Indian News for May/June 1932
Note that I’m changing the format up somewhat...
El Derretir
The most recent outbreak in northeastern India continues through much of the month.
Samraja Brashkar assigns the Coastal Security Force jurisdiction over the Irriwaddy River that marks the border with Burma. A number of patrol boats, along with their British/Burmese counterparts, do their best to prevent movement of refugees across the river along its navigable length. Some Burmese do manage to slip in, and those who are apprehended by Indian authorities are promptly steered towards refugee camps, rather than being deported. This is not so much a compassionate act as it is a move to isolate potential carriers of the disease as soon as possible, rather than ship them back and risk a second, undetected entrance into India.
Authorities manage to contain the worst of the new outbreak by the end of the month, though cases are still being reported in Chittagong, Dhaka, and in between.
In the town of Baldia, just north of the Mouths of the Ganges, El Derretir is observed to behave differently. There are indications that it is contagious at an earlier stage, prior to the emergence of visible symptoms, and the mortality rate is closer to 60%. A brigade of troops is transported by barge up the Ganges to the town with orders to contain the population, and are forced to shoot a number of citizens attempting to flee it. On 16 May, a resident of the town contacts the army to advise them that the townsfolk are organizing a mass break-out. This information is passed up the chain of command and is met with an edict from the Samraja.
Army loudspeakers announce to the people of Baldia that all those attempting to flee are being shot on sight. Further, if there is any evidence of an organized break-out being planned, the town will be shelled into destruction. For two days, these warnings are sufficient to contain all but a few citizens, but observer balloons report what they believe are signs of an impending break-out on the evening of 19 May. Within ten minutes, machine guns begin raking the town while two companies of artillery commence shelling it - using not just high explosives but also mustard gas and phosgene. By dawn on 20 May, Baldia has been levelled, but the artillery bombardment continues until 22 May. Note: This will not be public news during Q2.
Other Domestic Events
A group of scientists from the Adventurer’s Guild and three universities, along with several Himalayan soldiers and two former crew of the yacht Sharmilla go into quarantine in Cochin. After two uneventful weeks, they board a small passenger ship bound for Durban on 26 May.
In parallel with German developments, the government orders construction of two synthetic hydrocarbon factories. One is to be built at Korba, in Chhattisgarh, west of Kolkata. The other will be in Nagpur, capital of Maharashtra. The two facilities are thus astride two of the nation’s major coal-mining districts (and, coincidentally, far enough inland that they should be safe from most foreign threats). Both are expected to commence operation in late 1934.
Asir
In the Persian Gulf, Indian and Persian forces institute convoys of Indian oil tankers travelling to and from Basra. Saudi light forces, meanwhile, limit their attacks to international waters, clearly seeking to avoid trouble with Britain. Although eleven small craft are sunk by Indian and Persian escorts, one tanker is sunk and two damaged by increasingly skilled Saudi attacks employing depth charges, small arms, and even mortars. Several of the escorts sustain light damage and casualties while engaged with the attackers.
Late in June, the Japanese aircraft carrier Hiryu and escorts enter the Persian Gulf and a joint SATSUMA command under an Indian Vice-Admiral takes over the tanker convoy system. The Japanese carrier is to sanitize the convoy routes and provide scouting for convoys, but is not authorized to attack targets in Saudi waters or Saudi Arabia itself. However, an intelligence gathering program is instituted to identify the depots at which the Saudi light forces are operating. This includes Indian and Japanese photo-reconnaissance missions as well as covert Indian AOWWT operations.
On land, the arrival of four Indian divisions has stabilized the fronts, though Saudi irregular cavalry continue to be a problem across the north. With the arrival of a fifth division, the South Assam Rifles (which were involved in the original dust-up in 1920), India begins a counter-offensive in the south against Yemen.
Attacking east along the At Tur/Amran road on 4 June, the Indian offensive causes significant problems for the Yemenis. Having not invested in any kind of air force, they are unable to prevent Indian scouting and ground attack missions except with machine-gun fire. After losing a battery of guns to Indian air attack, the Yemenis disperse their artillery, giving each gun a better chance of remaining safe, but preventing coordinated fire missions. Although the Yemenis fight gamely, they are pushed back east of At Tur by month’s end.
In the north, Indian and Saudi troops continue their struggle. An Indian drive on Baljurshi kicks off on 18 May and employs infantry from the Chakravaat Division as well as armor from the Second Jagganatta Battalion. Unfortunately, the infantry have little experience working with armor, the armor has an inflated sense of its own power and survivability, and the Saudis have developed some ideas of how to take advantage of these. A common tactic for Saudi cavalry is to flee in the face of a combined-arms attack, only for the tanks to charge ahead of their supporting infantry and be lured into pre-planned killing zones where they are set upon by anti-tank rifles, mines, and infantry with grenades and fire-bombs. In other cases, Saudi cavalry lure out the tanks, then sweep around to overwhelm isolated or strung-out Indian infantry. In either case, the Saudis take numerous casualties, but inflict many in return; the Indian offensive sputters to a stop on 22 May.
Further inland, the continued Saudi cavalry raids on Indian supply convoys leads to a significant Indian victory on 2 June. After leaving Al Mi’qas for the front line towards Qal’at Bishah, an estimated three hundred and fifty Saudi horsemen attack what they believe to be a convoy of Indian lorries and armored cars. The lorries are, however, carrying troops, not supplies, and Indian aircraft arrive on the scene to strafe anybody on a horse. Machine-guns and bombs claim an estimated two hundred Saudis, for less than fifty Indian fatalities.
At sea, Indian warships begin boarding Saudi civilian craft in the eastern Red Sea to verify that they are not secretly armed. Following six uneventful such incidents, the Indian sloop Phaltan is mauled in a close-range brawl on 16 June with a Saudi tramp freighter. The freighter has been kitted out as a Q-Ship of sorts, with concealed machine guns, mortars, and two light guns resembling older German eighty-eights, and what the gunners lacks in experience they make up for in enthusiasm. Phaltan staggers away from the slower Saudi ship with most of her crew dead or injured. Unfortunately for the Saudis, battle damage prevents them from effectively disguising the ship afterward, and she is bombed and sunk by aircraft from SR Urumi on the 18th.
Another unusual Indian/Saudi naval battle takes place in June and will be described in more detail in a subsequent post.
Yemeni speedboat attacks continue and Indian MTBs, backed by destroyers, launch an attack against a suspected Yemeni depot in the Hanish Islands south-southwest of Al Hudaydah. The depot is shelled to ruin by Indian destroyers but the success is marred by an incident in which Indian MTBs chasing Yemeni craft encounter two Ethiopian MAS in the western part of the islands and engage them, mistaking them for additional Yemenis. One MAS and one MTB are damaged before the action is broken-off. India apologizes soon afterward but questions why the Ethiopians were there at all; the Ethiopians point out a claim to the western islands and accuse India of negligence.
Observers in Red Sea note a considerable amount of new arrivals from India and beyond. Notable are the arrival of India’s amphibious command ship Dhoni and six landing craft (vehicle), the latter supported by a Jagan Rane class tender. A convoy of Filipino ships, including two assault transports, arrives in mid-June, and on 23 June, a larger group of Japanese assault transports arrives under escort at As Salif.
Other International Events
At a treaty meeting, India votes to allow Japanese construction of battlecruisers for Chosen and Formosa. Although the majority of Contracting Powers are opposed to the transaction, there proves to be no legal basis for preventing it. The meeting ends with the Chosenian and Formosan observers and Japanese delegates walking out after taking offence to the language of some other delegates. Lacking a senior voice in what was expected to be a fairly straight-forward vote, the Indian delegation does not get strongly involved in the debate.
Shortly afterward, on 25 May, Australia serves notice that in two years, it will cease to comply with the Treaty. Although there is some thought given to following suit, Samraja Brashkar contends that it is more useful to see how the other Contracting Powers deal with this precedent. After all, any nation which fails to condemn Australia for this breach of treaty can hardly complain if other powers follow suit later on. Besides which, the Bharatiya Nau Sena’s building program is largely fixed through to 1934 anyway, so an early departure offers no tangible benefits in return for whatever diplomatic price is to be paid.
Indian officials are bemused at the North American outrage over a Japanese carrier being in the eastern Pacific Ocean, as the presence of European warships in the western Pacific has been a recurring problem for centuries. Samraja Brashkar is hardly surprised at the outcry over the simultaneously reported loss of CV Hosho and the Mexican capture of a carrier off their coast. In Hyderabad, bureaucrats joke over tea about the “Worst Case” being that the ship proves to be an unreported Japanese carrier, because then it means that Japan has broken the Treaty and that Mexico has committed an act of war against Japan.
While Foreign Ministry officials question whether Japan actually has a coherent foreign policy, the Navy is displeased when the Samraja orders that the request for new French limits be withdrawn. Consequently, and in conjunction with the Filipino roots of El Derretir, some segments of Indian society are rather discontent with SATSUMA as a whole. Some of those segments are further displeased at intelligence reports that Australia and several European powers are negotiating a mutual defence agreement.