Fantasque Time Line (France Fights On) - English Translation

[Wings]

February 12th, 1943

Guadalcanal - A dozen F4U-1s from VMF-124 (Major William E. Gise) land at Henderson Field - thus half of this unit, the first to be equipped with Corsairs*. This is the first assignment of this aircraft to the front line, but it is under the colors of the USMC and not the US Navy, as the latter had temporarily abandoned it.
Indeed, the qualification tests on aircraft carriers carried out in October 1942 revealed several major problems, which led to a flight deck ban until further notice. This ban did not bother the Navy too much, which started to receive its first F6F Hellcat. On Guadalcanal, the Corsair is eagerly awaited and the first mission takes place the same day.

* The VMF-124 left the east coast for Nouméa in early January on the SS Lurline, a luxury liner, while its aircraft were transported by the cargo ship USS Kitty Hawk. The unit received the valuable support of a technical representative from the Chance-Vought company, who was assigned to the unit for the duration of its stay at the front.

 

[Wings]

February 12th, 1943

Tokyo - During a rather tense session of the Imperial General Staff, General Hagime Sugiyama, Chief of Staff of the Army, somewhat condescendingly accepts the Navy's proposal. It is true that refusing would have been difficult, whereas accepting allows the Army to gain a small advantage in the ongoing struggle for influence with the Navy.
By the end of the day, the creation of the Attu Occupation Force is complete. It would be composed of the 301st and 303rd Independent Infantry Battalions (each about 1,200 men strong) and commanded by Colonel Yasuyo Yamasaki. The two battalions will be taken from the forces stationed in the Kuril Islands.

Dutch Harbor - To one of his officers who confirmed that the reconnaissance had found no trace of the Japanese fleet, Admiral Norman Scott replieswith a smile: "I would like to think that they had run away when they learned that I had been appointed to the area, but I'm afraid it's more of a victory for Admiral Bering!" However, he is not too happy.
Believing that "the Japs would soon show their faces", he orders, after having discussed it with Buckner (Alaska Defense Command) and Brown (7th ID), to prepare a convoy of reinforcements and supplies for Attu as soon as possible.

Attu and Kiska - The American bombers attack the Japanese troops on Kiska as well as on Attu, but between the clouds, the snow showers and the intervention of the A6M2-N of Kiska, the results are mediocre. A B-25 and a P-40 are shot down by "Rufe" near Kiska and a B-26 crashes on Attu. On the other hand, a "Rufe" is shot down by the P-40 escort and another one is destroyed while landing (the pilot is saved), while a "Jake", leaving for reconnaissance, disappears without a trace.

 

[Wings]

February 12th, 1943

Operation Eisbär (Polar Bear)
Battle of Gomel - Redeployed and cooled down a bit the previous day and night, the 81. ID is sent back into the furnace and manages to drive the Soviets out of the stadium.
The fall of this position is hard felt on the ground, especially since, Model, sensing a flutter in this sector, orders his supports to abandon the rest of the city to concentrate their efforts in this area. A real chain reaction follows: the Soviet riflemen have to abandon not only the area around the stadium, but also the districts further south, along the river. In the evening, the elements of the 81. ID had moved almost six hundred meters to the south.
Taking note of the closure of the road Kiev-Gomel and to strengthen his device, Model also recalls a large part of von Thüngen's forces, south of the city. They are ordered to advance towards the southern suburb of the city to cut off the Red retreat.
In the Soviet camp, the deterioration of the situation on the ground leads to reflection.
It is true that the panic has been stopped by the officers and the commissars, but the morale of the troops seems to be very precarious. In agreement with Konev - who will fiercely deny it in his Memoirs - Kurassov orders his staff to prepare a plan to evacuate Gomel.

 

[Wings]

February 12th, 1943

Odessa Front - "The NKVD trucks were back, bringing back exhausted men... But it was not exhaustion, at least not only. The Soviet soldiers, silent, seemed to be elsewhere.
Dmitri Aksonov hesitated for a moment.
- Sergeant Romanenko, send the men on duty to rest.
- Yes, Comrade Captain.
- When this is done, you'll come and report to me.
The non-commissioned officer - a very young man - shuddered before nodding slowly.
- At your orders, Comrade Captain.
Dimitri returned to his "office," a very pompous word for a square hole dug in the ground and propped up with wooden planks. A table made with the means of the day supported a typewriter. Corporal Tatiana Stepanovna shared the room with her officer. Earphones on, she never left the American radio and the field telephones, scrupulously monitoring the conversations. This short-sighted and unattractive girl was nicknamed the owl because of her thick glasses.
Taking off his quilted jacket and gloves, Dimitri made himself a little more comfortable in the relative warmth. While he was pouring tea from the samovar, Sergeant Romanenko lifted the old blanket that was trying to keep the cold outside from entering the shelter. All sat down on two mismatched chairs salvaged from the ruins, each holding a dented quarter.
- Was it hard, Comrade Sergeant?
Romanenko nodded heavily.
- They were civilians, comrade... The old man, he had witnessed ...
- Comrade Romanenko, I do not understand what you say! Start from the beginning. I want a proper report on the task that was entrusted to you, I remind you, by comrade Commissar Bolotchinov.
The rebuke shook Romanenko a little, and he blushed as he realized that what he had just said made no sense.
- Yes, Comrade Captain, excuse me, Comrade Captain.
He took a deep breath and then spoke again in a slightly more relaxed manner.
- A few days ago the NKVD received a testimony from Comrade Deresz, the old man who accompanied Comrade Bolotchinov the day before yesterday. Last November, Deresz saw a group of Romanian soldiers enter a wood with civilians dressed as city dwellers. There was shooting... then the Romanians left without the civilians.
Dimitri Aksonov stiffened. Yes, he had been expecting this kind of story and already knew what he was going to hear. It was... there were rumors, after all. Only, he would have preferred not to know for sure... that it remained rumors.
- Carry on, Comrade Sergeant.
- Yes, Comrade Captain. So we were assigned the task of finding and dig up the bodies, search them for identification.
- And did you succeed?
- They were men, women, children and old people of both sexes. They were naked. Most of the men must have been Jews... they were circumcised.
- I see...
.........
Sergeant Romanenko was heard as early as 1944 by the Soviet commission charged with Nazi war crimes on the soil of the USSR. He also testified at the Nuremberg trial in 1947. The massacre of Jews in Ukraine is today known as the "Holocaust by bullets". Despite numerous judicial investigations, this episode of the Holocaust remains little known in the West and poorly documented. Fortunately, the Nazis and their allies never controlled the whole of Ukraine and especially not Kiev, its capital. Also, the majority of the 2,500,000 Jews residing in this republic were not bothered.
However, the Waffen S.S. Einsatzgruppen and the Ordnungspolizei (police force in charge of maintaining order) had been ordered to attack "communist officials" and members of the "Jewish intelligentsia" from the very beginning of Barbarossa. Only the proximity of the front and the relative brevity of the occupation of the Ukraine by Nazi Germany prevented a large-scale massacre, as was the case further west.
In fact, the only example of systematic extermination of Jews in Ukraine took place in Odessa, under Romanian control. The massacres were organized administratively and numerous forms were distributed. Shortly before the recapture of the city, the Einsatzkommando 4a of Commandant Paul Blobel received order 1005, which called for finding the mass graves and to destroy the human remains in order to conceal the extent of the crimes committed by the Romanians. However, there were too many sites and the Red Army's advance was too rapid for this attempt at concealment to be successful.

 

[Wings]

February 12th, 1943

Italian Front - The communiqués state in different ways that in Italy, all is quiet. But during the operational pause, the quartermaster's office is working hard. The Allies rebuild their ammunition, fuel and supply depots as best they can. The Germans are digging in - but the bulk of their effort is behind the current front, which is not the main line of resistance chosen by Kesselring.

 

[Wings]

February 13th, 1943

Sofia - The Bulgarian capital has not been bombed for a long time - the Allies seem to have forgotten since the death of King Boris III the previous December. However, the war begins to make itself felt by the shortage, the inflation, the recall of new classes which will replace the Italian troops of occupation in Greek Macedonia and German in Upper Serbia. General Hristo Lukov, one of the most zealous defenders of the Axis cause, offers himself a moment of relaxation by going to the Royal Cinema to see a German film, The Fox of Glenarvon, by Max Gimmich. History does not say whether he liked this film which, ironically, celebrates the Irish revolt against the English occupiers. On his way home, he is accosted by two young people, a boy and a girl - the youngest, Violeta Iakova, is not quite twenty years old. They take out pistols from under their coats, open fire on the general and disappear through a courtyard of a building with two exits.
The execution of the pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic general was claimed the next day by Radio Hristo Botev, an organ of the Bulgarian Communist Party broadcasting from Moscow. The assassination of Lukov, one month after that of Pierre Barbé, ambassador of the New French State in Slovakia, shows that the communist apparatus is more and more interested in the minor partners of the Axis.

 

[Wings]

February 13th, 1943

Lot-et-Garonne - André Maugenet (alias Benoît) is parachuted near Agen. His mission : to make contact with the local representative of the Corps Franc Pommiès, Michel Ribourt (alias Riche). He informs him that a large-scale operation is to come in his region and that future airdrops of arms and ammunition would allow him to properly arm the the Agen battalion and to build up reserves.

 

[Wings]

February 13th, 1943

Boulogne - The Togo is sailing again, but this time towards Germany!
Captain Thienemann found that the damage to his ship required several months of repairs, which it is impossible to do on the spot. Since his arrival, the port has been hit by two air raids.

 

[Wings]

February 13th, 1943

On the right bank of the Salween - The 14th Indian Division in the south and the 5th British ID in the center launch a joint effort that allows them to clear most of the right bank of the river.
Further upstream, as the Japanese stop rebuilding bridges across the river, ferries frantically work to allow the men of the 87th and 88th Regiments of the 71st Division (or what is left of them) to escape death or, worse, capture...

 

[Wings]

February 13th, 1943

Cochinchina, Operation Tenzu - About twenty men too exhausted by the heat, the march or thirst are left in Tran Bang. During the night, the staff decides on a new strategy and the 7th ID finds itself searching the plain of the Joncs, north of Mytho. The men sink into the mud up to their calves, the heat is stifling. The heavy equipment is transported by trucks on elevated roads regularly lined with guard posts. The general staff estimates the forces of the "pro-colonialist rebels" at seven infantry battalions with artillery, engineers and even vehicles. But nothing.

 

[Wings]

February 13th, 1943

Attu and Kiska - The bad weather prevents any serious confrontation, in the air or on the ground.

 

[Wings]

February 13th, 1943

Off Paramushiro - After having considered for a moment to release on the spot, in the relatively calm waters of the channel separating Paramushiro from the neighboring island of Shimushu, Admiral Kakuta decides not to linger there. Indeed, if it is possible to refuel his ships without much risk at this place when the weather is not too bad, the weather is always likely to get seriously bad. Now, to undergo a storm in a temporary anchorage is often delicate and may require a quick departure to avoid the risk of being stranded on the coast after an anchor slips; it is therefore necessary to keep the pressure on the crews as well as on the machines. The alert level is less restrictive than at sea, but a succession of departure and anchoring maneuvers are still necessary at each gust of wind.
Kakuta decides to continue to Mutsu Bay, which is probably farther away from the Aleutian Islands than Paramushiro, but whose infrastructure will allow to repair the damage suffered since the beginning of the operation and to regain some potential on the equipment. Moreover, the crews will be able to rest, to change their mind on land and go back to the battle fresh and ready.

 

[Wings]

February 13th, 1943

Kure - While, in the Kuril Islands, the Army launches feverish preparations under the authority of Colonel Yamasaki, the Navy forms a new flotilla to convoy the Attu Occupation Force to the Aleutians.
The transport is provided by the Sakito Maru (7,100 tons, 19 knots - it was an Army transport) and by the auxiliary cruisers Asaka Maru and Awata Maru (7,400 t each, 19 knots), partially returned to their pre-war role by the dismantling of some guns. Moreover, it was decided to reinforce Kiska and its hydrobase and to create a second hydrobase on Attu. For this purpose, the seaplane carrier Nisshin (carrying 12 seaplanes [10 A6M2-N and 2 E13 A1] and 700 mines), the new seaplane tender Chihaya and the Akagane Maru (3,100 t) will be on the trip.
The escort will be composed of the light cruiser Yubari and the destroyers Arashi, Hamakaze, Isokaze, Urakaze (all Kagero class), Shigure and Shiratsuyu (Shiratsuyu class), as well as the heavy cruisers Ashigara and Nachi and patrol boats PB-31, 32, 34 and 39, which will head back north after having just time to breathe, in Mutsu Bay for the cruisers, in Kushiro (Hokkaido)* for the patrol boats.
The fleet is supplied by the tankers Teiyo Maru, Genyo Maru and Kenyo Maru, which will refuel their bunkers in Mutsu Bay.

Dutch Harbor - The same excitement on the American side, where supplies and reinforcements are taken on board - elements of the 9th Infantry Regiment and the rest of the 13th Engineer Battalion. Men and equipment will be transported by the seaplane tender Casco, the old destroyer Swasey and the Ramsay and Montgomery. The light cruisers Detroit, Raleigh and Richmond and the destroyers Caldwell, Cummings, Dunlap and Mahan are to accompany them to Chichagof Harbor. If all goes well (on the Japanese side and on the weather side), the cruisers will go shell the Japanese landing zone at Massacre Beach.
Unaware of the exact strength of the Japanese elements landing at Attu and Kiska, but convinced that they would soon receive reinforcements, Generals Buckner and Robertson are worried.
Something has to be done before these reinforcements arrive!
Unfortunately, the colonel commanding the 9th Infantry Regiment, who had already reported that his troops suffered greatly from the cold and that their equipment is poorly adapted to the rigors of the climate, estimates that only his... 80 Alaskan Scouts are capable of offensive operations in the current conditions! This is why General Robertson is attentive to the proposal made by the Canadians, who have an infantry brigade accustomed to this environment. It is the 13th Brigade of the 6th ID, based in the Vancouver area and along the west coast of Canada*. But Buckner emphatically refuses to "beg for Canadian support".

* Only the crying lack of escorts forced the Imperial Navy to send back north these four old Momi class destroyers, which the "Admiral Bering" had already tested hard. The PB-37, too damaged, has to be repaired in Hakodate (Hokkaido).
** The 13th Canadian Infantry Brigade comprised four infantry battalions and artillery and support units: 1st Btn, The Canadian Fusiliers (City of London Regiment); 1st Btn, The Winnipeg Grenadiers; 1st Btn, The Rocky Mountain Rangers; 1st Btn, The Hull Regiment; 24th Field Rgt and 46th Light AA Battery, Royal Canadian Artillery; 24th Field Coy, Royal Canadian Engineers; "C" Coy, 1st Btn, The Saint John Fusiliers (machine guns).

 

[Wings]

February 13th, 1943

Operation Eisbär (Polar Bear)
Battle of Gomel - Galvanized by its successes of the day before, the 81. ID continues to press the Soviets hard in the eastern part of Gomel. But it is in the center that the situation is unblocked: informed by reconnaissance of the presence of cracks in the defensive system of the Soviet paratroopers and counting on the imminent arrival of von Thüngen's troops, von der Chevallerie launches an attack at dawn, with powerful artillery and air support. Von Thüngen plays along and pushes his men forward; he is wounded when his command vehicle hits a mine, but he is able to continue the fight.
The Soviets discover too late that they are also under attack in their rear and are cut to pieces. Leading a counter-attack to free the men of the 4th Airborne Corps, Shuikov is wounded and has to be evacuated to the left bank of the Sozh. Deprived of one of its most charismatic commanders, the Soviet forces are wavering more and more. Political commissars report a drop in morale and an increase in desertions and self-inflicted wounds. In response, Stalin orders traitors to be shot and to hold on to the ruins of Gomel at all costs.
In Rastenburg, Hitler asks Model when Gomel would finally be retaken. Model's answer is three words: "Tomorrow, mein Führer."

 

[Wings]

February 13th, 1943

Greece - Of the 77,000 Jews living in Greece at the beginning of the war, 56,000 reside in Thessaloniki, the former refuge of some of the Sephardim expelled from Spain in 1492. The Nazi occupier dissolved their associations and imposed a series of restrictions on them, but it is only today, by decree of SS-Haupsturmführer Alois Brunner, who arrived in Greece on February 6th, that the Jews of Macedonia and Thessaly are interned in ghettos with all the interdictions and spoliations in force in the rest of occupied Europe.
The Germans ignore the protests of the Spanish government (about 600 Jews from Thessaloniki had regained the nationality of their ancestors), as well as those (transmitted by the Red Cross) of the United States and the French government in Algiers. However, they are slow to apply these measures in Athens for fear of the reaction of the imposing Archbishop Damaskinos, head of the Orthodox clergy.
Throughout the country, a number of Jews try to obtain false addresses and even false papers. The most daring try to reach the maquis areas of northern Greece and some of them try to reach a coastal area, from where they hope to reach the Peloponnese or to an island controlled by the Allies by boat.

 

[Wings]

February 14th, 1943

Naples - General Keyaerts does not fail to react to the discreet message he received from Princess Marie-José. After having informed his government through the intermediary of the Belgian ambassador in Algiers, Raoul Richard, he hastened to ask for an audience with the sister of his King. The pretext is quite found: to share with the princess of the congratulations and good wishes of the Belgian Forces in the Mediterranean - and even of the entire armed forces of fighting Belgium - for the birth of little Marie-Béatrice, who was born on February 2nd. These congratulations must however remain unofficial, since Belgium is still legally at war with Italy... But this does not prevent Keyaerts to take advantage of it to ask the princess to transmit his tributes to the queen mother Elisabeth, who seems to take pleasure in her Neapolitan stay, that she prolongs in spite of the pressing calls from London.
In reality, the general is very curious to know the real reason of this meeting. In discovering the content of Libohova's letter, he is very amused: "Eqrem? Well of course I know him! We were together at the Brussels Military School. He's quite a rabbit! He was fighting the Other War with the Ottomans, but I had lost sight of him since then...Anyway, what an idea! Frankly, Your Highness, do you see me as regent of Albania? With, if I may say so, a cardboard crown, like your cousin by marriage Aimone d'Aosta*?"
But this is not the only message that the Princess wishes to convey to the General. Another general, Italian this one, Ambrosio, indeed made known to Marie-José how much the attitude of the allies towards cobelligerent Italy seemed contemptuous. An intervention of his part - passing, of course, by the Belgians - could it not have a certain effect? Marie-José takes advantage of the visit of Keyaerts to relay to him the request of Ambrosio. Nothing would be dearer to her heart than to see her country of origin and her country of adoption rediscover their old friendship in order to fight the Nazi monstrosity.
Keyaerts is willing enough to comply with this request. After all, the Belgians have no strong reasons to resent the Italians. Besides, the Italians are currently doing a pretty good job of taking on their military responsibilities in the peninsula; the more German forces there, the more Allied divisions will be available to liberate France... and Belgium. And the more it will avoid the Belgians having to play the filler on the front without any strategic or political benefit.
As soon as he returns to Algiers, Keyaerts joins General Frère. Under the pretext of preparing the line of the 4th ID and the withdrawal of the Tancrémont Brigade, he mentions the situation of the Italian forces and pleads for a strengthening of their role. It is not certain that Keyaerts knew at that moment that the intervention of an Italian officer was being considered at the meeting that was to take place in Malta. It was planned, but also very much contested by some! Under these conditions, it is not impossible that Keyaerts' intervention with Frere made things easier for General "Sant'Ambroggio".

* Aimone d'Aosta, relative of the Italian royal house, had been offered the crown of the independent state of Croatia. Little reassured by the brutal practices of the regime of Ante Pavelic, he had never set foot in his kingdom and had been satisfied to play with some drinking comrades a ceremony of enthronement, by being crowned with a cardboard crown on his head.

 

[Wings]

February 14th, 1943

Stratford - The Corsair evaluation team receives a visit from a famous colleague, eager to try out their baby.
Lagadec: "Henri Yonnet flew the great Farman Jules-Verne in 1940 during his famous bombing of Berlin. In 1941, he flew two tours of duty on Maryland in the Mediterranean and he obtained four victories (one German and three Italian aircraft)... including two at night! For Yonnet became an "owl", a night fighter, a species still very rare in the Navy."
Although he was an excellent pilot, Yonnet, who was still at that time only a crew officer (though he was highly decorated), was not too comfortable flying a single-engine, single-seat aircraft. Moreover, if he was in the United States, it was as part of a mission ordered by CF Daillière in order to test for the Navy the "naval" versions of various heavy aircraft such as the PB2Y Coronado. However, at the end of 1943, after becoming an officer, he embarked on the Jean-Bart as a specialist in long-range reconnaissance, when the technicians of the aircraft carrier adapted additional tanks to make "canisters". And he will show all his talent as a night fighter in 1944, when the F4U-2 with radar arrived (finally). He ended the war with four other victories, all at night, making him the only pilot of all the Allied navies to obtain the status of night ace. The Navy and war lead to everything!

 

[Wings]

February 14th, 1943

Athens - While the Hellenic State, i.e. the collaborator regime set up by the Germans, shows clear signs of weakness, the services of the Wilhelmstraße decide to change the fuse, by evicting the Prime Minister in place, Konstantínos Logothetópoulos. This doctor, who studied in Munich and married a German woman, is really too unpopular, while the Allied presence in Greece is becoming more and more prominent.
Logothetópoulos is replaced by Ioánnis Rállis, who is considered more credible and more in tune with the political class. It is true that the person concerned, who was four times a minister in the governments of the Royalist People's Party, is also the son of Dimitrios Rállis, several times Prime Minister under George I and Constantine I. It is rumored that he has been scheming to get a position that his colleague no longer seems to want. Logothetópoulos inherits however, the post of minister of the Interior: he will remain in first line vis-a-vis the hatred of his fellow citizens caused by the exactions of the Germans and their followers.
The news is received with indifference by the population. It does not seem to have been the object of a great publicity on behalf of the occupier. It should be said that the Greeks, who are in front of the famine and the civil violence, have other worries...

 

[Wings]

February 14th, 1943

On the right bank of the Salween - The fighting is slowly winding down. The U-Go operation has well and truly failed.
The Japanese had not foreseen that the boldness of the landing at the mouth of the Irrawaddy would not be enough and that the Allied troops would be able to trap the units of the 27th Division in this area, which was not very favorable to the offensive. The 50th Indian Tank Brigade showed its value, in spite of its inexperience and on a terrain not very favourable to armoured vehicles. It was able to follow the example of the famous Calcutta Light Horse, which is equal to itself and already promises to be at the heart of the offensive that will take over Singapore!
The Japanese had not foreseen either, among other things, that the Public Force was not "a unit of slaves led by greedy colonialists" (as Radio Tokyo put it) but a highly experienced double brigade, well versed in jungle warfare.
Finally, for many historians, the first and most unexpected twist is the message TOAD-TOAD-TOAD of the French of Fauconneau/Falconet, which gave the alarm well before what the Japanese strategists had hoped for.
In the end, the Japanese 12th and 55th Divisions were badly damaged, especially the 12th, and the 71st was reduced to less than half its strength. The 27th Division obviously lost all of its combat potential (i.e. 70% of its forces). As for the 2nd Thai Division, it was almost destroyed. There are only a few elements left, just enough for the Thai government to claim that it still exists and to justify its refusal to commit more troops to Burma.
From then on, the Japanese know they would have to bring up the 9th Division on this front, deployed in the north of Malaysia, leaving the peninsula to the custody of the 18th Division and the surviving regiment of the 27th Division (not to mention Singapore, where the 5th Division and the Guards Division stay - which in fact totaled the strength of only about one and a half divisions).
On the Allied side, the 9th Army is exhausted and unable to capitalize on its defensive victory, but in the end, it has to be afraid. Above all, Percival and Slim know that from then on, their forces will grow faster than the Japanese...
This is true especially in the air. As far as the fighter is concerned, Percival, relayed by Wavell, demands the replacement of his Hurricane IIs by Spitfires. Nevertheless, these will be generalized in the units of the RAF only at the end of the monsoon, in October (for this beginning of the year, only a handful of aircraft will be used). Obviously, they will be Mk V... For another use, we will also see the arrival of a Beaufighter squadron. As for the RIAF and the BVAS, they will be satisfied with re-engined Hurricanes. It is the Belgians who, with the reception of Mustang I (admittedly second hand), will receive the most efficient allied fighters. On the other hand, the Imperial Army has to be content with replacing most of its Ki-43s with Ki-44s.
On the bomber side, the most significant evolution is the (very gradual) replacement of the Blenheims by Beaumonts and Beauforts. An important indication of what is to come for the following year is the arrival of a Halifax squadron in November.

On the left bank of the Salween - Far to the north, the men of Orde Wingate's 77th Brigade make their way with great difficulty, accompanied by numerous mules. This is the beginning of long weeks of guerrilla warfare in the northwest of Thailand, on the enemy's rear...

 

[Wings]

February 14th, 1943

Cochinchina, Operation Tenzu - In the afternoon, a battalion of the 7th ID runs into bo-dois on the West Vaico River. The Viets do not prolong the fight and withdraw northward without suspecting that other Japanese had taken position on Colonial Road 13.
The battalion pursues them, but its march is slowed by a muddy river, which has to be crossed by an old half-rotten, tired ferry. The night passes without incident, although a cannonade can be heard to the northeast.