The Battle of Ceylon 1942
The following article reflects material published in The Colombo Newspaper during 1943.
Although the Battle of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) is marked as having commenced on Easter Sunday 1942 it was not made public until just a year later. If the Japanese had not been defeated, control of the area by the Axis powers could have seen Ceylon invaded, Australia isolated from the rest of the world and the loss of Allied command of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Victory in the air and defeat of major Allied naval elements gave the Japanese their opportunity to thrust for control of the southern oceans. Admiral Nagumo, the conqueror of Pearl Harbor, sailed from Singapore in March 1942 to engage British surface and air forces in the Indian Ocean, the purpose to support the Japanese army's advance into Burma. This attack was part of what was known as the Kuroshima strategy. Nagumo's dive bombers sank the British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes, two county class cruisers Cornwall and Dorset, HMS Hector, Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS Tenedos and Tankers Lucia and Soli. The surviving British Battleships fled to East Africa, British seapower vanishing from the Indian Ocean and leaving it to become an area dominated by German surface raiders and German and Japanese submarines, operating from Penang and Singapore.
The previous three months had seen dramatic events in Japan's strategy of controlling the two southern oceans: 7th December 1941 Pearl Harbour was bombed, the United States Pacific Fleet decimated, 10th December HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse were sunk off the Malay coast, and Singapore, Malaya, the Dutch East Indies and Burma were now left undefended from the sea. On 15th February Singapore surrendered, on the 19th Darwin was bombed, the first attack on the Australian mainland. Japan invaded Java (Dutch East Indies).
Colombo and Trincomalee appeared destined for the same treatment as Pearl Harbour and Darwin. There were two attacks on Ceylon, the first on Colombo, on April 5th. The Japanese Pacific Fleet had left Singapore bound for Ceylon, with four aircraft carriers, three battleships, five cruisers and a screen of destroyers. The aerial attacks were to be followed by land invasion. HMS Dorsetshire and HMS Cornwall were sunk 300 miles west of Colombo. The second land attack was on Trincomalee on April 9th. The aircraft carrier HMS Hermes was attacked and sunk 10 miles off the coast. Catalina flying boat reconnaisance flights reported the Japanese objectives.
Easter Sunday 1942 Colombo
Preparations were made to meet the coming attack. From the Catalina reports came messages that the enemy would be over the Colombo area at 7.30 am., Ceylon being the inevitable target. Anti-aircraft batteries stood at the ready and Hurricanes provided the defensive aircraft assisted by Fulmars and Blenheims. At 7.40am four "V" formations of enemy aircraft, each of seven Navy type single engine 99 dive bombers escorted by Navy type Zero fighters, approached the Ratmalana area from the south-west. At 8000 feet they split into two sections attacking the harbour and shipping, dive bombing and machine gunning coming in from all directions. The dive-bombing aircraft released bombs at heights of 2,000ft
The sky was overcast with rain and thunder clouds, gusts of wind conditions favouring the enemy. Over the harbour was a thick black cloud, broken by clear shafts of light providing the raiders with ample cover and visibility. The dock area the immediate target, the anti aircraft fire proved so intense that very few enemy planes succeeded in getting through. During the bombing Japanese fighters remained overhead acting as top cover for the heavier aircraft. As the British fighters came in at lower heights to attack so the enemy fighters came down to counter them, terrific dog fights developed and the Allied planes quickly proved a match for the enemy.
About five minutes after the first formation of Japanese aircraft attacked the harbour a second large formation of Japanese attacked Ratmalana. This formation was about 40 strong and composed of Navy zero fighters and light bombers. They made full use of the cloud cover, machine gunning, dive bombing and low level bombing, coming within 50ft of the grownd when machine gunning. The same tactics as used at Pearl Harbour and Darwin proved successful. Allied aircraft had not been caught napping, owing to the accurate reporting. The pilots were in the cockpits of their aircraft at the time of the attacks, ready to take off. Things happened quickly. As one section roared into the air, the Bofors guns fired their first rounds at the leading Japanese bombers, several seen to dive down in flames and crash near the railway workshops and aerodrome.
Official figures released later showed that about 100 enemy aircraft participated in the raid against the 42 allied aircraft put into the air. The Japanese lost 31 aircraft destroyed and a further 25 damaged. Royal Air Force pilots Squadron Leader Fletcher and Flight Lieutenant Peacock-Edwards were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC).
The Months That Followed
The following months of 1942 saw increased Japanese invasion presence in the South West Pacific area, the first sea turning points not coming until the Battle of the Coral Sea in May, while it was August before Allied land efforts at Milne Bay and in the Solomon Islands saw the Japanes Army starting to be turned back.
Axis domination of the Indian Ocean led to heavy losses in merchant seamen and shipping. For a time, the Kuroshima concept had been vindicated, Madagascar, the African East Coast, the Suez Canal, the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean itself had all lain open to the advance of the Japanese Naval forces.
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