Wedge Donovan Wins the War: Apbarog(A) vs Aurorus(J) DBB-B

[apbarog]

23 Jan 42 - Northern China

[apbarog]

23 Jan 42 - Summary

I finished my work on the turn, finally. Aurorus will be travelling until Thursday, but I'd done about all I can do with a single turn. Training squadrons, planning for reinforcements, etc.

One thing I did do was purchase a number of destroyed ground units: a couple of British base units, and a handful of Indian units. These were lost in Malaysia. The cost was low, and all will arrive at Aden. My plan for the Indian units is to build to levels just enough to cover city garrisons, freeing up some other units with at least some more offensive capabilities.

CV Hornet is due to arrive in about 30 days.

[Platoonist]

Since your opponent passed up on the Pearl Harbor strike it sounds like you now have a nice reserve fleet of plodding but powerful battlewagons. [:D]

Any near-term plans for them or will you just be keeping them tucked out of harm's way until the inevitable counteroffensive? I suppose other than keeping an eye on the date for the occasional refit there isn't much they can do but be on standby. Being that they are undamaged must be a nice asset though. Frees up a lot of dockyard space.

[apbarog]

Some of the slow Pearl Harbor BBs went to the West Coast, for upgrades. Most remain at Pearl. I'm making plans for an early advance into the Marshall Islands. Conditions have to be just right for that to occur, though. KB must be away. And the Marshalls must not have been significantly reinforced. If this operation did occur, slow BBs would participate.

My thinking on this is if KB goes to the Indian Ocean, I advance early in the Pacific. If this draws KB back, I have my opponent reacting to me, instead of vice versa. If KB stays away, I do more.

Whatever I invade early, though, I have to be willing to defend with enough to stay. The enemy can attack anywhere it wants, early, without regard for prepping the units. US ground units have been prepping for the Marshalls since December 8.

[Bif1961]

You may want to wait until after his amphib bonus is over if this scenario has that if not be prepared to lose whatever u take. So leave a small defense BN behind and an AVP/D for search planes to use.

[apbarog]

That's good advice, Bif1961. I won't be invading anything early just for the sake of doing something. The northern Marshalls mostly have a stacking limit of 6,000 on each island. That's difficult to defend. Maybe impossible. You take a base, and naturally want to place some base support troops to use air units. That cuts into the combat troops that can be there. Let's face it: you can land a division on an island with a 6,000 limit, as long as you land supply simultaneously, and are prepared to quickly pull the troops off of the island. You can't defend against that.

The southern Marshalls have some bigger stacking limits, like Tarawa and south. But anything and everything is vulnerable in the first half of 1942. If I can draw some attention to the Marshalls when the enemy is moving big to Ceylon or India, I will.

[apbarog]

24 Jan 42

Aurorus is back from his travels. He commented on making a mistake, which I would notice.

First, Dutch sub torpedoed and undoubtedly sank RO-62 in the Solomons.

US sub Seadragon spots huge tanker Tatekawa Maru off the coast of Vietnam, but misses with 2 torpedoes. Good to start seeing the tankers in the South China Sea. Will be doing a lot more of this in the future. Nearby, sub Stingray fires 2 torpedoes at a subchaser, part of an ASW task force. One torpedo hits, and its a dud.

Malang gets its daily 4 cruiser bombardment. 604 casualties. It's brutal and can't be stopped. Probably training the enemy ship crews too.

Wenchow is bombed and deliberately attacked. I did not evacuate Wenchow, and the first attack didn't go too badly for the defending Chinese.

Ground combat at Wenchow (89,58)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 29065 troops, 367 guns, 296 vehicles, Assault Value = 965

Defending force 13004 troops, 38 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 405

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Japanese adjusted assault: 1155

Allied adjusted defense: 1342

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 1)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), leaders(+), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1159 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 185 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled

Allied ground losses:
686 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 36 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 40 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Assaulting units:
17th Division
22nd Division
12th Tank Regiment
13th Tank Regiment
15th Tank Regiment
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
51st Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
2nd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
13th Army
14th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
11th Army
1st Mortar Battalion
11th Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
100th Chinese Corps
25th Group Army

The attackers are a lot of the same units that were clearing the northern plains earlier. Good to put a dent in some of the units.

Then 2 enemy tank regiments crossed into Singapore, ahead of everything else. A mistake, but not one that is going to make much difference. This attack put Singapore into the red on supply.

Ground combat at Singapore (50,84)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 768 troops, 0 guns, 165 vehicles, Assault Value = 103

Defending force 29995 troops, 302 guns, 206 vehicles, Assault Value = 386

Japanese adjusted assault: 113

Allied adjusted defense: 931

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 8 (fort level 2)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), supply(-)

Japanese ground losses:
Vehicles lost 74 (10 destroyed, 64 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
96 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 23 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
14th Tank Regiment
6th Tank Regiment

Defending units:
1st Manchester Battalion
2nd Loyal Battalion
1st Malay Battalion
3rd Cavalry Regiment
2/17 Dogra Battalion
2nd Malay Battalion
2nd Gordons Battalion
SSVF Brigade
27th Australian Brigade
AHQ Far East
224 Group RAF
Singapore Fortress
29 Battery/3 HAA
2nd HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
Malayan Air Wing
Malaya Army
1st Indian Heavy AA Regiment
III Indian Corps
24th NZ Pioneer Coy
Singapore Base Force
22nd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
1st HK&S Heavy AA Regiment

To the west of Wenchow, an unoccupied Pucheng fell to the 14th JNAF AF unit.

Finally, Beaufort on Borneo fell.

Today KB and friends move near Ndeni, and with the postioning of the leading DMSs, it looks like they are going further than Ndeni. They could hit Luganville, or current path projects to going to Suva.

A US cruiser task force is west of Suva. It is 10 hexes from Luganville, just a bit too far to run in full speed at night. I was tempted to run in anyway, and get there during the daylight, hoping to hit landing ships and then, maybe, run far enough away from KB. I decided that the latter hope was a hope too far. The ships will move slightly to the southwest and see what happens today. With the DMSs 6 hexes from Luganville, and landing ships probably 8 or 9 hexes away, they wouldn't be at Luganville tonight anyway. Probably.

SBD's at Suva today did spot an enemy sub, and vice versa, of course. I wanted this to happen, to give the impression that the US carriers may still be in the area. They were last spotted east of Luganville, where Yorktown took a torpedo. Yorktown just repaired itself enough to start moving 8 hexes a day instead of 6. The US carriers have passed Canton Island on the way back to Pearl Harbor.

[apbarog]

25 Jan 42

Sub Shark fires 4 torpedoes at DD Tokitsukaze just NE of Luganville. Torpedoes miss. Also spotted is BB Haruna, CL Kitakami, and 4 DDs. This task force is positioned one hex to the SE of KB, in the usual one hex guarding position to a threat axis to the SE.

AM Breeze is spotted by the pesky sub I-20 near Suva, but the sub elects not to fire. Another AM and a DD task force is hunting this sub.

Malang gets the daily 4 cruiser bombardment. Aurorus will get one more free bombardment tomorrow. Then a Brit sub is going to drop mines at Malang.

Near Efate, south of Luganville, 9 Vals from KB find AVP Arend fleeing Luganville, and sink the support ship. Catalinas repositioned to Noumea.

Djambi, Sumatra is lost. This is the other oil production base on Sumatra, other than Palembang. None of the oil is damaged at either base.

So KB is now near Luganville. I'm guessing that the DMSs are at Luganville looking for mines. There aren't any. BB Haruna is one hex to the NE of Luganville. KB is one hex to the NW of Haruna. There's another task force well to the northwest of Luganville. These ships came from the Port Moresby area, maybe passing by Horn Island. If this is the Luganville invasion task force, it needs more than a day to get to the destination.

I was really tempted to send in the cruisers to Luganville. Very tempted. I plotted the full speed move initially. Then I reconsidered. With BB Haruna there, and KB adjacent, what can 3 CAs, 2 CLs, and 2 DDs reasonable expect. The Allied ship training is not as good. They are outgunned with a battleship. And the enemy destroyers are dangerous with the torpedoes. Any damaged ships will probably not get out of range of KB during the day. They are then gone. I just can't pull the trigger, yet.

Instead, the cruisers move a bit to the south, staying in range of possible future activity, but out of range (hopefully) of KB. Almost all ships unloading at Noumea leave immediately. KB is now within one day's move of Noumea. Most of 2 US Marine regiments have unloaded, but not some of the guns and support. Same for a couple of base units. Radar did not unload. These ships will retire to Auckland and do a combat reload on smaller, more expendable ships. I got many small shorter ranged xAPs out of Java. They will be ideal for this mission. They are moving from Australia to New Zealand now. I'll filter in the remainder of those units to Noumea as fast as I can.

US carriers will meet up with a tanker task force near Christmas Island. The carriers don't have enough fuel to make it to Pearl Harbor as is. Yorktown's engine damage ticked up from 1 to 2, enough to slow the speed back down from 8 hexes a day to 6.

[apbarog]

26 Jan 42

Multiple engagements of US subs near Port Moresby and Milne Bay. This was the first time that we had many dud hits. One engagement had several duds in one torpedo spread. There were a few xAPs in the task forces, which are eastbound, either going to the Solomons or to the Luganville area.

The only attack that resulted in a hit was sub Porpoise's hitting CL Tenryu once, and then getting a depth charge hit. Porpoise has moderate damage and will retire to Brisbane.

Malang bombarded again. A Brit sub will lay mines tonight, which may or may not be in place in time for tomorrow's visit.

Enemy troops unload at Gasmata and Luganville.

Singapore is bombed very heavily, and the base is then attacked and captured.

Ground combat at Singapore (50,84)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 57882 troops, 625 guns, 235 vehicles, Assault Value = 1842

Defending force 29915 troops, 302 guns, 206 vehicles, Assault Value = 370

Japanese adjusted assault: 2406

Allied adjusted defense: 551

Japanese assault odds: 4 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Singapore !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
2035 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 208 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 30 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 23 disabled
Vehicles lost 8 (2 destroyed, 6 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
40688 casualties reported
Squads: 482 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 2555 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 65 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 419 (419 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 257 (257 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 22

Assaulting units:
Imperial Guards Division
18th Division
5th Division
14th Tank Regiment
21st Division
23rd Ind Engineer Regiment
6th Tank Regiment
3rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
5th Mortar Battalion
25th Army
3rd Mortar Battalion
3rd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
14th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
2/17 Dogra Battalion
1st Manchester Battalion
1st Malay Battalion
SSVF Brigade
3rd Cavalry Regiment
2nd Loyal Battalion
2nd Gordons Battalion
2nd Malay Battalion
27th Australian Brigade
1st Indian Heavy AA Regiment
AHQ Far East
Singapore Base Force
2nd HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
Malayan Air Wing
224 Group RAF
Malaya Army
Singapore Fortress
III Indian Corps
24th NZ Pioneer Coy
29 Battery/3 HAA
22nd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
1st HK&S Heavy AA Regiment

A heavy loss for the Allies. Inevitable though. Over 200 enemy squads disabled, which is something, at least. I'll be watching these enemy divisions closely to see where they are headed and prepping for.

KB moved a bit west of Luganville, maybe fearing those US carriers that could be to the east. BB Prince of Wales is west of KB, only 8 hexes away. Was lucky that it wasn't spotted today. PoW will move north and hope to intercept ships coming from the Port Moresby area. Another CA force will position SE of Luganville, to be ready to raid the base if KB goes chasing PoW.

[apbarog]

27 Jan 42

The daily bombardment of Malang occurs. Brit sub lays mines there, but none hit today. May have arrived too late for today. Let's hope for tomorrow.

Near Suva, I-20 fires 6 torpedoes at CL Leander, which is escorting some xAKs back to Auckland. All torpedoes miss. The cargo ships delivered supply to Suva.

Sub Tarpon fires 4 torpedoes at DD Yukaze near Gasmata. All miss.

South of Milne Bay, Dutch sub KVIII spots a big transport task force.

Japanese Ships
xAP Koan Maru, Torpedo hits 1
DD Murasame
xAP Kobe Maru
xAP Argentina Maru
DD Suzukaze
DD Samidare

Allied Ships
SS KVIII, hits 1

Japanese ground losses:
15 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

The location of this task force is very important. It looks like it is headed in the direction of Koumac, and this would coorelate with the enemy shipping, including KB, nearing Koumac. Big transports here. See the map for my plans for these enemy ships.

Luganville is captured by the enemy's 146th Infantry Regiment. The base was not defended. Gasmata was lost also.

I have high hopes for my surface groups south of the Solomons.

[apbarog]

I'm certainly anxious about the next turn. This is my first big opportunity to inflict some meaningful damage on the enemy. If I can catch a big invasion task force, and destroy some significant ground units, I could disrupt the New Caledonia landings, and maybe save the Marines at Noumea. Can I accomplish something significant without risking the US carriers? We shall see.

I'm wishing for another turn tonight, but it will probably be tomorrow.

[apbarog]

28 Jan 42

Prince of Wales intercepts the enemy task force with 3 huge transports. It was a reaction move.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Rossel Island at 106,142, Range 8,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CL Natori, Shell hits 3
DD Shiratsuyu
DD Shigure
DD Murasame
DD Samidare
DD Suzukaze
DD Fumizuki
xAP Argentina Maru, Shell hits 6
xAP Koan Maru, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
xAP Kobe Maru, Shell hits 27, and is sunk

Allied Ships
BB Prince of Wales, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 2
CA Indianapolis, Shell hits 3
CL Marblehead, Shell hits 3
CL Boise
DD Alden, Shell hits 1
DD Parrott, Shell hits 2

Japanese ground losses:
5521 casualties reported
Squads: 182 destroyed, 42 disabled
Non Combat: 106 destroyed, 108 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 48 (48 destroyed, 0 disabled)

The fight started at 8,000 yards. Prince of Wales was hit by a torpedo immediately, I believe from CL Natori. The fight eventually closed to 2,000 yards. Prince of Wales was fixated on the transports, and hit all 3 of them multiple times by 14 inch guns. The battleship had no hits when returning fire against the combat ships. CL Marblehead got a few hits. Indianapolis and Boise hit nothing, as did the 2 US destroyers. 2 of the tranports were sunk outright. The other did not show major damage, and will survive in its current condition.

I have to admit that it was nice to see those big shells hitting the transports. Getting hit by 2 torpedoes was bad, but the damage wasn't as bad as it could have been. SYS 17/FLOT 29-16/ENG 0/FIRE 0. Prince of Wales does attract torpedoes. The other Allied ships have very minor damage.

There was another reaction move later in the day, but no combat occurred, so I don't know what was reacting to what. The nearby Allied cruiser force was too far away to engage.

Elsewhere, the 4 enemy cruisers made their daily bombardment of Malang. They didn't find the minefield yet. I haven't been stating this, but on some days, one or two Dutch units evaporates in the ship bombardments.

Tandjoengselor, adjacent to Tarakan on Borneo, is invaded. The Dutch troops that retreated from Tarakan are here.

The enemy task force spotted yesterday east of Tarawa went to Ocean Island, and troops were unloaded. The base was lost in a shock attack.

The Japanese started to sweep mines at their new base at Singapore.

A US cruiser task force sprinted into Luganville to catch the invasion shipping there, but found nothing, and sprinted back toward Suva. I had chosen not to use a bombardment mission, but that would have worked out better. These ships are now low on fuel and have minor damage from the high speed, and will return to Suva. A different task force with one cruiser and two destroyers will go to Luganville to bombard tonight.

KB remained close to Koumac. How important were the troops lost on the transports today? If they were vital for taking Noumea, Aurorus may free up KB to try to chase down Prince of Wales. Having taken 2 torpedo hits, it's logical that PoW will head to Australia, and most likely to Townsville. KB could sprint this direction. It probably would not get the battleship before it reached Townsville, but there's little to stop KB from methodically hunting it down port by port.

I expect KB to stay by Koumac, and that there is other invasion shipping about to unload, but it could go after Prince of Wales. KB could also go directly west to the Australian coast, and be sure that the damaged battleship is somewhere to the north, with no escape really possible.

Because of this, I decided to do the unexpected, and go east. I'm sprinting east today, to get out of the area quickly. This will use up too much fuel to get anywhere safe, but PoW will rendezvous with a cruiser task force, and that should be enough to get to safety. Of course, I'm hoping that Prince of Wales remains undetected as it approaches Ndeni. I have 4 destroyers near Ndeni, and they weren't spotted in clear weather. It appears that there aren't search planes there. But that could be wrong, or could change today.

Aurorus could decide to try to reengage after separating off the damaged transport. Another fight could slow Prince of Wales' exit, and may give away its direction of movement.

All in all, I'm happy with the fight. Lots of enemy squads lost. Maybe an Allied sub can finish off the remaining transport. Several patrol between the task force and Port Moresby, but the damaged ship could go to any nearby base to do an emergency unload of troops.

Aurorus stated that he was happy with how his escorts performed in the face of superior ships. This fight had something for both sides to be happy and unhappy about.

One advantage that an eastern exit provides is that the damaged battleship is already on the way to Pearl Harbor.

[Bo Rearguard]

Congratulations on the performance of your Anglo-American scratch force in mid ocean. [:)] Out of curiosity, who was the admiral in charge?

[apbarog]

Thanks Bo. They performed well sinking the transports, but performed poorly against the combat ships. Not complaining though. The task force leader is VADM A.N. Willis. I did assign him recently.

[apbarog]

29 Jan 42

Koumac is invaded. 148th Infantry Regiment lands. DMSs and BBs stand off to the NW. KB moves a bit further NW, probably still covering the landing. I'll bet that Aurorus is expecting US carriers to pounce each day.

4 enemy cruisers bombard Malang, as usual. 21 mines still there, but they haven't found one yet. Another Dutch unit evaporates.

Cruiser Pensacola and 2 DDs bombard Luganville. 146th Infantry Regiment is there. 149 casualties and 2 port hits.

Enemy bombers hit Wenchow in China and Kuantan in Malaysia.

Oosthaven, Sumatra is lost, as is Tandjoengselor on Borneo.

The enemy task force that Prince of Wales tangled with yesterday is spotted moving ENE from its position, while PoW moved ESE. A different cruiser task force is nearby. The enemy's projected path takes it to Guadalcanal or Tulagi today. My guess is that Aurorus wants to make some use of the remaining troops on the one damaged transport. It makes sense to unload it somewhere nearby and take an empty base. I make the guess that they head to Tulagi. My cruiser task force will move there normal speed and try to intercept. 4 DD's to the east will circle in from the north of Tulagi and hope to intercept by patrolling.

Note that while I spotted the enemy task force, none of my task forces in the area are spotted.

[edit: One thing I wanted to add is the significance of having all those Catalinas that start at Pearl Harbor, and are typically destroyed in a Pearl Harbor strike. I have good search coverage throughout the Solomons, using AVPs. South of the Marshall Islands is covered also. I'm tracking the enemy task forces, and not being seen myself. }

[Lowpe]

Good fighting here, spotting him and not getting spotted in return.

Now is the time to hit Japan, circumstances favor the Allies especially if the weather is clear.

It happens to every Japanese player, eventually chaos reigns, you fall behind your schedule, and try to make do, and take risks.

So much easier to hit now, than the first week of the war.

If you manage to preserve your forces you will be off to a great start.

I have steered clear of the other AAR, so I am merely figuring that Japan is feeling rushed for time here.

[Platoonist]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Good fighting here, spotting him and not getting spotted in return.

Now is the time to hit Japan, circumstances favor the Allies especially if the weather is clear.

It happens to every Japanese player, eventually chaos reigns, you fall behind your schedule, and try to make do, and take risks.

Interesting point. As the Japanese player you have the additional burden of constantly tweaking industrial growth and aircraft R & D. Trying to manage an economic house of cards on top of everything else. A couple of days of raw, unexpected setbacks in your operational plans can prove quite the concentration breaker for a time.

[apbarog]

My attempts at hit and run behind KB will come to an end when the enemy either sets up sufficient land based search, or the smaller carrier show up. Mini KB has been missing for weeks, last seen east bound north of Borneo. It could be anywhere. I expect to see it show up in the Solomons soon, especially after what I hope happens tomorrow at Tulagi. KB is tied to whatever the latest big invasion is. Right now, Koumac.

Just guessing here, but I think that the troops lost on the transports were 2/3 of a division, headed to reinforce Koumac and march to Noumea. I got heavy activity SigInt at Rabaul and Babeldaop today, 2 messages for each.

What worries me, and every Allied commander, are the divisions at Singapore, ready to go elsewhere. 4 were there. 3 were on Java, and 2 of those are battling at Malang. The other was a bit mauled and probably recovering at Soerabaja. So the concern is the divisions at Singapore. Where they go will tell where Aurorus' next phase of operations is. Right now it looks like the South Pacific, but this could be a limited move. Too soon to tell.

[apbarog]

30 Jan 42

Sub Seadragon fires 2 torpedoes at xAK Hakubasan Maru east of Vietnam. Both miss.

4 US destroyers, patrolling around Tulagi looking for the previously engaged transport force, finds 2 AMc minesweepers on a course toward Ndeni or Luganville. The enemy is quickly eliminated. Neither the US destroyers, or the other cruiser TF that was never spotted, found the transport force. Both TFs will retire to the SE.

Malang gets the treatment today. Battleships Hyuga, Ise, Yamashiro, and Fuso, with no escorts, bombards Malang. Then the usual cruisers Kumano, Suzuya, Mikuma, and Mogami bombard, like every other day. Disappointingly, none of the ships hit any of the approximately 20 sublaid mines there. The base then undergoes a huge air bombing, and then the base is attacked and lost.

Nauru Island is invaded and lost to a shock attack. 3 Catalinas are lost. Didn't see them coming.

Daly Waters, Australia, is lost to the 48th Recon Regiment. Daly Waters is 12 hexes from Alice Springs, which is being built up as fast as possible. When Alice Springs becomes size 2, B-26s will base here and should be able to handle the single enemy unit advancing to the south.

US carriers should make it to Pearl Harbor today. Small cargo ships are inching their way closer to Noumea, hoping to land supply if and when KB is not in the immediate area.

See the map for developments with KB and New Caledonia.

[apbarog]

31 Jan 42

2 DDs and an AO spotted adjacent to Port Moresby. Pike didn't get a shot.

Sub Trout did launch 2 torpedoes at I-8 near Tarawa, but missed.

2 enemy AMcs have moved up the Malaysian coast to Georgetown. I got SigInt of a small base support unit loaded on an xAK and heading to Port Blair. I will attempt to intercept, mainly with subs.

Bandoeng is swept by Oscars. A dozen Dutch fighters, that appeared recently as a reinforcement, are at Batavia resting.

Wenchow is bombed heavily, and daily.

Very interesting. 11 Bettys from Rabaul bomb Tulagi's port. Looking for Prince of Wales, maybe?

I was lucky that my Noumea divebombers didn't fly. Most, if not all, of KB is back west of Koumac.

US carriers arrive at Pearl Harbor. Yorktown needs about 2 weeks in the shipyard.