29 December 1943
Lackluster OCA vs Bangkok
Invasion of Mindanao underway
Philippine Sea/Philippines
East of Legaspi, USS Harder hit a 7350-ton troop transport with a torpedo, severely damaging it and setting it on fire. USS Seadragon encounted the same ship limping back to base in the afternoon and put 2 more fish into it, sinking it.
An amphibious task force hit the beaches at Dadjangas, Mindanao. No resistance here. We also have a landing coming up at Cotabo on the west coast of Mindanao. The southern team will establish an airbase at Davao while the northern team moves on Cagayan, were the enemy is expected to try to hold out.
Burma
I attempted a major OCA against Bangkok with at least 3 fighter squadrons sweeping followed by 2 B-24 squadrons attacking the airbase. The sweeps resulted in 5 Georges, 10 Zeroes, and 6 Tonies shot down with just 2 Spitfires and 2 Hurricanes lost. Not bad--good enough to clear the skies in advance of the bombers. But I had been hoping for more from the bombers, thinking they'd catch a lot of enemy planes on the ground as they were rearming or repairing. We reportedly had 27 bomb hits on the base but just 1 Tony reported destroyed on the ground.
The enemy attempted an airborne assault on Tavoy but only ended up with 6 transport aircraft shot down and 286 paratroopers killed as soon as they landed.
China
Air raids:
Anking (ground forces): 25 casualties
DEI
Air raids:
Koepang (ground forces): 6 casualties
Kendari (airbase and ground forces): 0 hits, 0 casualties
Reinforcements
LSI(L) Empire Mace arrives at Aden
PF Orange arrives at Mare Island
VMSB-234 arrives at San Diego
9th PG/28th PRS arrives at Eastern USA
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