alternatehistory.com
1937 Nov - Dec: The Empire Strikes Back
Thanks for all the comments and feedback I've received so far. I'm humbled and appreciate your support
1937 Nov - Dec: The Empire Strikes Back
Japan had been slowly biding her time. She knew that time was against her with Chiang having found a way to tear away slowly at the Yan Xishan line. Chinese industrialization and rearnament was gathering critical pace and very soon Chinese industrial production would surpass that of Japan. Japan had to act now if she was to retain her rightful place in Asia.
Planning was proceeding apace - there were several things that Japan needed to do to undermine and destroy China. The first thing was to cut China's access to German industrial and military assistance. This would involve blockading Chinese ports. The second was to tie up the vast Chinese reserves of men in defending China's huge coast. This meant destroying the Chinese Navy and with it, China's capacity to somewhat limit Japanese naval action - enabling Japan to conduct "hit and run" attacks on Chinese coasts. With the two factors achieved, Japan believed she could humiliate China enough to force her to the bargaining table.
Grand Admiral Yamamoto would orchestrate the attack on the naval base at Amoy or the "Guangzhou Naval Yards" as it was
The plan, which involved the destruction of the Chinese fleet while she was at port was called "Operation Z." Operation Z called for a night attack on the port of Amoy while the Chinese fleet was not in a state of readiness. The attack would cripple the Chinese surface fleet in one blow using both land-based aircraft in Taiwan and carrier-borne aircraft. The first wave would begin by dropping flares to highlight the ships, the second wave would follow up by dropping torpedoes and the last wave would be that of planes dropping bombs to destroy the Naval yard itself.
Charlize's Theron's portrayal of the Japanese Agent won acclaim despite protests by Chinese nationalists...
The plan required detailed intelligence in order to identify the targets and the defence. This was provided by Mr.F , to this day the identity of Mr. F remains a mystery - proposed explanations include Mr. F being Major Fabroccino, an Italian naval attache with a serious gambling problem. More recently, American historian Ron Howard has come up with a controversial thesis. "Mr. F," in fact stood for "Mentally Retarded Female." Dramatized in his hit TV series about the Second Great War "Arrested Development" this "agent" was in fact a crazed British widow who believed that she was talking to the British Naval authorities when passing on information to the Japanese. Every day "Mr.F" would wander down to the dockyard, pace aimlessly and then report the information back to a pair of Japanese spies, one was poorly disguised in a John Bull outfit and the other was cross-dressing poorly as "Brittania."
The city of Amoy and it's port (off-map)
Japan would get the opportunity to do this in December 1 1937. All major surface combatants of the Chinese Navy had assembled in Amoy for a Naval Exercise. Japanese pilots had plenty of practice attacking a dummy Naval port that was the exact replica of Amoy - such was the quality of intelligence provided by "MR. F" The air was still, the darkness enveloping and the night quiet on the night of December 1 1937. A night which would live in infamy in Chinese history...
Next update: December 1 1937 - A Night That would Live in Infamy
Thanks for all the comments and feedback I've received so far. I'm humbled and appreciate your support1937 Nov - Dec: The Empire Strikes Back
Japan had been slowly biding her time. She knew that time was against her with Chiang having found a way to tear away slowly at the Yan Xishan line. Chinese industrialization and rearnament was gathering critical pace and very soon Chinese industrial production would surpass that of Japan. Japan had to act now if she was to retain her rightful place in Asia.
Planning was proceeding apace - there were several things that Japan needed to do to undermine and destroy China. The first thing was to cut China's access to German industrial and military assistance. This would involve blockading Chinese ports. The second was to tie up the vast Chinese reserves of men in defending China's huge coast. This meant destroying the Chinese Navy and with it, China's capacity to somewhat limit Japanese naval action - enabling Japan to conduct "hit and run" attacks on Chinese coasts. With the two factors achieved, Japan believed she could humiliate China enough to force her to the bargaining table.
Grand Admiral Yamamoto would orchestrate the attack on the naval base at Amoy or the "Guangzhou Naval Yards" as it was
The plan, which involved the destruction of the Chinese fleet while she was at port was called "Operation Z." Operation Z called for a night attack on the port of Amoy while the Chinese fleet was not in a state of readiness. The attack would cripple the Chinese surface fleet in one blow using both land-based aircraft in Taiwan and carrier-borne aircraft. The first wave would begin by dropping flares to highlight the ships, the second wave would follow up by dropping torpedoes and the last wave would be that of planes dropping bombs to destroy the Naval yard itself.
Charlize's Theron's portrayal of the Japanese Agent won acclaim despite protests by Chinese nationalists...
The plan required detailed intelligence in order to identify the targets and the defence. This was provided by Mr.F , to this day the identity of Mr. F remains a mystery - proposed explanations include Mr. F being Major Fabroccino, an Italian naval attache with a serious gambling problem. More recently, American historian Ron Howard has come up with a controversial thesis. "Mr. F," in fact stood for "Mentally Retarded Female." Dramatized in his hit TV series about the Second Great War "Arrested Development" this "agent" was in fact a crazed British widow who believed that she was talking to the British Naval authorities when passing on information to the Japanese. Every day "Mr.F" would wander down to the dockyard, pace aimlessly and then report the information back to a pair of Japanese spies, one was poorly disguised in a John Bull outfit and the other was cross-dressing poorly as "Brittania."
The city of Amoy and it's port (off-map)
Japan would get the opportunity to do this in December 1 1937. All major surface combatants of the Chinese Navy had assembled in Amoy for a Naval Exercise. Japanese pilots had plenty of practice attacking a dummy Naval port that was the exact replica of Amoy - such was the quality of intelligence provided by "MR. F" The air was still, the darkness enveloping and the night quiet on the night of December 1 1937. A night which would live in infamy in Chinese history...
Next update: December 1 1937 - A Night That would Live in Infamy
- CCA
- Word Count: 590