12 February 1944
Heavy bomber losses over Manila as B-24 flight loses P-38 escort
Philippines
USS Bang suffered a direct ASW mortar hit from a kaibokan east of Taiwan, but damage was light. Lancetfish was also damaged by depth charges near Batan Island.
With severe storms present, today's B-24 raid on Manila went without the P-38s assigned to escort, and without the Corsairs that hadn't really been assigned to be escorts but were often going anyway. The enemy CAP had balooned to 69 fighters, 42 of which were Georges (very good interceptors). We ended up losing 7 of the B-24s to the fighters, one more to flak, while shooting down just 2 Zeroes. 3 more B-24s succumbed to damage on the way home and 3 either crashed while landing or were scrapped afterwards, total loss of 14 bombers. Damage on the ground was light. The losses gave the enemy their first victory point gain on me for 16 turns.
other US raids:
Iloilo (airbase and ground forces): 93 casualties, 5 base hits
DEI
The amphibious task force that's been raising the flag along the coast of Papua-New Guinea arrived at the minor oil base of Babo, where it is encountering resistance, looks like 1 Naval Guard (marine) unit. I'll be looking for additional troops to bring in as it seems unlikely the small number of troops can do this on their own. Maybe some bombing support will be enough. At least 90 Allied casualties so far.
The amphibious task force for Koepang is 2/3 ready.
Allied raids:
Koepang (ground forces): 6 casualties
Kendari (ground forces): 36 casualties
China
-No enemy night raids today!
Allied raids:
near Taiyuan (ground forces): 70 casualties
near Chengchow (ground forces) 31 casualties
ground combat:
near Hankow, Allied deliberate attack, 10k vs 4k, casualties 412 (J) to 87 (A).
Burma and Thailand
Allied raids:
west road (ground forces): 160 casualties
Ayuthia (ground forces) 98 casualties
Reinforcements
APD Belknap arrives at Balboa
SS Pomfret arrives at Eastern USA
VMB-443 arrives at Eastern USA
33rd FG/60th FS arrives at Aden
Intel
Previous report of sinking of CV Kaga incorrect. Intelligence reports ship is still in service
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