24 August 1942
Aerial blockade of Rangoon announced with sinking of retiring transport group
Thailand
The heavy bombardment task force hit Tavoy again, but with only a small amount of ammo left over from yesterday, it was ineffective. The air war started to tip more in their favor, as enemy fighters got a Hurricane and 4 Blenheims in the Tavoy area; we had no victories.
I had ordered our Bangkok main force to attack the enemy that had sallied out to greet them in the mountains because more forces were observed coming out of Bangkok to reinforce them. This may have been a bad call, with the terrain and better leaders on their side, the battle favored the enemy. Casualties were 1900 to 1300 favoring us, but we had far more squads actually destroyed. If we can't defeat this force now, we can be pretty sure we can't beat it when their reinforcements get here, especially with the air campaign tipping their way.
In the Bay, a task force of three transports and a corvette that was headed back west after delivering reinforcements to Rangoon was attacked by Betties. A few Hurricanes from Rangoon attempted to defend it, but couldn't get past the 15 Zeroes escorting the bombers. All three transports were sunk, while the corvette managed to avoid the torpedoes. But, it's survival was only temporary, a follow-up raid took it out later.
A second transport convoy--this one just arriving--was attacked, but the bombers missed. Phew!
I have a convoy transporting anti-tank guns set to arrive in a few days, I'm going to have them drop off their cargo in India, reload them for an amphibious landing, and figure out someplace I can land them safely near a road that leads to Rangoon. After that, I might be done sending reinforcements there, further British troops will probably end up in Colombo or India.
Reinforcements and Refits
USS Nevada has completed an AA upgrade
DD Caldwell beginning refit in shipyard at Los Angeles
DD Frazier beginning refit in shipyard at San Francisco (yes, right after it arrived, it arrived at the end of August without its August upgrade already done, argh!)
SS Sailfish begins refit while under repair at Dutch Harbor
VS-8 arrives at San Francisco (Hornet's old squadron, will be on training duty for the foreseeable future)
90th BG/400th BS arrives at Eastern USA (Liberators - headed for China)
178th USAAF Base Force arrives at March Field
4th RAAF M/W Sqn arrives at Sydney
177 Wing arrives at Aden
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