"Rather good Gin and tonic wouldn't you say Honey?" , this rather obscure quote was from General Melchett to Lieutenant Honey, his long suffering aide de camp. Closely followed by "Whats that bang?" as japanese bombs rained down near Raffles hotel in singapore.
This was to be the start of Britains nightmare sceanrio, a major second front on the other side of the globe. She had been embroiled in a war with Germany for almost 2 and 1/2 years and had reassigned the best personel and equipment from the far east to North africa and back home in blighty. Sadly this was why Brigadier Melchett, a WW1 veteran was left in command of commonwealth forces in the far east.
Melchetts background was much the same as most high ranking officers in the British armed forces. Educated at Harrow and Cambridge he was cleared of gross incompetance after WW1 when his entire regiment was almost wiped out in 1917. One of the few survivors testifying at his court marshall , Captain Blackadder, stated that General Melchett had " the brains of a retarded gibbon coupled with the imagnation of a blind ostritch". fortunately for (then) General Melchett the only other testimony was from a private Baldrick whose nonsense has since been struck from the records and considered an extremely unreliable witness.
Even thought he was cleared of all charges, Melchett's reputation had been tarnished and in the inter war years he had been pensioned out to the more obsure postings available within the empire. Considered even more hidebound than the original commander of far east forces General Percival he was never envisaged to be the actual commander of far east forces. The unfortunate accident that ended Percivals life and blocked the officers latrines for several weeks resulted in Melchett being the hightest ranking officer in singapore when the war started.
We will be hearing more from the Genreral and Honey later on in this account.
Righty-ho , Back to the game. I am proud to be the parter of LoBaron in this, out first, grand campaingn. We had originally planned to fight each other but when contacted by Offenceman for a team game we couldn't refuse. To both our dismay and delight his partner is the esteemed Seydelitz. anyone who has read his AAR's here will know he is a very formidable opponent and Offenceman is no lightweight either. So here we plunge into the deep end as the allies.
So how did the war in the east actually start ? many scholars have cited Japans agression in a suprise attack on Pearl Harbour as the end result of an oil embargo by the USA in 1941. Here-in we have the truth of the matter, set in a chronlogical order we can see the agressors are rather suprising and could re write the history books for future generations.
Commander Mondriaan of the Dutch navy and Captain Glass of the US Navy share the dubious honours of firing the first shots of WW2 in the pacific.
ASW attack near Kompong Trach at 55,74
Japanese Ships
DMS W-2, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage
DD Isonami
xAK Ayatosan Maru
DD Ayanami
DD Shikinami
PB Tatsumiya Maru
Allied Ships
SS KXI, hits 1
Day Time Surface Combat, near Tawi Tawi at 71,91, Range 15,000 Yards
Japanese aircraft
no flights
Japanese aircraft losses
No Japanese losses
Japanese Ships
DMS W-4, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
PB Eiko Maru, Shell hits 21, and is sunk
AV Sagara Maru, Shell hits 53, and is sunk
xAK Gosei Maru, Shell hits 25, and is sunk
xAK Meiten Maru, Shell hits 14, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Nojima Maru, Shell hits 5, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
Allied Ships
CL Marblehead, Shell hits 1
DD Barker
DD Bulmer
DD Paul Jones
DD Parrott
DD Stewart, Shell hits 2, on fire
Japanese ground losses:
3122 casualties reported
Squads: 77 destroyed, 94 disabled
Non Combat: 93 destroyed, 75 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 29 (24 destroyed, 5 disabled)
The massacre at Tawi Tawi has been cited by the japanese high command as the main reason its training fleet near Pearl harbour decided to seek revenge when news broke of the trigger happy Glass ( a rather uninspiring captain who would otherwise never have left a footnote in history). Given the rushed nature of japans retaliation only Pearl harbours port and naval facilities were attacked on Dec 7th. the airfields were left alone.
Morning Air attack on Pearl Harbor , at 180,107
Weather in hex: Clear sky
Raid spotted at 35 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 78
B5N2 Kate x 144
D3A1 Val x 135
Allied aircraft
no flights
Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 5 destroyed, 36 damaged
D3A1 Val: 3 destroyed, 23 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
Allied Ships
BB Arizona, Bomb hits 9, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB Oklahoma, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 5, and is sunk
CL Raleigh, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
SS Cachalot, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
BB Tennessee, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
BB Nevada, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
BB California, Bomb hits 6, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
BB West Virginia, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Conyngham, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
BB Maryland, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
CL Detroit, Bomb hits 1, on fire
BB Pennsylvania, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires
CL Helena, Torpedo hits 2, heavy damage
DD Dewey, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DMS Wasmuth, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
AV Curtiss, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AVD Hulbert, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Cummings, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Schley, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
AM Rail, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Allen, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA San Francisco, Bomb hits 2
CL Honolulu, Bomb hits 1
DD Helm, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AVP Swan, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DM Pruitt, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DM Gamble, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CL Phoenix, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1
AG Aries, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DM Breese, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
Allied ground losses:
13 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Repair Shipyard hits 4
Port hits 12
Port fuel hits 3
All in all, The USN got off pretty lightly and no airfield attacks means that americans search capacity is much better than expected. Battleship row is a burning mess and Pearls repair facilities will be busy for quite some time.
Time moves on :- DEc 9th and 10th
Melchett " Gad Honey the slant eyed nips have invaded malaysia !, get the men roused and start digging trenches!", "Yes sir " replied Honey, We have had a report from the naval attache of our boys giving the enemy near Hong Kong" . Melchett studies the map for 10 minutes and finally finds the place. " We have a navy there ? , Its in the wrong place bring it all back to singapore we cannot let this fortress be besieged by the japs , it would be a humiliation !" , " why did that old bugger Percival have to fall into the latrine , it's all hid fault we don't have enough of anything" " Pass me more Gin !".
Night Time Surface Combat, near Kiungshan at 72,63, Range 11,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
xAK Tatsuho Maru
xAK Tone Maru, Shell hits 1, on fire
xAK Uyo Maru, Shell hits 15, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Ume Maru, Shell hits 2, on fire
xAK Yuzan Maru, Shell hits 1
xAKL Tonegawa Maru
xAKL Yagi Maru
xAK Okuni Maru
xAKL Hachirogata Maru, Shell hits 1
xAK Azuchisan Maru, Shell hits 9, heavy fires
xAK Amakusa Maru, Shell hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAKL Fukuyo Maru, Shell hits 2, on fire
Allied Ships
DD Scout
DD Thanet
DD Thracian
------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Kiungshan at 72,63, Range 11,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
xAKL Nichizui Maru, Shell hits 3, on fire
xAKL Nissen Maru #2
xAKL Saiko Maru
xAK Yubari Maru, Shell hits 4
xAKL Akita Maru, Shell hits 1
Allied Ships
DD Scout
DD Thanet
DD Thracian
--------------------------------------------
The americans report heavy air losses over the Philipines. But otherwise its much as expected , Khota baru fell to the japanese at dawn on the 10th. this will prove a real thorn in the side to the commonwealth. Malaysia will not fall!
It wasn't even going to Tawi Tawi. grrr
