30 October 1942
Enemy amphibious landing near Rangoon, CVBG strikes port & transport task forces
Burma and Bay of Bengal
Major enemy operation underway. The day started routinely enough with an Oscar sweep of Rangoon. We took down 5 of them without loss--but between planes being down for repairs, refueling, rearming, etc. they succeeded in getting my CAP out of the way for what was to follow.
They swept and raided Tavoy next, but we had no planes in the air for the Oscars to play with and we kept the airbase empty, so the 189-Sally raid didn't amount to much.
Then we had to deal with an airstrike from an enemy CVBG that we never saw coming. Thanks to the earlier sweeps (and the damage to Rangoon's service facilities that still hasn't been repaired) we had few Hurricanes on patrol to stop them. We got 2 Zeroes and a Kate, while losing a Hurricane.
The total raid size, including all waves, was 84 Zeroes, 75 Kates, and 65 Vals.
The damage done:
DD John D. Edwards, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAK Langkoeas, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires
CL Caradoc, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
xAK Empire Peregrine, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Jupiter, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Nora Moller, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
PG Indus, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
xAP Poelau Telo, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAK Elmdale, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
PG Hindustan, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAK Empire Grenfell, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAK Alphard, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
All of these ships had already unloaded their troops and were offloading supplies or standing by for the minefield to be cleared before they left. I have little hope of saving any of these ships, aside from a pair of destroyers and cargo ships that are healthy enough to make a run for it. Through the minefield.
Enemy troops then came ashore at Pegu, adjacent to Rangoon. At this time I can only confirm 2000 troops from a fragment of the 18th Division. If that's all it is, I think we're OK. But there's probably more coming.
The timing of this is interesting because of how fluid the balance of forces was right before this happened. We have successfully delivered a construction unit and a large base force to Rangoon--at the cost of the ships that delivered them--which should allow Rangoon to repair its airbase. But it's not repaired yet, hence the token resistance we put up today. So we may find ourselves in a damage/repair race against Bangkok's Sallies and the supporting heavy warships.
Between the number of fighters the carriers have and support from Bangkok's Oscars, we don't have much chance to strike back at the task forces. If they loiter, maybe we'll get lucky. The Vengenaces are based on Raheng and have 1 Hurricane squadron assigned to escort them. I have another Hurricane squadron and a P-40 squadron there too, assigned to sweep over Pegu. This way they potentially support the Vengenaces, but also other bomber sorties.
Defending Rangoon is the priority now. The landing bypassed the bulk of our regional forces that are south, threatening Bangkok. It also bypassed our defensive line at Moulmein. For now, I'm ordering our main force back to Rangoon, but they're weeks away. The enemy army is just a couple days away. So they may be needed to re-take Rangoon, if it comes to that. I'm pulling some of the reserves from Moulmein back towards Rangoon, but I need to be careful or I might just invite him to defeat them and the Rangoon garrison one at a time. I've also got part of one of the paratrooper units I was transporting to southern China still in Burma. I'll be reconsolidating that unit to try to make it available for this.
I need to get what I can out of Bangkok, but they don't really have anywhere to go. Few of the other airbases in Burma are large enough to support offensive missions, and the ones we have are rather far away. For now, Rangoon's B-25s are going to stay where they are and attack the landing area. The CAP will stand their ground as good as they can.
Further west ("up" on the map) are the 3 B-24 squadrons I've been prepping for a raid on Port Blair. They are in range of the landing area, so the enemy troops are in for a rude greeting. We have 2 B-25 squadrons there too but I'm unable to find someplace in range to put them other than Rangoon itself. Finally, a partial-strength Wellington squadron is available, and I do have a base near the border that puts them in range. So, our counterattack will hopefully amount to 40-50 heavy and medium bombers, 20 dive bombers, and at 30 or so fighters trying to clear out any enemy fighters that might oppose those raids, plus however many fighters Rangoon can get serviced and in the air in time.
I'm not sure who wins this. He might just be able to land enough trooops to outright take Rangoon in a few days. If he can't, though, he just landed behind my lines and is going to have a very hard time supplying these troops.
Solomons area
We finally got a minesweeper back at Luganville. Hopefully the job doesn't take too long, it's still pretty hot here.
CENTPAC
We've taken Laysan Island (near Midway). No resistance, but we are being monitored by scoutplanes.
I'm reorganizing my US fleet at Pearl. Lex and Sara are getting a new battlegroup, including the fast battleship Washington and a dozen Porter and Bristol class destroyers that are absolutely bristling with AA guns. They're retaining the 2 CLAAs and CA they already had.
Wasp is putting in for her upgrade. When she's done, she'll have a fast battleship ready for her, along with with the cruisers she already had, and her destroyer screen will include Fletchers.
I'm splitting my replenishment group in half, each will be 3 AO, 1 AE, and 3 DD. Been wanting to do this for awhile but I was rotating the AOs through upgrades 2 at a time. That's finished now. It would have really sucked to lose these all at once, now that's mitigated.
China
The losses and damage to the Chinese P-40 unit rendered it unready for combat today. The P-66 Vanguard made its combat debut in its place as I assigned a training squadron to Amoy and filled it with freshly-certified qualified pilots. They lost one plane and didn't get any kills, but they kept the Oscars away from the bombers at Amoy and flew an uneventful CAP over Foochow (where my bombers are needed to hold off the stronger enemy army).
I now have both enemy armies along the coast surrounded.
Refits and Reinforcements
CV Wasp beginning refit in shipyard at Pearl Harbor
SS S-32 begins refit while under repair at Brisbane
AM Dash arrives at Portland
28th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment arrives at Delhi