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zuluhour -> RE: ALLIED SIDE ZULUHOUR(A) FCHARTON (J) NO FCHARTON (1/19/2019 1:23:07 PM)
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Three weeks pass. An update of sorts.Iven Mackay boarded the train laden with his 2nd Army HQs personnel. Somewhere to the north, newly acquired armor assigned to 2nd Army were being loaded onto flat bed cars for the long trip west. It was cool outside, breezy in the low 50s in Sydney harbor. Before daylight Iven had made a trip to number four pier and gazed out at the super structures of two US Navy carriers which had arrived after midnight. Brisbane reported the American destroyer flotilla had arrived as well and was making quick repairs. All signs pointed to a rapid commitment to the mission.
The XO unrolled the map onto a card table crammed between the bench seats of the car. The train was due to clear the station by ten and Iven wanted a round table before the steady clicks and clacks lured the staff to much needed sleep. The past three days had been exciting but exhausting. The men leaned in, elbows all around. The briefing began with the current state of affairs in the South Pacific and the newly created South West Pacific AOs. The Americans have been stymied for well over a month, their timetable a shambles. Reassurances from Admiral Nimitz, recently promoted to head the US effort in the Pacific, that progress was being made and to expect movement by his forces to disrupt any attempt by Japan to interfere with the 2nd Armies objectives in August was taken with reservation.
Operation “Roo” was the first step to ridding Australia of all Japanese. Liberation from west to east starting with Exmouth on the far northwest corner of the continent had begun. A battalion of militia had reached the Japanese positions on July 30 and proceeded to recon the small IJN SNLF there. Supply had reached Perth from the interior and begun to filter north. USAAF squadrons had arrived as well as Aussie ground support. Fuel would be the biggest issue and is of grave concern. The IJN had already sent cruisers to shell the small battalion twice, once well before their arrival outside Exmouth proper. As far as intervention by IJN naval air, all the Japanese carriers were operating in the Coral Sea with a larger force off the weather side of the Solomons.
The pre briefing current events discussions ended with Southeast Asia. There was no good news. Here the cream of the Australian Army was propping up the entire British and Indian line. What once had been viewed as a chance to hammer on several veteran IJA divisions had been lost near Katha and the real possibility of an Allied rout was in the making.
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