Historical AE. Cantona2 (A) vs Fletcher (J)

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Enemy subs were also active this turn. Contact was lost in the early hours with the AG Canopus, heading to Tjilatjap from Oostahaven. Its last message was reporting being attacked on the surface by an enemy subamrine. Vk.A.2 (CW-22Falcon) has been transferred to Tjilatjap and has been ordered to seek and destory the enemy in the area, as two fuel laden transports are on their way to deposit their cargo there before longer legged tankers take the Fuel to Perth and beyond.

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Enemy landings on New Guinea

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and on Borneo and Sarawak

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Ships sunk last turn

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Synopsis Turn 6

More submarine strikes across the main areas of combat. Dutch submarines suffer from bad aim at Brunei and Kudak, while S-Boats contiue hitting ships at Mauban, sinking the already damaged Konan Maru and hitting a further transport. An escort destroyer was also heavily damaged off Vigan, the captain able to eldue efforts to depth charge his boat.

Clark Field was once again subject to air attack. Over 50 enemy bombers, with a mass of fighter escorts attacked in three waves. Two P-40bs were lost in air-air action with one A6M2 confirmed shot down and two G4M1s. Mauban fell despite an attempt by the 51st Division to disrupt the landings, indeed the unit is now fleeing to Manila having been dealt a very bloody nose. An assault at Cagayan was repulsed and the local commander feels the Japanese have under estimated his capacity to resist, its hoped that a rapid arrival by the 103rd Infantry Regiment from Butuan will tip the balance of forces in our favour.

The Japanese carrier in the Celebes Sea sunk a light freighter and two four stack destroyers, that in a disastrous lack of judgement on behalf of thier captiains were caught with no fuel therefore like sitting ducks. Their captains had hoped on a night attack on the carrier that was heading NW yesterday. Overnight it changed course and went south. Having cut the refuelling operation at Tarakan short they hoped to engage and retire during the night. Sunrise caught them underneath Japanese bombs with no power to maneuver.

The Chinese central front has suddenly exploded into action. Kwangtung forces were ejceted from the outskirts of Sinyang and are retreating towards Nanyang. A Japanese division now sits astride the Sinyang-Chengchow railway, having completely routed the 8th New Chinese Corps. An armoured column also crossed the river to the south west of Ichang. Chinese defenders of the south western bank brought the Japanese troops under fire causing substantial damage and loss of vehicles to the Japanese. Naval infantry also made a landing at Pakhoi but not in enough strength yet to gain the port.

Contact has been lost with Guam, Victoria Point and Brunei as Japanese aggressive expansion continues. A Japanese subamrine was engaged in the sea lanes leading into Soerbaja, making this the second sub contact in as many days in Javanese waters. ABDA has constitued a standing ASW patrol between Soerbaja and Balikpapan in order to dissuade Japanese submarines from attacking allied shipping.

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The Birmingham Class light Cruiser Adelaide is making a sweep off the coast of New Guinea. These bases had fallen yesterday and the RAN ship was detached from escorting troop transports from Rabaul to engage any enemy shipping still in the vicinity of Wewak.

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The developing situation on the Central Chinese Front after todays development.

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Shipping casualties. The two MTBs from the Hong Kong Squadron bumped into a task force led by the Kongo and Haruna, yesterday idnetified as Ak's!

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Latest troop movements

xAP Australia Star docks at Chittagong from Rangoon. 221 Group Raf will begin unloading and then move via rail to Dacca.
AP Harris and xAP Lurline begin loading the 101st USN Base Force and 110th US Base Force. Their ultimate destination Efate, via Panama.
TF 407 reports arrival on Suva. Unloading troops has begun.
21st NZ Pioneer Company fully loaded and TF 391 enroute to Noumea.
137/155th Field Artillery Regiment has been ordered to move from Singapore to Batavia. Guns started to load on xAK Wulin. ASW escort provided by DD Vendetta and PG Herald.
203rd Coastal AA Regmient is boarding trains in Los Angeles, destination Seattle. Orders given to prep for Dutch Harbour.
206th Coastal AA Regiment is boarding trains in Seattle, destination San Francisco. Orders given to prep for Efate.

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Addition to HR's

No night attacks if there is less than 50% moonlight before 1943.

I borrowed this idea off John 3rd's Reluctant Admiral's AAR thread. It makes perfect sense to me and if we're going for as much accuracy possible then this reflects the poor radar available at the time for night strikes and the pilots relied primarily on moonlight.

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Synopsis Turn 7

More intense submarine action all across the China and Phillipine Seas. Contacts near Mauban, Surigao, Soc Trang, Brnei and the Formosa-Vigan shipping lanes. I'm having a lot of luck with the Mk14 dud rate and I hope this continues! Radio intercepts were able to confirm the sinking of the Yamagata Maru, another victim of the Silent Service.

A large amount of shipping traffic has been spotted heading ESE from Davao to Baeldaob. SS KXVI and SS KXVII, patrolling the Talaud-eilanden region have been ordered astride these lanes. Credit goes to GVT-17 (Manado) and GVT-5 (Ternate) for keeping a constant and tiring watch on these lanes. I am running all my search planes near the front 100% search at altitudes of between 1,000 and 6,000 feet. So far few ops losses, again lady luck smiles, and a lot of sightings.

A Japanese column has begun to push southwards from Aparri and has occupied Tuguegarao. This has coincided with a second day of heavy bombing raids on Clark Field. Our fighters were kept on the ground as over 70 A6M2 type fighters were seen escorting the raid. The premise of the USAAF on the Philippines is to pick its fights and no CAP was flown. SS S-39, the hero boat off Mauban has reported running out of torpedoes and is heading to Manila for a resupply. Meanwhile PA troops begin to dig in deep at Clark Field and Bataan as the Japanese whirlwind approaches.

For a second day Japanese troops have bombarded Commonwealth and Empire positions at Hong Kong. The enemy force is spearheaded by the 38th Division and has amassed a respectable amount of artillery. The AKL Joan Moller was able to dock and unload a cargo of artillery shells from Kwangchowan, all this under the auspices of the IJAAF that once again attacked Hong Kong.

Less lucky was the SS Salmon. She had hit one transport inloading at Pakhoi, and then was heavily damaged by the escorting enemy vessels. Though the flooding onboard was stabalised she is making Kwangchowan for emergency repairs and then setting sail for Singapore's dry docks. She is the first submarine to be heavily damaged in a depth charge attack since the outbreak of hostilities. Further to the NE troops movements were observed near Ichang. It seems the enemy is trying to reinforce its armoured spearhead on the Ichang-Changteh road. 9th War Area at Changsha has been tasked to repel and hold any Japanese assault on Changteh as its is of vital strategic importance that this city does not fall!

221 RAF has started to board trains at Chittagong heading towards Dacca to coordinate the building and running of a substantial airbase there. India Command has highlighted the potential of Dacca and Comilla as air hubs for any defence of southern India. These bases will receive priority in receiving engineer reinforcements as they enter the theatre.

B Sqn 3rd Hussars Regmient is aboard the xAK African Prince, escorted by the CL Colombo. Its inital destination is Colombo, where the CL will be detached and smaller escorts will escort the transport to Tjiltjap and unload the tankettes there as reinforcement for Java. They will join the artillery regiment already enroute from Singapore and the 44th Indian Brigade that has been diverted from reinforcing Rangoon.

Lark and Gull Battalions have begun unloading at Port Moresby while the Adelaide cocked up its approach to Wewak as it gave advance warning to Japanese shipping there and they were able to steal away. Orders have been given for a full steam sweep upto Hollandia via Aitape, and then a swift return back to base.

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The tale of the Mk14 torpedo.
First the good side [:D]

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The Tale of the Mk14 torpedo contd
...then the bad side [:(]

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A much maligned and deried plane makes it first telling contribution to the war...

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TF 350 reports being a day out of Adak Island carrying the B det USN Port Service. Upon arrival the unit will begin to unload immediately. The AVD Williamson wil detach from TF 350 and remain as a float plane support plane on Adak Island.

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USN Pacific Fleet Submarines arrive at their patrol areas around the Japanese Home Islands.

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Ive gone a bit unit patch crazy lately. A thanks goes to Smeulders for his latest upload of USN CV ships badges. Here is the Saratoga

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Synopsis Turn 8

Japanese submarines strike back today in retaliation for USN subamrine successes lately. A wolf pack of at least three boats is operating off Pago-Pago. They have sunk the 7150 ton tanker Agwiworld, and damaged a merchant ship. Unconirfmed sights on surface vessels have also alerted all maritime traffic in the area to give the region a wide berth. The light transport Shinai was also sunk off Sambas from damage received from a surfaced submarine. Once again submarines were sighted off Singapore, but more worringly for the first time off San Francisco.

Manila port was heavily struck today with at least 6 different ships being hit and a lot of the port installations being damaged. A tentative raid on Vigan detected a small amount of CAP. As such 21st PS (Manila) and 3rd PS (Iba) have been ordered to conduct an aggressive sweep in order to draw the enemy fighters away from the unloading ships, paving the way for the bombers.

On Mindanao, enemy strength at Cagayan is not enough to assault the base. 103rd PA Infantry Regiment and the 3rd PA Constabulary Regiment have been ordered to counter attack tomorrow and eject the enemy from their beachead. B-17s of 19th Bomber Group based on Luzon are tasked to support the attack.

Pakhoi was once again unsuccessfully attacked by the 21st Mixed Brigade. Japanese escort vessel was reported hit by Soviet made, Chinese flown SB-IIs. Reinforcements are rushing towards the Changteh area as the main bomber force at Changsha is tasked with the disruption of the Japanese advance here.

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Japanese wolf pack in area of operations off Pago-Pago. All shipping immediately ordered to steer clear of this area.

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The PAF and its P-26s prove their worth to the war effort off Surigao