137 - America Surrenders - The Fall of Bataan - April 10, 1942

by Panzer
Wait, wait... they think what?
That if they take Hawaii it will END the war?
wow.
No, that's not over-optimistic, it's just plain stupid.
Okay.
April 11, 1942 It has managed to hold out for over three
months under appalling conditions- food shortages to the point of starvation, desperately short
on ammo, constant enemy artillery, powerful enemy ground assaults, rampant tropical disease,
but it couldn't hold out forever- this week comes the fall of Bataan.
I'm Indy Neidell; this is World War Two.
Last week, the British launched raids against civilian targets in Germany and military ones
in occupied France, a new Axis bombing offensive began on Malta, and the Japanese gained ground
in Burma while preparing for a final push against Allied forces in Bataan.
They also sent their mighty carrier fleet, the Kido Butai, into the Indian Ocean on a
raiding mission.
That continues and even comes to its end this week.
On the 5th, the Japanese carriers launch 127 planes in a raid on Colombo, thinking the
British Eastern Fleet will be in port.
It is not.
The British have general advance warning of the raid, and Admiral Layton in Colombo orders
ships put to sea and dispersed to not be caught in the harbor.
Three ships are sunk and three damaged, and 20 of the 41 fighters the British send up
are shot down.
Thing is, James Somerville, British Fleet Commander, knows of the whole Japanese Indian
Ocean operation, but he only thinks the Japanese have two carriers here until this raid, now
he knows they have more- in fact, they have 5 of the 6 fleet Japanese carriers, only Kaga
is not with them.
Somerville's Fleet is divided into two groups.
Force A is the faster and has his two carriers, Formidable and Indomitable.
The heavy cruisers Cornwall and Dorsetshire were separated from the Force and were sent
to Colombo but then ordered the 4th to rejoin Force A soon as they can.
The are shadowed on the 5th, however, by Japanese planes, and are both sunk at two in the afternoon
On the 6th, the Japanese attack shipping in the Bay of Bengal, sinking 83,000 tons of it.
On the 9th, they launch a raid on Trincomalee.
They also sink the old British carrier Hermes in the area and several other smaller ships.
That day though, 9 Blenheim bombers attack the Japanese carrier fleet by total surprise,
dropping their bombs toward Akagi.
They do not score any hits, but this is the first time Kido Butai has faced a concerted
air attack.