THE DARKEST HOUR VOL 2 : THE JAPANESE OFFENSIVE . HEL263

The book presents the Japanese navy offensive in the Indian Ocean area in March–April 1942. Its main goal was to destroy the Royal Navy in the Far East and achieve domination on the Eastern flank of the Pacific War on the eve of the battle of Midway.

The bold operation of two Japanese task forces (Kidō Butai and Malay Force) in the Indian Ocean could not be possible without the fall of Singapore in February and the Dutch East India in early March 1942. From the strategic point of view, the Japanese offensive in the Indian Ocean was the only moment in the Second World War when the Axis forces could coordinate their efforts to severely threaten the position of the British Empire in the crucial Middle East and India areas.

The book contains the description of the strategic planning of both sides in February–March 1942, including the Japanese navy projections on the last step of the first stage of the Pacific War and the Royal Navy hope to halt the enemy advance without taking any significant risks.

The Japanese offensive in the Indian Ocean began in March 1942 with the invasion on the Andaman Islands and Christmas Island. By securing both vital positions, the Japanese navy planned to establish its advanced bases in the eastern part of the Bay of Bengal. In the next step, the invincible Kidō Butai consisted of five aircraft carriers with its escort, was expected to crush the British bases on Ceylon and once and forever destroy the main core of the Eastern Fleet. The chaos provoked by the Kidō Butai would then become a great opportunity for the Malay Force to cut off the British shipping routes in the western part of the Bay of Bengal.

This daring operation was tactical, though the strategically untapped success of the Japanese navy, which could no longer wage a victorious war on vast areas of the Pacific and the Indian Ocean.

The presented book is the first systematic attempt to describe the less known part of the Pacific War by researching the British and the Japanese archive documents and other secondary sources published in the many countries, including the United Kingdom, Japan, and India.