ORIGINAL: Tom Hunter
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This caused problems for China because it allowed the Japanese to cut the Burma road but it also proved disasterous for Japan because once I gave up on fighting for Burma the British had an army with nothing to do. So we sent it to Palembang and Java where it stopped the Japanese.
Indeed. The Nipponese may not realize how close they got at Palembang. Things were going well in the air..so we took a a chance when you were spotted marching down from Jambi and sent the best thing we had in the DEI (an Aussie brigade..survivor of the Malaya evac.. which was refitting in Batavia) and rushed them to Palembang just in time. The other Aussie brigade was rushed by fast transport from Soerabaja just in time as well..leaving nothing but KNIL remnants and garrisons in Java. Your naval bombardments made the airfield untenable briefly, but you were unable to keep it closed and when American fighters began to replace the Dutch..it was once again safe to base bombers there. As more Japs arrived by sea..we were outnumbered badly .......but the 2nd UK Div was already at sea in the Indian Ocean and was diverted to Palembang...again..just in time.
Same was true of Soerabaja...she would have been lost if not for the arrival of an Indian Div which was already in the pipeline. She was landed in Batavia and raced down to Soerabaja.
Brutal fight for Soerabaja..great.see saw battle. Great fun too.
