1942 December 25
The Empire captured:
The Allies captured:
Duff Islands
Reef Islands
There were Imperial amphibious operations at:
There were Allied amphibious operations at:
Duff Islands
Reef Islands
Getting tenuous near Lanchow.
Ground combat at 82,34 (near Lanchow)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 21543 troops, 174 guns, 34 vehicles, Assault Value = 635
Defending force 22646 troops, 76 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 580
Japanese adjusted assault: 499
Allied adjusted defense: 275
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
807 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 66 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Allied ground losses:
1031 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 68 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 19 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Assaulting units:
19th Division
53rd Infantry Brigade
Defending units:
85th Chinese Corps
92nd Chinese Corps
5th War Area
22nd Group Army
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 73,49 (near Kweiyang)
Japanese Bombardment attack
Attacking force 4222 troops, 32 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 150
Defending force 18397 troops, 91 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 593
Japanese ground losses:
12 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Assaulting units:
4th Ind.Mixed Regiment
4th Tank Regiment
Defending units:
56th Chinese Corps
5th Chinese Cavalry Corps
50th Chinese Corps
48th Chinese Corps
8th New Chinese Corps
79th Chinese/B Corps
Unexpectedly, but because I did not tune range settings, the USN carriers' aircraft struck at a target near Tulagi.
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Tulagi at 114,137
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes
Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 21
Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 64
SBD-3 Dauntless x 5
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 3 destroyed
Japanese Ships
xAK Arabia Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
Aircraft Attacking:
1 x SBD-3 Dauntless releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
4 x F4F-4 Wildcat sweeping at 10000 feet
3 x F4F-4 Wildcat sweeping at 10000 feet
4 x SBD-3 Dauntless releasing from 4000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
CAP engaged:
5th Sentai/A with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (7 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(7 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
7 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 22000
Raid is overhead
5th Sentai/B with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (7 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(7 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
7 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 17000
Raid is overhead
5th Sentai/C with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (7 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(7 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
7 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 12000
Raid is overhead
We lost 10 x Wildcat and 2 x SBD against 2 x Tojo, not good. Meanwhile, the possible carrier group in the Indian Ocean has vanished.
Our carriers did successfully evade the IJN subs, now 80nm from the nearest demon sighted. Where to now? South and west 80nm. This will provide only minimal cover to Ndeni. However, the carriers known presence should already be forestalling any direct attack aimed at the convoys, and this move will thwart the subs. BTW there are now 8 IJN subs seen around Ndeni. Two of them are at the Fleet's location of yesterday and two more 40nm from there (no doubt closing in). Seaplane support is moving to both Reef Islands and Duff Islands.
Akagi has officially come off of the sunk ships list. There was also an aerial sighting of one of our ASW groups near Karachi, so the subs have returned to the edge of the world.
Here is the official list of carriers sunk thus far.
