The Most Dangerous Moment: The Japanese Assault on Ceylon (1979) By Michael Tomlinson
 
The Battle of Ceylon was a Japanese Carrier air raid of Ceylon which took place on 5 April 1942.
The attack on Colombo Harbour and the nearby Ratmalana Airport took place exactly 119 days after the Pearl Harbour attack in Hawaii. In that relatively short time, the Japanese military had advanced westwards in the Indian Ocean with astonishing speed and success.

When Singapore fell in February 1942, it was widely believed that the next Japanese target was Ceylon. Once their battleships, aircraft carriers and submarines were based in Ceylon, their domination over the Indian Ocean would be consolidated.

If the Allies read Japanese intentions correctly, they completely underestimated their adversary’s capabilities. Lack – or deliberate blocking – of information had characterised the build up of Japanese military capabilities for years.

Michael Tomlinson, an Englishman who was posted in Ceylon with the Royal Air Force in 1942, later wrote the definitive book about those fateful days and weeks. Its title, The Most Dangerous Moment, was derived from a remark by British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.

Looking back later, Churchill said the most dangerous moment of the Second World War, and the moment that caused him the most alarm, was when the formidable Japanese fleet was approaching Ceylon.

As it turned out, the Japanese fleet that mounted the air raid on Ceylon was under the command of Admiral Nagumo, who, as commander of the First Air Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, had earlier overseen the devastating attack on Pearl Harbour on 7 December 1941.

The Easter Sunday Raid, or the Battle of Ceylon, is well documented. Much to the surprise and disappointment of the Japanese, the Allied naval fleet had been moved out of the Colombo harbour to a secret base in the Maldives at Addu Atoll. Another Pearl Harbour was thus avoided.

The Colombo air raid lasted some 20 minutes, and the civilian casualties amounted to 85 dead and 77 injured.

The British claimed destroying “27 enemy aircraft” that morning, but the Japanese admitted losing only five. Tomlinson speculates that some damaged aircraft never managed the long flight back. The light aircraft carrier HMS Hermes, the destroyer HMAS Vampire and the Flower-class corvette HMS Hollyhock were sunk.
 
Soft Cover
221 pages
In Good Condition