December 22 - 23, 1943
Subs
Dorado sights an unescorted AMC Kongo Maru south of Marcus. Perhaps fleeing the Marshalls.
Templar sinks an xAKL outside Muntok.
Jack cripples then sinks a smaller TK outside Babeldaob.
Runner sinks an xAK outside Waigeo (near Sorong), with troops on it. Neat.
The I-31 is very far west from Perth again, hunting convoys I take it. DD Nepal hits her once. Again.
Burma
Skies over Magwe are still empty, and today we get 22 reported Oil hits. Lots of damage from that, I should think. We keep dropping mines at Rangoon overnight, also.
On the 22nd, an attack against the 2nd RTA Division to the NW of Magwe makes them retreat into the open. It's pasting time. On the 23rd, we cause 654 casualties amongst them.
China
Nothing of note.
CENTPAC
P-47s sweep Mili, encountering Jacks/Georges/Tojos on CAP. We barely win in the first one, and then a second sweep goes in. Overall, we shoot down about 15 planes for the loss of 10 or so.
However, I didn't adequately set up LRCAP over Makin. What LRCAP does make it shoots down a bunch of Bettys and Frances, along with Georges on escort. Some also lost to flak. They end up crippling AK Ganymede with laser torpedoes and AKA Centaurus takes 1 as well.
We bomb, as usual, Abemama and Makin. A few hundred casualties at each.
A 1:1 DA at Makin drops the forts to 2, with 412 IJA casualties against 32 disabled vehicles for us. On the 23rd, we capture the island with an 8:1 deliberate attack. A few Jakes destroyed on the ground, with 1054 reported IJA casualties. 2 Naval Guard units and 1 JNAF unit are wiped out by attrition afterwards.
Solomons/Coral Sea
We sent DDs to Rabaul to bombard again, and they are met this time by 2 Mogami cruisers and 4 DDs. We lose 2 Fletchers (to torpedoes... [8|]), but leave the Mogami and 2 IJN DDs smoking from system damage. Attrition...
A 1:4 DA at Kiriwina on the 22nd. Still need more here.
On the 23rd, P-47s sweep Namatanai. We shoot down many, many Tojos for no loss whatsoever. P-38s sweep Kavieng at the same time and win against Georges/Tojos. Minimal losses to the P-38s. Our fighter pilots are really starting to snowball compared to his.
16 USMC SBDs are shot down at Rabaul by CAP, flying without escorts. They leave a PB and xAK with heavy fires. The USN CVs just a few hexes away don't launch anything. Disappointing.
We're sending a ton of engineers to Buka: it's in B-24 range of Truk, if I want to raid it. And I will. Also sending xAPs to Luganville to begin shuttling units forward to the Solomons. We're going to clear out the Ndeni-Noumea line of bases. They are no longer necessary as staging areas. Feels good to be permanently moving forward.
Timor/Banda Seas
He keeps sending ships to bombard my troops at Saumlaki. He doesn't cause a lot of casualties, but I'm sure it does burn supplies and hurts a little. On the 23rd, it's 4 CAs. We bombarded the place with 4 DDs on the 22nd for minimal results as well.
2 IJN DDs enter Darwin and engage PT boats, with misses all around. That's what PT boats are for.
On the 23rd, 9 Frances sink 3 LSTs outside Darwin. Forgot to set LRCAP - I have too many TFs shuttling back and forth here and it's easy to forget to rotate the LRCAP assignments.
He attacks at Saumlaki on the 23rd, getting a 1:1 - not good. However, casualties are light. 191 Allies against 128 IJA.
Our attacks against Ambon (airfield) and Koepang (sweeps) are ineffectual, as the airbases appear empty for the moment.
We do a count of reported fighters at airbases in this area. Over 320 fighters reported between Timor airbases and the Boela area. That is a ton. I know he's done some resizing, but he also hasn't lost any CVs so their organic groups haven't been bought back and resized... While I had intended to make more forward progress in this theater
and have it be a distraction from SOPAC, it appears to have become his new area of focus while he is leaving SOPAC severely weakened - at least in the air. I think this might be an overreaction on his part as he realized how weak he was in the area, and brought more than he should have to reinforce. That's my theory, anyhow. When I started landings, it looked as if I would be able to proceed right up to the western tip of New Guinea before meeting any real resistance at Boela and Manado.
Bob the Builder
Still building backwater bases. Eureka expands again, Skagway's port hits maximum (Yukon Trail, here we come!).
Nonouti port to 1, Onotoa airfield to 3.
Tagula airfield to 5, Terapo airfield to 7, and Gove port to 5.
He's building up Finschafen... for what reason, I don't know. He won't have control of this area for much longer.
Also - why can't you build a port at Terapo, but you can invade via amphibious TF? Does that seem queer to anyone else?
