Bloody Pacific: Pomphat (Allied) vs Amiral Laurent (Japan)

[AmiralLaurent]

16-18 January 1943

It seems both my opponent and myself have plenty of time available for WITP right now, so we do 3-4 turns a day. [:)]

Southern Pacific

The Betty unit in Suva (back from New Zealand some days ago) was divided in 3 and will recon Allied bases in New Caledonia and the Hebrides.

Australia-New Zealand

There was no action at all. On the 17th the daily Mavis recon over Brisbane reported that the Cap was now reduced to 6 Beaufighters 21, the 50+ P-38 that were reported the days before were gone.

On the 18th, Japanese troops began to board transports in Dunedin and Christchurch for the invasion of New Caledonia. Each unit was loaded into a separate TF, all having orders to load troops only and then sail to Auckland with orders ‘do not unload/do not retire’. There was not enough escorts for each TF and 6 more escorts were sent from Auckland to reinforce these convoys.

Bismarcks-Solomons-New Guinea

Rabaul was still bombed each afternoon by B-24D from Port Moresby (25 on the 16th, 36 on the 17th and 35 on the 18th) and reported a total of 10 hits on the base, 3 on supplies and 80 on the runways, and total losses of 209 men and 2 guns. Tomorrow Tonies from Kavieng will fly LRCAP over the base.

Timor-Amboina-Australia

There was no raid at all during these 3 days and the AP off Koepang finished unloading the first part of the Eng Rgt here and then sailed back to Soerabaja to bring the second part.

The only action was in the night of the 17-18th when an ASW group (1 DD, 1 APD, 2 PC, 2 PG) chased unsuccessfully the American submarine S-40 east of Kendari.

Southern Resource Area

The following convoys were created in 3 days: 10k resources from Palembang to Singapore, 48k oil from Balikpapan to Japan and 10k resources from Batavia to Singapore.

The two Daitais of Nells that arrived on the 15th in Singapore from Rangoon upgraded to the Betty, received replacement crews and started to train them.

In Borneo, two construction Bns were busy in Miri building the airfield and fortifications, none of which will be useful in the near future. Both were ordered to march to Brunei to expand the port here (size 4, may be expanded to 5).

Burma

Allied airmen continued to pound Burmese bases without opposition by Japanese fighters.
Pagan was attacked on the 16th in the morning by 30 B-17E, 27 Beaufort V-IX, 15 Blenheim IV, 15 Wellington III, 15 Beaufort I, 15 B-25J and 11 Liberator VI from Imphal escorted by 57 P-40B, and in teh afternoon by 9 Liberator VI from Dacca, and reported a total of 73 men and 1 gun disabled, 11 hits on the airbase, 9 on supplies and 91 on the runway.
Myitkyina was attacked on the 16th and 18th by a total of 45 SB-2c, 44 B-25C and 12 Beaufort V-IX from Ledo, escorted by 41 P-40B, and reported 80 men and 3 guns hit and 13 hits on teh airbase, 7 on supplies and 85 on the runway.
Akayb was attacked each afternoon, for a total of 217 bomber (123 B-25c, 94 Blenheim IV) and 73 escort (P-40B) sorties. They scored 10 hits on the airbase, 5 on supplies and 68 on the runway, and did 40 casualties.
There raids cost 6 operational losses (2 P-40B, 1 Beaufort I, 1 Beaufort V-IX, 1 SB-2c and 1 Blenheim IV) to the Allied forces in 3 days. None of the hit base had been closed, but none had been able to repair the whole damage either (even Akyab with its Eng Rgt). It was also the case in Mandalay.

The convoy bringing the 17th Div from China unloaded it in Bangkok, where it boarded trains that will bring it to Myitkyina.

China

The Chinese advance SE of Kungchang was repulsed by the 3rd Tank Div and one half of the 5th Ind Bde in two phases. They first attacked on the 16th with the support of 37 Ki-49, 34 Oscar I and 30 Ki-21 (1 op loss) that hit 88 men and 1 gun. They won at 2 to 1 and repulsed 3 Chinese Corps (58th, 73rd and 82nd) southward. Japanese losses were 200 men, 9 guns and 2 tanks while the Chinese lost 5 guns, 242 killed and wounded and more than 2000 prisoners.
The next day the four other Chinese units on the Sian-Kungchang road advanced north, and they were again defeated the next day by the Tk Div and the Bde. Before the attack, 32 Ki-43, 31 Ki-21 and 27 Ki-49 from Yenen escorted by 5 Ki-44 attacked a Chinese HQ and hit 123 men. The Japanese attack was an easy success (at 86 to 1) and the Chinese lost 185 killed and wounded and more than 1600 prisoners and retreated south again, while Japanese losses were limited to 62 men and 2 guns.
This time the 3rd Tk Div received orders to drive south to pursue the defeated Chinese forces and repulse them on the other side of the river N of Sian.

More north in Kungchang, the Japanese bombed the city on the 16th (60 casualties) and launched another deliberate attack on the 17th, once the victory on the south was known. The attack was bloody despite air support from Yenen (36 Ki-49, 35 Ki-43, 33 Ki-21 and 2 Ki-44 hit 92 Chinese men and lost a Ki-44 in a crash). It achieved a ratio of 2 to 1 and reduced the forts from 6 to 5, but Japanese losses were 6594 men, 173 guns and 3 tanks, while the Chinese lost 1880 men and 1 gun (well their gun as reports show only one gun on the Chinese side). Japanese troops were then ordered to rest and bombard the city, and did so on the 18th, hitting 254 Chinese.

Japan

Orders were given on the 16th to accelerate the research on the replacement of the Val (the Judy) and Kate (the Jill). So the Judy factories in Hiroshima (size 20) and Nagoya (size 78) and the Jill factory of Nagoya (size 57) were ordered to repair (all centers were damaged) and to produce, while the useless Jake factory in Hakodate (size 8) was converted to a Jill factory (size 20).
But two days after these orders were given none of the factories had started repairs….

Three convoys left Tokyo these days. One AP convoy left for Rabaul with the HQ 9th Fleet and 4th Air Army, 2 ML and 2 escort left for Suva (where a MLE waited for them to lay minefields off all islands in the area) and the Bonin ASW group returned to its base escorting 4 AKs carrying 14k fuel.

[AmiralLaurent]

19-20 January 1943

Central Pacific

Japanese engineers finished to prepare fortifications in Hilo (level 9) and the Eng Rgt here marched to Kona to finish the defences of this base (now level 7).

A full-strength Betty Daitai flew to Midway (losing a bomber and its crew on the way) to relieve the local Betty Daitai that will fly to PH to receive replacement crews and train them.

Southern Pacific

Betties from Suva flew recon over Noumea (CAP 11 F4F-4, 12 units (31080 men, 377 guns, 38 vehicles), 232 AC (90/42/100), 4 docked ships (2 AP, 1 APD, 1 MSW)), Luganville (no CAP, 2 units (9340 men, 99 guns, 6 vehicles)) and Efate (no CAP, 4 units, one AP off the base) during these two days.

Japanese engineers expanded the port of Tarawa to size 4.

New Zealand

The Kido Butai returned to Auckland on the 19th and refuelled, using 66 of the 69k of furl at the base. A convoy with 70k arrived on the 20th and started to unload while two more convoys with a total of 160k fuel will arrive in 3 and 5 days.

The troop convoys finished to load troops in Dunedin and Christchurch and sailed to Auckland, where the empty transports began to arrive from Wellington. The main body of the Southern Area Army will begin to board ships in Auckland tomorrow.

Bismarcks-Solomons-New Guinea

In the afternoon of the 19th 35 B-24D took off from Port Moresby to raid again Rabaul. 11 Tonies of the 203 Sentai were flying LRCAP from Kavieng over their target and 5 Liberators were shot down, 4 by fighters and 1 by AA fire. The others disabled 64 men and 2 guns and scored 5 hits on the airbase, 4 on supplies and 11 on the runways, and the damaged was repaired in some hours by the Japanese engineers. The 203 Sentai lost two fighters and their pilots shot down by return fire, and one more Ki-61 was destroyed in a landing crash but the pilot was unhurt.

In the evening the 203 Sentai left Kavieng for R&R in Truk. It was a good move because on the 20th the B-24D from PM changed of target and attacked Kavieng. 26 Liberators flew the mission and reported no opposition but only scored 1 hit on a supply dump and 4 on the runway.

Timor-Amboina-Australia

My opponent apparently forgot to move the SS S-40 and she was still east of Kendari in the night of the 19th-20th when she was detected again by the ASW group sent chasing her. The PC Ch 4 was the first to attack and scored a direct hit that pulverised the submarine. There were no survivors.

The first Ki-45 unit arrived in Palau and will fly to Kendari in some days. The ML based in Menado left this base to lay a minefield off Kendari, which was left by an AK damaged off Timor that will sail to Hong Kong for repairs.

Southern Resource Area

Some more convoys were created in 2 days. They will carry 14k resources from Toboali to Singapore, 9k oil from Brunei to Singapore (this TK will then be docked here for repairs) and 32k oil from Palembang to Japan.

Japanese engineers were ordered to expand the port of Kuala Lumpur (currently size 3) to its max size (6)

Burma

Allied raids continued in Burma. On the 19th Lashio was attacked in the morning by 30 B-17E, 26 Liberator VI, 16 Beaufort I, 15 Blenheim IV and 15 B-25J from Imphal escorted by 56 P-40B and 5 Beaufighters and reported 34 casualties, 4 hits on the airbase, 6 on supplies and 55 on the runway, while Akyab was bombed in the afternoon by 51 B-25C and 30 Blenheim IV from Chandpur escorted by 21 P-40B that scored 3 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 25 on the runway.
On the 20th, 24 B-25J from Ledo escorted by 22 P-40B attacked Lashio (15 casualties, 3 hits on the airbase, 5 on supplies and 17 on the runway), 20 Sb-2c and 12 Beaufort V-IX from Ledo attacked Myitkyina (9 casualties, 2 hits on buildings and 16 on the runway) and 41 B-25C and 30 Blenheim IV escorted by 21 P-40B from Chandpur attacked Pagan (40 men and 1 gun lost, 4 hits on the airbase, 3 on supplies and 25 on the runway).

The Japanese commanders would like to ambush one of this air raids one day, but were not decided where to do it. Mandalay was the best base, but will always be attacked in force. Akyab had enough engineers to remain open but only a small Base Force and was lacking supplies, being supplies only by barges (by the way patrolling Allied bombers heavily damaged in 2 days two barges near Akyab that were beached there). Finally Pagan was chosen as the site of the ambush. The 27th Special Base Force coming from Malaya will arrive here in some days, and the Air HQ in Mandalay will also go there with some engineers. Then 90 fighters will move here and some Zero will fly LRCAP from Rangoon.
But these Allied raids are annoying rather than anything else. If only Akyab was able to repair fully the damage in the evening of the 20th, none of the other bases were closed and all (again except Akyab) had a fort level between 7 and 9 already. Supplies are not lacking (Mandalay had 60k, Rangoon 45k) and troops are in a good shape. The cost of these two days of raids was 6 operational losses (3 B-25C, 1 B-17E, 1 Blenheim IV and 1 P-40B).

Japanese recons and SIGINT reported 37 enemy units in Asansol. This was supposed to be the concentration point of the Allied reserve, and will be monitored regularly from now. If these troops move, it will mean that the Allied will launch an offensive. While they are here, the probability of an attack is low.

China

Japanese guns pounded Chines lines in Kungchang for two days and hit 287 men. South of the town the 3rd Tk Div advanced in the direction of Sian on the 20th and reached the area north of Sian where the 7 Chinese units defeated those last days retreated. It will attack them tomorrow with air support from Yenen and Homan.

Japan

At least one production point of a Judy factory was repaired on the 19th. So these factories were not “bugged” but will only repair slowly (my theory being that factories repair slower when the release date of the AC is farther in the future).

Japanese factories produced enough Ki-45 Nick to equip another Sentai and the 45 Sentai was formed in Hiroshima (crews were ready for more than one week). It will go to the Truk-Rabaul area.

[AmiralLaurent]

21-22 January 1943

Central Pacific

On the 22nd, an Allied submarine was seen by an aircraft 120 miles NE of PH, and sailing towards this base. An ASW group was created and ordered to patrol off PH. Allied submarines haven’t been seen in the area for months.

Southern Pacific

Two Const Bn boarded APs in Tarawa and will sail to Lunga, where they will help building an airfield.

New Zealand

Two escorts sank by rifle fire some Allied mines off New Zealand, but MSW found none. Some Allied mines still remained from the minefield laid before the fall of the city, but Japanese MSW have been unable to sweep them.

A Ki-46-III Chutai flew from Truk to Norfolk Island, and after a day a rest will fly recon over Noumea tomorrow. An AK was sent from Auckland to bring supplies to this base, that was taken and garrisoned by Japanese submarines, and won’t have supplies to support regular air operations.

In Auckland, the main bulk of the Southern Area Army began to board transports on the 22nd before sailing to invade New Caledonia. The following troops were concerned by this operation (not counting troops already laden aboard ships in Dunedin and Christchurch): HQ Southern Area Army, 2 Army HQ, 1 Air Div, 6 Inf Div, 1 Tk Div, 4 Eng Rgt, 5 ART units, 3 Const Bn, 3 IJA Base Forces. 87 3000-ton AP, 9 4500-ton AP and 12 7000-ton AK were used to load them.
The plan is to land in Koumac and La Foa first before marching to Noumea. At least Koumac will be taken by a paradrop from Suva before troops land here (to reduce disruption of amphibious operations).
To provide air support in Koumac, more than 3 small base forces will be necessary. Two AP convoys were sent south from Auckland, one will load the 3rd Base Force in Wellington and bring it to New Caledonia, the other will pick up one of the two small BF in Christchurch and carry it to Wellington to have some air support here.
Two other TF made of unnecessary ships left Auckland for Suva. The first was made of 4500-ton AP and TK that will be better used in the inner lines of the Empire (8 AO remained in Auckland and will support the New Caledonia operation as a replenishment group), the second was made of the damaged CV Junyo (SYS 31) and 4 DD needing upgrades and will go to Japan repair shipyards.

The 3000-ton AP Kansan Maru had been badly damaged by coastal defences during the landing in Dunedin last month (SYS 95, FLT 70). It was docked in the size 5 port ASAP and an AR was sent from Wellington to assist her crew. Some days ago, the FLT was down to 60, after having reached 90, and then it rose again, and finally the ship sank on the night of the 21st-22nd. Who said Japanese damage control sucks ?

Bismarcks-Solomons-New Guinea

On the 21st, a barge was sunk off Rabaul by a patrolling B-24D and in the afternoon Kavieng was again bombed by 34 B-24D from Port Moresby that scored 2 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 7 on the runway, doing 5 casualties. One B-24D was lost in a crash.

There was no raid on the 22nd, and this evening two groups of 3 barges each left Shortlands with troops from the Sasebo 6th SNLF to occupy Goodenough and Kiriwima Islands. All white men here will be rounded and brought back to Japan and then the troops will retire to Shortlands again.

Timor-Amboina-Australia

An AP started to load in Soerabaja the second part of the 5th Eng Rgt and will bring it to Koepang. 36 Ki-45 arrived in Kendari to reinforce the CAP here.

Southern Resource Area

Three convoys started to load during these two days, respectively 9k oil in Bankha for Singapore, 56k resources in Singapore for Japan and 32k oil in Batavia for Japan.

Burma

The usual air raids hit Japanese airfields in Central Burma.
The main one targeted Taung Gyi on the 21st with 27 B-17E, 27 Liberator Vi, 15 Blenheim IV and 14 B-25J escorted by 5 P-40B from Imphal, disabled 14 men and 1 gun, scored 11 hits on the airbase, 4 on supplies and 39 on the runway, but lost 2 B-25J shot down by AA fire.
Lashio was bombed on both mornings by a total of 55 B-25J escorted on both days by 21 P-40B. Japanese losses were 80 men and 1 gun, and 1 hit was reported on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 44 on the runway.
Myitkyina was also raided on both morning, by unescorted bombers. A total of 64 sorties (48 SB-2c and 16 Beaufort V-IX) targeted the base and scored 2 hits on the airbase, 3 on supplies and 68 on the runway. Japanese losses were 26 men and 2 guns.
As usual, several Allied aircraft were lost to operational reasons during these two days: 2 P-40B, 2 B-25J, 1 Liberator VI, 1SB-2c and 1 Beaufort V-IX.

On the Japanese side, two Ki-15 were sent back to Mandalay, to have an AF symbol here showing the airfield was occupied again. And in the evening of the 22nd, the 50 Sentai moved from Rangoon to Taung Gyi with 34 Oscar II and will LRCAP Myitkyina tomorrow to intercept unescorted bombers.
To prepare the air ambush over Pagan, the Air HQ and an AA Bn left Mandalay by rail to go to this base.
Six new barges were launched in Rangoon and will reinforce the barge fleet supplying Akyab.

China

On the 21st the 3rd Tk Div attacked north of Sian the Chinese troops already defeated some days ago. Despite the lack of air support (due to bad weather), the attack succeeded at 6 to 1 and the Chinese troops (2 HQ and 5 Corps) retreated to Sian. Japanese casualties were only 30 men, 4 guns and 1 tank, while the Chinese lost 216 killed and wounded, 1 gun and more than 2500 prisoners. After this victory, the 3rd Tk Div was ordered north again, to join the troops attacking Kungchang.
In this city, the activity was limited to artillery fire for two days, and 352 Chinese were hit. A new attack will be launched tomorrow.
SE of Sian, the 23rd Army that moved forward to threaten Sian and stop Chinese units moving north had no more reason to stay here now that all Chinese troops had been repulsed to Sian and marched back to Homan.

In the south, the first units of the 12th Army began to exit the woods between Wuchow and Kweilin where they had chased surrounded Chinese and arrived in Wuchow. The 104th Div, that was planning for Kendari defence, also received orders to march there until enough transports will be available to carry it. The goal is to have enough troops in Wuchow to drain more than 10k supplies and then be able to repair the industry and resource centers from teh city.
For some time, there had been no operational training in China. A new center will open in Wuhan, where air support is available, the airfield is size 9 and Chinese troops are available at 120 miles to provide targets outside a city (some Chinese units hold the countryside N of Changsha). So all training units based in Wuchow, Kweilin and Canton moved there, and were joined by 27 A6M2 from Osaka.
There were more moves of air units in the south on the 22nd. The 24 Sentai flew from Hanoi to Canton to upgrade from its Ki-27 to the Oscar II, while 47 Ki-48 flew the other way, from Canton to Hanoi, and will in some days bomb the resource centers of Kumming.

Japan

Two AP convoys left Tokyo, one carrying the 4th Air Army to Rabaul, and the other the 4th Air Div to Canton, China. Another convoy loaded 35k supplies in Kitakyushu to bring them to Bangkok, that fell below 20k and so became unable to upgrade units, that is annoying as this base is the rear base of the Japanese airforce in Burma.

The 108 Sentai was created in Sasebo with 36 Ki-54 Hickory. Some more Ki-54 will be produced as a small reserve before the factory will be converted to something more useful.

After 6 days of research (in two factories for each type), only 2 points of Judy and 1 of Jill had been repaired.

[Fishbed]

I'm pleased to read that. Are you back in China now ?

Yep, for 3 weeks now! But that shouldn't be a reason to spare Nanchang. [:-]
Bomb the hell out of there, that's gonna taste like an ultimate revenge to me... [;)]

[AmiralLaurent]

ORIGINAL: Fishbed

I'm pleased to read that. Are you back in China now ?

Yep, for 3 weeks now! But that shouldn't be a reason to spare Nanchang. [:-]
Bomb the hell out of there, that's gonna taste like an ultimate revenge to me... [;)]

Hey, Nanchang is mine, I can't bomb it.

23-25 January 1943

New Zealand- Southern Pacific

As all forces in this area will now concentrate on the New Caledonia operation, their command was unified.

Starting on the 23rd, the new KI-46-III flew recon over Noumea from Norfolk Island and brought better data. They also reported 12 units here, but counted 51-57 000 men (rather than 30 000), 680-700 guns (rather than 380) and 60 vehicles (rather than 40)). They also counted more AC than the previous recons by Betties. 153 fighters, 75 bombers and 148 other aircraft were reported in Noumea. The CAP was flown on the 25th by 15 F4F-4 and 1 P-38G, and was the strongest so far above the base.

Allied engineers expanded the airfield of La Foa to size 4. A good thing as the Japanese air force will use it during the siege of Noumea.

In New Zealand, the concentration of the troop convoys continued in Auckland. One of the two convoys bringing fuel here arrived and started to unload, enabling the eight AOs docked here to start to fill their tanks to support the incoming operation.

Betties flying daily recon over Efate and Luganville continued to report no CAP here. 27 Betties arrived in Suva from PH and will bomb these bases in some days.

Bismarcks-Solomons-New Guinea

There were no more raids from Port Moresby. On the 24th a B-24D reported barges east of Kiriwima island and the next day these barges unloaded on this island troops of the Sasebo 6th SNLF (31 casualties) that will occupy it tomorrow. The other barge group will land troops in Goodenough Island tomorrow.

Allied engineers expanded the port of Port Moresby to size 6.

Timor-Amboina-Australia

Raids on Timor restarted on the afternoon of the 23rd with an attack on Koepang by 9 B-25C from Derby. But two fighters units were now based here, the 47 (Tojo) and 77 (Oscar II) Sentai. Each unit shot down 3 B-25C (scoring the first victories of the Oscar II IIRC) but the 3 survivors reached the target and scored 2 hits on the runway, destroying an Oscar on the ground.
The fighters units received orders to remain there, but some hours later were ordered to fly back to Kendari to avoid a reprisal raid by heavy bombers escorted by P-38. They left leaving only 2 Pete in Koepang.
In fact, Timor was attacked the next two days only by unescorted B-25C. On both days, both Koepang and Lautem were attacked on the afternoon. The former reported a total of 20 attackers, 33 casualties, 4 hits on the airbase and 5 on the runway, the latter was attacked by a total of 43 bombers that only scored 2 hits on the runway. On each day one B-25C was lost to engine failure.
Also on these both days, barges near Lautem were attacked by 7 Brewster 339D from Darwin and one was sunk.

In the evening of the 25th, the Oscar II of the 11 Sentai flew from Kendari to Koepang to defend the base.

Southern Resource Area

In these days, the following convoys were formed: 10k resources from Palembang to Singapore, 32k oil from Soerabaja to Singapore, 34k oil and 7k resources from Balikpapan to Japan, 32k oil from Tarakan to Japan, 45k oil from Brunei to Japan, 28k resources from Kendari to Japan and 21k supplies from Soerabaja to Kendari.
Also 3 AK carrying 21k resources arrived in Singapore from Palembang and joined a Japan-bound convoy rather than unloading here.

Burma

American F-5A began to fly daily recon over Pagan on the 23rd and continued the next days. It will be difficult to set an air ambush there if these recon flights will continue.

There was no air raid on the 23rd. The 50 Sentai flying LRCAP over Lashio lost one Oscar II and a pilot in a crash and returned to Rangoon in the evening.
There was again no raid on the 24th, but the next day the Allied bombers were back over Burma. 22 B-17E and 12 Liberator VI from Imphal escorted by 51 P-40B and 6 Beaufighter VIC attacked Mandalay, scoring 7 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 22 on the runways and doing 45 casualties, while 33 B-25J and 15 Beaufort V-IX from Ledo escorted by 22 P-40B raided Lashio, scoring 3 hits on the airbase, 5 on supplies and 39 on the runways and doing 16 casualties. One Beaufort V-IX was lost in a crash.

China



The final offensive against Kungchang was launched on the 23rd and continued until the fall of the city on the 25th (attack ratio were 3 to 1 on the 23rd and 24th, forts falling from 5 to 3, and then 6 to 1 on the 25th). The expected air support was only provided the last day, when the Chinese troops were attacked by 30 Oscar II from Lanchow, 20 Ki-21 and 16 Ki-48 from Homan and 40 Ki-49, 36 Ki-21, 34 Oscar I and 20 Ki-48 from Yenen and lost 184 men while a Ki-21 was lost in a crash. Also this day the 3rd Tk Div returning from the south joined the attack.
Total losses during the 3 days of battle were 10107 killed or wounded, 241 guns and 13 tanks on the Japanese side, and 11387 killed or wounded on the Chinese side. More than 16 000 prisoners were taken with the city (121 troop points scored = 1452 Chinese squads).
The Chinese troops (10th War Area, 4 Group Armies, 16 Corps, 1 Militia Division and 1 Air Base Force) retreated across the river SW of the town.
The victorious Northern China Army will rest for some days in Kungchang, where supplies were not sufficient to support it (29k present, 32k needed), but all units received at once orders to prepare for attacking Sian.
The plan is to surround Sian from the north (Kungchang) and the south (Homan). The northern forces will also have to cover the taken cities and the road from attacks from the Chinese forces on the western side of the river.
Two or three Chinese units left Sian westwards and will probably defend the hex west of Sian against Japanese units crossing the river.

Now that the Yenen-Kungchang road may be used to communicate with Lanchow and Sining, the northern road will be abandoned and the troops keeping it from the partisans will march to Yenen or Lanchow, depending of the closest base.

The main airbase to support the Sian operation will be Homan. Japanese engineers expanded the airbase here to level 6 on the 23rd. On the 25th an IJA BF left Yenen for Homan to provide more air support (currently two small BF).

In these last days, there was also some changes in the organisation of the Japanese air forces in China. A Sentai of Ki-44 and a Daitai of A6M2 left North China towards Burma, while in Canton another Daitai of A6M2 having finished its operational training upgraded to the A6M3a and will also go to Burma.
An Oscar II Sentai flew from Wuhan to Lanchow (losing on the way 2 fighters and 1 pilot in crashes) and will fly sometimes LRCAP over Chengtu from here. Even Oscar II should be able to shot down transport aircraft…

The operational training center opened in Wuhan on the 25th with a raid by 59 A6M2, 27 Vals, 19 Ki-48 and 8 Kates against Chinese troops 120 miles west of the town (NW of Changsha). This attack hit 32 Chinese.

In the south, the supplies in Wuchow were above 10k on the 23rd and the repairs restarted but lasted only one day (+1 HI, +1 resource) before supplies again dropped below 10k. Several units received orders to move from Kweilin to Wuchow, and some reserve units (recon, transport) also moved to this base to increase the needed supplies above this limit.

Japan

Several convoys left Japan to support the war effort in various parts of the Empire. A convoy with 70k supplies left Sasebo to unload them in Canton, China, where they will be then be sent to Wuchow and used for repairs here. Another convoy also loaded 70k supplies and will bring them from Tokyo to Tientsin to support the operations in Northern China.
Routine convoys also continue to leave Japan and will carry 56k supplies from Osaka to Pearl Harbor, 42k fuel from Osaka to Kwajalein, 35k supplies from Osaka to Kendari and 3500 supplies from Tokyo to Tori Shima, where an airfield was slowly built by a small Base Force lacking supplies.

The second Ki-45 unit left also Japan to Saipan and will arrive in Truk in some days.

[AmiralLaurent]

Thanks to all readers for following this thread, and don't hesitate to give advice or ask questions.

26 January 1943

New Zealand- Southern Pacific

Allied AA fire shot down a Ki-46-III from Norfolk Island over Noumea.

Bismarcks-Solomons-New Guinea

A company of the Sasebo 6th SNLF occupied the empty Kiriwima Island, another was landed by barges during the night on Goodenough Island, one of the barges then returning to Shortlands was sunk during the day by patrolling Allied bombers.

Timor-Amboina-Australia

In the afternoon, 13 B-25C from Derby attacked Koepang and were intercepted by 21 Oscar II of the 11 Sentai based here. The Japanese fighters were unable to shot down any of the bombers and lost 2 of their number to return fire. AA fire was better and shot down 2 B-25 and repulsed the others that scored only one runway hit. In the evening the 11 Sentai flew back to Kendari.
24 B-25C from Darwin attacked Lautem and scored 1 hit on the airbase and 5 on the runways, doing 6 casualties.

Nells continued to recon Australian cities from Kendari. One was shot down today by the CAP of Darwin, but others reported there was no more CAP over Wyndham.

Southern Resource Area

A patrolling Ki-48 reported an Allied submarine SW of Singapore. This area had been quiet for months and only the tanker and troops convoys were escorted, the AK sailed unescorted. An ASW group was formed in Singapore and sent to the area in the evening.

Burma

20 B-17E and 3 Liberator VI escorted by 8 Beaufighter VIC took off from Imphal to attack Mandalay. 11 B-17 get lost on the way and one ran out of fuel and was abandoned by its crew. The remaining bombers scored 2 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 12 on the runway, doing 12 casualties.
Lashio was attacked by 7 other Liberator VI escorted by 50 P-40B from Imphal, and by 32 B-25J and 15 Beaufort V-IX escorted by 19 P-40B from Ledo, an reported 12 casualties, 8 hits on buildings, 5 on supplies and 27 on runways. Three P-40B and 1 Beaufort V-IX were lost in crashes.

Japanese air recon reported 29 Allied units in Asansol, 8 less than was reported a week ago, but still too many for the Allied to launch a major offensive.

China

Enough supplies were sent to Wuchow to restart the repairs here.

In the north, the Japanese units rested and prepared for the Sian operation. The map below will show you the current situation and the Japanese plans.



Japan

A convoy started to load 35k supplies in Kitakyushu and will bring them to Shanghai. Then they would be carried by rail and road to Wuhan.

[AmiralLaurent]

27 January 1943

It was the quietest turn of this game so far (it was the 416th turn) with only an undefended island taken off New Guinea and no air raid at all. But it was a long turn of organisation both in China and New Zealand, for the Sian and Noumea operations. And then before ending the turn I checked the SIGINT report… and then spent 20 more minutes finishing the turn.

New Zealand- Southern Pacific

The last preparations for the Noumea operation took place in Suva and Auckland. In the former base, the 1st Parachute Rgt received orders to prepare for La Foa, the base NW of Noumea (its previous orders were for the Australian city of Newcastle).
In Auckland, the transports gathered for the operation were gathered into 3 transports TFs that refuelled and finished to load supplies in some APs. The fleet will sail north tomorrow evening under escort by the Kido Butai. This evening four submarines left the port for patrolling west of New Caledonia during the operation.
Admiral Yamamoto watched these submarines leaving, after a full day inspecting the transport fleets and their escorts, and was preparing to enjoy a quiet evening when a very excited SIGINT officer arrived in his office, and gave him two intercepts reports.
Both pointed to positions in the SE Pacific. One was out of reach (on the edge of the map, and after the fall of New Zealand, I proposed my opponent a home rule: I won’t attack convoys sailing on the south edge of the map, and he will be allowed to send ships there but they will have to follow the eastern edge of the map from California first, and then to follow the southern edge until the western corner of the map, being then only able to sail for Australia. This is to simulate the long sailing around NZ.) but the other was reported 1500 miles ESE of Pago-Pago (see map 1 below).
Yamamoto once more cursed the inability of the SIGINT service to provide more information. This contact might be a submarine, a blockade raider going to Noumea on the shortest road, a raiding CV TF or an invasion convoy targeting one of the Southern Pacific Islands. He asked reports showing the states of the defence here, and cursed again (see map 2 below). For a long time he had planned to move troops from Suva to other islands in the area, but always had repulsed this because of other pressing tasks.
Anyway he gave some orders to prepare for a major Allied incursion in the area. 18 Emilies from Christmas Island and Lahaina arrived in the evening in Pago-Pago. The SS I-122 left Suva to lay mines off Pago-Pago, 4 other submarines will lay mines off Tongatapu and 4 other, with 2 Glens, were sent SE of Pago-Pago to search Allied ships.
A Naval Guard unit in Suva was preparing for Tongatapu and a part of it was loaded into the four available DD, another into 6 barges and both TF left immediately for this base. The empty CVE Chuyo left Suva northwards with 20 empty transports and 6 escorts.
The Japanese Empire was searched to find possible air reinforcements. 27 A6M3a Zero left PH for Palmyra, 21 Topsies Saigon for Menado, and 36 Nicks that reached Truk in the evening from Japan via Saipan were ordered to wait for more orders and may also move to this area.



Bismarcks-Solomons-New Guinea

A company of the Sasebo 6th SNLF occupied the empty Goodenough Island.

Timor-Amboina-Australia

The AP carrying the second half of the 5th Eng Rgt to Koepang arrived off this port and started to unload. In the evening the 36 Tonies of the 68 Sentai arrived in this base to cover it.

Southern Resource Area

A convoy loaded 10k supplies in Batavia for Kendari, another 25k oil in Miri for Hong Kong.

Burma

30 Ki-44 arrived in Rangoon from Hanoi, bringing the total of Japanese fighters in Burma to 310 (all in Rangoon for now).

China

Enough supplies arrived in Kungchang (from Yenen, Chunking, Peking and probably Mandchuoko too) to fully supply the city and the troops of the Northern China Army here. So the Sian operation was launched. A division, 2 Bdes and 2 Eng Rgt (almost all combat engineer squads were disabled) will keep the city, while the other troops of the Army will march south. Of these latter troops, 1.33 Div and a half-Bde will hold the road leading to Sian and the main body (3 HQ, 8 Div, 1 Tk Div, 1 Tk Rgt and 4 ART units) will cross the river west of Sian to surround the city.
More south the 23rd Army (HQ, 2.33 Div, a half-Bde) also left its base of Homan to march W. A regiment of the 32nd Div will occupy the woods SW of Sian to complete the surrounding of the city.

Other operations will see the 104th Div leaving Wuchow (where repairs continued, and will probably continue without it being here) for Hong Kong to wait transport ships to carry it to Kendari, the Oscar II of the 54 Sentai receiving orders to fly tomorrow LRCAP over Chengtu from Lanchow and the 48 Lilies based in Hanoi to bomb the resources of Kunming (89 remaining here).

Japan

Five convoys were created in Tokyo port and will carry 49 supplies to Palau (where they will then be shipped to Sorong and Amboina to repair oilfields), the 25th Aviation Unit to Suva (orders were given before the alert was raised in this area), an IJN BF to Baker Island, an IJNAF BF to Jolo and an IJA BF to Kuching.

[AmiralLaurent]

28-30 January 1943

Northern Pacific

On the 28th, Allied engineers opened an airfield on Amchitka Island, that so became the closest Allied base to Japan. Mavis from Paramushiro Jima started to recon the base the next day, and reported some P-40E on CAP, probably flying from Adak.

Anyway Japanese operations in this area will continue to be limited to defensive minelaying, supported by the MLE based in Eforoto Jima, 4 MLs mining Paramushiro Jima and the specialised submarines I-121 and I-124 Attu and Kiska.

Also on the 28th, two submarines (a Glen-carrying and a RO) left Pearl Harbor northwards to patrol south of Alaska. The Glenn will search Allied convoys, while its mother submarine will refuel the RO, that will be sent to chase reported shipping.

New Zealand- Southern Pacific

On the 28th, the final preparations were made in Auckland port for the invasion of New Caledonia, and this evening the fleet sailed northwards.
The main punch will be provided by the Kido Butai, organised in 3 CV TF:
_ a fast one (able of 30 knots) led by Nagumo with the Zuikaku, Shokaku, Soryu, Hiryu, 4 CA, 6 DD, 114 Zeroes, 94 Vals, 49 Kates.
_ a “normal one” (able of 27 knots) led by Yamaguchi with the Akagi, Ryuho, Zuiho, Ryujo, the BB Hiei, 1 CA, 1 CL, 6 DD, 71 Zeroes, 38 Vals, 60 Kates
_ a slow one (able of 24 knots) led by Yamada with the Kaga, Hiyo, Shoho, Hosho, the CS Mizuho, 1 CA, 2 CL, 6 DD, 99 Zeroes, 15 Vals, 39 Kates, and 21 Jakes aboard the CS.
Four surface TF sailed with the fleet, two centred around one BB, respectively the Musashi and the Ise, each with a CA, 2 CL and 6 DD, and two scout TF with each 1 CL and 9 DD.
The biggest TF were the three transport TF. They had a total of 205 transports and escorts and carried 261k supplies and 281k men, most of them preparing for Noumea and about 20% preparing for Luganville.
Other TF following the armada were 4 ASW TF (6 ships each), a replenishment TF of 8 AO (each with 8k fuel) and 6 escort and a fast minesweeper TF (5 20-knot MSW).
The fleet had a total of 329 ships, 284 Zeroes, 147 Vals and 148 Kates.

As Allied submarines had been reported NW of New Zealand, a diversion TF was sent there with 20 transports carrying each a small portion of a Naval Guard Unit and 6 escorts. It was hoped that one ship will be hit and troops lost, so it would appear that a troop convoy was sailing to Australia.

During the next two days, neither fleet was detected by the Allied. A troop convoy got late and the fleet was ordered to slow down on the 31st to let it join.

Recon continued from Norfolk Island and reported on the 30th 306 aircraft (111/81/114) at Noumea, but the CAP was still flown only by a dozen F4F-4. The same day one of the two Mavis based in Norfolk Island was shot down by AA fire during a recon of Brisbane, and in the evening the last one was sent to Truk for R&R.

The other priority in the area was the possible threat on the area of Pago-Pago. Barges and a FT TF brought some troops to Tongatapu, while a Mavis transport Chutai started to fly other troops from Tarawa to Pago-Pago. Tongatapu having few supplies, a 7000-ton AK was sent from Suva to bring them here. But the Allied fleet wasn’t reported again by the reinforced Japanese air patrols. The submarines anyway continued on their way to patrol the contact area, and 25 A6M2 flew from Auckland to Suva on the 28th just in case.

On the 29th the alert was lowered and rather than remaining in reserve 23 Betties from Suva attacked Efate airfield. As reported by former recon there was no Cap and the attack destroyed 2 B-26B on the ground and scored 1 hit on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 1 on the runway, while a Betty hit by AA fire ditched on the return leg. More important, this raid was followed by the move of some fighters, probably from Noumea, to Efate and the next day the recon reported 18 P-40E over Efate.

Bismarcks-Solomons-New Guinea

On the afternoon of the 28th, Rabaul was attacked by 30 B-24D and 9 Hudson I from PM that scored 11 hits on the airbase, 7 on supplies and 21 on the runways, but the raid was caught in a storm on return and 4 B-24D hit the mountains of New Guinea in bad weather.
The same evening, 32 Ki-61 flew from Truk to Rabaul, and 36 Ki-45 from Truk to Kavieng. Both had orders to fly CAP over Rabaul the next day, but there was no raid, and a Nick was lost in an accident.
The apparent quietness of the area led the Japanese commander of the area to send two AK laden with supplies to Rabaul and Kavieng on the 28th, and a convoy of 9 AP, 4 escort and 4 ML to carry the 7th Air Div HQ and 13th Base Force to Rabaul on the 29th.

But on the 30th, 57 B-24D and 14 Hudson I attacked Rabaul and the CAP of 20 Ki-61 and 19 Ki-45 was unable to stop them. The 203 Sentai shot down 7 B-24 and 2 Hudson but lost one Tony to return fire and 6 on the ground, while the 45 Sentai, flying for the first time the Nick in battle, shot down only 2 Hudson and 1 B-24 but lost 3 Ki-45, one shot down by return fire and 2 in crashes, and had more than half of the other damaged. The Allied bombers also scored 5 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 57 on the runway, and disabled 63 men and 2 guns. One more B-24D was lost in a crash.
In the evening both units returned all serviceable aircraft to Truk and one more Tony was lost to engine failure with its pilot. 7 damaged Tonies remained in Rabaul, and 15 Nicks in Kavieng.

Timor-Amboina-Australia

The 68 Sentai was very successfull over Koepang. On the 28th 22 Ki-61 intercepted 12 B-25C from Derby and shot down 4 without loss, the others scoring 1 hit on the airbase and 7 on the runway and disabling 36 men and 2 guns. The next day the Ki-61 didn’t retire as usual and 23 were again flying CAP when 7 B-25C from Derby attacked again in the afternoon. 3 Allied bombers were shot down by them, and two more by AA fire, the survivors doing no damage at all. There was no raid on Koepang on the 30th.
Lautem was attacked on the 29th (no damage) and 30th (1 hit on the airbase and 5 on the runway) each time by 24 B-25C from Darwin.
In the evening of the 30th, 36 Ki-45 moved from Kendari to Koepang (one crashed on the way and was lost with its pilot) and will LRCAP Lautem tomorrow.
On the 30th, a Nell flying a recon over Darwin was shot down by AA fire.

Southern Resource Area

Convoys started on the 28th to load 14k oil in Medan for Singapore and 10k resources in Manila for Japan. This last convoy left Manila in the night of 29th-30th but ran into an Allied submarine-laid minefield off Bataan and the small AK Yanagigawa was heavily damaged (45/63/14) by a Mk 10 mine and lost 2/3 of her cargo. She turned back and returned to Manila with the other ships of her convoy. She arrived at Manila in the evening and received orders to unload before being docked. Three MSW were sent from Osaka to sweep the minefield off Bataan.

To avoid the same thing in DEI, two MSW groups were sent from Singapore and will check Palembang, Batavia, Toboali and Brunei. Also the ML based in Singapore will lay more defensive minefields in these bases.

Burma

Allied raids continued without encountering any Japanese fighters. Mandalay was attacked on all 3 days by Allied airmen from Imphal. On the 28th the airfield was bombed by 37 Liberator VI, 27 B-17E, 16 Blenheim IV, 16 Beaufort I and 12 B-25J escorted by 54 P-40B, 8 Beaufighter VIC and 8 Beaufighter Mk 21 that scored 14 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 42 on the runways. The two next days the resources centers of the city were the target and all were disabled (between 30 and 40 had been repaired) by a total of 194 bomber sorties (75 Liberator VI, 33 B-17E, 30 Blenheim IV, 29 Beaufort I and 27 B-25J) and 134 escort sorties (108 P-40B, 14 Beaufighter VIC and 12 Mk 21).
Myitkyina was also attacked each morning during these three days by a total of 97 B-25J and 30 Beaufort V-IX bombing sorties escorted by 61 P-40B sorties. These attacks scored 8 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 103 on the runway. Japanese losses were 111 men and 2 guns.
Akyab was missed in the afternoon on the 28th by 9 Blenheim IV from Chandpur escorted by 28 P-40B, and in the afternoon of the 30 th by 61 B-25C and 36 Blenheim IV from the same base, escorted by 27 P-40B. This second attack scored 1 hit on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 15 on the runway, doing 10 casualties.
These three days cost the Allied air forces 6 operational losses: 2 P-40B, 1 B-17E, 1 Liberator VI, 1 B-25C and 1 Beaufighter Mk 21.

The Japanese air force in Burma was now strong enough to do something against these raids, but lacked a good place to do so. Mandalay was too strongly attacked, Pagan was still reconned each day, Myitkyina was very badly damaged, Akyab was lacking supplies, Lashio and Taung Gyi had only small base forces. So rather than defend it was decided to attack Recons flown on the 28th and 29th reported 20-25 Spitfire and some P-40B over Ledo, 25-30 Hurricanes and some Spitfire over Dacca and 40-45 Spitfire and 20-25 Mohawk and P-40B over Chandpur. So it was decided to send a sweep to Dacca.
The attack was sent on the 30th, with an afternoon raid of 24 Nells against the airfield. The bombers were ordered to bomb at 20k feet, and were just there to ensure the 'sweep' will be flown in the afternoon. They were escorted by 68 A6M2 and 24 A6M3a and were intercepted by 31 Hurricanes. In the following battle, 9 A6M2, 1 A6M3a and 24 Hurricane were shot down. The bombers were not attacked but only scored 1 hit on the airbase and 2 on the runways. One Zero of each type were also lost in accidents during this raid, and a Ki-46 was shot down by the RAF over India the same day, so the final result of the raid was 13 losses for 24 victories.

Japanese intelligence reported that Allied units continued to leave Asansol, 27 were now reported here, two less than some days ago.

The problem of supplying Akyab was becoming serious. Barges were not able to do it. On the 30th, 12 Topsies arrived in Rangoon to help supplying the base, and a FT TF of a CL and 2 DD loaded supplies for this base, and sailed in the evening. An A6M3 Daitai was ordered to fly LRCAP tomorrow over it.

China

In the north, the Northern China Army continued to move south from Kungchang but only the 3rd Tk Div reached the river north of Sian. Yenen bombers attacked each day the two Chinese Corps west of Sian, hitting 368 men and 4 guns and losing 2 Ki-49 and 1 Ki-21 in crashes in 156 sorties (73 Ki-49, 48 Ki-21 and 35 Oscar I). These raids were too costly and too early and were stopped in the evening of the 30th.
The LRCAP over Chengtu from Lanchow wasn’t repeated. And Japanese engineers expanded the airfield of Kungchang to size 2.

In Central China, the operational training units based in Wuhan attacked on the 28th and the 30th Chinese troops NW of Changsha, hitting a total of 143 men and flying 288 sorties (117 A6M2, 51 Vals, 52 Ki-48, 53 Oscar I, 15 Kates) without loss.

In the south, a recon unit was upgraded to the long-range Ki-46-III and Kunming was bombed by two KI-48 Sentais from Hanoi on the 29th (44 Ki-48s) and 30th (47) that aimed at the resources centers but only disabled two of the 89 still working before the raids.
On the 30th Japanese engineers expanded the airfield of Nanning to size 4, but the base then became too big for its garrison. Some transport aircraft will ferry troops to the city before troubles began here.
Also some units left again Kweilin for Wuchow because the required supplies fell below 10k and so the repairs of HI and resources stopped.

Japan

The CS Chitose and Chiyoda left Tokyo on the 28th and arrived in Osaka two days later, and were docked there to be transformed into CVL.

[AmiralLaurent]

31 January 1943

A bad day in the air, with 18 Allied and 22 Japanese (15 on the ground) losses.

New Zealand- Southern Pacific

The diversion convoy arrived during the night in the area where Allied submarines had been reported and the S-36 tried twice to attack it, just before and just after dawn, but was twice chased by the escort before being able to fire and she was damaged the second time by a near-miss scored by a PG. This TF will continue west for some days.

The New Caledonia invasion fleet, now well gathered in the same hex, sailed again north in the evening, apparently still undetected.

One of the Mavis transports carrying troops from Tarawa to Pago-Pago crashed. With no more sign of an Allied threat in the area, the air bridge was cancelled.
The damaged CV Junyo reached Suva from Auckland, refuelled and continued northwards to Japan with here escort.

Bismarcks-Solomons-New Guinea

Barges evacuated the troops that took Kiriwima and Goodenough islands but before that patrolling B-24D sank two of them.
In the afternoon, Rabaul was attacked again by 51 B-24D from PM that destroyed on the ground 4 unserviceable Ki-61, did 46 casualties and scored 5 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 50 on the runways. They suffered no casualty but AA guns shot down over Rabaul a Hudson I flying a recon sortie.

Allied engineers expanded Port Moresby airfield to size 7.

Timor-Amboina-Australia

The Japanese in Timor had become too confident and paid the price today. While the 16 Sentai flew LRCAP with its Nick over Lautem from Koepang, the latter base was defended only by the Tonies of the 68 Sentai. 123 B-17E from Darwin attacked the base, and if the Tonies were able to shot down 6 for 2 losses and damage others (6 crashing later, as did a 13th hit by AA fire) the bombers hit hard the base, destroying ten more Ki-61 on the ground and 1 Ki-45a too, disabling 214 men and 3 guns and scoring 12 hits on the airbase, 12 on supplies and 81 on the runway. At the same time 7 Ki-45 intercepted 24 B-25C from Darwin over Lautem but were unable to shot down one, and the bombers scored 1 hit on supplies and 2 on the runway. Two Ki-45 were lost in accidents.

In the evening, all serviceable fighters, 22 Ki-45 and 15 Ki-61 left Koepang for Kendari, leaving behind them 19 damaged aircraft (10 Nicks, 9 Tonies). The fast that the Allied were able to launch a raid with more than 120 B-17 was no more considered possible, and the proof of the contrary was enough to trigger a change in the Japanese plans. The 36 Ki-44 defending Amboina were also recalled to Kendari, that will so be defended by 186 fighters and 22 night fighters if the heavy bombers attack it.

But finally I like better to see these heavy bombers there, or over Rabaul, than in New Caledonia.

Southern Resource Area

In Manila the damaged AK Yanagigawa that hit a mine yesterday unloaded totally before being docked, and reported no deterioration of her state today (FLT still at 63, no more fire).

A convoy started to load 45k oil in Palembang for Japan.
Burma

During the night, 10 Beaufighter VIC from Imphal attack Rangoon but this new kind of raid didn’t prove effective: it hit nothing and a Beaufighter was shot down by AA fire.

During the day the only Allied raid was launched against Myitkyina, raided by 45 B-25J and 16 Beaufort V-IX from Ledo escorted by 17 P-40B. They scored 3 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 65 on the runway, doing 30 casualties, but also lost 2 B-25J and a Beaufort in crashes.

The FT TF sent from Rangoon to Akyab waited for the night to go and will unload this evening. The A6M3 Daitai tasked to cover it today lost two fighters and their pilot in accidents.

Japanese intelligence reported 21 Allied units in Asansol, 16 less than a dozen of days ago… Something must be in preparation on the Allied side and the Japanese recon flights were intensified and modified to try to detect an army coming south.

The Allied commander refused to release a British CV and paid 2600 PP instead. Churchill made no withdrawal demand for February.

China

In the north, the Japanese troops began to position themselves around Sian. North of the town, the 3rd Tk Div was joined by 3 Div, while south of it a regiment of the 32nd Div occupied the undefended woods SW of the town. Both groups will threaten the Chinese positions W of the city, positions held by two Corps while 13 units defended the city itself.

In the south, the 104th Div in Hong Kong was changed of command and assigned to the Southern Area Army. It had prepared for Kendari, but the intelligence reports seemed to indicate a probable Allied offensive in Burma and the transports that boarded the division in the afternoon will bring it to Singapore where it will remain in reserve.

Kunming will again be bombed tomorrow.

Japan

The BB Yamato and Kirishima and their escort (8 DD) arrived in Tokyo from Southern Pacific. All will be repaired and upgraded there or in Maizuru (for 3 DDs).

In Osaka, the conversion of the CS Chitose and Chiyoda was launched. The normal length of the conversion should be 330 days, but as all other warships (except CV) were returned to the normal building rate, both CVL will be accelerated and will arrive in 165 days. Until July 1943, these two CVL, two Unryu CV and 2 CVE will join the Kido Butai.

[AmiralLaurent]

Monthly report January 1943

Japanese score: 46 388 (+ 1 800)
Bases 13 169 (+ 544)
Aircraft 7 508 (+ 393)
Army 17 807 (+ 363)
Ship 7 186 (+ 6) 392 ships sunk (+ 1: 1 SS)
Scuttled ships 0 (- 8)
Strategic 718 (+ 494) (bombing of Newcastle, Australia)

Allied score: 8 453 (+ 247)
Bases 3 144 (+ 19)
Aircraft 3 511 (+ 178)
Army 781 (+ 40)
Ship 1017 (+ 10) 105 ships sunk (+ 1: 1 AP)
Strategic 0

Economic situation (stocks rounded to the thousand):
Supplies : 4 000 000 (bases) + around 760 000 (TFs) = around 4 760 000 (+ 102 000)
Fuel : 4 344 000 (bases) + around 111 000 (TFs) = around 4 455 000 (- 78 000) (still big consumption in Southern Pacific)
Ressource centers : 18 596 (+ 86)
Ressources : 1 215 000 (bases) + 119 000 (TFs) = 1 334 000 (+ 4 000, at least increasing a bit with the new conquest in China)
Oil centers : 2 752 (+ 36)
Oil: 1 507 000 (bases) + 374 000 (TFs) = 1 881 000 (+ 46 000)
Manpower centers : 815 (+ 0)
Manpower pool : 764 000 (+ 39 000)
Heavy industry: 13 788 (+ 16)
Heavy industry pool: 227 000 (+ 23 000)
Naval shipyard: 1278 (+ 0)
Merchant shipyard: 1000 (+ 0)
Repair shipyard: 905 (+ 7)
Armament industry: 683 (+ 0)
Armament stock: 135 000 (+ 10 000)
Vehicles industry: 113 (+ 0)
Vehicles stock: 5 700 (+ 400)
Aircraft engine factories: 1567 (+ 0)
Aircraft frames factories: 1191 (- 3) (Jake converted to Judy research)
Aircraft research: 77 (+ 26) (both versions of A6M5, Judy and Jill)

Aircraft production:
267 A6M3a Zero (capacity 246), 167 Ki-43-IIa (159), 96 Ki-61 KAIc Tony (123, partly stopped), 63 Ki-44-IIb Tojo (57), 44 Ki-45 KAIa Nick (43), 27 Ki-45 KAIb Nick (25, new model), 24 Ki-49 Helen (23), 22 Ki-54 Hickory (32, restarted for a short time), 21 Ki-57 Topsy (10, restarted during this month), 19 Ki-46-III Dinah (48, new model), 11 J1N1-R Irving (16), 2 L3Y Tina (5), 1 H6K2-L Mavis (4), 0 A6M3 Zero (72, suspended), 0 G4M1 Betty (46, stopped), 0 Ki-51 Sonia (45, stopped), 0 D3A Val (41, stopped), 0 Ki-48 (capacity 40, stopped), 0 B5N Kate (40, stopped), 0 H8K Emily (32, suspended), 0 Ki-21 Sally (20, suspended), 0 E13A1 Jake (20, suspended), 0 A6M-2 Rufe (14, suspended), 0 L2D2 Tabby (10, suspended), 0 MC-21 Sally (5, stopped this month), 0 E7K2 Alf (5, suspended), 0 E14Y1 Glen (4, suspended)

Total: 782 aircraft (593 fighters, 46 transport, 44 night-fighters, 30 recon, 27 fighter-bombers, 24 level bombers, 0 divebombers, 0 torpedo bombers)

At least this month everything is green on the economical front. The resource production should continue to rise with repairs in Wuchow and then Sian once it will be taken, and the HI will be a little expanded.

[AmiralLaurent]

1-2 February 1943

On the 1st, each side lost 4 aircraft, and the 2nd saw the opening of the battle of Noumea and heavy Allied raids on Koepang with 49 Allied aircraft losses and 29 Japanese. Next days should be more bloody.

Central Pacific

The convoy bringing the 22nd Ind Mixed Bde to Midway reached its destination on the 2nd and started to unload.

New Zealand- Southern Pacific

All was still quiet on the 1st and the only fight was above Efate where a Betty flying recon was shot down by AA fire after signalling 15 P-40E on CAP. This evening the invasion fleet was at 550 miles S of Noumea and plans were made to start the battle of New Caledonia

The next morning, PBY saw the fleet 360 miles SSW of Noumea, with another TF 60 miles more south (the AO TF). The Kido Butai launched a sweep of 95 A6M3a against Noumea, and as the day before the CAP was flown only by F4F-4, 21 of a Marine squadron. They were all shot down by the Zeroes that lost 4 of their number in the air battle. 9 Japanese units scored victories. Once skies were clear 47 Betties arrived from Suva and bombed the airfield, destroying on the ground 8 B-26B, 5 A-20G, 4 P-38G and 1 P-40E, but losing 9 to murderous AA fire and 1 more in a crash.
In the evening, Japanese reports showed still 241 aircraft in Noumea (101/42/98). The orders of the fleet were to let them attack tomorrow, the fleet still sailing north, the AO TF being ordered to sail at full speed to catch up. The next night and day, both BB and KB will hit Noumea.



West of New Zealand, the diversion convoy continued to sail towards Australia until the evening of the 2nd, with the battle off Noumea starting its role was no more useful and it turned back to Auckland.

Even if the alert in Southern Pacific some days ago had been proved to be a false one, it had shown that defences should be reorganised, especially ground units. On the 1st, APs loaded a SNLF in Suva to bring it to Canton Island, and will pick up here both Const Bn that almost finished the fortifications of the atoll (fort 8, at 90%), and another TF loaded a SNLF in Kwajalein and will bring it to Naenomea.

Bismarcks-Solomons-New Guinea

In the morning of the 1st, the SS USS Shark tried to chase Japanese barges N of Woodlark Island without success. The next night one of the two barge TFs coming back from Goodenough and Kiriwima Islands landed its troops on Woodlark Island (7 casualties) that will be occupied tomorrow.

47 B-24D from PM bombed Rabaul on the afternoon of the 1st, scoring 5 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 49 on the runways, and disabling 42 men and 1 gun but missing the remaining damaged Ki-61 and losing one of their number to AA fire. Again 47 B-24D attacked the next afternoon, and scored 2 hits on the airbase and 45 on the runways, disabled 84 men and 2 guns, missed the last Ki-61 that were repaired and left this evening, and lost a new B-24D to AA fire.
In the evening 20 Ki-61 of the 203 Sentai flew back from Truk to Kavieng, losing one of them and its pilot on the way. From there they will fly LRCAP over the troop convoy approaching Rabaul with an Air HQ and a Base Force.

Allied airmen started on the 1st to fly training mission against Goodenough Island from Port Moresby. In two days the empty base was attacked without damage or loss by 18 Beaufort V-IX escorted by 6 P-40E.

The convoy bringing 2 Const Bns to Lunga arrived on the evening of the 1st and started to unload them.

Timor-Amboina-Australia

The raids on Koepang continued, with 21 B-25C from Derby and 61 B-17E from Darwin on the 1st, destroying a Ki-61 on the ground, scoring 2 hits on the airbase, 3 on supplies and 34 on the runway, and disabling 102 men and 1 gun for the loss of a B-25C shot down by AA fire. The next day Koepang was attacked by less bombers, 15 B-25C from Derby and 58 B-17E from Darwin, but they were far more efficient, destroying 10 damaged aircraft (6 Ki-61 and 4 Ki-45) on the ground, disabling 127 men and 3 guns and scoring 5 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 45 on the runway, while a B-17E was shot down by AA fire and another lost in an accident.
Few damaged aircraft were repaired in two days, but in the evening of the 2nd, the last Ki-61 fled to Kendari and only 6 damaged Nicks remained. On the evening of the 1st two AKs were sent from Kendari to pick up these aircraft but will probably arrive too late. The next evening 36 Ki-44 flew from Kendari to Maumere (losing one and its pilot on the way) and will LRCAP tomorrow Koepang.

Lautem was also bombed on both afternoons by 21 and 25 B-25C from Darwin but they only scored 2 hits on a building and 3 on the runway in 2 days and lost 2 B-25C to AA fire (one on each day) and one in a crash on the 2nd. Also 7 Brewster 339D from Darwin attacked unsuccessfully barges north of Lautem on the 2nd.

Japanese recons reported on the 1st that the Allied CAP over the N Australian bases was reduced by 20-30%, but this CAP shot down a recon Nell over Derby the same day, and recons were stopped this evening.

Japanese airmen reported an Allied submarine between Kendari and Menado on the 1st and an ASW group was sent from Kendari this evening to chase her and found the American submarine S-33 240 miles NE of Kendari the next morning. A PC damaged her with some near-misses.

Southern Resource Area

Convoys started to load 14k resources in Toboali for Singapore, 14k supplies in Kuala Lumpur for Rangoon and 21k resources from Singapore to Japan.

Burma

Rangoon was again attacked during the night of the 31st-1st by 9 Beaufighter VIC, without loss or damage.

Myitkyina was attacked on both mornings, each time by 49 B-25J and 15-16 Beaufort V-IX escorted by 20 P-40B from Ledo. They scored a total of 13 hits on the airbase, 3 on supplies and 123 on the runway, wrecking at 100% the airfield. Japanese losses were 89 men and 1 gun.
Akyab was also attacked twice, but this time in the afternoons and from Chandpur, by 34 Blenheim IV and 12 B-25C escorted by 16 P-40B on the 1st and by 63 B-25C and 32 Blenheim IV escorted by 22 P-40B. They scored a total of 7 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 22 on the runway, and disabled 16 men and 1 gun.
In these two days, 3 P-40B and a Blenheim IV were lost in crashes.

Japanese airmen continued their recon over India and failed to report any threatening move towards Burma while on the 2nd a recon reported 32 units in Asansol, so most of them really didn’t move contrary to the reports of the last days… On the 2nd, a Ki-15 was shot down over Imphal by an Allied fighter, and a Nell was shot down over Asansol by AA fire.

The weather forecast for tomorrow is overcast and a powerful LRCAP will be flown over Akyab to ambush the daily Allied raid. 45 A6M2, 33 Oscar II, 27 A6M3a and 25 A6M3 were ordered to fly this mission from Rangoon.

China

Kunming resources were bombed on the 1st and 2nd respectively by 43 and 40 Ki-48s from Hanoi but suffered no new damage and 1 Ki-48 was shot down by AA fire on the 1st. These raids were stopped on the evening of the 2nd.

A training mission was flown on the 1st from Wuhan against Chinese troops NW of Changsha with 58 A6M2, 27 Val, 27 Oscar I, 26 Ki-48 and 8 Kates, and hit 100 men. All units were grounded the next day, I don’t want them to fly every day and fall into an ambush.

In the north, in the evening of the 1st, the Japanese troops across the river N of Sian were now 6 Div, 1 Tk Div, 1 Tk Rgt, 3 HQ and 3 ART units. The armoured units were ordered to remain there, all other troops started to move to cross the river west of Sian to cut the road, held by 2 Chinese Corps.
These Chinese troops were bombed the next day by 20 Ki-21 and 16 Ki-48 from Homan and lost 21 men, but the Japanese forces advanced slowly (5-10 miles in one day) and 4 more Chinese units left Sian westwards this same day. So only 9 units remained in Sian, and the 23rd Army (HQ, 2 Div) waiting SE of Sian received orders to advance to the city.

Japanese engineers expanded the airfield of Kungchang to size 3.

Japan

A new MLE was commissioned in Osaka on the 1st and will sail to Kuala Lumpur, Malaya, to help in the mining of the Burmese coast, the Andaman Islands and Sumatra. Three new small Base Forces were created the same day in Tokyo and received orders to prepare for Luang Prabang, Guam and Wallis Island.

All production of the Ki-61 Tony was stopped for some time as the stock was above 300.

[AmiralLaurent]

3 February 1943

Another bad day for Allied wings, with 85 Allied losses (74 A2A, 3 AA, 8 ops) for 22 Japanese (13 A2A, 9 ops).

My opponent said me in his last mail that his Marine Wildcat squadrons won't upgrade to Corsairs, but to Hellcats. It is porbably as historic as the Japanese Nate not upgrading to Oscar until 1943, or the Oscar not upgrading to anything else, but anyway it seems strange for me, in all games I know Corsairs are active on the frontline starting from February 1943...

Central Pacific

27 A6M3a arrived in Midway from PH to cover the unloading of the 22nd Ind Mixed Bde here, in case Allied CV raided the area.

In Hawaii, the fortifications of Kona were almost finished and 20 AP and 6 escort left PH to sail to Kona and load the construction troops used here and bring them to other islands.

New Zealand- Southern Pacific

At dawn the whole invasion fleet was at 180 miles SW of Noumea and was detected there by Allied air patrols. During the day the KB CAP shot down a PBY Catalina and a B-26B Marauder getting too close.
Japanese recon of Noumea showed that the CAP had been reinforced and was now flown by 30 P-38G, 10 P-40E and some F4F-4. Fighter units identified there during the day where a full Group of P-38G (318th FG), one or two squadrons of P-40E (part of 55th FG) and the remains of the Marine squadron defeated yesterday (VMF-441).

No Japanese attack was planned for the day and the Japanese crews and pilots waited for Allied attacks. Three raids were launched by Noumea against the fleet during the day. The first was made by 9 B-26B that turned back when the CAP (179 A6M3a and 7 A6M3) intercepted them. One B-26 was shot down by a Zero, another was lost in a crash. Still in the morning 3 A-20G escorted by 14 P-38G and 10 P-40E attacked but were all shot down by the CAP, that lost 4 A6M3a in the battle. The PO2 Fujita, P. of EII-1 Daitai claimed his 22nd kill in this battle and became the new top active Japanese ace. In the afternoon the third raid was launched with 8 PB4Y but they didn’t find the target.

Evening reports showed only 147 aircraft in Noumea (41/45/61). A Nell Chutai based in Auckland was ordered to bombard this airfield tonight.
The Japanese admiral hesitated to order naval and air bombing of Noumea, but the AA defences seemed to be very serious and he ordered instead to continue to move north and fly CAP 70%. Tomorrow 36 Tinas from Suva will drop troops of the 1st Para Rgt on Koumac, that has been reported until now as empty. Then the next night, BB TF will bomb Noumea and then sail to Koumac as their home base, so remaining under CAP by the nearby KB, that will bomb the airfield with Kates flying high.

The convoy carrying the 3rd Base Force from Wellington arrived in Auckland and started to unload it. 12 Mavis transport arrived there from Tarawa and will be used to carry this aviation support troops to New Caledonia.

Bismarcks-Solomons-New Guinea

Port Moresby sent two raids in the afternoon, 47 B-24D attacking Rabaul and scoring 1 hit on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 36 on the runway, doing 49 casualties, and 9 Beaufort V-IX escorted by 22 P-40E on a milk run to Goodenough Island, hitting nothing and losing a P-40 in an accident.
A company of the Sasebo 6th SNLF occupied Woodlark Island.

The troop convoy for Rabaul arrived near Kavieng, apparently still undetected by Allied patrols. The Tonies of Kavieng will continue to fly LRCAP over it tomorrow.

Timor-Amboina-Australia

Koepang was only attacked once, and by a new type of enemy aircraft. In the afternoon, 7 PB4Y from Wyndham attacked the base and easily repulsed the attack of 7 Tojos of the 47 Sentai flying LRCAP from Maumere and bombed the base, scoring 1 hit on the airbase and 8 on runways and doing 12 casualties without loss. On the other hand the 47 Sentai lost one Ki-44 to return fire and another in a crash, but will LRCAP again Koepang tomorrow.
In the evening an AK arrived off Koepang and loaded the last 6 unserviceable Ki-45 of the base, that now had only 2 Pete (just to have an aircraft symbol). This ship left immediately for Macassar.

Southern Resource Area

A convoy loaded 21k resources in Tarakan for Japan.

Burma

During the night, 5 Beaufighter VIF from 176 Sqn flew from Imphal to Rangoon but hit nothing and one was damaged by AA fire and crashed on the return leg.

In the morning, 35 Liberator VI, 23 B-17E, 15 Blenheim IV, 12 Beaufort I and 12 B-25J from Imphal, escorted by 51 P-40B and 8 Beaufighter Mk 21, attacked Pagan and bombed its resources centers. 25-30 were running before the attack, 5 after. A Liberator VI was shot down by AA fire, 1 B-17E, 1 Beaufort I and 1 P-40B were lost in crashes.

In the afternoon, 56 B-25C and 31 Blenheim IV took off from Chandpur under escort by 23 P-40B and flew to Akyab, but met there a LRCAP of 16 A6M2, 16 Oscar II, 15 A6M3a and 8 A6M3 flying from Rangoon. In the following air battle, the Japanese fighters shot down 17 P-40B, 15 B-25C and 12 Blenheim IV for 8 losses (3 A6M3, 3 Oscar II, 1 A6M3a, 1 A6M2). The remaining bombers reached the target (only 3 B-25C turned back) and scored 5 hits on the airbase, 4 on supplies and 16 on the runway, doing 24 casualties. One more Blenheim IV was shot down by AA fire, and 1 B-25C was destroyed in a crash. On the Japanese side 5 more fighters (2 A6M3, 2 A6M2, 1 A6M3a) were lost in accidents during the LRCAP flights from Rangoon, but several Japanese pilots were saved.
The exact losses of the involved units were 3 Oscar II and 2 pilots for the 50 Sentai, 5 A6M3 and 4 pilots for F1/6th, 2 A6M3 and no pilot for F2/1st, 3 A6M2 and 2 pilots for F4/Toko and no loss for F2/Genzan. So for the loss of 13 aircraft and 8 pilots, 44 victories were claimed, and a total of 51 Allied aircraft were lost over Burma during the day. Not bad.
In the evening all Rangoon fighters came back to their usual task of local defence.

Another good news was that Akyab was finally supplies by land and now had 7k supplies with only 2500 required. For months the trails had been under Japanese control and big supplies dump had been available in Rangoon and Mandalay, but it was the first time AFAIR that supplies arrived by this way in Akyab. Maybe a result of the upgrade to patch 1.802.
A immediate result was that the Topsies carrying supplies from Rangoon to Akyab were immediately sent back to Bangkok in reserve.

China

31 Ki-49, 26 Ki-21 and 15 Ki-48 from Yenen and 35 Ki-48 and 20 Ki-21 from Homan bombed two Chinese Corps west of Sian and hit 275 men and 5 guns while losing a Ki-49 and a Ki-21 in accidents. Recons and land patrols confirmed today that the Chinese were leaving Sian. Only one unit was still in the town, 7 were west of it, and 7 in the next hex on the road to Chunking. The 23rd Army will reach Sian tomorrow and will occupy the probably empty town. All troops in Sian will probably escape, and the Northern China Army new goal will be to try to surround and destroy the Chinese units currently in the mountains and woods north of the Sian-Chunking road. The first operation of this type was launched today with a Rgt of the 27th Div ordered to leave Lanchow to chase a Chinese BF in the woods SW of the city.

A new training mission was flown from Wuhan against Chinese troops NW of Changsha with 56 A6M2, 27 Oscar I, 24 Vals, 9 Nates and 8 Kates and hit 51 men.

[AmiralLaurent]

4 February 1943

New Zealand- Southern Pacific

The night raid from Auckland was cancelled by bad weather. Dawn found all New Caledonia under clouds and rain, and it was a good thing as the Japanese fleet had lost cohesion during the night. It was more or less planned that the fleet will spend the day just west of Noumea, moving 3 hexes in the night and day. Well it moved four hexes, and so was now W of La Foa, but one of the 3 transport TF was late and was still west of Noumea with an escorting ASW group in the morning.
The Japanese crews were not so happy to see the clouds clear in the afternoon, but no raid was sent by Noumea, despite the fact that recons still reported here 174 aircraft (52/49/73). The only Allied attack on Japanese ships was a raid by 8 PB4Y from Luganville against the main fleet west of La Foa and the Japanese CAP (179 A6M3a and 6 A6M3) shot down all for the loss of an A6M3a. PO2 Fujita P of EII-1 scored his 23rd kill. The KB CAP also shot down during the day 3 patrolling Allied aircraft: a B-26B, an A-20G and a PBY Catalina.
The CAP over Noumea was reported as 21 P-38G, 5 P-40E, 3 F4F-4, while 15 P-40E were reported over Efate, and no CAP over Luganville.

In the evening 36 Tinas from Suva dropped 500 men of the 1st Parachute Rgt on the empty airfield of Koumac that was taken without any loss. 42 Zeroes from Auckland and Nandi were flown there to provide CAP, but two disappeared on the way with their pilots. The Mavis transport Chutai in Auckland will bring air support squads of the 3rd Base Force to this base.
The three Japanese transport TFs will anchor off Koumac tonight and start to unload troops and supplies. The MSW and ASW TF will follow them, and 23 Zeroes from the KB will help the land-based Zeroes to defend the ships.
Noumea will finally be attacked. During the night, the Musashi and Ise IF will bombard it (total of 2 BB, 2 CA, 4 CL) under the cover of a scout TF (a CL, 9 DD) remaining a surface TF to engage PT or submarines with more success. Then during the day, the KB that will patrol west of La Foa, will wait for naval targets and if none are seen will attack Noumea airfield with its Kate.
Recons showed today one more Allied unit in Noumea and no troops in La Foa, so it was deemed possible that all Allied troops retreated or were retreating to Noumea. The Tinas of Suva will drop the remaining troops of the 1st Para Rgt on La Foa tomorrow to try to seize this base as soon as possible, as it is a far better airfield (size 4) than Koumac (size 1).



In the Southern Pacific rear area, Japanese engineers expanded Tarawa airfield to size 5,and finished the fortifications of Nandi. AP with escort were sent from Suva to load the Const Bns in this latter base and move them to another base needing them.

Bismarcks-Solomons-New Guinea

The troop convoy arrived in Rabaul without being attacked and unloaded the air HQ and a part of the 13th Base Force. Only recon flights by Hudsons flew from PM to Rabaul today and if they reported 15 Ki-61 flying LRCAP from Kavieng, they didn’t report the convoy that will continued to unload tomorrow.

Timor-Amboina-Australia

Koepang was attacked in the afternoon by 3 waves of Allied bombers (12 B-25C from Derby, 7 PB4Y from Wyndham, and 82 B-17E from Darwin) that were all intercepted by 7 Ki-44 flying LRCAP from Maumere. The Japanese pilots shot down one B-25C and one PB4Y, but then lost 4 of their number to return fire against the B-17. All three raids reached the base, for a total of 6 hits on the airbase, 5 on supplies and 49 on the runways. Japanese losses were 186 men and 2 gun, while another PB4Y was lost in an accident.
At the same time 18 B-25C from Darwin raided Lautem and scored one hit on a supply dump and one on the runway.
In the evening the Tojo Sentai of Maumere retired to Kendari for R&R, while 27 Nells moved forward from Macassar to Kendari to prepare a raid on Wyndham, that will be reconned tomorrow.

Southern Resource Area

A tanker started to load 9k oil in Rangoon for Singapore.

Burma

During the night another ineffective raid on Rangoon was flown by 6 Beaufighter VIF from Imphal, this time without loss.

Pagan was again bombed in the morning by 31 Liberator VI, 24 B-17E, 15 Blenheim IV, 15 B-25J and 14 Beaufort I escorted by 52 P-40B, 8 Beaufighter Mk 21 and 6 Beaufighter VIC from Imphal and the last 5 running resource centers were disabled. AA hit 17 Allied aircraft but all reached base, while 2 P-40B were destroyed in an air collision.
In the evening the AA Rgt and the Air HQ that were sent from Mandalay to Pagan left this base to return to Mandalay.

53 Betties flew from Singapore to Rangoon (one being lost on the way with its crew) and will raid India in some days.

China

Chinese troops continued to march west of Sian and were bombed by 37 Ki-21, 34 Ki-49 and 13 Ki-48 from Yenen that hit 38 men and 1 gun.
The two divisions of the 23rd Army reached Sian from the SE and reported that one Chinese unit still held the town. They were ordered to attack it tomorrow with air support from Homan.

Japan

The Ki-54 factory in Tokyo, having built 16 reserve aircraft for the only Ki-54 unit, was converted to another Jill factory (size 23) to accelerate the research of this aircraft.

[AmiralLaurent]

5 February 1943

Air losses for the day were 41 Allied (25 A2A, 5 ground, 3 AA,8 ops) and 27 Japanese (14 A2A, 1 ground, 6 AA, 6 ops).

Central Pacific

Japanese engineers in Kona completed the fortifications to level 9, and then boarded the APs that were waiting them. An Eng Rgt and 6 Const Bn were there and, as all bases in the area have either fort level 9 or already construction troops building them, will sail to Southern Pacific to build the second line of defence here. The Eng Rgt will go to Wallis Island, one pair of Const Bn will go to Baker Island, another to Funafuti and the last to Nanomea. Four AK laden each with 7000 supplies left the same evening Suva and Kwajalein for these 4 atolls.

New Caledonia

During the night, 6 Nells from Auckland tried to attack Noumea airfield. It proved to be a very bad idea. Only one crew came back to base, describing a tremendous AA fire and reporting seeing two bombers explode over the target. The three other crashed in sea on the return leg due to AA damage. This raid won’t be repeated.

Just after the raid three Japanese fleets arrived off Noumea. Two were bombardment TFs centred around BB Ise and Musashi, the other was a scout TF made of a CL and 9 DD and supposed to clean the waters of PT boats before the BB arrived.
Well, it worked this time. The night began badly with the CA Kinugasa hitting a VH2 mine (damage 28/8/15 in the evening), and the DD Sagiri two (she was scuttled in the evening). But the 8 PTs guarding the port were surprised by the scout TF that sank four in a first clash, and then 2 in another, without loss or damage. Then the two remaining PT were surprised by the escort of a bombardment TF and sunk too. The base was then bombed twice, each time by a BB, a CA and two CLs. The first bombing hit only a unit (probably a CD unit), the second hit the airfield and the port. In both cases there was no return fire. Allied losses were 584 men, 9 guns, 2 vehicles, 5 aircraft destroyed on the ground (2 P-38G, 2 F4F-4 and 1 B-26B) and a tanker heavily damaged in the port. Japanese shells scored 2 hits on the airbase, 5 on the runways, 4 on the port and 1 on port supplies.

At the same time a TF of 12 PT sent off Koumac found the Japanese fleet that had just arrived here and started to unload. The transport TF themselves were escorted by ASW TF made of PC and PG and three such TF engaged the PT boats and blocked every attempt to get close the landing spots. The first ASW TF lost a PG sunk by 3 torpedoes and another heavily damaged by one and sank one PT. The second lost also a PG sunk (2 torpedoes) and two other ships damaged by MG and 20mm fire but sank 3 PT. And the last one sank 3 PT for no loss or serious damage.

Dawn found the Kido Butai under clouds and it remained under bad weather for the whole day. KB CAP shot down two patrolling B-25C during the day.
Noumea was clear of clouds in the morning, and sent 26 B-26B and 3 A-20G under escort by 12 P-38G, 6 P-40E and 2 F4F-4 to attack ships off Koumac. They met a CAP of 24 A6M2 (flying from the local airfield) and 18 A6M3a (flying LRCAP from the KB). For the loss of 4 A6M3a and 1 A6M2, the Japanese pilots shot down 3 P-38G, 3 P-40E and 1 B-26B, and all other B-26B turned back. The A-20G got through and bombed and missed a CL. Four B-26B arrived late and were also repulsed by the CAP that shot down one.
In the afternoon, Noumea too was under clouds and launched no big raid, but a patrolling A-20G found west of La Foa the PG damaged by a torpedo during the night and sank it with a well-dropped bomb.
A Ki-46-III from Norfolk Island was shot down by AA fire over Noumea after reporting a CAP of 16 P-38G, 6 P-40E and 3 F4F-4. This CAP shot down during the day a Val and a Dave flying naval search.
This afternoon, it was Luganville that sent raids to attack Japanese ships off Koumac, protected by 21 A6M3a and 18 A6M2. First came 5 PB4Y of 4 Sqn RNZAF. Three were shot down but they destroyed 2 A6M2 and 1 A6M3a and the two survivors attacked the CL Tama and hit here with a bomb, doing medium damage (25/8/0 in the evening). Then arrived 24 B-24D that were heavily attacked and turned back, losing 11 of their number against an A6M2 and an A6M3a shot down by return fire. Then arrived 2 other PB4Y. One was shot down but the other shot down an A6M3a and then attacked and missed the CA Furutaka.
During these CAP flights over Koumac, one A6M2 and one A6M3a were lost in accidents.

At sea, the five PT that survived the night battle off Koumac were sailing back to Noumea when they were reported by the KB patrols near its position and then engaged by the scout TF (a CL, 9 DD) leading and escorting the CV TF. Having no more torpedoes, the PT were easy targets and all five were quickly sunk.

In the evening, the Tinas of Suva dropped the second wave of the 1st Para Rgt over La Foa and it took the base, that was as empty as the recons had reported it. One Tina was lost to engine failure during this mission.

The original plan was that once La Foa had been taken, all transport TF will move there and finish to unload, while the fragments of units landed in Koumac will march to La Foa. But for one reason I was unable to use the ‘march all to’ button to give march orders to the Army. Finally just two parts of division received orders to march to La Foa from Koumac, the other will wait to be fully unloaded in the latter place. 41 000 men and 15k supplies had been landed in one day (and one TF hadn’t started to unload).

The Allied threats against the transport fleet were the following:
_ in Noumea a TF of 10+ TF had been spotted, while 226 aircraft (58/110/58) were spotted on the airfield. The PT were the more serious danger, most of the aircraft are medium bombers with low morale. The AA defences of Noumea were apparently very powerful, and attacking it by air was not thought to be a good idea.
_ in Luganville was based a squadron of PB4Y (that should be reduced to 50% now) and a group of B-24D.

So the Kido Butai was ordered to sail NE to 180 miles SW of Luganville and to attack at dawn the airfield here with all available Vals and Kates, to kill as many heavy bombers as possible on the ground. This raid will then be followed by an attack on the same target by 23 Betties. Both BB having bombarded Noumea were now off Koumac and will sail with the Kido Butai, and maybe bombard Luganville tomorrow evening.

To protect the fleet off Koumac against PT, the scout TF that was so successfull off Noumea will patrol here and reinforce the ASW TF, while a TF of 5 DD will sail to Noumea to chase PT boats off this base. Both Japanese damaged cruisers, the Kinugasa and the Tama, were incorporated to a transport base.
The air cover will be provided over Koumac by the Zeroes based locally. The two depleted A6M2 Daitais already there were reinforced in the evening by a Daitai of 25 A6M3a that left the KB to go there (the carrier capable unit was divided into 3 Chutais to occupy available free space aboard 3 CVs).

Tomorrow the Mavis transport based in Auckland will bring squads of the 3rd Base Force to La Foa. 12 more Mavis transports and 35 Tinas arrived from Suva to do the same but will rest before flying (fatigue of both new units was respectively 52 and 61).



New Zealand- Southern Pacific

In Nandi, the fortifications were finished (level 9) and both Const Bns embarked aboard APs that will bring them to Dunedin, New Zealand.

Bismarcks-Solomons-New Guinea

In the afternoon 41 B-24D again attacked the airfield of Rabaul and met 11 Ki-61 flying LRCAP from Kavieng. One Tony was lost to return fire, one B-24D was shot down by AA fire and another lost in a crash. The bombers scored 2 hits on the airbase, 4 on supplies and 26 on runways, and disabled 78 men and 1 gun. But once again they didn’t attack the convoy off the base, that finished unloading troops. In the evening it still had 10k supplies aboard, but supplies were not a problem in Rabaul and he was ordered to leave immediately for Lunga to unload here before returning to Truk.
Another convoy, bringing the 9th Fleet HQ from Tokyo, will arrive in Rabaul tomorrow and the 203 Sentai in Kavieng was ordered to change of target but will continue to fly LRCAP tomorrow.

11 Beaufort V-IX escorted by 31 P-40E flew a training mission from Port Moresby to Goodenough Island and lost two P-40E in accidents.

Timor-Amboina-Australia

In the afternoon Koepang was bombed by 70 B-17E from Darwin that scored 2 hits on the airbase and 48 on the runways, did 115 casualties and lost one of their number in an accident, while 27 B-25C from the same base attacked Lautem and scored 2 hits on the supplies and 4 on the runway, doing 26 casualties.

Burma

During the night Rangoon was unsuccessfully attacked by 6 Beaufighter VIF from Imphal.

In the morning, 20 Liberator VI, 20 B-17E, 16 Blenheim IV, 14 B-25J and 13 Beaufort I from Imphal, escorted by 46 P-40B, 6 Beaufighter VIC and 4 Beaufighter Mk 21, attacked Pagan airfield and scored 19 hits on the airbase, 7 on supplies and 58 on the runway. Japanese losses were one Ki-46-II destroyed on the ground, 248 men and 2 guns. A Liberator and a Beaufort hit by AA fire crashed later in the jungle.
At the same time 56 B-25J and 15 Beaufort V-IX escorted by 19 P-40B from Ledo bombed Myitkyina airfield, disabling 77 men and 2 guns and scoring 3 hits on the airbase, 4 on supplies and 54 on the runway.

China

40 Ki-21, 31 Ki-49 and 19 Ki-48 from Yenen continued to bomb the Chinese troops W of Sian, hitting 181 men and 2 guns but losing a Ki-21 and a Ki-49 in crashes. These units didn’t receive the order yesterday to stop these raids, but the order was repeated in the evening.
More north, 33 Oscar II from Lanchow escorted by 7 Ki-61 attacked a Chinese Base Force retreating west of Kungchang but hit nothing and one Oscar was destroyed in a crash. The regiment of the 27th Div that was ordered to chase this Chinese unit was very slow to advance into woods and was recalled to Lanchow.

In Sian the 23rd Army attacked with the 34th and 58th Div, thinking that it will find the town finally deserted. But the Chinese 1st Temp Div was there and with the help of the fortifications (level 9) managed in extremis to repulse the attack (10 to 1) losing 132 men and 5 guns while Japanese losses were 144 men, 2 guns and 1 tank. The attack will continue tomorrow, again with expected air support from Homan (that was closed by bad weather this day).

All troops being N of Sian and not having orders to cross the river W of it received orders to move to Sian itself. NW of the town, the Chinese troops in the open gathered on the mountain 120 miles NW of Sian, and the Japanese staffs started to design a plan to surround and destroy them here.

Japan

A convoy started to load 42k supplies in Tokyo and will sail to Kwajalein. The AK will then remain here as this area of the Japanese Empire is lacking transport capacity.

In Korea were based 8 AA Rgt. It was judged a bit too much given the low risk of an enemy air raid here, and five of them were ordered to move to Pusan port. A convoy of 5 AK and 5 escorts left Tokyo to pick them up here, and will bring them where they are more needed. At least two will go to Burma.

[AmiralLaurent]

6-7 February 1943

Two busy days in the air again. Losses in two days were 90 Allied and 44 Japanese aircraft. You will see below the main air losses of the 7th, the bloodiest of both days.



Northern Pacific

Since an Allied airfield opened in Amchitka, Mavis from Paramushiro Jima flew daily recon of this base, reporting sometimes some P-40E on CAP. On the 6th the Mavis reported 23 P-38G and 5 P-40E before being shot down by one of them. Recons were stopped after this loss.

Central Pacific

The 22nd Ind Mixed Bde finished to unload in Midway and the convoy sailed back westwards. So the A6M3a Daitai detached here to cover it flew back to PH.

New Zealand- Southern Pacific

During the night of the 5th-6th, 5 Japanese DD swept Noumea waters to engage PT boats and found 12 of them but the outcome was not what was planned. The DD Shirekumo and Ariake were both torpedoed and the latter was unable to remain with the TF when it retired after sinking 2 PTs and heavily damaging another with 25mm. The Ariake was later in the day again hit by a patrolling A-20G and was finally scuttled in the afternoon W of La Foa. The other DD reached Koumac with damage 33/37/17.

At dawn on the 6th, clouds covered the Kido Butai between (Noumea and Luganville) and all Japanese bases, and the only raid in the morning was an attack of Luganville by 19 Betties from Suva that scored 1 hit on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 1 on the runway and suffered one loss to AA fire. Recons and patrols flew, and while the KB CAP shot down a PBM Mariner, it lost an A6M3a to return fire and the Allied CAP of Noumea (24 P-38G, 6 P-40E, 3 F4F-4) and Efate (15 P-40E) shot down during the day a Val, a Kate, a Jake and a Dave.

In the afternoon, weather was clear above New Caledonia and four waves of Allied bombers from Noumea attacked Japanese shipping off Koumac. The first was the biggest, with 22 B-6B escorted by 13 P-38G and 3 P-40E. The Japanese CAP (17 A6M2 and 12 A6M3a) was out of position and if it shot down 4 P-38G and 3 P-40E without loss all bombers reached the ships without being attacked. They heavily damaged two 3000-ton AP, doing 50 casualties aboard them, and also hit the already damaged CA Kinugasa, destroying one of her torpedo tubes. Then arrived 3 A-20G that were engaged by some fighters but get trough, shooting down an A6M3a, and then set on fire another AP, hitting her with 2 bombs and doing 28 casualties. The next group was made of 6 B-26B that turned back as soon as they were attacked and the last one of 2 A-20G. One was at least shot down by the CAP, the other missed the CL Kinu.

In the evening, 166 000 men and 20k supplies had been landed in Koumac, and the first reinforcements (26 tanks) reached the Japanese paratroops in La Foa. Yamamoto decided to continue with his plan to blast Luganville with the KB (that was cancelled this day due to bad weather), and sent 10 more A6M3 to Koumac to defend the transports.
The Tina unit that arrived in Auckland yesterday rested one day…. and then received the order to return to Suva ! During the flight back one transport was lost with its crew, and when they arrived the unit commander was told his unit will rest some days and then ferry to La Foa an Eng Rgt having 100% preparation for Noumea.

The following night was quiet. Dawn recons on the 7th reported a CAP of 37 P-38G and 4 F4F-4 over Noumea, 7 P-40E over Luganville and 21 P-40E over Efate. Luganville was attacked by 130 Kates and 105 Vals escorted by 66 A6M3a that shot down without loss the 7 defending fighters. Then the bombers attacked, reporting weak AA fire, and destroyed on the ground 8 B-24D, 5 PB4Y and 1 PBY, scored 15 hits on the airbase, 11 on supplies and 90 on the runway and did 7 casualties. Two Kates, two A6M3a and one Val were lost in accidents at the return of this raid.
At the same time, 22 heavy bombers (19 B-24D and 3 PB4Y) from Luganville were attacking Japanese ships off Koumac in two waves. The CAP (20 A6M2, 6 A6M3, 4 A6M3a) shot down 1 B-24D and 1 PB4Y without loss, and all other B-24D turned back. The PB4Y, flown by New Zealanders having a chance to avenge their invaded country, attacked an AK and set her on fire with one hit.

Noumea airmen had been discarded by the Japanese staff as a lesser threat but still proved to be a nuisance. In the afternoon, two patrolling Allied bombers (a B-26B and an A-20G) attacked Japanese ASW TF off Koumac and damaged two PG. Japanese CAP shot down during the day 1 PBY, 1 B-26B, 1 A-20G and 1 PBM Mariner, while a patrolling Val was shot down by an Allied fighter.

In the evening, 250 000 men and 32k supplies had been landed in Koumac. Despite the efforts of the Japanese engineers to expand it (it will reach size 2 tomorrow), the Koumac airfield was now too small for all the Zeroes based here. As Mavis transports had brought the first part of the 3rd Base Force from Auckland to La Foa (losing one AC in a crash during the day), 26 A6M3a and 10 A6M3 left Koumac to go to La Foa and will LRCAP Koumac tomorrow.
Late reports showed 62 Allied aircraft (1/29/31) in Luganville and the BB TF sailing with the KB was ordered to bombard it tonight, and then retire towards Tarawa. It will then sail to Suva for recompleting ammunition. To be sure to finish them the KB will then again bombard it, but with a limited escort, most of Zero units received orders to sweep Noumea skies (the idea being to kill fighters so the reduced escorts will allow Zeroes over Koumac to reach bombers that will turn back when under attack).

Bismarcks-Solomons-New Guinea

The Allied CAP over Port Moresby was still strong of 40-50 P-40E and shot down a recon Betty on the 6th.

The convoy carrying the 9th Fleet HQ arrived in Rabaul on the 6th and the troops landed this day and the next without any attack on the convoy. Ki-61 flying LRCAP engaged both afternoons B-24D from PM attacking the airfield. On the 6th 13 Tonies engaged 31 B-24D and shot down 5 for two losses (1 to return fire, 1 in a crash). On the 7th 5 Tonies intercepted 13 B-24D and shot down one but lost again one of their number in a crash. These two raids scored a total of 4 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 27 on the runways, disabling 159 men and 4 guns, but in the evening of the 7th all damage had been repaired. As the whole HQ had been landed, and only supplies remained aboard the convoy, this TF, as the former one, two days ago, was ordered to leave and sail to Lunga to finish to unload here before returning to Truk. Only one AK was detached and will continue to unload in Rabaul.
The Tonies of 203 Sentai were no more needed as the convoy was leaving and flew back to Truk for a well-needed R&R session.

On both days Port Moresby airmen flew training missions against Goodenough Island, each day with 15 Beaufort V-IX and 21 P-40E. One aircraft of each type was lost in accidents.

Timor-Amboina-Australia

On the 6th, Koepang was bombed by 23 B-25C from Derby, 3 PB4Y from Wyndham and 59 B-17E from Darwin, and reported a B-17 shot down by AA fire, 21 men and 1 gun disabled, 8 hits on the airbase and 52 on the runway. Lautem was attacked by 24 B-25C from Darwin that scored 1 hit on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 1 on the runway and wounded 6 men. This day a Nell flew recon over Wyndham and reported that there was still no CAP here.

So the next morning 39 Nells from Kendari attacked Wyndham airfield, destroying two Beaufort V-IX on the ground and scoring 2 runway hits but losing 4 of their number to AA fire.
This afternoon a patrolling PB4Y attacked a barge convoy between Kendari and Lautem and sank an AG. Then the usual raids hit Timor. Koepang reported attacks by 24 B-25C from Derby, 2 PB4Y from Wyndham and 63 B-17E from Darwin, that destroyed on the ground one of the two Petes based here, disabled 93 men and 1 gun, scored 2 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 39 on the runways. 24 B-25C from Darwin attacked Lautem but scored only 2 runway hits.

Southern Resource Area

A TK convoy loaded 18k oil in Brunei for Japan, another arrived in Palembang from Japan but was too important for the available stocks in the area and was disbanded to do some repairs until enough oil will be ready to be shipped.

An Allied submarine was again seen SW of Singapore and an ASW group was formed in this base to chase her.

Burma

On the 6th, Mandalay was bombed by 26 Liberator VI, 20 B-17E, 15 Blenheim IV, 14 Beaufort I and 13 B-25J escorted by 45 P-40B, 6 Beaufighter VIC and 6 Beaufighter Mk 21 that scored 11 hits on the airbase, 4 on supplies and 82 on the runways, doing 14 casualties, while the wrecked airfield of Myitkyina was hit by the almost daily raid by B-25J (47) and Beaufort V-IX (16) escorted by P-40B (19) from Ledo and reported 4 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies, 58 on the runway and 4 casualties. Two P-40B and a B-25J were lost in crashes during these raids.

But the same day, the Japanese air force commander was preparing a double strike with his strong fighter force. Recons flew over India, losing a Ki-46-II to AA fire, and reported that Dacca was defended by 20 Hurricane and Spitfire. So all four A6M2 units in Rangoon were ordered to fly a sweep to this city, while 36 Ki-61 and 27 A6M3a flew respectively to Lashio and Taung Gyi to fly LRCAP over Myitkyina. Also the three Betty and Nell Daitai of Rangoon were ordered to bomb the resources centers of the undefended city of Jamshedpur.

These preparations were not slowed by a night attack of 5 Beaufighter VIC on Rangoon, that as usual did no damage, but it rained all morning on Rangoon and the Jamshedpur raid was cancelled while the sweep was delayed.
So the first strike on the 7th was given by the Allied airmen of Imphal that attacked again Mandalay with 28 Liberator VI, 24 B-17E, 15 Blenheim IV, 15 Beaufort I and 13 B-25J escorted by 45 P-40B, 8 Beaufighter Mk 21 and 5 Beaufighter VIC. For the loss of a Beaufighter VIC in a crash they killed and wounded 96 men and scored 4 hits on the airbase, 7 on supplies and 71 on the runways.
Myitkyina was also attacked this morning, by 44 Chinese B-25J and 12 Beaufort V-IX from Ledo escorted by 17 P-40B. This “milk run” raid was suddenly attacked by the Japanese LRCAP with 18 Ki-61 of the 65 Sentai and 15 A6M3a of the F2/1st Daitai. The Japanese pilots shot down 12 B-25J, 8 P-40B and 6 Beaufort V-IX for 6 losses in battle (3 A6M3a, 3 Ki-61) and a 7th (a Zero) in an accident. 9 Allied bombers turned back, and only 26 B-25 and 3 Beauforts reached the target and scored 1 hit on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 19 on the runways, disabling 26 men and 1 gun.

The Japanese airmen in Rangoon followed the battle on the radio and in the afternoon sent 51 A6M2 to sweep Dacca skies, searching to kill more Allied airmen. Well the RAF fought well this time. The 12 Spitfire Vb and 12 Hurricane II that intercepted the raid shot down 9 A6M2 while losing 9 Hurricanes and 1 Spitfire.

In the evening, the fighters sent to Taung Gyi and Lashio flew back to Rangoon, where all fighters were ordered to fly defensive CAP. The bombers’ orders to raid Jamshedpur were repeated.

China

On the 6th the only air raid flown was a training mission by 33 Oscar II from Lanchow against a Chinese Air BF in the woods W of Kungchang, doing 9 casualties.
This day the 23rd Army (34th and 58th Div) launched another attack on Sian and this time took the city (at 25 to 1) at the cost of 67 men and 6 guns. The 1st Chinese Temp Div lost 224 killed and wounded, 6 guns and more than 300 POWs, and retreated westwards. Most of the economic devices of the city had been destroyed. Only 2 of the 3 manpower and 29 of the 30 HI worked, all resource and oil centers had been disabled (mostly by Japanese bombs…).
Anyway, now that the Sian garrison had escaped the new goal of the Northern China Army was to surround and destroy the former garrison of Kungchang and Lanchow that were in the mountains NE of Sian. To do this all troops will pursue Chinese on the Sian-Chungking road, the first goal being to seize this axis. The 23rd Army was ordered to advance westwards immediately while more troops will arrive from the north in Sian before following it.

The 7th was totally quiet and see only troops moves according to the above orders, especially Tk units entering Sian from north.
The main event in China this day took place in the training center of Wuhan. A Daitai and a Chutai of A6M2 were declared operationnal (exp 59-60) and flew to Canton, where the Chutai was disbanded into the Daitai that was then upgraded to the A6M3a. In the following days, each day the repaired fighters will fly in small groups south to join the KB and reinforce its fighter units.
The garrison of Hsinyang (now reduced to two regiments of the 32nd Div) was ordered to send a recon towards Ichang to see if the town was still held by the Chinese or if they had retreated from there at the same time than from Sian.

Japanese engineers were busy in the new conquest and expanded Lanchow airfield to size 4.

Japan

A convoy loaded 35k supplies in Hiroshima to bring them to Tsingtao, China, where they should be carried by rail to Sian and be used to repair the resource centers here.

[AmiralLaurent]

8 February 1943

Another good day for air losses, despite a bloody sweep over Noumea. 45 Allied (29 A2A, 11 ground, 3 AA, 2 ops) and 15 Japanese aircraft (all shot down in air battles) were lost.

New Caledonia

During the night, the BB Musashi and Ise, a CA and four CL bombarded Luganville and destroyed on the ground 5 B-24D, 3 PBY, 2 PB4Y and 1 P-40E. They scored 14 hits on the airbase, 4 on supplies and 102 on runways, and disabled 31 men and 1 vehicle. This TF then sailed NE as planned, and wasn’t attacked during the day, and in the evening changed course to the SE and Suva.
The KB airmen couldn’t attack again Luganville in the morning because of bad weather, that covered the whole area and prohibited both sides to launch raids. Only patrols flew and the Japanese CAP shot down during the day 3 PBY.

The weather cleared in the afternoon and the planned sweep was sent from KB to Noumea, with 49 A6M3a. They met over the city 24 P-38G and 4 F4F-4, and the battle didn’t go as planned. 11 A6M3a, 9 P-38G and 2 F4F-4 were shot down. In the evening the KB was down to 216 fighters, all A6M3a.
Noumea also sent a raid, against shipping off Koumac. 24 B-25C flying on the deck and 8 A-20G at 6000 feet were escorted by 11 P-38G and 6 F4F-4. The Japanese CAP (17 A6M2, 15 A6M3a, 8 A6M3) hardly noticed the low-flyingB-25C and shot down only one, but hit hard the higher flying formation, destroying 5 P-38G, 5 F4F-4 and 3 A-20G for the loss of 2 A6M3 shot down by P-38 and one A6M2 ditching after being hit by return fire. The B-25C strafed and bombed the Japanese ships and scored one hit on CA Kinugasa (bounced) and one on an AK that was set on fire. AA fire shot down two of them. The A-20G missed.

During the day, the unloading continued in Koumac and in the evening 268 000 men and 42k supplies were in the base, where the Japanese engineers expanded the airfield to size 2. Many units were now totally unloaded and started to march towards La Foa.
In Suva the Tina unit received orders to start ferrying the 25th Eng Rgt to La Foa, after two days of rest.
Recon reports showed that Luganville was now empty, and the KB raid on this base was cancelled. It was ordered to sail W of Koumac again, to provide better cover to the beachhead.

Bismarcks-Solomons-New Guinea

In the afternoon, 15 B-24D from PM attacked Rabaul, scoring 6 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 13 on the runways, and disabling 102 men and 2 guns, but all damage was repaired in the evening. AA fire shot down a Hudson I flying recon over this base.
15 Beaufort V-IX and 20 P-40E from PM flew another training mission to Goodenough Island, this time without loss.

Timor-Amboina-Australia

Koepang was bombed by 6 PB4Y from Wyndham and 60 B-17E from Darwin and reported 1 hit on teh airbase, 1 on supplies and 65 on the runway, and losses of 61 men and 2 guns. The airfield was now totally wrecked (services 95, runway 80).
Lautem was bombed by 13 B-25C from Darwin that scored one runway hit.

Southern Resource Area

During the night the 3 MSW sent from Japan to Philippines finally reached Bataan and started to sweep the mines laid here by Allied submarines. The work wasn’t finished in the evening. What is interesting here is that the AK damaged by the mine some days ago went the same day to Manila (port 5-6) and was disbanded in port. The fires were put out but the FLT damage increased daily of some points. So I tried something else and put the sinking AK in a TF docked in Manila, and for since the FLT is slowly decreasing. I don’t know if I have been lucky those last days, and unlucky before, or if it is the way it works in WITP.
Japanese engineers expanded the airfield of Manila to size 6 today.

The ML of Singapore received orders to lay as much mines as possible off Johore Bharu, in the hope one of the Allied submarines going trough the straits will hit one mine one day.

Burma

The only Allied air raid was a nigh attack on Rangoon by 4 Beaufighter VIF without damage or loss.
But the Japanese launched two attacks from Rangoon in the morning. The first was planned: 49 Betties and 25 Nells raided Jamshedpur and disabled 31 of the 360 resource centers of the city. The second was due to bad transmission of orders: 30 A6M2 from Rangoon flew again a sweep to Dacca and met over the city 9 Spitfire VB and 3 Hurricane II. Both sides should be exhausted, as they were few fights and only one A6M2 and one Hurricane were shot down.

In the evening the orders to fly only CAP was given to all Rangoon units. Two decimated A6M2 Daitai fusioned together, and the aggregated unit then upgraded to the A6M3a.

Allied engineers expanded Calcutta airfield to size 6.

China

33 Oscar II from Lanchow flew under escort by 4 Ki-61 another training mission against Chinese troops W of Kungchang and hit 5 men.

West of Sian the HQ 23rd Army and the 34th Div caught the retreating Chinese units (3 of them) and will attack tomorrow. The same day two divisions should cross the river from the north and shock attack the same troops. Bombers from Homan and Yenen were ordered to support the attack.

The Rgt of the 32nd Div that advanced between Hsinyang and Ichang reported no Chinese troops in the latter town. It was unable to advance more (home rule to hold the roads) but recon aircraft from Wuhan will try to confirm this tomorrow and a Rgt was sent from Wuhan to march to the town, while a Brigade left Nanchang to go to Wuhan and replace this regiment.

In the north, Japanese staffs finally presented a plan to destroy the Chinese troops in the mountains NE of Sian. The Northern China Army and 23rd Army combined had 12 divisions and support troops to do that. 2 Div will hold Sian and the roads in the area, 1 will be used to close the surrounding ring, 4 will go to the cross-roads between Sian, Ichang and Chungking and hold it against Chinese counter-attacks, and so 5 Div will remain to attack and reduce the Chinese pocket. See the map below for more details of the current situation.

[AmiralLaurent]

9-11 February 1943

In three days, 100 Allied aircraft (39 A2A, 42 ground, 8 AA, 11 ops) and 50 Japanese (27 A2A, 16 AA, 7 ops) were lost. The Kido Butai elite air groups suffered almost all these losses, but reinforcements are on the way.

Northern Pacific

Allied engineers expanded the airfield of Amchitka to size 2 on the 9th.

New Caledonia

The 9th was a quiet day in this area, with no raid by either side. The Japanese CAP shot down 3 B-25J and a Mariner was shot down by AA fire over the KB NE of Koumac, while Noumea CAP shot down a Pete coming too close. Low flying Allied bombers continued to hit ASW groups off Koumac and damaged this day a PC and a PG.

In the morning of the 10th, a B-25C damaged another PG off Koumac but the big event of the day was that the KB finally bombed Noumea, where recons reported the day before 169 aircraft (36/98/35). 142 Kates escorted by 63 A6M3a flew from the launching point W of Koumac to the target, defended by 26 P-38G, 7 F4F-4 and 5 P-40E. Air losses were even, 19 for each side: 14 A6M3a and 5 Kates against 8 P-38G, 6 F4F-4 and 5 P-40E. The Kates then bombed the airfield at 15k feet but as expected met a deadly AA fire that shot down 14 of them over the target and damaged 30, 2 of them crashing later. But their bombs hit too and destroyed on the ground 11 P-38G, 11 B-25J, 9 B-25C, 4 A-20G, 3 P-40E and 2 F4F-4, disabled 15 men and 2 guns and scored 11 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 35 on the runways. A last Japanese aircraft was lost when an A6M3a missed its landing and fell in the sea.
There was no Allied raid this day but Noumea wasn’t closed and another B-25C hit another PG of an ASW group in the afternoon. All Japanese ASW groups were disbanded in the afternoon and their ships added to the transport TFs. The Allied CAP over Noumea shot down a Pete and a Ki-46-III during the day, while 1 A-20G and a Mariner were shot down by Japanese fighters that lost two A6M3 to return fire.
This day Japanese engineers expanded Koumac port to size 2.

During the night of the 10th-11th, Japanese ships again raided Noumea. The bombardment TF (BB Hiei, 3 CA, 2 CL) was covered by 3 surface TF (a scout TF of a CL, 9 DD and 2 DD flotillas of 3 DD each). The 9 PT boats defending Noumea were engaged twice by the scout TF and lost 6 PT but a PT hit the DD Akikaze with two torpedoes and she sank later in the day. The 3 remaining PT then engaged the bombardment TF but with no success and 2 were lost. The last one had no more torpedo but anyway engaged again and was sunk at close quarters. This courageous action maybe disrupted the Japanese bombardment, or it was another reason, but the results were poor: 2 P-38G were destroyed on the ground, 229 men and 1 gun disabled, 4 hits on runways, 7 on port and 1 on a fuel dump.
When the fleet returned to Koumac in the morning the DD Harukaze was seriously damaged (32/59/29) by a VH2 mine.

In the evening of the 11th, only a small part of the 1st Tk Div hadn’t been unloaded in Koumac. The power of the landed units was over 4400 ASS points, and more than 90k of supplies had been landed. The troops were marching to La Foa for some days, and in the evening of the 11th, 3 Div, 1 Tk Rgt, 1 Eng Rgt, 4 ART units and 3 Army HQ that had already reached La Foa received orders to continue to Noumea.
This day the KB replenished W of La Foa, while its Vals flew extensive naval search to chase Allied submarines. One of the two reported the day before off Koumac, the American S-36 was damaged by a Val. In the morning, Noumea sent 7 B-25C and 6 B-25J escorted by 2 P-38G to attack the KB, that was defended by 125 A6M3a. In the air battle, 2 A6M3a, 3 B-25C, 2 P-38G and 2 B-25J were shot down and the surviving bombers turned back, a B-25J being lost in an accident. During the day Japanese fighters shot down 7 Allied patrol aircraft (3 A-20G, 2 PBY, 1 B-25C, 1 PB4Y) while an A6M3a of the KB was lost in an accident.
Japanese recon reported the Allied CAP over the following bases: Noumea 8 P-38G, Luganville 10 P-40E, Efate 2 P-40E.

The Kido Butai will continue to patrol near New Caledonia until the last troopship will be empty and then will escort the transports TFs to Suva.
In the evening of the 11th, the Dinah III Chutai based in Norfolk Island and an Irving Chutai in reserve in Nandi both flew to La Foa, from where they will fly recon of the Allied bases more efficiently.

New Zealand- Southern Pacific

One of the two Japanese submarines patrolling with Glens off SW Australia was reported by an Allied aircraft on the 10th but didn’t move and was researched the next night by five Allied DD and seriously damaged (34/51/0) by 2 hits and 7 near-misses scored by the DD USS Porter, the only one that found her. She will return to Auckland for emergency repairs, and should survive.

Bismarcks-Solomons-New Guinea

Daily raids by B-24D from PM continued to hit Rabaul (23 B-24 on the 9th, 20 on the 10th and 23 on the 11th) scoring a total of 11 hits on the airbase, 4 on supplies and 66 on the runways. Japanese losses were 250 men and 4 guns, American ones two aircraft shot down by AA fire (a B-24D on the 9th and a Hudson I on the 10th).
Airmen from PM also flew daily training mission against Goodenough Mission, for a total of 30 Beaufort V-IX and 36 P-40E in 3 days without loss.
The daily recon of PM by a Betty from Truk reported on the 11th that the CAP decreased from 35-45 P-40E to 19.

Both convoys redirected from Rabaul to Lunga unloaded there and 3 ML escorting one of them will lay tonight another minefield off the base before returning to Truk with the convoy.

Timor-Amboina-Australia

Timor continued to be bombed daily, both Koepang and Lautem being attacked each afternoon.
The first reported in 3 days a total of 75 B-25C, 52 B-17E and 25 PB4Y, losses of 216 men and 6 guns, 4 hits on the airbase, 3 on supplies and 116 on the runways, but shot down with AA fire 2 B-25C and a PB4Y. The base was still completely wrecked.
The second was attacked in the same period by B-25C from Darwin that scored 4 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 14 on runways, doing 40 casualties, but the base was almost fully repaired every day.
In these raids, 2-B25C were lost in crashes.

Allied airmen also attacked a new target: Maumere, the airfield N of Koepang that was used sometimes to LRCAP Koepang was bombed on the 10th and 11th respectively by 55 and 40 B-17E from Darwin. The first day a Ki-44 that had just been repaired here tried to defend the base but missed the interception, and flew to Kendari in the evening, leaving only a Jake in Maumere. The heavy bombers scored 10 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 30 on the runways in two days, doing 59 casualties.

Brewster 339D from Darwin flew from the 9th to the 11th each day against barges around Lautem but only managed to heavily damage one in 25 sorties.

In the evening of the 11th, 3 Japanese MLs left Soerabaja to lay mines off Koepang.

Japanese recon flew again over Darwin on the 11th and reported that the CAP was back to its former level (27 P-40E, 16 Kittyhawk I and 10 Spitfire Vb).

Southern Resource Area

The three MSW sent to Bataan continued to sweep Allied mines here and finished on the morning of the 10th, allowing a convoy with 7000 resources to leave Manila for Japan.
A convoy started to load 14k resources in Toboali for Singapore.
A convoy arrived in Palau with 49k supplies from Japan. 7k were sent to Sorong, and 7k to Amboina, to repair oilfields in these two bases, while the other were unloaded in Palau.

Burma

The only Allied activities were night raids on Rangoon by Beaufighter VIF from Imphal on the nights of the 9-10 (7 AC, one shot down by AA) and 10-11 (6 AC, one operational loss).
A Ki-46-II was shot down by the Allied CAP over Dacca on the 9th.

China

West of Sian, the 34th Div attacked alone on the 9th 3 Chinese units (74th and 94th Corps, 1st Temp Div) because the units planned to cross the river finally decided to go by the easy way, through Sian. The division was able to defeat the Chinese alone, at the cost of only 12 casualties, and they retreated westwards while losing 118 killed and wounded, 1 gun and more than 1100 POWs.
For the next two days more troops arrived W of Sian while the 34th Div rested before continuing the pursuit, as the number of Chinese units more W was increasing. In the evening of the 11th, the troops W of Sian numbered 7 Inf Div and 1 Tk Div, with 2 Army HQ and 1 ART unit, and they received orders to march westwards again, while a Tk Rgt will remain there to keep the road.
The HQ China Expeditionary Force arrived in Sian on the 10th and will remain there to draw supplies to repair the town.
More north a Div and a Bde left behind to defend Lanchow and Kungchang against an eventual return of the defeated Chinese were released and marched south to join the Northern China Army bringing its available power to roughly 14 divisions.

Japanese airmen almost only flew training missions, from Wuhan against troops NW of Changsha on the 9th (136 sorties) and 10th (138 sorties), hitting 97 men and 1 gun in 2 days while losing an A6M2 and an Oscar I in crashes, and the Oscar II Sentai of Lanchow flying 30 sorties on the 9th against a Chinese unit W of Kungchang.
The only “real” raid was an attack by 16 Ki-21 against Chinese troops in Ichang, to confirm the city was still held. Patrols of the troops that advanced east of the city reported 3 units on the 9th, the raid on the 10th failed to hit anything but reported 5,and the Rgt east of teh city was recalled to Hsinyang.

More construction units (a Eng Rgt and 2 Const Bn) received orders to move from Kungchang to Lanchow to build the airfield here. Once it will be ready it will be used to raid Ledo with a Zero & Betty/Nell powerful force. Such a raid will be easier to mount from here than from Burma.
But in the meantime, Kungchang will be the main airbase to reduce the Chinese in the mountains NE of Sian and two more small base forces were sent there from Lanchow.

Another plan that will be executed in some days will see Oscar II from various bases flying LRCAP over all Chinese remaining bases, to intercept transport aircraft from Ledo. To prepare that two Chutais of Oscar II arrived in Hanoi on the 11th, while the same day the 25 Sentai converted from Oscar I to II in Canton.

Japan

In Pusan, Korea, 3 AA Bns (one heavy) of the Kwantung Army were transferred to the Burma Army and boarded an AK convoy that will bring them to Bangkok. These extra AA units will probably increase the losses of the Allied air force over Burma.

[AmiralLaurent]

12-13 February 1943

Two good days for air losses. 45 Allied aircraft were lost (29 A2A, 1 AA, 15 ops) against 7 Japanese (5 A2A, 2 ops).

New Caledonia

The 12th saw the usual sneaking attacks by low flying bombers off Koumac and an A-20G damaged an AP while another was shot down by AA fire. A Val damaged the SS S-36 off this base and the Japanese CAP here and above KB (west of the base) shot down during the day 2 B-25C, 2 PBM, 1 B-25J and 1 PBY and lost an A6M2 (based in Koumac) in an accident. The only raid of the day was an attack by 3 B-24D of 307th BG from Luganville against ships off Koumac. The CAP (22 A6M2, 11 A6M3a, 6 A6M3) shot down two B-24D and the last one missed an AK.
This evening all troops had finished landing, and several (1 HQ, 4 Div, 1 Bde, 1 ART units) reached La Foa and received orders to continue to Noumea.

The 13th was much the same as above. An A-20G again hit an AP in a sneak attack and Japanese CAP shot down 3 A-20G during the day. The KB Vals finally sank the S-36 off Koumac and damaged the S-31 east of this base. But this day saw two Allied raids.
In the morning, the KB west of Koumac was attacked by 8 B-25C and 6 B-25J escorted by 10 P-38G and 3 F4F-4. The CAP (128 A6M3a) shot down all 13 escorts and one bomber of each type and the survivors turned back. 3 A6M3a were lost in the battle. In the afternoon, 3 B-24D of the 307th BG again attacked from Luganville ships off Koumac and were intercepted by 20 A6M3a, 17 A6M2 and 6 A6M3 that shot down 2 of them but lost 1 A6M3a and 1 A6M2 to return fire. The last B-24D missed an AP.
The last assault troops reached La Foa from Koumac during the day and received orders to continue to Noumea. 8 Betties from Suva and 23 KI-49 from Auckland arrived in La Foa and will attack the Allied ships in Noumea port if they try to escape.

With all troops ashore, the plan was that the fleet will leave New Caledonia and the landed troops will attack the base with LBA support only. A number of ships were too heavily damaged to leave and so it was decided to create a TF with all damaged ships unable to do 10 knots, all AK still having supplies aboard and an escort of 1 CA, 6 DD, 6 PG/PC. This TF will remain off Koumac and continue unloading under CAP by fighters based here and in La Foa.
All other ships will sail to sea and meet the KB tomorrow NE of Koumac. The fleet will then sail together to Suva.

The first A6M3a fragments arrived in New Caledonia and were integrated to AI-1 and BI-1. These units had to spend one day on La Foa to receive these reinforcements as it is not possible to disband an unit aboard a CV. These A6M3a small flights came from Canton and Bangkok, where two A6M2 units were converted and fighters were flown out as soon as they were ready, first to Menado, then to Kavieng and then to La Foa. So they arrived as groups of 3-7 A6M3a, ideal to recomplete CV units without having too much AC and pilots.

New Zealand- Southern Pacific

Five fast MSW left Auckland on the 13th to sail to Suva and will later sail with the KB back to Noumea.
Two ML based in Auckland started to lay a defensive minefield off this base.

An AP loaded on Canton Island the two Const Bns that finished building fortifications here (level 9 done) and will carry them to Lunga.

Bismarcks-Solomons-New Guinea

There was no raid on Rabaul these two days, only the training mission from PM against Goodenough Island (total of 26 Beaufort V-IX and 38 P-40E sorties without loss in 2 days). The recons over Port Moresby reported a CAP back to normal level (38-45 P-40E).

Timor-Amboina-Australia

For two days, B-17E of Darwin raided Maumere airfield (65 bombers on the 12th and ), scoring 1 hit on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 54 on runways, doing 66 casualties and suffering 4 operational losses. A B-17E also sank an abandoned barge off Lautem.
Koepang was bombed by B-25C from Derby on the 12th, and by 17 on the 13th, and reported losses of 107 men and 2 guns, 4 hits on the airbase, and 21 on the runways. The runways were repaired at 45% in the evening of the 13th.
Lautem was attacked on the 12th by 21 B-25C from Darwin and 6 PB4Y from Wyndham that scored 1 hit on supplies and 2 on the runway and did 22 casualties while 1 B-25C was lost in a crash. This evening 12 Ki-61 of the 68 Sentai flew to Lautem and the next day when 31 B-25C attacked they met 9 Ki-61 that shot down one bomber. The other scored only 2 runway hits and a second was lost later to engine failure. In the evening the 12 Ki-61 returned to Kendari leaving only in Lautem the usual garrison (2 Petes).

Southern Resource Area

The convoy bringing the 104th Div from China arrived in Singapore and unloaded it here. This unit will be the strategic reserve of the area, ready to go to Burma or southwards depending of the Allied moves. It is preparing for Kendari.

Burma

There was no raid on the 12th. The next night Rangoon reported another ineffective attack by 6 Beaufighter VIC from Imphal, one of which crashed. Mandalay was bombed this morning by 38 Liberator VI, 27 B-17E, 16 Blenheim IV, 15 Beaufort I and 15 B-25J from Imphal escorted by 50 P-40B, 6 Beaufighter VIC and 6 Beaufighter Mk 21, and in the afternoon by 7 Liberator VI from Calcutta. They scored a total of 13 hits on the airbase, 5 on supplies and 122 on runways, and Japanese losses were 78 men and 2 guns while a P-40B, a Beaufighter VIC and a Beaufort I were lost in crashes.

China

West of Sian, Japanese troops continued to pursue Chinese ones. On the 12th, 2 Div were ordered to leave the road and march NW to engage Chinese units in the mountain, both marched 4 miles the day after. On the 13th the 3rd Tk Div reached Chinese positions (held by 4 units) 120 miles W of Sian and will bombard them tomorrow while waiting for reinforcements. 41 bombers moved from Yenen to Kungchang and will also bomb these same troops. On this day Japanese engineers expanded both airfields of Lanchow (size 5) and Kungchang (size 4).

Japan

A convoy loaded 35k supplies in Sasebo and will bring them to Canton, where they will be sent to Wuchow and used to repair resource centers.

In Pusan Korea, the two last AA Bns earmarked for moving overseas arrived and were transferred to Southern Area Army and then loaded aboard an AK TF that will bring them to Truk.

The map of the day: New Caledonia and Central China

[AmiralLaurent]

14-15 February 1943

In two days, 70 Allied aircraft (47 A2A, 13 ground, 1 AA, 9 ops) and 25 Japanese (8 A2A, 3 AA, 14 ops) were lost. Still a good ratio but Japanese ships are getting badly hit while Allied ships are not on the battlefield this time.

New Caledonia

Patrolling Allied aircraft continued to hit hard Japanese ships around New Caledonia. On the 14th, two ships were hit off Koumac, an AK by an A-20G and the CL Kiso (leader of the scout TF covering Koumac with a CL and 9 DD) by a B-24D (damage 36/0/10), and the SS I-168 was heavily damaged (46/60/0) by a B-25J 120 miles W of Noumea and sailed back to Auckland. This day Japanese CAP shot down 2 B-25J, 2 A-20G, 1 B-25C and 1 PB4Y, but lost two A6M3a to return fire.

Main raids by Allied airmen were less efficient. The main Japanese fleet was NE of Koumac with the KB and was attacked five times from Noumea and Luganville, but none of the attacks got trough the CAP (125 A6M3a, later joined by up to 10 more A6M3a and 20 A6M2 from nearby Koumac). The Allied waves were the following: 3 B-25J, then 3 B-25C, then 3 B-25C escorted by 7 P-38G and 3 F4F-4, then 5 B-25J, all of them from Noumea, and in the end 3 B-24D and 2 PB4Y from Luganville. The Zeroes shot down 6 P-38G, 3 B-25J, 3 B-25C, 3 B-24D, 2 PB4Y and 2 F4F-4 for one loss (an A6M3a).
But one of the transport TF was late, still NW of Koumac and was attacked by 30 B-25J of the 42nd BG from Efate. When they flew over the KB on the way, 14 A6M3a followed them and shot down 2 B-25J but this attack heavily damaged a PG and set on fire an AP, while the CL Sendai and three other APs evaded the bombs.
There was no raid in the afternoon but Japanese patrols and recon reported 2 P-40E flying CAP over Efate and 18+ new PT boats off Noumea.

All ships damaged today were ordered to join the transport TF off Koumac but things didn’t go well. First during the night the damaged CL Kiso was unable to remain with the TF and was found alone by the SS USS Permit that heavily damaged her with a torpedo. Then at dawn the PG Kanetsu Maru that was damaged the day before by B-25J arrived off Koumac to find 3 minefields here and was sunk by a Mk 10 mine. During the day sneaky air attacks continued off Koumac and the Kiso was hit again, this time by an A-20G, and reported in teh evening that she probably won’t survive the cumulative damage. Also the damaged AP hit the day before was hit again before joining the transport TF, that was transformed into an escort TF to keep all ships together. During the day the Japanese CAP shot down 2 A-20G and 2 PBY but again lost 2 A6M3a to return fire (a PBY crew claimed its 2nd victory). And in the evening the SS Permit attacked again, this time heavily damaging the DD Hato of the scout TF and then escaping unscathed the subsequent depth charging.

There was no Allied raid this day (15th), only a Jake shot down by CAP over Noumea, but the KB that had moved 120 miles eastwards during the night with the remaining of the fleet launched at dawn a heavy raid on Efate. 128 Vals and 122 Kates escorted by 47 A6M3a arrived over the target and reported a CAP of 18 P-40E. The Zeroes shot down 16 for 2 losses and protected the bombers that only lost 2 Vals and 1 Kate to AA fire and destroyed on the ground 7 B-25J, 5 P-40E and 1 PBM, did 16 casualties and scored 16 hits on the airbase, 5 on supplies and 78 on the runway. 3 Vals and 2 A6M3a were lost to various operational reasons during this raid.
Tomorrow this fleet will continue to sail to Suva and the KB airmen will search for naval targets and bomb again Efate if they don’t find any.

The reinforcement of KB fighter units continued. After AI-1 and BI-1 it was the turn of FI-1 to leave the KB for La Foa (sadly losing a pilot killed in a crash on the way) to receive 4 new pilots and 6 new aircraft (fragments coming from Canton/Rangoon).

On the ground, the first Japanese units (the 1st Tk Rgt and the 4th and 7th Tk Rgt) reached Noumea on the 15th. The following infantry, artillery and HQ units will only arrive in 3-4 days, but the tanks should be able to hold by themselves. They will bombard the Allied lines tomorrow, and will be covered by A6M3 flying LRCAP from La Foa.

New Zealand- Southern Pacific

On the 14th a Suva-based Tina ferrying troops to La Foa was lost in a crash and this evening all transport AC operating from Suva and Auckland were grounded and ordered to rest 2 days.

Two ML arrived from Japan in Suva and will lay defensive minefields here. The SS I-122 was already busy here, but only laid mines off Pago-Pago.

Bismarcks-Solomons-New Guinea

The only Allied raid was a training sortie on the 15th against Goodenough Island by 12 Beaufort V-IX and 19 P-40E from PM, with the loss of one of the escorts in an accident.

An airfield was open on the 15th by Japanese engineers in Lunga and the same evening 32 Ki-61 flew from Truk to this base, one crashing on landing and killing the pilot. They will continue to New Caledonia tomorrow.

Plans were made to continue to invade coastal bases in New Guinea using barges from Rabaul but this base had almost no more fuel and so an AK was ordered to carry 3500 tons of fuel here from Truk.

Timor-Amboina-Australia

Maumere was again bombed by 40 B-17 from Darwin on the 14th and reported 18 casualties, 2 disabled guns, 2 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 28 on the runway. This evening 28 Nick flew from Kendari to Macassar to fly LRCAP over Maumere.
The next day they intercepted the raid (42 B-17E) with 12 Nicks but were only able to damage a heavy bomber while all Nicks were damaged by return fire. Nightfighters are not good B-17 interceptors, or the crew are not enough experienced (unit exp = 59). Two Nicks and a B-17 were lost in crashes and Maumere reported this day 15 casualties, 5 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 10 on the runway. The Nick unit was grounded in the evening.

The raids on Timor also continued on both afternoons, Koepang being attacked by a total of 35 B-25C from Derby that hit 107 men and 1 gun and scored 2 hits on the airbase and 19 on the runway, but the base was still repairing faster than it was damaged. Lautem reported in two days attacks by 42 B-25C from Darwin, 15 men and 1 gun disabled, 2 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 5 on the runway. During these days, a B-25C was shot down by AA fire and another was lost in a crash.
On the 15th, 7 Brewster 339D attacked barges off Lautem and heavily damaged one, but the 3 ML from Soerabaja that laid 850 mines off Koepang the night before were undetected.

Southern Resource Area

A convoys started to load 21k resources in Soerabaja for Singapore, another 14k resources from Balikpapan to Japan.

Burma

On the 15th, the Indian city of Jamshedpur was again raided by 25 Betties and 25 Nells from Rangoon that damaged 62 more resource centers (31 had been hit in a former raid). Two Betties were lost in crashes.
The only Allied raid in two days was an ineffective attack of Rangoon by 7 Beaufighter VIF from Imphal on the night of the 14th-15th.

In Bangkok, the 21 Sentai converted from Ki-27 to the Ki-45a night-fighter.

China

The four Chinese units 120 miles W of Sian were the 73rd, 74th and 98th Corps and the 1st Temp Div. For two days they were bombed by Kungchang airmen (for a total of 19 Ki-21 sorties) and artillery of the 3rd Tk Div, that was waiting for the Inf Div to join it. 74 Chinese were killed or wounded by these attacks.

More north one half of the 5th Bde crossed the river S of Kungchang on the 14th, to start the surrounding of the mountains. No Chinese units had been reported in the crossing area but the unit shock attacked remains of two Chinese HQ (1st and 20th Group Armies) that had no able squad remaining, and so suffered no loss…

The 16th Aviation Regiment reached Kungchang on the 15th from Yenen and 19 Ki-48 and 31 Ki-44 flew there. Yenen was now a rear area airfield and of the 5 small Base Forces remaining there, two were sent to Sian and two to Lanchow.

[AmiralLaurent]

16-17 February 1943

Central Pacific

After a rest and repair period in Pearl Harbor, the 12 ML available there formed 4 TF that will continue to lay mines off Hawaii bases, but also off Midway, Johnson, Palmyra and Christmas Islands.

New Caledonia

No more Allied air raids targeted Japanese ships during these two days, while Japanese airmen attacked repeatedly Efate. This base was raided in the afternoon of the 16th by 118 Vals and 116 Kates. Their escort when they reached the target was only 6 A6M3a and they were only able to shot down one of the 3 P-40E flying CAP. The two other shot down 2 Vals and 1 Kate, then AA destroyed 4 Vals and 2 Kates and 2 more Kates were lost in accidents. But the raid destroyed 41 Allied aircraft on the ground (26 P-40E and 15 B-25J), disabled 53 men and 1 vehicle and scored 13 hits on the airbase, 6 on supplies and 120 on the runways.
The next day, the KB sent a sweep of 55 A6M3a over Efate but there was no CAP. 32 Betties from Suva then bombed the base and destroyed on the ground 2 PBM, 1 P-40E and 1 B-25J, scoring 1 hit on supplies and 23 on runways.

They were still many skirmishes between patrol aircraft and fighter of both sides, and in two days, 9 Allied aircraft (5 A-20G, 2 PBM, 1 B-24D and 1 B-25J) and Japanese (2 A6M3a, 2 Irving, 1 Ki-46-III and 1 Betty) were shot down.
The CAP over Noumea was stronger each day (18 P-38G and 6 F4F-4 on the 17th) and the airmen in La Foa, which were reinforced by 33 Ki-61 from Truk (via Lunga) on the 16th received in the evening of the 17th orders to attack the airfields of Noumea. 23 Ki-49, 33 Ki-61 and 33 A6M3a were available for this raid.
Off Koumac, two badly damaged Japanese ships, the PC Kyo Maru 12 and the 3000-ton AP Yuzan Maru, were scuttled.
More east the Japanese fleets sailing to Suva lost cohesion and a CV TF was detached to escort a straggling transport TF. CV A6M3a units continued to fly to land bases to receive reinforcements and then fly back to CVs. Two of the five units that did that had all aircraft disabled on arrival to the land base, but the two others didn’t, and I haven’t a clue of what is happening.
Transport aircraft continued to ferry troops from Suva and Auckland to La Foa and one Mavis was lost in a crash.

But the most important news were that the land battle of Noumea opened on the 16th with Japanese artillery fire. Allied troops replied the next day and at the time the first infantry troops had joined the tank units near Noumea. Losses in two days were 82 Allied men and 1 gun, and 102 men, 1 gun and 2 tanks on the Japanese side.
The screen below will show you the Allied garrison of Noumea. The Americal Division had been identified before by air recon but the presence of the 1st USMC was a surprise. Anyway the Allied garrison had about 900 ASS while the Japanese forces in New Caledonia had more than 4000, so the city should fall and that will be two more US divisions destroyed instead of one.



Bismarcks-Solomons-New Guinea

Rabaul was bombed on both afternoons by B-24D from PM (31 on the 16th and 20 on the 17th) that scored 12 hits on buildings, 5 on supplies and 34 on runways. Japanese losses were 170 men and 2 gun while a Liberator was shot down by AA fire on the 16th.

PM airmen flew both training sorties against Goodenough Island (for a total of 26 Beaufort V-IX and 36 P-40E sorties) and a Beaufort was lost in a crash.

27 Ki-21 based in Truk received on the 17th orders to fly to New Caledonia to participate in the reduction of the Noumea airbase. They flew to Lunga this evening.

Timor-Amboina-Australia

Allied raids continued without any more opposition in the air and Maumere, Koepang and Lautem were attacked on both afternoons.
Maumere reported a total of 18 B-17E in two days, losses of 27 men and 1 gun, one hit on the airbase and 11 on runways.
Koepang reported a total of 33 B-25C in two days, losses of 98 men and 2 guns, 2 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 16 on runways. The base still repaired damaged faster than bombers did it.
Lautem reported a total of 44 B-25C and 13 B-17E in two days, losses of 38 men and 1 gun, 5 hits on runways, and also three attacks on barges near this base by a total of 19 Brewster 339D from Darwin that heavily damaged a barge.
On the 17th AA fire shot down two B-25C over Timor and a third was lost in an accident.

Southern Resource Area

A convoy loaded 10k resources in Batavia for Singapore.

63 Ki-21 based in Soerabaja and Palembang received on the 17th orders to fly to New Caledonia to participate in the reduction of the Noumea airbase. Their first move led them to Amboina and Kendari. One bomber was lost in a crash but the crew was saved.

Burma

The only air raid was another ineffective night raid on Rangoon by 6 Beaufighter VIF from Imphal during the night of the 15th-16th.

China

120 miles W of Sian, the Chinese troops were bombed for both days by Ki-21 from Kungchang (total of 26 sorties) and by Japanese guns and lost 99 men. The 3rd Tk Div was joined on the 17th by the 37th and 58th Div and all will attack tomorrow with air support from Kungchang and Homan.

A Const Bn was sent from Kungchang to Sian to help expand the airfield (now size 1) here.

On the 17th, an operational training raid was launched from Wuhan against troops NW of Changsha with 138 aircraft and hit 94 men, but two Ki-44 were lost in a collision.

Japan

A convoy loaded 28k supplies in Takamatsu for Kendari.