The Whale Has Wings Vol 3 - Holding the Barrier Read Online Free PDF Page A

only a few months before. However, the plans were not complete, and additional troops and supplies were still on their way. It now depended on how well and how fast additional resources could be made available. One obvious area was a temporary stopping of the supplies to Russia; luckily, the Russian winter offensive seemed to be going quite well. The British were delivering some 100 Hurricanes and a similar number of tanks a month; the shipments currently in Persia were stopped, arrangements being made to ship the tanks to East India, and the Hurricanes to Ceylon, in the first instance. Pilots would have to be found for the fighters, and they would also go to Ceylon before being deployed operationally. Additional forces would have to come from the Mediterranean in the first instance, followed by more convoys from Britain. It was fortunate that, with a limited amount of risk, convoys could be sent through the Mediterranean, and Admiral Cunningham was informed to start preparations to escort them through the most dangerous part of their passage. Admiral Somerville was also told to arrange an escort for the convoy carrying the 18th British Division, expected to arrive at Singapore on the 20th December.
     
    At sea off Malaya, the situation was starting to become more complex. While the initial invasion convoys had now unloaded (or been sunk by the British), a new convoy was heading for the coast. This was spotted by a Hudson at around 0900, and was escorted by seven 'cruisers and destroyers' as the report made out. This was Admiral Kurita's Escort Force. While Force Z was still too far south to intercept, the convoy was well within range of the RAF torpedo planes based at Gong Kedah. The twelve Beaufighters there were briefed for the attack as the Hudson returned south.
     
    The weather was still poor and only one of the two groups of Beaufighters managed to find the convoy, which was escorted by two of the cruisers and four Zeros. In the poor conditions, the Beaufighters failed to spot the fighters, and elected to attack the cruiser Mikuma. The poor weather also helped conceal them from the fighters, who only realized the cruiser was under attack when they saw the splashes from her main armament lifting huge plumes of water into the air. As a result the first three torpedo planes were able to drop without any interference except the cruisers own AA, which the pilots later reported as 'reasonable', and all three dropped successfully at quite close range. The heavy cruiser managed to evade two of the torpedoes, but one of them hit her amidships. The large cruiser slowed as one of her machinery spaces filled with water, but was still under control and able to manoeuvre. The second flight was far less successful, as the diving Zeros shot one of them down before they realised they were there, and damaged another, which turned away trailing smoke from one of its engines. The third plane tried to press on with its attack, but the attention of the Zeros made this impossible, and it too was shot down.
     
    Meanwhile the planes that had dropped turned to engage the fighters. One of the Zeros was shot down (the Japanese pilots seeming as surprised as their Army compatriots that torpedo planes would voluntarily engage them), and the rest of the fight turned into confusion. All three of the Beaufighters were damaged, but the Japanese planes seemed to have used up their 20mm ammunition in their first attacks, and their machine guns did not do sufficient damage to the sturdy Beaufighters to disable them. On their part, the Beaufighters found it almost impossible to get at the Zeros due to their manoeuvrability, although in the few instances that they did, one of the Japanese fighters was caught in the stream of cannon-fire and came apart in the air. The bombers finally retreated having only managed to cause moderate damage to the cruiser.
     
    On the western coast, a reconnaissance mission of four Sparrowhawks from Alor Star (this was also