And in this timeline, the apparent US capability to interdict the supply lines going through the Luzon Straits is at least as high as it was in OTL if not marginally higher and the US is at least as aggressive in asserting not quite full belligerency in the Atlantic and propping up Western powers and China in the Far East. So capability is at least as good and determination of intent is at least as high from the Japanese POV on the US allowing or not allowing the shipping lanes of the Luzon Straits to be unimpeded in the event of a SW Asia conquest.
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And in this timeline, the apparent US capability to interdict the supply lines going through the Luzon Straits is at least as high as it was in OTL if not marginally higher and the US is at least as aggressive in asserting not quite full belligerency in the Atlantic and propping up Western powers and China in the Far East. So capability is at least as good and determination of intent is at least as high from the Japanese POV on the US allowing or not allowing the shipping lanes of the Luzon Straits to be unimpeded in the event of a SW Asia conquest.
Ramp-Rat
Monthly Donor
Japanese intelligence services and the British Empire.
The various colonial police services, and the British Intelligence services, had a very good idea about the extent of the Japanese Intelligence agencies penetration, of the fabric of various colonial nations. Despite the commonly healed belief, they were not a bunch of upper class idiots, spending their lives drunk and playing polo. While it was virtually impossible to infiltrate the Japanese networks, there was a good idea of who was in the game. However pressure from London, to avoid upsetting the Japanese, meant that no major efforts could be made to prevent the Japanese services from working. There were plans in existence to round up and intern all Japanese in the various colonies, in the event of war.
Now in the same way that the British had major difficulties in penetrating the Japanese networks. The Japanese had the problem that once war broke out, their own networks, would rapidly become ineffective. They had to try to find willing agents among the indigenous peoples, who were in positions to be able to provide worthwhile intelligence, and had a timely method of passing the information on. The intelligence war in the Far East, Pacific, was more based once war broke out, on signals interception, photo reconnaissance, and physical reconnaissance, with by mostly the Americans and British, agent running. Japanese treatment of indigenous peoples, and the loyalty of some minority groups, allowed them to run low level groups. The major problem was always communications, as with no neutral countries, radio was the only way to send information back.
The fact that the British are allowing various oriental gentleman to observe there recent training exercises, in an attempt to convince them not to become involved in conflict with them. This is a double edged sword, in that it both sends a message, and allows various agencies to watch them, watching us, watching them. I would expect that once war breaks out, the majority of the the low level Japanese agents will quickly be rounded up, most colonial administrations had plans in place to do this. If Singapore doesn't fall, and the British can maintain the FEIB in place, thus avoiding the disruption that took place IOTL, Britain is going to have a much better insight into Japanese actions than it did. And the Japanese will find that their insight into British actions, much reduced. The major problem for the British will still however be the same as it was, the lack of interpreters, and other than borrowing them from the Americans, it is going to take time to make good this deficit.
The Japanese will lack the access to British papers, and personal, and the numerous indigenous peoples who having seen the British failure, are inclined to turn coat. I can see major problems ahead of the Japanese as they are increasingly cut off from decent intelligence.
RR.
The various colonial police services, and the British Intelligence services, had a very good idea about the extent of the Japanese Intelligence agencies penetration, of the fabric of various colonial nations. Despite the commonly healed belief, they were not a bunch of upper class idiots, spending their lives drunk and playing polo. While it was virtually impossible to infiltrate the Japanese networks, there was a good idea of who was in the game. However pressure from London, to avoid upsetting the Japanese, meant that no major efforts could be made to prevent the Japanese services from working. There were plans in existence to round up and intern all Japanese in the various colonies, in the event of war.
Now in the same way that the British had major difficulties in penetrating the Japanese networks. The Japanese had the problem that once war broke out, their own networks, would rapidly become ineffective. They had to try to find willing agents among the indigenous peoples, who were in positions to be able to provide worthwhile intelligence, and had a timely method of passing the information on. The intelligence war in the Far East, Pacific, was more based once war broke out, on signals interception, photo reconnaissance, and physical reconnaissance, with by mostly the Americans and British, agent running. Japanese treatment of indigenous peoples, and the loyalty of some minority groups, allowed them to run low level groups. The major problem was always communications, as with no neutral countries, radio was the only way to send information back.
The fact that the British are allowing various oriental gentleman to observe there recent training exercises, in an attempt to convince them not to become involved in conflict with them. This is a double edged sword, in that it both sends a message, and allows various agencies to watch them, watching us, watching them. I would expect that once war breaks out, the majority of the the low level Japanese agents will quickly be rounded up, most colonial administrations had plans in place to do this. If Singapore doesn't fall, and the British can maintain the FEIB in place, thus avoiding the disruption that took place IOTL, Britain is going to have a much better insight into Japanese actions than it did. And the Japanese will find that their insight into British actions, much reduced. The major problem for the British will still however be the same as it was, the lack of interpreters, and other than borrowing them from the Americans, it is going to take time to make good this deficit.
The Japanese will lack the access to British papers, and personal, and the numerous indigenous peoples who having seen the British failure, are inclined to turn coat. I can see major problems ahead of the Japanese as they are increasingly cut off from decent intelligence.
RR.
Ramp-Rat
Monthly Donor
While Gandi had been following his passive resistance stance, the Quite India movement didn't really kick off, until after the fall of Singapore. Which was in my opinion a big mistake, as few educated Indians, had any desire to replace the reasonable benign rule of the British, with the much harsher Japanese. And the British were able to say that they were defending India against the Japanese, and once the threat was gone, it would be time for a deal to be worked out.
RR.
The heavy cruisers Los Angeles and Seattle are escorting USS Constellation in the Atlantic. The light cruisers Jacksonville and Charleston are also in the Atlantic but don't know what are their position. The heavy cruiser Lansing and light cruiser Norfolk are going to be sent to the Pacific. The light cruiser Billings is in the Pacific with the battle fleet. Light cruisers Roanake and Newark will be commission in November.
Yeah. As fester above said, she is an additional Yorktown-class aircraft carrier approved from the same package the cruisers came from. USS Constellation (CV-8).
Now Hornet is numbered CV-9, and Essex is now CV-10.
Story 0764
October 8, 1941 Kasos, Greece
The horizon was uneven as dawn broke. The Italian sentry could see more ships this fine morning than he had since he had left Milan when he had been conscripted. He raised the alarm as the garrison on the island stood to. Two companies of light infantry and a light field battery covered the beaches northwest of the small port of Fri and the port itself. Another hundred men in a series of small observation posts were scattered around the island.
Three Italian torpedo boats raced from Karpathos to intervene against the British invasion force. Neptune and Orion blasted the pesky mosquito boats away even as the rest of the bombardment and close escort force began to shell the known and suspected Italian positions.
Overhead, six Martlets from Ark Royal flew top cover. A strike containing all of the available TSR bombers from Formidable, and Ark Royal and covered by Eagle’s fighters was hitting the airfield on Karpathos. Two Albacores were shot down, one crashed into the runway and another skidded to an emergency landing three hundred yards from a Royal Navy motor launch that was acting as a guard ship in the congested waters.
Even as the airstrike was coming home, the first wave from the 51 and 53 Commandos were going ashore. Six hundred men were landing on a narrow front. Italian machine guns started to send three and four round bursts at the landing craft. The wooden construction provided the illusion of cover. Some of the rounds punched through the wood and went over the heads of the sea sick infantrymen while others tore their way through one or two men at a time. The Greek destroyer, Vasilissa Olga, pressed close to the shore and engaged one particularly troublesome machine gun nest with all four of her five inch guns as well as every anti-aircraft gun. Within two minutes, she had found the range and proceeded to destroy the position and the seven men holding it.
The Commandos hit the beach. Some men ran straight into mines that ripped them apart, and others were pressed hard into the sands as machine guns and rifles spat bullets at them. Most of the men had landed in places where there was some cover from the few prepared Italian defensive positions. They began to methodically work their way up the beach and cleared bunkers and their protective minefields with Bangalore torpedoes, grenades, satchel charges, and bayonets.
Within an hour of the first landing, a large enough shingle had been secured for the two tank landing ships to ground themselves. Half a dozen tanks soon started to support the advance forward as machine gun bullets deflected off of their steel hides and resistance only served to mark where their attention should be. Even as the Commandos and tanks were clearing the thin crust of defenses along the beach, another two battalions of infantry were landing from the assault transports.
By noon, the island had been secured. The Italian commander had surrendered, he was outnumbered 8:1 in manpower and there was no promise of relief or succor. An Italian air raid of three dozen SM-79 bombers escorted by a squadron of fighters had been intercepted forty miles from the landing beaches by the immediate beach combat air patrol of half a dozen Marlets. They stripped the raid of most of the fighter escort even as Ark Royal, Eagle and Formidable launched another six fighters apiece. The raid fell apart as it was under intense fighter attack for the last ten miles. A single landing barge was destroyed and a transport suffered damage from shrapnel and near misses. In return for losing five Martlets, the FAA claimed thirteen bombers for the fighters and the gunners wanted credit for five more.
As night fell on Kasos, the first battery of 26Cwt 6 inch guns were being dragged into place on the eastern edge of the island. Ranging shots soon confirmed that they could reach the Italian airfield on Karpathos. Harassment fire started even as a battalion of infantry dug in around the guns. Landing craft moved food and shells forward to the outpost even as other landing craft brought wounded men back to the assault ships before they departed for Alexandria and Haifa to deposit the wounded to the hospitals ashore.
The horizon was uneven as dawn broke. The Italian sentry could see more ships this fine morning than he had since he had left Milan when he had been conscripted. He raised the alarm as the garrison on the island stood to. Two companies of light infantry and a light field battery covered the beaches northwest of the small port of Fri and the port itself. Another hundred men in a series of small observation posts were scattered around the island.
Three Italian torpedo boats raced from Karpathos to intervene against the British invasion force. Neptune and Orion blasted the pesky mosquito boats away even as the rest of the bombardment and close escort force began to shell the known and suspected Italian positions.
Overhead, six Martlets from Ark Royal flew top cover. A strike containing all of the available TSR bombers from Formidable, and Ark Royal and covered by Eagle’s fighters was hitting the airfield on Karpathos. Two Albacores were shot down, one crashed into the runway and another skidded to an emergency landing three hundred yards from a Royal Navy motor launch that was acting as a guard ship in the congested waters.
Even as the airstrike was coming home, the first wave from the 51 and 53 Commandos were going ashore. Six hundred men were landing on a narrow front. Italian machine guns started to send three and four round bursts at the landing craft. The wooden construction provided the illusion of cover. Some of the rounds punched through the wood and went over the heads of the sea sick infantrymen while others tore their way through one or two men at a time. The Greek destroyer, Vasilissa Olga, pressed close to the shore and engaged one particularly troublesome machine gun nest with all four of her five inch guns as well as every anti-aircraft gun. Within two minutes, she had found the range and proceeded to destroy the position and the seven men holding it.
The Commandos hit the beach. Some men ran straight into mines that ripped them apart, and others were pressed hard into the sands as machine guns and rifles spat bullets at them. Most of the men had landed in places where there was some cover from the few prepared Italian defensive positions. They began to methodically work their way up the beach and cleared bunkers and their protective minefields with Bangalore torpedoes, grenades, satchel charges, and bayonets.
Within an hour of the first landing, a large enough shingle had been secured for the two tank landing ships to ground themselves. Half a dozen tanks soon started to support the advance forward as machine gun bullets deflected off of their steel hides and resistance only served to mark where their attention should be. Even as the Commandos and tanks were clearing the thin crust of defenses along the beach, another two battalions of infantry were landing from the assault transports.
By noon, the island had been secured. The Italian commander had surrendered, he was outnumbered 8:1 in manpower and there was no promise of relief or succor. An Italian air raid of three dozen SM-79 bombers escorted by a squadron of fighters had been intercepted forty miles from the landing beaches by the immediate beach combat air patrol of half a dozen Marlets. They stripped the raid of most of the fighter escort even as Ark Royal, Eagle and Formidable launched another six fighters apiece. The raid fell apart as it was under intense fighter attack for the last ten miles. A single landing barge was destroyed and a transport suffered damage from shrapnel and near misses. In return for losing five Martlets, the FAA claimed thirteen bombers for the fighters and the gunners wanted credit for five more.
As night fell on Kasos, the first battery of 26Cwt 6 inch guns were being dragged into place on the eastern edge of the island. Ranging shots soon confirmed that they could reach the Italian airfield on Karpathos. Harassment fire started even as a battalion of infantry dug in around the guns. Landing craft moved food and shells forward to the outpost even as other landing craft brought wounded men back to the assault ships before they departed for Alexandria and Haifa to deposit the wounded to the hospitals ashore.
Story 0765
October 9, 1941 Mga (near Leningrad)
The wounded keened in the distance. Ammunition was cooking off in burnt out tanks. The ground was furrowed and pockmarked like an pox-scarred face. Medics were running forward to the shell scrapes of the battered militia division. Gangs of men, three, four, five, six of them at a time brought their comrades back to the field hospitals on makeshift stretchers. Artillery was still reaching out to the Soviet positions just south of the railbed and even still killing some of the men who just wanted to be left alone for another hour.
The German attack had been stopped. A company of German infantry supported by a platoon of field engineers had managed to reach the rail bed and destroy one hundred meters of tracks until bayonet charges supported by the divisional mortars devolved into hand to hand fighting for an hour. Shovels were almost as deadly as grenades in that fight. The militia division had been starting to crumple and give even as NKVD encouragement battalions were set up 100 meters to the rear of the front line but a company of tanks supported by a naval infantry brigade had counter-attacked.
Further to the west, along the left bank of the Nasija River, the Germans used the flank cover of the river to shield themselves from any deliberate flanking attacks and reinforced their momentary success as the offensive to continue to isolate Leningrad continued.
Story 0766
October 9, 1941 Off Honshu
Carrier Division 5 struggled to conduct flight operations in the fall seas. The plane guard destroyer Oboro dashed between the two new fleet carriers trying to hold her distance while remaining close enough to rescue any irreplaceable pilots who crashed on take-off and landing. Shokaku was the patrol carrier for this morning’s training scenario. She had six factory fresh Zero fighters orbiting the task force and another six fighters warming up. Zuikaku air wing was on a strike where twelve of her Zeros were escorting her own thirty three dive bombers, including nine tagging along from Shokaku, and thirty six torpedo bombers (two thirds her own, one third from Shokaku). They were hunting for Zuiho and Shoho as they were screening the Main Body. The Main Body in this instance was three fleet auxiliaries as the battleships were swinging at anchor in Nagasaki Bay to save fuel oil. The strike took more time to assemble than it should have if it was being conducted by the experience pilots of the 1st or 2nd Carrier Divisions but the men were winging towards their target 150 miles away soon enough.
Four hundred miles south, the old battleship Setsu continued to use Shokaku’s call sign as the obsolete ship stayed anchored in Tokyo Bay. The most critical message sent was an arrangement to send three promising navy recruits to a regional sumo tournament.
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So the British are going for the Dodecnese again already?
Is this to protect Crete and secure the Med for shipping?
Is this to protect Crete and secure the Med for shipping?
KASOS is the nearest Italian occupied island to Crete. Crete has currently is an afterthought on both sides with some infrastructure projects going on. Seizing KASOS and suppressing KARPATHOS makes Crete significantly safer and allows for a cheaper build-up of offensive forces for the RAF and RN in mid to late 1942. Furthermore, this is an attack of opportunity. The CIGS know that they will need knowledge on how to conduct significant amphibious assaults at some point in the future. Hitting a weakly defended island with overwhelming force is a good first step.
Tactical Objective is to improve Cretan security.
Operational Objective is to decrease the risk of shipping in Eastern Med.
Strategic Objective is to keep the Italians and Germans looking south and hopefully diverting some assets from Russia to Med while at the same time building knowledge for future operations.
Now there are a few British staff officers who are thinking long term that if they can island hop and lay siege to Rhodes, this may open up a supply route to Russia through the Straits (even if those supplies are non-lethal for Turkish sensibilities) it would help. This is more of a sketch of a plan than the strategic objective, but there is a high speed, low drag major who will talk your ear off about this idea over gin and tonics in Alexandria.
To some degree, yes, a training exercise against an OpFor with live ammo. But there is value to clearing out the Aegean Islands even if British amphibious doctrine was settled and all of the units were 100% trained. Think of it as an aggressive patrol in a quiet sector on the front for a newly arrived brigade.
Somebody needs to push Sempill of Beachy Head. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Forbes-Sempill,_19th_Lord_Sempill
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