7/19/42:
Kweiyang attacked by the IJA and the Chinese manage only a 2-squad defense, the defenders retreat to Chungking ...
KB is observed with oilers off Makin, so they appear to have remained on station for more action ...
Brisbane is bombed by strikes from Rockhampton, no air resistance (all squadrons withdrawn south for retraining and recover of strength).
7/26/42:
Tarawa has gone to a 3-factor airfield, so with 2 F4F Marine squadrons and 1 SBD squadron, the Engineer unit is evacuated south towards Ellis Island ...
Brisbane attacked by air once again, again no air resistance ...
Tarawa is attacked - first bombarded by a CA TF, then the 48th IJA Inf Div lands and quickly overcomes the 2 U.S. Army Bdes defending, Gen. Emmons (former SWPAC commander) surrenders.
KB gets some strikes on the evacuation TF heading for Ellis, 1 AMC sunk along with a couple of MCS, but the other AMC survives, so the Engineer unit makes it out with 8 squads left.
Alaska: CL task force again bombards, this time Anchorage, where U.S. P40s and B26s manage to sortie, sinking 1 DD and getting a hit on a CL [:D]
8/2/42:
Brisbane struck again, still no air cover. That may need to be rectified soon, the factory here has production of 1* (close to being knocked out [:@])
Makin Island: A Kongo BB plus CAs bombard, then the 18th IJA Div lands - but it cannot take the base and evacuates after 4 rounds of combat [:)]
2/5 IJA Bde on New Caledonia finally mopped up after over of month of trying.
Taking Stock:
With Allied carrier forces at low tide, I turn to take stock of my defenses. Espiritu and Noumea are well defended, but Fiji looks a bit thin (1 U.S. Div, 1 NZ Bde and a couple of Engineers) - an 8-factor airfield helps, so does the presence of most of my Surface units, plus the Enterprise and Formidable.
American Samoa and Canton both have a U.S. Div plus an additional Rgt/Bn, so that is as much as I am willing to use to defend atolls. Palmyra has a Marine Bn plus U.S. Army Bde, so the defense of Hawaii is taking priority. the 1st Marine Division will be sent to Oahu, so that it plus 1 Army Div (24th) should be a reasonable defense, it also allows for the other Division (25th) to be sent to Kauai - to resist an attempt by the Japanese to seize this and establish a G4M base. Also this allows me to pull the Marine Bn to Maui, so it and the big island have 2 Marine Bns each. Johnson Island has its Bn plus an Army Rgt arrived from West Coast. All airfields are maxed out, and squadron reinforcements will be sent here first. Not that am worried [8|]
