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

[AmiralLaurent]

17 June 1943

Northern Pacific

Barges continued to load engineers in Etorofu Jima to bring them to Paramushiro Jima, that reported in the evening damage of 48 for the port, 82 for the airbase and 66 for the runways.

A submarine patrolling south of Anchorage was ordered to sail north of the Aleutians to check for signs of Allied CV activity.

New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

During the night an Allied LCM hit a mine and sank off Goodenough Island. After dawn Japanese recon aircraft flew over this base and reported one Allied unit with 1200 men and 4 patrol aircraft anchored off the beach.

Timor-DEI-Australia

The only Allied raid saw 7 PB4Y from Wyndham bomb and miss Maumere. AA guns of this base shot down a PBM Mariner coming to take pictures after the raid.

SRA

A convoy started to load 80k oil in Palembang and will sail to Manila and from then to Japan.

Burma

There was again no Allied air raid against Japanese airfields and only two bases still reported damage in the evening, Pagan at 62/10 (system/runway) and Taung Gyi at 17/0. Japanese engineers used this quiet area and expanded Lashio airfield to size 3.

Today there was no Allied LRCAP over Myitkyina. Two divisions of the garrison (the 33rd and 104th) were bombed by 31 B-24D, 27 B-25J, 12 B-17E and 9 Blenheim IV from Imphal escorted by 20 P-40N and lost 174 men and 7 guns while shooting down a B-24D with AA fire. Japanese artillery fire hit 113 men, 1 gun and 1 tank there while Allied guns remained silent.

NE of the city, the Japanese paratroops were again under attack. 14 Ki-61 of 78 Sentai flying from Lashio were covering them and intercepted two Allied raids, first 26 Vengeance I, 19 Beaufighter VIC and 3 B-25J from Ledo escorted by 14 Spitfire Vb and 7 P-40E, and then 19 Liberator VI from Dacca escorted by 19 P-40. The Japanese pilots shot down 9 Spitfire Vb, 3 Beaufighter VIC, 1 P-40E and 1 P-40N while losing 11 aircraft (ten in battle, one in an accident) and 8 pilots. They returned to Rangoon in the evening. The bombers disabled 49 Japanese men while losing a Liberator in an accident. Then the Allied troops (Madras Eng Rgt, 19th USA Eng Rgt, 225 RAF Base Force) launched a new attack that succeeded at 12 to 1 and destroyed one of the 3 Japanese pockets blocking the trail. Japanese losses were 450 men and 3 guns, while Allied only lost 32 men.

120 miles west of Myitkyina, Japanese guns bombed the Allied troops that had moved to the railway and identified them as a bunch or British Bdes and Chinese divisions (see attached pic) for a total of 47 605 men and 297 guns, and 1161 AV (while Japanese troops facing them had 973 AV).



39 Hurricane II from Imphal escorted by 10 Spitfire Vb attacked the 11th NLF on the mountain SE of their base and hit 70 men. In the evening 23 A6M3 flew from Rangoon to Akyab to fly LRCAP over these troops tomorrow.

On the Salween front, 13 Betties from Bangkok bombed the 38th Chinese Corps on the eastern bank of the river and hit 87 men but two bombers were lost in a collision and this raid won’t be repeated.

Now that Imphal and Dacca airmen were involved in ground support in Burma, the probability of catching a large part of the bombers on the ground had increased and the local air commander was again playing with the idea to raid one of these bases. To prepare this, Betties from Bangkok were ordered to recon both these bases starting tomorrow.

In the rear area, Japanese engineers finished to build fortifications in Moulmein (level 9) and the Const Bn working there was sent to Mandalay where it will help to repair bomb damage. Both Parachute Regiments of the IJA had now marched from Haiphong to Hanoi, from where they will be able to jump in China, Burma or India when required. Transport aircraft began to be gathered in the area (from Saigon to Canton via Hainan Island) to be available quickly if the need arises.

China

27 Ki-48 from Kweilin bombed two Chinese Corps holding Kweiyang but only hit 7 men while losing one of their number in an accident. Other planned air support didn’t arrive but that didn’t matter much. The attack of the Japanese Southern China Army (10 2/3 divisions, 1 Bde, 2 Eng Rgt, 1 Tk Rgt, 7 ART units and 3 HQ) defeated the Chinese defenders (6 Corps, 1 Div, 3 Base Forces, 2 HQ) at 48 to 1 and repulsed them towards Kunming. Japanese losses were 2616 me, 60 guns and 1 tank, while the Chinese lost 4647 killed and wounded, 5 guns and more than 7500 prisoners (more than 50 points of troop losses).
Two thirds of a division will garrison Kweiyang while a Tk Rgt will patrol east of the city (it was already there and didn’t take part in the attack). The remaining units will pursue the Chinese troops to Kunming and take the city. Japanese bombers from Wuchow, Kweilin and Canton will bomb the retreating Chinese troops to slow them.

A training mission was flown from Wuhan against troops NW of Changsha by 31 Nick and 26 A6M2 and hit 14 Chinese while two Zeroes were lost in accidents.

Japan

A convoy was formed in Osaka to carry 70k supplies to Canton, China, to support the offensive of the Southern China Army.

The training TF created a week ago with PC/PG have seen no increase of exp for any of the ships. As someone said that training for these ships was limited to 45 and all ships have this exp level or above the experiment will be cancelled and all TF disbanded in Japanese port, the ships returning to escort duty.

[AmiralLaurent]

18 June 1943

Northern Pacific

Paramushiro Jima was bombed in the afternoon by 30 B-24D from Attu that again hit the port, disabling 52 men and 2 guns and scoring 1 hit on supplies. AA fire shot down a B-24D and another was lost to weather causes.

A Japanese Betty flying recon over Attu reported that 30 Corsairs and 16 P-38G flew CAP over this base.

Southern Pacific

The AP convoy bringing north construction troops from New Zealand reached Luganville, refueled and then sailed again for Kwajalein. These troops will be used to build forts on islands in the inner lines of defense of the Empire.

New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

During the night another Allied barge (a LCVP) was sunk by a mine off Goodenough Island.

Allied engineers expanded the airfield of Gili Gili to size 3.

SRA

Several convoys gathered in Legaspi and then sailed for Japan carrying 18k oil and 98k resources.

Burma

Today 8 P-40N were flying LRCAP over Myitkyina. For once Japanese troops weren’t attacked but 48 Liberator VI from Dacca escorted by 19 P-40N attacked the airfield, doing 71 casualties, disabling 2 guns, and scoring 18 hits on the airbase, 6 on supplies and 64 on runways. A Liberator was lost to AA fire and another in an accident. On the ground Japanese artillery fire hit 37 men and 7 guns while Allied guns remained silent.

NE of the city, Allied troops launched a new attack against the two remaining para detachments and achieved a 41 to 1 ratio but didn’t eliminate any of the Japanese pockets. Japanese losses were 37 men, Allied ones 48 men.

120 miles west of Myitkyina, Japanese guns bombed the Allied troops that had moved to the railway and hit 27 men. The Allied unit left behind on the trail (and identified by recon AC as a Chinese division) joined this group, bringing its strength to 52 828 men, 333 guns, and 1320 AV, but leaving the trail empty. Both NLF SE of Imphal will so have no problems to cut trails behind these troops. By the way these troops were not attacked today by Allied AC and the A6M3 that covered them from Akyab saw flew and suffered two operational losses for nothing. They flew back to Rangoon in the evening.

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Pagan 62/3 (system/runway), Taung Gyi 8/0, Myitkyina 36/5, other bases undamaged.

Betties from Bangkok flew recon over Imphal and Dacca and reported around 50 fighters on CAP on the former and 40 over the latter, but more than half of Dacca defenders were Lysander I that will provide easy targets for Japanese fighters. Recon will be continued for some days before launching any operation to check the Allied reaction.

China

Chinese forces in Hengchow and Changsha reacted to the Kweiyang offensive, as anticipated. Today recons showed only 8 units in Changsha (there were 14 some days ago) and 12 in Hengchow (there were 18) while the 12 “missing” units were all reported west of Changsha. Of the 6 divisions planned to advance to Changsha, four were already in Wuhan and were ordered to march west immediately to keep an eye on Chinese moves.

A Chinese Corps was bombed west of Kweiyang by 23 Ki-48 from Kweilin and 17 Ki-21 and 13 Ki-49 from Canton escorted by 11 Oscar II and lost 65 men.

A training mission was flown from Wuhan against troops NW of Changsha by 35 Nick and 24 A6M2 and hit 6 Chinese while a Zero and a Nick were lost in accidents.

Japan

The CV Unryu, the first of her class, was commissioned in Tokyo and sailed the same day with an heavy escort to Osaka to join the rest of the KB. Her air group was using aircraft that were still experimental and were not yet produced: 27 A6M5, 18 Judy and 9 Jill. The exp level of the pilots was around 60.

[AmiralLaurent]

19 June 1943

Northern Pacific

The submarine I-182 saw an Allied ASW group in her patrol area 300 miles south of Amchitka Island and was ordered to sail west to evade it.

New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

During a sweep southwest of Truk, an ASW group engaged during the night the SS Tarpon and after dawn the SS Amberjack but both escaped undamaged.

Rabaul was attacked in the afternoon by 22 PB4Y from PM escorted by 18 P-38G that scored 6 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 22 on runways, doing 31 casualties, while 43 B-24D from PM attacked Kavieng and scored 3 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 11 on runways, disabling 33 men and 2 guns. A B-24D was lost in an accident.

Timor-DEI-Australia

In the morning, 20 B-24D from Darwin bombed the oilfields of Amboina and stopped all production here (a dozen centers were in working order before the raid) for the loss of one of their number to AA fire, while 15 Beaufighter Mk 21 from Darwin escorted by 12 P-40N attacked Lautem and scored 6 runway hits.
In the afternoon, Koepang was attacked by 76 B-25C and 55 B-25J from Derby and reported 5 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 64 on runways, 70 casualties and 2 disabled guns, and Maumere was bombed by 7 PB4Y from Wyndham that scored 2 hits on the runway, doing 10 casualties. A B-25J was shot down by AA fire over Koepang and a PBM suffered the same fate over Maumere, another and a B-25C were lost in accidents.

SRA

The old American submarine S-33 tried to attack a convoy 180 miles SE of Tarakan during the night but was detected and chased away by its 3 escort.

Burma

Mandalay airfield was attacked by 55 B-25C, 24 Blenheim Iv, 15 B-25J and 11 Beaufighter VIF from Chandpur escorted by 22 P-40E that did 74 casualties, disabled 1 gun, and scored 12 hits on the airbase, 11 on supplies and 41 on runways. A Blenheim was shot down by AA fire, another and 2 P-40E were lost in crashes.

Today 8 P-40N were flying LRCAP over Myitkyina. Two divisions of the garrison (the 33rd and 104th) were bombed by 26 Liberator VI from Dacca escorted by 12 P-40N and lost 57 men and 2 guns while a P-40N was lost in an accident. Japanese artillery fire hit 77 men and 2 guns.

NE of the city, the Japanese paratroops were bombed by 42 Beaufighter Mk 21, 31 Beaufighter VIC and 28 Vengeance I from Kohima and lost 85 men and 1 gun. A Beaufighter was lost operationally. The Japanese air force only flew recon in the area and a Alf floatplane coming from Akyab was shot down by AA there. The Allied troops (Madras Eng Rgt, 19th USA Eng Rgt, 225 RAF Base Force) attack again and this time liquidated both Japanese remaining pockets, opening again the trail between Ledo and Myitkyina. Japanese losses were 532 men and 4 guns, while Allied suffered no loss. The surrounded and out of ammo paratroops committed massive suicide in front of the Allied advance. By the way, a part of all three SNLF had remained at the rear base in Kungchang and these units will be rebuilt again (the Sining battle had already seen them being decimated).

120 miles west of Myitkyina, Japanese and Allied troops exchanged artillery fire along the railway. Both side lost ten killed and wounded. The 6th Tk Rgt arrived at this front from Mandalay, brining the Japanese AV to 1051 (against 1320 on the Allied side). The Air HQ in Mandalay received orders to go to this front to provide support. Mandalay is no longer an usable airfield, so an Air HQ there is no more mandatory.

13 Hurricane II from Kohima escorted by 10 Spitfire Vb attacked the 12th NLF on the mountain SE of Imphal and hit 20 men and 1 gun for the loss of a Hurricane in a crash.

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Pagan 58/0 (system/runway), Mandalay 35/50, other bases undamaged.

China

Chinese troops continued to leave Hengchow (3 units left, leaving 9) and Changsha (1 more left, leaving 7) moving NW.

Two Chinese Corps were bombed west of Kweiyang by 26 Ki-48 from Kweilin and 13 Ki-49 and 12 Ki-21 from Canton escorted by 4 Oscar II and lost 31 men.

[06 Maestro]

Amiral

Just wanted to thank you for this great AAR. You have recorded an impressive amount of info in 21 pages. I look forward to each new update.

Your campaign is one of the viable "what ifs" of the Pacific war; it's very well thought out, and recorded.

Good luck on defending the empire from the capitalist and stalinist monsters.

[AmiralLaurent]

20 June 1943

Thanks Maestro, as you will see below the strategic discussion continued in Japanese military circles that still don't want to be limited to purely defensive operations.

Strategic situation

Two days of hot debates had opposed the officers of the High Command in Tokyo. The Army started this by saying that the slatemate in Northern Burma could be broken in Japanese favor if more troops were sent there. The Allied troops west of Myitkyina that will be surrounded in two weeks may then be destroyed and then Japanese troops will have a chance to advance to Kohima in force while most Allied troops will be near Myitkyina. Then an occupation of Assam will be possible, reducing the air pressure on Burma and enabling the subsequent reduction of the 150 000 Allied men currently near Myitkyina.
The Navy replied that the troops that the Army wanted to send to Burma were planned to defend various bases in the Empire that badly needed defenders, and that the new threat in the North was strong enough for a part of these troops to be kept in Japan. It also said that the Allied will have two months to reinforce Kohima and that this offensive was doomed from the start.
Finally the Army won the day by underlining the defensive spirit of the Navy plans and claiming it was contrary to the Bushido Spirit. Army officers claimed that the costly Kido Butai had been built to rule Pacific waters and asked that rather than rest in Japanese ports it will be used to defend the eastern frontier of the Empire.
The Navy finally accepted the plan, after managing to keep the 43rd Div under its command to defend Wewak (division is currently sailing to Palau), a regiment of the 30th Div for Marcus Island (also at sea right now), the 51st Bde for Lunga (at sea too) and the 9th Mixed Rgt for Wake (in Tokyo). New Zealand garrison will be reduced so the 56th Bde may be used as a reserve in the Southwest Pacific.
So the troops sent as reinforcements in Burma will be the 46th Div and two regiments of the 30th Div (all currently at sea were rerouted to Bangkok), the 1st Amphibious Bde and the 11th and 12th Mixed Rgt (all 3 in Tokyo boarded convoys that will also sail to Bangkok).
The criticisms of the inactivity of the KB since several months were particularly hard sent by the Navy officers. The fleet will be ready in some days and plans to use it in the summer were accelerated. The various options currently discussed were:
1) to cruise off the Aleutians to draw Allied heavy bombers and decimate them, then enabling Japanese LBA to return to Paramushiro Jima.
2) to send the fleet to PH and then eastwards to try to destroy convoys at sea, or even raid the West Coast of the United States
3) to go to the DEI and raid Northwest Australia, to kill Allied bombers and to bomb strategic targets

Northern Pacific

Both sides only flew recon and patrol and each lost one aircraft. A Betty was shot down near Attu by the Allied CAP while a Mariner was shot down by AA fire during a recon of Paramushiro Jima.

Three Glen-carrying submarines left PH to the NW to patrol south of the Aleutians to prepare an eventual raid by the KB.

Southern Pacific

Ten AP left Noumea to go to Auckland and pick up the 56th Bde and the 24th Eng Rgt and evacuate them northwards. That will left only small IJN units to hold the country (but still 150-200 AV per city).

New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

During the day, three Allied MSW arrived off Goodenough Island and started to sweep mines. In the morning a F-5A Lightning was shot down by AA over Rabaul. In the afternoon this base was attacked by 38 B-24D and 19 PB4Y from PM escorted by 62 P-38G that scored 7 hits on the airbase, 6 on supplies and 47 on runways, doing 127 casualties and disabling one gun. A B-24D was shot down by AA fire and another lost operationally.

Timor-DEI-Australia

In the morning, 14 B-24D from Darwin bombed Amboina but all missed, while 15 Beaufighter Mk 21 from Darwin escorted by 12 P-40N attacked Lautem and scored 1 hit on the airbase and 5 on the runway, doing 10 casualties.
In the afternoon, Koepang was attacked by 78 B-25C and 56 B-25J from Derby and reported 4 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 84 on runways, 76 casualties and 1 disabled gun, and Maumere was bombed by 6 PB4Y from Wyndham that scored 5 hits on the runway, disabling 20 men and one gun. Japanese AA fire shot down 2 B-25C over Koepang, a PBM Mariner over Kendari and a PBY Catalina over Amboina, while two B-25J were lost in accidents. Also in the afternoon the Dutch submarine KXVII was bombed and hit by a Ki-30 northwest of Menado.

SRA

Japanese engineers expanded the port of Takao, Formosa, to size 9. It is planned to turn this port as a major base with a naval HQ, 1-2 AR and several ASW groups as these waters are used by many convoys and are haunted by Allied submarines since some time. Takao will be used both as a place to save torpedoed ships and as a hub for ASW groups.

A small convoy loaded 10k resources in Toboali for Singapore.

Burma

Today 6 Beaufighter VIC were flying LRCAP over Myitkyina. Five units of the garrison (the 17th, 33rd and 104th Div and the 21st and 23rd Mixed Bde) were bombed by 37 Beaufighter Mk 21, 30 Beaufighter VIC, 28 Vengeance I and 22 Liberator VI from Kohima and Dacca escorted by 21 P-40N and lost 113 men, 3 guns and 1 tank. AA fire shot down 2 Beaufighter Mk 21, 2 VIC and 1 Vengeance. On the ground Japanese artillery fire hit 190 men and 1 gun.

120 miles west of Myitkyina, only Japanese artillery fired along the railway, doing 44 casualties on the Allied side. A new Tk Rgt arrived at this front from Mandalay, brining the Japanese AV to 1129 (against 1319 on the Allied side).

Betties continued to recon Dacca. One was shot down by AA fire over the target but another returned and reported that the CAP over the city was flown by 17 Lysander I, 8 Spitfire Vb and 2 P-40N. It was weak enough to be worth of a visit by Japanese airmen and in the evening 73 Betties flew from Bangkok to Rangoon. They will rest one or two days and then will attack Dacca under escort by Oscar II and Zeroes.

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Pagan 52/0 (system/runway), Mandalay 35/25, other bases undamaged. 35 Oscar II of the 64 Sentai flew in the evening from Rangoon to Pagan and were ordered to fly a sweep tomorrow over Myitkyina to engage the Beaufighter VIC on LRCAP here.

China

The 13th Japanese Tk Rgt advanced west of Kweiyang and reported 11 retreating Chinese units there. Still alone it will wait for other Japanese troops before attacking them. In Kweiyang itself, the Japanese engineers had repaired all damage and increased the airfield to size 4.

Chinese troops continued to leave Hengchow (1 units left, leaving 8) while 7 were still seen in Changsha. Japanese airmen received orders to recon the roads NW of Changsha to see where these troops will go. 120 miles north of Ichang a regiment of the 26th Div holding the road received orders to move west to occupy positions along the river enabling it to detect Chinese moves on the other side. The regiment north of it will withdraw southwards to take its place along the road (continuing the withdrawal move started with the 37th Div).

A Chinese Corps was bombed west of Kweiyang by 16 Ki-48 from Kweilin but all bombs missed.

A training mission was flown from Wuhan against troops NW of Changsha by 34 Nick and 23 A6M2 and hit 26 Chinese without loss.

[AmiralLaurent]

21 June 1943

Northern Pacific

For some days, Allied submarines had been reported around the Kurils. They finally scored today. The SS USS Sargo attacked the ML Naeshima off Paramushiro Jima during the night and hit her with one torpedo, and then achieved here later during the day with two other torpedoes. After this loss the minelaying operations off this base were stopped, laying a minefield of 1750 engines off the base, that is a small field by Empire standards. The ML will now lay mines off rear bases in the area, Etorofu Jima, Shikka and Toyohara.

Allied engineers expanded the port of Attu to size 4.

New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

The three Allied MSW that arrived yesterday off Goodenough Island remained there and swept mines during the night and day. Japanese airmen will try to attack them tomorrow. Goodenough Island will be reckoned by several units then the port will be bombed by a Betty Chutai. 44 other Betties were given naval attack orders and the other missions will have for goal to give them enough data on the Allied ships’ location to launch an attack.
In the evening 3 DD left Truk, sailing SE. Their goal is also to attack Allied ships in the same area. They will patrol north of Bougainville and wait for bad weather before sailing SW to attack during the night.

In the afternoon Rabaul was attacked by 39 B-24D and 22 PB4Y from PM escorted by 63 P-38G that scored 8 hits on the airbase, 4 on supplies and 52 on runways, doing 62 casualties and disabling one gun. Two B-24D were lost operationally.

Timor-DEI-Australia

In the morning, 16 B-24D from Darwin bombed Amboina without doing any damage. In the afternoon, Koepang was attacked by 75 B-25C and 53 B-25J from Derby and reported 2 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 109 on runways, and 16 casualties and 1 disabled gun, Maumere was bombed by 6 PB4Y from Wyndham that hit 36 men and one gun, and 14 Brewtser 339D and a patrolling B-25C attacked barges off Lautem, sinking one and damaging another. Japanese AA fire shot down 1 B-25C over Koepang and a PBM Mariner over Kendari, while a B-25C and a B-24D were lost in accidents.

Tomorrow 29 Oscar II from Kendari will fly LRCAP over Koepang to try to intercept the unescorted B-25 raiding it daily.

SRA

Two convoys were organized today: one will carry 42k resources from Palembang to Japan via Lespagi, Luzon, while the other will load 14k resources and 7k oil in Rangoon and carry them to Singapore.

Burma

Mandalay airfield was attacked by 63 B-25C, 23 Blenheim IV, 15 B-25J and 11 Beaufighter VIF from Chandpur escorted by 21 P-40E that did 101 casualties, disabled 1 gun, and scored 15 hits on the airbase and 122 on runways.

The planned sweep over Myitkyina wasn’t launched maybe because of bad weather that also grounded Allied airmen as they also launched no raid in this area. Japanese artillery fire hit 148 men.

120 miles west of Myitkyina, Japanese artillery hit 47 men.

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Pagan 46/0 (system/runway), Mandalay 46/80, other bases undamaged. The Oscar II sent to Pagan returned to Rangoon in the evening.

China

A Chinese Corps was bombed west of Kweiyang by 14 Ki-48 from Kweilin that did 18 casualties. More Japanese troops advanced west of Kweiyang but the retreating Chinese units had moved NW during the day. Japanese air recons had also shown that Chinese units coming from Hengchow and Changsha were advancing towards Kweiyang. Japanese airmen counted 16 units and received orders to fly more recon in this area, but also to bomb them. The Southern China Army will continue to march west from Kweiyang for at least one day but may send eastwards a part of its troops if the Chinese counter-attack was confirmed. More recon flights will also fly to check the roads west of Chungking to see if Chinese reinforcements were sent there to Kunming. The Japanese plan is to reach this city before such reinforcements and to attack the battered remains of the Chinese army already defeated in Kweiyang.
The 11th Japanese Army was now NE of Changsha with 5 Div, 1 Bde and 1 artillery unit. It will march to Changsha to test the defenses, leaving the Bde behind to hold the supply path from Wuhan.

A training mission was flown from Wuhan against troops NW of Changsha by 34 Nick, 24 A6M3a and 23 A6M2 and hit 23 Chinese for the loss of an A6M2 in an accident.

[AmiralLaurent]

22 June 1943

Northern Pacific

Another Allied submarine became active in the Kurils. The USS Capelin attacked twice a barge convoy (returning empty from Paramushiro Jima) on the surface off Ketoi Jima, sank one barge and damaged another with gunfire. The barges going the other way, with engineer aboard, were ordered to sail north of the islands before turning east for Paramushiro.

During the day a PBM Mariner was shot down by AA fire over Paramushiro Jima.

New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

The three Allied MSW off Goodenough Island swept the last Japanese mines during the night. Several Japanese aircraft flew recon over the island and reported a CAP of 6 Kittyhawk that shot down a Dinah III. 5 Betties from Truk evaded the CAP and bombed the port, doing no damage. All this activity was not enough for a naval attack mission to be launched from Truk.

In the afternoon Rabaul was attacked by 34 B-24D and 18 PB4Y from PM escorted by 65 P-38G that scored 7 hits on the airbase, 5 on supplies and 41 on runways, doing 34 casualties and disabling one gun. A B-24D was shot down by AA fire.

Allied MSW will probably sail south now that there are no more mines off Goodenough Island and Betties naval attack orders were cancelled. 15 A6M2 flew from Truk to Kavieng and were ordered to fly a sweep over this island to catch some Allied fighters.

Timor-DEI-Australia

A barge convoy arrived off Lautem during the night but had a bad day. Before dawn one barge was sunk by a VH2 mine (probably laid by a Dutch submarine), then the convoy was attacked by 14 Brewster 339D and 13 Beaufighter Mk 21 that sank the barge damaged the day before, and a 3rd barge was sunk by a patrolling B-25C.

In the morning, 14 B-24D from Darwin bombed Amboina, again without doing any damage. A PBM Mariner was shot down by a Japanese fighter over Kendari. The Oscar from Kendari that flew LRCAP over Koepang found no target.

Burma

Myitkyina airfield was attacked by 12 B-25J from Ledo and then by 46 B-25J from Imphal escorted by 20 P-40N and reported a total of 37 casualties, disabled 1 gun, 9 hits on the airbase, 9 on supplies and 47 on runways. A B-25J was shot down by AA fire. There was no Allied LRCAP over the area and no air raids against Japanese troops. Japanese artillery fire hit 49 men.

120 miles west of Myitkyina, Japanese artillery hit 25 Allied men. More north 51 Hurricane II from Imphal escorted by 9 Spitfire Vb attacked the 11th NLF on the mountain SE of Imphal and hit 40 men.

Japanese airmen continued to fly recon over Dacca and reported a CAP of 15 Lysander I, 6 Spitfire Vb and 2 P-40N, that shot down a Dinah II over the city. This weak CAP, and the use of Lysander that will provide easy targets for Japanese fighters, were interesting enough to launch a raid tomorrow. First 21 A6M3 will fly a sweep from Akyab (where they moved tonight) then 73 Betties and 6 Nells escorted by 29 Oscar II and 27 A6M3a will arrive from Rangoon and bomb the airfield.

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Pagan 40/0 (system/runway), Mandalay 46/56, Myitkyina 1/0, other bases undamaged.

China

Two Chinese Corps were bombed on the Changsha-Kweiyang road by 37 Ki-48 from Kweilin and Wuchow and lost 72 men and 1 gun.
Japanese recon flew over most of Southern China and identified most of the Chinese concentrations (see attached map). They confirmed that the Chinese leaving Changsha and Hengchow were marching towards Kweiyang, while only weak reinforcements were sent to Kunming from Chungking.
So the Southern China Army had two choices: either canceling its advance on Kunming to crush the Chinese counter-attack, or divide to stop the latter while continuing towards the second objective of the campaign. The second choice was done, as it was thought that Kunming won’t be held in force by the Chinese. The Southern China Army had a total of 12 Div and Bde, not counting support and HQ units. 6 will continue to march to Kunming and attack the city, while the other will stop the Chinese 60 miles E of Kweiyang. Fighting east of the city will assure that no Chinese unit will march south of the city and cut the supply path to the coast.

A training mission was flown from Wuhan against troops NW of Changsha by 34 Nick, 27 A6M3a and 19 A6M2 and hit 16 Chinese without loss.



Japan

The damaged CA Takao coming from Truk reached Tokyo and was docked here for repairs. One of the destroyers escorting here was also docked to receive a 6/43 upgrade.

[AmiralLaurent]

23 June 1943

Today the number of Allied aircraft lost since the start of the war passed the 10 000 mark and reached 10 029. Japanese losses are at 4841. I am happy with the more than 2 to 1 ratio but don't imagine I will keep it for long.

Northern Pacific

Paramushiro Jima was bombed in the afternoon by 24 B-24D from Attu that did 38 casualties, disabled 3 guns and scored 1 hits on the port, 3 on supplies and 2 on fuel dumps. A bomber hit by AA ditched on the return leg.

Southern Pacific

Japanese engineers continued to prepare the second line of defence in the Pacific and expanded the airfield of Funafuti Island to size 3.

Bismarck and Solomon Islands-New Guinea

The Zeroes sent to Kavieng were grounded by bad weather and didn’t fly the planned sweep. They returned to Truk in the evening. Tonight a Betty Daitai will start laying mines off Buna from this base.

In the evening the SS USS Drum was chased by an ASW group 120 miles north of Truk but escaped.
The 3 DD sent from Truk reached their patrol area NE of Green Island and will now wait for bad weather to raid Goodenough Island.

Timor-Amboina-Australia

During the night the old American submarine S-31 attacked an ASW group 120 miles SW of Menado and hit the DD Uzuki with one torpedo. The heavily damaged destroyer was scuttled later during the day. But the submarine didn’t escape easily. She was chased before and after dawn by the comrades of the stricken ship and was depthcharged twice and heavily damaged by a total of 2 hits and 7 near misses scored by the PC Shonan Maru 5, the PG Ugi and the PG Hyakafuku Maru.

In the morning, 11 B-24D from Darwin bombed Amboina and scored 1 hit on the airbase and 1 on runways, doing 5 casualties, while 13 Beaufighter Mk 21 from Darwin attacked the barge convoy retiring from Lautem 120 miles north of this base and sank two of them but in a rare event a barge AA gunner hit one of the attackers and even shot it down!
In the afternoon, Koepang was attacked by 75 B-25C and 30 B-25J from Derby and reported 2 hits on the airbase, 4 on supplies and 63 on runways, 105 casualties and 1 disabled gun, and Maumere was bombed by 3 PB4Y from Wyndham that scored 2 runway hits and hit 24 men and one gun. A B-25C and a B-25J were lost in accidents, while two PBM Mariner were shot down by AA fire during recon sorties.

Southern Resource Area

A convoy loaded 18k supplies in Toboali and will carry them to Rangoon.

Burma

The planned attack on Dacca was launched. First over the target were 20 A6M3 of F2/281 Daitai flying a sweep over Akyab and they engaged the CAP of 28 Lysander I, 14 Spitfire Vb and 2 P-40N but things weren’t so easy as planned. The Daitai shot down 9 Lysander and 2 Spitfire but lost 12 Zero and 11 pilots in the battle. FLT Trayhorn L, a Spitfire pilot of 605 Sqn RAF, scored 3 victories in this battle to bring his score to 14. Then arrived the bombers, 73 Betties and 6 Nells from Rangoon escorted by 28 Oscar II and 27 A6M3a. 19 Lysander I, 12 Spitfire Vb and 2 P-40N engaged them and in a furious air battle 23 Allied aircraft (17 Lysander, 5 Spitfire and 1 P-40) and 14 Japanese (8 Oscar, 3 Betty, 2 Zero and 1 Nell) were shot down. The bombers then attacked the airfield, destroying on the ground two Liberator VI, a Lysander I and an I-153c, did 28 casualties and scored 9 hits on the airbase and 37 on the runways for the loss of a Betty to AA fire.
As planned the Lysander had been slaughtered in the air but what was unexpected was that they died fighting: they shot down 3 A6M3, 3 Oscar II, 1 A6M3a and 1 Nell… The overall result of the raid was 38 Allied losses against 27 Japanese. Not a bad score in mid-43 but a new Japanese fighter unit had been decimated. In the evening Japanese airmen returned to their main base, the A6M3 flying from Akyab to Rangoon and the bombers from Rangoon to Bangkok.

Mandalay airfield was attacked by 46 B-25C, 18 Blenheim IV, 15 B-25J and 6 Beaufighter VIF from Chandpur escorted by 21 P-40E that did 82 casualties, disabled 1 gun, and scored 8 hits on the airbase, 4 on supplies and 60 on runways. Three Blenheim IV were lost in crashes.

Today 8 Beaufighter VIC were flying LRCAP over Myitkyina. The airfield was bombed by 7 B-25J from Ledo escorted by 21 P-40N that scored 1 hit on the airbase and 6 on the runways. Five units of the garrison (the 17th, 33rd and 104th Div, and the 21st and 23rd Mixed Bde) were bombed by 52 Vengeance I, 38 Beaufighter VIC, 29 Liberator VI and 24 Beaufighter Mk 21 from Dacca, Kohima and Ledo escorted by 20 P-40N, lost 209 men and 6 guns and shot down 4 Vengeance, 1 Liberator and 1 Beaufighter VIC with AA fire. Japanese artillery fire hit 60 men.

120 miles west of Myitkyina, Japanese artillery hit 27 Allied men.

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Pagan 34/0 (system/runway), Mandalay 65/77, other bases undamaged.

China

A Chinese division was bombed on the Changsha-Kweiyang road by 16 Ki-48 from Kweilin and lost 68 men.

The 11th Japanese Army (HQ, 5 Div, 1 ART unit) reached Changsha and reported that 6 units were holding it. It will bombard them to judge their strength before launching an eventual attack.

A training mission was flown from Wuhan against troops NW of Changsha by 30 Nick, 24 A6M3a and 22 A6M2 and hit 31 Chinese without loss.

Japan

A big convoy left Osaka for Davao, Mindanao. It will drop 72k fuel here and then the 16 TK of the convoy will go to Borneo and Java to load oil. It also included an AR that will remain in Davao port to support operations in the area.

The Production Minister ordered to launch the construction of the factories to build the Frances bomber that will be available at the end of the year. The planned factory in Gumma (size 66) was ordered to start repairs, while a Ki-51 factory of Nagoya (size 27) was converted and expanded to also produce Frances (size 68) and will also start repairs.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: AmiralLaurent

23 June 1943

Today the number of Allied aircraft lost since the start of the war passed the 10 000 mark and reached 10 029. Japanese losses are at 4841. I am happy with the more than 2 to 1 ratio but don't imagine I will keep it for long.

This is fantastic achievement - congratulations!


Leo "Apollo11"

[AmiralLaurent]

Leo, I'm glad to see you're still my number one fan !

24-25 June 1943

Northern Pacific

There still was no raid on Paramushiro Jima and Japanese engineers used this lull to fully repair the base.

Central Pacific

The Const Bn sent to Christmas Island last year reported that its work was completed, fortifications of the island now were level 9. An AP convoy was formed in PH and will bring supplies to this base and will return with the Const Bn aboard.

Southern Pacific

Japanese engineers were stil busy here and in two days finished to build fortifications in Efate (level 9) and expanded two airfields to their maximum size, at Luganville (size 6) and Tongatapu (size 5). Both Efate and Tongatapu were now totally finished and two convoys were sent from Noumea and Suva to pick up construction troops on these islands (respectively 2 Eng Rgt, and 1 Eng Rgt and 1 Const Bn) and will bring them to build bases on the inner lines of the Empire. In Luganville fortifications were only level 3 and engineers will now concentrate on them.

Solitary AK with supplies were sent from Kwajalein to Ponape and from Suva to Wallis Island. Both of these garrisons reported shortages.

New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

During both nights, 14 Betties flew from Truk to Buna to lay mines. I don’t know if it worked but no mine symbol appeared on my map, and these flights were stopped.

There was no air raid on the 24th but a F-5A Lightning was shot down by AA fire over Rabaul.

In the afternoon of the 25th Rabaul was attacked by 50 B-24D and 8 PB4Y from PM escorted by 44 P-38G that scored 7 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 32 on runways, doing 106 casualties and disabling two guns. A P-38G was lost operationally.

Weather forecast for the 26th was bad and the 3 DD waiting for such cloud cover NE of Green Island received in the evening of the 25th orders to sail towards Goodenough Island and attack Allied ships there. They will strike on the night of the 26th-27th if everything went as planned.

Timor-DEI-Australia

During the night of the 23rd-24th, the barge convoy returning from Lautem suffered a new loss when the American submarine S-46 attacked it with gunfire and sank a barge. It was more than avenged by the loss of the SS S-31 badly damaged yesterday after fatally hitting the DD Uzuki and that sank 180 miles south of Menado.

In the morning of the 24th, 9 B-24D from Darwin bombed Amboina and scored 1 hit on the airbase and 6 on the runway. In the afternoon Maumere was attacked by 6 PB4Y from Wyndham that scored 3 runway hits and did 14 casualties. Japanese AA fire shot down a B-24D over Amboina and a PBM Mariner over Maumere.

The next day, 11 B-24D from Darwin bombed Amboina and scored 5 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 22 on runways, doing 45 casualties. In the afternoon, Koepang was attacked by 78 B-25C and 48 B-25J from Derby and reported 5 hits on the airbase, 4 on supplies and 65 on runways, 73 casualties and 2 disabled guns, Maumere was bombed by 6 PB4Y from Wyndham that hit 6 men and scored two runway hits, and 14 Brewtser 339D and Lautem was attacked by 12 B-25C from Darwin escorted by 12 P-40N that scored one hit on supplies and 13 on runways, disabling 34 men and 1 gun. Japanese AA fire shot down 1 B-25J over Koepang and two PBM Mariner and a PBY Catalina over Japanese bases during recon missions, while another PBM was shot down over Kendari by a Tojo pilot for his 5th victory and a B-25C was lost in an accident.

SRA

During the morning of the 24th, the SS USS Harder attacked a convoy 180 miles SE of Takao, evading the 5 escorts and setting an AP on fire with one torpedo. This convoy was one of the troop convoys rerouted to Burma, and was carrying a regiment of the 30th Div. 36 men were killed by the attack aboard the Nagano Maru that was damaged at 48/52/20. The whole convoy was rerouted to Takao to escort the cripple.

A convoy loaded 32k oil and 14k resources in Soerabaja and will sail to Kendari then PI before going to Japan. One of the convoy rerouted to Legaspi, Luzon, also to avoid submarines refueled there and sailed for Japan with 42k resources.

Burma

On both days there was no Allied LRCAP over Myitkyina that was the main target of the Allied airmen. On the 24th 10 B-25J from Ledo escorted by 21 P-40N raided the airfield (12 casualties, 2 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 6 on runways) while 3 units of the garrison (33rd and 104th Div, 21st Mixed Bde) were bombed by 47 Beaufighter VIC, 39 Vengeance I and 36 Beaufighter Mk 21 from Kohima and Ledo and lost 84 men and 1 gun. AA fire shot down 3 Vengeance I, 1 Beaufighter Mk 21 and 1 B-25J, while another B-25J and a Vengeance were lost in accidents. The next day the airfield was bombed by 7 B-25J from Ledo escorted by 19 P-40E and by 28 B-24D from Imphal and reported 11 hits on the airbase, 14 on supplies and 36 on runways and the loss of 75 men and 2 guns. Three units of the garrison (33rd and 104th Div, 23rd Mixed Bde) were then bombed by 28 B-25J, 22 B-17E, 18 Beaufighter VIC, 13 Vengeance I and 11 Blenheim IV from Ledo and Imphal escorted by 20 P-40N and 3 P-40E and lost 76 men and 6 guns. AA fire shot down 1 B-25J while a P-40E and a Blenheim were lost in accidents. On the ground both sides exchanged artillery fire these two days: Japanese losses were 475 men and 4 guns, Allied ones 137 men.
On the 25th Japanese SIGINT reported an Allied unit just SE of Ledo, on the trail leading to Myitkyina. This was the first sign of a possible Allied reinforcement of their stranded army, and recon aircraft were ordered to recon the area.

120 miles west of Myitkyina, only Japanese artillery fired along the railway, doing 96 casualties on the Allied side in two days. The 4th Inf Rgt arrived at this front from Rangoon, brining the Japanese AV to 1370 (against 1313 on the Allied side). On the mountain NE of this battlefield, SE of Imphal, the 12th NLF was attacked on the 25th by 51 Hurricane II from Imphal escorted by 11 Spitfire Vb and suffered 88 casualties. In the evening, 32 Ki-44 flew from Rangoon to Akyab to fly tomorrow LRCAP over these troops and shot down some of these Hurricanes.

On the 25th took place the only Allied raid of these two days not directed on Myitkyina. Mandalay airfield was attacked by 63 B-25C, 22 Blenheim IV, 15 B-25J and 9 Beaufighter VIF from Chandpur escorted by 21 P-40E and reported a total of 67 casualties, 1 disabled gun, 2 hits on the airbase, 4 on supplies and 57 on runways.

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Pagan 22/0 (system/runway), Mandalay 73/72, Myitkyina 26/0, other bases undamaged.

China

On the 24th flying was limited to recon. The next day the 2nd New Chinese Corps was bombed 120 miles east of Kweiyang by 20 Ki-48 from Wuchow and lost 22 men. The Tk Rgt holding the road east of Kweiyang received the first reinforcement the same day: 2/3 Div, 2 HQ, 1 ART. Now the blockroad was hold by 317 AV facing the 8 Chinese units 60 miles more east (in the first group coming from Hengchow and Changsha).

NW of Kweiyang the retreating Chinese arrived in Kunming. Japanese patrols following them reported that the city was hold by 18 units: 5 of its original garrison, 12 defeated in Kweiyang and 1 that came from Chungking some days ago.

In Changsha both sides exchanged shells on the 24th to identify each other. The Japanese 11th Army (HQ, 5 Div, 1 ART, 1971 AV) was facing 3 Corps, 1 Base Force and 2 HQ (1027 AV). On the 25th only Japanese guns fired. Losses for the two days were 182 Chinese men and 1 gun, and 113 men and 8 guns on the Japanese side

Japan

On the 25th, the second CV of the Unryu class, the Amagi, was commissioned in Tokyo. Its arrival brought the strength of the Kido Butai (based in Osaka) to 10 CV and 4 CVL (excluding CVE), 322 fighters (268 A6M3a (87 flown by aces) and 54 brand-new A6M5), 185 dive bombers (149 Vals and 36 Judies) and 165 torpedo bombers (147 Kates and 18 Jills). The Chitose and Chiyoda will finish their upgrade in 3 weeks but the KB won’t probably wait for them before sailing.

The most probable area for this first sortie will be the Kurils. For now the plan will be to sail with the KB close to Paramushiro Jima and draw Attu bombers into an heavy CAP to decimate them without taking much risks, and then to send enough fighters in Paramushiro to hold it against unescorted heavies (the same way that Kendari and Rangoon were defended). A survey of Japanese airfields showed that close to 200 fighters may be gathered for this operation: 83 Oscar II, 36 Rufes, 35 Tonies, 27 night-fighter Irving and 18 A6M3a. That should be enough against unescorted bombers. Japan defenses will be reduced by this move but still at an acceptable level. This CAP move and the KB raid will be probably enough to delay or even stop the Allied operations in the area.

Three old 18-knot CL received their 6/43 upgrade in Hiroshima.

[AmiralLaurent]

26 June 1943

Northern Pacific

Since some weeks, the Mariner squadrons of the USN had been heavily used in recon missions and suffered heavy losses to AA and fighters. One had a small revenge in the morning when it bombed and sank a damaged barge off Paramushiro Jima.

Paramushiro Jima was bombed by 43 PB4Y, 38 B-17E, 27 B-24D and 12 Liberator VI from Attu that did 108 casualties, disabled 4 guns and scored 14 hits on the airbase, 3 on supplies, 34 on runways, 9 on the port, 2 on port supplies and 3 on fuel while losing a PB4Y and a B-17E in accidents. The base reported in the evening damaged to the airfield of 30/56 and to the port of 24.

Southern Pacific - New Zealand - New Caledonia – New Hebrides

The AP convoy sent from Noumea to New Zealand to evacuate the 56th Bde and the 24th Eng Rgt arrived in Auckland and began to load these troops and will bring them northwards.

Bismarck and Solomon Islands-New Guinea

Just after dawn an ASW group detected the submarine USS Shark 120 miles SW of Truk and attacked her. The DD Susukaze scored 2 hits on her and the DD Hatsushima 2 near-misses. The badly damaged submarine broached and then capsized and sank without survivors.

In the afternoon Rabaul was attacked by 40 B-24D and 7 PB4Y from PM escorted by 40 P-38G that scored 6 hits on the airbase, 3 on supplies and 34 on runways, doing 163 casualties and disabling 3 guns. AA shot down a B-24D and a PB4Y.

The daily recon of Goodenough Island reported that the usual LRCAP of Kittyhawk I had been reinforced with five F4F-4, newcomers in the area. They probably came from Gili Gili and bombers from Truk will recon this base tomorrow.
Allied engineers opened an airfield on Goodenough island during the day. The DD squadron ordered to raid it was not in position in the evening and as good weather was forecast for tomorrow received orders to sail back to Truk to avoid Allied air attacks.

Japanese engineers were busy too and expanded the airfield of Kavieng to size 3. They will now stop working on the airfield and will only expand fortifications (now at level 1, 91%).

Timor-Amboina-Australia

In the morning, 10 B-24D from Darwin bombed Amboina and scored 2 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 10 on runways, disabling 17 men and 2 guns. In the afternoon, Koepang was attacked by 71 B-25C and 51 B-25J from Derby and reported 2 hits on the airbase and 71 on runways, and 111 casualties, Lautem was raided by 6 B-25C from Darwin escorted by 11 P-40N that left 3 holes on the runway, and Maumere was bombed by 3 PB4Y from Wyndham that scored 3 runway hits and hit 8 men. AA fire shot down a B-25C over Koepang and a Mariner over Kendari.

In the evening the Dutch submarine KXV was attacked by an ASW group SE of Menado and was damaged by a hit and a near-miss scored by the APD APD-46.

Southern Resource Area

The troop convoy of the 30th Div attacked two days ago south of Formosa reached Takao and began to unload before reorganizing and reloading to continue to Bangkok with the damaged ship, now at 54/61/0. She should be fine in a size ç port like Takao but once can never know with Japanese sailors.

Burma

Mandalay airfield was again attacked by 52 B-25C, 14 B-25J? 8 Beaufighter VIF and 3 Blenheim IV from Chandpur escorted by 19 P-40E and reported a total of 153 casualties, 2 disabled guns, 6 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 69 on runways

Myitklyina airfield was bombed by 8 B-25J from Ledo escorted by 2 P-40E that scored 2 runway hits and lost 2 B-25J to AA fire. There was no raid on the Japanese garrison but 21 Beaufighter VIC and 12 P-40N were flying LRCAP over the battlefield. Japanese artillery hit 82 men here.
The Allied unit reported just SE of Ledo by Japanese SIGINT yesterday was identified by recon aircraft as the HQ Southeast Asia and 5 other units probably moving southwards to Myitkyina. The presence of this HQ is another proof of the importance of this Allied offensive.

120 miles west of Myitkyina, only Japanese artillery fired along the railway, doing 62 casualties on the Allied side.
Both NLF marching in the mountains SE of Imphal to cut Allied supply trails were LRCAPed today by Ki-44 of the 87 Sentai flying from Akyab. My idea was that with LRCAP they may score against Hurricane and if an heavy escort flew with the raid, only a part of the unit will be lost. The Allied raid was flown by 51 Hurricane from Imphal escorted by 26 Spitfire Vb, 18 P-40N and 10 P-40E. 8 Tojos were on station and were immediately given up as lost by the Japanese air commander but worse to follow as other Tojos arrived during the battle, probably to relieve those on station, and were shot down too. The Japanese pilots shot down 5 Spitfire and 1 P-40E, but were unable to reach the Hurricanes and 18 Tojos were shot down with the loss of all their pilots. A second raid by 10 Lysander I from Kohima escorted by 18 Spitfire Vb attacked the same target and met no Japanese fighters. Total losses of the 11th NLF on the ground were 57 men and 1 gun. Three more Allied aircraft were lost operationally: a Spitfire, a Lysander and a P-40E. The 87 Sentai returned to Rangoon in the evening, reduced to 14 pilots…

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Pagan 16/0 (system/runway), Mandalay 84/87, other bases undamaged.

China

The 7th Chinese Corps was bombed 120 miles east of Kweiyang by 24 Ki-48 from Wuchow and lost 50 men and 1 gun. One more division joined the troops holding the road east of Kweiyang bringing them to 578 AV.

NW of Kweiyang the Japanese continued to advance and 3 Div and 6 other units, roughly half of the troops marching to Kunming, were now just SE of the city.

The Chinese garrison of Changsha was bombed by 50 Ki-51 from Nanchang escorted by 12 Oscar II, by 30 Nick, 27 A6M3a, 19 A6M2, 19 Ki-49 and 12 Ki-21 from Wuhan and 19 Ki-48 from Kweilin, and then by Japanese artillery and lost 376 men and 4 guns, but shot down with AA fire 3 Ki-51 and a Ki-48 while another Lily was lost in an accident.
The Japanese 11th Army (HQ, 5 Div, 1 ART, 1975 AV) will launch tomorrow a deliberate attack on the city (defended by 1026 AV) with the same air support as today.

Japan

The 1944 naval program was launched today: the three bigger pieces of it will be three more Unryu-class CV (two had already been launched, the third of the 1943 program, the Katsuragi will be launched in 3 months). The places of the two launched ships were taken by the CV Aso and Ikoma, both at an accelerated pace. The Kasagi will begin to be built normally in about one week, and will be accelerated once the Chitose and Chiyoda will be operational again in 20 days.

It was discovered that the convoy of 10 AK sent from Osaka to Canton, China, to bring 70k supplies to support the Japanese offensive had sailed some days ago with only 21k aboard… A new one was created in Osaka to carry 52k supplies to this base.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: AmiralLaurent

Leo, I'm glad to see you're still my number one fan !

Of course I am! [:)]




Leo "Apollo11"

[AmiralLaurent]

27 June 1943

Northern Pacific

After dawn the submarine USS Pargo chased some barges off Paramushiro Jima but lost them in the fog. During the day a PBM Mariner was shot down by AA fire over this base.

Southern Pacific

The convoy sent from Noumea arrived off Efate and started to load the 21st and 23rd Eng Rgt. It will bring them to Kwajalein and they will then work on other Pacific rear bases.
In Auckland the last men of the 56th Bde and 24th Eng Rgt boarded the AP that came to pick them up. The convoy sailed NE, with Funafuti as its first stop. No definitive plan has been drawn for the use of these units.

New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

In the afternoon Rabaul was attacked by 36 B-24D and 3 PB4Y from PM escorted by 56 P-38G that scored 8 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 43 on runways, doing 64 casualties and disabling 3 guns. A B-24D was shot down by AA fire and another was lost operationally.

The convoy bringing the 43rd Div (planned to defend Wewak) arrived in Palau and unloaded a part of the troops aboard. The convoy sailed in the evening for Hollandia, that will be easier to defend from PM airmen than Wewak. So the divisions will be unloaded here and then barges, FT and solitary transports will bring its main body to Wewak.

Timor-DEI-Australia

In the afternoon, Koepang was attacked by 67 B-25C and 50 B-25J from Derby and reported 6 hits on the airbase and 100 on runways, 44 casualties and 1 disabled gun. AA fire shot down 2 B-25C while 3 B-25J were lost in accidents.

SRA

A convoy loaded 14k resources in Kuala Lumpur for Singapore.

Burma

The Allied troops in Myitkyina tried to attack the city with heavy air support. First 6 B-25J from Ledo escorted by 20 P-40N and 19 P-40E raided the airfield, scoring 2 hits on the runways, and then 5 units of the garrison (17th, 33rd and 104th Div, 21st and 23rd Mixed Bde) were bombed by 43 B-24D, 37 Beaufighter Mk 21, 35 B-25J, 35 Beaufighter VIC, 33 B-25C, 32 Liberator VI, 23 B-17E, 23 Vengeance I and 18 Blenheim IV from Imphal, Kohima, Chandpur and Dacca escorted by 41 P-40N and 2 P-40E in 10 raids and lost 311 men, 9 guns and 1 tank. AA fire shot down 3 Beaufighter VIC, 2 Vengeance I and 1 B-25C, while 2 B-24D, a B-17E and a P-40N were lost in accidents. Japanese artillery fire these hit 29 Allied men before the attack. The latter (see the pic below to see the involved units) failed at 0 to 1 by a wide margin. The initial AV, 3592 to 2650 in Allied favor, was adjusted to 1770 to 8993 in Japanese favor (Japanese forces are well supplied, defending fort level 9 in a jungle base, trained 100% for it and the HQ Burma Army and enough support squads are there). Japanese losses were 1439 men, 34 guns and 2 tanks, Allied losses 6488 men, 180 guns and 9 tanks.



120 miles west of Myitkyina, only Japanese artillery fired along the railway and hit 23 Allied men. On the mountain NE of this battlefield, SE of Imphal, the 11th NLF was attacked by 52 Hurricane II from Imphal and 18 Lysander I from Kohima escorted by 18 Spitfire Vb and suffered 35 casualties.

Mandalay airfield was attacked by 8 Beaufighter VIF from Chandpur that scored 2 hits on the runways. The evening report gave the airfield status as: Pagan 10/0 (system/runway), Mandalay 84/83, other bases undamaged.

In India, Allied engineers expanded the airfield of Calcutta to size 8, while for the first time since months Allied ships (4 AP/AK) were seen off Diamond Harbor. Japanese officers wondered if this was a CAP trap for Betties, or a convoy loading troops for a landing on the exposed Japanese flank. No real division was made and the Japanese reaction was half-hearted. 22 Betties flew from Bangkok to Rangoon with orders to fly naval attack, while 25 others went to Songkhia to fly naval search. The few surface ships available in Singapore (2 CA, 1 CL, 4 DD) will sail to Georgetown to be ready if Allied TF sailed to this area.

China

The Japanese 11th Army (HQ, 5 Div, 1 ART) launched an attack against the 3 Chinese Corps, 1 Base Force and 2 HQ defending Changsha. Bad weather grounded all planned air support and the attack failed at 0 to 1. The initial AV, 2019 to 1074 in Japanese favor, was adjusted to 1779 to 2179 in Chinese favor. Losses were 651 Chinese men and 10 guns, and 1439 men, 47 guns and 4 tanks on the Japanese side. With an extra division (the 37th Div was on the way), air support and more preparation (half of the units were created 2 weeks ago and had only 15-20% preparation for Changsha), the attack would have at least destroyed one fort level. Troops will rest and continue to train, but the offensive will then be restarted. In the mean time artillery and air bombings will be stopped.

The 2nd New Chinese Corps was bombed 120 miles east of Kweiyang by 20 Ki-48 from Wuchow and lost 6 men. The Southern China Army was now in place according to the new plan. The 61st Div had been divided and will defend the city of Kweiyang and the road to Kunming. This city will be attacked, or at least probed, by half of the army (2181 AV) while the other half (2002 AV) was now east of Kweiyang, waiting for the Chinese counter-offensive to continue. Chinese troops did no move today on all fronts.

Japanese engineers expanded two airfields, Hsinyang at size 6 and Kweiyang at size 5.

The Nick fighter-bombing unit that trained in Wuhan the last months was declared operational and flew to Japan. It will be used to defend Paramushiro Jima.

Japan

Admiral Yamamoto was especially involved in the preparation of the Kido Butai for the next battles and had toured the various ships gathered in Osaka port. His conclusion was that many ships had not the right captain and he ordered several changes (in the following lines, the format for captains stat is the following: leadership / inspiration / speciality (air for CV, surface for others) / agressivity):
_ the captain of the BB Musashi, Tamon S. (51/48/58/59) was replaced by the best available officer, Asakura, B (68/80/91/85).
_ two captains were sick (leader bug) and had to be replaced: Sugimoto U. (65/65/75/59) became the captain of the CA Kako, while Kato T. (58/68/71/55) became that of the CV Zuikaku.
_ five of the CV captains were from the old school, more able to command battleships than CVs, and were replaced:
Jojima K. (60/61/26/64) by Saito M. (66/60/73/59) aboard Shokaku
Yamagimoto R (61/75/36/56) by Okada T. (67/66/71/74) aboard Soryu
Ohno T. (71/67/25/56) by Okuma J. (64/62/67/50) aboard Hiryu
Ishii S. (59/54/31/69) by Yake G. (51/59/65/53) aboard Junyo
Sugimoto U. (65/65/31/59) by Hasegawa K (61/59/68/55) aboard Ryujo

One of the first decisions of the Japanese Production Minister at the start of the war was to stop the building of CV Taiho, that was “useless in the short war that was beginning”. Now it was decided to include it in the 1944 naval plan, and so its construction was restarted at accelerated speed with a commissioning date in fall 1944. More naval shipyard capacity will be necessary to produce all planned ships and orders were given to increase the shipyards of Osaka (+ 42), Kitakyushu (+ 44) and Takamatsu (+ 16).

[jumper]

On the picture is JAPANESE assault odds 0:1.. I thougth that it was allies who attacked [&:]
 
Outstanding AAR [&o] I look forward to see how your opponent will handle the unpleasant situation..

[AmiralLaurent]

The 0 to 1 attack showing on the pic above was for the Japanese attack on Changsha, that took place before the Myitkyina assault. You can find a pick showing the troops of both sides in Changsha in one of the above posts.

28-29 June 1943

Northern Pacific

Paramushiro Jima was bombed in the afternoon of the 28th by 22 PB4Y, 22 B-17E, 6 B-24D and 6 Liberator VI from Attu that disabled 74 men and 2 guns, and scored 2 hits on airbase supplies, 12 on runways, 5 on the port, 2 on fuel dumps and 4 on port supplies. A PB4Y was lost in an accident.

The next morning the SS USS Capelin attacked off Ketoi Jima, Kuriles, a convoy of empty barges returning from Paramushiro Jima and sank one with gunfire.

Southern Pacific

A convoy arrived off Tongatapu and started to load all constructions troops being on this island (the 21st Eng Rgt and 2 Const Bn). These troops had finished to build the base (AF and fort at max level) and will now work on other bases in the inner lines of the Empire.

New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

In the afternoon of the 28th, Rabaul was attacked by 18 B-24D and 15 PB4Y from PM escorted by 38 P-38G that scored 3 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 28 on runways, doing 78 casualties. Three B-24D were shot down by AA fire and another was lost operationally.

The next night an ASW group chased unsuccessfully the submarine USS Balao west of Truk. In the evening, the CL Yura and 3 DD left Truk sailing SE towards a patrol area N of Green Island. As was done lately with some DD, their orders were to wait for bad weather and then raid Allied positions in Goodenough Island.

Allied engineers expanded Buna airfield to size 2 on the 29th.

Timor-DEI-Australia

On the 28th, Koepang was attacked by 48 B-25J and 47 B-25C from Derby and reported 2 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 40 on runways, 45 casualties and 1 disabled gun, and Maumere was bombed and missed by 7 PB4Y from Wyndham. There was no raid on the 29th and nothing else to report for both days.

SRA

Two convoys were created in the period considered, to carry 35k resources from Kendari to Japan and 28k resources from Canton, China, to Japan too.

The odyssey of the troop convoys from Japan to Burma continued. The 30th Div convoy diverted to Takao had unloaded all troops and now detached the damaged AP (now FLT 41) and restarted loading all troops aboard the remaining ships.
Another troop convoy was attacked in the morning of the 29th by the SS USS Silversides but she was seen and chased away by the 5 escorts.

Burma

There was no Allied raid at all on the 28th. It was not known if the reason was bad weather or the failed attack the day before. Air raids were again launched on the 29th, mostly in the Myitkyina area. The airfield of this base was attacked by 20 B-25J, 15 Blenheim IV and 14 B-17E from Ledo and Imphal escorted by 42 P-40N and 38 P-40E that did 71 casualties and scored 5 hits on the airbase, 3 on supplies and 45 on the runways, and 3 units of the garrison (33rd and 104th Div, 21st Mixed Bde) were bombed by 43 Beaufighter VIC, 36 Vengeance I and 15 Beaufighter Mk 21 from Kohima and Ledo escorted by 3 P-40E in 10 raids and lost 82 men and 1 gun. In the mountains SE of Imphal, the 12th NLF was attacked by 52 Hurricane II from Imphal and 22 Lysander I from Kohima escorted by 16 Spitfire Vb and lost 76 men and 1 gun. Allied losses during the day were 1 Vengeance I and 1 Beaufighter VIC shot down by AA fire, and 1 F-5A, 1 B-25J, 1 P-40E, 1 Beaufighter VIC, 1 Spitfire Vb and 1 Lysander I lost operationally.

On the ground the activity was limited for both days to Japanese artillery fire near Myitkyina (hitting 353 Allied men and 1 tank in two days) and on the railway 120 miles west of it (107 casualties in two days). After the failed attack of the 27th, the AV of the Allied army in Myitkyina dropped from 3665 to 3103 on the 28th but then increased again at 3118 on the 29th as troops were recovering.

On the Salween front, the 38th Chinese Corps crossed the river on the 29th and arrived SE of Myitkyina. The 8th Tk Rgt that was east of Lashio and had orders to occupy this area received orders to march back to Lashio.

Japanese recon aircraft flew on both days over Diamond Harbor, reporting a CAP of 10-14 Mohawk and a bigger convoy than in first reports (with at least 10 transports). On the evening of the 28th, 22 more Betties arrived in Rangoon from Bangkok and were ordered to fly naval attack with the 22 already here while all available A6M3a (25…) were ordered to sweep Diamond Harbor or to escort them but were all grounded by bad weather. In the evening of the 29th it was decided to reinforce this operation by sending 36 Oscar II to Akyab with orders to sweep Diamond Harbor too.

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Mandalay 84/17 (system/runway), Myitkyina 20/20, other bases undamaged.

China

In the Changsha area, there was almost no activity. The 37th Div arrived on the 28th in Wuhan from its former outpost NE of Chungking (via Sian) and was ordered to move west and to join the Bde holding the road defend the supply path of the 11th Army. Four Chinese units were NW of Changsha and may try to cut this supply path.

Ki-48 from Wuchow and Kweilin continued to bombard Chinese units 120 miles east of Kweiyang, flying 25 sorties on the 28th and 39 on the 29th and hitting a total of 177 men and 3 guns. A 9th Chinese unit reached this area coming from the Changsha-Hengchow area, but on the whole Chinese units moved little during the period. On the evening of the 29th, the part of the Southern China Army that was east of Kweiyang (2 HQ, 5.66 Div, 1 Tk Rgt, 2 ART units) was ordered to march more east to engage the Chinese troops before their concentration.

The two remaining operational training units Wuhan flew on the 28th a raid against a Chinese Corps NW of Changsha and hit 13 men without loss. In the evening both promotions were declared operational. One will go to Burma as a full unit with 27 A6M3a and 28 pilots (mean exp 67), the other will convert from A6M2 to A6M3a and be used as fragments to reinforce frontline units before becoming a training unit again.

The base at Lanchow was now finished (AF 8, fort 9) and the three last Const Bn working here received orders to march to Sining.

[AmiralLaurent]

30 June 1943

Northern Pacific

Paramushiro Jima was bombed in the afternoon by 48 PB4Y, 31 B-24D, 27 B-17E and 10 Liberator VI from Attu that disabled 85 men and 4 guns, and scored 7 hits on the airbase, 1 on airbase supplies, 19 on runways, 5 on the port, 4 on fuel dumps and 2 on port supplies. A PB4Y and a B-24D were shot down by AA fire and another PB4Y was lost in an accident. The base reported damage in the evening as 27/26/46 (airbase/runway/port).

New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

The Dinah III Chutai sent some weeks ago to Wewak suffered another loss when one of its crew was shot down by the Allied CAP over Gili Gili, and was reduced to one aircraft and crew. This unit was inexperienced at the start and didn’t perform well here. The last crew flew back to Japan, where the unit will be replenished and trained. The same day a F-5A Lighting was shot down by AA fire over Rabaul.

The convoy carrying the first echelon of the 43rd Div will arrive in Hollandia in one or two days. To cover the ships, 28 Oscar II and 15 A6M2 flew in the evening from Truk to this base.

Timor-DEI-Australia

In the afternoon, Maumere was bombed by 6 PB4Y from Wyndham that scored one runway hit, and 13 Beaufighter Mk 21 from Darwin attacked a barge convoy off Lautem and sank 3 of them.

SRA

When the decision to send more troops from Japan to Burma was taken a week ago, a big convoy was created in Tokyo to carry a Bde, 2 Rgt and an Army HQ to Bangkok. The fastest way for this convoy was to sail in Southern China Sea north of Luzon, and it was known that this area was a patrol area of Allied submarines. So two ASW groups (respectively 6 modern PC and 6 PG) were sent to escort the convoy. This convoy now arrived in the dangerous zone and received a hot welcome. The SS USS Mingo attacked during the morning and the afternoon both ASW groups escorting it 60 miles east of Batan Island and in both cases heavily damaged one of the Japanese warships with one torpedo and evaded the other. The PG Kiso Maru (damage 16/54/29) and the PC Etoforu (damage 68/52/32) both were detached and sailed to Takao for emergency repairs.

Three convoys were organized today and will carry 48k oil from Cagayan to Japan, 10k resources from Toboali to Singapore and 21k resources from Swatow, China, to Japan.

Burma

Getting bored to wait for good weather, the Japanese air commander in Rangoon sent finally the attack against Diamond Harbor. The Oscar from Akyab didn’t take off due to heavy rains, and a sweep of 18 A6M3a sent from Rangoon was scattered by storms over the Bengal Sea. Only two of the fighters reached the target and reported a CAP of 10 Mohawk IV that they didn’t mange to engage. Given these awful weather reports the bombers weren’t sent to attack the ships still reported there. But the sweep had probably alerted the Allied airmen and either the convoy will leave or the CAP will be reinforced tomorrow, so the air commander searched another use for his bombers. The city of Asansol had no more AC according to reports and was an interesting industrial target. It was decided to raid it with the 44 Betties already in Rangoon and the 25 based in Songkhia that arrived in Rangoon in the evening. Tomorrow recon will fly over several Indian cities, Asansol will be one of these.

The weather was bad for both sides and there were only two Allied air raids. Myitkyina airfield was attacked by 15 Blenheim IV, 13 B-25J and 12 B-17E from Imphal escorted by 22 P-40N and 18 P-40E that did 13 casualties and scored 11 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 27 on the runways. In the mountains SE of Imphal, the 12th NLF was attacked by 51 Hurricane II from Imphal escorted by 9 Spitfire Vb and lost 57 men and 1 gun. The only Allied loss was a B-25J lost in a crash.

On the ground only Japanese artillery fired at Myitkyina (26 Allied casualties) and on the railway 120 miles west of it (93 Allied casualties).

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Mandalay 67/0 (system/runway), Myitkyina 25/0, other bases undamaged.

The first unit of the new Burma reinforcements, a Rgt of the 30th Div, arrived in Bangkok during the day and began to disembark.

The British Admiralty asked that during the month of July a BB and two DD were sent to another theater.

China

In the Changsha area, Japanese patrols reported that only two Chinese units were now NW of Changsha (instead of 4 the day before), reducing seriously the threat to the Japanese supply path.

16 Ki-48 from Kweilin bombarded the 7th Chinese Corps 120 miles east of Kweiyang and hit 58 men and 1 gun while losing one of their number in an accident.

Japanese SIGINT reported an Allied unit NE of Kunming and recon squadrons were ordered to investigate. It was deemed fairly possible that heavy reinforcements were sent from Chungking to this city.

Japan

Two industrial events were noticeable today. The first was planned and was the inauguration by Japanese ministers of the G4M2 Betty factory that will start producing tomorrow (capacity 20, two G4M1 factories of size 20 and 26 should also convert to this type). The second was unplanned and could not have taken place at a worst time. The BB Ise and Hyuga were docked in Osaka and were converted to “hybrid CVB” but will be out of the war for 6 months. That conversion was not seen necessary by the High Command but was seen as a good idea by the IJN engineers and as nobody said them not to do it they launched the process. But right now Japanese shipyards are already fully active and the conversion of these two BB will probably be delayed. The first reaction of the Production Minister was to set back the construction of the CV Taiho to a normal pace.

[Dive Bomber1]

The second was unplanned and could not have taken place at a worst time. The BB Ise and Hyuga were docked in Osaka and were converted to “hybrid CVB” but will be out of the war for 6 months. That conversion was not seen necessary by the High Command but was seen as a good idea by the IJN engineers and as nobody said them not to do it they launched the process.

Is there a way to stop that from happening, other than to keep the two battleships out of repair ports? If you turn upgrades "Off" for them is the conversion avoided?

Thanks -

[AmiralLaurent]

Divebomber, it's relatively easy to avoid the conversion of the Ise and Hyuga, the only thing to do is not disband them in Osaka port. If you send them to any other repair shipyard, they won't convert.

An interesting feature of the report below was the big drop in manpower. It was due to the "great reinforcement day" on 13 June 1943, that finally costed far more manpower than armament points.

Monthly report June 1943

Japanese score: 54 580 (+ 859)
Bases 15 655 (+ 304)
Aircraft 10 113 (+ 418)
Army 20 712 (+ 123)
Ship 7 382 (+ 14) 463 ships sunk (+ 2: 2 SS)
Scuttled ships 0 (+ 0)
Strategic 718 (+ 0)

Allied score: 8 375 (+ 348)
Bases 1 325 (+ 25)
Aircraft 4 872 (+ 287)
Army 959 (+ 27)
Ship 1219 (+ 9) 136 ships sunk (+ 3: 1 ML...)
Strategic 0

Economic situation (stocks rounded to the thousand):
Supplies : 4 898 000 (bases) + around 118 000 (TFs) = around 5 016 000 (+77 000)
Fuel : 4 498 000 (bases) + around 101 000 (TFs) = around 4 599 000 (+86 000)
Ressource centers : 19 076 (+ 31)
Ressources : 1 272 000 (bases) + 160 000 (TFs) = 1 432 000 (+ 22 000)
Oil centers : 2 787 (- 6)
Oil: 2 052 000 (bases) + 164 000 (TFs) = 2 216 000 (+ 64 000)
Manpower centers : 817 (+ 0)
Manpower pool : 940 000 (- 133 000) (creation of 9 Div during the month)
Heavy industry: 14 074 (+ 84)
Heavy industry pool: 367 000 (+ 36 000)
Naval shipyard: 1309 (+ 9)
Merchant shipyard: 1000 (+ 0)
Repair shipyard: 958 (+ 30)
Armament industry: 683 (+ 0)
Armament stock: 190 000 (- 6 000) (idem, creation of 9 Div this month)
Vehicles industry: 113 (+ 0)
Vehicles stock: 9 800 (+ 2 500)
Aircraft engine factories: 1587 (+ 0)
Aircraft frames factories: 1149 (- 7)
Aircraft research: 372 (+ 76) (research of Frances launched)

Aircraft production:
158 Ki-43-IIa (capacity 159), 60 A6M3 Zero (72, restarted this month), 57 Ki-44-IIb Tojo (57), 51 Ki-46-III Dinah (48), 47 G4M1 Betty (46), 23 J1N1-S Irving (23), 20 E13A1 Jake (20), 19 Ki-21 Sally (20), 17 A6M-2 Rufe (14), 17 Ki-57 Topsy (10), 14 L2D2 Tabby (10), 7 B5N Kate (40, almost stopped), 6 A6M3a Zero (230, almost suspended), 5 L3Y Tina (5), 4 D3A Val (41, almost stopped), 0 Ki-45 KAIa Nick (44, suspended), 0 Ki-45 KAIb Nick (25, suspended), 0 Ki-49 Helen (23, suspended), 0 J1N1-R Irving (16, suspended), 0 Ki-61 KAIc Tony (123, stopped), 0 Ki-51 Sonia (18, stopped), 0 Ki-48 (capacity 40, stopped), 0 H8K Emily (32, suspended), 0 G4M2 Betty (20, new model on 1st July), 0 MC-21 Sally (5, suspended), 0 E14Y1 Glen (4, suspended), 0 H6K2-L Mavis (4, suspended)

Total: 505 aircraft (298 fighters (including 17 Rufes), 74 recon, 66 level bombers, 36 transport, 20 floatplanes, 7 torpedo bombers, 4 divebombers, 0 fighter-bombers, 0 night-fighters)

[AmiralLaurent]

1 July 1943

Northern Pacific

Paramushiro Jima was bombed in the afternoon by 48 PB4Y, 28 B-17E, 12 B-24D and 10 Liberator VI from Attu that disabled 57 men and 1 gun, and scored 2 hits on the airbase, 8 on runways, 3 on the port, 5 on fuel dumps and 4 on port supplies. A PB4Y was lost in an accident.

Southern Pacific

3 AK loaded 7k supplies each in Kwajalein and will bring them to Ponape, Baker Island and Tinian. The convoy carrying the 23rd Eng Rgt and 2 Const Bn from Efate reached this atoll, refueled and sailed to Palau, from where it will go to the DEI where there was a chronical lack of engineers since the start of the Japanese “protectorate”.

Timor-DEI-Australia

The morning was quiet but the afternoon saw more Allied activity than the norm in the last weeks. 115 B-17E from Darwin escorted by 13 P-40N raided Dili, hitting 66 men and 1 gun and scoring 8 hits on the airbase, 6 on supplies and 49 on the runway. Koepang was attacked by 72 B-25C and 39 B-25J from Derby and reported 8 hits on the airbase, 3 on supplies and 70 on runways, and the loss of 107 men. Lautem was bombed by 45 B-25C from Darwin (9 other didn’t find it) that scored 11 runway hits and did 26 casualties. The only Allied losses were a B-17E lost to engine failure and a PBY Catalina shot down by AA fire over Amboina during a recon flight.

SRA

The convoy battle north of Luzon continued during the night as the SS USS Puffer attacked the PC escort group (now reduced to 5 ships) 60 miles west of Batan Island and hit the PC Iki with 2 torpedoes before evading. The ASW group remained in the area to search her and manage to locate her before dawn. A barrage of Type 2 depth charges dropped by the PC Matsuwa then scored two hits and two near-misses on the Puffer, but she survived, while the PC Iki sank. In the morning the other ASW group escorting the convoy, now made of 5 PG, was also attacked, 120 miles W of Batan Island, and the PG Tatsumiya Maru was hit by a torpedo. The submarine, the USS Flying Fish, was depth charged by the PG Sozan Maru that scored a near-miss and evaded but was found in the afternoon by the PC ASW group and again depth charged, this time by the modern PC Fukue and Matsuwa whose Type 2 depth charges scored one hit and 6 near-misses and disabled the torpedo tubes of the submarine. At the same time the damaged Puffer was seen 60 miles W of Batan Island by the escort of a smaller AP convoy coming behind the big one. Its 5 escort chased her and dropped DCs but missed.
In the evening the convoy continued to sail west. The PG damaged today was sent to Hong Kong for emergency repairs and should made it without difficulty.

Burma

Myitkyina was attacked by 6 B-25J from Ledo escorted by 22 P-40N and 19 P-40E that did 13 casualties and scored 1 hit on supplies and 4 on the runways. Four units of the garrison (33rd and 104th Div, 21st and 23rd Mixed Bde) were bombed by 44 Beaufighter VIC, 32 Vengeance I and 29 Beaufighter Mk 21 from Kohima and Ledo escorted by 3 P-40E and lost 86 men and 1 gun. In the mountains SE of Imphal, the 11th NLF was attacked by 52 Hurricane II from Imphal and 22 Lysander I from Kohima escorted by 11 Spitfire Vb and lost 62 men. Allied losses during the day were 1 Beaufighter Mk 21 and 1 Beaufighter VIC shot down by AA fire, 1 Beaufighter Mk 21 lost operationally.

Japanese recon aircraft flew over Diamond Harbor and reported that the CAP had been reinforced by 20 Spitfire Vb while the convoy was gone. They also flew over Calcutta, Dinapur and Asansol but only the last was a real possible target. Bad weather was forecast for tomorrow and so the bombers received no orders and will continue to rest.

On the ground only Japanese artillery fired at Myitkyina (52 Allied casualties) and on the railway 120 miles west of it (39 Allied casualties). Artillery fire will be stopped in Myitkyina. The Rgt of the 30th Div that started to land in Bangkok yesterday was now fully ashore and was ordered to go by train and road to Burma.

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Mandalay 33/0 (system/runway), other bases undamaged.

China

There was no action during the day but a Chinese unit advanced on the road just east of Kweiyang and will be attacked tomorrow by the 6 Div of the Southern China Army that were here.

Japan

The Kido Butai will sail in some days and all available warships were ordered to go to Osaka. That included the CV Amagi and 7 DD from Tokyo, the BB Haruna and her escort from Ominato and 4 DD from Hiroshima.

The July 43 upgrade program was launched. In Japanese ports were concerned 6 DD, 3 Nagara-class CL (more torpedoes and AA), 2 Sendai-class CL (+ 48 AA guns) and the CL Agano.

The Production Minister validated the fact that the Taiho will have priority on the conversion of the Ise and Hyuga. Both BB were halted and the Taiho was again set at accelerated pace.

Two convoys left Tokyo carrying 14k supplies to Wake and 45k fuel and 56k supplies to Kwajalein.

[AmiralLaurent]

2 July 1943

Northern Pacific

Paramushiro Jima was bombed in the afternoon by 44 PB4Y, 30 B-17E, 25 B-24D and 9 Liberator VI from Attu that wounded and killed 69 men, and scored 2 hits on the airbase, 1 on airbase supplies, 23 on runways, 6 on the port, 1 on fuel dumps and 2 on port supplies. A B-24D was shot down by AA fire and a PB4Y and a B-17E were lost in bad weather. The base reported damage in the evening as 34/41/65 (airbase/runway/port).

New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

The convoy carrying the first echelon of the 43rd Div arrived in Hollandia and started to unload, apparently unnoticed by Allied air patrols.

Allied engineers expanded the airfield of Gili Gili to size 4.

Timor-DEI-Australia

Maumere was attacked by 6 PB4Y from Wyndham and reported 1 hit on the airbase and 8 on runways. Lautem was bombed by 64 B-25C from Darwin escorted by 12 P-40N but they only scored 1 hit on the airbase and 2 on runways. The only Allied losses were two PBY Catalina shot down by AA fire over Amboina and Koepang during recon flight.

SRA

The convoy battle north of Luzon didn’t quiet as the number of Allied submarines involved increased, heavily surprising Japanese commanders. During the night the PG ASW group chased unsuccessfully the SS USS Tresher 120 miles north of Vigan. 60 miles more west the SS Saury missed the mai naction but found before dawn the AP convoy following the main one and attacked it. Her torpedoes missed and she was then chased by the 5 escorts, the PC Showa Maru 5 scoring a near miss. After dawn the SS Cisco attacked the PC ASW group 120 miles NW of Vigan and fired torpedoes against the PC Fukue that dodged them and counter-attacked, scoring 12 near-misses on the American submarine. This submarine was also seen in the evening by the escort of the AP convoy following the main one but escaped without more damage. Japanese airmen also reported more Allied submarines N and NW of the battle area.
After all this action the Japanese Navy finally decided it was wiser to reroute the convoy and ordered it to sail south and to merge with the following convoy west of Bataan. Also 24 Ki-49 arrived in Lingayen from China and will reinforce the air naval search from Luzon.

Elsewhere, a convoy started to load 21k resources in Amoy, China, and will bring them to Japan. The (empty) TK convoy sent from Japan stopped at Davao for the day and as planned the AR sailing with it left the convoy to be based here. The convoy then sailed again for Balikpapan.
Not far from there, the day was a major victory for the crew of the AK Naruto Maru and the sailors of the base of Menado. This transport was torpedoed by an American submarine on 4 May 1943 and reached the base (port level 3) the day after with FLT 50. After 3 months of work at least the FLT was reduced today to 0. The ship will sail to Davao with 5 escorts tomorrow.

Burma

The only Allied raids were launched against troops in the mountains SE of Imphal, both NLF being attacked by 52 Hurricane II from Imphal and 30 Lysander I from Kohima escorted by 16 Spitfire Vb that hit 61 men.

On the ground Japanese artillery fired only on the railway 120 miles west of Myitkyina (70 Allied casualties).

For the first time since months the evening report indicated that all Burmese airfields were undamaged. There was no reaction to Japanese recon flights since two days and all bombers from Rangoon (69 Betties and 6 Nells) were ordered to bombard the resource centers of Asansol tomorrow.

China

The 168th Chinese Div that advanced yesterday on the road just east of Kweiyang was attacked by the 6 Div of the Southern China Army that hold this area and was routed at 2163 to 1... Japanese losses were 139 men, 1 gun and 1 tank. Chinese fled eastwards after losing 1859 killed and wounded, 18 guns and around 900 prisoners. The Japanese troops were ordered to march east again (as they did before this Chinese unit advanced).
More east 18 Ki-48 from Kweilin bombed a Chinese Corps and hit 16 men and 1 gun.

A small Base Force left Kweilin to go to Kweiyang, where the airfield was still empty since the base was taken.

The map of the day: a strategic vision