Dispatch: Port Moresby, New Guinea, April 23, 1944.
The Allies have succeeded in retaking both sides of the Owen Stanleys and asserting their reach upon New Britain and the northern edge of PNG.
A. Port Moresby is a level 8 airfield and hosts the combat debut of the B-29. Superfortresses and Liberators have helped to shut down the airfields on Admiralty Island, Kavieng, and Rabaul. Night raids ensued as USAAF, and USMC fighters swept the surrounding bases by day. Now that Japanese fighters have fled the region, daylight raids are the norm.
B. Lae falls in March and is quickly repaired to become a level 7 AF and level 5 port. From Lae, USAAF fighters reign the skies. Lae becomes a jumping-off point for further invasions in the region with troops shuttling to Finschhafen and Saidor. Wau becomes a level 5 airbase, and is established by paratroop drop long before Lae falls. It has become a major base for A-20 Havocs to strike cut-off Japanese troops.
C. Saidor falls on April 20. There was stubborn ground resistance here. It took 3 US divisions and two tank regiments to dislodge the defenders of this level 5 airbase. Neigboring Mandang seems to be lightly defended and was never developed as a major base.
D. Numerous US naval bombardments took place at Saidor. One of these bombardments split off a half dozen cruisers for a full speed sprint to hit Admiralty Island. At the time this base was packed with defending Japanese fighters and a few dozen Bettys preparing for strikes.The bombardment was surprisingly effective destroying almost 100 Japanese planes on the tarmac. This level 6 airbase was consequently abandoned in mid-April.
E. Rabaul is currently a level 8/8 Japanese base, and is moderately damaged with only recon/naval search aircraft operating from its cratered airfields. Japanese ships have all fled, and the size of the garrison is unknown.Large groups of IJN subs arrive and depart, probably bringing supplies and pulling units out of the base.
F. Gasmata falls to Australian ground forces on April 18, providing a level 4 airbase for the Allied air forces.
G. Japanese air assets have left the northern Solomons entirely. Both Green Island and Buin had been home to enemy aircraft, but intel and recon show that all have fled.
Meanwhile, the Japanese Navy does not so much as threaten an appearance. Intel can only guess this was an unimportant, outer ring of defense for Admiral Chimaera. In Greek Mythology a Chimaera is an awful beast, a lion with goat's head, dragon head, and snake head. Considering the Japanese Navy is FULLY intact, the Admiral with this namesake is best given a wide berth.
Honolulu surmises the Japanese Navy is saving itself for an inner defensive ring of the Central Pacific and Southeast Asia. The Japanese plan is to exact maximum casualties on US forces as the war progresses, hoping to cause unrest at home and thereby forcing the US government to sue for peace.
