Hara hit Colombo the following day, then swung around the Island and bombed China Bay at Trinco on the 27th. That was to be the main landing site, and so he committed all his fighters to a decisive battle with the Hurricanes of the British 30th Squadron and a few Fulmars of F.A.A. 261 Squadron. Even a section of old Blenheim Bombers from 11th Squadron got into the act and tried to bomb Taiho, albeit unsuccessfully.
In these actions, Takami had operated with Kurita’s battleships, out looking for any further sign of the enemy fleet south of Ceylon. No enemy ships were found. Ozawa looked for the British up north, but never found them, and was fortunate in that. His three heavy cruisers would not have had a good time with Vice Admiral Willis and his three battleships. The fight over Trincomalee was costly, with the Japanese losing another 12 planes, but they had established air superiority by nightfall. Satisfied that he had command of the sea and sky, Hara ordered the invasion task force to proceed.
One day later, on the night of the 28th of September, the Japanese landed the 11th Regiment, 5th Division, on the beaches near Trincomalee. Churchill’s worst nightmare had come true, and the battle for Ceylon would now begin on the ground. 98th Indian Regiment of the 34th Division had been posted there, with a battalion of the British 16th regiment to stiffen the ranks. As in so many confrontations with the rugged Japanese infantry before, they were no match for the seasoned veterans of the 5th Division.
Trincomalee fell on the 1st of October, but there had only been enough shipping to lift this first regiment along with supplies adequate for the first two weeks. Hara departed for Singapore, where he planned to then refuel and escort the 21st Regiment to Ceylon for the landing at Colombo. In that interval, a chastened and disheartened Somerville slipped out of Madras and made a run for the Indian Ocean, but not before the three old battleships under Admiral Willis paid a visit to Trinco, protesting the Japanese occupation there with their 15-inch guns. No effort could be made to try and defend Colombo from any subsequent Japanese landing, and no further troops were available to send there.
In spite of his greatest fears coming to life with this Japanese invasion, Churchill was persuaded to use that same interval to pull out anything he could. A bird in hand was worth two in the bush, and Madagascar would be that bird. Indomitable lingered briefly, while the remainder of the 16th Brigade, with 99th and 100th Indian, and 21st East African were moved by sea at night. Three days after the last men got off, the Japanese 21st Regiment arrived to claim their pearl of great price.
Maps
Route taken by the US strike wing off Taffy 11, first striking Hara’s Carrier Division 5 and then diverting to Ndeni in the Santa Cruz Islands.
Position of Nagumo’s Carrier Division 1 is also shown.
Hara’s devastating counterattack ruins Fletcher’s day, and forces Nimitz to order Halsey to disengage.
Captain Harada devises a plan of attack against Kirov using a combination of land and carrier based aircraft with Takami positioned in a protected bay to use its missiles to the best effect.
Historical Indian Ocean Raid in April of 1942. In the altered history, Somerville is caught east of Ceylon and suffers severe losses when Hara’s carriers engage, though his cruisers are not sunk as in the historical outcome, and Hermes is not engaged.
Coming Nov 1st
The Action in the Pacific continues with 1943, the entire novel dedicated to the Pacific Theater. Admiral Halsey returns, and with him come three friends, the first three Essex Class carriers rushed out of the shipyards and into service to meet the emergency situation in the Pacific. Now, with five fleet carriers, he moves to challenge the Japanese fleet in a bold new offensive. As MacArthur takes over command of the ground battle in the Fijis, the Marines are withdrawn to reorganize for an attack into the New Hebrides at Efate. Operating to attack the small American outpost at Ndeni in the Santa Cruz Islands and then cover the transfer of reinforcements to Fiji, the Kido Butai runs into Halsey’s operation and the Fighting Admiral again has a chance to show his worth.
OTHER KIROV SERIES BATTLE BOOKS
In a move that stunned Great Britain in 1940, the Germans launched a daring operation to seize the vaunted Rock of Gibraltar and Malta. Now Erwin Rommel leads the Afrika Korps in a bid to conquer all of Egypt and knock England out of the war. But a strange event in the year 2021 sends the Great Grandsons of the Desert Rats back through time to pose a bold new challenge. Soon the hunter becomes the hunted, as the Desert Fox struggles for his very survival in this exciting alternate history of WWII. Loaded with action, this book presents 58 chapters of all the action from the German Operation Felix attack on Gibraltar, the daring attack on Malta, the opening moves in North Africa with O'Connor's Raid, the Battle of Beda Fomm, and Operation Sonnenblume, Rommel's first offensive. Then, in the midst of the fighting, General O'Connor goes missing, and a desperate search and rescue operation is mounted. Fate takes the search team to a unexpected rendezvous in the deep desert, where a strange event in the midst of a new war in 2021 has displaced the modern British 7th Armored Brigade back in time to 1941. As Rommel drives east towards Alexandria, he is soon confronted by a powerful new enemy that becomes the bane of the Desert Fox from that day forward. At the battle of Bir el Khamsa, modern day Challenger II tanks and Warrior AFVs confront the cream of Rommel's Afrika Korps. But we're just getting started! Foxbane then continues as Rommel receives powerful new reinforcements to launch a bold attack on Tobruk. The fighting continues as the British launch their own counteroffensives in Operation Crusader, and finally Operation Supercharge, where the Desert Rats seek to push Rommel back to Tripoli. Here is all the great desert war action extracted from the massive 24 volume Kirov Series novels by John Schettler, re-edited by the author and presented in one continuous file spanning 58 chapters. (Over 175,000 words). This is military fiction at its absolute finest, an alternate history so convincing that you’ll believe it actually happened!
Available now: Foxbane
5.5” x 8.5” Quality Trade Paperback – 550 Pages – $19.99
Kindle File – $4.99
Vladimir Karpov… surely irrepressible, deceitful, conniving, duplicitous, egocentric and yes, disloyal. His inner drive to make something greater of himself, whether bordering on the maniacal or not, has also made him a formidable ally in the war against the dark forces of the Axis powers. In combat he can be heartless, even cruel, and coldly heedless of the consequences of his own actions. To those that make him an enemy, beware.
Ivan Volkov was one such man. An officer in the modern Russian Naval Intelligence service, he stumbles down a stairway in an old railway inn at the village of Ilanskiy, and finds himself marooned in 1908! There he slowly rises to power in the White movement of the Russian Revolution, forging his private little empire in Central Asia which he comes to call the Orenburg Federation. Now the two great villains of the Kirov Series meet as arch rivals in a long vendetta and struggle to control one of the most strategically important sites on earth… Ilanskiy.