Pacific Alternate 04 Staggering Pacific by Max Lamirande

Author:Max Lamirande [Lamirande, Max]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Alternative History
ISBN: 9798354548156
Google: Jy57zwEACAAJ
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services LLC - Kdp
Published: 2022-09-29T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 3

Double down in Darwin

The imperial surge in Darwin, January 5th, 1943

The Japanese-occupied Australian town of Darwin was, by the beginning of 1943, a full-fledged Imperial base and fortress. It had three divisions, a brigade of tanks and the powerful Imperial Guards Division.

The Japanese Imperial Guards commander, General Takuma Nishimura, looked at the large convoy sailing into the protected harbor. He smiled broadly, and that small gesture spoke volumes about the man’s mood. He rarely showed any joy or expression. The General was as hard as steel and as cold as ice. But the arrival of a full-fledged supply convoy ended his troops' hardships. It also represented some hope that he could go back on the offensive and push the Allies back out of Derby and Broome. He was still sore and hurt about having had to be evacuated from there in the fall.

Darwin was now a powerful military harbor. The place had been expanded by the engineers and could now host many vessels within its midst. It was ringed with several flak guns batteries and had pretty decent coastal defenses. First, the Imperial engineers had repurposed the guns captured during the town’s conquest in the summer of 1942, and several more had been brought in, making the port a difficult place to challenge for surface ships.

North of the town, three newly built large airfields boasted many planes (fighters) and could support air defense as well as attack. However, some of the bombers slated to arrive would not because of a B-17 bombing raid on Kendari a few days ago. The General had hoped to have the twin-engine Bettys for his planned offensive.

While Darwin was not an easy place for the Allies to assault, the last few months had not been easy on his men and Japan’s position in Australia. After the final evacuation of Derby in mid-September 1942, the IJA had been on the defensive. But at the same time, MacArthur’s forces had not been strong enough to advance to Darwin and challenge the Nipponese soldiers.

A sort of void thus existed between Derby and Darwin, where no armies lay claim. Clashes existed between raiding parties and patrols, but the area was generally devoid of military men.

The ships slowly entering and docking in the harbor before him would soon rectify Nishimura’s problem and give him the food, ammo, and gasoline he desperately needed to return to the attack.

He was, however, not certain it was the right move, even if he craved to attack. Darwin was a fortress, and the Allies would not be able to take it apart from a miracle. Nishimura felt like he could resist until the end of time in the Australian town. The Australian terrain was a difficult place to make war on, and while the Allies had a lot of troops in the area, there was only so much they could support on the barren Australian West Coast. So, MacArthur didn’t have the option of sending ten times more troops.

The Japanese general feared that if

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