“The Japanese are expanding their army at an alarming speed, in late 1942 their Army had a total of 538,000 men active in 48 divisions. They had two divisions each in Japan, Indochina and Korea plus three Imperial Guard divisions in Japan, 12 divisions in Manchuria and 27 divisions in China. This has now risen to a total of 145 divisions, with over 5 million men. At least 55 of those divisions, with 2 million men, have been formed in China over the last year. In addition to the regular divisions, there's a large number of independent brigades, mostly light infantry and some motorized units.
“General Auchinleck believes that to get that rate of expansion they must be stripping their existing units of skilled cadres and filling up the ranks with Chinese conscripts. Disposition is much as we might expect. Japan still has its three Imperial Guard divisions and two regular Army divisions. Korea and Indochina two regular divisions each. China, now has 134 divisions. The oddity is Manchuria. There used to be twelve divisions up there, now there are four.
“That must ease the Russian mind considerably. Especially after the Americans pulled that border overflight.”
Sir Eric laughed. “Indeed so. The Japanese went ballistic of course but they seem to be getting used to it. Didn't even murmur about the last couple. By the way, did you see those pictures the Americans took of Bengal during the floods? They were an immense help to us in getting the relief efforts mounted.
“Anyway, the Russians may be happy but it seems like there are at least eight divisions of Japanese troops missing and we've completely lost track of them. There are four independent armored brigades missing as well. That's a powerful little army loose somewhere. The Army is expanding its air force as well, not as fast but steadily and they're bringing in a lot of new types. Mostly jet fighters and bombers which raises a fuel question of course. They have the same problem getting jet fuel as everybody else.
“The big loser over the last few years has been the Navy. They're the ones paying the bill for China. They finished their earlier fleet expansion program, all four of those battleship monsters, four repeat Shokaku carriers, five repeat Taihos. Gives them twelve modern carriers. Their air groups are pretty grim though. A lot of their fighter units are still flying Zeros and we can count the naval jet units on the fingers of one thumb. Land-based aircraft aren't much better although they do have some jets. Reports are they're still flying those big Mitsubishi twin engined torpedo bombers. George, I think the Americans call them
“But for the rest? A few heavy cruisers and they're building a new class of destroyers using the Agano light cruiser as a base. For the rest of it, it’s not just that new construction has slowed right down to a crawl; they're going through the rest of the fleet with an ax. Just in the last two years, all the old armored cruisers went, not that they were worth much anyway, all those old three- and four-funnel light cruisers have gone, all their pre-Fubuki class destroyers and we aren't seeing much of their older big destroyers either. Three of their oldest carriers went last year, including the two big ones, Akugi and Kaga. Got some jeep carriers built on merchant ship hulls though.
“And now we get this. They've just pulled their six oldest battleships from service. Scrapped five of them, made the sixth into a 'Museum of Japanese Naval Art and Science'. Damn pretentious name. Those old battleships aren't much of a loss in power terms but it shows the Navy is on the bottom of the pecking list now.”
Sir Martyn looked at the Cabinet Secretary and tried to resist but the historian's instincts got the better of him. “Just as a matter of interest, Eric, which battleship did they preserve?”
Sir Eric Haohoa grimaced. “I'm not sure. Didn't notice, anyway they're all just names realty. It'll be in here somewhere. “He thumbed through the intelligence briefing. “Battleships scrapped........Ah yes, here we are. Battleship preserved as museum. Fuso”
Chapter Four Striking
First Army Circle Headquarters, Ban Masdit, Recovered Provinces, Thailand
“Reporting for duty Sir.”
''Settled into your quarters yet, Lieutenant?'*
“Yes indeed Sir. And they are much better than I had expected. A private bath is a luxury I didn't expect out here.”
“In the Wild East you mean? As a matter of fact, the army bases out here are much better than the ones back home. They've all been built in the last six years you see and they've all incorporated new ideas.” And, thought General Songkitti, the most objectionable of those new ideas was women in the Army. “You'll have noticed the men have smaller barracks, more like large rooms really, and more privacy. Officers have small private quarters and about a quarter of them have separate bathrooms. Yours is one of those.”
“I don't ask for special treatment Sir.”
“And you won't get it. Get off your high horse, Lieutenant. It's a matter of simple fact that nobody wants a woman wandering around the barracks looking for a vacant bath. The decision to give you quarters with a bath was taken on purely common-sense grounds. It's better for good order and discipline. Now, that being settled, how is your office and workload? Sit down and give me your honest opinion on where we stand.”
Second Lieutenant Sirisoon Chandrapa na Ayuthya sat in the chair opposite her General's desk. She had, what would be under any other circumstances, a plum assignment. Administrative aide to the Chief of Staff of First Area Army. That meant she was responsible for maintaining all the paperwork and routine managerial tasks of the headquarters, making sure that her general didn't have to worry over who had filled in which particular bureaucratic nightmare. A good administrative aid would be their General's protégé, rising with him from post to post, having their careers gently directed from one important job to the next until, one day, they wore stars and sat behind a desk, sizing up a young Lieutenant who might, or might not, have what it took. Only stuck out here on the frontier far from the centers of power back home, there was nowhere to go.
In any case, it wasn't going to happen in her case. Because she was a she and the Army was a boy's club and she didn't belong there. She'd be tolerated and used but she'd never become a protégé, never have her career directed inexorably upwards. If she was going to move up the ranks, she would have to claw her way up. She'd never realized it would matter to her so much. She'd joined the Army for an education that her family couldn't afford. At Chulachomklao, she'd discovered something that surprised her; she liked being a soldier,
“Sir, the administrative side of this organization is a mess. It looks like every piece of paperwork has been dumped in what is now my office and left there. I'm having it sorted through now, I expect to find the surrender document from the French Army any time now, the 1868 one of course, we already have the later one. I've obtained some filing cabinets and we'll be pulling double shifts until everything is sorted out.”'
Songkitti smiled to himself at the 'we' then leaned forward. “So what do you think our problems are going to be?”
“I think we have two Sir, one internal, the other external. The internal one stems from what's going on here. This area was a wreck when we pushed the French out and moved in ourselves. The farms were half derelict and none were self-supporting. The farmers, the ones left anyway, were virtually starving. They grew nothing but rice and had to buy everything else from the government store. All at government-fixed prices. Just a form of slavery really. We're trying to rebuild those farms and get people to come out here and kick-start the agricultural sector.