I hate to say this, it certainly goes against the grain (I'm a bit old fashioned, still open doors etc), but better to put 16 folks from CAST on the aircraft than 7 plus 9 nurses. The MILITARY value of the CAST folks is much higher than anybody else on the Rock, including the commanding general, and the risk of vital secrets being uncovered is greater with the CAST folks. The calculus of war is cold, hard, and unfeeling and it applies here.
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The CAST folks are coming out in regular runs (PBY and submarine). The goal is that if there is a crash or a sunken submarine, all of the CAST expertise does not die. Diversification is the name of the game. Now if there was only one last flight left or one last submarine, yes, of course, get the most valuable CAST folks out and leave the flight engineer on the rock to fit someone else in.
In my mind, that decision has been floating in the back of the head of everyone read in on Magic but given the current US position on the Peninsula plus the continual slow trickle of individuals out of Bataan, actually stating this decision out loud is unlikely to occur as the CAST team is already mostly out and will be entirely out by the end of the month. It is very likely that the US position will not be threatened to be overrun by the time CAST is gone. CAST personnel are on the Rock as it is, so accidental capture probability is almost nil.
I don't think morale is that strong of a reason. The evacuation priority list looks like the following:
1) CAST
2) Female
3) Specialized/skilled individuals (will see some artillery men, engineers, pilots, shipyard techs and aviation ground crews)
4) Severely wounded Americans who can live for an evacuation flight but could not survive a Geneva Convention POW camp
5) Senior sergeants and field grade officers with a good combat record to disseminate lessons learned.
If there is a feeling that everything is going down hill fast, the priorities change a bit to:
1) CAST
2) Individuals with critical lessons learned
3) Everyone else.
Will CAST be reorganized in Australia, or go to Hawaii to mix up with HYPO, then return a new CAST to Australia?
Story 1209
March 20, 1942 Oelolok, Timor
The only Dutch artillery on the island fired. Within a minute, thirty-two shells descended in an oval along the road that connected Oelolok to Haliluk. Two weak Dutch battalions were dug in along the road. One battalion was anchored along the top of a 2,000 foot high hill to the north while the other battalion anchored their position on the slopes of an 1,800 foot tall hill to the south of the road. The narrow valley was under a mile wide.
American National Guardsmen had retreated from their forward blocking position when the Japanese division was able to turn their flank. The combination of the Dutch battalion holding against a surprise assault and then the twenty four seventy five millimeter guns firing over open sights to destroy a Japanese battalion that was attempting to set up a road block had given the regiment from Massachusetts enough time to escape. The wounded had been loaded in the trucks that were lugging the artillery while almost everyone else walked. Every few miles, a company would be dispatched to set up a rear-guard ambush. Each time, it bought the regiment another hour to break contact at the cost of a platoon or more being destroyed.
Now, two thousand Americans had passed through the Dutch lines. Some had been given enough time to shit and eat while most were setting up another series of fall back positions. The colonel had been on the radio with the garrison commander. There was a promise that the other American infantry regiment as well as a company of light tanks would soon be released from garrison duties around Kupang. They would be needed to set up blocking positions near Soe as well as covering the river crossings. However there would be little air support as the Australians on the south coast at Betun were cut off. The Royal Australian Navy with some American support would seek to evacuate that battalion but until that operation was completed, almost all fighter cover was devoted to the navies.
Story 1210
March 21, 1942 Singkawang
The air raid siren started to sound. A trio of fighters were already airborne for the pre-dawn patrol, their wings reaching skyward towards the terminator line when a fishing boat eleven miles off the port radioed in the sighting. Another pair of floatplanes had started their take-off run even as the siren began its whirl.
Fourteen miles was only seven minutes worth of warning. Two of those minutes were consumed by the communication. Two minutes were consumed by pilots running to their aircraft. Three minutes was all that the the pilots had to begin to start their engines and mechanics to unchock the wheels.
There was not enough time as the anti-aircraft guns started to bark at the biplane bombers. Three dozen bombers bore in. A trio broke apart under sustained 25 millimeter and machine gun fire. The others pulled up slightly before diving again to release strings of two hundred and fifty pounders mixed with the occasional five hundred pounder. A dozen Martlets orbited overhead after they jumped the standing dawn patrol. The Fleet Air Arm pilots had fought against the nimble Italian dancers in the Eastern Mediterranean and they used the same tactics that had saved their lives and achieved their mission here. They trusted the ruggedness of their planes and their firepower as they made head on attacks before relying on their wingman to cover their rear. It worked. A single Martlet was damaged and once the pilot landed on Furious, his steed would be pushed over the side but the three Japanese Army fighters were demolished by a steady stream of fifty caliber bullets striking their light skins.
Eleven minutes after the first bomb, the former Dutch airfield was aflame with a dozen aircraft burning on the ground and delayed fuzed bombs waiting to go off amidst the recovery efforts.
Story 1211
March 21, 1942 Kwajalein Atoll
Aboard the light cruiser Kashima, the enlisted gunners tried not to curse as their petty officers directed their fire towards the American dive bombers. Two bombs had already smashed into a water tanker and a torpedo detonated in the hull of a minesweeper. An eighteen year old recruit clenched his teeth as a string of American dive bombers tipped over. They just got bigger and bigger as they descended in almost vertical dives. Every gun aboard the ship was sending tracers upwards. Some may have hit the second dive bomber as it wiggled slightly but they raced through the few heavy shell bursts as the shells exploded above the attackers.
One, two, and then three large black eggs descended from the first section of bombers. He shifted his feet and thought of connecting the stream of tracers to a bomb. He pulled the barrel of his medium machine gun that had been attached to an ad-hoc welded mount to the left and then was slapped hard by his petty officer for taking fire away from the dive bombers that had not yet dropped.
One of the American Dauntlesses barely missed diving into the water as it finally levelled out below mast height and began to run out to sea. The first bomb missed the training cruiser, wide by seventy feet as it exploded and tossed the acnhored ship. The next two bombs were solid hits. The first went down the stacks and ruined the boiler room. The second bomb ripped the 5.5 inch gun in the Y position off of its mount. The barely trained recruit was knocked off his feet for a moment but he sprung back up and again attempted to track the next dive bomber but he failed. Instead he saw an American dive bomber pull out almost over his head and he sent a string of tracers into the rear of bomber. He yelled with satisfaction as he saw the American gunner slump over.
The Parthian shot would not save the cruiser. Another three bombs including a single thousand pounder exploded at various points along the ship. The order to abandon ship was passed within minutes of the first fire starting and the eighteen year old was ready to jump into the lagoon but waited a moment as the Emperor’s portrait was carried tenderly pass him to one of the few undamaged boats.
As he sculled his way to shore, he saw the captain, a man who he had heard speak twice to the entire crew wave off an attempt to remove himself from the bridge. The eighteen year old boy would walk along the shallow lagoon floor to a beach conflicted at surviving after his failure to protect his ship. Sometimes death like his captain’s made choices easier.
Even as he was having these morose thoughts, the second wave from Saratoga and Enterprise was assembling to finish demolishing the base.
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Driftless
Donor
So, the Japanese are still sitting well in the DEI and the Marshall's, but the Allied push-back appears to be notably stronger and perhaps more focused than in our history. Didn't Halsey's raids on the Marshall's and Gilbert's historically rattle the Japanese a bit and that became one of the drivers for the Japanese Midway campaign? Though in this universe, they've got troubles on a number of fronts, so where do they focus their hoped for "knock out" punch?
Really good question... and the far more important thing to notice is that there are eight fast Allied carriers between Colombo and Pearl Harbor. The DEI campaign is a slow grind as Montgomery is sitting with most of a field army near Penang and Timor is becoming a major slug fest even after the Japanese naval victory in the Battle of the Savu Sea. Every minute that Java and Sumantra are under Allied control is so many barrels of oil that Japan is deeper in their consumption hole.
Driftless
Donor
Quite literally, running out of gas.... *edit* Too good a phrase to pass up...
But to your point, that oil supply has to be an ongoing strategic focus, or they will be in deep tapioca shortly.
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Driftless
Donor
At this point, what's the level of cooperation and cohesion between the top commanders of the Japanese Army and Navy? Historically, in spite of the tremendous successes they had the first several months of the war, the two branches didn't get on well at all. With this set of much more mixed bag of successes and near stalemates in spots; I would think each branch is noisily blaming the other for their situation.
The best that can be said is that the knives are likely to come from the front and not the rear at the interservice planning conferences.
The finger pointing, followed by hands metaphorically reaching for Samurai sword grips will be interesting!
Didn't expect the hit and run raid by the British, but not a bad thing to see, and it will divert Japanese attention going forward.
Halsey's forces sinking the Kashima and other vessels in and of itself isn't a bad blow, but coupled with other Japanese losses, it's really starting to add up. That makes to my count six cruisers the Japanese have lost now. Even if these aren't heavy hitters, this is either going to force the Japanese to scatter their forces out more, or take the risk of leaving some garrisons less defended going forward.
Halsey's forces sinking the Kashima and other vessels in and of itself isn't a bad blow, but coupled with other Japanese losses, it's really starting to add up. That makes to my count six cruisers the Japanese have lost now. Even if these aren't heavy hitters, this is either going to force the Japanese to scatter their forces out more, or take the risk of leaving some garrisons less defended going forward.
AFAIK, the high point of IJA/IJN co-operation was during the RJW, when Adm. Togo and Gen. Nogi (who were personal friends) co-operated to an unheard of level. There were bitter recriminations during the war between the services at times, and the relationship between these two squelched it. Without this type of personal relationship, when things ITTL are in some ways worse, I doubt there will be much in the way of anything more than a necessary level of co-operation. Page 95 of "Kaigun" briefly alludes to the RJW co-operation.
Story 1212
March 22, 1942 Paris
“I love it”
Anna Marie got on her toes and kissed her German quite passionately. He enjoyed her enthusiasm and her gratitude for the simple fur collar that he had given her. A junior German technician that he knew was wired into the French black market. They had an arrangement that if the younger man picked something up, the older man would pay him on a consignment basis for a luxury. So far that young man had a good nose for luxury goods and when he saw the slightly used fur collar, he knew exactly who would enjoy it. That young man would get a bonus.
Anna Marie broke the kiss and unlocked her arms from around his neck before spinning around, giggling like the girl that recently was while her fingers went to work on the buttons of her dress. Tonight was an easy night, dinner in her lover’s apartment and then vivacious exercise of the most enjoyable kind. Tomorrow she would write and the next day she would leave her message at the dead drop but tonight she just needed to concern herself with pleasure and presence.
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