrs.
17 bomb armed Nells have listened carefully to their comrades’ fate on the radio and the CO orders the mission to be aborted. They need torpedoes and as many escorting fighters as possible before returning.

So far the IJN has lost 44 bombers in exchange for ten allied planes: one Hudson, one Blenheim, two Battles and four Buffaloes - two ditched- and two obsolete Furys.


The battle gives the hard pressed Japanese air units in southern Thailand much needed breathing space as the RAF takes no chances. One Sqn. of Buffaloes and the Taurus powered Masters are taking a defensive stance in the north, the rest heads towards Kuantan, Edau and Mersing to provide Force Z with a standing CAP of 12 Buffaloes. Blenheims, Ansons and PBYs are patrol the Gulf to provide earlier warning of an incoming air raid.

A wise precaution, the CO of the 22nd Air Flotilla feels like someone has committed Seppuku to him, but is hell bend on taking revenge. Subtracting the 26 G4M and 21 G3M shot down since Dec.8th and another dozen under repair, the 22nd has less than 40 operational
Nells. Until they have their very own “Force Z” moment a follow up strike with a fighter escort is planned, but than BCs Kongo and Haruna report being shadowed by two twin engine recon planes and request a CAP. Immediately the Fighters and bombers are scrambled in support with the bombers reconnoitring the “allied” side of the Thai Gulf.

Strikes have been considered by RAF-HQ. First an attack on the airfields in FIC, but the sketchy Intel and the distance –outside the Buffaloes combat radius- make the staff decide against it. But an air raid on the two Japanese “BBs” is launched, sort-of.
Ten Blenheims are armed with one 500lb bomb each and ordered to make an attack from at least 15,000 feet and in case of fighter presence jettison the bombs and run.
The plan works just fine. The recon planes have been spotted by the Japanese, fighters are being send, the Blenheims abort the “attack” and the Japanese only being to realize they have been fooled when it´s to late in the day to launch an air strike.

At midnight HMS Prince of Wales limps into Singapore Naval Base and without AVM Browning’s quick thinking adjutant allied casualties would have increased by one: Admiral Sir Tom Phillips! The adjutant knows his bosses temper, but never before has the “Old Man” been so mad. Not when half the Blenheims were withdrawn in 1940, not even when Churchill promised Stalin 200 P-40 and 200 Hurricanes while Malaya was still waiting for any kind of fighter plane. So fearing for the worst he calls ACM Brooke-Popham who dispatches two very large Australian MP Sergeants with orders “to restrain the madman”, by force if necessary. It does not get that far, faced with two 6feet,2 human tanks AVM Browning prefers hitting the bottle instead of the Admiral’s nose. And is most pleased to find out Australians are not indefatigable after all.


And this is how day two of the Malaya Campaign ends:
So far RAF´s operational fighter strength is at pre-hostility levels. Many of the planes the Japanese reported shot down were just damaged and could return home, reserve planes and pilots made up for the lost ones. The same can not be said abut the Japanese, they have few reserve planes –the more modern the design, the more scarce it is- and unlike allied pilots theirs pilots don´t live to fight another day when shot down.



Dec. 10th:

Day Three is beginning as expected. Shortly after midnight HMS Prince of Wales limps into port and right after dawn the detested Ki-46 recon planes arrive, looking for PoW. Even with excellent radar coverage no Buffalo can get in position to intercept and a few hours later Singapore is facing the most powerful air raid so far. What is left of the 22nd Air Flotilla is on the way(46 Nells) and they have brought reinforcements(21 Ki-27 and 15 Ki-48), escorted by 30+ fighters. And they score!

Right the first formation of Nells hits PoW with several 500kg AP-bombs and from the looks of it they must have hit a magazine. PoW is going up in a violent explosion, red, blue, green and yellow tracers fly all over the area and thick back smoke obscures the view. The Japanese are confident they got PoW and the next day’s recon fight confirms it. The explosion has been so bad, it´s hard to spot even the ships remains. However, after dusk the same day what looks like a warehouse from above lift anchor. Looked at from the ground the observer recognizes it as HMS Prince of Wales. From bow to stern her superstructure is all covered with painted canvas propped up by bamboo stakes giving her the appearance of just another warehouse, under her own power she sails out of port, past some barges also covered with bamboo and canvas to get a “sunken ship” look. On the pier AVM Browning compliments the owners of several Chinese theatres and them for their stage designers’ outstanding work, by handing them the promised cash bonus. This time they have outdone themselves. Giving some tied tighter barges a battleship look and putting Chinese fireworks on them beats even the dummy Blenheim that was so real a crew tried to board it – not realizing their mistake before getting within two feet of it.

In the air all goes to the RAF´s satisfaction, but not on the ground. Operation Krohcol – the plan to set up a blocking position at a natural barrier inside Thailand fails as the Army runs into Japanese ground troops right before reaching their destination: a six mile stretch of road cut through a steep hillside and bounded on the other side by sheer drop into a river and known as The Ledge.



Dec11th:

On the morning of the 11th the outflanked ground troops being the withdrawal. Air support is limited by heavy rains. Fatally. Late in the evening Japanese tank hit the allied lines and the Indian infantrymen who have never even seen a tank. Consequently the so-called Jitra-Line breaks in the night from Dec. 12th – 13th and one of RAFs major airfields is lost.

Upon arriving the victorious JAAF officers are little less under shock than their RAF counterparts: There…is…nothing!
All buildings have been burned down, supplies removed or destroyed, the bombs have been disposed off by burying them under the concrete runways which are now mostly gravel and the whole area is part swam, pat rice paddy, because the drainage ditches have been filled in.
The whole base is useless. Even stationing fixed landing gear planes like Ki-27,-30 and 51 will require days of work.

From now on the critical events would happen on the ground, but not without RAF participation.

After the fall of Sungai Patani on the 17th – another major air base- retreating Indian infantry comes across RAF personnel loitering around one is even sleeping. They warn the sleeper that tanks, huge steel monster are 30 minutes behind them. The man with the huge hat over his face replies to wake him in 20, no 25 than. The first Indian says that this is the craziest Englishman ever, the second remarks that the man is crazy but not English – wrong accent and a red and gold flag on the shoulder patch. The third states that them man is neither English nor crazy, but confident of his success. He saw this in combat in East Africa. The infantrymen stay and a familiar pattern repeats itself – almost. The Japanese advance troop retreats after a few shots are fire, than the tanks come rattling in. One, tow, three, …nine altogether. Than a camouflaged Bofors gun opens up and the last tank literally falls apart, than the first and within less than ten minutes the remaining seven.
Tenente Bardem of the (former) Spanish Republican Army strolls over to the awed Indians and asks them what happed to the steel monsters? By now they should be around, but all he sees are tin cans … See, one has even holes from a cal.50 Vickers gun.


On the 19th the key communications centre of Penang Island falls. The undersea telephone and telegraph lines from India and Bruma are now cut, a day after a Gen. Percival and AVM Browning have had a conference with the Prime Minster. Winston is very pleased at the RAFs performance, inquiring what he can do for Malaya, promising a Sqn. of Hurricanes by mid-January and a bit puzzled when getting a request for more Wirraways, Masters and Battles. Browning explains that he agrees with the decision to give Malaya the lowest priority –Russia ties down 150+ German divisions and here the Army is not capable to stop a mere three. He needs planes right now because anything can happen until mid-January. Given how bad things go for the Yanks on the Philippines the Japanese can easily withdraw planes from there and by than time even a Pearl Harbour like carrier raid could be possible. The 12 Buffaloes and 14 Martin 139 from the DIE have helped, but more is required and the closest useful warplanes are Wirraways form Australia and Master and Battles from South Africa. So far these obsolescent planes have actually done well and with plenty of them RAF can keep air parity until reinforcements from the UK and Med arrive. It´s 4,000 nautical miles from Sumatra to South Africa. If the crates with the Masters can be loaded on a war ship sailing at 20 knots the travel time would be 9 days, allowing RAF-MD to get fighter reinforcements almost two weeks ahead.


The following two weeks saw bitter slugging matches in the air and on the ground. In spite of careful attrition tactics numbers of RAF fighters lost ground once the IJN withdrew 50 out 100 Zeros and 50 Bettys after the invasion of Lingayan Gulf on the 22nd. Numbers also turned against the RAFs bombers, so far they had been able to concentrate on a few airfields , but more and more of it´s own were lost and more and more were made operational by the Japanese who subsequently face less danger of attacks and had to deal with fewer target themselves. Eventually daylight air raids into Japanese held territory were almost stopped, only the night raids continued. The RAF´s planes were buys bailing out the ground troops. Again and again the Army was outflanked and called for air support to destroy Japanese road blocks. Biplanes turned out to be highly useful. Their low stall speed permitted them to drop bombs with high accuracy allowing the infantry to follow closely without danger of friendly fire. Nevertheless the Army is pushed back and back, Taiping fall on the 30th. The RAF is holding up sort of well, on the 21st eight Dutch Curtiss Hawks(H75) arrived, followed by 8 Hudsons and 5Blenheims on the 23rd, 7 more Dutch Buffaloes by the 27th and on January 4th the first of 35 Miles Masters are flown in from Sumatra. Winston has kept his word and put max. pressure on South African authorities to ensure speedy delivery. And not a minute too soon. American fighter strength has dropped to 16 P-40 and 4 P-35 by Christmas, allowing the Japanese to send virtually all their Zeros to Malaya starting New Year. Tactically the Zero is not much of a danger to a Buffalo or a Master using hit and dive tactics, but attrition takes it toll on the RAF, especially once spare parts begin to run low.

The outstanding action was the Great Raid on Penang. As already mentioned the key position was lost on Dec. 19th and unlike the RAF the Army and Navy paid virtually no attention to destroying material that could be of use to the enemy. Thus many smaller craft were left in the harbour than could have been used for landings all along the western cost. Local defence forces were first to recognize the mistake and called on SOE units for help. On Dec. 8th the SOE had taken the airfield of Phuket Island and the small port of Tonkah and held them for two days before withdrawing. Other groups had crossed the Thai border in advance to support the regular forces, but once the Japanese offensive pushed the Army back, they had found themselves out of a job, doing mostly engineer work(blowing up stuff).
On 0:30 hrs of the 21st a patchwork flotilla of raided the port of Georgetown, while the Japanese were distracted by a powerful night air raid on the town. In a short and sharp fight most of the captured craft were scuttled, set on fire and literally blown into pieces by four black motor torpedo boats flying pirate flags, crewed by men dressed like 17th century pirates.


The next major battle was fought on January 13th, when the Slim River line is broken with heavy losses by the Japanese. The same day the looong awaited Convoy DM2 with the Hurricanes arrives. 40 hours later the first two are ready for testing, on the 17th 30 are ready. The planes were modified for use in the desert and had sand filters over the air intakes that greatly limit the planes performance. RAF mechanics broke just six engines before figuring out a way to remove the damned things. Also removed are the RAF-trained, combat experienced pilots from Europe and the Med. A short evaluation reveals they have no understanding of capabilities of Japanese planes and pilots, but all the unjustified overconfidence in themselves and their mounts. The Dutch units serving with the RAF have shown the similar arrogance towards the Japanese and paid a heavy price for it. Unlike the Dutch, these pilots are commonwealth personnel and thus AVM Browning can do as he see fit: Taking away their planes and putting them on the reserve bench until they are brought up to speed.


On the 16th events reach a climax:

The first key event is the arrival of

Kido Butai!

The combined Fleet has re-routed Sōryū, Hiryū, Shōkaku and Zuikaku from the New Guinea/Rabaul region to Malaya.

At dawn of the 19th the four CVs launch the much feared Pearl Harbour style attack on Singapore. But with much different results. The radar operator gets the shock of his live as the biggest blip he has ever seen appears out of nowhere on the screen, but after more than a month of air raids everyone can react in his sleep. All operational bombers hastily depart for various bases and landing strips in the Kluang - Malacca area, fighters start their long climb –not so long in case of the Hurricanes- AA-gunners ready their weapons and await the inevitable.

Upon returning to their ships the IJN pilots can’t help but feel humbled and sobered. They have largely failed to intercept the incredibly fast diving allied fighters and while their weapons have not had much of an effect, Japanese planes were swept out of the skies once a machine gun salvo had hit them. And that was not even the worst of it. While the RAF has lost half it´s airfields, it did not loose the AA-weapons protecting those fields. As you might remember at the start of the war 8*3inch guns and 6*40mm and a dozen water cooled machine guns per base were the norm. They agree this was way worse than Pearl Harbour: the absolute volume of fire at each airbase was lower then the concentrated AA of the American naval base, but here they did not enjoy a five minute break.

After hearing what Kido Butai did, IJA and JAAF COs either want to tear at their hair or cut open the bellies of these imbeciles. For a month they have warned of the potent AAA and the need for fighters to climb as high as possible, but these fools went in at a mere 15,000 feet, with the Zeros no higher than 20,000 and last but not least the dimwits even tried to strafe the airfields. Compared to so much stupidity, not informing Japanese air units in FIC so a combined attack could be launched seems almost negligible.

Now it was the RAFs turn to act and the course of action remains most controversial to this very day. Instead of an all out attack, a mere 7 Blenheims and 3 Hudsons armed take off. At 23,000 feet they easily penetrate the CAP, drop one 500lb HE-bomb and dive away. The CAP´s attempt to catch the intruders is cut shot by 9 Hurricanes. Apart from two Zeros only some nerves have been shattered for a moment. This time Kido Butai has been lucky, but the CAP is considerably reinforced after the narrow miss.

Which is exactly what this and several more likewise “attacks” on the next two day are intended to achieve; reduce the number of fighters escorting the bombers and giving the IJN the impression that their attacks have very little effect. On the 18th the message has obviously been received, recon planes find no trace of carries and air raids are limited to the usual attacks from land based planes.

Afterwards AVM Browning has been much criticised –particularly by American historians- for not using his still intact force to actually defeat Kido Butai, instead of just frustrating it. What the critics overlook is the fact that Kido Butai did not constitute a severe threat to the Allied forces in Malaya and the DEI.

First the damage the raids inflicted was well within tolerable levels, second the absence of transports clearly indicated Kido Butai was on a raiding mission, an invasion force would not be send in as long as the Japanese were under the impression RAF-MD was still operational, last but not least the war was decided on the ground. And as long as allied air power remained intact, the Japanese could not use the full force of their air power in support of their ground troops.

And said ground troops needed any help they could get. The first day’s raids had hit their already flimsy logistics hard and gradually even the resolve of the green allied infantry stiffened. The Battle of Kota Bharu had shown the Japanese were no Supermen, but very mortal, road blocks in the rear caused less and less panic and eventually even the fear of tanks began to wear off. In no small part due to the stories about how downright relaxed RAF personnel dealt with them on several occasions. And if even “yellow people” show no fear, but dig in calmly, take the accompanying infantry under small arms fire and then throw petrol bombs at them, what self respecting Australian could be afraid of a tank?


That has repercussions on the climactic battle of the entire Campaign.

On the 19th the 25 Army is preparing the storm Kuala Lumpur. Indian and Australian troops have fortified the town, taking up position on both flanks and have motorized columns in the rear, to deal with the usual Japanese flanking manoeuvres. Once again the ethnic Chinese population is making a huge contribution to the defence. They have dug trenches for days, turned houses into miniature fortresses, volunteer as runner and stretcher bearers and even start the fight.

In the morning an exhausted groups of 50 odd collies is wolfing down some rice and fish at a just completed roadblock, when a dozen Chinese refuges pass through. The Indian soldiers merely glance at them, so does a collie. But his eyes almost pop out, he drops the rice bowl, shouts something and then hurls himself at the newcomers, followed by the others who grabbed shovels, pickaxes, buckets, log, whatever they can reach. Shots are fired from within the melee, two muffled explosions can be heard. The Indians make their way through the small groups of Chinese and get to half a dozen badly wounded men still alive. By now the Indians have realized the “new” Chinese are Japanese infiltrators, who correctly expected Indians and Europeans being unable of recognizing the difference.
Word is spread and several other units report similar incidents in the following hours. The Army quickly issues a warning and permanently attaches some Chinese to frontline units. The lucky infiltrators run into regulars and are shot, the ones who get through the lines face a harsher fate. Some units have given the Chinese arms to patrol the rear areas and Japanese falling in their hands face a fate that makes a gut shot look like a godsend. But atrocities end as quickly as they start. By now the army has learned how incredibly talkative Japanese prisoners are. They have no sense of sensitive information and one does not even need to apply pressure to get all sorts of Intel from them. Thus the army offers rewards for any Japanese handed over alive. After that Japanese soldiers falling into Chinese hands “just” get the living shit beaten out of them. There is a certain level of fraud involved, but they Chinese posing as Japanese can be easily told from actual Japanese, the former have a black eye or two, the latter are beaten and bruised all over.


From midday on the full scale assault on the ground begins. Until dusk the frontlines remain unchanged and then the Japanese break through the first line at both flanks. Unlike earlier they can exploit the breakthrough much slower, because isolated allied units assume hedgehog positions and keep fighting until in the morning of the 20th counterattacks push back the Japanese in the east. In the west the attempt to restore the lines fails and at noon allied troops begin to withdraw to the second line – the town of Kuala Lumpur itself. The Japanese reach the outskirts shortly before dusk and the first might of combat begins. The Japanese infantry succeeds in pushing it´s way into the city, but any attempt to outflank the allies fails. The troops in the east again run into too much opposition and the ones in the west are slowed down by the previously cut off allied units that melted away into the jungle and try to make it back to allied lines and occasionally run into Japanese in the process.

Furthermore the movement of supplies and heavy weapons is much complicated by frequent air raids from dawn till dusk. IJN and JAAF fighters score kills like never before as the RAF commits its full strength, but enough low flying raiders make it to the Japanese ground troops.

During the night from the 20th to the 21st the green 45th Indian Brigade holding the western flank is once more pushed back and this time falls apart and by sunrise the Japanese have cut the lines of communication, but their further advance come to a standstill at midday.


This forces General Percival to commit the strategic reserve, the 28th Indian and the 53rd British Infantry Brigades, supported by detachments of heavy and light AA-units(also helping out as conventional artillery), and the 85th A/T Regiment. The attack begins at the 22nd makes good progress in daylight, is stopped at sunset to weather the inevitable night attacks and resumes at sunrise of the 23nd. By noon the relief force makes contact with the 11th Indian Division that had held Kuala Lumpur. Until the late afternoon the Japanese are pushed back in the west, the troops in the city are ignored as they have made virtually no progress but suffered heavy looses from the moment they entered it and the Australians still have the east under control.

To everyone’s utmost surprise the attacks in the night form the 23rd to the 24th are half hearted at best. The reason is revealed by patrols on the next morning: The Japanese are gone! Air recon confirms it, troops on foot and motorized columns head back towards the Slim River.
The allies follow very slowly as they small a rat. Obviously the Japanese bet on allied overconfidence and want to lure them into a trap. On the 26th it dawns them that this is not a trap. The Japanese have given all they had and are actually, truly beaten. The allies step up the pace of the pursuit once reinforcements arrive on the 28th: 48 Hurricanes, the rest of the 18th British Division, a Brigade from India, 3,000 Australians and more AA-units.

The Slim River is reach on the same day and crossed facing modest opposition two days later. The easy with whom this excellent defensive position is taken gives the Allies an indication how bad the Japanese situation must be. Actually it is a lot worse. After the end of the Campaign it took the Allies some time to understand that even without the loss of a single transport Japanese logistics would have collapsed by the end of January unless they had captured allies supplies in large quantities. At the end of January 1942 not even the biggest optimist in the allied camp get close to understand that the Japanese are literally running out of anything but suicidal determination. But they begin to get the picture once inspection of corpses reveals there are fewer and fewer rounds in their rifles or pockets or anywhere.
A week later Taiping is retaken and on the 9th AVM Browning’s chief of staff –one cold fish of an Englishman- runs(!) into Browning´s office, literally dragging his superior to the radio. This is news he has to hear himself.

It radio Bangkok with the 12 o’clock international news. The speaker announces Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsonggram has resigned, foreign minister Direk Chaiyanam has been named the new PM. He has withdrawn the declaration of war on the allied from Jan. 25th and the Thai military has successfully resumed operations against the Japanese invaders. All but the southern and western provinces have been liberated and the Royal Thai Air Force has dealt a powerful blow to the enemy in French Indo China.

Right after that a message in clear from someone who claims to be the RTAF´s deputy Chief of Staff arrives, requesting the exchange of liaison groups to coordinate further action against the Japanese.

AVM Browning happens to know the actual Thai CoS and demands proof. He´d better not! Asian men could teach any Latino a thing or two about the proper macho attitude and thus Browning’s negotiations for the sale of aircraft in the 30´s were often held under unconventional circumstances. The alcohol he had to drink and the disrespectable places he had to visit with his customers … and now this jerk is telling details over the radio.

The CoS dryly asks weather the AVM´s red face can be taken as confirmation of the caller’s identity.

A few hours later the Thai airliner arrives with the liaison party and after the exchange of niceties business is addressed. How would the RAF like 50 Ki-27 and 25 Ki-43 plus a dozen of Zeros? The Royal Thai Army has recaptured the Japanese airbases so fast, almost all planes were taken intact. AVM Browning reply is: “Gentlemen, this is the end of our perils. From here on the war will take a completely new direction.


For the sake of completeness we will briefly address the Thai-Indo-Chinese Campaign.

The RTA set up blocking positions on the border with Burma in the west and southat Prachuap Khiri Khan province thus effectively trapping the 25th and 15th Armies. The 25th ´s situation changed from dangerous to hopeless as it had already been beaten and was low on supplies, the so far victorious 15th turned out to be more of a challenge, but with the newly established allied air supremacy it was also trapped and destroyed. As the Allied forces were nowhere near there 1943/44 levels they did not push all the way, but dug in as Japanese resistance stiffened, face the suicidal attempts to break out and let hunger and disease do their work. Important support came from the Japanese themselves. Once more Japanese POWs turned out to be sort of eager to help their captors. How this and the suicidal bravery went together puzzled allied observers at the time, but now it is understood how utterly unprepared the POW were for a situation that previously had been unthinkable. Once they recovered form the initial shock, the POW expected they could never return to Japan no matter how the war ended and that they were effectively stateless. Hence requests were made to be settled in some African colony of the empire. The Japanese culture also put a strong emphasis on the need to repay favours. And plentiful, good food, the first class medical care and the comfortable camps were considered monumental favours, difficult to repay. So the POW were happy to help improve leaflets calling for the surrender of other Japanese. The first ones were so crudely made, they even used the Japanese word for surrender. A word that no Japanese soldier would ever use, unless he refers to the enemy. A more flowery expression was used instead and the many bugs in the translation ironed out. POWs recorded their personal experiences in the camps and the sound of a Japanese voice promising, medicine, a clean bed and food, tasty food, more food than you could eat in a lifetime convinced many half starved soldiers to call it quits.

IJN and JAAF mechanics were almost proud to learn they had to “teach” RAF mechanics who otherwise could not keep the latest additions to the allied air armada operational.

We shall now take a look at the situation in the air. As mentioned before the first aerial reinforcements began to reach Malaya around Christmas. Initially numbers were low, but from mid-January onwards planes came in higher numbers and frequency; i.e. 35 Master at the 4th, 45 Battles at the 9th, 51 crated Hurricane IIB at the 13th, 15 Hudson III at the 16th and another 48 Hurricanes at the 27th to name a few.
The large number of captured planes is welcomed to different degrees. The RAF´s aircraft maintenance units again perform miracles and install armour and external fuel tank protection, CO2 fire extinguishing system, replace machine guns and so in a matter of days. The conversions of the bombers naturally reduced payload and speed, but not to the degree of limiting the planes usefulness. Fighters are a different matter. The FJ-43 and FJ-6 loose a lot of climb speed and manoeuvrability, while the dive speed remains as low as before. Thus the modified fighters are technically incapable of outperforming actual Japanese fighters no matter what tactics are used. Eventually are used for recon due to their high speed, impressive range and superior defensive capabilities(superior to a Hudson or Anson).

So far the situation looked good for the Allies and it kept getting better, much better. Admiral Jean Decoux the governor-general of French-Indo-China was also plotting against the Japanese. The defection of Thailand sped things up. He struck a deal with Vietnamese communists/nationalists whose leader Nguyen Ai Quoc realized autonomy for Tonkin and Annam is the best deal he can get and quite possibly no more a brief interlude before actual independence.

At May 1st 1942 were firmly in control of Malaya, Burma and Thailand, the FIC was split in the middle, the north was under Japanese control, the south under allied. Japan had also taken Borneo, Celebes and Ambon, while Java, Sumatra, the small Suda Isles and Timor remained in Dutch hands. The Bataan Peninsula is still in American hands. The exhausted Japanese troops have received margin replacements and no reinforcements since their first failed offensive and thus have to wait until hunger breaks the Allied defenders. A relief attempt lead by Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher was stopped by Kido Butai, but with two out of four CVs still suffering from depleted air wings all four went down, while Lexington was sunk and Saratoga crippled(to be finished of by a sub a few days later), forcing the damaged Yorktown had to withdraw.

Comments are alway appreciated. By the way, did you find all the "Easter Eggs"?
 
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CalBear

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An interesting take on the campaign. Effectively all the good luck the Japanese had IOTL returns to the "random chance" that was far more likely than the actual results. The British also get some GOOD luck, quite the change from what actually happened.

A few quibbles:

The British 2pdr gun was remarkably ineffective against the Japanese armor, far worse than one would expect. It has been suspected that the shells were poorly stored or otherwise impacted by the local conditions.

The hit & run tactics by the RAF would preserve their force, but would limit the fighters to one pass and run away. The climb rate of the Allied fighters, ave the Hurricane, would prevent them from re-engaging the enemy. This would make them an effective mission kill, and would not distrupt the Japanese attacks to the extent indicated. The retreating fighters would also be very vulnerable to the Zero, which did have success againt Allied aircraft as long at it hadn't expended all 20mm ammo. Allied losses seem to be far too low.

Overall, the Japanese are not Just unlucky, but incompentently led. The Japanese command wasn't comprised entirely of Wellington clones, but the command structure contained a very high percentage of combat veterans and more than a few very good officers. The same is true of the ordinary Japanese soldier many of whom had combat experience and, even in the raw units, well trained and in a state of high morale.

There are reasons that very few prisoners were taken throughout the war and it isn't just the "Banzai Charge" tactics. Ordinary troops where generally fanatical about fighting to the last and did not find the attempts by their fellows who had been captured to entice them to surrender and more interesting than Allied troops in the same circumstances. Surrender was not just distasteful to the Japanese private soldier (there are very few troops from any army who LIKE to surrender) it was the same as committing suicide but without the honor. You note that the Japanese prisoners are wellsprings of information because they know they can't go home, but it was much more than not being able to go home. Once they surrendered they were dead to all their loved ones and were dishonored, with no hope of being remembered or honored in death. Insofar as the average Japanese believed in any flavor of an afterlife, a soldier who surrendered was denied that and their families were dishonored and often made outcast, something that tended to keep them fighting to the last. The classic examples are, of course, aircrew and sailors who would refuse to be rescued by American or British ships, often to the point where they would actually fire on would be rescuers with handguns.

Overall a very interesting piece of work. It illustrates once again the difference that even a few reasonable, even likely, changes in Allied preparations and alert levels would have made.
 
Markus

A fascinating read. Very interesting what if, if someone had made use of the limited resources available. Obviously put a hell of a lot of research into the details. Many thanks.

One small typo I think. You mentioned the forces at the start of the campaign just after Force Z arrives and mentioned Revenge as well as the other two capital ships.

I think Calbear has a point about the limitations of the hit and dive tactic but it does disrupt the initial Japanese operation with much reduced chances of losses hence leaving them to fight another day. Remember reading about it being used by Hurricanes operating out of Sumarta after the fall of Malaya. Also that some of the Zeros tried following the Hurricanes in diving but often lost their wings in the process.

Steve
 
I take it your POD is the Reactivation of Sir Miles as AC. ?How is His relationship with General Percival?
 

Markus

Banned
I take it your POD is the Reactivation of Sir Miles as AC. ?How is His relationship with General Percival?

Yes to the first question and the good Sir Milse´staff and Brooke-Popham see to it Browning and Percival are kept apart whenever possible.

edit: Browings reactivation and reorganizing RAF´s Far East Command into three sub commands: India(+Burma), Malaya(+Brit. Borneo) and Pacific(AUS+NZ+colonies)
 
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Markus

Banned
A few quibbles:

The British 2pdr gun was remarkably ineffective against the Japanese armor, far worse than one would expect. It has been suspected that the shells were poorly stored or otherwise impacted by the local conditions.

No problem for the RAF, they have 3inch and 40mm guns.

The hit & run tactics by the RAF would preserve their force, but would limit the fighters to one pass and run away. The climb rate of the Allied fighters, ave the Hurricane, would prevent them from re-engaging the enemy. This would make them an effective mission kill, and would not distrupt the Japanese attacks to the extent indicated. The retreating fighters would also be very vulnerable to the Zero, which did have success againt Allied aircraft as long at it hadn't expended all 20mm ammo. Allied losses seem to be far too low.
They hit and run when facing Oskars and Zeros, unescorted bombers and Nates are fair game! And the IJN bombers that sunk PoW and Repulse were unescorted, the escorted ones attacking airbases face tougher(AAA, shelters) and smarter targets(dummys). And why are retreating allied fighters vulnerable? They dive down and away at a speed no Japanese fighter can match. Ok, if caught low they would be vulnerable, but with good radar coverage that it not going to happen too often. And last but not least even in OTL the Buffaloes lasted until Singapore surrendered. And god knows a lot of them was lost to accidents and utter stupidity.


Overall, the Japanese are not Just unlucky, but incompentently led. The Japanese command wasn't comprised entirely of Wellington clones, but the command structure contained a very high percentage of combat veterans and more than a few very good officers. The same is true of the ordinary Japanese soldier many of whom had combat experience and, even in the raw units, well trained and in a state of high morale.
Yes, the Japanese were good in OTL and still are in this TL, but they were light on heavy weapons and their tactics were pre-WW1. Once the suprise and show wore off it hurt them. In this TL a lot faster, because they never have air supremacy.

There are reasons that very few prisoners were taken throughout the war and it isn't just the "Banzai Charge" tactics.
Did you read "The anguish of surrender" by U. Strauss? I got my info on POWs from his book.








Markus

A fascinating read. Very interesting what if, if someone had made use of the limited resources available. Obviously put a hell of a lot of research into the details. Many thanks.


Yes, "fight with what you have" was the idea behind it. And it was quite a bit of work Steve. Some things need drastic change, some none, some little and some can´t be changed.

One small typo I think. You mentioned the forces at the start of the campaign just after Force Z arrives and mentioned Revenge as well as the other two capital ships.
Revenge, Hermes and the CA are in the Indian Ocean, but not near Malaya. Technically that makes them a part of the RN´s forces in the wider area.


I think Calbear has a point about the limitations of the hit and dive tactic but it does disrupt the initial Japanese operation with much reduced chances of losses hence leaving them to fight another day.

Steve
That is the point of it. On Guadalcanal the Marines used the same tactics for some time under similar circumstances(few fighters, few reinforcements)



By the way, did EVERYBODY overlook modern day the pop culture references?
 
At May 1st 1942 were firmly in control of Malaya, Burma and Thailand, the FIC was split in the middle, the north was under Japanese control, the south under allied. Japan had also taken Borneo, Celebes and Ambon, while Java, Sumatra, the small Suda Isles and Timor remained in Dutch hands.
I think You just won my -- Operation Downfall 1943-44 -- Challenge
 

Markus

Banned
Very enjoyable indeed, will you be expanding it to a Part 3?


No, the Malaya Campaing ended when Thailand changed sides. After May 41 the Allies(Thai, FIC, DEI) need time to re-group and re-equip. Than the likely corse of action is to retake Borneo and Celebes and have have a certain person CalBear dislikes say: "I have returned".

Unless the Japanese economy collapses before. With air an naval bases in southern FIC that is possible.

And did really nobody get the not so hidden references?
 
No, the Malaya Campaing ended when Thailand changed sides. After May 41 the Allies(Thai, FIC, DEI) need time to re-group and re-equip. Than the likely corse of action is to retake Borneo and Celebes and have have a certain person CalBear dislikes say: "I have returned".

Damn!:(:( - meaning the lack of a part 3.

Unless the Japanese economy collapses before. With air an naval bases in southern FIC that is possible.

Possible although still a lot of heavy fighting ahead to make them accept their defeated. Could see a major China campaign in which western air and mech forces combined with Chinese infantry making the bulk of the line hammers the Japanese and drives them out of most of China.

And did really nobody get the not so hidden references?

Given how much I was enjoying the plot and my vast ignorance of pop culture, definitely in my case.:);)

Steve
 

Markus

Banned
Possible although still a lot of heavy fighting ahead to make them accept their defeated. Could see a major China campaign in which western air and mech forces combined with Chinese infantry making the bulk of the line hammers the Japanese and drives them out of most of China.

I have not thought of this scenario, but with the Burma road open and half of FIC in allied hands it would be a lot faster and easier to go over land. A lot of land based air cover will be available much sooner than Essex-class CVs and given the massive firepower of western equipped divisions the IJA would be at a disadvantage much, much bigger than at Nomonhan in 39. Looks like a Downfall in 1943-44 indeed.

Given how much I was enjoying the plot and my vast ignorance of pop culture, definitely in my case.:);)

Steve
*sigh* I´ll try my luck in non-pol chat. Maybe they get it.
 

Markus

Banned
Pirates perhaps?:D
the "pirates of the malayan" were one of the more sutle ones. i expected some names to ring a bell. by the way, how do you like the idea of gen.parcival being "the tiger of malya" and the uk s biggest war hero? mc arthur is in charge of a strategic backwater, if that is some consolation.
 

CalBear

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the "pirates of the malayan" were one of the more sutle ones. i expected some names to ring a bell. by the way, how do you like the idea of gen.parcival being "the tiger of malya" and the uk s biggest war hero? mc arthur is in charge of a strategic backwater, if that is some consolation.

Anything is possible I guess. As long as Dougout Doug gets the shaft, I'm good.:D
 
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