Yes, the current garrison at Akyab is the 21st East African Brigade and 213th Indian Brigade comprising the 11th East African Division. The East African brigade is the same group of guys who held the port in May. They are also backed up by the 6th Infantry Brigade (2nd Infantry Division), a newly arrived but well trained British formation. Slim is currently using that brigade as a reserve for XV Corps and he is hoping he won't have to commit them at Akyab but they are available just in case.
April 1942 Alternate Indian Ocean
- Thread starter Zheng He
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Yes, the current garrison at Akyab is the 21st East African Brigade and 213th Indian Brigade comprising the 11th East African Division. The East African brigade is the same group of guys who held the port in May. They are also backed up by the 6th Infantry Brigade (2nd Infantry Division), a newly arrived but well trained British formation. Slim is currently using that brigade as a reserve for XV Corps and he is hoping he won't have to commit them at Akyab but they are available just in case.
Barry Bull
Donor
In such circumstance, the numerical superiority of IJA 55th Division is actually quite small and given the advantage enjoyed by the defendants, it would be quite difficult for the 55th Division to conquer Akyab. Poor IJA intelligence on defendant strength in Akyab?
It's good to read the new updates and to see this fine story continued.
@Zheng He The post you made on the XB-19 thread about the double sunrise flights was very informative.
And I think it would fit in well here in your ATL where there are also those long flights between Australia
and Ceylon. So I'd to repost your link here along with some commentary about those remarkable flights.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Double_Sunrise
The certificate they issued to the passengers is a charming and flavourful touch. The symbolism found in the fine
detailing is a tribute to the artist. One must look closely though. A bright and pleasant vignette in a dark time.
@Zheng He The post you made on the XB-19 thread about the double sunrise flights was very informative.
And I think it would fit in well here in your ATL where there are also those long flights between Australia
and Ceylon. So I'd to repost your link here along with some commentary about those remarkable flights.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Double_Sunrise
The certificate they issued to the passengers is a charming and flavourful touch. The symbolism found in the fine
detailing is a tribute to the artist. One must look closely though. A bright and pleasant vignette in a dark time.
0700 Hours, 14 December 1942, Darwin, Australia – The latest mission in the evacuation of most of the Allied troops on Timor got underway during the morning of 14 December 1942. Led by the destroyer HMAS Stuart, the American destroyer transports USS Talbot and USS McKean and the Free French destroyers Mistral, Le Triomphant, and Leopard departed Darwin for the sprint across the Timor Sea, a 17-hour transit at 20 knots. The goal of the mission was to evacuate the remaining Dutch and Australian troops who had been on the island since February along with the Australian Commandoes of Tern Force (2/11th Battalion) who had arrived in July. The commandoes of Tern Force (2/4th Commando Squadron) were covering the withdrawal of their comrades and were not due to evacuate the island for another two weeks.
1000 Hours, 14 December 1942, Colombo Harbor, Ceylon – Admiral Somerville had received the latest communication from Rear Admiral Tennant requesting assistance from the Eastern Fleet the previous evening and he was not surprised. Somerville’s staff kept him up to date on the developments in the Arakan and he was well aware that Tennant would additional help sustaining the position on Ramree Island if the Japanese decided to contest that aspect of the British offensive in Burma. Fortunately, that meant a plan was already in motion to reinforce Tennant. The main problem was a lack of sea-based airpower. Somerville could only call on one small carrier, HMS Hermes, and that was not enough. However, the escort carrier USS Copahee was due to arrive at Colombo in less than 24 hours with a convoy from Fremantle and that would give him two flight decks with a total of about 50 aircraft between them. After Copahee was resupplied Somerville planned to sortie for the Bay of Bengal with a task force built around the two carriers and the battleship HMS Valiant. A liaison team from the Eastern Fleet was already headed for Akyab and Chittagong onboard a Canadian PBY to begin coordination with the land-based commands.
It's good to read the new updates and to see this fine story continued.
@Zheng He The post you made on the XB-19 thread about the double sunrise flights was very informative.
And I think it would fit in well here in your ATL where there are also those long flights between Australia
and Ceylon. So I'd to repost your link here along with some commentary about those remarkable flights.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Double_Sunrise
The certificate they issued to the passengers is a charming and flavourful touch. The symbolism found in the fine
detailing is a tribute to the artist. One must look closely though. A bright and pleasant vignette in a dark time.
Thanks for posting that. The Double Sunrise flights due exist in this TL, in fact they started about a year earlier than OTL.
Errolwi
Monthly Donor
There are fairly detailed articles about these flights in The Aviation Historian Issues 27 and 28 (current issue is 29).
1200 Hours, 14 December 1942, HMS Victorious, Reykjavik, Iceland – Vice Admiral Lyster was hosting Rear Admiral McWhorter, senior flying officers, and carrier captains onboard HMS Victorious for one last planning session. The task force was due to sortie in 24 hours, coincident with the sailing of the Murmansk bound convoy JW-51A from Loch Ewe, Scotland. Despite the security surrounding the operation, Lyster assumed the Germans would pick something up and his scheme of maneuver was designed to disguise his task force’s movements as that of a heavy covering force for the convoy.
Training of the strike squadrons against the task force’s battleships over the past week had not gone as well as the senior officers had hoped it would. They had lost three days of practice due to poor flying weather and the training sorties had cost six aircraft. The Americans lost a Wildcat and two SBDs and the British lost a single Albacore and two of the new Barracudas. Four valuable air crews were lost to the frigid water as well. The accidents could not be helped, the mission demanded realistic training and realistic training always led to losses. The weather forecasters were predicting several days of relatively clear weather and Lyster and McWhorter would have preferred two or three more days of training but the phases of the moon, predicted weather over the target area, and convoy sailing schedules meant the task force sailed on 15 December, ready or not. After an early dinner Lyster dismissed his guests to make final preparations and to get some rest. The next five days promised to be interesting.
Training of the strike squadrons against the task force’s battleships over the past week had not gone as well as the senior officers had hoped it would. They had lost three days of practice due to poor flying weather and the training sorties had cost six aircraft. The Americans lost a Wildcat and two SBDs and the British lost a single Albacore and two of the new Barracudas. Four valuable air crews were lost to the frigid water as well. The accidents could not be helped, the mission demanded realistic training and realistic training always led to losses. The weather forecasters were predicting several days of relatively clear weather and Lyster and McWhorter would have preferred two or three more days of training but the phases of the moon, predicted weather over the target area, and convoy sailing schedules meant the task force sailed on 15 December, ready or not. After an early dinner Lyster dismissed his guests to make final preparations and to get some rest. The next five days promised to be interesting.
More arrogance on Iida's part. To him the troops the 55th Division is facing are just more of the same group of clods his troops smacked around earlier in the year. To him the failure to capture Akyab is small setback in what was an otherwise brilliant campaign where his troops went through Burma like Sherman through the South. He fully expects the elite 55th Infantry Division to correct that mistake and then he can get about the business of chasing the rest of the Allied troops still in Burma into India. He hasn't caught up to the fact that the correlation of forces is now on the Allies' side and that it will only get worse from here on out. He also does not realize that his troops in the Arakan are opposed by troops led by one of the finest field commanders in any theater of the war on any side.
Question of the day, will HMS Hermes join SS G.T. Stinger at the bottom of Davey Jones Locker?
Errolwi
Monthly Donor
Does he have the option to go fighter-heavy with the air groups, or is he limited?
My guilty pleasure in this wonderful timeline is to see Hermes carrying on through the war. She was a good ship and had what you could call an interesting career between the wars, It's a shame she went down without being able to punch back. Very glad to see her being useful again!
First post but long time reader here, continue your magnificent work Zeng He!
First post but long time reader here, continue your magnificent work Zeng He!
Copahee is bringing a load of 16 Wildcats and 12 SBDs and right now Hermès normally carries 12 Martlets and 8 Swordfish. However, for this mission the air groups will probably be fighter heavy.
Errolwi
Monthly Donor
Yep, presumably that what the SBDs are for too. Drop the patrollers from whichever of the two that you can add fighters to most easily.
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