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As much as I hate to see the entertainment establishment of Darwin (or whats left of it after the air raids) be deprived of those big spending Yank sailors I don't think there will be a visit to one of the few cities on Earth named after a scientist.
The two American carrier task forces must still provide cover for the troop and supply convoy that is marking time near Darwin. It must be protected when it resumes its journey to Kupang. How long the carrier forces will stay as the ships unload and then steam back to Darwin?, Honolulu? Who knows?
But after this battle I would guess both task forces would need to return to Pearl Harbour for replenishment and repair. And to receive pilot and airplane replacements for their battered air groups. Would landing some, not all, of the Wildcat and Dauntless squadrons at Kupang before sailing for home be a wise move? They would also have to beach maintenance personnel and parts as well. But if after that the Pacific Fleet is heading straight for home than why not?
But after this battle I would guess both task forces would need to return to Pearl Harbour for replenishment and repair.
Not necessarily, OTL both SARATOGA and ENTERPRISE were sustained in the South Pacific for several months, receiving basic maintenance from the repair ship VESTAL at New Caledonia with replacement aircraft brought in by the escort carriers and the aircraft transports.
Not necessarily, OTL both SARATOGA and ENTERPRISE were sustained in the South Pacific for several months, receiving basic maintenance from the repair ship VESTAL at New Caledonia with replacement aircraft brought in by the escort carriers and the aircraft transports.
Vestal was a star of service in the early war years. Surving being alongside the Arizona at Pearl Harbor, repairing much of her own damage as well as other ships in the following months. Then the move to New Caladonia to serve as the heart ofthe base force there.
Not really necessary though at this point, and there aren't a lot of light carriers around yet to act as transports. OTL Nimitz also had no choice as the Big E and Sister Sara where the only offensive striking force left, it was either keep them on station or risk loosing Guadalcanal.
One thing that does come to mind though, it's getting late in 1942 ITTL. With Guadalcanal and the Solomons essentially an Allied backwater area, what will 1st Marine Division do ITTL? OTL, the division left the US east coast and started relocating to Samoa and New Zealand beginning in April 1942. I can see some unit to garrison Samoa, but sending the division to New Zealand would be pointless.
A mission to retake Rabaul perhaps? Or taking Tarawa and the Marshalls a year or two earlier then OTL?
Well the 1st MARDIV is, right now, the best trained and equipped amphibious force the USA has and probably in the world. The question is where is the USA going to strike - the Navy will want to go the Central Pacific route. This approach to Japan was what had been planned in several iterations of War Plan Orange, which in spite of the overall replacement of the color plans by Rainbow1-5 was still the template for the USN for war in the Pacific. Moving through the Central pacific there are quite a few Japanese held islands that were not fortified pre-war, and at this point in time Japan has not the time or desire to build them up as was done OTL. Right not Tarawa, as an example, would have minimal defenses and garrison.
Would Rabaul be a good choice? I don't think it is too heavily fortified at this point in TTL. And it has a key strategic location. It covers the Northern approaches to the Solomons and New Guinea and if heavy bombers were based there it would threaten Truk and its surrounding sealanes.
@fester: Well have read WPO in several versions from the archives, as well as the original report on the islands of the Central Pacific written by Ellis in 1920 (available in USMC archives in Quantico). Since your T/L follows realistically on what everyone had planned with a few tweaks here and there, access to you notes is not needed...
Errolwi
Monthly Donor
I wonder if the reduction in the number of US servicemen in NZ will markedly reduce incidents like the Battle of Manners St (don't refer to a Maori as a n-gger, especially when surrounded by blokes whose prospective girlfriends you are wooing with flowers and politeness).
Still likely to be a logistical build up in Auckland and Wellington, easier to expand infrastructure there than most of the Pacific.
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/us-forces-new-zealand/overview
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/us-forces-in-new-zealand/economics
Shipbuilding was another industry which received an unexpected boost with a brief period of plentiful overtime and higher pay.
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New Zealand was a major supply base for the American forces in the Pacific; 36% of all food received by American troops in the South Pacific came from this country. But farmers were already under pressure to provide both for the local market and for the British ‘motherland’.
Canned meats were produced in large volume, as were potatoes
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New Zealand was a major supply base for the American forces in the Pacific; 36% of all food received by American troops in the South Pacific came from this country. But farmers were already under pressure to provide both for the local market and for the British ‘motherland’.
Canned meats were produced in large volume, as were potatoes
Would retaking Guam be a stretch too far in Distance and troop stregnth. THis early not much Japanese buildup.
I'm guessing at some point the US Army will assign a full 4 star general to support operations in the Pacific.
Depending on who that is, how might they make use of Australian or New Zealand troops? OTL MacArthur either didn't make use of them, or assigned them to backwater or secondary operations. Might the limited forces of those countries be put to better use ITTL?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_Division_(New_Zealand)
One unit that comes to mind is the 3rd New Zealand division. This division never reached full strength, the planned third brigade of the division along with AA units and other division support eventually disbanding, with the bulk of the division eventually being 8th and 14th Brigades, the engineering companies, and other token support units.
Before finally disbanding, the division saw action in several operations throughout the Solomons that, to my understanding, probably aren't going to happen this time around. New Zealand also raised the 1st, 4th, and 5th divisions which saw no action or deployed overseas, and where all disbanded in 1944. ITTL, might the New Zealand government disband the other three divisions sooner, perhaps in 1943, to better staff the 2nd and 3rd divisions.
Depending on who that is, how might they make use of Australian or New Zealand troops? OTL MacArthur either didn't make use of them, or assigned them to backwater or secondary operations. Might the limited forces of those countries be put to better use ITTL?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_Division_(New_Zealand)
One unit that comes to mind is the 3rd New Zealand division. This division never reached full strength, the planned third brigade of the division along with AA units and other division support eventually disbanding, with the bulk of the division eventually being 8th and 14th Brigades, the engineering companies, and other token support units.
Before finally disbanding, the division saw action in several operations throughout the Solomons that, to my understanding, probably aren't going to happen this time around. New Zealand also raised the 1st, 4th, and 5th divisions which saw no action or deployed overseas, and where all disbanded in 1944. ITTL, might the New Zealand government disband the other three divisions sooner, perhaps in 1943, to better staff the 2nd and 3rd divisions.
Guam, part of the Marianas, is not doable yet. Going there would leave significant Japanese strength able to cut supply lines or flank US forces. Furthermore, all of the other Marianas (Tinian, Saipan, etc) were Japanese controlled for over 20 years and had significant bases/forces there. OTL the USA was able to bypass various Japanese held islands only after they could no longer represent a threat - no naval forces, air forces minimal, and they were pretty much cut off from supply. As long as these islands weren't in the direct path of the US advance they could be left to "wither on the vine". Right now liberating Guam, while it might work, would be equivalent to taking an objective with an airborne division, but not having follow on forces coming to link up.
The forces on Timor, and elsewhere in/around the DEI don't need the sort of amphibious training and equipment the Marines have. Army forces would be better used there, saving amphibious assault forces for where they are really needed. BTW by now the 2nd MARDIV should be well on its way to being ready, and 3rd being formed.
The forces on Timor, and elsewhere in/around the DEI don't need the sort of amphibious training and equipment the Marines have. Army forces would be better used there, saving amphibious assault forces for where they are really needed. BTW by now the 2nd MARDIV should be well on its way to being ready, and 3rd being formed.
Errolwi
Monthly Donor
MacArthur had little to do with it, NZ was part of the Pacific, not Mac's SW Pacific. I'm sure small numbers of troops with differing equipment and doctrine will be seen as an inconvenience at a minimum. If there is no separate SWPA (or one with a commander more aligned with the Pacific Area), then the NZ troops could operate with the Aussies. Note that NZ was not particularly keen on being under AU command in the Middle East, it would actually add another tricky 'who is actually in command' relationship - and NZ had recent bad experience (even in ITTL).
1st was the home forces pre-war (hence 2nd NZ Division deploying as the major part of 2nd NZEF), 4th and 5th were HQs added as more preparations for home defence were made. I think it was primarily a training bottle neck that drove numbers in-country. OTOH casualties in the Med will be much lighter than OTL presumably? Possibly not so many are called up, and NZ is in a better position to supply its promised supplies than OTL. It's politically hard to not be seen having troops on the ground in your closest theatre of operations, however. Kittyhawk and Hudson squadrons helping suppress Rabaul (or somewhere further W/NW ITTL) doesn't have the same weight, regardless of actual usefulness.
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Given the lack of Japanese forces on a large number of islands and in New Guinea, how hard might it be for Australia or New Zealand to send small forces, no larger then say a reinforced company or maybe the odd battalion level force to garrison a number of islands? A lot of islands in the Solomons and around Rabaul seemed to have the Japanese essentially walking in like they owned the place against virtually no opposition. Maybe some dumbass Private or 2nd Lieutenant stubbed a toe on a rock or something somewhere, but other then that with a couple of exceptions many islands where captured with no resistance.
Here, if the Aussies or Kiwis establish garrisons on a handfull of key islands, even if it's fairly small garrisons, this could act to either deter the Japanese from some locations, or force them to commit much larger forces then planned. There is of course also the odd possibility of an Australian or New Zealand version of Wake Island happening, Japanese go to take an island, only to find that instead of no or token defenses, an entire battalion or something is waiting for them.
Here, if the Aussies or Kiwis establish garrisons on a handfull of key islands, even if it's fairly small garrisons, this could act to either deter the Japanese from some locations, or force them to commit much larger forces then planned. There is of course also the odd possibility of an Australian or New Zealand version of Wake Island happening, Japanese go to take an island, only to find that instead of no or token defenses, an entire battalion or something is waiting for them.
Story 1405
Near Philadelphia June 18, 1942
A narrow gauge steam engine, fresh from acceptance trials, was brought aboard a Liberty Ship. She was painted Army olive green like the thirty five other engines in this particular order. She and eleven other engines aboard this freshly launched ship would head to Port Said and then into the Meditarrean. The other two dozen Lend Lease locomotives were destined for Persia and then half would head to Russia.
Other ships of the assembling convoy were loading brand new Sherman tanks. The heavy works of the under used Baldwin Eddystone plant had quickly been claimed for tank production. They could handle welding and riveting large steel shapes but the automotive challenges had delayed the first shipments to the front by months.
A narrow gauge steam engine, fresh from acceptance trials, was brought aboard a Liberty Ship. She was painted Army olive green like the thirty five other engines in this particular order. She and eleven other engines aboard this freshly launched ship would head to Port Said and then into the Meditarrean. The other two dozen Lend Lease locomotives were destined for Persia and then half would head to Russia.
Other ships of the assembling convoy were loading brand new Sherman tanks. The heavy works of the under used Baldwin Eddystone plant had quickly been claimed for tank production. They could handle welding and riveting large steel shapes but the automotive challenges had delayed the first shipments to the front by months.
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Story 1406
Near Bizerte 0300 June 18, 1942
HMS Marlin was on the surface. The small submarine’s deck gun was manned and a double look-out was posted. Half a dozen men were manhandling a rubber boat. Soon the two passengers and four very serious, thickly muscled and heavily armed men who were their guards had the boat ready for the two mile journey to shore. A light flickered ashore, and then again with a pause before two long dashes. At the top of the sail, a red lamp flickered three times, one second on, one second off. Another set of dashes was seen on the beach.
The rubber boat entered the water and as soon as the six men were a few hundred yards away from the submarine, the skipper ordered a turn on the rudder and an increase in revolutions for the submarine to spend the day hidden in somewhat deeper and safer water.
fester, just wondering as I brought narrow gauge railroads into the 1632 universe...were these locomotives 1 meter, 36 inch, or 600 mm gauge?
and a nit that I've been thinking about for a while, what if some additional Seatrain ships had been built...is there enough commonality between US and UK railroads to load boxcars in the US and simply hook them up to a rail line on the UK side...the Seatrains were capable of 18-20 knots and those available were used extensively during WW2...
and a nit that I've been thinking about for a while, what if some additional Seatrain ships had been built...is there enough commonality between US and UK railroads to load boxcars in the US and simply hook them up to a rail line on the UK side...the Seatrains were capable of 18-20 knots and those available were used extensively during WW2...
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