"General Erwin, I believe you also understand the situation in the Andaman Islands." In the Governor's Palace, Sir Barron came up to him and extended his hand to shake hands with the military commander of the British army currently stationed in India.
General Erwin stretched out his hand to shake Sir Barron's hand, and said at the same time, "I don't know everything. I only know that all the residents on the island have been evacuated. As for the situation on the islands, I am not very clear. In fact,
I don’t know exactly how many people participated in the riot on the island. I wonder if Sir Barron knows?”
Sir Barron glanced at Alan Wilson, who made a gesture of invitation and led General Irvine to the side of the map of the Andaman Islands on the table, explaining, "The Japanese prisoners of war in the Andaman Islands just started to have
Twenty-six thousand people are the direct troops of Feng Wen of the Malay Tigers. They were exiled to the Andaman Islands. They also played a role in building military bases. The general is a soldier. He should understand that the Andaman Islands block the Strait of Malacca. This represents military significance.
What are you wearing?"
General Irvine nodded in approval, and Alan Wilson continued to introduce, "The Andaman Islands have long been a place of exile, because the isolated overseas location is the most suitable for this kind of work. We put Japanese prisoners of war there to establish a
It is a modern military base. After all, our country has just emerged from the war, and the situation in British India is not particularly optimistic. No one will be held accountable for using these free labor forces, and it is all to save costs."
"Together with the initial prisoners of war, there are also pro-Japanese elements from Burma, Malaya, Thailand, and some French colonies. The number of people exiled on the island is about 70,000."
"Seventy thousand people? What a surprising number." General Erwin looked back at the staff officer behind him. The staff officer nodded and stepped forward and said, "The military power on the island includes two Indian battalions, equipped with one
105 mm infantry cannon, but if all the 70,000 people mentioned by Assistant Allen participated in the riot, the garrison of the two battalions may have disappeared. There are two tribal-class destroyers in Port Blair, and the telegram we received is a warship
Sent during evacuation."
The situation is still very serious. Even now, due to various reasons, there may not be 70,000 enemies left on the island.
But it is still troublesome. You must know that after the war, the size of the British army in India was reduced, and a large part of the force went to British Malaya. The British army that went to British Malaya was close to 50,000.
There are now only 50,000 British troops stationed in India, which is not as numerous as the number of rioters on the island.
"It is an isolated island, and its food self-sufficiency rate is very low. With the original indigenous people, even if the Japanese prisoners of war riot, what will they eat?" Alan Wilson is not so pessimistic. Among the people in the Governor's Mansion, he may
He is the most knowledgeable person in the Andaman Islands.
Not only do they know how many people are on the island, how powerful the garrison is, how many weapons they are equipped with, they even know how much food is stored.
Even if the rioting Japanese searched the island all over, they would never be able to find enough food.
Of course, since it is an island, of course you can fish, but relying on fishing to support more than 70,000 people, not counting the island's aboriginal population, is also a quite challenging task.
"Even if the Indian garrison has been completely wiped out, what can the weapons of two battalions do?" Alan Wilson said lightly, "An abandoned group without backup, without supplies and weapons, can do very little.
Although the commotion was quite big, it was caused by the environment of the archipelago, but it is still a controllable situation."
"Yes, mobilizing the fleet can quell this riot immediately." The staff officer behind General Erwin nodded in agreement.
"There's no need to act too hastily!" Alan Wilson shook his head. "I'm not against tough policies, but although things are controllable, we don't know the situation on the island after all, so to be on the safe side, we'll use the fleet to
Blockade to ensure that the remnants of the Axis powers on the island do not disperse. The Andaman Islands are also two hundred miles away from the nearest British Burma, but once all the prisoners of war want to escape, it is still possible to escape using simple rafts
of."
"Even if not many people escape in the end, once the people on the island disperse to the surrounding areas and enter the mainland, the nature of the matter will change, and we will not be able to control the situation within a controllable range."
Alan Wilson has no selfish motives at all, and all considers the overall situation. However, the riots in the Andaman Islands are controllable. Once the incident spreads outside the island, it will become a big deal.
Considering the current environment in British India and the unknown situation in the Andaman Islands, it is safer not to send troops immediately. Instead, we should focus on fleet blockade to first prevent Japanese prisoners of war and Japanese traitors on the island from escaping the islands, and then
How to calm down trouble.
"Alan is right. It would be more appropriate for us to wait and see for a few days." Sir Barron nodded. "Currently, there is no one in British India who can make the final decision. There is a vacancy in the Governor-General, so if we take too radical measures, we may not be able to do it later."
Good explanation.”
"That may require the Pacific Fleet in Xiangjiang to deploy some destroyers to help, and the Malayan fleet is closer." General Irwin thought for a while and said, "If it is enough, there is no need to use the Pacific Fleet."
"It should not be necessary to use the Pacific Fleet. If we face a group of people who only have cold weapons...if they are not prisoners of war holding wooden sticks, we still need to use the Pacific Fleet. It is a bit too fussy." Alan Wilson smiled and agreed with General Irvine.
Opinion "The Indian fleet plus the strength of Malaya should be more than enough."
India currently also has a naval force. The Royal Indian Navy originated from the East India Company fleet and has eastern and western fleets, with bases in Calcutta and Bombay respectively.
As World War II approached, the Royal Indian Navy developed significantly. Before the war, the Royal Indian Navy had 2,000 personnel, equipped with five escort boats and a survey ship.
By the end of the war in 1945, the navy had reached 30,000 men, with four frigates, four small frigates, seven corvettes, 14 minesweepers, 150 landing craft, and 16 tugboats.
, thirty-two auxiliary vessels, and 245 small boats and motorboats of various types.
At that time, peaceful believers mainly worked on the decks of ships, while the officer class was mainly Hindus. This meant that if British India became independent, the newly formed Pakistan Navy would lack officers, while the Indian Navy would lack well-trained and specialized deck officers.
personnel.
If the Royal Indian Navy is used, not to mention that the fleet in Mumbai is already larger. The two frigates under its jurisdiction have to circle the subcontinent to reach the Andaman Islands. Even if all four frigates are there, they want to blockade the Andaman Islands.
Not likely either.
As for letting the Royal Navy Pacific Fleet from Hong Kong come over, on the one hand it is because of the distance, and on the other hand it is too fussy. The Pacific Fleet is not as big as the Royal Indian Fleet. Although the fleet commanders are all called Commanders, Commanders and Commanders are different.
, fleet and fleet are also different.
The Royal Navy's Pacific Fleet is a large fleet in terms of strength. Currently, the Royal Pacific Fleet has six aircraft carriers, four light aircraft carriers, nine escort aircraft carriers, and two aircraft repair ships.
Four battleships, eleven light cruisers, three minelaying cruisers, thirty-five destroyers, fourteen frigates, eighteen escort gunboats, nineteen submarine destroyers, and thirty-one submarines.
If we ask for help from the Pacific Fleet, one of the most basic consequences is that if the commander of the Pacific Fleet knows, it means that London knows. This cannot be kept secret.
Moreover, when the cannon fires, gold is worth ten thousand taels. If the Pacific Fleet comes over, even if it is just some light warships, the cost will be huge.
On the contrary, although the fleet of British Malaya was not much stronger than the Royal Indian Navy, it was better because of its close distance. As long as it participated in the blockade, it was barely enough.
In response to the current situation in the Andaman Islands, civil servants and military officers of British India held discussions in the Governor's Palace and determined that the current situation was preventable and controllable. Although the Andaman Islands may have been controlled by rioters, it is an isolated island and these rioters
Since there is no way to escape, a fleet blockade is the most appropriate response.
It would be more appropriate to wait until the true situation in the Andaman Islands is determined before taking the next step.
The Andaman Islands, controlled by Japanese prisoners of war, consist of two large islands, North and South. The South Island has a higher self-sufficiency rate. The capital, Port Blair, is also in the South Island. The North Island has very little flat land and is limited to a few valleys such as Bidianpur.
and Digripur.
The islands of the Andaman Islands are all composed of Tertiary sandstone, limestone and shale, which are deeply cut. The rock surface is covered with dense forests. There are large mangrove swamps in the north of North Andaman Island. There are few perennial rivers and insufficient water supply.
long-standing problem.
This environment makes animals not very happy to make their home here. There are only about twenty species of animals on the island.
There are small wild boars that can eat meat, as well as long-tailed civets, bats and some rodents. These animals account for 80% of the mammals on the island.
Therefore, when food is scarce and even drinking water cannot be guaranteed, cutting off the only possible food source, which is fishing, is currently the most important thing to do to quell the riots in the Andaman Islands.
Sir Barron and General Irvine reached a consensus on this matter. As long as the blockade operation was successful and the matter was controlled on the island, there was no need to report to London. The riots on the island would naturally subside in a few days.
"As long as the blockade lasts for a month, let the nearby blockading warships bombard the troops, and then the landing troops can go up." For the sake of safety, Alan Wilson still suggested extending the blockade.