2 November 1942
Battle of Rangoon day 4 - Flak batteries set up at Pagu; enemy carriers approaching Luganville
Battle of Rangoon
Day 4 began with pre-dawn bombardments of Moulmein, first by two cruisers and then 2 battleships, the Heie and Hyuga. Yamato is holding onto its ammo for now.
The morning air raids began with Zeroes sweeping Rangoon. Or trying to anyway. Our CAP shot 7 of them down with no losses. This was a very high altitude battle--the Zero's usual maneuvering advantage was negated against the Hurricane because of this.
We swept Akyab, near the Indian border, shooting down 5 Oscars at the cost of 1 Hurricane. Bleinheim bombers based in India followed that up with an attack on the airbase, causing moderate facility damage.
Somewhat concerning, he swept Pisanuloke - right next to Raheng, with about 20 Oscars. Pisanuloke is too small to matter right now, but Raheng is overstacked and understaffed, if he's done playing with Tavoy those Sallies can hurt us. Speaking of which, the Salies hit Tavoy again today, not that it's doing anything.
The sweep of Pegu netted 3 Zeroes and an Oscar, with 1 Hurricane and 2 P-40s lost. Our bombing raid was 37 B-24s and 6 Wellingtons. The sweeps weren't as successful this time around and we had several bombers get damaged by fighters--and they shot down an Oscar in self-defense. The Wellingtons got to the landing ships, hitting a pair of AMCs and an LSD. The damage didn't appear too serious. Overall 229 enemy casualties were reported--and we confirmed the presence of the 38th Division, so that's 1 2/3rs divisions for sure. There was also a lot of heavy flak--enough to shoot down 2 B-24s. A third crashed on the way home and another was scrapped at base. I'll be increasing my attack altitude tomorrow to try to mitigate this a bit. It also looks like bombing effectiveness is down, which probably means forts are going up. He's already expanded the airbase from size 1 to size 2 so his engineers are clearly busy. I'll have some B-24s target the airbase to try to eat up the engineeers' time and supply.
Some of Bangkok's Sallies hit our Bangkok assault army that's currently trying to get back to Rangoon. Casualties were minimal but it is forcing my units out of "Move" mode and into "Combat" mode, slowing my pace.
At least on the logistical side, this operation looks very well planned. It's going to be difficult to hold this army off as my air raids become less effective and I suffer attrition. The supply situation could turn to his advantage if he can consistently land supplies at his beachhead--Port Blair is going to help with that.
China
The Oscars came back to try to support their doomed troops at Amoy, our Vanguards got into a furball with them with no losses on either side, 1 Oscar made it to the troops and was shot down by flak. Our land forces continued to press on the surrounded enemy (the 51st Division), inflicting 1140 casualties to 80. I really wish surrender was an option for these guys
At Foochow, I think I set a campaign record for most casualties in an airstrike (not including troops on sinking ships) with 313, courtesy of 15 Wellingtons and 14 B-24s.
Solomons Area
That task force I suspect is the KB is moving south. Right now I still only have 2 CVs being reported by the Catalinas. Just to be safe, I'm evacuating Noumea. I'm also moving in more aircraft to Efate and Noumea from our southern island chain. Lex and Sara are on the way but they're not close yet.
Refits
DD Nicholas taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
DD O'Bannon taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
DD Grayson beginning refit in shipyard at Pearl Harbor
DD Monssen beginning refit in shipyard at Los Angeles
DD Anderson taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
DD O'Brien taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
DD Craven taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
--This is nearly all of the eligible DDs this month, and I've got plenty to spare despite all these guys going in at once.
AO TAN 2 taken out of commission to begin refit at Townsville