Sumatra 1944-45: The British Pacific Fleet’s Oil Campaign in the Dutch East Indies

96 pages

Dr James Bosbotinis

Following the Allies’ defeat in southeast Asia in early 1942, and the Japanese raid into the Indian Ocean in April of that year, the Royal Navy’s ability to project power in the Indo-Pacific was greatly reduced. Moreover, before the Royal Navy could redeploy to the region in force, the German and Italian naval threats would have to be reduced. This meant it would be 1944 before the Royal Navy could start sending major fleet units eastward. In Sumatra 1944-45, Angus Konstam, a formal naval officer and historian who will be well-known to members, seeks to provide an account of the process by which the Royal Navy worked up its Eastern Fleet, as the basis from which the British Pacific Fleet was created.

As is the norm with Osprey’s campaign-focused books, Sumatra 1944-45 provides a scene-setting introduction, chronology, a discussion of the capabilities of the attackers and defenders respectively, campaign objectives, an account of the campaign itself, and concluding analysis. Konstam ably charts how the Royal Navy sought to learn from the ‘fast carrier’ operations undertaken by the US Navy, adopted US-supplied carrier-borne aircraft, namely, the F6F Hellcat, F4U Corsair, and the Avenger torpedo bomber, as well as replenishment at sea. The author traces the development of the carrier strike force in 1944 and early 1945, starting with the joint US-UK Operation COCKPIT (involving the USS Saratoga and HMS Illustrious), followed over the subsequent months by Operations TRANSOM, PEDAL, CRIMSON, BANQUET, LIGHT, MILLET, ROBSON, LENTIL, and culminating with Operation MERIDIAN (I and II). The latter, involving four aircraft carriers, would be “the largest ever mounted by the Fleet Air Arm so far in the war, and the largest ever against a single target,” that is, the strategically important oil refineries in Palembang, Sumatra, providing 75 percent of Japan’s aviation fuel. This campaign provided the foundation for the British Pacific Fleet’s subsequent operations alongside the US Navy against Okinawa and the Japanese home islands.

This book provides a good account of the campaign, it is highly informative and ably sets out the challenges and learning curve which had to be addressed. There are a number of typos, most of which are minor (for example, misspelling the Andaman Islands, misdating the Nagasaki atomic bombing); the author does suggest that the Nakajima Ki-43 Oscar “was essentially a land-based variant of the Mitsubishi A6M ‘Zero’”, which was not the case. These do not though detract from the overall quality of the book. Sumatra 1944-45 provides a concise, engaging account of the development of the Royal Navy’s carrier operations in the Indian Ocean and against the Japanese-occupied Dutch East Indies in 1944-45, and a good introduction to the campaign. It is recommended.