Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Part 39 1947

April 1 Republik Indonesia Timur and Japanese forces present on the island of Celebes refuse to surrender after the where given a 24 hour ultimatum by the commander of the royal Netherlands East Indies army 3rd division.

April 3 Out of the Kharkov locomotive factory in the Soviet Union the first production model of the T-48 tank rolls of the assembly line ( the T-48 model 1947 is a modified IS-4 model 1945 tank design which production was halted after the death of Stalin by order of the new politburo ).

April 4 A US navy carrier task force consisting of 12 carriers, 5 battleships, 8 escort carriers, 4 heavy cruisers, 10 light cruisers and 68 destroyers launch throughout the day wave after wave of carrier planes which are augmented by USAAF and French air force bombers operating from airfields in French Indochina against targets on the island of Hainan.

April 9 In the kingdom of Italy king Victor Emmanuel III announces on state radio that he is abdicating in favor of his son Umberto who will become the next king of Italy and Albania-Montenegro.
On the island of Celebes operation hawk continuous on as the Dutch lead British , Australian and Indian armed forces have now got control over 50 % of the island leaving only central and north Celebes under Republik Indonesia Timur and Japanese imperial army forces control.

April 11 The Japanese city of Kagoshima is destroyed by A-bomb dropped by a USAAF B-29 bomber, several hours latter a massive conventional bombardment by B-29 bomber follows bombing what remains of the city.

April 15 Carrier USS Yorktown is transferred from the Pacific to the Mediterranean sea where she will become the flagship of the United States navy Mediterranean squadron operating out of naval base Toulon.
Headquarters of the royal Dutch east Indies army located in Bandung on java decides to active their second operation concerning the battle of Celebes which is to capture the city of Palu in central Celebes by using a airborne assault , the operation is called litte hawk ( operation little hawk will involved the 1st and 2nd Para-company’s ( 240 men each ) who will be dropped to secure the airfield , the DST which is a special force numbering 570 man will land in the first landing after the airfield is secured , in the second landing two battalions of the KNIL 1st Division will land allowing the Para’s and the DST to assault the city of Palu ( both the Para’s and the DST belong to the regular royal Dutch army ).

April 18 Operation glacier starts as USAAF B-29 bombers based out of china drop two A-bombs on the city’s of Haikou and Sanya killing more then 130,000 people and ( Haikou is the capitol of Hainan island and the location of the Japanese 23rd army headquarters who controls the remains of the 104th , 129th , 130th infantry divisions , 23rd independent mixed brigade , 8th independent infantry brigade , 13th independent infantry brigade and several minor forces totaling more then 150,000 soldiers ).

April 19 The US 5th and 6th marine divisions successfully establish their beachhead on the island of Hainan whit minimal resistance , latter on the day the 4th marine division and the 5th infantry division also land and slowly begin to move inland ( all US land forces taking part in operation glacier are part of the eleventh United States army which is created for this operation , like the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa the Japanese 23rd army dos not engage the Americans on the beaches but has position its defenses somewhat inland ).

April 20 Operating out of the Netherlands the voice of free Europe begins to transmit radio broadcasts into the German empire ( another voice of free Europe radio station is to operate in the French republic and will send radio broadcasts to the Spanish state and the kingdom of Italy ).

April 21 Whit the eleventh United States army fighting on Hainan island a second landing is done by the Chinese nationalist army who lands eight brigade sized regiments ( two from the 32nd nationalist army and six from the 63rd nationalist army ) in north Hainan where the fight the Japanese defenders who are unable to prevent the nationalists in establishing a beachhead.

April 22 A destroyer squadron belonging to the US 3rd Fleet escorts the nationalist second wave ( vive brigade-sized regiments of the nationalist 4th Army ) to north Hainan where the previous landed eight brigades already have establish a beachhead.

April 23 Passing true the Bosporus strait and watch by the dug in defenders of the 1st central alliance army group in occupied Turkey the Soviet cruiser Krasny Kavkaz passes by as the cruiser heads towards its new base of operations in the Turkish city of Izmir where it will become the flagship of the Soviet Mediterranean eskadra ( under the Bucharest agreement a naval ship may pass true the Bosporus and Dardanelles strait if the other side has bin notified 24 hours before the ship is to pass true ).

April 25 The Japanese 129th infantry division begins a counter attack in the hop of driving back the Chinese nationalist beachhead in north Hainan as the hope that whit the beachhead destroyed the can focus on defeating the eleventh United States army who begins to face heavy resistance but is landing more forces on the island each day ( the 44th infantry division and 13th armored division have also joined the 4th , 5th , 6th marine divisions and 5th infantry division already fighting on the island ).

April 29 In the capitol of Portugal after more then 7 months of a cease fire the German empire , the other central alliance nations , Soviet Union , Finish democratic republic and the Turkish republic delegations begin the peace talks that while decide the future of eastern Europe ( in total more then 13 direct participant nations involving the peace talks have sent delegates to Lisbon ).
After four days of fighting the Chinese nationalist forces on Hainan manage to halt the Japanese 129th infantry division attack forcing it to retreat enabling the Chinese nationalist forces to move away from their beachhead and to begin their link up whit the eleventh United States army.

April 30 Operation little hawk begins as 20 B-25 bombers from the KNIL-ML and escorted by fighters begin the attack against the airfield near the city of Palu , wile this is happening more then 74 Dakotas carrying the 1st and 2nd Para-company’s enter their drop zone as the largest Dutch airborne assault ever begins ( the Dutch KNIL-ML has 37 Dakotas in service wile the other 37 Dakotas are borrowed from the British RAF ).