Northern Pacific
During the night the submarine USS Tarpon sank two barges off PJ with gunfire and torpedoes but in the morning a Ki-51 based in OJ attacked and hit the submarine USS Tambor in the same area.
On the ground at PJ, both sides exchanged artillery fire. Allied losses were 30 men, Japanese ones 82 men and 3 guns. Allied troops on the island numbered 256 990 men (+69), 2778 guns (+3) and 596 vehicles (-) for 4994 AV (-1) against 125 522 men (+282), 1072 guns (+12) and 10 tankettes (-) for 2400 AV (-2).
The evening report of PJ showed no damage and 621 engineers building fortifications (level 5, 52% (+19%)). The base had 38 657 supplies (-680), and 31 aircraft (all available).
At OJ engineers worked on the port expansion (size 2, 73% (+3%)). The base had 28 428 supplies (-731).
Central-Southern Pacific
All units that were planned to be picked up in the Southern Pacific were now sailing to the Marianas via the Gilberts or Kwajalein. 18 AP and 4 escorts remained unused in Noumea and sailed to Funafuti this evening. From there they will be able to evacuate Japanese bases in the area depending of where the Allied will attack. Another AP fleet was available for such purpose in Kwajalein.
New Guinea-New Britain-Solomon Islands
Allied airmen flew 222 sorties today with one loss (a B-24D lost operationally):
_ Truk was attacked by 31 B-24D and 14 B-17E from Admiralty Islands escorted by 36 P-38J and reported 55 casualties, a disabled gun, 2 hits on the airbase and 50 on the runways.
_ Rabaul was attacked by 24 B-25J from Admiralty Islands escorted by 2 Corsairs and reported 7 casualties, one hit on the airbase and 14 on the runways.
_ Wewak was attacked by 71 B-25C, 15 B-25J and 14 TBF Avenger from Madang escorted by 13 P-38J and 2 Kittyhawk I, and by 31 B-25J from Lae, and reported 30 casualties, 2 hits on the airbase, 4 on supplies and 51 on the runways.
A new Dinah III was shot down by Allied fighters, over Saidor that was now an active Allied airfield.
Rabaul reported damage of 65/1/28 (airbase/runway/port) and still no supplies (+0) for 3756 (+176) required, Wewak 100/22/0 and had 10 (-32) supplies for 2272 (-32) required, Kavieng was fully repaired and had 42 supplies (-0) for 366 (-2) required and Truk had damage 83/97/0.
In this area too aircraft should be sent forward to see any Allied invasion moving, so the Kido Butai could reach it from Palau before it unloaded. But Truk was too devastated to be used… So the next forward airfield was Woleai, but there was no air support personnel here. Four small AP loaded an IJN base Force in Guam and sailed towards this atoll under escort by a MSW.
The evacuation of the Solomons continued. Today both Mavis transport Chutai based in Ponape received orders to start evacuation flights from Shortlands. And four 3000-ton AP with two escorts left Noumea to sail to Lunga and pick up the last troops that should leave this base.
Timor-DEI-Australia
Allied airmen flew 192 sorties today with two losses:
_ Kendari was attacked by 11 B-24J, 17 B-24D and 23 B-17E from Kai Island escorted by 25 P-38J and reported 27 casualties, 4 hits on the airbase, one on supplies and 50 on the runways.
_ Koepang was attacked by 10 B-25C from Derby and reported 3 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 3 on the runways but also a B-25C shot down by AA fire.
_ Sorong was attacked by 10 B-25C and 10 Beaufighter MK 21 from Kai Island escorted by 45 P-38J that scored 2 hits on the airbase, and 4 on the runways
_ 3 Beaufighter Mk 21 from Kai Island attacked barges NE of Amboina but were intercepted by 8 Oscars of the 77 Sentai based in Amboina. All three Beaufighter were damaged and turned back, and one ditched shortly later. A patrolling Liberator then sank one of these barges.
_ Kittyhawk III from Lautem flew LRCAP over the Japanese airfield of Dili (10 sorties) where a Japanese base force of the garrison was bombed by 20 Kittyhawk III from Lautem escorted by 8 Spitfire Vb and lost 52 men and 1 gun.
The evening area report listed the airfield status as: Maumere was OK (fort 6, 68% (+4%)), Koepang was OK and had fort 7, 16% (+1%), Dili was OK, Kendari reported damage 65/86/0 (system/runway/port), other bases were undamaged.
The Kido Butai arrived at Palau, refuelled there and unloaded the fighter units she had ferried from Japan: 48 A6M5 and the first 48 Jack. Once these passengers units were unloaded, the fleet had aboard 656 aircraft: 297 A6M5, 194 Judy and 165 Jill. Now it all had to do was to wait for an Allied move… To see it coming the air patrols had to be intensified on the frontline and more Dinah III units were sent forward. The units already near the area were sent to forward airfields under Allied bomber ranges while 15 Betty and 26 more Dinah III arrived in Palau (one Dinah being lost during the transfer in a landing crash, but the crew was saved).
A new AK left Soerabaja this evening to pick up resources in Kendari.
SRA
A small convoy of three tankers arrived in Tarakan from the Marianas where it had brought fuel from Japan. A tanker will load 9k oil there, the two other will sail to Balikpapan.
Five tankers and two escorts left the convoy off Kuching to sail to Miri and Brunei and load oil there. The three MSW based there will meet them at sea. Five other tankers and three escorts left also Kuching to go to Balikpapan. The main body of the convoy will finish unloading fuel in Kuching and then sail to Palembang.
Burma
The Japanese bombers concentrated in Rangoon finally found a target at sea. Four British destroyers (HMS Nepal, Rapid, Relentless, Tenedos) and two Dutch (HMNS Isaac Sweers and Van Galen) had probably done a sweep off the Burmese coast during the night but were too slow going back north and were just NW of Akyab at dawn. Alarm was raised in Rangoon and all available bombers were sent to attack them:
_ the first two Japanese groups (15 Betty and 5 Oscars and 9 Betty with 27 escorts) didn't score a single hit and the Allied seamen shot down several bombers.
_ but their victory was short-lived as the main Japanese group (38 G4M2, 30 Ki-48, 24 Ki-21 and 16 G4M1 with 54 escorts) then attacked and sank four destroyers (Rapid, Relentless, Isaac Sweers and Van Galen) with torpedoes. The Tenedos was damaged by two bombs and the Nepal escaped undamaged.
_ a last group of 4 G4M2 missed.
In the afternoon, another raid was launched from Rangoon with 71 bombers (23 G4M2, 20 Ki-48, 19 Ki-21 and 9 G4M1) and 116 escorts against the remains of the destroyer flotilla. The Nepal was towing the Tenedos and parted to it. She survived with heavy damage after being it by 4 bombs while the Tenedos was sunk by a torpedo.
This success needed 409 sorties and cost 5 G4M2 Betty shot down by AA fire and 3 other, 4 Ki-21, 1 Ki-48 and 1 Oscar II lost operationally, a total of 14 losses.
Allied airmen flew 405 sorties today and lost two aircraft to AA (a Vengeance I over Katha and a Catalina I during a recon) and two operationally (a P-40E and a P-40N):
_ 50 Liberator VI and 26 B-25C from Dacca escorted by 22 P-40N bombed Mandalay, doing 56 casualties, disabling a gun and scoring one hit on the airbase, one on supplies and 119 on the runways
_ 38 B-17E, 39 Blenheim IV, 27 B-24D and 20 B-25J from Imphal escorted by 18 Spitfire VIII bombed Pagan, doing 10 casualties, and scoring 5 hits on the airbase, 3 on supplies and 137 on the runways
_ 40 fighter-bombers and 9 bombers from Jorhat attacked one of the Japanese units retreating in the jungle SE of Katha and hit 40 men, 1 tank and 1 gun.
_ 41 fighter-bombers and 15 escorts from Imphal and Kohima attacked one unit at Katha and hit 56 men and 3 guns.
_ 31 fighter-bombers and 9 escorts from Imphal and Kohima attacked the SNLF in the jungle SE of Imphal and hit 8 men.
_ 20 fighters flew LRCAP over Katha, Akyab and west of Myitkyina.
Mandalay reported damage 100/99 (airbase/runway) and Pagan 81/99 while Japanese recon aircraft reported that still no Allied aircraft was based in Myitkyina airfield.
Recon of Indian and Ceylonese bases found all bases covered by CAP, one squadron-strong, flown by Spitfire Vb or Beaufighter. On the other hand, bombers had finally found a target at sea, so were no more in need of a land target.
The three submarines sent off Madras will reach their patrol area tomorrow, but one was seen, attacked and missed by an Allied bomber today, while Japanese air patrols lost the Allied convoy sailing in this area.
The first unit of the 28th Army got out from the jungle between Lashio and Myitkyina and reached the former. It was the Army HQ. The other units (3rd Tk Div, 23rd Bde, 2 Tk Rgt) will follow but still had between 10 and 25 miles to march to reach the city. The HQ didn’t wait for them and boarded trains to go to Katha as soon as possible.
All bombers left Rangoon in the evening for Bangkok. During this transfer flight one G4M2 and one Ki-21 were lost in accidents, but the crew of the latter was saved. Fighters were ordered to defend the base and fly 90% CAP.
The 26th Mxd Bde unloaded in Rangoon in one day and boarded trains to go to the battlefield of Katha as soon as possible.
China
Japanese airmen attacked as planned the airfields of Yunan and Chungking but no Allied aircraft was sent to China during the day and these bases were empty. The first was attacked in the morning by 19 Ki-21 from Nanning that scored 2 hits on the airbase and 17 on the runways for one operational loss. The second was bombed in the afternoon by 19 Ki-49 from Changsha escorted by 6 Oscar II that met very strong AA defences and only scored 4 hits on the airbase and 5 on the runways against two Ki-49 shot down.
61 training and 58 escort sorties were flown from Wuhan and Changsha against Chinese troops NW of Changsha, hit 12 men and suffered no operational loss today.
The Japanese attack against Kunming continued without any air support for both sides, and Japanese troops managed to capture another defence line (2343 Japanese AV vs 2329, adjusted to 1850 vs 1583, 1 to 1 ratio reducing fortifications from level 8 to 7). Japanese losses were 4287 men, 151 guns and 6 tanks, while the Chinese lost 3154 men and 58 guns.
The attack on Kunming will continue and will be supported today by 89 bombers based in Kweiyang. Half of the 142 fighters based in the base will escort these bombers, the other half and a Daitai of A6M5c will fly CAP over their base.
