Chapter 261: A foolproof plan

“General Erwin, I trust you are aware of the situation in the Andaman Islands.” Inside the Viceroy’s residence, Sir Barron greeted the main and extended his hand to shake the hand of the military chief of the British army currently stationed in India.

General Erwin reached out and shook Sir Barron’s hand, at the same time said, “It’s not that I understand all of it, now I only know that the expatriates on the island have all been evacuated, as for the situation on top of the archipelago in the end, it’s not very clear, in fact, how many people on the island participated in the riot, I don’t even know very much, I don’t know if Sir Barron knows about it?”

Sir Barron glanced at Alan Wilson, the latter will do a please movement, leading General Erwin to the side of the map of the Andaman Islands on the table, explained, “The Japanese prisoners of war in the Andaman Islands at the beginning of the twenty-six thousand, is the Malayan Tiger Yamashita Bongwen’s direct line of troops, the exile to the Andaman Islands, but also the construction of military bases, the General is a soldier, should understand the Andaman Islands blockade, the General is a soldier, should understand the situation of the Andaman Islands. , should understand the Andaman Islands blocking the Strait of Malacca, what this represents militarily.”

General Erwin nodded his head in recognition, while Allen Wilson continued his introduction, “The Andaman Islands have long been a place of exile, as the isolated overseas location is best suited for this kind of work, we put Japanese POWs in there, but also for the purpose of building a modern military base, after all, the mainland has just come out of the war, and the situation in British India isn’t particularly optimistic, and the use of these free labor, no one will hold it against us, it’s all about cost saving considerations.”

“The island, together with the prisoners of war at the beginning, and the pro-Japanese elements from Burma, Malaya, Thailand, and some of the French colonies, exiled on the island, numbered about seventy thousand.”

“Seventy thousand? What a surprising number then.” General Erwin glanced back at the staff officer behind him, who nodded and stepped forward to speak, “The military force on the island consists of two Indian battalions armed with one hundred and five millimeter infantry artillery, but with the seventy thousand that Assistant Allen spoke of, all of them taking part in the riot, perhaps the two battalion garrisons should have disappeared. There are two Tribal-class destroyers in Port Blair, and the telegram we received was from the withdrawal of the warships.”

The situation was still very serious, even if there might not be seventy thousand hostiles left on the island now for various reasons.

But it is still more troublesome, knowing that after the war, the size of the British Army in India was cut down, and a very large part of the force went to British Malaya, and that part of the British Army that went to British Malaya was close to fifty thousand.

Now the British Army in India is only 50,000 men left, and the number is not as large as the number of rioters on the island.

“It was an isolated island, and there was very little food self-sufficiency on it, and with the original natives, even if the Japanese POWs had rioted, what would they have eaten?” Alan Wilson was not so pessimistic, among the people in the Governor’s Office, he was probably the most knowledgeable about the Andaman Islands.

Not only knew how many people were on the island, how much strength the garrison had, how many weapons it was equipped with, and even knew how much food was stockpiled.

Even if the rioting Japanese turned the island over, they would never find enough food to eat.

Of course, since it was a pirate, of course it could fish, but trying to rely on fishing to feed a population of more than 70,000 people, not counting the aborigines on the island and so on, was also quite a challenging job.

“Even if the Indian Garrison has been completely wiped out, what can two battalions of weapons do?” Alan Wilson said gently, “An unsupported, abandoned group, no supplies no weapons, and quite limited in what they can do, although the commotion that has been made is quite large, the environment of the islands has resulted in, for now, a still manageable situation.”

“Good, mobilizing the fleet will quell this riot in no time.” The staff officer behind General Erwin nodded in favor.

“Rather, there’s no need to rush things!” Alan Wilson shook his head, “I’m not against a strong policy, but things are manageable, but after all, we don’t know the situation on the island yet, so to be on the safe side, it’s better to blockade the island with the fleet to ensure that the remnants of the Axis on the island, don’t stray out. The Andaman Islands are two hundred miles from the nearest British Burma, but it’s still possible to escape using simple rafts once all the POWs try to escape.”

“Even if not many end up escaping, once the island’s population disperses to the periphery and into the mainland, the nature of the matter changes, and we won’t be able to keep things within manageable limits.”

Alan Wilson had no selfishness at all, it was all from the big picture, it was just that the Andaman Islands were rioting and things were manageable. Once things spread outside the islands, it becomes a big deal.

Considering the current environment in British India, as well as the unknown situation in the Andaman Islands, it would be safer not to send troops immediately, but rather the fleet blockade should be the main focus, first stopping the Japanese POWs and Japanese traitors on the island from escaping the islands, followed by how to calm things down.

“Alan is right, it is more appropriate for us to wait and see for a few days first.” Sir Barron nodded, “At the moment, British India does not have a one-two punch, and there is a vacancy in the viceroy, so taking an overly aggressive approach may not be easy to explain later.”

“That may require the Pacific fleet in Shannon, to draw some destroyers to help, the fleet in Malaya is closer.” Admiral Erwin said after a moment’s thought, “If it’s enough, there’s no need to use the Pacific Fleet.”

“It shouldn’t be necessary to use the Pacific Fleet, if we face a group of prisoners of war who only have cold weapons …… if not wooden sticks, and still need to use the Pacific Fleet, it’s a bit too much of a fuss.” Alan Wilson smiled and agreed with General Erwin’s opinion “The Indian fleet plus Malaya’s power should be more than enough.”

India currently also has a naval force, the Royal Indian Navy originated from the East India Company fleet, with an eastern and western part of the fleet, based in Calcutta and Bombay respectively.

As World War II approached, the Royal Indian Navy grew significantly. Before the war, the Royal Indian Navy had two thousand men and was equipped with five frigates, survey ships, and so on.

By the end of the war in 1945, the Navy had thirty thousand men, four frigates, four small frigates, seven corvettes, fourteen minesweepers, one hundred and fifty landing craft, sixteen tugs, thirty-two auxiliary vessels, and two hundred and forty-five small boats and launches of all types.

At that time, pacifists worked mainly on the decks of the ships, while the officer class was predominantly Hindu. This meant that if British India were to become independent, the newly formed Pakistan Navy would be short of officers, while the Indian Navy would be short of trained and specialized deck officers.

If the Royal Indian Navy were to be used, not to mention the fact that the fleet that would have been in Bombay would have been a bit larger and the two frigates under its command would have had to circle the subcontinent to reach the Andaman Islands, it would have been unlikely to blockade the Andaman Islands, even with all four frigates in place.

As for the Royal Navy Pacific Fleet in Hong Kong to come, on the one hand, also because of the distance, another aspect is too much fuss, the Pacific Fleet is not the Royal Indian Fleet of this scale, although the fleet commander is called commander, but the commander and the commander is different, the fleet and the fleet is also different.

Royal Navy Pacific Fleet is a large fleet in strength, the Royal Pacific Fleet has six aircraft carriers, four light aircraft carriers, nine escort carriers, aircraft repair ships two.

Four battleships, eleven light cruisers, three minelayer cruisers, thirty-five destroyers, fourteen frigates, eighteen escort gunboats, nineteen submarine repellent ships, thirty-one submarines.

One of the most basic consequences of asking the Pacific Fleet for help would be that if the Commander of the Pacific Fleet knew it, London knew it, and that could not be kept secret.

Moreover, when a cannon is fired, there are ten thousand taels of gold, and the expenses incurred by the Pacific Fleet in coming over, even if it were only to come over some light warships, would be an enormous sum.

On the contrary, British Malaya’s fleet, although not much stronger than the Royal Indian Navy, but wins in the distance close, as long as the blockade is involved in the blockade is also considered barely enough.

In view of the current situation in the Andaman Islands, the Governor-General’s Office of British India’s civilian and military officers for discussion, determined that the current situation is preventable and controllable, although the Andaman Islands is likely to have been controlled by the rioters, but a lonely island, these rioters can not run, to take the fleet blockade of the most appropriate counterpart.

It would be more appropriate to wait until the real situation in the Andaman Islands had been ascertained before taking the next step.

The Andaman Islands, controlled by Japanese prisoners of war, consisted of two large islands, the north and south, the south island was more self-sufficient, and the capital, Port Blair, was also in the south island, while the north island had very little flat land, and was confined to a few valleys, such as Bidhanpur and Diglipur.

The islands of the Andaman Islands are composed of Tertiary sandstone, limestone and shale, which are deeply cut. The rocky surface is covered with dense forests, with large mangrove swamps in the northern part of North Andaman. There are few rivers and the lack of water supply is a constant problem.

This environment has resulted in animals not being very happy to make their homes here. There are only about twenty species of animals on the island.

There are small, meat-eating wild boars, long-tailed musk cats, bats and a few rodents. These animals make up 80 percent of the island’s mammals.

So with food in short supply and not even drinking water guaranteed, cutting off the only possible source of food, which was fishing, was by far the most important thing in quelling the riots in the Andaman Islands.

Sir Barron and General Erwin had reached a consensus on this matter, as long as the blockade operation was successful and kept things under control on the island, there was no need to report to London at all, and the riots on the island would naturally be calmed down in a few days’ time.

“As long as the blockade operation lasts for a month, let the warships blockading nearby give a shelling, and the landing force can go up.” Out of prudence, Alan Wilson still suggested that the blockade be extended.