Fantasque Time Line (France Fights On) - English Translation

[Wings]

April 16th, 1942

Battle of Singapore - I -In the west, after a day's pause, the Japanese go on the attack again, attempting to envelop the main Jurong line. The British drop out and take up positions on the hills covering Bukit Timah Road.
In the north, the 9th Indian ID abandons the naval base and continues its withdrawal to a line reaching from Seletar Reservoir to Bukit Panjang.

 

[Wings]

April 16th, 1942

Darwin (Australia) - The port and the city are attacked by 36 bombers of the Japanese Navy based in Timor, escorted by 27 fighters. Alerted too late, the American fighters based in the vicinity can only shoot down three bombers and two escort fighters, losing four P-40s.

 

[Wings]

April 16th, 1942

Hiroshima Bay (main port of the Japanese fleet) - Vice Admiral Komatsu, new Commander of the 6th Fleet*, visits Admiral Yamamoto on board the new flagship of the Japanese fleet, the battleship Yamato. He is accompanied by his staff, as well as the crews of the new mini-submarines, still in training. Although the loss of the Chiyoda in December delayed the whole program, the recent commissioning of the Nisshin has allowed the program to be re-launched and to consider future large-scale operations by summer. Komatsu explains that only three mini-submarines will be able to participate in the attack on Colombo that 8th Squadron is soon to launch. Yamamoto concludes the lecture by wishing the young submariners good luck in their upcoming missions "under distant skies".

Hashirajima, Japan - The commanders of AMC Aikoku Maru and Hokoku Maru are informed that the Combined Fleet has decided to convert their ships to the role of fast transports. However, they will have one last task: to supply the five submarines of the 8th Squadron at the beginning of a mission in the Indian Ocean.

* He replaced Mitsumi Shimizu, who was injured on February 1st during the Kwajalein attack.

 

[Wings]

April 16th, 1942

East coast of Australia, 19:00 - The submarine supply ship USS Griffin (ex-Mormacpenn) is slowly making its way to Brisbane, where it is to establish a base for the American submarines operating in the region. Accompanied by six submarines (S-42, S-43, S-44, S-45, S-46, S-47), it left the United States 42 days earlier, taking with it a stock of torpedoes for the S-class submarines as well as for the more modern oceanic submarines. It should arrive in Brisbane the following day. The trip is calm, but a gale is expected in the evening. The two escort destroyers, out of fuel, leave the formation at 16:00, sailing at 9 knots, to reach Brisbane. Until sunset, some RAAF Anson aircraft from Caloundra monitor the area.
19:05 - A huge explosion destroys the Griffin, which disappears in an instant from the surface of the ocean. The submarines, assuming that an accident, perhaps linked to the fact that the worsening weather caused the explosion of the torpedo stockpile, the submarines approached the site of the wreck to search for survivors and call for help. The armed yacht Adele, 20 nautical miles south, which was heading for Moreton Bay to take shelter, changes course to join them. The destroyers also turn back, although they are so low on fuel that their stability is impaired, while the southern wind becomes more and more violent. Alas, no survivors are found.
20:20 - Searching the sea at less than 5 knots, the USS S-46 (Lt R.C. Lynch, Jr) is torpedoed and sinks immediately. Understanding what happened, the other "S" scatter and two of them dive to protect themselves.
21:30 - The Adele arrives in the area and, aware of what had happened, begins to search for an enemy submarine.
22:05 - The Adele reports being narrowly missed by a torpedo.
22:25 - The yacht sees a submarine briefly porpoising and rushes to drop four depth charges, without result, then sails away.
The next day, the two destroyers, almost out of fuel, escort to Brisbane the S-42, S-44, S-45 and S-47. There is no trace of the S-43 (Lt E.R. Hannon), which disappeared. The command, obsessed by the German submarines, concludes that it was a trap set by a kind of expeditionary force of U-boats...
.........
"After the war, examination of Imperial Navy records revealed that the culprit was the Ro-64. Having spotted the Griffin, it fired four torpedoes. At least one hit its target, and the ship exploded with such violence that the submarine was slightly damaged. He dived deep to reload with its last four torpedoes, then heard propeller noises on the hydrophones. Coming back up in periscope immersion, he saw a submarine - obviously not a Japanese one, because its lights were on and its searchlights were searching the sea. The Ro-64 immediately launched two torpedoes, one of which hit, and the targeted submarine (the S-46) sank. At 22:00, while searching for a new target, the Ro-64 spotted "a gunboat" (probably the HMAS Adele) on which it fired a torpedo (the other one was long-lived), but missed its target. In the depths, the submarine heard several depth charges (noted as "not close" in the patrol report) and turned back towards Kwajalein.
The fate of the S-43 is unknown and may well remain so. There are four possibilities. The S-43 could have been sunk by one of the torpedoes of the first salvo of the Ro-64. It could have been sunk by the explosion of the Griffin, perhaps hit by a large piece of debris. It could have been sunk by mistake by the HMAS Adele. Finally, it could have dived and been the victim of an accident. No one knows, but we must hope that it was not sunk by the Adele." (Research Notes of Mr. Norman, December 1949)
[Side note, December 2005 - In 2002, investigations led by the famous American researcher Robert Ballard located the three wrecks. The S-43 was located very close to the huge area covered by the Griffin's wreckage. Its bow was completely torn off.
However, the report of this fatal voyage mentions that the S-43 was on the port side of the Griffin, and the Ro-64 torpedoed the latter from the starboard side. It is very likely that a torpedo missed the Griffin and hit the S-43. The sympathetic explosion of a torpedo from the American submarine is also possible, or a false start and an explosion in the tube under the effect of the explosion of the Griffin. In any case, the three ships are today protected as historical sites and war graves. M.B.]

 

[Wings]

April 16th, 1942

Peloponnese campaign - According to the communiqués of both sides, "In the Peloponnese, nothing new". Specifically, no operations are underway on the ground, and air activity is "normal" - in fact, the Allies continue their attacks on the Axis operational bases in Corinth and Patras, and the Germans launch a raid on Gythion probably motivated by the desire to mark that the "provisional capital" remains under threat from the Luftwaffe, after the visit of the King of Greece. The Allied forces lose fourteen planes and those of the Axis nine.

 

[Wings]

April 16th, 1942

Central Mediterranean - Allied air operations against Sicily and Southern Italy are stepped up to prevent Axis air forces from concentrating forces south of the boot to threaten the western Peloponnese. The 247 allied offensive missions of the day result in the loss of eleven Allied aircraft (4 bombers and 7 fighters) and ten Italian fighters.

 

[Wings]

April 16th, 1942

Moudros - The situation is considered to be sufficiently stabilized to base in Limnos a fleet of 14 speedboats (8 MTB and 6 MGB).

 

[Wings]

April 17th, 1942

Battle of Singapore - I
"It has become obvious that each Japanese division has its own axis of attack, materialized by a hard road. This is logical for simple reasons of command, control and logistics. From north to south, these are:
- Imperial Guard Division: North Coast Road - Woodlands, east to the naval base and south to Nee Soon.
- 27th Division: Mandai Road, east to Nee Soon.
- 5th Division: Choa Chun Kang Road, east to Bukit Panjang.
- 18th Division: Jurong Road, east to Bukit Timah.
- 9th Division: West Coast Road to Pasir Panjang."
(Excerpt from a message from the staff of the Military Region of Malaya)
...
After the heavy fighting in and around the naval base, the Imperial Guard Division regroups its three regiments (including the 5th, symbolically reconstituted) to consolidate its gains and properly secure the base. There, a surprise awaits the Japanese: stocks of beer and hard liquor have been deliberately left all over the base. The officers have some difficulty in controlling their men who, after eight days of suffering seek temporary relief in drink.
Opposite, the 9th Indian Division falls back in defense of Nee Soon, the Sungei Seletar and the Seletar Reservoir.
...
Following the confused clashes south and east of Yew Tee, the Japanese 27th Division needs time to refocus and shift its axis of advance eastward. As a result,a single regiment can resume its advance eastward along Mandai Road while securing its southern flank. This is the 3rd China Regiment, which makes little or no progress against the very tired but experienced men of the 8th and 22nd Indian Brigades (9th Indian Division).
...
The Japanese 5th Division pivots inward from the western heights of the Bukit Timah and attacks toward the foot of the heights west of the railroad tracks. The British 45th Brigade withdraws to the eastern slopes, and the 44th to the western slopes.
...
The Japanese 18th Division maintains pressure with repeated assaults along Jurong Road against the British regular infantry, which cling to the heights to the north.
South of Jurong Road, the 15th Indian Brigade line forms a pocket, but the Brigade still holds the heights. This brigade now consists of a curious assortment of units, as a continuous flow of reinforcements comes to fill the holes or to relieve the tried and tested units.
...
The Japanese 9th Division continues to nibble away at Allied positions. It uses all the periods of poor visibility - at night, but also in the morning mists and the frequent heavy rains - to infiltrate, in particular, in the swampy and very wooded areas on its left. In front of her, the fuel tanks of Pasir Panjang have been destroyed to prevent them from falling into Japanese hands. The smoke from the fires is pushed to the northeast, obscuring the outskirts and western part of the city of Singapore.

 

[Wings]

April 17th, 1942

Bataan - A counter-offensive led by MacArthur himself drives the Japanese back to their starting positions.
"Thirty minutes before dawn, as MacArthur had ordered, the attack begins.
Silently, without firing a bullet or a shell, GIs and Filipinos infiltrate the Japanese lines. Only when they are detected do they attack, while artillery opens fire on the enemy rear lines. The attack is a complete surprise for the Japanese, who flinch and retreat under the blow. The Filipinos, in particular, fight fiercely, and MacArthur is reported in at least a dozen places along the front where he is not.
His battle plan, however, is more refined than an indiscriminate offensive. While the whole of I Corps pushes forward on a broad front, MacArthur-who had not slept all night, though he did not seem to want to - is leading the Reserve, as promised, along the winding trails he himself had recognized at Bataan so many years before. His objective is the western flank of Mount Samat, on which, at 10:40, after hours of marching as fast as the dilapidated physical condition of the men would allow, his troops are in position. Always in the vanguard, and always armed with a simple crop, he himself leads the assault on Mount Samat, until the charge of the Allied infantry overtakes the lively rhythm of his long strides. In six hours of combat, the mount is taken back!
When the reports of the successful Allied counter-attack arrive in the evening at General Homma's headquarters, he panics. Suddenly, he has the impression that the counterattack is about to swing like a door on its hinges and fall back on his best troops, to trap and annihilate them like thousands of men slaughtered in the battles of the Points and the Pockets. Haunted by this grim lesson, Homma hastily orders his men on the eastern side of the peninsula to retreat to the captured trenches of the Bagac-Orion line to resist what suddenly appears to be the culmination of an ingenious trap set by MacArthur.
The exhausted and routed troops of II Corps suddenly find their pursuers are softening up. That night they collapse on the spot, starving. They had stopped running, but are now just groups of men huddled together, eagerly searching for any food they could find. In the west, the counterattack ceases of its own accord as soon as it is learned that the Japanese were retreating, despite the efforts of a few officers to organize a pursuit, but their exhausted men refused, some simply collapsing where they stood.
During the night, Colonel Hatori, studying the situation for General Homma, who was on the verge of another nervous breakdown, realizes that there is no allied pursuit.
On behalf of his superior, he immediately orders the Japanese units to hold on, whatever positions they hold, and to hold on to them "to the last man". But there is no attack, as there had been no pursuit."

 

[Wings]

April 17th, 1942

Malaya Campaign - Seventeen Wellingtons and 24 Blenheims of the RAF, based in Burma and using Sabang (Sumatra) as a supply stop, attack Jitra and Gurun, in Malaysia, during the night, to try to destroy the railroad that the Japanese engineers are trying to repair. The Japanese flak is rather weak, but the bombing lacks precision. A Blenheim is lost for an unknown reason and another one crashes during take-off after a sudden loss of power of the left engine.

 

[Wings]

April 17th, 1942

Sydney - Reports from Australian coastwatchers in the Solomons report an increase in Japanese reconnaissance flights in the area.
.........
Timor - A Japanese transport and minesweeper sink after hitting mines laid by the French submarine Perle (LV Jean Paumier, who succeeded LV Piot on March 4th).
.........
Nouméa (New Caledonia) - Arrival of four Consolidated 28-5MFs (PBY-5) of the E-24 Flotilla based in La Réunion. Sent to reinforce the local aerial reconnaissance means, the large seaplanes have to operate in coordination with the four Sikorsky S-43 and the three Loire 130s of the R-32 already deployed, as well as with the six American PBY-5s of the VP-71, recently arrived with their tender, the USS Tangier.

 

[Wings]

April 17th, 1942

Peloponnese Campaign - The Moroccan infantrymen launch an operation to retake Krestana, in order to give the Pyrgos pocket a little air. The first two attacks are repulsed by the German mountain troops, but the third one is successful.
In the evening, nine Italian speedboats arrive from Italy at the small port of Poros, on the island of Cephalonia. They have to establish their base in this place, to protect the Italian convoys going to or from Piraeus and to prevent the allied speedboats from disrupting the traffic in the Straits of Otranto. They reinforce a very light device, since the Italian naval forces in Greece only include the destroyers Freccia and Strale, the torpedo boats Ariel and Sagittario, the launches MAS-557, 571, 574, 575 and 576, four mini-submarines of the CB type, as well as a number of small minesweepers and ASM patrol boats.

 

[Wings]

April 17th, 1942

Northern Greece - The remains of the Luftwaffe transport units that took part in the attack on Limnos begin to leave Salonika for Germany or, for some of them, for Warsaw. In a secret report by General Student, he underlines that "the Limnos disaster has its roots in our 1941 successes in Corsica and Sardinia. These victories led us to underestimate the weakness of our airborne troops if they are forced to fight a prolonged battle, and to ignore the fact that they depended for their survival on an almost total air superiority. This one had been conquered above Corsica quite early in the course of the battle, allowing a constant air supply under good conditions and allowing naval convoys to bring in the heavy armaments necessary for the land battle. We never had at Limnos this kind of air superiority, our supply was thus reduced and largely ineffective. Without heavy equipment and without a constant supply of fresh troops, bravery alone cannot win the battle. The sad truth is that airborne troops must win within the first 48 or 72 hours, or they are doomed."

 

[Wings]

April 17th, 1942

Casablanca - Arrival of a British convoy centered on the old aircraft carrier HMS Argus, loaded with 76 Spifire Mk.V destined - at last! - to the RAF units fighting in the Mediterranean and which had to make do with Hurricanes for almost two years.
.........
Rhodes - Arrival of 21 Stirling bombers from Great Britain via Gibraltar and Algiers to reinforce the 236th Wing, in the Coronation Force.
Meanwhile, high-ranking USAAF officers visit Armée de l'Air and RAF airfields in Rhodes and Crete to evaluate the possibility of basing American heavy bombers there to attack the Romanian oil fields.

 

[Wings]

April 18th, 1942

Alger - For the past month, the government has been consulting and speaking out in the press columns and on the radio, taking the opinion as a witness to make the commission evolve and prepare the eventual use of the decree if nothing moves.
Havas Libre, in its dispatches, brings to the attention of the rest of the world the will of the French government to make the cause of women evolve. This attitude does not go unnoticed - we have many proofs, such as an unpublished exchange of letters between Eleanor Roosevelt and Irène Joliot-Curie on this subject.
To illustrate this government position, we hear, for example, General de Gaulle declare, as if incidentally: "Once the enemy has been driven out of the national territory, all men and women of our country will elect the National Assembly which will decide sovereignly of the destinies of the country."
On the airwaves of Radio-Alger, Maurice Schumann echoes him: "If, in the last war, the woman gave hundreds of heroines to freedom, for the first time, in this war, she gives her hundreds of thousands of fighters! The deliverance of the Fatherland will lead to the emancipation of the French woman."
In an interview published in the Echo d'Alger, Pierre Mendès-France comments on the only experience of complete universal suffrage known by the women in France, led in
Louviers at his initiative*. He draws nuanced but positive lessons from it.
And De Gaulle, again, defending the pact of republican renovation advocated by Paul Reynaud, includes the women's vote. As, on this subject, a knowledgeable American journalist observes that the country never made reforms but only revolutions, the General replies: "This is inaccurate - in reality, France only makes reforms in the wake of revolutions."

* Mendès-France took up an idea that had been tried elsewhere, but with important modifications. The December 1936 election in Louviers is in line with the May 1935 program of the "republican list" of which he was the leader: if this program makes only a vague allusion to the possible (and episodic, it seems) participation of women in the municipal work, one can read in the chapter on social works, after the help to the dispensary, to the nurseries, to the day-care centers and to the fight against slums: "Introduction of women whenever appropriate in the municipal commissions, and in particular in the urban planning commissions". On July 25th, 1936, the city council decided to create six positions for female deputy councilors. The originality of the Loverian initiative lies in the mode of designation of these women councillors: the election by universal suffrage, by men and by women. The regulations established by the commission appointed for this purpose and published in October set the two rounds of the election for December 13 and 20 and invited Loverian women to register on a special electoral list opened for them. The conditions are the same as for the men: to be 21 years old before March 31, 1936 and to be domiciled in Louviers.
As modern as he wanted to be, a reformer had to deal with the constraints of his time and he himself was not immune to the received ideas. Pierre Mendès-France wanted to give women their full place in public life. He did not think, however, that their activity should be deployed above all in the social sector.

 

[Wings]

April 18th, 1942

Battle of Singapore - I
On the northwest front, the three regiments of the 27th Japanese Division attack simultaneously. They first make rapid progress on Mandai Road, as the British forces on this front seemed to disappear. In the afternoon, their advance is halted on the north bank of the Seletar Reservoir by the veterans of the 28th Indian Brigade (Gurkha), which came to ensure the junction between the 9th Indian ID and the 2nd Malayan Division.
In fact, the 9th Indian Division withdrew because, from the night of April 8th to 9th to the night of April 18th to 19th, its units suffered an average of 30 percent casualties. The 8th Indian Brigade moves eastward by trails and holds the interval between Pierce Reservoir and Seletar Reservoir. This area is vital because it borders Thompson Road, the only route of retreat. The 22nd Indian Brigade withdraws in the area of the "Dairy Farms" along the pipeline, while other units and the 9th Division HQ follow tracks to Thomson Village.
Further south, near the Bukit Panjang, the 12th Indian Brigade pushes the 5th Japanese Division back hard before withdrawing.
On the western front, units of the 17th Indian Division are engaged against the 18th Japanese Division in the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of the siege to date: the Second Battle of Bukit Timah. For more than 180 degrees from north to south, the terrain west of Bukit Timah changes hands multiple times as artillery barrages and bayonet charges follow. The battle is centered on the Jurong Road axis, as the Japanese attempt to cut off all Allied forces north of Bukit Timah village from Singapore.
The intensity of the battle does not diminish as night falls, while the fewest units available to both sides are thrown into the furnace.
This bloodbath overshadows the slow progress of the Japanese 9th Division along the southwest coast road, where it faces the 1st and 2nd Malayan Brigades on the narrowing coastal strip west of Reformatory Road.

 

[Wings]

April 18th, 1942

East coast of Australia, 02:00 - The Ro-65 (LV Torisu) attacks a tanker 120 nautical miles northeast of Sydney. The submarine claims two torpedoes on target and one ship sunk, but wrongly so. The American tanker Pat Doheney reports that two torpedoes had exploded far from her (probably at the end of their course) and that she is intact. Unaware of its failure, the Ro-65 resumes the next day its trip to Kwajalein.

 

[Wings]

April 18th, 1942

North Pacific - At 05:58, an SBD piloted by Lt. Wiseman spots a small apanese patrol boat 42 nautical miles away from the American forces heading to Tokyo. He reports the contact by throwing a message in a ballast bag on the deck of the Enterprise and the fleet changes course. But at 07:38, a new patrol boat is seen by a lookout of the Hornet. The boat is quickly sunk by the guns of the cruiser Nashville, but it has time to send a message.
At 08:00, Admiral Halsey signals the Hornet by flashing searchlight: "Launch planes - To Colonel Doolittle and his brave men, good luck and God bless you." On the Hornet, the alarm horn sounds and the loudspeakers announce, "Army pilots, to your planes!"
The carrier pitches hard against winds that exceed 40 knots. Lt. Edgar G. Osborne has to stand near the bow with a checkered flag to give the go signal to the planes. His gesture must be perfectly calculated so that each of the sixteen B-25 start rolling at the right time to reach the end of the flight deck at the moment the aircraft carrier takes a dive.
At 08:20, Colonel Doolittle pushes the throttles hard. While the Hornet, speeding at full steam, hits the crest of the waves, he pulls on the stick and takes off, followed by the other aircraft, at intervals of about four minutes. As the take-off is earlier than expected (the squadron is still 688 nautical miles from Japan), the planes lack fuel and the first ones cannot wait for the next ones: each B-25 will have to accomplish its mission individually. The last one having left (initially planned as an observation and photo platform, it finally receives a bombing mission as well), Task Force 16 turns back to Pearl Harbor.
.........
Tokyo - The Japanese capital is enjoying a beautiful spring afternoon when the bombers arrive. The first one, Colonel Doolittle's plane, drops its bombs at 12:30.
For more than half an hour, fourteen other planes follow.
The last one bombs the Yokosuka shipyard, a secondary target. Only one ship is hit: the Ryuho - the former submarine tanker Taigei, currently being converted into a light aircraft carrier. Between the repair of the damage and the end of the conversion, the Ryuho will not be operational until late November.
The Japanese anti-aircraft defenses are totally surprised and do almost no harm to the bombers (only one is slightly hit by the flak, another one, attacked by fighters, had to drop its bombs prematurely).
.........
China - Bad weather and the unexpected length of the flight are to be fatal for Doolittle's planes. One aircraft diverts over the Soviet Union and lands normally near Vladivostok, where the crew will be interned for a few weeks (much less time than its members feared...). Four planes crash land in different places of China and the crews of the eleven others jump by parachute. Two men are killed in the planes that try to land and one among those who parachute, while eight are captured by the Japanese - but the other 64, including Doolittle, manage to reach Chungking and safety.
.........
Tokyo - The highest Japanese authorities meet on the evening of the 18th to assess the consequences of the surprise raid on the capital, to understand how the Americans operated and to decide how to respond to this intolerable offense. Already, all available ships had already set sail to punish the insolent gaijin - but all of them would return two or three days later, having spent a lot of fuel oil and not having seen a single American ship.
The first decision taken at the meeting is to redeploy around the capital four fighter chutai (about a hundred planes). But the strategic discussions continue late into the night, when they are brutally interrupted by a general alert.

United States Navy Aircraft Carrier USS Hornet with B-25 bombers on deck, Doolittle raid, April 18th, 1942.

 

[Wings]

April 18th, 1942

Peloponnese Campaign - Violent fights take place all day around Krestana, which the German troops try to take back from the Moroccans - without success.
The VTB-109 (a Higgins launch) arrives at Pyrgos to replace the destroyed VTB-103, accompanied by VTB-110, 111 and 112 (Fairmile launches), which reinforce the fleet at
Pyrgos. During the night, Wellingtons attack Missolonghi and Patras.
.........
Crete - The 235th Wing of the RAF, equipped with Boston IIIs, arrives in Heraklion, coming from Tunis-Pont du Fah to reinforce the bombers of the Aegean Air Force. The RAF put 177 bombers on line (including the Greek Air Force). The 232nd Wing, on Maryland, is based at Molai, in the Peloponnese, with the 237th and 238th Wings on Blenheim IV. The 234th and 235th, on Boston III, operate from Heraklion with the 202nd on Wellington, which carry out night bombing and mine laying.
The Armée de l'Air transfers to Chios and Lesbos-Mytilene two of the groups of the 23rd Bombardment Squadron (the I/23 and III/23), on DB-73.

 

[Wings]

April 18th, 1942

Rhodes - Sixteen Consolidated-32/B-24Ds reinforce the 60th Heavy Bombardment Squadron operating as part of the Coronation/Coronation Force.