Chapter 17 - Preparation in the East

20th July

Generals Wavell, Blamey and O'Connor arrive in London for discussions on the future of operations in the Mediterranean and the Far East. While the plans for operations in the Mediterranean are not contentious, and the situation for the next six months seen as readily achievable, there is far more concern about the Far East.

Blamey has discussed the Slim-Park report with Menzies, who is seriously upset. It seems like little that was planned had been done, and there are many issues to be addressed. Blamey agrees, but points out that Wavell feels that the situation is by no means irremediable, and that the recent successes in the Mediterranean theatre will allow much to be done. The discussions go on for some days. Churchill is reluctant to send too much East, however it is pointed out that after all, he's happy to send equipment to Russia, who was an enemy up until a few weeks ago. Menzies also points out that early and substantial forces being sent east, with more to follow, would be very beneficial to the Australian political issues and encourage Australia to do more to help the war effort.

The argument is decided by the views of the Chiefs of Staff, who surprisingly are in favour, particularly the RN and Army. Their arguments are as follows.

The actions possible in the Mediterranean by the Army are currently limited by the availability of landing craft and associated ships. A large scale operation is impossible before next spring due to the available numbers. So the troops can only be used in small numbers. Eighth Army is more than large enough at the present to cover contingencies, as anything more than a raid on North Africa is well beyond the Axis at present. While the situation in Russia may change and allow Germany to bring more pressure on the Middle East, this isn't going to happen suddenly, and with the action in Ethiopia basically over they have troops there available to be redeployed. The Army therefore suggests that I Australia Corps be sent to Malaya, and the armoured brigade enlarged to a full division (as already planned). There are already two divisions in Malaya, although they both require considerable training. An additional British division would be useful, and politically important to show Britain was defending with its own men, not just Imperial troops.

In Burma, at least one and preferably two more divisions are needed, as well as more armour. They suggest a good Indian division and one of the two African divisions soon to be available in East Africa. Again, the existing troops are in need of training, and sending experienced formations allows them to be given the intensive training they require.

The Navy is actually all in favour of sending carriers at least to the Far East. This is partly due to their current shortage of pilots, which they expect to weaken their air groups for some 4-6 months, due to the intensive effort they have put into Mediterranean operations. Deploying 2-3 carriers to Ceylon will allow them to use them to train up new air groups to full efficiency in a relatively safe area. The remaining four fleet carriers will allow one to be in refit, one in the Western Med, able to cover the Atlantic at short notice if required, and two in the Mediterranean fleet for operations against Italy and in support of the Dodecanese operations. It would be easy to move one of these east if necessary. As to battleships, they have no need of more in the Med, and moving 3-4 east again allows them to be worked up in quiet. They point out that if anything happens it is easy for them to pull these ships back into the Med, and indeed the same applies to the Army divisions.

The RAF is more reluctant to send too much east, as it is still foreseeing a heavy commitment in the North Sea and the Mediterranean, as well as increasing raids over Germany. The Australian production will not really start to feed in until the end of the year. The Dowding report did recommend a higher commitment, and so do the defence plan for the area. They agree they can spare some squadrons of Sparrowhawks and Beaufighters until the Australian production line comes on stream, but they dig in their heels over Wellingtons. The Navy wants more air assets for use at sea, given the strength of Japanese air power; they offer to supply three squadrons of Cormorants and three of SeaLance (including some radar planes), although they will need to borrow RAF pilots. They suggest more Hudsons can be acquired from the USA, and a reconnaissance squadron would be most useful in the area. Again, these squadrons can be relocated to the Middle East in case of emergency,

The final needs are for improvements in support. Air Marshal Park has already pointed out that the radar and air defence organisation in both Malaya and Burma are quite inadequate and will lead to misuse and inefficiency. There are also Naval issues, as now the Japanese are much closer to Singapore they wish to use it only as a forward base, making Ceylon their main centre of operations. They would also like at least one northern Australian port improved as a base for submarine operations.

Menzies is delighted with the suggestions, and points out that this will allow him to go home and point out the success of his working with Britain - he is sure he will be able to use this to get Australia to also increase her forces available to defend the area.

It is agreed that the Chiefs of Staffs recommendations be accepted (subject to material limitations), and arrangements will be made to move I Australian Corps east as soon as shipping is available. The Navy will look at deploying the battleships and carriers as soon as they can get them ready (they wish to do a minor refit on some of the ships before they leave), but submit that the first heavy ships will be on their way before the end of August.

RAF squadrons can be deployed all the way by air now that North Africa is cleared (although fighters may still need to be shipped as far as Gibraltar). One of the points Parks made was inadequate support and maintenance for the RAF and as a start a base in eastern India will be prepared to be the end point of the air route, before the planes are deployed to active squadrons. The RAAF Beaufighter squadron in the Med will be sent out as soon as a replacement squadron can be supplied from Britain, and the new Mediterranean convoy route will make the supply of stores and equipment far easier.

In reality it will take longer than estimated to get the formations and their support in place, but it is seen as important to have the process underway; Menzies because of the political bonus it will give him, the British because they are hoping that the scale of the force will make the Japanese think twice about any offensive action. Unfortunately they do not realise that due to the oil and resource squeeze forced on Japan by the USA, the Japanese decisions have already been made, and it is too late for British action to change them.

24th July

The Japanese government presented an ultimatum (decided in the Japanese Imperial Conference on July 2) to the Vichy government of French Indo-China on the 19th, demanding bases in southern Indochina. They conceded today, and the Japanese will begin to occupy these bases on the 28th. This is viewed with great concern in Britain and Australia, as this will move Japanese aircraft into much closer range of Malaya and Borneo. The action is also denounced by the American government. It does however remove much of the remaining opposition to deploying more forces to the Far East.

25th July

In response to the Japanese takeover of French Indo-China, the British government announces that 'considerable' Imperial forces will be sent to SE Asia over the next months.

With the Grand Harbour at Malta unusually full with merchant ships from a newly-arrived convoy, high-speed Italian motor boats, their bow packed with high explosive, made a reckless attack at night. Fifteen Italians died when their MTL's came under fire from harbour defences manned by the Royal Malta Artillery. The attack had been planned for months.

One group of "frogmen" would blow up a hindrance net suspended from a bridge to all the MTLs access to the harbour. The MTL pilots would race down the harbour and aim their exploding boats at ships before diving over their sterns. The plan almost worked, except that one of the Italians, Major Tesei, blew up the bridge and himself, blocking access to the MTLs, which found themselves helpless under the guns and floodlit by harbour searchlights.

This attack will be followed tomorrow night by Italian E-boats, who make an attempt to penetrate Grand Harbour and Marsamxett and destroy ships in harbour and the submarine base at Manoel Island. What the Italians do not realise is that the harbour is covered by radar, and the boats are engaged by guns from St Elmo and Ricasoli. The force is wiped out, with eighteen Italians being taken prisoner.

The US War and Naval Departments send a message to the Pacific commanders advising them that the President was going to close the Panama Canal to Japanese shipping and would freeze all Japanese assets in the US, and those of banks situated in Japanese occupied China. The commanders were advised to “guard against possible eventualities”.

The British cruiser HMS Newcastle intercepts the German ship 'Erlangen' in the South Atlantic, which leads to the ship scuttling herself.

26th July

President Roosevelt incorporates the armed forces of the Philippines into the US Army and sends General MacArthur to take up the command of US forces in the Far East. MacArthur says that he is confident that the Philippines can be defended if war should spread to the Far East. The Army of the Commonwealth of the Philippines is called into Federal service.

MacArthur will continue as military advisor to the Philippine President. Upon learning of the mobilization of the Philippine National Army, he requests payment of the stipend of $50 per soldier serving in the Philippine National Army. This was provided for in his contract with the Commonwealth Government and had been approved by both Secretary of War Dern and the President in 1936. A number of other US Army officers had similar arrangements with the Commonwealth but one of them, Dwight Eisenhower, declined to accept his payment.

Soviet forces in and around Smolensk are cut off by the German pincer movement.

HMS Hood arrives in the US for a full refit. While the damage she suffered in the Bismark action has been fixed, the damage to her machinery and her general state means she is badly in need of a full refit, and dockyard space is not available in the UK. She will receive a general update and new machinery. It is hoped she will be ready in a year.

28th July

The crisis in the Far East worsened today when 30,000 Japanese troops entered French Indochina. The build-up includes elements of the Japanese navy, which have sailed into Camranh Bay and aircraft which are flying into Saigon. Japanese troops have also begun disembarking in Cambodia where 8,000 men will be within striking range of Siam.

Malaya is now seriously threatened from Indo-china, which is providing the Japanese with a naval base within 750-miles of Singapore and airfields within 300 miles of northern Malaya. The Japanese move has isolated the Philippines and menaces the oil-rich Dutch East Indies.

The Vichy regime has given the Japanese a free hand in Indochina on the pretext that it was threatened by British and Gaullist plots. The fact that the Vichy regime no longer exists as a functioning government in France seems to have passed them by.

The USN forms its first experimental A/S group to be formed around a carrier. This will be escorting ships in the US section of the Atlantic, and is centred around the USS Ranger. The USA is building a number of escort carriers and merchant conversions for the UK, and has started to build additional ships for its own use. In addition to the escort duties the RN is using them for, the USN is interested in using an escort carrier for the transportation of planes. This would free up its fleet carriers for offensive uses, although they want the ships to ideally be faster and with a longer range for use in the Pacific. In the mean time, the Ranger will allow them to practice their own version of the RN escort tactics, which have been proving increasingly successful at keeping the U-boat packs away and shooting down long range reconnaissance planes.

30th July

Russia and the Polish government in exile signed a treaty of friendship in London today. The first result of the treaty will be the formation of a Polish army from prisoners of war held in Russia. Roosevelt's advisor Harry Hopkins arrives in Moscow to discuss ways to help the Soviet war effort.

Rolls-Royce has converted a Spitfire to use the new supercharged Merlin 60 engine. This has dramatically improved the high altitude performance. With the Gloster Sea Eagle due to come into service soon, the RAF has been putting pressure on the aircraft companies to improve Spitfire performance. It is hoped to have the new Mk8 with the new engine in production by the end of the year. A version of the Spitfire with the Griffon engine is expected to fly at the beginning of September, although the change to the much bigger engine means a longer development time is to be expected; it is intended that this aircraft will be the successor to the Mk8

2nd Aug

German forces attack Staraya Russa, south of Lake Ilmen, in their drive toward Leningrad.

US Lend-Lease aid begins for the Soviet Union, while the first Packard built Rolls Royce Merlin V-1650 aircraft engine is completed

The Royal Navy completes its assessment of shipping losses in July, and is quietly optimistic. Losses during the first six months of the year were running at over 400,000 tons of shipping in some months, but the losses have been steadily decreasing as the new escort carriers become available and more escorts allow proper escort groups to be formed. Escort groups are now formed on a long-term basis and practice as a group, and the combination is making losses drop steadily, although they are still concerned at what they see as the low level of U-boat sinkings. The biggest improvement has come from the decryption of the U-boat codes and the increasing use of HF/DF to locate U-boat packs, allowing evasive routing to slip through the searching submarines. This has been aided by using the carrier planes to keep U-boats closer to the evasive route down and allow the convoy to get through the gaps. The losses in July were around 90,000 tons. Losses need to be kept to under 200,000 tons a month to keep under the amount of new merchant ship construction in the Empire.

Centimetric radar is increasingly in use on the escorts, and its being fitted as fast as possible. It is also being fitted on the aircraft; the biggest limitation at the moment is the supply of radars. The new Leigh Light is just starting in operation, and the use of these even with the older metric radar on the Stirlings has sunk a number of U-boats. With the promise of the new Mediterranean route being open soon, the outlook for shipping resources is looking more promising. The new route will allow the ships supplying war equipment to return with full cargoes, and reducing the use of the Cape route will allow a good million tons of shipping to be reallocated. The southern route will also result in less shipping damage during the winter months. The one drawback is that the heavier use of this route will mean more air protection will be needed against Luftwaffe attacks from France, and it is seen as a necessity for these convoys to be covered by a carrier at least until range of Gibraltar.

A squadron of B-17's is delivered to the French in Algeria. This shipment has been redesignated as lend-lease as the USAAF want to see how the aircraft performs in actual combat. In addition to the planes there are a number of servicemen who speak French with a rather pronounced American accent.

New commands are put in place for Burma and Malaya, although the timing and composition of the additional forces are still secret.

British Far Eastern Fleet - Admiral Somerville

CinC India/Far East - General Auchinleck

 

CinC Burma General Cunningham

I Burma Corps

1 Burma Inf. Division (in place)

17 Indian Inf. Division (in place)

7th Armoured Brigade (in place)

II Burma Corps

12 African Division (arrives Nov 41)

4 Indian Division (arrives Nov 41)

 

CinC Malaya

General Alexander

CoS Gen. Percival

I Australian Corps - General Blamey

7th Australian Div (arrives Sep 41)

9th Australian Div (arrives Oct 41)

1 Armoured Division (arrives Sep-Oct 41)

III Indian Corps - General Heath

9th Indian Div (in place)

11th Indian Div. (in place)

18th British Division (arrives Dec 1941)

 

RAF Burma - tbd, until then RAF Burma will come under RAF Malaya command.

RAF Malaya - AirMarshal Park

After considering his report, General Slim is promoted so he can take over one of the Indian divisions in Burma. It is emphasized to both the existing commanders and the new ones that training is seen as most important, this being one of the greatest deficiencies listed in the report. While the addition of some experienced and well-trained formations will help, the units already in place need to be brought up to standard.

5th Aug

The Germans have wiped out the "Smolensk Pocket", destroying the Russian Sixteenth and Twentieth Armies and capturing 300,000 Russian soldiers, 3,200 tanks and 3,100 guns. It is a shattering defeat for the Red Army. Smolensk itself, the "gateway to Moscow", fell on 16 July and the Russian forces east of the city were surrounded.

HMS Implacable leaves New York (after a goodwill visit) to return home after having her bomb damage repaired in the USA. She will receive an updated radar fit and then sail with a new airgroup for Trincomalee in Ceylon. She will be accompanied by HMS Prince of Wales and a number of destroyers.

The first successful sortie of a Mosquito reconnaissance plane flies a mission over French coastal ports. Intercepted by three Me109 fighters, it easily outpaced them. The Mosquito is being developed primarily as a bomber, but it is also to be used in small numbers as a long-ranged reconnaissance plane to supplement the Whirlwind, which is now being trialled for use as a long-range fighter.

9th August

The first British landings in the Dodecanese islands start. The men used are the Commandoes of Leyforce, covered by aircraft using the rebuilt Cretan airfields, although a carrier is stationed south of Crete in case additional support is needed.

The first islands chosen as targets are Kasos and Karpathos, as these are close to Crete and air cover. Both only have small Italian garrisons, and they are seen as a trial before the larger and better-fortified islands of Kos and Rhodes are assaulted. The force for Kasos is Leyforce, around 1,500 commandos, supplemented by 10 tanks. At the same time 1,200 men of the 4th Indian division, again supported by a small number of tanks, assaulted the small island of Karpathos. These forces were the maximum that could be used with the available shipping capability.

Both attacks went satisfactorily, although there were a number of problems caused by the troops lack of experience at assault landings. There was also a considerable amount of air support given to the defenders by the Italian air force operating from Rhodes. Indeed, without the RAF bases on Crete it was not certain if the landings could have been sustained, as even with fighter cover a number of landing craft and two coasters were sunk. However resistance on the islands themselves was light, and although some of the Italian troops fought well they were outnumbered and outmatched by the invaders.

As a result of these landings, further assaults were planned for September, once the lessons learn from the first two had been incorporated.

The battleship HMS Prince of Wales, with Prime Minister Churchill aboard, arrives at Placentia Bay with a destroyer escort. Churchill is here to meet with the U.S. President who arrived in the heavy cruiser USS Augusta two days ago. Churchill calls on Roosevelt on board USS Augusta and the two confer over lunch and dinner. This conference will result in the Atlantic Charter; a statement of principles governing the policies of Britain and America. The conference will last for four days.

The Australian Prime Minister, Menzies, is back in Australia. The Australian government and people are increasingly anxious about the Japanese, especially with the bulk of their men in the Middle East. Menzies has been criticised in particular by the Labor party (who have refused to join a wartime coalition, preferring to play party politics instead). Menzies has a good hand to play, however. With agreement from Britain, he announces that I Australian Corps, under the command of General Blamey, and including a British Armoured Division, will be sailing for Malaya later this month. Additional British and Empire forces will follow. He also announces that the battleships Warspite and Queen Elizabeth will soon be based in Ceylon, and they will be joined by additional ships, as well as Australia's cruisers which have been aiding the Royal Navy. This announcement - of considerably greater force than anyone had expected - is used by Menzies to justify his time spent in the UK, and shows that the Empire is indeed prepared to help Australia now that she also is threatened. He asks that Australia prepares additional forces herself to back up the Imperial forces. The whole presentation has rather derailed the Labor party and Menzies political opponents. By previous agreement, he does not mention the submarine force that is planned for deployment.

Britain and the USSR promise to go to the assistance of Turkey in the event of an attack by any European power. In identical statements presented to the Turkish foreign office by their ambassadors, the two Allies have also pledged themselves to "observe the territorial integrity of the Turkish republic."

The statements are seen as counters to German propaganda that Russia would take advantage of Turkey and invade should the latter enter the war.

A raid by 24 Wellington bombers on Monchen-Gladbach is the first to use the new experimental Gee system for radiolocation. The results are said to be 'encouraging'. Further tests will follow and it is hoped to have the system in production for the much larger bombing raids planned early next year when the new Lancaster bomber will be added to the increasing Halifax force.

12th Aug

The Free French offer the fast battleship Richelieu as part of the naval deployment to the Far East. They wish to show they are part of it, especially as they consider French Indo-China to be occupied territory no matter what the French government claim. The offer is accepted by the RN; she will act with the fast battleship squadron planned for the area.

In a supplement to his war directive no. 34, Hitler orders increased efforts by Army Group North to capture Leningrad and a new offensive by Army Group South to take Kharkov, the Donets Industrial Basin and the Crimea, suspending military activity by Army Group Centre in the central front around Moscow. Instead it is to aid the other Army Groups in achieving their objectives.

Production of the Canadian Grizzly tank starts. This will mount the British 6-pdr as standard, as O'Connor has stated that a reasonable HE shell capability is a specific requirement of any new tank. The tank is almost as heavily armoured as a Matilda, with superior speed and reliability, and with the 6pdr gun much superior firepower. Tests against German tanks in the desert have indicated it should be better than the current German tanks. The design has already started in production in the USA for the Free French, although the first batch will use the 2-pdr gun. Negotiations are taking place to produce the British 6-pdr under license for the French if the British production is insufficient.

A new version of the Valentine is put into production, which will incorporate the turret from the Grizzly. This is seen as an intermediate design until the new Churchill tank is ready. As there are, for the moment, sufficient tanks in North Africa for the perceived threat, the time is being used to work on the defects of the tank. This tank will also mount the Grizzly turret and 6-pdr, but will not be available until the defects are fixed. The current Valentine, with the 2-pdr, is still being manufactured for use in the Far East and to supply to Russia. Given the light armour of the Japanese tanks, the 2-pdr is seen as adequate.

A new cruiser tank has been in development for some time. This was specified with 75mm of armour and a large turret ring to take a bigger gun. The Cromwell tank will be available soon, but the biggest problem is lack of a suitable engine. It has been decided that the Mk1 will use the American engine as used in the Grizzly, with a turret mounting a 6-pdr. O'Connor would prefer heavier armour, and a new version is under development which will use a de-rated version of the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, the Meteor. The extra power will allow thicker armour, and a new turret based on, but larger that, that used on the Grizzly will allow a gun of up to 75mm to be mounted. While the 6-pdr is currently adequate, now it is in production its successor needs to be considered, and a prototype 17-pdr gun is under development.

14th Aug

Evacuation of the Russian Black Sea naval base at Nikolayev begins. During the next three nights thirteen ships under construction will be towed away. Eleven remaining ships, including a battleship, will be blown up along with other supplies

Britain and the USSR protest to Iran about the large number of German "tourists" in Iran.

15th Aug

HMS Warspite and her escorting destroyers set sail for Ceylon. The ship will refuel there, and will then make a visit to Sydney and some other Australian cities before returning to Ceylon for exercises.

The first production Gloster Sea Eagle naval fighter is delivered. This plane, built around the Centaurus engine, is much more powerful and faster than the Goshawk. It is also capable of carrying some 2,000lb of bombs, thus able to act almost as a bomber in many circumstances. The first carrier to be equipped will be HMS Bulwark, due to commission in September. The other new naval plane, the Fairy Spearfish TBR, is expected next month. It also employs the Centaurus engine.

19th Aug

A joint Anglo-Canadian-Norwegian expedition lands on Spitzbergen to sabotage the coal mines and bring the miners back to Britain.

The Wake Detachment, 1st Marine defence Battalion, arrives in the cargo ship USS Regulus to begin work on defensive positions.

The first convoy leaves Iceland for the USSR. It includes the carrier HMS Colossus who is ferrying Hurricanes to Russia.

Hitler rejects proposals from General Franz Halder, the chief of staff, and Field Marshal Walter von Brauchitsch, the army C-in-C, for an attack on Moscow. Hitler also authorizes the development of the V-2 rocket

21st August

Hitler orders the investment, not capture, of Leningrad, and the transfer of several divisions from the North and Centre to capture the Crimea and the Donets Basin, an industrial region vital to the Soviet war effort. Hitler has been unimpressed by the arguments of General Guderian that Moscow should be the priority target.

In a ceremony at Rosyth HMS Theseus is formally renamed HMAS Brisbane. She will transfer to the Australian navy, heading out to the Far East once her new crew have worked up. HMS Eagle will return to Britain for a much-needed refit before being redeployed with the Atlantic convoys.

6th Sep

In Washington, the Japanese Ambassador Nomura hands Secretary of State Cordell Hull a draft proposal outlining what the U.S. and Japan will do to establish peace in the Pacific. Two of the items that the Japanese purpose to undertake are that Japan will not make any military advancement from French Indo-China against any of its adjoining areas, and likewise will not, without any justifiable reason, resort to military action against any regions lying south of Japan. Japan will endeavour to bring about the rehabilitation of general and normal relationship between Japan and China, upon the realization of which Japan is ready to withdraw its armed forces from China as soon as possible in accordance with the agreements between Japan and China.

Cadre from I Aus Corps and its divisional commands arrive in Singapore to prepare for the troop deployment. The first large troop convoy is expected in a few weeks, carrying the 7th Australian Division. Blamey and his senior officers and NCO's are not at all impressed by what they see of the troops already in place, and discussions are started immediately with General Alexander as to ways of bringing them up to what the experienced Australians think is a suitable standard.

8th Sep

HMS Warspite arrives in Trincomalee. She will be joined shortly by the cruisers HMAS Australia and HMAS Sydney, and then sail for Australia.

11th Sep

In a broadcast to the nation, President Roosevelt issues a "Shoot on Sight" order to naval forces in the Atlantic in regard to German U-Boats. This action is partly in response to the USS Greer incident of September 4th. In fact, it is more or less what is going on at the present. He describes the attack last week on the Greer as "piracy, legally and morally." He said that the outposts the USA has established in Iceland, Greenland, Labrador and Newfoundland would protect Atlantic shipping of all nations. He stressed that the US Navy only provides "invincible protection" if Britain's Royal Navy survived.

The president emphasized the difficulty of defending ships from torpedoes fired from submarines; "When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do wait until he has struck before you crush him, these Nazi submarines and raiders are the rattlesnakes of the Atlantic - they are a menace to the free pathways of the high seas."

Admiral Stark advises Admiral Hart that Washington had declined to endorse Allied mobilization plans proposed by the British for joint operations in the event of war. Hart is ordered to defer plans to move the Asiatic Fleet to Dutch or British ports when hostilities began. Hart was ordered to ensure his fleet operations were "co-ordinated" with British and Dutch operations, although it is not made clear how this is to be done.

In Britain, the prototype Airspeed Horsa troop-carrying glider is flown. It has a crew of two pilots and can carry 20-25 troops. The failure of Operation Mercury has made the British more dubious about the viability of large-scale airborne attacks, but they see small-scale assaults on specific targets as being useful.

12th Sep

The 2nd and 3rd Panzer Armies join up near Rovno, completing the encirclement of Kiev and a pocket of 600,000 Soviet soldiers to the east of the city. However as they do the first snows of winter fall - General Winter has arrived early to help Russia.

The Free French air force try out their new B-17's for the first time, in a raid from bases in North Africa on Italy's royal arsenal at Turin. At the same time, the RAF strikes Messina and Palermo in Sicily, hitting merchant ships, oil tanks and a power station.

While it is not expected to match some of the other routes, supplies are starting to be shipped from Alexandria to Russia via the Black sea, using Russian coastal shipping. Turkey, keen to be seen to be neutral to both sides (both of whom are heavily armed and worryingly close to her) has allowed use of the Bosphorus for unarmed merchant ships. The small ships hug the coast as much as possible, hoping to evade the attention of the Germans, whose air force is at the moment rather busy supporting the army operations.

Two squadrons of Beaufighters (one RAF, one RAAF) arrive in Malaya from the Middle East. It is hoped that it will be possible to send more in a few months, but in the meantime they are waiting on the convoy carrying their support and equipment. The planes have flown in via India, where a new base is being fitted out in East India to handle and maintain aircraft in transit.

HMS Implacable, HMS Prince of Wales and four escort destroyers sail for Trincomalee via the Cape. Implacable carries the new Sea Eagle, but is still equipped with SeaLance TBR - her squadron of Spearfish will set out in a couple of weeks to meet her there, and the SeaLance will then go on to Malaya as a land-based anti-shipping force. The carrier also carries an additional 18 Cormorant divebombers which will be flown off to Gibraltar to make their own way to Malaya.

16th Sep

The last of the 'Formidable' class carriers, HMS Bulwark, enters commission. She will be the first RN carrier to carry both the Sea Eagle and the Spearfish planes, and her squadrons will embark with these next month once she is ready to deploy. It is intended for her and HMS Implacable to then join up in Ceylon where they will work up with the new aircraft. It is also hoped to send the squadron on a visit to Australia for propaganda purposes.

24th Sep

The first German U-Boat passes Gibraltar into the Mediterranean. Over the next two weeks six more U-Boats will pass into the Mediterranean. The German Submarine Force will later have about 50% of its active submarine force engaged in the Mediterranean, which is viewed by U-boat command as a major strategic error in taking the pressure off the vital Atlantic convoys to Britain.

The first 'Liberty Ship' is launched in the USA at Baltimore. The British government is becoming a little more hopeful about the Battle of the Atlantic. Sinkings in the first 6 months of the year averaged some 300,000tons a month. Since July, it has been under 100,000. The shipbuilding capacity of the Empire is somewhat more than 2,000,000 tons, so if the sinkings can be kept at the current level, and ships start to arrive in numbers from the USA, there is cause for some careful optimism. The new frigates will start to come into service in the New Year, and new weapons and asdic will soon be available for them.

Soviet forces in the Crimea have now been isolated by the German Army. Hitler orders all direct attacks on Leningrad to be stopped - the city will be besieged and starved out.

General Marshall requests Admiral Stark delay converting three freighters into escort carriers in order to increase the shipping lift for the reinforcements being sent to the Philippines.

29th Sep

Convoy PQ-1 leaves Iceland bound for Archangel with ten merchant ships, escorted only by one cruiser and two destroyers. There are no German attacks on the convoy, which reaches Archangel on October 11th. At the same time Convoy QP-1 leaves Archangel headed for Scapa Flow.

Hitler orders that Leningrad be wiped off the face of the earth and its population exterminated.

The troop convoy carrying 7th Australian division arrives at Singapore. The division is hoped to be operational soon, as the threat is increasing and the division has to work out how to fight effectively in terrain far different than the desert.

The first production Lancaster bomber makes its first flight. New tactics are being developed to attack German targets using the large bomb bay of the plane for heavier bombs to supplement those carried by the Halifax.

HMS Warspite, HMAS Australia and HMAS Sydney arrive in Sydney for a propaganda visit. They will remain in Australia for two weeks, visiting a number of ports filled with enthusiastic crowds before heading to Singapore. The first squadron of Cormorant divebombers arrives in Malaya, flown by RAF pilots.

2nd Oct

An Anglo-American mission led by Lord Beaverbrook has agreed to boost military aid to Russia next year. The USA will allocate 1,200 tanks a month to Britain and the USSR between July 1942 and January 1943, and a further 2,000 tanks a month for the following six months. This will mean initial US consignments of 400 tanks a month for the Soviets from 1 July.

In addition the USA will send 3,600 aircraft to Russia between 1 July 1942 and 1 July 1943, over and above the planes already being sent by Britain. The Soviets in return will supply Britain and the USA with urgently needed raw materials.

The German attack on Moscow, Operation Typhoon, begins. 3rd and 4th Panzer Groups and the 4th, 2nd and 9th Armies join Guderian's forces which started their attack two days ago. This is the "last, great decisive battle of the war", according to a communiqué by Hitler to his troops, and today's attack makes rapid progress.

A national coalition government is finally formed in Australia. The leader of the Labor party, John Curtin, will become deputy Prime Minister. There has been considerable controversy over the last months, with the Labor party in particular wanting a greater emphasis on the threat from Japan. Menzies has used his speech to emphasize the substantial forces Britain is sending to the Far East to help protect Australia (and the arrival of 7th Australian at Singapore only days ago has not hurt his cause), and this has swayed a number of MP's who had been critical of what they had seen as a lack of support from Britain. As a result, although it will be far more fractious than its British equivalent, just enough support has been found to form a national government, although observers are worried that a war with Japan will strain it if defeats or setbacks occur.

5th Oct

Brereton is briefed by Marshall, Gerow, Arnold, and Spaatz about the situation in the Philippines. Brereton stated "in the event of war it was almost certain to incur destruction of a bomber force put in the Philippine Islands without providing adequate antiaircraft defence"; Marshall responded that he and Arnold were taking a "calculated risk". Brereton is worried that the lessons learned in Europe were being completely ignored in placing heavy bombers in the islands without adequate protection.

HMS Implacable and HMS Prince of Wales arrive at Trincomalee, where the carrier will conduct extensive working up of her airgroup and their new fighters. Eighteen of the carriers SeaLance will go on to Singapore, the carrier will retain twelve for A/S and reconnaissance duties; eighteen of the new Spearfish will arrive next week having flown from Britain

Two squadrons of Goshawk fighters arrive in Malaya. They will be based at Singapore for defence of the naval base and as replacements for the carriers if needed.

12th Oct

Kaluga falls to the German forces advancing on Moscow. The worsening weather has caused problems with the advance, but has not been able to stop it. Today civilians start to be evacuated from Moscow.

14th Oct

British and French forces land on the island of Rhodes. Unlike their earlier attacks on smaller islands in the Dodecanese, Rhodes is both fortified and has a garrison of nearly 8,000 men. Every available landing craft is used in the operation, the initial attack being made by a brigade of the 6th Australian Division and a brigade of the French Foreign Legion, led by the commandoes of Leyforce. The initial landings are backed up by a British brigade and the 1st Polish brigade, and includes some 40 tanks.

The landings go as well as expected - although there were a number of problems, the experienced troops managed to overcome these, and the defenders were slowly pushed back in a series of actions. Air cover from the RAF on Crete stopped any serious interference from the Italian air force, although a number of RAF fighters were lost; for the first time the Italians were using the MC.202 fighter in numbers. This fighter was much superior in performance to earlier Italian designs, but still suffered from a light armament. The landing forces were also supported by two RN cruisers and the battleship Valiant, whose 15" shells cause a number of Italian positions to surrender.

The subdual of the islands defences takes some three days. The Italian navy does try to intervene - on the night of the second day a force of one light cruiser and two destroyers attempt to intercept the ships containing the second wave of troops in a night action. This proves unsuccessful as they run into the radar-equipped HMS Valiant and her escorting ships. The Italian cruiser was sunk, despite a desperate but unsuccessful torpedo attack by two of the destroyers, one of which was sunk in the action.

This was by far the biggest amphibious assault tried by the British, and like the earlier, smaller ones showed a number of new problems and shortcomings that needed to be addressed. Rhodes would be garrisoned by a reinforced brigade and the Italian airfields used to allow the RAF to dominate the skies over the Dodecanese.