Chapter Thirteen: Island-Hopping
War Room
Canberra, Australia
15th April 1942
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, Prime Minster of Australia, was feeling vindicated. In the original history, he’d lost the premiership to Curtin in the elections, but his stance had been proved right. With the aid of Britain, the Japanese attempt to invade Australia had been defeated and crushed utterly. Darwin was a mess, of course; the Japanese refusal to recognise when they were beaten had forced the Australians to dig them out of the city – the few parts of it they’d taken.
He looked up at the map. The Royal Australian Navy had been rebuilt and prepared for its first major action. It wouldn’t be major – the Japanese fleet was almost completely destroyed – but it would give Australia a boost of confidence. The mood was vengeful; the citizens wanted blood.
“This will please our imperialists,” he said, nodding politely to the future ambassador. “They always wanted their hands on the islands.”
David Atwell, Australia’s future ambassador to Britain from 2015, nodded. “In my time, the islands were in chaos, constantly threatening to spill over to Australia,” he said. “If they’re under your control…”
“They’ll never pose a threat,” Menzies said. He smiled. “As well as building Australian prestige within the Commonwealth.”
He grinned openly. The Australians had captured some islands from the Germans during the First World War, only to lose them at British insistence. This time… the entire Dutch East Indies, which would be known as Indonesia in the future, would be Australian.
”The trick is to make certain that we have a democratic state there,” Atwell said. “We have to defeat the Japanese before they exterminate the natives.”
Menzies shuddered. Enough of the new Australian SAS – men trained directly in Britain – had scouted around the Dutch East Indies to discover what the Japanese were doing. The videos of slaughtered and enslaved islanders, of women being forced into sex slavery and Japanese control had shocked the Australian population. The Japanese seemed determined to utterly destroy the natives.
“They’re playing at being the Draka,” Atwell said, when Menzies didn’t answer. “We owe it to them to liberate them from the Japanese.”
Menzies nodded. Finding out who the Draka were could come later. “The assault forces are ready,” he said. “Once we exterminate the Japanese from the islands, we can move in and help the civilians.”
Atwell nodded. “And, of course, help them to develop their resources for their own good,” he said.
Menzies grinned again. He’d made a private agreement with the British Prime Minister covering the redevelopment of the islands. The Australians would send teachers and developers, treating the natives as equals. A program of medical development, using the knowledge of the future, would eradicate the diseases that they suffered from and keep their numbers down, stabilising the population.
“Give us a twenty-year mandate and the islands will be a lot more peaceful,” he said, and meant it. “It’s time for the main briefing.”
Admiral Harold Turtledove, Royal Navy, was also feeling vindicated. The stain of the Battle of the Indian Ocean had been washed away by the glorious success of the Battle of the Pacific Ocean. The Japanese hadn’t stood a chance and he’d used his advantages ruthlessly, sinking their ships with ease.
As he stepped into the War Room, he nodded politely at Menzies, and then at the two Australian Army commanders. Sir Thomas Albert Blamey, the Commander in Chief of the Australian Army, nodded back; General Sir Leslie James Morshead smiled openly. It had been Turtledove who’d insisted that he be knighted, even though his service had been different than in the original timeline.
Perhaps they’ll even knight me now, he thought, although he wasn’t really concerned. A knighthood meant less and less every year with the current King, even through it had impressed the Australians. Morshead had deserved the award; the defence of Darwin had chewed up and spat out the best divisions of the Japanese Army.
“If I could have your attention, please,” Menzies said. Turtledove looked across at Menzies, along with the others in the room. “We are gathered here to discuss the plans for Operation Advanced Redemption. General?”
Turtledove frowned. He’d been opposed to Operation Advanced Redemption for several reasons, even though the Japanese had sent seven divisions to fight and die in Australia. Why waste the flower of Australian manhood when the Japanese could be starved out. Atwell’s argument – that Australia needed access to the resources of the islands and the natives needed assistance in developing a modern state – hadn’t impressed him. Still, if one of the battlegrounds of the war on terror could be averted, perhaps it would be worth the cost.
We should be starving the bastards out, he thought, and knew that the Royal Australian Navy was going to try just that. Until recently, there had been too few submarines – and one had been lost – to really go medieval on the Japanese shipping… but now, the Australians had enough ships and the crews to man them. Hopefully, the Japanese would see sense when their merchant ships were swept from the sea and surrender, before other solutions had to be contemplated.
He scowled; they’d resisted upping the pressure until they were ready to deploy a really sudden hammer blow, but the Japanese showed no signs of being ready to negotiate.
“As you are aware, the build-up of forces has continued,” General Blamey said. “At present, we are deploying ten armoured divisions and twenty infantry units, as well as a handful of special divisions. These units remained stationed near Darwin for several months following the defeat of the Japanese invasion, answering concerns in Parliament about a second invasion.”
Turtledove frowned. He’d known perfectly well that such concerns were nonsense. “However, it has finally been concluded that the enemy has abandoned any thought of offensive action,” Blamey continued. “In the only theatre of contact between Commonwealth forces and Japanese forces, there has been no attempt to take the offensive, despite the Commonwealth leaving them alone. The opportunity, particularly with the deployment of the new navy, exists to take the offensive. Admiral?”
Turtledove nodded and took control of the display screen, displaying the new order of battle. He was the officer with the greatest experience and had been offered command of the entire naval war. Menzies, who was already talking about a united Commonwealth Navy, had pushed him forward, after Australia had lost most of her navy in the first battles of the war.
“We now have two hundred small diesel-powered submarines, making up the main underwater strike force,” he said, indicating the design. “While the torpedoes are of improved 1960 design, and therefore being made in Australia and fixing one of our bottlenecks, in most other respects the submarines are equal to the SSNs that have been deployed in Australian waters.”
He displayed a chart of submarine ranges on the display. “Their only major weakness, unfortunately, is that they have far more limited range than a nuclear-powered submarine, and require tanker support. We have three tankers modified for sea refuelling and have deployed them to locations well outside of Japanese aircraft range. With these ships and satellite coverage, we can finally sweep the Japanese from the sea for good.”
“Very good,” Menzies said. “General Morshead?”
“The gathering of home-built landing craft for infantry and tanks, using future designs that have been modified for our needs, has been completed,” Morshead said. The Australians had spent a lot of time and effort building bases along the north coast. “We have also conducted a lot of drills and exercise, concentrating on developing the ability to land large numbers of troops in the shortest possible time.”