|
Dixie -> Arakan 1945- In development (7/7/2010 9:28:34 PM)
|
On the north-eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal there lies the Arakan, a narrow strip of Burma between the Arakan Yomas mountain range and the sea. There were few settlements larger than villages in 1945 and few good harbours on this 400-mile stretch of shallow coast. A road runs down the coast but only in two places does it cross the 6,500ft mountains to connect the Arakan with the heart of Burma, the plateau which is drained by the Irwaddy River and it's tributaries.
The strategic value of the Arakan lay in it's position between Chittagong and Rangoon, the best ports in Eastern India and Burma respectively.
In the words of a man far cleverer than me, Now for something completely different.
A lot of the smaller scenarios focus on the US/Australian forces against the Japanese in either the South Pacific or (in AE) the Aleutians campaign. Instead I'm working on (what will hopefully be) a series of smaller campaigns based around the British campaign to retake Burma. The idea is to start with one scenario and build it up from there, the starting point is the 1945 amphibious camapign along the Arakan coastline.
The Arakan campaign has it roots back in September 1944 when 15 Corps began a limited offensive down the Mayu Peninsula. During the next few months there were rapid changes of plan, including a planned amphibious invasion of Rangoon in March 1945 through a lack of landing craft. Instead the planned offensive in the Arakan was scaled back and focused on preventing two Japanese divisions from reinforcing the Irwaddy front. In addition the other goal was to take Akyab to base RAF and USAAF transport aircraft to support 14th Army's drive trhough Burma.
Originally the invasion of Akyab was planned for Feb 1945, but in late December 1944 it was discovered that the majority of the Japanese garrison had been moved to block 15 Corps' overland attack. On the 27th December it was decided to bring the invasion forward to 3rd January instead.
The Commonwealth forces were involved in 6 seperate amphibious operations in the Jan-Mar 45 period. The rapidly changing plans meant that initially there were no large APAs available, in fact the few LCTs available to XV Corps were only in the Far East as they had been judged too decrepit to make the journey to the Med.
The principal Commonwealth land forces were 3 Commando Bde as well 25 and 26 Indian Divisions for the amphibious assaults. The Indian divisions had mixed training, some brigades were trained in amphibious training, but no training in beach assaults. The overland advance by XV corps was carried out primarily by 81 & 82 (West African) Divisions. The main Japanese defences were 2 divisions in the Arakan region.
The Allies had massive air superiority, 224 (Tactical) Group RAF was specifically assigned to support XV Corps.
In all the RAF commited 16 Squadrons to supporting the offensive as well as detachments of nightfighters and PR Spitfires and the USAAF 2nd Air Commando Gp.
2x Spitfire sqn (F), 3x Beaufighter Sqn (FB), 5x Thunderbolt Sqn (FB), 5x Dakota Sqn (TR), 2x Indian Hurrican Sqn (FB and TacR), 2x Beaufighter detachments (NF) and a PR Spitfire det.
The IJAAF in comparison was a much smaller force. I've found references to two (possibly three) Sentais as well as an OTU in Rangoon. Despite this the Japanese air forces did achieve some successes, including damaging a destroyer badly enough that she wasn't repaired.
If the Japanese were outmatched in aerial forces it was a bigger gulf in the naval forces, Japanese forces did not employ anything larger than MGBs and Japanese shipping was routinely mauled by Fairmile MLs manned by the Royal Indian Navy and Burma Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. The area was generally unsuited to large warships, so instead the Indian sloops filled the roles of gunfire support for the invasions.
HMS Queen Elizabeth, and the escort carrier Ameer, were briefly used in the campaign for the invasion of Ramree Island but both were to play no further part after that invasion. The Arakan was primarily a camapign fought by the small ships of the Royal Navy and RIN, sloops, frigates and minesweepers.
Current Status
The RAF oob has been sorted, including the addition of a base at Maunghnama. Most airfields are being scaled back in size, Akyab, Ramree Island, Rangoon, Cox's Bazaar and Chittagong are going to be suitablr for offensive operations. All the others are being lowered to lvl 1 airfields.
The major units of the Allied navies (Sloops and bigger) have been sorted, with the correct captains as of 1st Jan 1945. Most ships will start at Chittagong, with the destroyers and cruisers etc at the main RN base at Trincomalee.
The Commonwealth land forces have had their leaders assigned, it's just a matter of placing them on the map. For ease of loading the amphibious elements will be based at Chittagong.
The intention is to represent the Indian forces with a middling experience level and a good morale, they've seen combat but their amphibious training is not of a high standard. The British Commando Brigade will have high morale and experience. Japanese forces will have high experience and morale, but will be understrength.
There will be enough shipping to lift no more than 2 Brigades at a time, roughly the amount that the British were able to shift at a single time. If it works as intended the Brits should be able to take the entire Arakan coastline if they hurry and don't lose too much shipping. I still need to find more details on the Japanese forces and the Commonwealth landing craft and minecraft involved.
That's all for now...
|
|
|
|
