How does the Axis and Allies community judge Japan’s Operation C, also known as the Indian Ocean Raid? What results would have happened had the British Forces A and B combined and meet the Japanese Combine Fleet?
How would a Japanese base in Madagascar have played out?
@ABWorsham4 Hi AB
Can you link some more info ? Idk a whole lot about it other than “Kuroshima” ? was in charge and it was about 6 months after Pearl Harbor. It was also successful tactically at least.
Idk much about the British forces available. If the ones in Singapore the Brits would probably have gotten their ass kicked. I know there was a battle soon after Pearl harbor with Dutch,US and British, not sure if any Australia, and that didn’t turn out too good for the allies.
Anyway, I think logistics probably would of doomed them even if they had taken Madagascar. Doubtful the Italians or Kriegsmarine could have helped much. A sound strategy otherwise, imo : )
A Japanese base in Madagaskar would have closed the US Lend/Lease route named the Persian Corridor from US to USSR, as well as the Middle East oil going the other way, so I dont think US would allowed that. In fact UK did attack the Vichy garrison there in May 1942, to deny Japan access to Madagaskar. Its a pretty long way from Japan, so I cant figure how they should have done it, its hardly doable in an A&A game, and in the real world you got the supply chain too
@ABWorsham4 A Japanese base in Madagascar would’ve allowed the Japanese to raid the African coast. I’m not sure if they would ever make a landing, but it would have been interesting.
Japan had the overwhelming initaitve at that point in the war, and tore the British forces they found apart. Had they confronted the other large UK ships, they may have shared that fate and were withdrawn to africa.
The Japanese did not have the long range power projection needed to grab all these targets; but Ceylon would have been next, taking that naval base key, then also confronting UK forces in Africa. Assuming that there were not more pressing matters (the USA), they might have tried taking Madagascar. Would have been a cool twist on history, but I don’t see the Japanese going further and affecting the Mediterranian war, more likely they would have done mischief to Allied shipping between to Austraila and Asia and the Lend Lease corridor the others mentioned.
but without having a decisive effect on the overall war, it would have been abandoned as the losses in the Pacific war increased…
Ceylon and Madagascar do indeed occupy strategic positions in the Indian Ocean, but in order for a hypothetical Japanese occupation of these islands to have had a serious effect on the Allies the Japanese would have had to establish large and well-equipped naval and air bases there, keep them regularly supplied with food and fuel and ammunition, and defend them against Allied countremeasures (such as blockade and/or invasion). Considering how far these islands are from Japan, and considering how much trouble Japan (which had an inadequate marchant shipping capacity and inadequate convoy defenses) had with the logistical support of its much-closer holdings in the Pacific, I doubt that a large-scale, long-term Japanese presence in the Indian Ocean would have been a realistic proposition. Note by the way that Japan did occupy the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which are south of Burma and west of Thailand; the effects of this occupation were marginal (except to the local population) and by the end of the war the garrison was starving.
Japan had no interest in invading Africa, they knew that UK had that on lockdown and they didn’t have the resources to do it. I am 100% sure that Japanese High Command would of double down on invading Australia over that. The idea behind controlling Indian ocean was to do two jobs. First: Close Burma Road since the Chinese were getting heavy equipment from the US. People forget the bulk of the IJA was in China and China was always the end goal for Japan. Two: Cutting the Persian trade route was more of a request from Germany. People forget that the Battle of Madagascar was the only battle during WWII that had both Germany and Japan in the same battle.
