See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28

[apbarog]

There's probably nothing that can be read into not getting a turn yesterday. My opponent's work schedule is heavier at the end of the week, so turns are iffy until the weekend, then we do one or two a day. I do hope that he doesn't know what to do with my many points of attack in the Solomons and New Guinea. He can't keep them all suppressed, and that problem is only going to get more difficult.

I do feel that I've taken the initiative, but it may be perceived as more than what it really is. I haven't been committing divisions to the fight yet, except for the one just now landing at Milne Bay for defense. The Japanese certainly have the ability to counter-strike with KB and counter-invade with divisions if they wanted to.

I will continue to open up new points of battle, even if they are just more islands in the Solomons. I have much bigger plans in the works. It's just too early for them right now. Let's just say that many divisions are completely prepped for future targets.

[BBfanboy]

Have to disagree about the counter-strike ... he had lots of opportunities but refused to leave the comfort of extra fighter cover by parking next to one of his bases. At this stage in the war an intact KB should have been able to charge down to your islands south of Milne Bay and strike at a host of targets, including your carriers. Playing it safe has an opportunity cost.

[apbarog]

I agree with you BBfanboy about the counter-strike. I expected more of that type of action. What I was saying is that the Japanese has the ability to do that. My opponent, however, has played it safe with KB.

I want to get my bases to a point where they are self-sufficient in protecting themselves, and don't require my carriers in the area to "threaten" KB by their presence. That will happen when multiple bases can base bombers. Then I'll feel more comfortable there, and will be able to threaten his big bases at Rabaul and Lae with land based bombers.

Rabaul will become unsafe for him when my existing bases get airfields big enough.

[apbarog]

24 Dec 42

Despite all of the potential for action, there was very little today. And that was a good thing for me.

Japanese subs fire on a destroyer near Milne Bay and an APD near Rekata Bay but miss. There were more sub contacts near Vangunu but no torpedo hits. Near Tassafronga, RO-61 sinks xAK Santa Teresa. It was either inbound to Vangunu with supply or RTB empty, I'm not sure which.

In the air, my troops at Butuan on Mindanao are bombed and hurt badly again in the clear terrain. I could lose all my troops just from 20 or so Sallys bombing every day.

Horn Island is bombed by B-26s, a now daily occurrence.

Troops and supply land at Vangunu. This is not interfered with. I landed the rest of the regiment that is at Munda here, mainly guns and support. I will start bringing in a new infantry regiment from Tassafronga soon. That will be decisive here. Today my deliberate attack at Vangunu goes at 1 to 2, again, and again enemy casualties are twice mine. The 3rd Marine Raider Battalion and the fragment of the 102nd Infantry Regiment are here, battling the II/84th Naval Guard Unit.

KB stayed in the same spot, just southeast of Rabaul. He certainly fears that I'm going to jump north with my carriers and hit KB. It's not going to happen any time soon. My infantry division is mostly unloaded at Milne Bay. Primarily support not unloaded. I send that big xAP task force back to Townsville. I'll ferry in the rest of the unit on smaller ships later. Milne Bay now has 2 Aussie brigades and 1 US infantry division. It's fine.

I leave lots of fighters at Milne Bay, along with some ships still unloading, mostly supply and some fuel. It's a risk that the base might be bombarded, but I stay for now.

My carriers move southeast to threaten Munda. Battleship Indiana with many cruisers moves back to the carriers. Most shipping at Vangunu is unloaded and heads home.

I unloaded a construction battalion at Rekata Bay, east of Munda. Most of my APDs go to Tassafronga to start loading a US infantry regiment for Vangunu.

It is interesting to note that I spotted a cruiser task force and an xAK task force at Port Blair in the Andamans. I had seen the cruisers earlier coming north from Singapore. No doubt a reaction to my bombing. The weather has been bad here, so no bombing for a few days. I'll restart the bombing when the weather clears.

So lots of stuff going on today, but little combat. With my reinforcement moves at Milne Bay and Vangunu, I welcome a quiet combat day.

[jwolf]

Good turn, you're set up much better for whatever action will take place now.

[BBfanboy]

I like the way you are moving your forces around to keep him guessing. It reinforces his feeling of comfort to stay near Rabaul rather than reach into the unknown.

[apbarog]

25 Dec 42

A day with lots of action.

I still have several small xAKLs unloading supply at Vangunu. They are not interfered with.

With the morning, 37 Zeros sweep Milne Bay. I have 4 fighter units here, with Kittyhawk IAs, Spitfire Vc Trops, P-40Ks, and F4F-4s. Losses are heavy for both sides, with more Zeros going down.

Then 40 more Zeros show up. Losses again are heavy, with the Allies losing more this time. All in all, about even in losses total.

KB is spotted east of Buin. My carriers are spotted, 8 hexes away, and the enemy gets a carrier strike. Sort of. 8 Jakes attack, escorted by 97 Zeros! My opponent informs me that he forgot to change the Jakes from naval attack. It works out like a fighter sweep, mostly, except that the Zeros don't fight as effectively as in a sweep. Losses are about twice for the enemy.

Enemy task forces are spotted at Munda. 17 SBD-3s fly from Lunga, escorted by 16 P-40Es. CAP over the enemy ships is very heavy, all LR CAP from nearby bases. Zeros and Oscars and Tojos, about 65 total. 6 bombers drop their bombs but miss. Most are shot down.

Then 12 B-25C attack, escorted by 25 P-40Es. 11 bombers drop 500 pound bombs from 1000 feet, getting 2 hits on Kongo, scratching the paint. A couple of bombers are lost.

Now 11 SBD-2s and 11 Albacores attack, with no escort. 2 torpedoes and 5 bombs are dropped, but all miss. Almost all of the bombers are downed.

Next 12 more B-25Cs at 1000 feet. One non-penetrating hit on Kongo. A few bombers lost.

Then 10 Kates fly from KB, unescorted, attacking APDs at Tassafronga. 2 torpedoes are dropped and they miss. Most Kates are downed.

Then the good stuff! My carriers launch a raid to attack the shipping at Munda. LR CAP there has been depleted some with the earlier raids. I list the details for both your enjoyment and mine:

***********************************************
Morning Air attack on TF, near Munda at 111,134

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 5
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 19
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 6

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 18
SBD-3 Dauntless x 90
TBF-1 Avenger x 30

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
SBD-3 Dauntless: 2 destroyed, 15 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak
TBF-1 Avenger: 5 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Kongo, Bomb hits 1
BB Yamato, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
xAK Kasagi Maru, Bomb hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Teika Maru, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Ansyu Maru
PB Okiyu Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Sinsyu Maru, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk
DD Yuzuki
PB Aso Maru #7, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Sendai, Bomb hits 2, on fire
PB Ronsan Maru

Japanese ground losses:
2343 casualties reported
Squads: 48 destroyed, 16 disabled
Non Combat: 56 destroyed, 82 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 5 disabled
*******************************************

Finally a TBF torpedo hit! I hope it is for real. Lots of bombs bouncing off Yamato, but good work on the transports and they are loaded!

And then another morning carrier raid on the Munda shipping:

***********************************************
Morning Air attack on TF, near Munda at 111,134

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 4
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 15
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 5

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 18
SBD-3 Dauntless x 18
TBF-1 Avenger x 30

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
SBD-3 Dauntless: 3 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 6 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Kuri
xAP Teika Maru, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
DD Kiku
DD Nokaze
xAK Kasagi Maru, and is sunk
PB Ansyu Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Sawakaze
PB Aso Maru #7, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Ronsan Maru
PB Okiyu Maru, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk

Japanese ground losses:
5006 casualties reported
Squads: 72 destroyed, 44 disabled
Non Combat: 100 destroyed, 140 disabled
Engineers: 16 destroyed, 8 disabled
Guns lost 12 (7 destroyed, 5 disabled)
********************************************

Wow, that's a lot of casualties. I wonder what unit(s) were lost.

In the afternoon, those crazy Jakes come back, escorted by 61 Zeros this time, and the fighters undergo mutual destruction. The good news is lots of Zero pilots had to be lost. The bad news is that I don't have a deep pool of F4F-4s for replacements.

Then KB launches another Kate strike attacking my APDs at Tassafronga, this time with some Zero escorts. My small CAP is swept aside, all 30 Kates drop torpedoes, but only one hits, sinking APD Chew.

And the final action is my deliberate attack at Vangunu, which goes off at 5 to 1 and takes the base. The enemy remains there in the jungle.


Thoughts for today:

KB lost a bunch of Zeros today. I lost a fair number of bombers. My bomber force at Guadalcanal is no more. The remaining few fly off to Luganville to rebuild. I decide to move my carriers just southeast of Lunga, where it can have mutual supporting CAP with the base. I only have about 20 F4F-4s in the pool, and one or two replacement squadrons in the area are currently occupied, so I have to make due with what I have. My move to that location is still within 6 hexes of Munda, still within striking range.

I split off 3 cruisers and a few destroyers to bombard Torokino. There are 30-50 fighters at Torokino, Buin, and Shortlands, with bombers at Torokino and Buin. I target Torokino today. Hopefully the bombardment will damage some planes. Then I'm sending in 3 squadrons of B-17s to hit Torokino's airfield. 4 squadrons of B-24s will hit Buin's airfield.

I did get SigInt that 1/3 of the 21st Infantry Division is loaded on ships and headed to Buin. I think that I already see it at Buin, and it may be headed elsewhere, possibly Munda or Vangunu.

I'm sending in minelaying subs to the dot base just northwest of Munda, where his ships will exit. I'm also sending one to Torokino. (I hope that my bombardment happens before the minelaying.)

I have most of my APDs at Tassafronga, and they start loading an infantry regiment for Vangunu, and ultimately for Munda. I hope that the APDs are not targeted. My range 1 CAP at Lunga will cover it , hopefully.

Remember the previous attempts to go invade Nauru and Ocean Islands? It's on again! Loading begins, for the third or fourth time, I forget. I may even try it without carriers. Nauru is still an airfield 1, Ocean is a 0. Depends on what happens with KB, as always.

At Milne Bay, I lost a fair number of fighters, but the enemy lost more, so my squadrons stay and try to recover.

Total air losses today were:

86 A6M2 Zeros
13 Jakes
12 Kates
6 Oscars
5 A6M3 Zeros

40 F4F-4s
20 SBD-3s
11 SBD-2s
10 P-40Es
10 Fulmar IIs
10 Albacores
8 B-25Cs
5 Kittyhawk IAs
4 F4F-3s
4 P-40Ks
2 Spits
(I lost a total of 28 KIA, mostly bombers, I presume)

In a war that has had generally low loss rates for both sides, this was a rough day.

I expect more troops to land at Munda. I may lose the bulk of an infantry regiment there. Half is disrupted, but the unit is still in supply. I have an adjacent base, but I do not control the hexside. The enemy unit at Vangunu is headed to Munda now. I'll try to eliminate it first, then move reinforcements to Munda. The enemy has committed multiple battleships to Munda now, and KB has even wandered down toward the area (a little).

KB is still, of course, adjacent to those big airbases. The big dog is still chained to the post. It's tough to take out the big dog so close to its doghouse, on its home turf, but I can see how long the chain is, and as long as it stays chained, the big dog is only a threat to what I allow in its range. It could be unleashed at any moment, of course, but will it?

On a final small sidenote, Argonaut is ferrying troops between Guadalcanal and Rekata Bay, just east of Munda. Base building there has begun. With the capture of Vangunu, I will be getting engineers and base support there as soon as possible. Maybe by air, at first. The area is pretty hot right now.

In summary, it looks like our game's "Guadalcanal" may be Munda.

[jwolf]

A very bloody Christmas Day! But very good overall for your side. Thanks very much for a great writeup. I liked your description of KB as the "big dog," seems like your analysis is right on the money. Good luck at Nauru/Ocean islands, hope it works for sure this time.

[apbarog]

26 Dec 42

3 hexes south of Milne Bay, I-18 sinks xAKL James Cook, which was returning to Townsville.

Cruisers Canberra, San Francisco, and Minneapolis, with 4 destroyers, rushes into Torokina and bombards the base. Results are outstanding:

************************
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 62 damaged
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed on ground
G3M2 Nell: 1 damaged
H8K1 Emily: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
CA Canberra
CA San Francisco
CA Minneapolis
DD Barton
DD Grayson
DD Gwin
DD Meredith

Japanese ground losses:
682 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 35 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 9 disabled
Guns lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)

Airbase hits 44
Airbase supply hits 16
Runway hits 90
**************

Minutes after the minefield is placed at Torokina, patrol boats find mines and start sweeping. The mines placed north of Munda are not found. The ships are already gone.

In the morning, 27 B-17s strike Torokina's airfield. Some damage is done. CAP is light. The ship bombardment really reduced the fighter strength here.

At Buin, 22 B-24s attack the airfield, doing light damage.

At Vangunu, US troops attack. Odds are 20 to 1 against the remaining enemy in the jungle, but casualties today are about even.

A rather quiet day considering what yesterday was like.

KB disappeared today, but sub detection levels east of Rabaul went to very high. KB is heading back to Truk to rearm and pick up new Zeroes. Today I see no ships bigger than a patrol boat anywhere except Rabaul.

I have many APDs at Tassafronga, and they have now loaded most of an infantry regiment. I send them to Vangunu, and provide LR CAP.

My carriers are sent to Noumea to rearm. I break off carrier Illustrious, battleships North Carolina and Washington, and 3 destroyers, and send them to Sydney. Illustrious withdraws in 9 days, so its work is done. The fighters fly to a land base. The battleships need upgrades, and Washington has its main forward gun damaged. I hope that the gun can be repaired at Sydney, but I don't know. It needs a non-shipyard upgrade anyhow. The destroyers will upgrade also.

Today Deboyne Island's port went to size 1, and Rossel Island's airfield became size 2. Nice. I also note that Lexington still has 32 days of repair at Pearl Harbor, and Wasp has 20 days to go at Sydney.

[jwolf]

Really nice that you are able to turn the tables on him with that great bombardment at Torokina. I just hope you can keep him from returning the favor with his big boys.

Why would his carriers have to go to Truk, instead of Rabaul, to take on new planes? [&:]

I guess your carriers will be more defensively oriented until you get Wasp and/or Lex back. Meanwhile, do you have any BB left to try to hold the IJN BB force in a surface fight, if needed? Or is that a "no go" against the Yamato in any case?

[apbarog]

I think that the Torokina bombardment tipped the balance on him keeping KB nearby. I didn't destroy many planes, but hit the airfield good and damaged lots of Zeros. The planes will be fixed before long.

He can take replacement planes at Rabaul. It may be a run for safety, fuel, planes, or all of the above. He didn't land any additional troops at Munda, so he may have given up on that for now.

I will be more defensive with my carriers for awhile. I do still have Prince of Wales and Indiana with the carriers. South Dakota is on the way to the west coast for repairs. Now North Carolina and Washington head for repairs also.

I'd prefer not to have a battleship fight now. I need the good battleship flak for my carriers.

[Crackaces]

I'd prefer not to have a battleship fight now. I need the good battleship flak for my carriers

Alfred Thayer Mahan is rolling in his grave ... [8D]

It is interesting that the IJ are waiting under their land based air .. they have not tried too many night sprints to lob shells at critical points .. I suspect the strategies will eventually collide to create an "Ironbottom Sound" clash of Navies .. I thought Munda .. but maybe Buin if that is in your plan ...

[apbarog]

Just being practically with the battleships. I've lost some slow battleships already. Lost one in the Indian Ocean when I underestimated the range and effectiveness of Bettys in Burma, planes that I figured were there but I hadn't seen. Then I lost 2 slow battleships at my Tabiteuea landing that never occurred, with 3 Japanese cruisers sinking 2 old US slow battleships. Then I lost Idaho with my Milne Bay landing.

South Dakota is just about to the West Coast, with moderate damage. Indiana and Prince of Wales are with my carriers. North Carolina and Washington are now headed for upgrade and a big gun repair on Washington. Just 2 fast battleships available. I'd rather have them soak up bombs to save my carriers right now.

The enemy has not been adventurous with bombardments, that is for sure. The bad bombardment experience of going to Rennell when the destination was Tagula is probably part of that. Another part is that my land based air has showed some teeth. And my carriers have been guarding the area. Of course, bombardments can be in and out quickly. I just did so at Torokino with KB just to the east. But my opponent has been conservative.

My plan is still to take Munda, now by reinforcing Vangunu and then advancing into Munda to relieve my half of a regiment there. I'm happy to keep this as the point of focus for now. Building Milne Bay is what really matters to me. It is going to be the springboard for a future advance. Torokina, Buin, and Shortlands are well developed bases, and would be tough invasion spots. I may just dominate it by air and bypass. Big airbases here is what is going to win the battle for me.

[apbarog]

27 Dec 42

Triton finds a big xAK task force, and even a couple of AKs, near Ternate. One dud hit.

Enemy minesweepers continue clearing mines west of Rabaul and at Torokina.

Battleship Yamato and escorts are spotted twice by subs. 2 torpedoes are fired at a destroyer and miss. Yamato is definitely northbound to Truk, and is about halfway there now.

A couple of B-17 squadrons hit Torokina. The first hits the port but hits nothing. The second gets one port hit and also finds I-173 there, and the sub is sunk. The crazy part is that the sub wasn't hit with a bomb. I think that the bomber crew just witnessed the sinking from 10,000 feet.

B-26s and B-25s hit the enemy troops at Vangunu. The first strike is escorted and does minor damage with minimal bomber loss but high F4F loss, running up against Tojos and Oscars. The followup B-26 strikes arrive without escort and are chewed up.

Air losses for today are 10 B-26s, 9 F4F-4s, and 2 B-17s. The enemy loses 4 Oscars.

At Vangunu, I do an artillery attack, and do minor damage. The large APD task force successfully unloaded most of a new infantry regiment here, and returned to Tassafronga by daybreak. I should clear the hex quickly now, although supply is marginal.

My APDs split up. Some load the rest of that regiment for Vangunu. Others move to Rossel and Ndeni Islands, where Marine raiding regiments are waiting to load. Back to Ontong Java!

My carriers move south and are not spotted.

Recon shows that Shortlands Island was reinforced, probably with the 21 Div/C.

Oh, and it looks like KB didn't go back to Truk, but is now at Rabaul again. The recon was not very good, showing 3 CVs but just a handful of planes. I think that it is there though.

The invasions of Nauru and Ocean are still possible. Loading continues.

[BBfanboy]

apbarog: The crazy part is that the sub wasn't hit with a bomb.

This is often seen at sea where heavily damaged ships are in a TF that is under attack, and although the ship is not hit it sinks anyway. I interpret this to mean that the crew have gone to action stations and there are not as many to fight fires or control flooding.

And the proof that damage accumulation is going on is when an unsuccessful attack gets no hits on a troop convoy that has ships on fire, there can still be casualties listed in the combat report - from the spreading fires and flooding.

So the I-173 was likely heavily damaged and about to sink when your raids interrupted damage control efforts, or there is some FOW going on!

As for the three carriers and small number of planes at Rabaul - sounds like escort carriers to me. KB likely needed to go to Truk to replenish aircraft. The sighting of Yamato heading to Truk is a hint that KB might be nearby. That's my wild guess and I/m sticking to it! [8D]

[apbarog]

28 Dec 42

Near Rabaul, battleship Kirishima and escorts are spotted by Sargo, but 2 torpedoes miss destroyer Nokaze. Could be a bombardment task force on the way. It didn't appear on the map.

I invade Woodlark Island. It had appeared empty, but it wasn't. I hope that it is a small unit there. I unload a chunk of a combat engineer unit from APDs, and I choose not to attack yet.

B-25s from Australia bomb Port Moresby's airfield. There is no CAP, and damage is excellent.

10 B-17s hit Torokina's port again. Damage is slight. I forgot to clear the mission from the day before.

B-26s bomb Horn Island's airfield. Damage is slight.

Having landed most of a new infantry regiment at Vangunu, I attack. The fight goes at 64 to 1, and the II/84th Naval Guard unit is destroyed. Time to land the engineers and start building this base. At Vangunu, I have a fragment of the infantry regiment that is at Munda. I order this fragment to march to Munda and clear the hexside. This fragment has some infantry and all of the support devices. I'll accept a stalemate at Munda for awhile.

KB is not seen. US carriers will reach Noumea tomorrow.

At Rabaul, for a few days I've noticed that the fighter numbers there have been low, around 30. And I see 162 bombers there! I can't pass up a shot at all those bombers, so I move B-17s to Lunga and B-24s to Kirakira. Both groups of planes are at maximum normal range to Rabaul, so all will hit Rabaul. A couple of B24 squadrons will hit the port. Should be interesting.

[jwolf]

Seems hard to believe there really is little CAP at Rabaul. I guess you'll find out, one way or another! Good luck! If you can really hurt him there that would be a great coup. I wish bombing missions could be cleared automatically or at least an option to do that

[apbarog]

I agree jwolf. When I first saw the Rabaul fighter numbers, I didn't believe them. So I watched for a few days to see how the numbers changed, and they didn't. I could still be wrong, of course, but it's worth a try. Sometimes B-17s can be a good fighter sweep anyhow.

The other consideration is that I see over 100 fighters at Lae, 71 at Buin, and 52 at Shortlands. It may just be that the enemy thinks that Rabaul is safe. I haven't attacked it up until now. I would really like to create the thought that Rabaul is not safe. That will happen regardless of how many fighters are there.

I took some extra time to inventory units that aren't needed at their current bases, and I found a bunch of engineer units at Noumea and Suva. I'm sending shipping to get them all. They will all go to Rossel Island, and then be sent out from there. It's time to take advantage of a big Allied strength, and that is having lots of engineers. It's time to start stacking them up and building these bases even faster.

[jwolf]

ORIGINAL: apbarog

I would really like to create the thought that Rabaul is not safe.

Completely agree on this, the strategy is sound IMHO for what it's worth. You've done a good job keeping the pressure up against the Japanese; once you get some of your really good stuff in 1943 there will be no stopping you. Plus your subs will start to be a much more significant threat. I'm eager to see the results!

[apbarog]

29 Dec 42

My mines laid at Torokina have now been completely cleared.

I had APDs unloading at Woodlark, but I figured that there'd be a surface group coming in fast to get them, so I ran away at high speed.

Then cruisers Mogami and Agano with destroyers showed up. Finding no ships, they bombarded my troops, disrupting about half of those undisrupted already. Now about 75% of my combat engineer unit is disrupted. I do have supply though, and neither of us have attacked yet.

Out in the open ocean, southwest of Ponape and west of Nauru Islands, Pompano finds 4 destroyers, but misses with 4 torpedoes targeting Harusame. I don't know if this group is part of something bigger or is just patrolling mid-ocean, wondering where my carriers went.

2 hexes south of Rabaul, battleship Kirishima and escorts are spotted.

And then my big air attack on Rabaul takes place. In one word, disaster.

In the morning, 23 B-24s attack. CAP is heavier than recon indicated, and it turned out the reason for that was that KB is here. 60 Zeros and 6 Nicks intercept. A few planes are destroyed on the ground, and no hits on the port take place. Many bombers are lost. Then about 7 more bombers arrive, and most are lost. The B-17s did not fly due to weather. They would have done much better against the Zeros, but the B-24s just can't defend themselves as well. The only thing I accomplished with my raid was to show that I could raid Rabaul. Since I really didn't catch him with weak CAP, little is gained.

Back on Mindanao, the Philippine 3rd Constabulary Regiment, almost completely disrupted, had moved to Surigao. That's a jungle base northeast of Butuan. I captured the unoccupied base, again, but found almost no supply there. This does prolong the agony and forces the enemy to follow me and finish me off. I'll survive into 1943! My units still at Butuan, however, are about to be crushed, as the enemy has caught up with them. Maybe some will retreat to Surigao now.

My carriers refuel at Noumea, and refill their air groups. They move toward Luganville to support landings at Nauru and Ocean Islands. Maybe. KB is at Rabaul now, but something is lurking west of Nauru. Loading continues for these landings.

Remember the invasion of Horn Island? It was a close thing, but failed when I couldn't unload enough of my brigade fast enough, then battleships came in from Darwin and ended all hopes. Horn Island Invasion Part Two is now on. I'm using the exact same troops as before, mostly rebuilt. I'm bombing the airfield daily and starting to hit the troops occasionally. With my bases in northeastern Australia much more built up now, I can cover my ships much better.

Just 2 days until 1943. It promises to be a better year.