Part 38 1947

March 2 Prime minister Yamamoto meets whit emperor Hirohito in the Japanese capitol of Kyoto where he informs the emperor that any day something major can happen and that he dos not now who is on their side nor who he can trust , emperor Hirohito tells prime minister Yamamoto that if anything happens it will be more disastrous for the empire then the current situation the are in now.

March 3 Lieutenant general Spoor commander of the royal Netherlands East Indies army is shown the last preparations for a upcoming operation called operation hawk which is the invasion of the island of Celebes where the Japanese and their puppet state of Indonesia are located and which is the last island in the Dutch East Indies not under Dutch control.

March 6 Emperor Hirohito informs members of the imperial family that he address the nation by radio to urge the Japanese military to accept the Belfast declaration and that he will send in a requested to prime minister Yamamoto to begin preparations as he believes that if he speaks the army hardliners faction will not make a move.
Turkish partisans attack in the central alliance occupied Turkey a joint Bulgarian and Italian tank patrol outside the town of Celaliye-Kamiloba using bazookas and mortars , in the attack two Bulgarian panzer IV tanks and one Italian P.50 tanks are destroyed but the Turkish partisans do suffer heavy losses forcing them to retreat ( despite a cease fire in place attacks by Turkish partisans continuo on a daily basis ).

March 7 Prime minister Yamamoto receive instruction by emperor Hirohito to begin making preparations for a radio addresses the emperor will make in a couple of days ( the Emperor is still writing his speech wile also himself is arranging things in secret and therefore it will take two days before he can make his radio address ).
On the island of Formosa the Chinese communist and nationalist continuo to fight each other and wile the United States army in Formosa tries to regain control over a island of 35,801 km².

March 8 No.617 Squadron of the Royal Air Force also known as the dambusters operating out of RAAF airbase in Australia begin operation woomera as 12 Avro Lincoln bombers belonging to the squadron drop each one tallboy earth quake bomb against possible tunnel location in the Japanese Rabaul fortress on the island of New Britain ( the Avro Lincoln heavy bombers are all Lincoln II special variants and are adapted to carry the super heavy tallboy and grand slam bombs and are used only by the RAF bomber squadrons No.617 Squadron and No.9 squadron ).

March 9 Prime minister Yamamoto informers emperor Hirohito that the preparations for the emperor first live radio address take two more days as he has to do it whit out the army hardliners from getting wind of it , he also informs emperor Hirohito that the 1st and 2nd regiment belonging to the imperial 1st guards division and 17 type 99 light tanks belonging to a tank unit of the 7th Japanese marine infantry regiment ( SNLF ) are being moved to the Kyoto imperial palace grounds to provide additional protection ( the imperial 1st , 2nd and 3rd guards divisions are loyal to emperor Hirohito and have not chosen the side of the army hardliners faction , the tank unit of the 7th SNLF is one of three surviving armored units under the control of the imperial navy , under the Kyoto imperial palace grounds a underground bunker was build where the emperor and his family now live sins the destruction of Tokyo on December 13 1946 ).

March 10 In order to prevent emperor Hirohito form making his radio address and to remove prime minister Yamamoto the army hardliners faction begin their coup as army units loyal to the army hardliners faction secure key locations in the Japanese home island and Japanese Korea , one of these locations is the Kyoto imperial palace grounds where a battle between a infantry force backed by several type 2 medium tanks of the army hardliners faction against the 1st and 2nd regiment holding the palace grounds begins after a order to surrender to the army hardliners faction was refused by the defenders.

March 11 The hardliners forces manage to defeat the 1st and 2nd regiment guarding emperor Hirohito whit both sides suffer heavily ( the army hardliners faction place the emperor under house arrest which also happens to prime minister Yamamoto who is arrested and forced to resign his position as prime minister a position he held for two years , whit the army hardliners faction now in control their next move is to consolidate their power ).
In Wilhelmshaven naval base in the German empire the destroyer SMS Z5 Paul Jakobi is transferred to the Argentine republic navy becoming the ARA Espora ( the ARA Espora will return home escorting a Argentinean transport ship carrying 40 panzer IV and spare parts making it here first mission under the Argentina flag ).

March 12 In Washington DC president Truman makes a proclamation that the republic of Portugal will be supported economically and militarily in order to prevent it from falling under central alliance influence ( the proclamation also known as the Portugal doctrine is another move to prevent the spreading of the central alliance in Europe as the republic of Portugal is considered a neutral but pro free European country and a potential AFEMT member candidate ).

March 13 Former chief of the imperial Japanese army general staff Yoshijiro Umezu becomes the 31st prime minister of Japan and replaces former prime minister Yamamoto who is now under guard somewhere in a facility used by the imperial army.
Second bombing raid against the Rabaul fortress on the island of New Britain happens as this time No.9 squadron drops its tallboy earth quake bombs on the possible tunnel location in the Japanese Rabaul fortress.

March 14 The Japanese imperial army which now controls the imperial Japanese government since their successful coup on march 11 gives out new orders that states that all weapons , tactics and strategies me be used against the Americans and their allies in order to defeat them ( this includes the first use of chemical and biologic weapons and the increase in kamikaze attacks which where put on a low level as the previous prime minister Yamamoto found it a waste of lives and valuable resources ).
A RAAF P-51 Mustang Mk 22 ( photo reconnaissance variant ) is flown over the Rabaul fortress which shows that the results from the two raids in which 24 tallboy earth quake bombs caused more damage than expected and its decided to fly one more bombing raid whit more to be added if needed.

March 15 Across French Indochina the preparations for operation glacier continuo as in ports like Vinh , Hue and Tourane ( Da Nang ) US navy ships wait wile on airfields belonging to the French air force fighters and bomber aircraft take op to attack the island of Hainan pounding it a round to clock will the US 3rd Fleet , French south Chinese fleet and the British pacific fleet increase their attacks on the island as well.

March 16 Field marshal Kesselring who is still the commander of German army group east transfers the command of the Turkish occupied territory to the Bulgarian 2nd occupation corps who will take over from the German tenth army which will be redeployed to the German empire leaving only the Bulgarian 2nd occupation corps , Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Turkey , Romanian 3rd and 9th infantry division in the Turkish occupied territory ( whit the redeployment of the German Tenth Army the German army group east will be disbanded and replace whit the first central alliance army group under the command of the Bulgarians ).

March 18 Corsica navy light cruiser MC Le Napoléon arrives at Rhodes naval base where it will operated out of for the upcoming months as it joins the Italian royal navy in patrolling the Aegean sea ( MC Le Napoléon will be place under the Italian Dodecanese naval command and will join the Italian royal navy in patrolling the Aegean sea which is also patrolled by the royal Hellenic navy , the powerful British Mediterranean fleet and the Turkish navy /Türk Deniz Kuvvetleri which is being enlarged whit the help of the Soviet Union who also are working on a Soviet Mediterranean eskadra/squadron based out of Turkish city of Izmir ).

March 21 Somewhere in the German empire a kaiserliche Luftwaffe pilot belong to a testing unit ( Erprobungskommando 270 ) takes of for the first test flight whit the Messerschmitt Me 270 jet fighter which is the planned successor to the Messerschmitt Me 262 ( the Me 270 jet fighter is a improvement over the Me 262 as it has reliable jet engine, better landing gear, and all around increased reliability and efficiency wile it is also more aerodynamics then the Me 262 ).

March 22 Order is beginning to return to the island of Formosa as both the communist and nationalist lay down their arms after the United States agrees to allow negotiations by the United Nations to take place in order to decide who gets control of the island ending a 21 days of fighting which killed some 3,000 and 4,000 people throughout the island and 58 US soldiers , the only force still fighting and which is not wiling to lay down their arms is the 28 brigade named after the day the uprising began and which is the fighting force of the Taiwanese communist party which is not recognized by the communist party of China as it claims control of the island ( the Taiwanese communist party wants a independent communist nation in Taiwan and both the Chinese mainland factions and the United States out , the 28 brigade is a guerrilla force of some 2,000 spread across the island ).

March 23 New orders by the Japanese imperial general headquarters are sent to any Japanese forces fighting the US and here allies which are intercepted by US and British cryptographers who can deceiver any code used by the Japanese empire quicker then the Japanese who try desperately to keep their codes secret.

March 25 During a daily briefing in the white house president Truman is told that the Japanese are changing their orders about using chemical and biologic weapons which he respond that if the do that the US armed forces me use chemical and biologic weapons after the Japanese have use it themselves wile also ordering the increase in A-bombing which was halted du no major targets being left.
Dutch cruiser HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck , two British cruisers , Dutch destroyers HMNLS Banckert , HNLMS Kortenaer , HMNLS Banckert and six British and Australian destroyers shell targets on the island of Celebes , wile this is happening ML-KNIL B-25 and B-10 bombers and P-40 , P-51 and spitfires fighters attack targets on the island more intensely then usual in order to prevent the enemy from organizing a force which can counter the invasion.

March 27 Operation hawk begins as the elements of the KNIL 3rd division and a regiment of the royal Dutch army Johan Willem Friso Divisie , British , Australian and Indian army brigades land under little resistance on the island of Celebes in order to defeat the republic of East Indonesia/Republik Indonesia Timur and the Japanese imperial army present ( the royal Netherlands East Indies army 3rd division , Indian 36th infantry brigade , two infantry brigades belonging to the British 5th infantry division and one Australian infantry brigade totaling 24,000 fully armed soldiers who are taking part in the landings , wile the Republik Indonesia Timur has some 20,000 soldiers and the Japanese imperial army has some 6,000 troops present to defend the island ).

March 29 No.617 Squadron and No.9 squadron fly the third bombing raid against the Rabaul fortress as part of operation woomera ( the dropping of tallboy earth quake bombs on the Japanese Rabaul fortress has cost the lives of 7,061 Japanese defenders of the 63,000 soldiers present ).

March 31 In Tehran the leaders of the Independent republic of Mahabad ( president and prime minister ) are sentences to death by hanging ( the Independent republic of Mahabad was a short lived country who was conquered by the imperial Iranian army in 1946 whit the assistance of the US military Iran advisory group ).
The commander of the royal Netherlands East Indies army 3rd division issues a 24 hour ultimatum towards the Republik Indonesia Timur and Japanese imperial army present on the island of Celebes to surrender ore the will face the consequences as in the four days sins the start of operation hawk the Dutch lead force has is moving rapidly across the island heading towards the Republik Indonesia Timur capitol of Makassar facing only limited opposition in their advance. The Dutch/British/Australian/Indian forces continue their advance supported by fighters and bombers of the ML-KNIL on the island of Celebes.