6 April 1942
Decent performance by RAF resisting sweep at Cochin, Wenchow captured
Solomon Sea
I've begun several small operations to take over small bases that I've bypassed along the way to my major objectives. In New Britain, I'm landing troops at Gasmata, south of Rabaul. Apparently the enemy predicted this... the sub KVII was waiting for me and picked off a pair of landing barges with its deck gun before the PB nearby was able to respond. The troops had already disembarked.
Bay of Bengal
I-162 sank a fuel-laden cargo ship at Diego Garcia in a night surface attack.
Seeking payback for the loss of aircraft over the southern Indian coast, I swept Cochin with Oscars and a few leftover Zeroes. The enemy actually got the better of me with the initial arrivals... with 12 Oscars facing down 25 Hurricanes, I lost 5 while killing only 3. By the time all sorties had completed, the score was 7 Oscars lost to 10 Hurricanes killed.
On land, our tanks cleared out the former Trincomalee garrison from our right flank. They've retreated to the only base on that side, so our tanks are headed there next. Infantry & artillery still en route to Colombo as planned.
China
The reduction of the enemy forts at Sian appears to be paying off as my bombers are causing heavier casualties than before. The Oscars flying long-range CAP over Sian did better this turn too, splashing 1 of 6 Hudsons that came to bomb my troops. The remaining 5 were able to disable a single support squad with their strike.
The reinforcements I moved to the resting armies at Chusien proved sufficient to take Wenchow, in a renewed assault we took Wenchow with a single attack. It might have helped that Mary light bombers have been hitting this base every day since we pulled out. I'm going to chase the enemy army for a bit, then head west to link up with the forces that got stopped at Kukong. Those troops are already about to receive reinforcement thanks to two garrisons on the coast being relieved recently. There's a decent chance that, with the enemy putting so much into trying to defend Sian (IMO a bad place to make a stand anyway), the southern central area will be ripe for the taking, and I might even be in position to make a move on the high-value central bases including Changsha.
Wouldn't that be fun if he left himself vulnerable defending Sian, and then lost the battle for Sian too, resulting in a complete collapse? It looks like that's on the table.
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