Indian Ocean Raids
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Now that the Japanese
had largely neutralized the ABDA Command and Allied defenses in Northern
Australia, they could now focus their attention on the Indian Ocean’s all-important
shipping lanes. Long before Marco Polo used the Indian Ocean as part of the
“Silk Road” (a seafaring trade route used in the 1500s to transport luxury
items such as silk, spices, rubber, and fruit to Europe), the Indian Ocean had
been an essential link between East and West. So, too, was the importance of
the Indian Ocean to all the major players during World War II.
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Both the Japanese and Australians desperately needed the
vast supply of natural and manmade resources available from Europe. The
Japanese needed food and fuel for its long and grueling Burma Road Campaign
while the Australians required warships and troops from Great Britain and Northern
Africa for its own campaigns in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
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While the British no longer controlled traditional colonies
like Burma and the Dutch East Indies, the subcontinent of India and surrounding
islands such as Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka) were key access points for the
Indian Ocean.
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On March 26th, the Japanese Navy’s Kido Butai
departed the Celebes Sea and ranged into the Bay of Bengal west of Australia in
hopes of controlling the shipping lane once and for all.
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It was a campaign that would involved every coastal city of
india and the new British Air Base at Colombo, in the island nation of Ceylon
(now Sri Lanka).
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