Collapsing Pacific: Book 10 of the Pacific Alternate Series by Max Lamirande

Author:Max Lamirande [Lamirande, Max]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Obsidian Press
Published: 2024-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

A new fleet arrives

Japanese-occupied Singapore, February 2nd, 1944

The sun reflected brightly in the glorious morning, and the ships in the harbor gave welcome signals to the war fleet arriving. Admiral Hata, walking on the deck of the light carrier Chiyoda, his flagship (already inside the harbor), gazed proudly at his reinforcements. “Finally,” he started, replacing his cap to block the bright sun rays. “Some tools for my trade.”

A large Japanese fleet slid into Singapore Harbor early in the morning, almost at the same time as the Allied leaders were meeting in Tarawa. Such a fleet had not been seen for a while in the area because the Japanese had not thought they needed it.

Admiral Kondo, the commander of the task force in Southeast Asia, had moved his ships to the Andaman Islands in 1942 to chase the British away in the Bay of Bengal. But since then, a lot happened. First, Kondo was dead, and most of his ships sunk, and then the Allies inflicted a severe defeat on the Imperial Army forces in Burma.

So severe had been the twin trashing of fleet and army that the Japanese Empire now faced terrible consequences. The Anglo-Indo-Chinese forces were at the gates of Malaya, advancing into Thailand toward Indochina, and also advancing on Sumatra after a successful landing in the west of the island.

Furthermore, the powerful fleet of Admiral Somerville, the very commander who killed Kondo and his fleet, roamed free in the Strait of Malacca and regularly raided Singapore and the oil installations all along the Sumatran coastline.

The Dutch East Indies and the Malay Peninsula, along with Indochina, represented the bulk of the captured resources the Japanese Home Islands needed to continue to prosecute the war. There lay the steel, manganese, rubber, the all-important oil, and many other things. Without this area (now seriously threatened), there could be no more war for Japan.

It was thus normal for the Imperial Navy and the Imperial Army to have, for once, a complete agreement on what must be done: The fleet that arrived on that day was powerful with warships and carriers, but also laden with supplies and fresh troops.

In all, the fleet was bringing four fresh units from the Kwantung Army and had left four more at Saigon to help with the defense of Thailand and Indochina.

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