25 January 1942
Cautious optimism for Port Moresby, concern about greater logistic picture in SouthPAC
CENTPAC
Yes, that new task force was an ARG for Palmyra. Palmyra is now theirs. Christmas Island will be taken far more easily with the KB around to make sure I don't intercept their transports.
He sent 4 short-range minesweepers into Pearl, and all 4 were shot up, but not before clearing about 90 mines. The minefield has been whittled down to the point it might not be effective when the time comes. Apparently concerned about Honolulu's industry being able to sustain supplies for my troops, he has begun bombing the city.
China
The AVG finally managed to shoot down a pair of elusive Tojos over Ichang. They only had 2 on CAP there, so that probably means that the squadron is combat ineffective now. I think these are our only confirmed kills, but we've been damaging a bunch of them, this was probably all that was left that was airworthy. I think my extra troops should arrive in Ichang tomorrow, triggering a shock attack as they cross the river. I'm expecting relatively light resistance as it really does appear they've evacuated a lot.
Malaya
Their attention is starting to turn back to Singapore. The slight lull allowed me to repair some planes and get a decent CAP up for a decently-sized air battle as we both tried to bomb each other. We lost 2 Hurricanes, a Buffalo, and 2 Wirraways; we shot down 2 Zeroes, 2 Nells, and 3 Sallies. One of our aces went down with a Hurricane. I'm starting to transfer some of the better pilots out--this losing campaign has enough dead heroes.
Burma
Nothing actually happened here, but I realized two mistakes I made affecting my plans. First, when planning Operation Kinky Boots, I forgot to take drop tanks into account when deciding whether to fly Hurricanes in or ship them in. So, instead of shipping them to Rangoon, I'm going to ship them to western India, send them by rail to eastern India, and then fly them the rest of the way. I'm sure that will be quicker, but I don't know by how much. I also completely forgot about some base forces I had sent by rail to Calcutta, which means a base force I was sending here from Aden isn't needed--so it gets to go to Sumatra instead, which desperately needs it.
Dutch East Indies
My bombing of Celebes is now focusing on enemy armies chasing my retreating garrison forces. The task force off the Borneo coast didn't attack, it's just sitting there. I'm not sure what it's waiting for. My best guess is that it's a covering force that just got there way ahead of the transports. There is another task force near Jolo that we haven't identified, so that may be related. Force Y was detected moving to Balikpapan so I'm not going to get to surprise anyone with it. I'm not inclined to challenge the covering force because I don't see any strategic benefit to it at the moment. This feels like a calm before a storm--there still aren't a whole lot of enemy ships here, possibly because he's preparing a surge.
Coral Sea
The Japanese army attempted another shock attack at Port Moresby, but again our troops held, and it wasn't nearly as close this time. Looks like the enemy finally peaked, which is really good news for us. The first reinforcements are arriving and didn't even hit any mines. I should be able to back that up with a USMC regiment in another 2 days or so. The problem I'm facing now, though, is I've been putting off refueling my CVBG to keep them bombing the enemy. It outpaced a replenishment group that had been following it here, and the Aussies only have one AO available locally and it's slow. The next best solution is to transfer fuel from merchant ships, but that's asking for trouble with at least 2 enemy subs lurking. I'm not sure heading to port is any better, I might have a ship run out of gas on the way and the ports appear to be where the subs were headed.
SouthPAC
I've managed to run Sydney out of fuel by transferring so much to my island base chain, and even those bases are barely managing to feed my thirsty convoys. With Palmyra and probably Christmas Island falling into enemy hands, my supply route keeps getting longer and more fuel-consuming. I'm getting very concerned that these long supply routes might not be sustainable. I'm going to try to route some middle-eastern fuel to western australia, but it's going to be awhile before that makes a difference. And if Singapore falls, I would expect it to become an enemy submarine base, with convoys to Australia being target #1.
