1 January 1944
Kamikaze and torpedo bomber attacks hit British CVBG; HMS Battler sunk, Hermes and Royal Sovereign left burning hulks.
Philippines and surrounding seas
A B-24 raid on Peleliu destroyed a pair of Judies on the ground
26 Georges and 4 Tonies swept our landing site at Cotabo, opposed by 14 P-40s and 30 Hellcats. We splashed 10 Georges while losing 4 P-40s and 4 Hellcats.
DEI
Air raids:
Koepang (ground forces): 0 casualties
Kendari (ground forces and airbase): 9 base hits, 5 casualties
Andaman Sea and Burma
The first raid was an attempted strike by the British CVBG against the KB, but this was not a good matchup... 9 Swordfish escorted by 2 Seafires and 2 Wildcats up against a CAP of 49 fighters. 8 of the Swordfish were splashed along with 1 Wildcat and 1 enemy George. The one Swordfish that got through launched a torpedo at IJN Chuyo (CVE) and missed.
Up next was a flight of dive bombers headed out of Tavoy; 14 Vengeances escorted by 10 Hurricnes and 20 Spitfires, up against a CAP of 42 enemy fighters. All 14 bombers were shot down along with 1 Hurricane, 10 Zeroes, 2 Rufes, and an Irving. One bomber made it to the enemy ships before it was shot down, attacking IJN Kaiyo (CVE) and missing.
Then it was the enemy's turn to attack our ships. They put 76 Judies, 6 Jills, and 15 Kates with 37 Zero escorts up against a hodgepodge of sea-based and land-based fighters, totalling 65. Nearly outnumbering their fighters 2-to-1 was good enough to make the losses pitched, but not enough to keep the bombers off our ships. One P-47 was lost on our side, compared to 9 Zeroes, 17 Judies, 1 Jill, and 3 Kates. The Kates in particular were deadly... the only bomb hit was one on the cruiser Sussex, but Battler was hit by 3 torpedoes, causing onboard ammo to cook off and sinking her before the enemy planes had even left. Hermes also took a hit, while the battleship Royal Sovereign took 5.
In the afternoon, what was left of our land-based bombers squadrons tried again, getting 4 more Swordfish, 2 Vengeances, 2 Spitfires, and 3 Hurricanes shot down. They took 2 Georges, a Zero, and a Rufe with them.
The enemy's afternoon followup raids first targeting the retreating transports with 9 unescorted Kates. We failed to intercept them with any of our numerous fighters somehow. Fortunately they were flying at long range, or maybe just from a CVE that didn't carry torpedoes, because they just delivered bombs; 1 hit on an LST and 1 hit on an LSI(L). I also saw a message in the reports I've never seen before: "Banzai! - Takagi L. in a B5N2 Kate is willing to die for the Emperor" The enemy ended up losing 2 of these planes to flak and two more to fighters on the way out. I'm assuming one of the flak kills was this war's first attempted kamikaze attack.
12 more Kates attacked the CVBG, and they too evaded most of the fighters... just 2 shot down before they reached the ships. 2 more were brought down by flak. And another new message: "Chiyoshima A. gives his life for the Emperor by ramming CVL Hermes" Hermes also took 6 bomb hits, and like Battler, suffered an ammunition explosion.
Hermes and Royal Sovereign finished the day burning with little hope of survival. They're too big to get up the river delta to Rangoon, and the nearest available port isn't going to be able to put out those fires.
Other raids:
Pisanouke (ground forces): 29 casualties
China
Another ill-advised enemy shock attack at Sinyang. Casualties 4932 to 737 favoring us, forts holding at Level 2.
Reinforcements
VP-202 arrives at Eastern USA
No.20 Sqn RNZAF arrives at Auckland
3rd Eng Amph Bde arrives at San Francisco
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