1700 January 15th 1949.
The Skies Above Vinnitsa.
Allied troops continued to advance towards Kiev under constant air attack from the two Japanese Dive bomber groups most of which were still using older aircraft types.
The firepower of the two groups was still more than sufficient to decimate the enemy forces caught in the deep Winter snow. Additional Allied troops had moved into Zhitomir to the north of Vinnitsa as Nakajima led the bombers on another bombing run to destroy the remaining two divisions in the province. It would require a miracle to save the Allied troops and none would be forthcoming.
1700 January 15th 1949.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Fuso, In Transit.
Ozawa had not received any information at all on the movements of Admiral King and his Carrier Task Force for some time and he was beginning to fear a possible strike against his invading forces around South Africa. Admiral Toyoda was quick to report the sighting of King and his fleet.
King had headed towards the Persian Gulf where he ran straight into Toyoda's CA Division 3 which was protecting the Gulf of Oman. Toyoda had no chance of inflicting much damage on the much more powerful enemy fleet, leaving him with no choice but to try and withdraw as soon as possible with as much of his fleet as he could keep afloat.
Fortune would smile on the Japanese Admiral as the battle was conducted at night. The American Carriers performed much better under such conditions now than in the past but night was still the preferred time for any Japanese gun fleet to engage enemy Carriers.
Toyoda managed to close with King to allow his Heavy Cruiser, IJN Myoko, to engage the enemy ships. In turn King's ships targetted the Heavy Cruiser. Despite a valiant effort IJN Myoko would be sunk by aircraft from the USS Constellation. Toyoda would manage to withdraw without further losses.
Ozawa responded with his usual forces but these would be further supported by Itabana's Tactical bomber group from the Middle East. Six bomber wings began to hunt for King and his Carriers the following morning.
Lt. General Itou would be the first to find King at 0800 hours on January 16th. King had moved to Gwatar Bay as he tried to make good his own escape knowing full well that his position was now known. Itou targetted the USS Constellation and the Light Cruiser USS St Louis.
The hunt continued into January 17th with Lt. General Sakai, part of Itabana's group, making contact at dawn over the West Arabian Basin. By 1300 hours his aircraft had sunk the USS St Louis and inflicted some minor damage to other vessels. King was fortunate to only be attacked by one bomber wing with so many hunting for him. He continued to head south west where Onishi found him in the East Somali Basin on January 18th.
Poor weather would save his fleet from any significant damage and would also allow him to mask his movements for several days. Tropical thunderstorms were plaguing the entire area making any air operations almost impossible and giving King time to make good his escape. Ozawa ordered all of his fleets to head for port with the exception of Carrier Group D which was supporting operations in South Africa. He had no wish to allow King to sneak up on any more of his battlefleets.
0100 January 18th 1949.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Sevastopol, Soviet Union.
Soviet partisans were beginning to become an increasing problem and they were getting more daring as time progressed. A revolt in Elton to the east of Stalingrad had quickly been put down by Kanin's troops but Hata would have his own rebellion to contend with.
Kherson was lost to the uprising as Hata's local forces were not conducting anti-partisan patrols. Yokoyama Isa was ordered to crush the rebels, which he duly accomplished, but Japanese troops would be required to retake Kherson as it was an important province directly behind the Japanese front line. To the north the Japanese Dive bombers had destroyed both divisions in Vinnitsa and had also cleared three more from Zhitomir, including an American Armoured division. Massive Allied forces were still mostly static along the Romanian border.
Further north Obata's Tactical bomber wing had managed to remove the American forces from Finland and was now attacking Grodno protected by Fukudome's Interceptor group. The arrival of a Greek Interceptor wing over Kiev was quickly spotted resulting in the rebasing of all sixteen Japanese Dive bomber squadrons to Gomel until they could be dealt with. Tanaka and Fukui were tasked with destroying the Greeks as they scrambled from their airbase in Odessa.
Six hours later, at 1300 hours, the Greek Interceptor wing attacked both Japanese wings over Vinnitsa. The first hour would be decisive as two of the Greek squadrons were rendered useless during the dogfight with only one Tanaka's squadrons suffering casualties. The Japanese pilots were much more experienced than their counterparts and they were also flying more modern aircraft. Such advantages would be telling as the Greek squadrons began to suffer ever increasing losses until darkness arrived to save some of the remaining aircraft. Only one Greek squadron would escape the carnage.
The remaining Japanese Dive bomber squadrons completed their upgrades on January 19th. The Improved Turbojet CAS air wings would be testing their new aircraft over Vinnitsa as another enemy division made the mistake of advancing.
At 0600 hours on January 20th Obata was once again over Grodno where his Tactical bombers were also destroying the infrastructure of the province as more Allied troops arrived. In the south Nakajima led more attacks against four more enemy divisions that had entered Vinnitsa. He was escorted by Interceptors for the time being as other enemy Interceptors had been spotted moving around the front line. The Allies had also captured Mogilev Podolski.
Mj. General Wakamatsu had been making good progress towards Oulu to capture the final American landing zone in Finland when his advance was abruptly halted by the arrival of two more American divisions. Clearly the Allies wished to remain in Finland for the time being. Obata made his way back to Leningrad to conduct ground attack missions against the newly arrived enemy troops. Nakajima moved north to Minsk to continue bombing attacks in the north leaving Shimoyama's Dive bomber group operating from Kiev.
0600 January 20th 1949.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Fuso, Durban.
Ozawa had moved his fleet to the nearest friendly port, which was Durban for the time being. He still had to support one more attack in South Africa and had left Carrier Group D to conduct this mission as it was the only fleet at his disposal that had the range.
General Sakai led five divisions against the two South African divisions defending Cape Town. No air support was available this far south which made the presence of Carrier Group D vital to the success of the battle. Mj. General Thompson was forced to retreat at 1600 hours after ten hours of hopeless defence.
Carrier Group D sailed east towards the safety of Port Elisabeth until King's fleet was spotted and neutralised. Ozawa had his two main Battlefleets and Carrier Group C further up the coast in Durban. Ozawa's move to protect his fleets from a possible ambush proved to be correct as King was finally spotted at 1600 hours on January 20th. He was much closer than Ozawa had thought.
Itou had been the one to find King and his Carrier Task Force as he conducted a search of Inhambane Bay. He had almost missed the enemy fleet in the heavy rain but he was able to provide a heading to Ozawa as he tried to inflict at least some damage on the Carriers. King was sailing directly for Delagoa Bay off the coast of Durban.
Ozawa had some choices available to him at this stage but he was always reluctant to engage American Carriers with his fleets, much preferring to destroy such ships with bombers when he could. The local weather report provided him with another dilemma. Thunderstorms would prevent any of his bombers flying over Delagoa Bay the following day which could allow King with the time he needed to either escape or launch a port strike.
Ozawa liked thunderstorms and ordered BB Division 1 and BC Division 1 to sea. They would enter Delagoa Bay shortly after dusk in the middle of a thunderstorm and hopefully find an enemy Carrier Task Force nearby. Should Ozawa's Battlefleets fail to make significant headway against King's Carriers under ideal conditions for them then Carriers would rule the Oceans as he would no longer be able to contemplate such interceptions.