Opening Shots
January 1st: 1947 begins. The Imperial Japanese Navy begins preperations to defend Occupied Sumatra from possible Anglo-Hanoverian efforts.
January 2nd: The Anglo-Hanoverian Royal Navy moves against Sumatra, as massive numbers of Indian troops begin moving through South East Asia towards their final goal of the Vietnamese coast. As they move, they lay down roads and rail lines.
January 3rd: The Battle of The Bay of Bengal - 'Jamaica' torpedo bombers of the Royal Navy sink a Japanese cruiser as the two fleets skirmish. The only ship lost is the Japanese cruiser, although dozens of aircraft on both sides are lost. In the end, the Japanese withdraw, to fight defensively within range of their air bases on Sumatra.
January 4th: Fleet manuvering, as the Royal Navy prepares to attack Sumatra.
January 5th: The Battle of The Andaman Sea - the Royal Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy clash in force - this is the first major naval victory the Anglo-Hanoverians have against the Japanese, as they force the Japanese fleet to withdraw.
The Japanese lose a carrier, the Shinano, along with eight other ships, while the Anglo-Hanoverians only lose six shps, none of which were carriers.
January 6th: The Battle of the Strait of Malacca - the Royal Navy repels an Imperial Japanese counter-attack, in spite of its heavy support from land-based air fields.
The Anglo-Hanoverians lose more aircraft than the Japanese, but ship losses are eleven Japanese for nine Anglo-Hanoverian.
January 7th: Operation Holiday - 10,000 Royal Marines storm the beaches of Sumatra, catching the defenders off guard and securing a beachhead by noon with only 2,000 losses.
By the time a Japanese counter-attack could be organized, another 20,000 troops were on shore, and were prepared to defend the Japanese trenches they had captured. In spite of the nearly suicidal courage of the Japanese, the Anglo-Hanoverians had their beachhead.
Over the course of the entire day, the Anglo-Hanoverians were under nearly continuous sniper fire, as well as periodic mortar bombardment.
January 8th: Another 10,000 Anglo-Hanoverian troops arrive in Sumatra, the others push into the island.
As they advance, they find themselves facing dug-in and fanatical defenders, who constantly attack them from ambush and without mercy. Even for the veteran troops involved in the opperation, losses are heavy and morale suffers.
About 3,500 Anglo-Hanoverians perish over the course of the 8th.
January 9th: Massive bombardment of Japanese positions on Sumatra occurs, as the Anglo-Hanoverian ground forces hang back and hope to soften up the enemy. Previous support fire from the fleet had also been heavy, but this time an extra effort is made, to pound the Japanese defenses to nothing and demoralize the defenders.
January 10th: The advance resumes - resistance continues to be encountered, although as more and more Anglo-Hanoverian armour is brought ashore, the fighting becomes easier - the Anglo-Hanoverian KA-II proves massively supperior to its Japanese counterparts, the Type 95 Ha-Go tank being the most common of the tanks it faced.
January 11th: The Grey Wolf Armoured Brigade arrives on Sumatra.
January 12th: The town on Medan on Sumatra falls over the course of a day of fierce fighting - the Grey Wolf Armoured Brigade showed up, and shelled the town into ruins to the dismay of its defenders, who encountered great difficulty in destroying the Grey Wolf Brigade's KA-IIs.
January 13th: The Japanese forces on Sumatra begin a fighting withdrawl, moving to re-form in the eastern part of the island.
January 14th: Further advances made in Sumatra.
January 15th: The first air bases are set up in the western part of Sumatra, and begin flying support missions against the Japanese.
January 16th: The town of Sibolga falls with very little fighting.
January 17th: Major Japanese resistance begins once more, as they struggle to deal with the Anglo-Hanoverian KA-IIs, resorting to all sorts of nearly-suicidal and truly-suicidal tactics to knock them out.
January 18th: A massed attack by the Grey Wolf Armoured Brigade breaks through the Japanese defenses, and is rapidly exploited as per the Lightning War strategies of the Eastern Front. This is one of the few times when such an opperation is possible, but it succedes wonderfully - nearly 8,000 Japanese soldiers are cut off, and while all but about 90 of them fight to the death, they are prevented from fighting effectively.
January 19th: Fierce Japanese resistance slows the Anglo-Hanoverian advance.
January 20th: A major aerial campaign is launched to secure total air supperiority over Sumatra.
January 21st: The Battle of The Java Sea - the Royal Navy severs Japanese supply lines to Sumatra, and begins preperations to move on towards Borneo once Sumatra was secured.
The Anglo-Hanoverian carrier Apollo suffers serious damage, but survives, while the Japanese carrier Kami is sunk.
January 22nd: The Battle of Makassar Straits - the Anglo-Hanoverian Royal Navy fights a major battle with the Imperial Japanese Navy, one that ends indecisively, but indecisively in the favor of the Anglo-Hanoverians since they prevent the Japanese counter-attack from carrying through.
The Anglo-Hanoverians lose the carrier Nike to the Japanese, as well as a number of other ships.
January 23rd: Padang in Sumatra falls.
January 24th: Jambi on Sumatra falls. The fighting around Jambi was fierce, as the swampy terrain did not easily accomadate Anglo-Hanoverian armour, Still, thanks to air supperiority, the Anglo-Hanoverians prevailed.
January 25th: Fierce Japanese resistance leads to the Anglo-Hanoverian offensive in Sumatra bogging down.
January 26th: With the consent of the Prime Minister, the atomic bomb is used for the third time, against Palembang, tha largest town on Sumatra, which had become the lynchpin of the determined Japanese defense.
Following the atomic attack, the Japanese defenders were so shocked at the scale of the destruction that their defense collapses. Many actually surrender, so horrifying was the destruction of the town.
January 27th: The ruins of Palembang are secured.
January 28th: The town of Bengkulu on Sumatra is secured as the Japanese retreat.
January 29th: The remaining Japanese defenders dig-in and prepare to sell their lives dearly in the south-eastern portion of the island of Sumatra.
The Anglo-Hanoverians push on, and make good use of their armour, using for the first time KA-IIFs, which are King Alexander Model Two tanks modified to use a flame thrower.
Burned, bombed and shelled, the Japanese defenders hold out through the night and into the next day.
January 30th: The last Japanese positions are taken, as desperate Japanese soldirs begin comitting mass suicide rather than surrender or be burned to death in their bunkers by flame tanks.
The island of Sumatra has been taken, at the cost of about 10,500 Anglo-Hanoverian soldiers.
Precise Japanese losses are unknown, but presumed to be about 65,000.
