The island then extended north along the crab leg through Maoka and Shikuku provinces, with rail lines winding north along both coasts. There, another well established port at Shikuka presided over the wide curving coastal region of Taraika Bay. It had formerly been called the port of Poronaysk , and from there a single rail line ran north into the central inland valley between two rugged spurs of highland mountains. It would pass through South Karafuto Province, following the line of a long winding river into North Karafuto, the beginning of the oil development region on the island.
Here Siberian influences were more pronounced, and there were still large inland segments of North Karafuto that were largely uninhabited by the Japanese, the province of the Ainu, Orok and Nivkh tribes, which were very friendly with Karpov’s troops and worked for them in small guerilla groups, the local partisans.
The northernmost port worthy of the name was at Okha, where there was also considerable oil field development already underway by the Japanese engineers. Earlier that winter, Karpov had flown in what amounted to a single battalion of Naval Marines and a few supporting troops to seize the northernmost tip of the island, occupying an area extending about 50 kilometers south. Now, with the sea ice finally permitting approach to the region, he was out to seize all of North Karafuto, which extended all the way as far south as the port of Lazarev on the Tatar Strait. That province sat right astride the mouth of the Amur River on the mainland, and the port of Nikola there. Karpov wanted to control that, and all the Tatary Strait as far south as Lazarev.
With limited sealift capacity, he would only be able to move a single regiment and its supporting guns and supplies, but he had all four mountain regiments of the 32nd Siberian Division earmarked for this operation. It began on the 15th of May, three days before Kurita was to rendezvous with Kutaka’s carriers off Sapporo, so there would be no possibility for the Japanese to interfere with those initial landings aimed at Okha, which was all of 710 miles north of Sapporo.
Kirov was now standing off Okha, about 50 kilometers out into the Sea of Okhotsk, and so Karpov ordered Sergeant Troyak and his Marines to support the initial landing. Two KA-40s would be used, transporting all of Troyak’s contingent, and another group of twenty men from Karpov’s personal guard. Their mission was to land south of Okha, and seize the airfield the Japanese had built there, destroying any enemy aircraft they found. In spite of the growing threat, there was only a single company of Japanese troops at Okha, and when the Siberians transports arrived, they had no difficulty in getting ashore. Karpov soon had his port, and now the Naval Marines that had landed earlier were sweeping south to link up and complete his control of the northern segment of the island as far south as Okha.
Troyak and the other guard contingent then mounted up and took the helos due west to a point just north of Lupolovo on the west coast. The Japanese had two small airfields in the region, and they were to secure those, and then use the helos to keep an eye on the northern entrance to the Tatary Strait.
On the mainland opposite that strait, horsemen of the Bakshir, Yeseni, Ussuri, Amur and Siberian Cossack tribes were very active. They gathered in small battalion sized formations, securing all the vital roads and airfields in the region of the Amur River Mouth, where there was no Japanese military presence. The small port of Nikola would be secured without a fight, whereupon the horsemen, their mission accomplished, proceeded to loot the village and eat whatever food they could find in the region. It would be some time before Karpov moved regular units in there, but he technically had his access port to the lower Amur region, where he planned to eventually build up a considerable force for the planned move up that river.
South of Okha, two companies of air guardsmen had been lifted in by airships to take up positions and block enemy reinforcements. There they ran into a company of engineers, and numerous other small detachments that had been working on those southernmost oil fields. That was also the headquarters for the single battalion that the Japanese had posted in the area, which was now making frantic calls to the south that the invasion had begun. He was informed to hold his ground, destroy the oil facilities to prevent their capture if necessary, and that two battalions were already en route from the south.
Colonel Kumida of 1st Battalion, 25th Karafuto Brigade, slammed down the radio handset, enraged that the Empire had not taken this threat more seriously. How could his single battalion possibly defend all of North Karafuto Province? His five rifle companies were scattered all along the coast, and now, a deep shadow suddenly shrouded the scene, he rushed out to see the massive shapes of many airships overhead. The wink of fire from an undercarriage recoilless rifle was most unwelcome.
The remainder of the 25th Karafuto Brigade was itself scattered all over Sakhalin Island, each of the five battalions having a specific province to garrison. 5th Battalion was detached from that duty and was coming up by train from the south west coast, a region deemed unlikely to see enemy landings any time soon, but it was stopped near the village and airfield at Nogaliki, where a tribal partisan group had cut the rail about 50 kilometers south of Kumida’s position. He still controlled the major oil fields, with three of his rifle companies, an engineer company and a machinegun company, so he set about ordering his men to dig in near the main well sites while his engineers began to set demolition charges. Everything north of that area, all the way up to Okha, was indefensible, and his retreat south was already cut off by enemy troops off those damnable airships. Where was the air force?
It was well to the south. Given that the weather was always very bad in North Karafuto, none of the fields there had any aircraft assigned. The nearest Squadron was well south, at the northernmost end of the long inland valley, where the headquarters of the 2nd Battalion had been established to guard the rail line and the road to Aleksandrovsk on the Tatary Strait. There were three Shotai there, a total of nine Ki-27 fighter bombers, the plane the Allies would come to call the ‘Kate.’
The planes took off, soon running into a phalanx of airships under Karpov the Young, who had settled in quite nicely now as overall commandant of the Siberian Air Corps. He had six airships up south of Okha, and three more to the north. Odessa, Narva, and Novosibirsk began pouring out a hail of AA fire as the Japanese planes swooped down like jackals around a herd of water buffalo. Soon their fire was joined by Orel, Angara and Abakan, the 20mm top mounted guns proving very effective in discouraging those planes. A few Ki-27s made brave passes, with three quickly shot down, and the fourth seeing his machineguns seemed to have no effect on the unwieldy targets. Those self sealing gas bag liners were doing their job, and the Japanese would find it would take a much heavier cannon to put any real harm on the airships.
2nd Regiment of the 32nd Siberian followed the first into Okha on the 16th to begin pushing south along the east coast. On the night of the 17th, The Siberian Karpov informed his younger self that he would be lifting the 3rd Regiment into the Tatary Strait for a surprise attack on the vital ferry site at Lazarev. There the Japanese had a single company of Kumida’s 1st Battalion on the island side of the ferry, and the mainland side had been garrisoned the previous day by a company detached from 5th Battalion. That company held Lazarev itself, but by mid-day on the 17th the opposite shore had been taken.
Destroyer Maikaze had been anchored at Nayoshi, the only Japanese warship in the Tatary Strait at the time. It was quickly ordered north with orders to interfere with that landing operation, and interdict the ferry site. This was going to set up a little duel there, as the younger Admiral was in Tunguska, heading south to support those landings with two other new T-Class airships, the newest additions to the fleet, Siberia and Baikal. Maikaze had begun to shell the Siberian positions ashore when the air squadron began closing on the scene, their recoilless rifles primed and ready.