by Row, David
Feb 13th
Operation Sealion is formally cancelled. This is the plan for the cross channel invasion of England. While postponed many times, this cancellation makes it final.
The governments of the USA and Canada approve the construction of a U.S. Military Highway through Canada to Alaska.
Japanese dive bombers raid the Bataan peninsula, killing some of their own men by mistake.
Chartered U.S. passenger ship SS President Taylor, transporting 900 Army troops to occupy Canton Island, runs aground on a reef off her destination and becomes stranded.
The superstitious Admiral Halsey refuses to take Task Force 13 out as scheduled; renumbered Task Force 16, it will sail tomorrow.
Japanese sub I-17 shells the oil depot at Goleta, California, to no effect except to cause consternation to the local American defences and raise queries in Washington as to how direct attacks on the continental US are possible. Considering the pinprick nature of such attacks, these enquiries are allowed to vanish into the USN system of paperwork.
Feb 14th
The Canadian Brigade originally intended for Hong Kong before transport problems (fortunately) delayed them, arrives at Singapore, having taken an indirect route to avoid the DEI. While the bulk of the Canadian army is currently concentrated in the UK under its own commanders, it has been decided that this brigade will join the Imperial forces defending SE Asia and Australia as a gesture of solidarity. Alexander has scheduled a month (if time allows) of jungle training and acclimatisation for the troops; they will then be used either in Malaya or in Sumatra.
Chapter 13 - Action off Timor
Feb 15th
U.S. Army transport USAT Meigs, U.S. freighters SS Mauna Loa and SS Portmar, and Australian coaster Tulagi, escorted by heavy cruiser USS Houston (CA-30), destroyer USS Peary (DD-226) and Australian corvettes HMAS Swan and HMAS Warrego sail from Darwin, Northern Territory, for Koepang, Timor, Netherlands East Indies. Air cover is provided by the light carrier HMAS Melbourne. The convoy is carrying the Australian 214 Pioneer Battalion and the U.S. 148th Field Artillery Regiment (75mm Guns, truck-Drawn, less the 2d Battalion), to reinforce Allied troops on Timor. The 148th is an Idaho National Guard unit inducted in September 1940. The units are to secure Penfoie airdrome, the only staging point on Timor for flights to Java. It is hoped that the USA can provide additional P-40 fighters to defend the airfield
The Japanese aircraft carriers Akagi and Soryu leave Palau escorted by Cruiser Division 8 to attack Darwin and Timor, as well as any Allied ships found in the area. The use by Somerville of only one light carrier to support Borneo and the reported losses in earlier battles has led the IJN to calculate he only has one, or at the most two, fleet carriers available. Intelligence from Singapore supports this with a report than these ships are in Singapore, too far to intervene in any case. The carrier Kaga was to be part of the force but has some slight underwater damage due to running onto a reef at Palau, which while not as severe as originally feared has reduced her maximum speed to 18 knots. As the strength of Allied forces in the area is uncertain, this speed would subject the carrier force to unacceptable risk if enemy ships were in fact present in any force
A second Japanese force is also at sea in the area, an invasion force for Timor escorted by the light cruiser Nagara (Rear Admiral Kubo) and seven destroyers. The aim is to destroy the Allied aircraft on Timor by a carrier strike, then land the men while the carriers and light forces hold off and destroy any Allied attempts to interfere. If Allied response is light or ineffective, the Japanese also intend a strike on Darwin to destroy the port facilities and any ships in harbour. In view of the absence of the Kaga this will only be attempted if aircraft losses during the taking of Timor are acceptable
The Allies have a number of forces in the area. First, a light surface force under the Dutch Admiral Doorman, consisting of three Dutch cruisers, ten destroyers, and the ships escorting the supply convoy to Timor. In addition there are two RN T-class boats southeast of Timor, and a RN carrier striking force southwest of Java, although this is currently too far away to support Timor.
Feb 16th
RAF Bomber command had hoped to start its Ruhr campaign today, taking advantage of the long winter nights, but this has had to be postponed for some weeks as a number of minor problems with the Coventry bombers have had to be rectified. Although only around 40 of the new bombers are expected to be available at the start of the campaign, they are an integral part of the bombing strategy and it is considered best to wait a short while for them to be available. In the meantime the force will be used to attack targets in Italy (particularly in the north) and on other Italian bases in the Mediterranean as part of the ongoing preparations for an amphibious assault.
The German Operation NEULAND begins with simultaneous attacks on Dutch and Venezuelan oil ports to disrupt production and flow of petroleum products vital to the Allied war effort.
The British 70th Div arrives in North Africa. It is not yet certain if this division will be sent on to the Far East - there is a limit to how many men the Empire can supply until the logistics have been improved. There is also a possibility it might replace the New Zealanders, although currently New Zealand is building a new division to fight in the Far East and it is preferred for political reasons to include New Zealand troops in the Mediterranean.
Feb 17th
A Dutch reconnaissance plane spots the Japanese invasion convoy heading for Timor. Due to the weather (scattered rain makes observation difficult), the main carrier force some distance behind them is not spotted. The supply convoy is instructed to offload as much as possible and to sail for Darwin at nightfall at latest, even if they have not fully unloaded. The covering force will concentrate south of Timor and be joined by Admiral Doorman's force. The RN carrier force off Java also alters course to the east, in case the Japanese have a covering force. Meanwhile a strike on the Japanese from Timor is being prepared. The airfield at Timor is home to an RAAF Beaufighter squadron as well as fighters, and it is hoped to hit the Japanese convoy late that afternoon or early evening before they close the island. HMAS Melbourne is mainly carrying fighters, and is to cover the surface force and to provide them with air reconnaissance
For their part the Japanese seaplanes have spotted the supply convoy (although not the additional surface forces or the carrier, as with the Allies the weather is not conductive for spotting ships and they have been concentrating on the island). Their intention is for the carriers to destroy Allied air power by a dawn strike (and also sink as many of the warships escorting the convoy as possible), followed by a landing to take the island. The Japanese do not realise that this is the second supply convoy, and that the defenders on Timor now outnumber their attack force. The carriers will cover the invasion force until nightfall just in case they have been spotted.
First Battle of Timor
The first action off Timor was the attack by the RAAF Beaufighters on the invasion fleet spotted earlier. The island had a limited supply of torpedoes, so it had been decided to use them on the first (and hopefully most effective) attack. There were a certain number of errors on both sides; the Japanese didn't realise that the island's airfield was hosting a full torpedo squadron, and not having spotted any Japanese carriers the Allies expected the fleet to have no air cover. As a result of these mistakes the Beaufighters were sent out without benefit of fighter cover. Meanwhile the 4,000 men defending the island were put on invasion alert, and the unloading of the supply convoy continued at breakneck speed.
The Japanese invasion fleet was approaching from the north, and it was correctly concluded that their destination was Dilli. The torpedo planes struck first, at 1700, 18 planes attacking in groups of three. Unknown to the pilots, the Japanese carriers were keeping a patrol of six Zeroes over the fleet, and the first the Beaufighters knew of these was when two of them were shot down into the sea. The highly experienced Japanese pilots continued to harry and attack the incoming planes, but with only six aircraft, they
could not protect the fleet properly. Although many of the attackers were either shot down or driven away with their attack ruined, six planes managed to get in torpedo runs against the transport ships. The net result was one transport sunk, and a second damaged and unable to make more than a few knots. One escorting destroyer was also sunk - almost by accident; it had run into the path of a torpedo jettisoned by a Beaufighter evading one of the Zeroes. The attackers lost eight planes (six to the zeroes, one to AA and one which crash-landed on the island, unable to make the airfield at Dilli). Only one Zero was lost, having strayed in front of one of the Beaufighters - not a safe thing to do given the Beaufighter's heavy armament.
Both sides were rather shocked - to the Allies, it was now obvious that at least one Japanese carrier was lurking in the area, probably to the north of the island; to the Japanese, the island defences had been underrated. The Japanese prepared accordingly; a full-strength carrier strike was to be made on the airfield at dawn to neutralise it and allow the remaining transports a free run in. As yet the Dutch surface force had not been spotted, but it was hoping to make contact with the Japanese invasion force that night. HMAS Melbourne's force was, as per standing orders, edging southeast - unless the Japanese turned out to only have one light carrier, her orders were to stay clear of superior forces and support the surface force. However, she was carrying a dozen SeaLance, and her captain had decided to make a strike against the transports if at all possible. The intention of the Dutch to attempt a night surface action had complicated this, making his original intention of a night strike too dangerous to friendly ships, but there was always the next day.
The Dutch force made contact with the Japanese convoy later than planned. They had originally hoped to attack around 0100, allowing them to retire south under cover of darkness away from the likely position of the Japanese carriers. Contact was not made until 0330, and then only by part of the force. The Dutch ships were not equipped with radar, and had had to spread out to intercept the invasion force. While on paper the Dutch force was superior, its cruisers were very light ships and they were inexperienced at night combat, unlike the highly trained Japanese escorts. The Japanese detected the Dutch first, and the initial sign of contact was starshells bursting over Doorman's flagship.
The action did not go well for Doorman; after half an hour, the Dutch cruiser HNMS De Ruyter was on fire and sinking, HNMS Java was stationary after a long lance torpedo had blown off her stern, and two Dutch destroyers were out of action, although one would manage to limp away under cover of darkness. In return, one Japanese destroyer was disabled and slowly sinking. After this the rest of the Dutch ships make their escape before daylight, leaving the Japanese convoy able to reform and again head for Timor, although due to the night action they were now not expected to arrive until the afternoon.
Dawn brings more aerial action. After the news of the night surface action, the Japanese carriers allocate twelve dive bombers and an escort of six Zeros to go after and sink as much as possible of the Dutch force. The rest of their attack planes, some 36 level bombers and 30 dive bombers, escorted by 20 Zero fighters, attack the airfield on Timor shortly after dawn. While Timor does have a radar set, it has not been operational for long and the ground control is poorly trained; as a result less than ten minutes warning is given. Some of the planes had already left; although the torpedoes were used up yesterday, the remaining ten Beaufighters (some of them hurriedly patched up), escorted this time by eight Sparrowhawks are on their way to the invasion fleet. In their keenness to attack the island the carriers only have four Zeros over the transports and escorts, and this result in the Beaufighters being able to make their attacks while a melee ensues between the Sparrowhawks and the Zeros. Four Sparrowhawks are shot down for the loss of two Zeros, but another transport is left disabled and burning from the 500lb bombs of the Beaufighters, and a destroyer is in difficulty after being riddled with 20mm fire.
The strike force sent to find the retreating Dutch vessels finds the unfortunate ships an hour later, but the manoeuvrable destroyers are difficult targets, and only one more is lost even with the experience of the veteran Japanese pilots. The airfield has not been so lucky; although eight Sparrowhawks and four P-40's were in the air (a dawn strike had, after all, been expected if the Japanese were in range), they were not a match for the escorting fighters. Three of the P-40's and four of the Sparrowhawks were shot down for the loss of only two Zeros (although a third was unable to make it back due to damage, crashing on the edge of the islands as it tried to make it back to the carrier). The carrier planes did considerable damage to the airfield and its operational facilities, and destroyed some nine planes on the ground, although they only partially damaged the runway. As the last of the carrier planes headed back north, it was not clear how long it would be possible to keep the airfield operational.
The attack on the airfield had not been without loss to the attack planes. Two of the level bombers had been shot down by the defending fighters, and another by the ground defences, and two dive bombers had also been lost to AA fire. The runway was still operational for fighters, and the remaining CAP managed to get down with only one loss to the damaged surface. The repair crews started work immediately, and hoped to get the airfield operational again by that evening.
Meanwhile HMAS Melbourne had closed the island from the south in order to make a strike on the invasion force which, despite the losses to aircraft and the Dutch, was still closing on Dilli. Twelve SeaLance, escorted by eight Sparrowhawks, had taken off shortly after dawn. Led by an ASV-equipped SeaLance they spotted the invasion force some 50 miles offshore later that morning. As the carrier strike on the airfield had needed escort (and some Zeros needed to be retained for defence of the carriers themselves), the force only had four Zeros as cover. A CAP had been expected by the attackers, and the Sparrowhawks moved to cover the TBRs as they broke into their attack formations.
Despite outnumbering the Zeros eight to four, the expert Japanese pilots managed to shoot down five of the Sparrowhawks for the loss of two of their number (a third was damaged, and never made it back to the carrier). The combat did make it impossible for them to interfere successfully with the torpedo strikes, and three of the four triplets attacked without airborne opposition, although one plane was lost to AA fire. As the SeaLance made their withdrawal another two of the remaining transports were sinking into the tropical waters. After the various strikes, the invasion force was now only in a position to land about 1,000 men plus a limited amount of equipment. The Japanese army commander decided to land anyway, declaring that the Bushido spirit of his men would overcome the opposition even if they were outnumbered. The invasion force would be in a position to land at around 1430.
Given the strength of the carrier attack on the airfield, the Allied command was certain at least two fleet carriers were standing off Timor, possibly three or four. The Melbourne was ordered to pull back as soon as her planes had been recovered; her escorts would then move southwest to be in a position to meet up with the withdrawing Dutch force, and then join with the RN carrier force heading east. Unless a direct threat was made to Darwin, the Melbourne was not to engage the Japanese carriers.
Hope by the defenders that the runway would soon be operational was dashed at 1200 when a large raid was detected approaching from the north. Despite the precarious nature of the takeoff, four Sparrowhawks and two P-40's managed to get airborne. This proved to be a strike by Japanese army planes out of the Celebes. The reports from the carrier planes had stated that the airfield had been destroyed, so the fifty bombers were attacking without escort. This led to the defenders shooting down ten of them for the loss of only one P-40, the pilot parachuting safely. The remaining planes plastered the remaining airfield buildings and runways, causing considerable damage and effectively closing the airfield. The Sparrowhawks managed to get down on fields nearby, along with the remaining P-40, but two of the planes were damaged and non-operational after their landings. The airfield repair
crews resumed their work, but estimated that even if no more attacks took place, at best a runway would be operational for fighters by the morning.
While the Japanese had been attacking Timor, their carrier force had been recovering their strike. Losses had been light, and it was expected to make new attacks in support of the landings once they had taken place, although as the attack had revealed the presence of a carrier, an anti-shipping strike would be held back as a precaution. The planes would however prove useless against the attack that took place late in the afternoon. One of the RN submarines that were patrolling the area had found the carriers. Although the speed of the carrier force made interception very difficult, the T-class boat managed to set up an attack run, firing six torpedoes at the Akagi. Due to the poor presentation of the target four of the torpedoes missed. One hit the carrier forward, causing her to slow to a stop as water poured into the gaping hole in her hull; the second torpedo suffered a rare failure, merely thudding against the hull outside one of the port boiler rooms. The submarine then went deep and quiet, to evade the inevitable counterattack. Although prosecuted with considerable effort, the submarine was never held and finally slipped away, ready to report once it was dark.