The Whale Has Wings Vol 2 - Taranto to Singapore (37 page)

General Brereton requests permission to conduct high-altitude photo reconnaissance of Takao in Southern Formosa. General MacArthur refuses, citing "the War Department instructions to avoid any overt act" and directed that all Army reconnaissance, including that conducted in cooperation with the Asiatic Fleet, be limited to two-thirds the distance from Luzon to Formosa. The USS Enterprise and her escort group sets sail from Pearl Harbor for Wake Island to ferry Marine Wildcats to the island.

There is a meeting with General Alexander, Air Marshal Park, Admiral Somerville and their aides in Singapore to discuss the readiness of the area against attack.

While the defensive situation is much improved from even three months ago, it is still not close to what is desired, and it is felt that it will take another 3-4 months to bring the defence up to the standard required. None of the three officers think that they will have this time.

The ground forces have been reinforced, and more importantly reinforced with experienced troops. Not only has this given Alexander more options, the new forces have allowed him to conduct extensive training of the units already in theatre, which has improved their performance. He is especially pleased to now have armoured units available - despite some pre-war opinions, these have worked perfectly well in the jungle, as have the troops, who have found the plantations in particular quite navigable. He is still short of equipment - in particular AA guns, and as a result of the exercises showing that a considerable quantity of the pre-war stocks had deteriorated (having to be replaced), the stocks are less than optimal, although the reduced numbers of guns balances this out. Even so, only some 35% of the planned number of guns is available.

The situation of the air force is a little better. Earlier in the year, there were few modern planes in theatre, and the pilots were woefully short of training - indeed, Park would not have accepted them as fit for service when he was running 11 Group in Britain. Improving their training has been a major part of his preparations, and staff has been borrowed from Operational Training Units in Europe to improve efficiency. The quality is still variable, and a considerable number of the pilots need more experience, the general competence has improved. The overall situation has been helped by the arrival of more experienced pilots with some of the new squadrons (often men with combat experience), and judicious use of some of these to stiffen the existing squadrons has helped.

The radar and control situation has also improved. A number of the Army's AMES stations are in operation, Singapore Island and a considerable distance north of it now being covered. Thought was given to location a set in the north, but Koto Bharu, the best location, was considered far too vulnerable to attack. The control of interception has been improved considerably due to constant practice, although Park is still unhappy about the quality. Progress has been made on the airfields; many of those that were just strips six months ago are now equipped with concrete runways, thanks to the additional manpower made available, which is a huge help in the Malayan climate. Park has also instituted defence and demolition schemes for the forward airfields based on his experience in SE England during the Battle of Britain. Again these are not complete, but the northern airfields felt most likely to be at risk have been covered.

The air force has been reinforced with more modern planes, which has allowed the coverage of more of the peninsular; in particular he now has a small number of reconnaissance planes with radar for use at sea, and a squadron of night fighters to defend Singapore. More of the older planes than he would like are still in front line service, but some have been kept back for training. Since he has little accurate information on the capabilities of Japanese planes and pilots, he intends to decide later whether these aircraft (mainly Buffaloes) are capable enough to be used in combat.

The naval force has been heavily reinforced. Somerville points out that a number of his ships are not yet up to his standards operationally, but those are being held at Ceylon while exercises continue. About 2/3 of his force is ready, although he has serious worries as to having too many ships at Singapore - he sees no reason why the IJN cannot do to him what the RN has done to Germany and Italy, although the static defences of Singapore are rather more prepared and alert than Wilhelmshaven and Taranto were. He intends to keep only a small force at Singapore until more is known about the location of the IJN carrier force, accepting that this means he is less capable of stopping an initial invasion force.

29th Nov

A liaison conference among the Service Chiefs and Cabinet of the Japanese Government decides that the final proposal from the US is unacceptable. Their alternative is war. Their decision is prepared for an Imperial Conference, with the Emperor, which is scheduled for December.

30th Nov

MacArthur orders Fort Mills on Corregidor put on full alert.

The continuing reports of Japanese activity, and the reports of what could be troop convoys heading south, are putting Admiral Somerville in a dilemma. He cannot initiate action against the Japanese, yet concentrating his forces at Singapore means leaving them open to the possibility of a carrier strike. The IJN have at least six fleet carriers available, and a strike by them could devastate his fleet. However leaving them out at sea has its own drawbacks, the IJN has a strong submarine force and if spotted they could again be vulnerable to air attack. Once the Japanese commit themselves his task will be simpler, but until then he decides to keep the bulk of his fleet south and west of Singapore.

He has ordered a patrol line of U-class submarines south of French Indo China and oriented North-South to catch any ships heading for the peninsular. He also orders four of the larger T-class to sail tomorrow for stations between the Philippines and the China coast.

His surface force at Singapore consists of the light carrier Melbourne, the fast battleship KGV and three cruisers plus their destroyer escorts. These are at sea to the northeast of Singapore. If his reconnaissance detects a strong enemy force, he will either reinforce them with more of his fleet, or if the enemy force seems too large withdraw them and concentrate west of Singapore ready for a carrier strike.

2nd Dec

The Premier, Hideki Tojo, publicly rejects US proposals for peace. The Japanese carrier force "Kido Butai" sailing for the Hawaiian Islands receives a special radio signal: "Climb Mount Niitaka 1208", from Japanese Combined Fleet Commander Admiral Yamamoto. This is the order to execute the attack on Pearl Harbor.

German troops reach the outskirts of Moscow, 20 miles away. The Kremlin is in sight.

5th Dec

Despite the nearness of his advance units to Moscow, Hitler agrees to a halt in the Moscow offensive due to the growing exhaustion of his troops and the freezing weather conditions.

Japan assures the USA that its build-up of troops in Indochina is "a purely defensive measure"

In Australia the government cancels all army leave as the prospect of war with Japan grows more likely. Japanese convoys are on the move in Asia, and the only question now seems to be where, not whether, they will strike. Allied forces have been brought to the first degree of readiness. Australian service chiefs have been summoned and the Australian war cabinet has issued orders for emergency measures in the Pacific. Australia has two divisions in place in Malaya, and a new division, the 8th, has finished training in Australia.

All RN and RAN ships in theatre have been ordered to finish any boiler cleanings, hull cleaning and minor refits as soon as possible and be ready at eight hours notice. General Alexander has ordered the engineers to be ready to proceed with the defensive works as soon as he gives the order.

6th Dec

The Russian army launches a major counteroffensive on the Moscow front. The Germans are being hampered by the freezing conditions, for which they are not prepared, and the attack is a notable success

The first two brigades of the 4th Indian Division arrive in Burma, although only half its heavy equipment has arrived in the first convoy. The rest of the division and its equipment will arrive in two weeks

President Roosevelt again appeals to the Japanese Emperor for peace and asks for troop withdrawal from French Indochina. There is no Japanese reply. Later the first 13 parts of a 14 part Japanese message are transmitted. Unknown to the Japanese, this message is intercepted and decoded by US Intelligence

An RAF reconnaissance plane discovers a Japanese convoy heading west, south of Cambodia point. Bad weather makes it difficult to keep the ships under observation, so the Whirlwind is relieved by a series of SeaLance planes flying out of Kota Bharu and using their ASV radar to keep track of the convoy, which is sailing steadily into the Gulf of Siam. There are four U-class submarines in a patrol line that intersects the convoy, and they are ordered to concentrate on it during the night of the 7th. One of the submarines is ordered to move south to Koto Bharu, as the forward airfield is an obvious target for attack. The submarine is not authorised to take action unless the Japanese are not only inside territorial waters but also launching a landing. Air Marshal Park only has a small number of the radar-equipped SeaLance, so to supplement them sends out six Hudson patrol planes. If the convoy sighted is an invasion fleet, then a supporting force cannot be too far away if it is to give them cover, and he hopes that one of the Hudsons will spot them

Admiral Somerville can only consider this to be an invasion convoy (or at least ships acting like one). His big question is where is the covering force, and how large is it. At the moment it is not possible to say if the convoy is heading for Siam, or Malaya, or both. While he keeps planes covering the convoy, urgent attempts are made to try and find where the warships covering it are hiding. The ships at Singapore are brought to two hours notice for sailing (his advance squadron has been in port so the carrier can have her bottom cleaned). A squadron of RAF Beaufighters are put on alert for a possible torpedo attack, and the Army units in the north are alerted that an invasion may commence within 48hours. The RAF radar units on and north of Singapore Island have been on alert for some days. The RAF and Army units in the north will have to manage for the time being with the Malaysian version of the Observer Corps, the radar systems not having yet covered the entire country, but at least Park has managed to get a basic command system working, thanks in part to the availability of RN personnel trained in the similar job at sea.

Parks is also worried about air raids on Singapore. While there have been a number of air raid drills, there has only been one a month for the civilian population due to the disruption they cause (although the military have been tested more frequently), and he is concerned that an early raid could cause severe casualties. No-one is sure about the range of Japanese bombers, but it is considered possible they could raid the island with at least a light bomb load. There have also been problems in digging slit trenches in the often-wet conditions, although steady progress has been made in more permanent facilities for the airfields and some of the more important military targets.

7th - 8th Dec

Six Japanese carriers launch an air strike at the USN naval base at Pearl Harbor, using 184 planes in the first wave and 176 planes in the second wave, a much heavier strike even than the one the RN made against Taranto. The attack was made before a declaration of war, and resulted in massive damage to the US fleet, which seemed to be caught by surprise and without defensive measure such as torpedo nets fully or properly deployed.

Only 29 Japanese planes failed to make it back, although others were too badly damaged to be used again. Comments made seem to indicate that a daylight raid was not expected after the earlier examples of night raids in the European war by the Royal Navy.

The attack was a devastating success. Four battleships were sunk, and four more damaged, effectively destroying the US fleet in the Pacific. Also lost or damaged were three cruisers, three destroyers, an AA training ship and a minelayer. In addition the USAAF airfields were badly damaged, the USAAF losing nearly 200 planes.

Although reconnaissance planes took off from Hawaii, the Japanese attack force was not found. Although the damage done was serious, no further strike was launched (unlike the RN at Taranto), and, possibly due to the need to use a considerable force to neutralise the airfields, the damage to the fleet could have been even worse. Fortunately the US carrier force was not in the harbour at the time of the attack, and so was preserved for future missions.

Wake Island has received a warning from Pearl Harbour at 0650. The islands defences and the airbase were not fully operational, but they had received the second half of their fighters only a few days before. There were now 24 F4F3 Wildcats to defend the island. Unfortunately the radar set due to be delivered was till at Pearl Harbor, and so it was decided to rotate eight fighters at a time on CAP, as warning was expected to be minimal without radar.

At noon the airfield was attacked by 36 G3M bombers. Visibility was poor, and the bombers were not spotted until they began their attack runs. Only some of the aircraft were protected by revetments (these had only been built for the earlier group of 12 planes), and as a result the bombers destroyed five Wildcats on the ground. The control of the planes was poor, and the CAP did not succeed in intercepting the bombers before they made their escape.