“Hai,” the aide said, bowing. Yamashita scowled; some of his infantry had attempted to catch the shadow-warriors. Only one British death, a black man wearing strange clothing, had been reported, near the main base. In exchange, nearly a thousand Japanese soldiers and coolies had been killed – and more had been killed by the strange aircraft.
He scowled as the scream of a jet aircraft echoed in the sky. The two aircraft – the forces had only seen two of them – had developed a skill at hit-and-run that was demoralising sections of his army. He had to keep Zeros orbiting above his bases, just to prevent raids from damaging even more of his precious supplies. Despite the fact they were slower than the jets the Germans had reported, they were careful not to engage in combat with the Zeros.
He looked down at the map again. Everywhere, Japan seemed to be winning; Burma, the Dutch East Indies, Malaya… but he suspected that it was an illusion. The other shoe had not yet dropped.
“Order Maskato to press forward,” he said. In a week, assuming that they could keep up the pace, the city of Kuala Lumpur would fall… and then they would reach the main defensive line. The tactical air units, heroes of the battle at Nomonhan, were already working on it… and taking heavy losses. Perhaps by the time Yamashita’s forces reached the line, it would be broken… but Yamashita suspected that it would be anything, but broken.
Chapter Forty: Reactions
10 Downing Street
London, United Kingdom
25th September 1940
The flight of German aircraft, a handful of the newer jets and three dozen Messisamitts, roared over the channel, followed by a flight of the new V1s. Before they had crossed over the water the Eurofighters pounced, launching missiles at the jets before closing to cannon range. The Germans fought bravely, launching new unguided missiles in a vain attempt to down a jet before they broke and ran, heading back for Germany. The V1s, primitive cruise missiles, came on, falling to the RAF and the ground-based weapons.
In the war room, Hanover watched as the last V1 vanished from the screen. It had been one of fifty raids, launched since the Japanese had opened hostilities in the Far East, and it was wearing the RAF out. Every time the Germans launched an air raid, the jets on Combat Air Patrol had to intercept, or launch QRA from one of the airbases. The wear and tear on the equipment was staggering; no one had ever expected a war on this scale.
“Major Stirling?” He asked finally. He’d ordered Stirling to brief him in person before he faced Parliament in the afternoon; even through Parliament was acting almost responsibly for the moment. He doubted it would last; only the pressures of a real live war had kept Parliament focused on actually important issues.
“The Australians are taking a beating,” Stirling said, after checking his PDA. “Their navy was salvaged on the first day of the war, and now the Dutch rolled over and surrendered their airfields in the Dutch East Indies, they’re being bombed regularly. For the moment, we’re blocked from sending them aircraft; the Japanese have bombed all of their airfields and are repeating the effort whenever it seems necessary.”
“Bastards,” Hanover commented. “What about the submarines?”
“That’s the good news,” Stirling said. “Trafalgar sank three Japanese cruisers that were going to bombard Darwin and two destroyers. Since then, the Japanese have travelled in convoys through the region. Unfortunately… they’re running out of torpedoes.”
Hanover nodded. “Tell them, if they can, to locate and sink the Japanese carriers,” he said. He scowled. “We’re not used to the fog of war,” he said. “The moment the Japanese break contact, we’re screwed.”
Stirling grinned. “The British Space Centre came up with an idea about that,” he said. “We can get back at least some satellite coverage if we start at once.”
“Marvellous,” Hanover said dryly. “How many of our firstborn do we have to sacrifice?”
“We have some boomers with ICBMs that aren’t doing anything,” Stirling said. He tapped his PDA, transmitting the file to Hanover’s PDA. “The idea was that, in the short term, we rig up a couple of communications and reconnaissance satellites, basic American designs that the ESA stole, and then launch them into space as a temporary measure. In the long term, they recommended developing a space centre in Kenya, using American boosters to launch a proper communications network.”
Hanover smiled. “We need them,” he said. “The submarines are doing a grand job, but they’re not able to find anything below the horizon yet. At this rate, we’ll have to build up in India and crush Japan from there.”
“The battles for Singapore remain undecided,” Stirling said. “The Japanese, we think under General Homma, are still pushing down towards the defence lines, despite the SAS’s interference. They just don’t need as much in the way of supplies than we do. On the other hand, they’re having to divert some of their strength – a lot of their strength – to keep their lines secure. The really bad news is that they’re looting and raping their way south.”
“Bastards,” Hanover said again. “And Burma?”
“There was only a Contemporary battalion there,” Stirling said. “They’ve forced them back, although we slowed them down by taking out the bridges with Harriers from India. Of course, if the Soviets do manage to take Tehran and Iran, they might be in a position to slip a knife in our backs.”
“It’s still too soon to begin flying aircraft from that airbase with the unpronounceable name,” Hanover mused. “Damn it!”
“RAF Habbaniyah,” Stirling supplied. “Ground teams are working there now, and we have a proper forward base in Saudi – which, by the way, is now called the Republic of Arabia. Give us a week and we’ll start hitting their supply lines as well. PJHQ suggested that we could move one of the new Armoured Divisions, 4th or 5th, up to Habbaniyah as well; they only have Chieftain tanks, but they’re better than anything the Soviets have.”
“Show me a plan for their deployment,” Hanover said. “We still can’t free up the forces in Britain itself, worse luck.”
Stirling shrugged. Politics was not one of his concerns. “On different news, President Roosevelt seems to be moving ahead of his opponent in the Presidential Race, which is due to happen on 5th November. The Japanese attack put the wind up a lot of people; particularly with Japanese convoys sailing past the Philippines and attacking islands the Americans warned them to leave alone. On the other hand, there isn’t much support for war, now that the cost of the first Pacific War has sunk in. We might end up with a third Roosevelt administration that doesn’t have a mandate to go to war.”
He displayed a chart. “Polls and political polling are far less reliable here than back in 2015, and they were never that reliable in our time, but a lot of industries are in favour of using the war to hack open our trade routes, and to force forward Latin America, rather than fighting beside us. They’re scared that our technology, which they can’t duplicate, will give us an advantage in trading with the rest of the world, and we’re annoyed some of their oil producers by our actions in Saudi. And, of course, there are the social… uprisings popping up across America – they’re scared.”
“The West Virginia arrives today, doesn’t it?” Hanover said thoughtfully. “A single battleship and the Queen Elizabeth, coming to collect the future Americans.”
Stirling nodded. “Many of them, those who want to return to pre-civil rights America, have signed agreements with various American interests. The Navy and the USAAF, in particular, are very interested – they’ve even agreed to waive all rights to the military material in the country in exchange for dropping the espionage charges.”