April 1942 Alternate Indian Ocean
- Thread starter Zheng He
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An American pilot volunteers to serve on a RN carrier because the love of his life is trapped on Malta.
He singlehandedly saves the Pedestal convoy from destruction, running out of fuel shooting down the last squadron of German planes, including a prototype ME-262.
After ditching in the water, he overpowers the crew of a Nazi patrol boat and sails to Malta, stopping to tow the Ohio into harbor. Finally, he reunites with his love in a gratuitous sex scene.
Off to the Academy Awards.....
He singlehandedly saves the Pedestal convoy from destruction, running out of fuel shooting down the last squadron of German planes, including a prototype ME-262.
After ditching in the water, he overpowers the crew of a Nazi patrol boat and sails to Malta, stopping to tow the Ohio into harbor. Finally, he reunites with his love in a gratuitous sex scene.
Off to the Academy Awards.....
Better to make "The Kappillan of Malta" by Nicolas Montserrat (of the Cruel Sea fame) as a TV series.
Very easy to make as 7 or 8 episodes each 90 minutes or more
It has a framing story set during the siege 1940-42 based on Dun Salv, (Don Salvatore).
He is a rather everyman Catholic Parish Priest, who encourages his flock in the bomb shelters
by explaining the native Maltese involvement in 6 key historical events on the island from 1500bc to 1918
There's lots of action on land and sea, lots of costumes, lots of blood and gore and folksy stuff in between.
Very anti Muslim (see Great Siege) so will fit right into the current US mindset,
pro Christian .. a Catholic pastor as protagonist, but is that still popular?
anti Fascist (though the Italians called out as first aggressor as well as Nazis later, so maybe a problem)
anti-colonial (though the British come out well on the whole, which may be a deal breaker)
pro-socialist (Dun Salv's family is rich and he has chosen to be only a Kappillan, a parish priest )
IMHO VERY likely to get at least some support in Holywood
but since no explicit Americans, a rewrite would need to play up USS Wasp's two stings to be sure.
BTW Final war scene is the arrival of the Santa Maria Convoy, aka Pedestal, which could easily be expanded.
Even has a lot of human interest with the priest's niece falling for an FAA Pilot,
- struggling Catholic Morals vs Teenage hormones.
Cleverly handled in the book .. but would probably be more explicit in a screenplay today.
Dun Salv's own crisis of faith in the face of the cruelties of war might play well in the Protestant parts of USA.
Very easy to make as 7 or 8 episodes each 90 minutes or more
It has a framing story set during the siege 1940-42 based on Dun Salv, (Don Salvatore).
He is a rather everyman Catholic Parish Priest, who encourages his flock in the bomb shelters
by explaining the native Maltese involvement in 6 key historical events on the island from 1500bc to 1918
There's lots of action on land and sea, lots of costumes, lots of blood and gore and folksy stuff in between.
Very anti Muslim (see Great Siege) so will fit right into the current US mindset,
pro Christian .. a Catholic pastor as protagonist, but is that still popular?
anti Fascist (though the Italians called out as first aggressor as well as Nazis later, so maybe a problem)
anti-colonial (though the British come out well on the whole, which may be a deal breaker)
pro-socialist (Dun Salv's family is rich and he has chosen to be only a Kappillan, a parish priest )
IMHO VERY likely to get at least some support in Holywood
but since no explicit Americans, a rewrite would need to play up USS Wasp's two stings to be sure.
BTW Final war scene is the arrival of the Santa Maria Convoy, aka Pedestal, which could easily be expanded.
Even has a lot of human interest with the priest's niece falling for an FAA Pilot,
- struggling Catholic Morals vs Teenage hormones.
Cleverly handled in the book .. but would probably be more explicit in a screenplay today.
Dun Salv's own crisis of faith in the face of the cruelties of war might play well in the Protestant parts of USA.
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Nick Jonas, fresh off the Midway movie can play the pilot. His brother Joe can play Dickie Cork and he won't even try to speak with a British accent - like Kevin Costner in Robin Hood.
0030 Hours, 13 December 1942, Cox’s Bazaar, India – Nine Albacores from No. 821 and No. 827 Squadrons were airborne and heading southeast along the Arakan Coast with Major Newson in the lead in his ASV equipped bomber on a 90 minute flight to the Japanese beach head on Ramree Island. The other eight planes were hauling four 500-pound general purpose bombs each. Despite the nearly moonless night, navigation promised to be fairly easy. Newson knew the area well and he was able to home in on signals from Akyab and the crude ground station that was up and running on Ramree Island. Orders were simple for the FAA pilots; ships offshore were the primary targets and then anything that looked promising on the beach after that.
At Chittagong the next day’s mission taskings were already getting re-written. Clearly the Japanese had managed to sneak some troops on to Ramree Island and hitting them would have first priority as soon as the sun was up with close air support for the troops facing the Japanese 55th Infantry Division drawing any remaining assets. Air Vice Marshal was more than a little frustrated. With the convoy turned back the day before, he was hoping to hit supply and reinforcement columns on the roads between Rangoon and the Arakan along with Japanese airfields but as usual, the enemy got a vote.
Word of Lieutenant Little’s sighting had also been flashed to Captain O’Donnell’s task force operating 50 miles southeast of Ramree Island. As soon as he had digested the details of Little’s report, O’Donnell did not need long to determine a course of action and he ordered his small surface group reinforced by the light cruiser USS St. Louis due east at 25 knots to blocking position 40 miles south of Ramree Island.
At Chittagong the next day’s mission taskings were already getting re-written. Clearly the Japanese had managed to sneak some troops on to Ramree Island and hitting them would have first priority as soon as the sun was up with close air support for the troops facing the Japanese 55th Infantry Division drawing any remaining assets. Air Vice Marshal was more than a little frustrated. With the convoy turned back the day before, he was hoping to hit supply and reinforcement columns on the roads between Rangoon and the Arakan along with Japanese airfields but as usual, the enemy got a vote.
Word of Lieutenant Little’s sighting had also been flashed to Captain O’Donnell’s task force operating 50 miles southeast of Ramree Island. As soon as he had digested the details of Little’s report, O’Donnell did not need long to determine a course of action and he ordered his small surface group reinforced by the light cruiser USS St. Louis due east at 25 knots to blocking position 40 miles south of Ramree Island.
0100 Hours, 13 December 1942, Ramree Island, Burma – The destroyers Wakaba, Nagatzuki, and Harukaze arrived at the southeastern end of Ramree Island without any further encounters with mines and the 300 men from the 65th Infantry Brigade began climbing into small boats to get ashore as quickly as possible. It was something of pathetic show, only 300 men successfully landing on Ramree Island out of the 3000 originally sent. The men from the 213th Infantry Regiment onshore flashed several lights directing the small boats to designated landing points and for the captains of the destroyers it was now a game of sitting and waiting.
0200 Hours, 13 December 1942, Ramree Island, Burma – Lieutenant Commander Henry Armstrong on USS Waters was just as nervous as his Japanese counterparts. The converted destroyer was anchored in a small cove near the southern end of Ramree Island in the narrow channel between Ramree and Cheduba Islands approximately 10 miles northwest of the Japanese beach head and the men from Apache Company of Riain’s Raiders were lightering ashore. The men in her communications suite had been monitoring radio traffic over the past several hours and it was clear there were enemy ships in the area and what sounded like an air strike inbound.
The enemy ships were not the main concern as it was likely there were on the other side of the island and more importantly the minefield. The air strike was a concern. Lookouts reported hearing aircraft engines and nobody trusted the pilots to be able to tell the difference between an enemy ship and a friendly ship at two o’clock in the morning. Lieutenant Commander Armstrong had already ordered the lookouts doubled as he sipped coffee and silently wished for the unloading of the troops to be over and done with.
The enemy ships were not the main concern as it was likely there were on the other side of the island and more importantly the minefield. The air strike was a concern. Lookouts reported hearing aircraft engines and nobody trusted the pilots to be able to tell the difference between an enemy ship and a friendly ship at two o’clock in the morning. Lieutenant Commander Armstrong had already ordered the lookouts doubled as he sipped coffee and silently wished for the unloading of the troops to be over and done with.
0200 Hours, 13 December 1942, Akyab, Burma – The airfield was currently playing host to three fighter squadrons; No. 5 and No. 67 of the RAF and No. 25 of the RAAF but Lieutenant Little had still managed to get his Albacore turned around an hour and the weapons maintainers had even scrounged up four 250-pound bombs for him. Little assumed the Albacores at Cox’s Bazaar were hitting the Japanese ships he sighted but he saw no reason why he should not get in on the action himself while the rest of the squadrons in the area prepared for daylight action. With his plane refueled and bombed up, Little took just after 0200 hours for a solo return visit to the Japanese ships operating near the southern tip of Ramree Island.
Just caught up with this thread over the last week; thank you Zheng He for the amount of detail you've put into this timeline.
0215 Hours, 13 December 1942, Ramree Island, Burma – Most of the soldiers brought in by the Japanese destroyers were onshore but supplies were still getting unloaded. The destroyers’ skippers were getting impatient and Lieutenant Commander Suetsugu had pulled Wakaba offshore a bit to gain some maneuvering room in the event the enemy did show up while Nagatzuki and Harukaze remained anchored close to shore as supplies were unloaded.
As soon as Suetsugu heard the sound of aircraft engines he knew they could not be friendly and he ordered his ship to get underway and head for nearby rainsquall. Suetsugu’s quick thinking saved his ship because as the nine Albacores from Cox’s Bazaar arrived, Major Newson flew over the anchorage dropping flares and sizing up the situation while the other eight planes orbited overhead waiting for his orders. Newson missed Wakaba and ordered the Albacores to divide their attention between Nagatzuki and Harukaze. Lieutenant Commander Koeu managed to get Harukaze underway and he successfully avoided all but two of the 500-pound bombs dropped on his ship. Harukaze probably could have survived the damage but shortly after getting struck she blundered into a mine laid by HMS Manxman and rolled over on her side and sank with heavy loss of life. Nagatzuki was a sitting duck and was struck by six bombs although Lieutenant Commander Ninokata was able to run his ship aground in shallow water, saving most of his crew for the dubious honor of joining the Japanese infantrymen onshore.
All nine Albacores departed safely without loss and Lieutenant Commander Suetsugu successfully found the safety of the nearby rainsquall and in a feat of skilled seamanship navigated Wakaba through the treacherous waters around the islets due south of Ramree Island and joined up with Rear Admiral Shima’s cruisers an hour later. By any objective standard, the mission to bring troops and supplies to Ramree Island by sea was an unmitigated disaster.
As soon as Suetsugu heard the sound of aircraft engines he knew they could not be friendly and he ordered his ship to get underway and head for nearby rainsquall. Suetsugu’s quick thinking saved his ship because as the nine Albacores from Cox’s Bazaar arrived, Major Newson flew over the anchorage dropping flares and sizing up the situation while the other eight planes orbited overhead waiting for his orders. Newson missed Wakaba and ordered the Albacores to divide their attention between Nagatzuki and Harukaze. Lieutenant Commander Koeu managed to get Harukaze underway and he successfully avoided all but two of the 500-pound bombs dropped on his ship. Harukaze probably could have survived the damage but shortly after getting struck she blundered into a mine laid by HMS Manxman and rolled over on her side and sank with heavy loss of life. Nagatzuki was a sitting duck and was struck by six bombs although Lieutenant Commander Ninokata was able to run his ship aground in shallow water, saving most of his crew for the dubious honor of joining the Japanese infantrymen onshore.
All nine Albacores departed safely without loss and Lieutenant Commander Suetsugu successfully found the safety of the nearby rainsquall and in a feat of skilled seamanship navigated Wakaba through the treacherous waters around the islets due south of Ramree Island and joined up with Rear Admiral Shima’s cruisers an hour later. By any objective standard, the mission to bring troops and supplies to Ramree Island by sea was an unmitigated disaster.
0315 Hours, 13 December 1942, Ramree Island, Burma – An hour after Major Newson’s Albacore’s departed, Lieutenant Little arrived on his solo run and added insult to injury by dumping all four of his 250-pound bombs on the ground hulk of the destroyer Nagatzuki. The Japanese were in the process of trying to strip the ship of everything that was useful and several men were killed and the stern of the ship was mangled. Little threw several empty bottles out of his cockpit as he departed and all of the Albacores involved in the night’s missions were safely on the ground at Cox’s Bazaar before dawn.
At around the same time, the destroyer Wakaba joined the light cruisers Kinu and Kiso approximately 25 miles south of Ramree Island and the three ships headed due south at 20 knots with Kiso in the lead, flanked by Wakaba and Kinu.
At around the same time, the destroyer Wakaba joined the light cruisers Kinu and Kiso approximately 25 miles south of Ramree Island and the three ships headed due south at 20 knots with Kiso in the lead, flanked by Wakaba and Kinu.
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So the poor sods are stranded on an enemy held island with only their rifles and belt kit.
That's about the size of it and the sad thing is the sailors from Nagatzuki envy them.
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