Sir John Valentine Carden Survives. Part 2.
- Thread starter allanpcameron
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Ramp-Rat
Monthly Donor
There can be little doubt that the Japanese offensive in both Malaya and Burma, have failed and that other than local counter attacks, the Japanese are going to be on the defensive in the Far East, from now on. With the Mediterranean region having become for the time being a minor concern, as until the decision is made to either invade Sicily/Italy, or occupy them after a change of government. The British don’t need anywhere as large a military presence in the region , as they did IOTL, the Vichy French forces in the Levent and North Africa are in no position to conduct operations against the British. While the Italians themselves will be concentrating on trying to defend Sicily and the Italian mainland against a possible British Invasion, while coming under steadily increasing air attacks. Franco in Spain is trying to work out how he can reduce his commitments to Adolf and Benito, and improve his relationship with both Britain and America. In the Far East it’s time to rotate units that have been in combat, and then pause for the duration of the present Monsoon, while building up strength and offensive capabilities. Hopefully this will be the only Monsoon that the British forces have to observe a pause for, as by the time the next Monsoon occurs the British will be in a situation where they can continue to fight through the Monsoon. While the situation in the Mediterranean will have resolved itself, and the French forces outside France , both in the Mediterranean and throughout the rest of Africa, will have switched sides to the Free French, and join the Allied cause. And the various minor amphibious actions will have both pushed the Italians and Germans back to the European mainland, and started a series of raids against Southern France, Italy, Greece and Yugoslavia, causing the Germans and Italy to deploy increasing numbers of forces into defending the extensive shoreline. As the increasing pressure on the Germans from the Soviets, requires them to either withdraw forces from the South and hand over more responsibility to the Italians, Hungarians and Romanians. Or deprive their forces in Russia of much needed reinforcements, along with depriving their forces in Northern France of the resources, equipment and personnel, they need to prepare for the inevitable Anglo American invasion.
RR.
RR.
Hmm with the Free French I wonder how this quiet period for them relatively speaking will effect them I mean more training and kit for them and the Poles will be a plus without the strain of OTL. Though politically and diplomatically I can see this quitenperiod being a bit more awkward.
Ramp-Rat
Monthly Donor
Mosquitoes were found to be a major problem in the Far East, as the glue used to bind the layers of wood together that they were made of, both degraded in the damp heat, and being glued together with casein based glue a natural product which made them highly susceptible to mould. So I doubt that they will be used in the region, until the problems have been resolved.
RR.
Ahh...it looks like the Japanese troops from the recently concluded Phillipines offensive had been transferred there...that being said, with an increased presence of the Allied navy at the South China Sea...perhaps the Japanese supply situation could be in the edge of the precarious position..
as we can see here...the division that IIRC were allocated to home defence (after suffering some losses at the battle of France) IOTL are on their way to Malaya,
which hopefully when the time comes, would be enough to push the Japanese from the entirety of the Malay Peninsular...although I do wonder by that point how far would the troops in Burma has advance in Thailand...
And we have more troops being reallocated from their home region now we have less of a threat of an enemy attack at home....
And hopefully with the amount of troops that will be in Malaya...there would be much troops that are able tp be rotated..
Had to agree...especially since the distance from Jitra to Alor Star is like from Croydon to the City of Londonm
Forgot that Sungai Petani had an airstrip..and it looks like the airstrip had been upgraded for it have somethings they never had at all at any point IOTL...no comment about the future of the Sungai Petani airstrip sine I don't know really know that much about that particular airstrip.
Well it would take a miracle for the Spitfire to even have see action at Malaya...and the Spitfire are overkill for the Japanese...
Another Malayan update has been done
..
Hello,
Mossies Over the Jungle
From 1943, the de Havilland Mosquitos of 684 Squadron ranged far and wide over Southeast Asia, supplying the RAF with most of its strategic reconnaissance, as Tom Spencer describes
Ramp-Rat
Monthly Donor
Hello,
Mossies Over the Jungle
From 1943, the de Havilland Mosquitos of 684 Squadron ranged far and wide over Southeast Asia, supplying the RAF with most of its strategic reconnaissance, as Tom Spencer describeswww.key.aero
The date in the T/L is at present April 42 and while I don’t know what date de Havilland switched from using the casein natural glue to the artificial urea-formaldehyde Airolite. I however given that the Mosquito only entered service in November 1940, I doubt that the problems with the natural glue and its replacement with an artificial glue had taken place as yet.
RR.
Spits are not overkill...but they would be able to go Toe to Toe with Zeros and best them in a way Hurricanes never could. Eric Brown said the A6M was the finest fighter in the world in 1942. But a Spitfire has some advantages over it still then. The zero's huge advantage is range, they can pop up anywhere and loiter, but that's not the war Japan is now fighting. It's early summer 42 back in Blighty and the RAF is desperate to get MkIXs into servive numbers to face the Fw190. . It would "take a miracle"? Well there has been one, No Germans in NA. OTL interim MKVIIIs and other were sent to Malta and NA. Why not now send them , or Vs to where the action is. Hurricanes aren't the sitting ducks that Brewsters were but are really struggling against a Zero/ Oscar. Zoom and Boom is hard to implement when you don't have much Zoom. Even a Spit V has advantages at altitude over the Zero/ Oscar. OTL the distances involved in Island hopping and no forward bases to operate off made deploying Spits impractical. Now though with the Thai/Malaya border and airfields in much closer proximity - it can be the finest intercepter that it is born to be. Keep the new ones for FW190s and send a squadron (or two, or three) to Malaysia. RAF Radar too to coordinate ..and you have Zippos over SE Asia a lot earlier than the Tukey shoot OTL. Most likely opponent is the Oscar - The Army Zero - Ki43. Very similar to Zero and more than a match for a Hurricane. But I'd rather be in a V or better yet VIII/ IX.
Err the article is paywalled though I could check the archives...Hello,
Mossies Over the Jungle
From 1943, the de Havilland Mosquitos of 684 Squadron ranged far and wide over Southeast Asia, supplying the RAF with most of its strategic reconnaissance, as Tom Spencer describes
hmm...the Wikipedia page does mention some of the problems (fuselage shrinkage due to humidity is one of the problem...)
and I do found a weird anecdote that said the glue itself could be eaten by bugs..
The change was made in 1943 if the anecdote was true...hopefully the change could be made earlier ITTL...
Derek Pullem
Donor
Aerolite was developed prior to the Mosquito. I had trouble finding the exact date it replaced casein but best guess would be in 1942. It was more a question of developing a faster curing version of Aerolite than Aerolite itself.
Stalin is going to be putting the screws on, though, wanting to see action somewhere European, so he's not left fighting the entire land war in Europe on his own.
TBH will Stalin have the same flex he had OTL? Britian isn't in the same dire straights as it was OTL and its pushing back in the east and has beaten the Germans and Italians in Africa so I imagine their will be push back until they are good and ready.
I would suggest Commonwealth or BCE, for British Commonwealth and Empire forces.
DUKE makes perfect sense if your talking about any combination of British and/or Empire forces with Dutch forces.
As soon as you add American involvement ABDA becomes the term to use.
DUKE does make sense in certain circumstances to make sure that the reader knows that American forces are not involved and as such that will inform how decisions are made and who by.
As soon as you add American involvement ABDA becomes the term to use.
DUKE does make sense in certain circumstances to make sure that the reader knows that American forces are not involved and as such that will inform how decisions are made and who by.