Sunday, June 29, 2008

part 37 1947

February 2 French president Jules Auriol informs president Truman by phone that after discussing whit general Jean-Étienne Valluy , Thierry d'Argenlieu and other military and government officials that the French republic is wiling to enter a cease fire whit the Việt Minh as long as the US can guarantee the cease fire is not use by the Việt Minh to rearm ore to reorganize their forces.

February 5 Somewhere in French Indochina Hồ Chí Minh leader of the Viet Minh independence movement is informed of the French reply by a US delegation that the are wiling for a time being to cease all hostilities whit the Vietnamese independence movement. A taskforce belonging to the US 3rd Fleet and which consist of the Hawaii class carrier USS Hawaii , six Essex I and II carriers, eight light aircraft carriers and US and royal Australian navy destroyers , frigates and cruiser launch a major carrier and surface raid against Rabaul ( the raid happens eight days after operation condor was put on hold in order to keep the pressure against the Japanese hold up in the Rabaul fortress up until the shipment of tallboys and grand slam bombs from Great Britain has arrived ).

February 7 The third commando battalion/Kommandobataillon of the Reichsheer Spezialkräfte under personal command of Oberstleutnant Skorzeny who is currently deployed in the independent state of Serbia has it first success as units of the commando battalion , reichsheer units belong to armeeabteilung serbien and Serbian state forces mange to arrest several high ranking members of the people's liberation army and partisan detachments of Yugoslavia will also killing many other.

February 8 A Soviet Tu-2 photo-reconnaissance plane over German occupied Latvia ( generalbezirk/General district Lettland ) happens as under the Bucharest agreement all central alliance members ( the German empire mostly ) and the Soviet Union are allowed to fly unarmed aerial surveillance flights over the east font in order to monitor each other forces ( the unarmed aerial surveillance flights is one of several agreements made in Bucharest in order to prevent tensions ore mistake on the east front from happening as both sides begin to appreciate the cease fire ).

February 11 Operation big wheel which lasted for more then two months and which in the eyes of the US/Dutch/Australian forces is considered a great success against the Japanese 18th army on New Guinea ends as the US/Dutch/Australian forces begin the task in rebuilding the island wile the Dutch begin focusing their attention towards the island of Celebes where the Republic of East Indonesia/Republik Indonesia Timur and the Japanese are still holding out ( the island of Celebes can be considered a small version of Japan as it is blockaded by the Dutch East Indies squadron and bombed daily by the ML-KNIL , whit New Guinea secured completely the Dutch can begin a invasion of the island in the near future ).
In Saigon a cease fire is signed between the French and the Viet Minh under the supervision of the US.

February 13 KNIL army Lt. General L. N. W. Vogelesang becomes the military governor of Netherlands New Guinea and is put in charge to maintain order , to prevent Republic of East Indonesia sympathizers from causing trouble and to continuo the hunt for remaining Japanese forces in New Guinea.
Two days after the cease fire was signed between the French and the Viet Minh a decision by the US military to postpone operation Glacier is made as the US want to increase their forces to French Indochina for the planned invasion of Hainan island and to use the US army present in French Indochina as a buffer between the French and Viet Minh ).

February 15 Operation hurricane is launched whit air attacks by carrier born aircraft from a task force belonging to the US third fleet against the isolated Japanese imperial naval base in Truk Lagoon ( operation hurricane was decided to be launched when the US navy destroyed two Sen Toku I-400-class submarine two moths ago who where transporting supplies to the Japanese controlled Truk Lagoon , the US navy taskforce consist of the fleet carrier USS Lexington which is the flagship of the operation , three Essex I and II class carriers and four light carriers ).

February 17 On a airbase in the Soviet Union the first pilots of the newly created Chinese liberation army air force (CLAAF ) begin their first training flight under the supervision of Soviet air force instructors ( the Chinese liberation army air force is created to support the Chinese liberation army in the upcoming invasion of the state of Manchuria ).

February 19 After four days of none stop daylight and nighttime air strikes operation hurricane ends whit the US navy suffering no losses at all but the Japanese hold up in Truk Lagoon suffer heavy casualties as the don’t have the ability to counter the massive firepower and resources available to the US navy.

February 21 Somewhere in the mountains of Japan several high ranking officers of the imperial army discuss the recent events which have happen and all of them come to a understanding that prime minister Yamamoto is no longer able to lead the empire and that the army must take responsibility in leading the empire to victory ( these officers believe that the army must take control and use all resources the empire still has available to fight and use what ever resources is available ).

February 22 Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney and here escorts rendezvous whit the transport ships caring the tallboys and grand slam bombs towards Royal Australian navy's fleet base east where the will be unloaded and sent to a RAAF base where two bomber squadron RAF 617 Squadron and 9 squadron are waiting to use them against the Rabaul fortress ( HMAS Sydney was pervious known as HMS Sussex of the royal navy county class heavy cruiser and was transferred to the royal Australian navy in 1946 ).

February 23 Some members of the army hardliners faction meet whit the minister of war where the discuses their plan , the minister of war however disagrees whit them and when the have left warns prime minister Yamamoto ( the hardliners faction members already have some troops in Tokyo and the vice minister of the army is a member of the hardliners faction ).
The US announces that the are stopping the lend lease to the Soviet Union after April 1947 ( the US believes that the peace between the central alliance and the Soviet Union is almost there end therefore the need to extent the lend lease which the Soviets received from 1941 is no longer needed but in case the eastern war is to resume the US has given guarantees to the new politburo that the lend lease will resume ).

February 24 Prime minister Yamamoto orders special naval landing forces to move to key positions outside the destroyed city of Tokyo and the new capitol of Kyoto , unfortunately this move by prime minister Yamamoto hardens the resolve of the hardliners faction who are trying to get as much support for their coup as possible will also spreading falls rumors about prime minister Yamamoto in order to discredit him ( ( Kyoto became the new capitol after the destruction of Tokyo and has the majority of the government located there , the sides involved are the Yamamoto faction which consist of the imperial navy and some army units and who want to prevent the coup from happening wile also considering to accept the unconditional surrender which is dictated in the Belfast declaration as more city’s are targeted by A-bombs and the ability to conduct war is no longer there wile the hardliners faction which consists of large parts of the imperial army want to continuo the war and to fight whit every weapon and tactic possible as they still believe in victory ).

February 27 In a market somewhere in central Taipei on the island of Formosa a police agent arrest a communist supporter who was distributing leaflets to people in the street which causes riots as other people intervene on behave of the arrestee causing the Taipei city police and latter on the US military police to be use to stop the riot happening on the market.
A royal Australian air force P-51 Mustang Mk 22 ( photo reconnaissance variant ) fly’s over the Japanese held Rabaul fortress taking pictures of the damages done during the last two operations ( condor and hurricane ) against Rabaul wile also using the photos its takes for the upcoming operation heavy condor where two RAF bomber squadrons will use their tallboys and grand slam bombs against 600 kilometers of tunnels where the majority of the Japanese defenders in Rabual have relocated to.

February 28 A day after a riot broke out on a market in Taipei and whit no success in ending as communist and nationalist begin fighting each other on the streets , latter in the evening military governor Patton head of the United States army military government in Formosa ( USAMGIF ) declares martial law and orders the United States army to assist the Taipei city police and US military police in ending the violence in the city ( the tension was already high between the communist and nationalist on the island and the arrest was the last drop needed to cause violence to break out ).