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Old 03-05-23, 12:18 PM   #766
Molon Labe
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26 December 1943

DEI
New Mexico and Arizona completed another lap of shelling Koepang and rearming; 9 casualties reported this time. Part of the reason I'm doing this is to make it appear that Koepang is my next target after Ambon, but I'm actually pretty satisfied with how little resistance there was to building my airbase right next to Makassar, so Makassar's where I'm going next. Should catch him by surprise with that. Makassar will bring Surabaya within non-extended range of Corsairs and within extended range (500-lb bomb instead of 1000-lb) for SBDs and SB2Cs. Although at this point I think the B-24 raids on Surabaya have deterred the enemy from using the port any further.

Air raids:
Koepang (ground forces): 19 casualties
Babo (ground forces) 17 casualties (the raid caused by an enemy unit getting wiped out, probably at Ambon, so the AI chose this squadron's next target. This is a minor oil-generating port so far behind my lines there's no need to bomb it or even retake it)


China
Air raids:
Anking (ground forces): 19 casualties

ground combat:
near Anking: Enemy reinforcements had already arrived, I'm outnumbered 19,261 to 27,900. Our deliberate attack resulted 176 to 908 casualties favoring the enemy. Time to pull back.

I am noticing that the enemy has moved a lot of troops to Sinyang, and my flanking force further north hasn't been needed to block enemy troops for awhile... I'd much rather fight the enemy at my base in Sinyang than trying to kill them in a well-defended bastion.


Burma and Thailand
Air raids:
Pisanuloke (ground forces): 131 casualties
Rahaeng (ground forces) 21 casualties

B-24s that had been assigned to bomb Port Blair were assigned by the AI to hit Bangkok since I didn't manually give them new orders. The raid of 7 planes ran into 81 enemy fighters on CAP. None of them made it home. We got 1 Tony and 2 Georges.


Reinforcements
DD Healy arrives at Eastern USA
DD Petard arrives at Aden
SS Gabilan arrives at Balboa
VB-136 arrives at Oak Harbor
443rd TCG/315th TCS arrives at Ledo
Merrills Marauders Regiment arrives at Aden
38th Infantry Division arrives at Eastern USA
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Old 03-05-23, 10:04 PM   #767
Molon Labe
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27 December 1943
P-38s massacre Nicks on CAP in the Palaus

Burma
Air raids:
Pisanuloke (sweep): 19 P-40K vs 15 Georges; each side lost 5 planes
Pisanuloke (ground forces): 15 B-25s attacked after the sweep; there were still 5 Georges left on CAP, which shot down 3 B-25s. 116 enemy casualties on the ground.
Rahaeng (ground forces): 9 casualties


China
Air raids:
Anking (ground forces): 34 casualties


DEI
Air raids:
Koepang (ground forces): 0 casualties
Kendari (airbase): 6 hits


Philippine Sea
24 P-38s swept the Palau islands, shooting down 18 of 26 Nick fighter-bombers on CAP there. One P-38 was lost on the way home due to damage sustained in the fight.


Pearl and West Coast
Princeton and Yorktown have arrived at Pearl for repairs; Princeton will be ready in a couple weeks but Yorktown's repair estimate is about 75 days. I'm sending it to San Francisco to take advantage of the bigger shipyards.


Reinforcements
ARD AFDB-3 arrives at Seattle
708th Amphib Tank Battalion arrives at San Francisco
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Old 03-06-23, 06:17 PM   #768
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28 December 1943

Burma
Air raids:
Pisanuloke (sweep): 22 P-51 vs 18 Georges; we got spanked, losses were 10 to 4 favoring the enemy.
Pisanuloke (ground forces): 168 casualties. George fighters attempted to intercept but failed.
Rahaeng (ground forces): 64 casualties


China
Air raids:
Anking (ground forces): 99 casualties; 1 B-24 lost to flak


DEI
Air raids:
Kendari (airbase and ground forces): 2 hits, 0 casualties


After the success of yesterday's sweep at Palau, I followed that up with a B-24 raid today, which hit a general tender and likely sank a destroyer tender.


Reinforcements
426th NFS arrives at Fresno
443rd TCG/27th TCS arrives at Aden
51st Marine Defense Battalion arrives at Eastern USA
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Old 03-07-23, 01:55 PM   #769
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29 December 1943
Lackluster OCA vs Bangkok
Invasion of Mindanao underway


Philippine Sea/Philippines
East of Legaspi, USS Harder hit a 7350-ton troop transport with a torpedo, severely damaging it and setting it on fire. USS Seadragon encounted the same ship limping back to base in the afternoon and put 2 more fish into it, sinking it.

An amphibious task force hit the beaches at Dadjangas, Mindanao. No resistance here. We also have a landing coming up at Cotabo on the west coast of Mindanao. The southern team will establish an airbase at Davao while the northern team moves on Cagayan, were the enemy is expected to try to hold out.


Burma
I attempted a major OCA against Bangkok with at least 3 fighter squadrons sweeping followed by 2 B-24 squadrons attacking the airbase. The sweeps resulted in 5 Georges, 10 Zeroes, and 6 Tonies shot down with just 2 Spitfires and 2 Hurricanes lost. Not bad--good enough to clear the skies in advance of the bombers. But I had been hoping for more from the bombers, thinking they'd catch a lot of enemy planes on the ground as they were rearming or repairing. We reportedly had 27 bomb hits on the base but just 1 Tony reported destroyed on the ground.

The enemy attempted an airborne assault on Tavoy but only ended up with 6 transport aircraft shot down and 286 paratroopers killed as soon as they landed.


China
Air raids:
Anking (ground forces): 25 casualties


DEI
Air raids:
Koepang (ground forces): 6 casualties
Kendari (airbase and ground forces): 0 hits, 0 casualties


Reinforcements
LSI(L) Empire Mace arrives at Aden
PF Orange arrives at Mare Island
VMSB-234 arrives at San Diego
9th PG/28th PRS arrives at Eastern USA
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Old 03-07-23, 03:46 PM   #770
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30 December 1943
HMS Trusty lost to enemy bombers


China
12 Zeroes intercepted our daily raids on the forces outside Anking. Our raid was 11 Chinese B-25s and 10 British Wellingtons escorted by 5 P-66 Vanguards and 6 P-40Ks. Our escorts shot down 2 Zeroes while losing one P-40 and P-66 each. The bombers reached the target ground forces and caused 10 reported casualties. A second raid of 5 B-24s was intercepted by a pair of Zeroes but fought them off; 30 more enemy casualties reported in that raid.

I attempted a ground attack on enemy forces (1/3 division strength) outside Wuchang. Casualties 316 to 670 favoring the enemy. I'm going to try to bring in more troops from the Shanghai area.


Philippines
17 B-24s hit Cotabo in advance of the landings. 132 casualties reported.
4 Avengers took off from a CVE escorting the Cotabo landing force to strike an enemy ASW group off Iloilo in the central Philippines. 4 Nicks and 4 Tonies went against 9 Hellcats escorting the Avengers, shooting down 1 Tony and keeping them all off the bombers. One Avenger scored a torpedo hit on a kaibokan, sinking it.

East of Leyte, 10 B-25Gs attacked a convoy of cargo ships and transports:
xAK Kasuga Maru #2, Bomb hits 1
xAP Baikal Maru, Shell hits 2
xAK Hakonesan Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Lima Maru, Bomb hits 1
xAK Maebasi Maru, Shell hits 2
xAK Monji Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAK Hakubasan Maru, Shell hits 1
xAK Syoka Maru
xAP Palau Maru

Not great results there. 14 Beaufighters followed that up and did a bit better:
xAP Palau Maru, Bomb hits 1
xAP Baikal Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Tokuhei Maru, Shell hits 3, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
xAK Tarayasu Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires

The landings in Cotabo then began. Resistance is light.

A Dauntless and an Avenger both reported hits on a transport submarine in the Celebes Sea.




DEI
Air raids:
Koepang (ground forces): 19 casualties
Kendari (airbase and ground forces): 6 hits, 0 casualties


Burma
Air raids:
Pisanuloke (ground forces): 10 casualties


Andaman Sea
With no need to patrol Port Blair, British subs have been moving south towards the Strait of Malacca. Enemy ASW air patrols are quite heavy there, as we learned HMS Trusty and HMS Stonehenge both suffered hits from bombers. In Trusty's case, the damage was lethal.

Trusty was credited with a kill on a 4875-ton cargo ship and a 5935-ton cargo ship that was carrying troops at the time it was sunk. It might have been the most successful British sub up until this point.


Reinforcements
CVE Fanshaw Bay arrives at Portland
DD Penn arrives at Aden
12th RAAF M/W Sqn arrives at Sydney
3rd TAF Base Force arrives at Madras
14th Army Engineer Battalion arrives at Madras
28th (East African) Brigade arrives at Mombasa
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Old 03-07-23, 07:28 PM   #771
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31 December 1943
KB appears in Andaman Sea, attacks troop transport convoy between Port Blair and Rangoon

DEI
New Mexico and Arizona completed another run at Koepang, 392 casualties this time.


Air Raids:
Koepang (ground forces): 18 casualties
Kendari (airbase and ground forces): 4 hits, 0 casualties


Philippines and surrounding seas

The O19 torpedoed a 6475-ton cargo ship off Leyte. Just in case the damage wasn't fatal, USS Burrfish came along and put 2 more into her.


B-24s attacked the Palaus, destroying at least 2 Judies on the ground.


B-25Gs attacked Iolio, sinking a PB there.


7 Georges and 3 Tonies attempted to establish a CAP over Cotabo, but the Yankee Butai was nearby and was able to contribute 42 Hellcats to a B-24 raid that was already escorted by 17 USMC Corsairs. 4 Georges and 1 Tony were shot down without Allied losses.


Cotabo has been captured with nominal Allied troop losses. A naval guard unit was displaced and is retreating towards Cagayan. There's a small airbase here ready to go, I'm moving in two fighter squadrons and one dive bomber squadron.



Burma and Andaman Sea
Scoutplanes detected an enemy task force south of Port Blair. I was immediately worried these were carriers as anything else would have trouble surviving here now. I'm in the process of moving infantry off Port Blair and replacing them with base forces. The British CVBG is providing cover for the operation to protect them from bombers from Bangkok, but they're no match for the KB. Also, I have to wonder if the reason 2 subs got bombed yesterday was because these carriers were there rather than land-based ASW patrols.



The enemy kicked off an attack with Georges sweeping Port Blair--a good idea, but the infantry-carrying task force that was being escorted by my carriers had already left for Rangoon.


Meanwhile we ourselves swept Bangkok, with 18 P-51s going up against 19 Tonies; resulting in 2 P-51s downed and one Tony.


Bangkok was then able to locate and strike at the transport convoy headed for Rangoon, sending 11 Betties escorted by 27 Zeroes. The carriers Hermes and Battler put up a total of 11 Hurricanes and 2 Seafires. They got 8 Zeroes without losses, but never reached the Betties. And the Betties did remarkably well, getting 4 hits on an APA and 2 on an LST with just 11 torpedoes launched. Both ships sank, with 1718 troop casualties reported.


The KB then located a smaller transport convoy moving base forces to Port Blair. It was hit with a raid of 79 Judies, 6 Jills, and 11 Kates... this convoy had no air cover, and was wiped out.

xAK Testbank, Bomb hits 8, and is sunk
xAP Doumer, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
DE Godavari, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
xAK Bhima, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk
DE Narbada, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
xAP Malda, Bomb hits 8, and is sunk
227 (troop) casualties reported.


A pair of Helens tried to attack the first convoy again but were easily splashed.


All remaining ships are hauling ass to Rangoon to get the most possible benefit of land-based air cover.



China
Air raids:
Anking (ground forces): 96 casualties, 1 B-25 lost to flak


land combat:
Enemy shock attack at Sinyang, 50k of their troops against 32k of ours. Casualties 6295 to 1290 favoring us, forts reduced to Level 2. So the enemy pretty much wiped out their gains from sinking our transports and then some.
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Old 03-08-23, 12:17 AM   #772
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1943 is in the books, and 1944 should bring you masses of material. What's the overall strategic situation and outlook?
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Old 03-08-23, 06:37 PM   #773
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ostfriese View Post
1943 is in the books, and 1944 should bring you masses of material. What's the overall strategic situation and outlook?

Taking the Philippines from him is going to be a knife at his throat in terms of supplies and oil. It's already been hazardous to get tankers through for a long time and he's lost a lot of tankers trying.


The KB is becoming strategically irrelevant, and it's appearance in the Andaman Sea really highlights that. Port Blair is done for and whether we press on to Bangkok isn't all that important if the Philippines fall. The Philippines are strategically vital, but the KB isn't there...because my opponent doesn't think they're strong enough to make a difference.


After the Philippines, I'll gradually roll through Java and Sumatra but there won't be any rush because no traffic will be getting through from there to Japan. So I'll make a second attempt on the Marianas and push on to the Chinese Pacific coast to bring the home islands under heavy bomber threat.
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Old 03-08-23, 11:53 PM   #774
Molon Labe
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1 January 1944
Kamikaze and torpedo bomber attacks hit British CVBG; HMS Battler sunk, Hermes and Royal Sovereign left burning hulks.

Philippines and surrounding seas
A B-24 raid on Peleliu destroyed a pair of Judies on the ground

26 Georges and 4 Tonies swept our landing site at Cotabo, opposed by 14 P-40s and 30 Hellcats. We splashed 10 Georges while losing 4 P-40s and 4 Hellcats.


DEI
Air raids:
Koepang (ground forces): 0 casualties
Kendari (ground forces and airbase): 9 base hits, 5 casualties


Andaman Sea and Burma
The first raid was an attempted strike by the British CVBG against the KB, but this was not a good matchup... 9 Swordfish escorted by 2 Seafires and 2 Wildcats up against a CAP of 49 fighters. 8 of the Swordfish were splashed along with 1 Wildcat and 1 enemy George. The one Swordfish that got through launched a torpedo at IJN Chuyo (CVE) and missed.

Up next was a flight of dive bombers headed out of Tavoy; 14 Vengeances escorted by 10 Hurricnes and 20 Spitfires, up against a CAP of 42 enemy fighters. All 14 bombers were shot down along with 1 Hurricane, 10 Zeroes, 2 Rufes, and an Irving. One bomber made it to the enemy ships before it was shot down, attacking IJN Kaiyo (CVE) and missing.

Then it was the enemy's turn to attack our ships. They put 76 Judies, 6 Jills, and 15 Kates with 37 Zero escorts up against a hodgepodge of sea-based and land-based fighters, totalling 65. Nearly outnumbering their fighters 2-to-1 was good enough to make the losses pitched, but not enough to keep the bombers off our ships. One P-47 was lost on our side, compared to 9 Zeroes, 17 Judies, 1 Jill, and 3 Kates. The Kates in particular were deadly... the only bomb hit was one on the cruiser Sussex, but Battler was hit by 3 torpedoes, causing onboard ammo to cook off and sinking her before the enemy planes had even left. Hermes also took a hit, while the battleship Royal Sovereign took 5.

In the afternoon, what was left of our land-based bombers squadrons tried again, getting 4 more Swordfish, 2 Vengeances, 2 Spitfires, and 3 Hurricanes shot down. They took 2 Georges, a Zero, and a Rufe with them.

The enemy's afternoon followup raids first targeting the retreating transports with 9 unescorted Kates. We failed to intercept them with any of our numerous fighters somehow. Fortunately they were flying at long range, or maybe just from a CVE that didn't carry torpedoes, because they just delivered bombs; 1 hit on an LST and 1 hit on an LSI(L). I also saw a message in the reports I've never seen before: "Banzai! - Takagi L. in a B5N2 Kate is willing to die for the Emperor" The enemy ended up losing 2 of these planes to flak and two more to fighters on the way out. I'm assuming one of the flak kills was this war's first attempted kamikaze attack.

12 more Kates attacked the CVBG, and they too evaded most of the fighters... just 2 shot down before they reached the ships. 2 more were brought down by flak. And another new message: "Chiyoshima A. gives his life for the Emperor by ramming CVL Hermes" Hermes also took 6 bomb hits, and like Battler, suffered an ammunition explosion.

Hermes and Royal Sovereign finished the day burning with little hope of survival. They're too big to get up the river delta to Rangoon, and the nearest available port isn't going to be able to put out those fires.

Other raids:
Pisanouke (ground forces): 29 casualties


China
Another ill-advised enemy shock attack at Sinyang. Casualties 4932 to 737 favoring us, forts holding at Level 2.


Reinforcements
VP-202 arrives at Eastern USA
No.20 Sqn RNZAF arrives at Auckland
3rd Eng Amph Bde arrives at San Francisco
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Old 03-09-23, 12:24 AM   #775
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2 January 1944
USS Skipjack lost in attack on enemy convoy; HMS Hermes succumbs to yesterday's attack to become first ship sunk by a kamikaze

Philippines and surrounding seas
USS Skipjack successfully engaged a convoy west of Luzon, striking a 4875-ton cargo ship and likely sinking it. Afterwards it was prosecuted by a pair of PBs and a kaibokan. The kaibokan had deep reaching depth charges and of course she was the one that found the Skipjack, and proceeded to hit our boat with at least 3 solid pattern hits along with several damaging near misses. Skipjack was forced to surface and was summarily gunned down.

Skipjack recorded a kill on a mine tender (830 tons) in addition to the suspected kill in the attack she was lost in.

B-24s hit the main enemy base on Mindanao, Cagayan, causing 91 casualties.

Our advancing troops caught up with the retreating forces and dealt them another 248 casualties as they ran towards Cagayan.



Andaman Sea and Burma
Hermes went down overnight.

The enemy opened the day's festivities with 23 Georges from Bangkok sweeping Rangoon. We mustered 36 fighters to oppose them; losses were 10 Georges and 1 P-51. Not bad at all. And proof the altitude isn't everything... the George was the highest flying fighter in the fight.

That was followed up by 11 Betties escorted by 15 Zeroes attacking the transport convoy. They lost 3 Zeroes and 10 of the Betties. The surviving Betty launched a torpedo at a cargo ship but missed.

Next was a single Judy with 8 Zeroes escorting; the Judy was splashed. Then three Zeroes with 1 Jill; we got all 4 of them. And yet another raid of 1 Kate and 4 Zeroes, the Kate was shot down with 1 of the Zeroes. And finally, a less-piecemeal raid of 7 Frances torpedo bombers escorted by 4 Zeroes and 7 Georges. We got 2 of the Frances; the rest attacked minesweepers near Rangoon and missed.

3 B-25Gs then attacked the KB... that went exactly how you'd expect.

Other raids:
Pisanouke (ground forces): 43 casualties




China
Air Raids:
Sinyang (ground forces): 10 casualties


DEI
Air raids:
Koepang (ground forces): 9 casualties
Kendari (ground forces and airbase): 5 base hits, 4 casualties
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Old 03-09-23, 09:27 AM   #776
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3 January 1944
HMS Royal Sovereign sinks, KB fights off land based air attacks

Strait of Malacca
I'm pulling a rather risky move with my subs. The KB has to come back to the Pacific at some time, right? And I've avoided shallow water so far, like the Strait and the area around Singapore. So, if I tried to use subs to blockade the Strait, he might not see it coming.

I have 3 British subs already there or at the doorstep and a bunch of US subs relocating there from the Borneo coast. One of those subs, HMS Tally Ho, was spotted near Singapore and depth charged for moderate damage. At the northwest end of the Strait, HMS Clyde was spotted by a replenishment group and depth charged for minor damage. So... not bad, but 2 sightings may be enough of a pattern that he'll start to sanitize the area.


DEI
I switched New Mexico and Arizona's target to Kendari for this run. 167 casualties and an Irving destroyed on the ground.

Air raids:
Koepang (ground forces): 0 casualties
Kendari (airbase and ground forces): 1 hit, 0 casualties

We captured Bima (west of Timor) with an airborne assault, no resistance.


Andaman Sea and Burma
A frustrating day for us as many attack aircraft raided the KB but many fighter squadrons assigned to escort duty took the day off. First was 10 Beaufort torpedo bombers and 11 Avengers flying out of Rangoon with just 12 Hurricanes on escort. The KB's CAP was 61 fighters, and we got slaughtered. 5 Hurricanes, 10 Avengers, and 4 Beauforts shot down. Amazingly we did get 6 Beauforts and 1 Avenger to the task force, attacking the CVE Shinyo and CV Zuikaku... but the enemy dodged all the torpedoes.

That was followed up by 16 Beaufighters with 14 P-51s flying out of Pegu. The enemy CAP was down to 48 thanks to the earlier raid, but still enough to deal with us. We shot down only 1 Zero, while 5 P-51s and 11 Beaufighters bit it. Another Beaufighter was lost to flak. 3 Beaufighters managed to make attack runs on the CVE Chuyo and BB Kongo but missed.

Next up was an entire squadron of 16 Vengeance dive bombers with no escort. They suffered 11 losses; the surviving aircraft withdrew. A second squadron with 14 aircraft came in next, also with no escort. They also lost 11 aircraft, but managed to attack with three. One of those was shot down by flak. They attacked CVE Kaiyo and CV Hiyo... and missed. These two attacks would likely have been devastating if they had fighter escorts!

The enemy raids were next, oddly targeting ASW patrols near Rangoon instead of the limping Royal Sovereign. 34 Zeroes escorted 3 Kates and 6 Judies while we put up a CAP of 12 Hurricanes, 7 P-40s, and 6 P-47s. We splashed 12 Zeroes with no losses, but the bombers got through and sank a minesweeper. Pappy Boyington (who I tried to retire from the Army and move to the Marines to command VMF-214) finally got his 5th kill in this fight.

We had some piecemeal raids after that, costing us 2 Hurricanes, 4 Vengeances, and 3 Beauforts with nothing to show for it. The KB made a followup raid on Rangoon with 18 Kates and 20 Zeroes; we got 10 Zeroes and 3 Kates without loss, but lost another minesweeper and our airbase took a pair of bomb hits.

Other air raids:
Pisanuloke (ground forces) 72 casualties


China
Air raids:
Sinyang (ground forces): 27 casualties


Philippines
Air raids:
Cagayan (ground forces): 188 casualties

In the Strait of Luzon, Beaufighters attacked a tanker convoy, but did so with just 2 aircraft. "Due to range or weather" the full flight of 12 failed to find the target, so they apparently split up and these 2 got lucky. We managed to get 2 bomb hits on a large tanker, setting it on fire. It did not appear to be oil/fuel cargo burning, so this is an outbound convoy.


Reinforcements
BB Iowa arrives at Eastern USA
SS Guitarro arrives at Balboa
265th Coastal Artillery Regiment arrives at Pearl Harbor
Seventh USAAF Engineer Aviation Battalion arrives at San Francisco
5th USMC Tank Battalion arrives at San Diego
31st Indian Mountain Gun Regiment arrives at Karachi
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Old 03-10-23, 12:38 PM   #777
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4 January 1944
CVE Kaiyo damaged as enemy CVBG's air cover degraded


DEI
An enemy submarine fired 6 torpedoes at USS Barnes, a CVE in an amphibious task force headed back to Darwin from Mindanao. All 6 torpedoes missed, and 3 destroyers then took turns depth charging the sub.. one of them to the point it ran out of depth charges. The sub took heavy damage but survived.

Another enemy sub found one of my minesweepers tranferring bases near Ambon and hit it with a torpedo for a kill.

Air raids:
Kendari (ground forces and airbase): 3 hits, 0 casualties
Koepang (ground forces): 15 casualties


Burma and Andaman Sea
The destroyer HMS Rotheram got caught between Rangoon and an enemy bombardment task force in the river deltas. She eventually slipped out (a storm was hampering visibility), but not before taking several shell hits, leaving her badly damaged. She managed to hit the Mogami twice in the exchanges. The bombardment task force eventually made it to Rangoon where it hit an LST in port, caused 94 casualties, and caused light airbase damage.

We raided Mergui (coastal base south of Tavoy) as it appeared enemy ships might have been docking there to reinforce/evacuate enemy troops. We didn't find any transports there, but the enemy CVBG (I'm not sure it's actually the KB anymore due to how many new CVEs are in it) was nearby trying to get extra air cover from Bangkok. So we ended up with 30 B-24s against 46 Zeroes and 2 Rufes. Zeroes suck against heavy bombers... We lost 2 B-24s but the enemy lost 6 Zeroes and both Rufes. The bombers hit nothing of value on the ground. But it did weaken the CAP significantly for raids to come.

6 Beauforts attacked the task force unescorted, and the enemy mustered only 3 Zeroes to intercept, and none of them made it down in time. They attacked the Kongo, losing one to flak before they fired their torpedoes, and the Kongo was then able to evade the 5 torps fired at it.

Finally the enemy's good fortune ran out, a little. 21 Vengeances attacked escorted by 18 Spitfires. The enemy intercepted with just 25 Zeroes. The Spitfires seemed nearly invincible, shooting down 6 Zeroes while only losing 1, but they failed to keep the Zeroes off the dive bombers, resulting in a loss of 12. 9 of the bombers made attack attempts, split between theh CVEs Kaiyo, Chuyo, and Shinyo. Kaiyo was hit twice and Shinyo once (and that one bomb was just a little 250-pounder). Both ships were set on fire, Kaiyo rather badly. One additional bomber was shot down by flak.

At the end of the day, our ground forces had captured Mergui, the only enemy forces there being a fragment of a paratrooper unit.

Other raids:
Pisanoulke (ground forces): 47 casualties



Japan Home Waters
USS Redfin torpedoed and sank a PB near Iwo Jima.
USS Blackfish and USS Dragonet both attacked a cargo ship convoy near Torishima, but both missed. And both took light damage from a kaibokan afterwards.


China
Air raids:
Sinyang (ground forces) 28 casualties


Philippines
Air raids:
Cagayan (ground forces) 229 casualties


Reinforcements
DE Reynolds arrives at Seattle
VMF-322 arrives at Eastern USA
VP-61 arrives at Oak Harbor
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Old 03-10-23, 02:27 PM   #778
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5 January 1944
Enemy air strike targeting amphibious task force at Cotabo wiped out

Japanese Home Waters
USS Blackfish torpedoed and sank a Lima class cargo ship (6475 tons) near Torishima.


Strait of Malacca and Singapore area
USS Salmon, patrolling slightly east of Singapore, attempted to attack a large cargo ship convoy but missed. We got lucky and got away from the destroyers afterwards--this is a shallow water area and we have nowhere to hide from the depth charges.

We now have 3 British subs in the Strait itself plus at least a half dozen US boats waiting on the east side. Yesterday's semi-successful airstrike off Mergui probably means the enemy CVBG will be coming through here in another day or two.


Burma and Thailand
I ordered a sweep of Bangkok; 15 P-47s vs 13 Irvings, 34 Georges, and 16 Tonies. Shot down 8 Georges, 2 Irvings, 1 Tony, with a loss of just 2 P-47s.

other raids:
Pisanuloke (ground forces) 64 casualties



Philippines
Our B-24 raids on Cagayan caused 375 enemy casualties.

The enemy sent a raid of 28 Betties escorted by 19 Zeroes to Cotabo, where an amphibious task force is delivering engineers needed to build up Cagayan into a suitable heavy bomber base. We had 57 Hellcats and 8 P-40N5s on patrol. Presumably they're from Manila/Clark. The Betties were completely wiped out along with 17 of the Zeroes, with only 1 P-40 shot down. Of the Betties, 4 did make it to our ships. One of those was shot down by flak before it could attack, the remaining 3 made attacks on the CVE Santee and CL Adelaide (missing), then got splashed by fighters before they could get away.

At Cagayan, we attacked the weak enemy forces there with a tank battalion and an artillery battalion. It wasn't enough to capture the base, but we did cause another 102 casualties without taking losses of our own. And we have an infantry division about to arrive.

Our landing site at Dadjangas, Mindanao, now has a small functioning airstrip. Enough for a local CAP.

Scout/ASW patrols claimed a lot of hits today.
Subs:8
minesweepers: 3


China
Air raids:
Sinyang (ground forces) 31 casualties.

Land combat:
Near Wuchang, allied deliberate attack, casualties 368 (J) to 121 (A)

Allied reinforcements have arrived at Sinyang, let's see if I can break the enemy line.


DEI
Air Raids:
Koepang (ground forces): 0 casualties
Kendari (ground forces and airbase): 1 base hit, 19 casualties


Reinforcements and repairs
USS Yorktown II is now under repair & refit in Alameda. It's going to take 50 days... better than the 75 days it was going to take at Pearl but still a long time.
DD Remey arrives at Eastern USA
LSV Catskill arrives at Eastern USA
364th(Sep) Infantry Regiment arrives at Seattle
9th RAN Base Force arrives at Sydney
36th Div Engineer Battalion arrives at Madras
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Old 03-12-23, 03:59 PM   #779
Molon Labe
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6 January 1944
US Marines land on Jolo (Sulu Sea); Davao captured


DEI
Arizona and New Mexico hit Koepang again. I'm kind of surprised we haven't run into subs or mines yet given how many times I've done this. 80 casualties.

Air raids:
Kendari (ground forces and port): 1 B-25 shot down by flak, 1 port hit
Babeldaob (Palaus, airbase): 1 B-24 shot down by flak, 10 airbase hits


China
Air raids:
Sinyang (ground forces): 25 casualties

Land combat:
Sinyang: allied deliberate attack, casualties 1104 to 4088 favoring the enemy. Our assault power is about 4 times theirs but I think the defensive bonus combined with the enemy having a lot of tanks/me not having at AT made the difference here.
near Wuchang: allied deliberate attack, casualties 1685 to 227 favoring us, enemy retreating. This was a 1/3 division strength enemy unit that sallied out of Wuchang for some reason.


Philippines
We've landed marines and army aircraft support onto Jolo island in the Sulu Sea. This will make a good airbase for scoutplanes and bombers...we'll have observation of nearly all the South China Sea from here and the oil-producing bases in northern Borneo will be under direct threat.

We took Davao with minimal resistance, destroying an IJN marine company.


Reinforcements
DD Marshall arrives at Balboa
KV Shediac arrives at Balboa
AR Artifex arrives at Aden
VMF(N)-532 arrives at Eastern USA
5318th PAU/BS arrives at Karachi
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Old 03-12-23, 04:46 PM   #780
Molon Labe
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7 January 1944
Battle for Bangkok's airspace tilts in our favor
Jolo and Cagayan captured


Philippines and surrounding seas
USS Maskallunge was spotted by a Kaibokan off the east coast of Luzon and hit with one depth charge pattern before it escaped.

Air raids:
Cagayan (ground forces): 182 casualties

Jolo was captured, we destroyed 2 Tonies and 2 Dinahs on the ground in the process. Cagayan as well fell to our advancing ground forces, so that will soon be my main airbase on Mindanao.

I've noticed Manila is home to a lot of tankers. Seems like a bad place to leave them, so I'll be happy to take them off his hands. Recon of Manila and Clark airbase shows a substantial enemy fighter and bomber presence in Manila only, but not more than the Yankee Butai can handle, especially with help from land-based fighters in Jolo and Cotabo. One slight problem, though, there are 2 subs hanging out near Jolo that the CVBG would have to move past to get in range. So I'm going to hold off attacking Manila for at least a day while assigning 2 DD from the Yankee Butai to detach and prosecute those subs.


Burma and Thailand
With the enemy CVBG gone, my air campaign against Bangkok resumed. I sent three sweeps over Bangkok, one squadron each of P-51s, P-47s, and P-38s. We shot down 9 Tonies and 15 Georges while losing 3 P-51s, 2 P-47s and 3 P-38s. Not bad. Those losses are heavy enough to significantly degrade Bangkok as a fighter base.

Air raids:
Pisanuloke (ground forces) 45 casualties

We captured Rahaeng with an opposed river crossing. Casualties 3520 to 257 favoring us.


DEI
Air raids:
Koepang (ground forces) 34 casualties
Kendari (ground forces and port): no hits, 1 B-25 shot down by flak
Babdeldoab (airbase): 2 hits


Reinforcements
BB New Jersey arrives at Balboa
DE Spangler arrives at Eastern USA
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