Scottish to me ( pretty sure "We're doomed, doomed I tell you" was the catchphrase of Private Fraser in Dad's Army)
Sir John Valentine Carden Survives. Part 2.
- Thread starter allanpcameron
- Start date
Mark1878
Donor
And "We don't like it up us" is Corporal Jones' catchphrase
It is a well know catchphrase and got used in the House of Commons
'They don't like it up 'em, Mr Speaker', says Boris Johnson as he channels Dad's Army's Corporal Jones
Prime Minister Boris Johnson responds to a line of questioning about the Armed Forces from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.
news.sky.com
Probably won’t mention the Dutch and just say a Texan Unit with allied support held off a Japanese landing.
Ramp-Rat
Monthly Donor
Given that the original report will be provided by an international news agency, and not the Dugout Doug propaganda agency. The story outside of Texas, will tend to be that Dutch troops supported by Americans inflicted a significant blow against the Japanese. In Texas, the story will be Texans save the day against the despicable Japanese scum. Remember unless there is an American reporter on the ground, all reports will have been originally written by the Dutch local government, passed through the British establishment in Singapore, for distribution to the various international media outlets based in Singapore. At this stage of the war, there would not be any American reporters in the region, as the majority of American reporters would be in Europe, North Africa and with Doug in the Philippines. Just to get an American reporter to the area, would require him to have set out from America on or about the date of Pearl Harbour, and have been granted absolute priority of transport, first to Singapore and then onto the DEI, and for the Dutch to have provided transport to the area. Or he could have been given priority transport to Australia, then embedded with the Texan unit, and allowed by the Dutch to access their cable network, to file his reports. It’s 1942, there are no intercontinental telephone connections, satellite communications or wireless, and all international telegraph services are subject to censorship and restrictions.
RR.
Detail perhaps, but with interesting butterflies: which transports were sunk.
In OTL there were the following transports: Shōka-maru, Kōshinmaru, Chōwa-maru (all carrying the 6th Construction Squad), Nankai-maru (Sasebo Combined SLF), Kinaimaru (1st Sasebo SLF), Hokuriku-maru (2d Sasebo SLF), the Amagisan-maru, and the Katsuragi-maru (11th Air Fleet).
It would make certain sense to me that the 3 transports carrying the construction unit and the 2 transports servicing the 11th Air Fleet would have been in a separete column and away from the 3 transports carrying the Sasebo SLF. So we have either the destroyers sinking 2 out of 3 SLF transports or 2 out of 5 transports tasked to support air operations from Kendari and later Makassar. Or perhaps a combination of the two.
In any case, when the Japanese capture the airfield, it won't be at the excellent condition of OTL when it was ready to support air operations immediately. In OTL it was used to launch attacks against east Java and Kupang, eroding the Allied air power build-up there. By the end of January they were able to base 61 land-based bombers, 4 flying boats, 41 land-based Zeroes, 6 land-based recon planes, 18 carrier-based Zeroes and 8 carrier-based bombers (from the 2nd Carrier Division).
In TTL the eastern route to Java has gained some valuable breathing space by this small butterfly at Kendari.
In OTL there were the following transports: Shōka-maru, Kōshinmaru, Chōwa-maru (all carrying the 6th Construction Squad), Nankai-maru (Sasebo Combined SLF), Kinaimaru (1st Sasebo SLF), Hokuriku-maru (2d Sasebo SLF), the Amagisan-maru, and the Katsuragi-maru (11th Air Fleet).
It would make certain sense to me that the 3 transports carrying the construction unit and the 2 transports servicing the 11th Air Fleet would have been in a separete column and away from the 3 transports carrying the Sasebo SLF. So we have either the destroyers sinking 2 out of 3 SLF transports or 2 out of 5 transports tasked to support air operations from Kendari and later Makassar. Or perhaps a combination of the two.
In any case, when the Japanese capture the airfield, it won't be at the excellent condition of OTL when it was ready to support air operations immediately. In OTL it was used to launch attacks against east Java and Kupang, eroding the Allied air power build-up there. By the end of January they were able to base 61 land-based bombers, 4 flying boats, 41 land-based Zeroes, 6 land-based recon planes, 18 carrier-based Zeroes and 8 carrier-based bombers (from the 2nd Carrier Division).
In TTL the eastern route to Java has gained some valuable breathing space by this small butterfly at Kendari.
When? I wouldn't count that as even a pyrrhic victory for the Japanese just yet, the fighting is still going on, and the Japanese aren't in the best position.
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allanpcameron
Donor
Sorry guys, I had hoped to have another episode completed by now, but been rewriting and editing without satisfaction. Had a mild dose of covid this last week which didn't help.
Anyway off I go for two weeks. Something a bit different this winter, going to a cousin who stays in Santa Cruz, California.
As of tomorrow morning I'm going to San Francisco, and be assured I would be wearing a flower in my hair, if it was long enough.
Or am I California dreaming? I doubt there'll be much in the way of Californication. Personal favourite is Joni Mitchell:
"I'll even kiss a sunset pig"
Anyway off I go for two weeks. Something a bit different this winter, going to a cousin who stays in Santa Cruz, California.
As of tomorrow morning I'm going to San Francisco, and be assured I would be wearing a flower in my hair, if it was long enough.
Or am I California dreaming? I doubt there'll be much in the way of Californication. Personal favourite is Joni Mitchell:
Donald Reaver
Donor
Enjoy your trip, been there a few times, always enjoyed it. Just remember, that city is horizontally challenged, up and down is its thing.
Enjoy your trip San Francisco it is a nice city to visit.
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Hmm reading back on a few more of the Far East chapters given Singapore and Malay are holding and Burma maybe forced back significantly and undertaken with less strength or may not happen all together.
This will probably negatively effect the various independence movements of the british gar east. I think because Britain will still be seen as strong and they won't have the same flood of refugees and the fact there has been no major disruption to burma which means the food will still arrive to india and will still be moved because less haulage has been seized.
Adding to this the Aza Hind will probably not receive the same flood of manpower they did from Indian army deserters.
This will probably negatively effect the various independence movements of the british gar east. I think because Britain will still be seen as strong and they won't have the same flood of refugees and the fact there has been no major disruption to burma which means the food will still arrive to india and will still be moved because less haulage has been seized.
Adding to this the Aza Hind will probably not receive the same flood of manpower they did from Indian army deserters.
Considering where the leader of Azad Hind is currently and the situation with the Japanese Navy, there could be a possibility that he could even be tried in the ITTL equivalent of the Nuremberg trials by the end of the war for all we know.
In regards to Malaya, the population in general is still in a state of apathy in regards to the politics. Without 3 years of Japanese occupation (and more importantly as the result of this, the communist insurgency being avoided entirely, along with in hindsight, one of the worse in terms of the consequences response by the British IMO. ), who knows what will happen in regards to the politics of Malaya. It would be interesting to see what will happened to the northern states in part particular, since there would be in a state of destruction as a result of the British pushback against the Japanese.
On the Borneo side, it is currently on IOTL track (with the potential divergence only possible at around the 1960s)which could be changed (but probably not) if the British decided to retake Borneo
Outside of British Far East, French Indochina is still on IOTL track while Indonesia independence advocates that had been caught are probably on their way to medium-term political exile in Australia instead of being started being freed by the Japanese by this point.
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What's stupid about cutting terrorists off from their source of recruits and supplies? They were fighting a war and it worked, ultimately saving lives on both sides. Was it pleasant? No. Were those resettled and restricted happy? No. Did the war end years earlier than it would have? Yes. Did my Dad come home from Malaya? Yes.