28/05/44 - Asia & Pacific
May 28th, 1944
Malaya Campaign
Operation Stoker
Dumai - For operational maintenance reasons, but also in order not to let the Japanese draw conclusions about the periodicity of the raids, the Liberators attack before the Mitchells. No Japanese aircraft patrol over the harbour. The flak does well, however: one B-24 is shot down and two others are damaged. Major Glenn and his wingman escort the casualties home. In the Japanese camp, the alert was given and a patrol comes across the quartet at Medan. Fortunately, the P-38s are on the lookout and the four Oscars are only allowed one shot, which is unsuccessful. Glenn and his wingman are each credited with a victory (the 8th for the major, who did not hide his pleasure when he got off the plane). The B-24 gunners manage to damage another Ki-43 and the fourth one did not ask for more...
Naval blockade
Borneo - The HMS Truculent had been patrolling for three days south of the Makassar Strait when the lookout reported smoke on the horizon. The commander orders the ship to dive and maneuver to position herself on the contact route. At the periscope dive, the tanker Tonan Maru n°2 is identified, as well as its escort, an Otori class submarine hunter. The submarine launches two torpedoes, one of which hits the tanker, which stubbornly remains afloat. The escort reactsimmediately, assisted by an H6K which arrived as a reinforcement, and the Truculent had no choice but to flee under the pressure.
However, the British submarine was lucky: it broke contact to the north and thus stayed in the path of the tanker, which is now moving at reduced speed, leaving a huge trail of crude oil in its wake. By nightfall, the Truculent was once again in a perfect position. The only torpedo she launches is on target and finishes off the Tonan Maru, which is consumed by fire.
Indochina Campaign
Battle of the RC-4
Hill 477, southeast of Cao-Bang - The battle between the Murasaki column and the 1st REP has been raging for three days. The legionnaires are supported by their Vietminh allies of the TD 88 and 174 (the latter, deployed as far as That Khe, really only engaged one company, which had already participated in the battle of Coc Xa).
The 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment mixed, like any other Legion unit, men of all origins. Colonel Bergé already commanded them in Limnos. They were already veterans when they were parachuted into the Epervier base besieged by the Japanese. Since then, the battle of Dien-Bien-Phu has further strengthened the cohesion and competence of the unit.
Opposite, a single battalion of second-rate troops, normally assigned to patrol and defend the support points of the RC-4. Unable to advance, blocked in the Quang Liet valley by the legionnaires entrenched on hill 477, the Tennô soldiers fight one against four. Another useless battle, with no hope of victory but no idea of retreat.
Yet the relentlessness of both sides is typical of this terrible conflict. The greatest courage rubs shoulders with the most blind fanaticism. Although Westerners do not understand it, this is a religious war. Like the crusaders dying under the walls of Jerusalem, the Japanese are climbing to heaven, praying for the living god who has led them on this path of tears and blood. Banzai, Ten thousand years of life for the emperor!
Faith can warm hearts, heal the wounds of the soul, give meaning to a life that has no meaning. Faith makes it possible to endure the absurdity of the world and to find meaning when reason has given up. However, between sincere faith and blind sectarianism, the distance does not reach the thickness of a sheet of cigarette paper. Religion can turn humans into intelligent weapons ready to do anything to get to heaven by trampling the bodies of their victims.
Erik Bergström is Swedish. This tall, blond man could not have been born further from this conflict. A professional soldier for the Kingdom of Sweden, his desire not to remain neutral in the conflict that was engulfing Europe led him strangely to distance himself from it. But this is not the time for philosophy or footnote comparisons on religion and fate. The powder talks around the legionnaire, a perfect look-alike of the one who was on the cover of Édith Piaf's record. He has to advance, cross the death zone where mortar shells rip the ground open, while a hellish machine-gun fire is unleashed from all sides. The objective: a small eminence where a bunker of logs has been built by the Japanese.
A shout of victory greets Private Bergström as he reaches the summit. He discovers a cleared position: the 75 mm guns of the 4th RAC had again demonstrated their qualities. The partially buried bodies of the Japanese are strewn about the ground, the trenches are filled in, the machine gun nests are still smoking. Only the casemate is still standing. Around it, the corpses are no less numerous, but many of them are wearing the uniforms provided to their allies by Uncle Sam. Among the survivors, if some shout for joy, others call the stretcher bearers for help.
Lieutenant Simonov relaunches his men to the assault of the next hillock. Erik is grateful to him, the cries of a young man who is writhing on the ground, his hands on the mush that had been his face, threaten to make him throw up his breakfast.
The next mound is lower. The Japs (American abbreviation adopted by the French) had only time to dig a hole surrounded by a barricade of sandbags. The artillery passed through there too. The vision of smoke columns, craters and broken trees reassures the young Swede. It's going to be less hard... Isn't it going to be less hard?
Disappointed hope.
A handful of screaming Japanese emerge from the groves spared by the cannonade. This parody of a charge has something surreal about it. The soldiers stumble, exhausted by the fighting and the lack of sleep. They could not even slow down the legionnaires. When they reach the top, they stop...
The only gunshots come from the fighting around them. The position is abandoned. No fanatical defenders refusing to surrender, just the corpses of those who died in the bombardment. With a delay, the legionnaires understand that their enemies have preferred a quick death... they too are at the end of their tether.
Simonov gives his orders. We must not relax. The Japanese will inevitably counter-attack to retake the position. We clear the corpses and slip into the fortified hole. The rifles naturally find their place on the sandbags. We wait.
One hour... A first group of Japanese arrives. Disheveled, naked, often armed with a simple bayonet. They come to throw themselves into the line of fire of the BAR like a moth blinded by the light of a candle comes to burn. Two more attacks follow. The French suffer only minor losses. They are still well supplied with ammunition and weapons, fairly well entrenched and above all... there are more of them. The "counter-attacks" are made by a few handfuls of fighters at the end of everything. So Simonov gives new orders.
- Try to shoot to wound. We need prisoners.
They have already been warned. But the most difficult thing is to bring back the neutralized enemies... if they are not neutralized enough, they can still strike! Several wounded were killed in self-defense and two legionnaires were killed. Yet, anger does not rise. Rather, the sight of a Japanese man wounded in the leg and unable to get up speaking in a pleading tone makes the legionnaires uncomfortable. He holds a bayonet in his hand. If we approach him, he brandishes it. What does he ask? The legionnaires look at each other, helpless.
But the wounded man is quickly forgotten when a new wave of assault, as exhausted and short of ammunition as the previous one, comes to immolate itself on the position. In the middle of the bursts, the abandoned wounded man begins to shout the same words again, in a litany now charged with hope. Two of his comrades approach him. They understand and pierce him with their bayonets. The legionnaires understand and think that the man was asking to be finished.
Simonov looks at the hillside littered with bodies. His eyes glisten and he shudders as he listens to the moans.
- Finish off the survivors.
This order would be horrible anywhere else. But here it is motivated by pity. These enemies consider that there is a worse fate than death.
Erik Bergström goes down with the other men to bring the peace to which the Japanese aspire. How to judge the other? How to judge his way? Today, however, Erik has an answer. Fanaticism has never built, saved or protected anything. Their only achievements are on this absurd battlefield where even the victors cry. Faced with them, there is no other choice but war.
They say it takes two to fight a war. This is not true. The empire of Japan and Nazi Germany just extended to the outside world a war they had started against themselves.
The Sino-Japanese War
Operation Ichi-Go
Pearl River Valley (Togo-2) - Fighting continues in Shenzhen. The Chinese fight foot to foot, but are forced to give up ground. A raid by nine Ki-51s and three Ki-43s, although hampered by the late intervention of six Chinese P-40s that shot down a "Sonia" and an "Oscar" at the cost of one of their own, further disrupt the 52nd Army's defenses.
South West Pacific Campaign
Biak and Noemfoor
Biak – The Americans take a break before attacking the Japanese positions the next day.
………
Noemfoor - It's the start of the final assault! To the south, the Australians manage to overwhelm the Japanese at Menoekwari, pushing them back to Wansra, where a pocket of a hundred irreducible clings. The rest of the division pushes north and Mandori, hoping to surround the rest of the opponents.
Malaya Campaign
Operation Stoker
Dumai - For operational maintenance reasons, but also in order not to let the Japanese draw conclusions about the periodicity of the raids, the Liberators attack before the Mitchells. No Japanese aircraft patrol over the harbour. The flak does well, however: one B-24 is shot down and two others are damaged. Major Glenn and his wingman escort the casualties home. In the Japanese camp, the alert was given and a patrol comes across the quartet at Medan. Fortunately, the P-38s are on the lookout and the four Oscars are only allowed one shot, which is unsuccessful. Glenn and his wingman are each credited with a victory (the 8th for the major, who did not hide his pleasure when he got off the plane). The B-24 gunners manage to damage another Ki-43 and the fourth one did not ask for more...
Naval blockade
Borneo - The HMS Truculent had been patrolling for three days south of the Makassar Strait when the lookout reported smoke on the horizon. The commander orders the ship to dive and maneuver to position herself on the contact route. At the periscope dive, the tanker Tonan Maru n°2 is identified, as well as its escort, an Otori class submarine hunter. The submarine launches two torpedoes, one of which hits the tanker, which stubbornly remains afloat. The escort reactsimmediately, assisted by an H6K which arrived as a reinforcement, and the Truculent had no choice but to flee under the pressure.
However, the British submarine was lucky: it broke contact to the north and thus stayed in the path of the tanker, which is now moving at reduced speed, leaving a huge trail of crude oil in its wake. By nightfall, the Truculent was once again in a perfect position. The only torpedo she launches is on target and finishes off the Tonan Maru, which is consumed by fire.
Indochina Campaign
Battle of the RC-4
Hill 477, southeast of Cao-Bang - The battle between the Murasaki column and the 1st REP has been raging for three days. The legionnaires are supported by their Vietminh allies of the TD 88 and 174 (the latter, deployed as far as That Khe, really only engaged one company, which had already participated in the battle of Coc Xa).
The 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment mixed, like any other Legion unit, men of all origins. Colonel Bergé already commanded them in Limnos. They were already veterans when they were parachuted into the Epervier base besieged by the Japanese. Since then, the battle of Dien-Bien-Phu has further strengthened the cohesion and competence of the unit.
Opposite, a single battalion of second-rate troops, normally assigned to patrol and defend the support points of the RC-4. Unable to advance, blocked in the Quang Liet valley by the legionnaires entrenched on hill 477, the Tennô soldiers fight one against four. Another useless battle, with no hope of victory but no idea of retreat.
Yet the relentlessness of both sides is typical of this terrible conflict. The greatest courage rubs shoulders with the most blind fanaticism. Although Westerners do not understand it, this is a religious war. Like the crusaders dying under the walls of Jerusalem, the Japanese are climbing to heaven, praying for the living god who has led them on this path of tears and blood. Banzai, Ten thousand years of life for the emperor!
Faith can warm hearts, heal the wounds of the soul, give meaning to a life that has no meaning. Faith makes it possible to endure the absurdity of the world and to find meaning when reason has given up. However, between sincere faith and blind sectarianism, the distance does not reach the thickness of a sheet of cigarette paper. Religion can turn humans into intelligent weapons ready to do anything to get to heaven by trampling the bodies of their victims.
Erik Bergström is Swedish. This tall, blond man could not have been born further from this conflict. A professional soldier for the Kingdom of Sweden, his desire not to remain neutral in the conflict that was engulfing Europe led him strangely to distance himself from it. But this is not the time for philosophy or footnote comparisons on religion and fate. The powder talks around the legionnaire, a perfect look-alike of the one who was on the cover of Édith Piaf's record. He has to advance, cross the death zone where mortar shells rip the ground open, while a hellish machine-gun fire is unleashed from all sides. The objective: a small eminence where a bunker of logs has been built by the Japanese.
A shout of victory greets Private Bergström as he reaches the summit. He discovers a cleared position: the 75 mm guns of the 4th RAC had again demonstrated their qualities. The partially buried bodies of the Japanese are strewn about the ground, the trenches are filled in, the machine gun nests are still smoking. Only the casemate is still standing. Around it, the corpses are no less numerous, but many of them are wearing the uniforms provided to their allies by Uncle Sam. Among the survivors, if some shout for joy, others call the stretcher bearers for help.
Lieutenant Simonov relaunches his men to the assault of the next hillock. Erik is grateful to him, the cries of a young man who is writhing on the ground, his hands on the mush that had been his face, threaten to make him throw up his breakfast.
The next mound is lower. The Japs (American abbreviation adopted by the French) had only time to dig a hole surrounded by a barricade of sandbags. The artillery passed through there too. The vision of smoke columns, craters and broken trees reassures the young Swede. It's going to be less hard... Isn't it going to be less hard?
Disappointed hope.
A handful of screaming Japanese emerge from the groves spared by the cannonade. This parody of a charge has something surreal about it. The soldiers stumble, exhausted by the fighting and the lack of sleep. They could not even slow down the legionnaires. When they reach the top, they stop...
The only gunshots come from the fighting around them. The position is abandoned. No fanatical defenders refusing to surrender, just the corpses of those who died in the bombardment. With a delay, the legionnaires understand that their enemies have preferred a quick death... they too are at the end of their tether.
Simonov gives his orders. We must not relax. The Japanese will inevitably counter-attack to retake the position. We clear the corpses and slip into the fortified hole. The rifles naturally find their place on the sandbags. We wait.
One hour... A first group of Japanese arrives. Disheveled, naked, often armed with a simple bayonet. They come to throw themselves into the line of fire of the BAR like a moth blinded by the light of a candle comes to burn. Two more attacks follow. The French suffer only minor losses. They are still well supplied with ammunition and weapons, fairly well entrenched and above all... there are more of them. The "counter-attacks" are made by a few handfuls of fighters at the end of everything. So Simonov gives new orders.
- Try to shoot to wound. We need prisoners.
They have already been warned. But the most difficult thing is to bring back the neutralized enemies... if they are not neutralized enough, they can still strike! Several wounded were killed in self-defense and two legionnaires were killed. Yet, anger does not rise. Rather, the sight of a Japanese man wounded in the leg and unable to get up speaking in a pleading tone makes the legionnaires uncomfortable. He holds a bayonet in his hand. If we approach him, he brandishes it. What does he ask? The legionnaires look at each other, helpless.
But the wounded man is quickly forgotten when a new wave of assault, as exhausted and short of ammunition as the previous one, comes to immolate itself on the position. In the middle of the bursts, the abandoned wounded man begins to shout the same words again, in a litany now charged with hope. Two of his comrades approach him. They understand and pierce him with their bayonets. The legionnaires understand and think that the man was asking to be finished.
Simonov looks at the hillside littered with bodies. His eyes glisten and he shudders as he listens to the moans.
- Finish off the survivors.
This order would be horrible anywhere else. But here it is motivated by pity. These enemies consider that there is a worse fate than death.
Erik Bergström goes down with the other men to bring the peace to which the Japanese aspire. How to judge the other? How to judge his way? Today, however, Erik has an answer. Fanaticism has never built, saved or protected anything. Their only achievements are on this absurd battlefield where even the victors cry. Faced with them, there is no other choice but war.
They say it takes two to fight a war. This is not true. The empire of Japan and Nazi Germany just extended to the outside world a war they had started against themselves.
The Sino-Japanese War
Operation Ichi-Go
Pearl River Valley (Togo-2) - Fighting continues in Shenzhen. The Chinese fight foot to foot, but are forced to give up ground. A raid by nine Ki-51s and three Ki-43s, although hampered by the late intervention of six Chinese P-40s that shot down a "Sonia" and an "Oscar" at the cost of one of their own, further disrupt the 52nd Army's defenses.
South West Pacific Campaign
Biak and Noemfoor
Biak – The Americans take a break before attacking the Japanese positions the next day.
………
Noemfoor - It's the start of the final assault! To the south, the Australians manage to overwhelm the Japanese at Menoekwari, pushing them back to Wansra, where a pocket of a hundred irreducible clings. The rest of the division pushes north and Mandori, hoping to surround the rest of the opponents.
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