Never Thought I'd Start Another One - tc464 (A) vs. Mike (J)

[PaxMondo]

Edit: I just checked. They get 3 raider squads a month. Ouch. There may be 27 or so squads in the pool if he hasn't used any yet.

But you get the national EXP on the replacements ... not the high EXP that units started with .... ouch for him, yeay for you!!!

[PaxMondo]

3 Aug 42

Ted has a LOT of bombers hitting my poor troops at PNG. Today there were 66x 4E and 42x 2E sorties against the troops at Salamaua and Airacobras strafing the troops stuck at Milne Bay.

66 4E's? Crikey, that must be his whole fleet there. Can you get a big wing of Nick's over there? It would feel so good to trap those big Bast___s!!!!

[PaxMondo]

4 Aug 42


Today, 74x 4E and 45x 2E bombers gave the defenders of Salamaua a big headache.

Sheesh! He found 6 more today!!! Trap those things if you can!!!

[Mike Solli]

Any plan to deal with the 74 4e? Maybe it isn't hurting right now but might if he takes some base at some point. Really, anything you might invade within range of those would likely be rendered useless? Just curious.

I have a sentai of Nicks at Gasmata that try to ambush the 4E bombers when they can. They're not doing much damage, unfortunately. I have a second sentai in the Home Islands training replacements and am trying to find a third sentai that can convert to the Nick to send to the front. The Allied bombers can pretty much do what they want. Ted has changed his tactics. Instead of going after the airfields, he's just hitting troops. That way, when he takes the base, there is no damage. That'll work here, but probably won't work on islands. Also, any naval bombardment is pretty indiscriminate. I actually welcome all his bomber in this AO. He still has yet to bomb a single oil field. Magwe is still pumping out 3k oil per day. It should be a smoldering ruin by now.

There are no more invasions in this area by me. I occasionally fly in a little slice of the 2 Raiding Regiment stationed at Rabaul to take a base to harass Ted. He then sends all of his bombers to kill off the slice. That's a net win for me. The bombers are wasting a day to kill off a couple of squads.

I still am ambushing on occasion. I have 62 Zeros and 42 Nicks I use for the ambush. If I see recurring bombing runs with only a small set of bombers hitting an isolated base, I'll smack him. I recently did that by moving my Nicks to Tulagi, where I have a chutai of Dinahs on naval search. He lost 5 B-17s that way. The next day he escorted them with some P-38s. He lost a couple more bombers and a few P-38s. I pulled the Nicks out and just the last turn (19 August) he swept with the P-38s. Over the course of those few days, I lost 1 Nick and one pilot WIA. Those Nicks can take quite a bit of punishment.

[PaxMondo]

... Those Nicks can take quite a bit of punishment.

Yes they can! (And good job on the Tulagi trap. Just keep wearing him down, good points for you and his replacement rate still stinks.)

[sfatula]

Yes they can! (And good job on the Tulagi trap. Just keep wearing him down, good points for you and his replacement rate still stinks.)

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I sure wouldn't want the number to keep growing at this point, even if he's "wasting" them right now. He might move them all to bomb resources. And it would take a while then to wear them down. If you keep the number manageable, might be a little better and provide more options the the rest of the year.

[Mike Solli]

5 August 42 - Really quiet turn today.

Sub War

No subs on either side even took a shot today. No ASW activity either. Really strange.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

The bombers hit Salamaua today. A total of 80x 4E and 45x 2E bomber sorties escorted by 43 fighters. It was over many different attacks, but I can't really compete with that. I have to find little side attacks that I can ambush. The absolute maximum I can ambush with is 62 Zeros and 42 Nicks. That never happens because I'm using LRCAP. The Zeros get chewed up by the 4E bombers and many crash on the way home or landing. I lose too many pilots that way. Not sure if I'll be able to keep up with the reinforcements and replacements.

The remnants of the 83 Naval Guard and Maizuru 1 SNLF were finally destroyed by the Aussies. The main bodies of both units are currently rebuilding at Rabaul.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Ted is reinforcing the "front line", the hex just east of Cox's Bazaar. He has 70 Br Division, an Indian Division and Brigade (one combat ineffective), 3 Indian CD battalions and a medium artillery regiment with something else moving up. I have 3 infantry divisions, 3 tank regiments, an ATG battalion and an artillery unit. I have a bit of stuff moving up (along the long road from Prome to the front line):

3 Infantry divisions
1 Infantry regiment (part of 2 Tank Division)
2 AA units (1 is part of 2 Tank Division)
1 Engineer regiment (part of 2 Tank Division)
1 Recon regiment (part of 2 Tank Division)
17 Artillery units (1 is part of 2 Tank Division)

It'll be awhile before they reach the front, but the artillery will cause havoc. The issue will be supplying them.

China

Air bombing on the airfields at Kunming and Kweiyang were effective.

Bombing of Hami's troops continued to wear them down and the attack by my tank regiment killed more of them off. They're still hanging on there though.

Kunming has 45k enemy troops defending and Kweiyang has 185k troops defending. I don't have the strength to take either but I'm (slowly) working on it.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

6 Aug 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Salamaua was the recipient of the Allied bombers again today. No, I'm not counting today. It's getting depressing. Only 1 B-17E was an op loss.

SRA

I have a daitai of Nells on night bombing of Darwin nightly, but it rarely does anything useful. Today a Hudson was destroyed and a P-40E was damaged along with light damage to the runway, which was easily repaired. That's typical. Right now Darwin's airfield is at level 7(7) and the port is level 4(3). I see 18 fighters, 34 bombers and 4 auxiliary aircraft there. My guess is that he's either going to station B-17/24s there to bomb out Boela and Babo or maybe build it up to level 9 for B-29s later. Not sure but if it increases to 8 I'll bet it the B-29 route. At any rate, he's doing nothing offensive right now, which is fine with me.

Burma

Ted has been sweeping the front line. I'm not contesting there, at least not now. There's no reason. He's not attempting to bomb here. We'll see what happens in the future. I have 192 AS in fighter range of that hex so when things heat up in the air, I'll be ready. If everything is at full strength, I currently have 192 fighters and 170 bombers in Burma. Also, all of the bombers can reach the target hex from Chiang Mai (204 AS). So, the entirety of 3 Air Division can be ranged against the front line.

The 2 British Division arrived to reinforce their front line. The raw AV is 1136 for the Japanese and 1016 for the Allies. I still have 1700 raw AV headed to the front line. Oh yeah, 507 artillery pieces are headed to the front to reinforce the 272 artillery pieces at the front. The Allies have 348 guns at the front, but that includes AA and AT. I did a lot of math, and my guess is that ~254 of the 348 guns are artillery. So, with my reinforcements, I'll have about 779 artillery to 254 Commonwealth artillery. Can't wait for them to arrive, but it'll be about a month to get there.

China

Another attack on Hami killed 42 squads for no loss.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement
SC Ch-32, ASW

[Mike Solli]

7 Aug 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

The Allied bombers hit the NG unit at Wau today, giving the beat up defenders of Salamaua a break. An element of the 2 Marine Raider Battalion landed there and shock attacked doing nothing. I considered attacking to destroy them, but decided not to attack when I saw that the NG's disruption was 93 and their fatigue was 37. The unit's infantry and HMG are currently 47% combat effective but only 1 squad is destroyed. I guess they'll sit. They had just moved there this turn and I was hoping to take the base back from Allied control. One turn late. Too bad, but at least the Allies will have to push me out.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

I screwed up today. I had moved a new Oscar sentai to Akyab to guard that base, but I didn't notice that I had set their CAP to >0 range and they moved to guard Cox's Bazaar. They were hit by 16 Hurricane IIb Trop, then 24 P-40E, who dove on them shooting down a total of 10 (7 KIA) for a loss of a Hurricane and 2 Warhawks. Another 5 Oscars were op losses as well as a couple of Hurricanes. Fortunately, it's the IJAAF. ALL of their frontline fighter pilots are at 70+/70+ with 3 elite pilots per unit. I have 52 Oscar Ic in the pool and am starting to produce the IIa, which isn't really much better. I also have 101 trained pilots in the pool plus more I can draw on from the training sentai and the fighter units "fighting" in China. I also have 70 Tojo IIa in the pool. They're no better either. I can't wait until I receive the Tojo IIc, which will be my mainstay for the IJAAF fighter force until I receive the Frank. I anticipate receiving the Tojo IIc on 12/13/42.

Later in the day, 5 Hurricanes hit 4 Oscars over Akyab. I lost 2 Oscars (2 WIA) vs. 1 Hurricane.

China

Only the bombers against Chungking flew today, adding to the airfield damage.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

8 Aug 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

The Allied bombers rested today.

SRA

Kure 2 SNLF, the victors of Kendari long ago, had been marching overland to take all the bases between there and Makassar. Today, they liberated Makassar, destroying the Dutch defenders. Now they will begin to take all the un-garrisoned bases in the area.

Burma

Eleven Hurricanes swept Akyab meeting 41 Oscars. Each side lost one (1 WIA).

The Allies swept Cox's Bazaar with 3 separate squadrons (12 Hurricane, 25 P-40E and 17 P-40E). This time they found no Japanese fighters.

China

Some Zeros are still sweeping Kunming, but the Chinese Air Force is effectively destroyed. I see a single bomber grounded here, as well as 5 bombers at Chungking and 3 fighters at Lanchow and 4 grounded at Hami. There may be some at some bases I'm not yet reconning, but the Air Force is pretty much gone.

Kweiyang's airfield was hit hard by 36 Marys.

Hami was attacked by the tank regiment again, this time killing 13 squads. The defenders include 2 Chinese brigades and 2 Chinese base forces.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

9 Aug 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

The Allied bombers flew today after a day's rest, pounding the NG at Wau.

Nine and then 6 B-17Es flew against the NG unit at Salamaua. Later, 18 P-39Ds strafed there.

Wau is 5 hexes from Gasmata, my fighter base, and Salamaua is 6 hexes away. I was tempted to ambush the small force attacking Wau tomorrow, but even if my planes are set to a maximum of 5 hexes on LRCAP and set to target Wau, they will still leak into Salamaua, where they will take immense damage. I decided not to set the ambush.

SRA

The night bombing of Darwin's airfield caused minor damage that was easily repaired and destroyed a Hudson on the ground. Not sure this is worth the supply expended.

Burma

Six Hurricanes met the sentai of Oscars over Akyab today, costing 1 plane shot down on each side. My pilot bailed out successfully.

China

Kweiyang's airfield was trashed by the Marys again today. Weather prevented the attacks on Chungking and Kunming.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement
248 Sentai (30 Nates), 51 Air Division, fighter training in the Home Islands.

[Mike Solli]

10 Aug 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Wau was pounded again with a handful of bombers hitting Salamaua.

I decided to send 42 Nicks and 60 Zeros against Salamaua to hit the bombers. Fingers crossed.

SRA

Darwin's night bombing did light damage to the airfield and destroyed a Vildebeest and managed to damage another 11 planes at a cost of a Nell shot down by flak.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

Hami was liberated killing 171 squads but destroying none of the 4 enemy units. I've decided to destroy the Chinese even though the infantry will return at 1/3 strength. I don't want these guys wandering around up there causing problems. So, the tank regiment will follow them and keep pounding on them until they die. Also, the handful of I-15s and I-16s were destroyed on the ground.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement
xAP Teison Maru

[Mike Solli]

11 Aug 42

Sub War

Six hexes north of Auckland, the I-9 put a torpedo into a nice sized empty French xAP. Later in the day, she caught her again and put 2 more torpedoes into her, sinking her.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

My ambush switched to Wau as I feared even though I set the max range to less than that hex. The first attack was 50 Zeros and 42 Nicks at 10-15k feet to go after the enemy bombers, which were set to 8-11k feet. They ran into a huge force of:

16 B-17E
6 B-24D
12 B-25C
22 B-26
4 B-26B

escorted by

1 P-38F
17 F4F4

I outnumbered the fighters, fortunately, but that many bombers have a lot of firepower. In the end I lost only 1 Nick shot down but most of my fighters were damaged by bombers and sent home. Only a handful remained for the second wave. The Allies lost 4 Wildcats (+4 op losses) and 5 B-26s (and a couple more op losses) and a few more bomber op losses.

The second wave of 20 B-17Es escorted by 8 Kittyhawk IAs. The Kittyhawks got the drop on my damaged fighters shooting down 3 of each (plus half a dozen op losses) for the loss of a single Kittyhawk. I ended up losing 6 each Nick and Zero pilots. That hurt.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

An enemy sweep of Akyab by 25 P-40Es cost me an Oscar (no pilot loss) for 8 P-40s shot down. That was pretty nice.

China

My bombers hit and caused nice damage to the airfields at Kunming, Kweiyang and Chungking and killing a bomber on the ground.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

12 Aug 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Nine P-40Es swept Gasmata. I had only a chutai of Zeros (9) defending but they did stellar work shooting down 4 for no loss.

I got complacent and it cost me today. For the past 2 days, I had 2 sentai (54) Sallies bombing the front line enemy troops. I forgot to stop it and Ted sent 14 enemy fighters to counter it. They shot down 12 Sallies for no loss. Stupid mistake. Fortunately, I have bomber replacement aircraft and a LOT of bomber pilots trained for ground bombing.

Ted bombed Salamaua and Wau, as usual.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Fourteen Hurricanes caught 18 Oscars over Akyab today and shot down 4 Oscars (2 KIA, 1 WIA) for no Allied loss. I hate the Oscar.

China

The Japanese tank regiment hit the former Hami garrison causing 3 units to retreat. One infantry brigade remained behind and will be attacked tomorrow. An even 100 squads were destroyed.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement
xAK Nishi Maru, Ansyu-C, will be converted to a PB.

[Mike Solli]

13 Aug 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Wau got the brunt of the love from the Allied bombers.

Six P-40Es swept Gasmata. The Zero chutai shot down one for no loss.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Eight Hurricanes swept Akyab, meeting 34 Tojos and losing 3 shot down for no Japanese loss. I'm at a loss here. Ted swept Cox's Bazaar with 2 squadrons. If he put all 3 on Akyab, he's cause me more losses. He has a lot of fighters in theater. I typically see >100 enemy fighters scattered over several air bases with most of them at Chittagong.

I can't wait for my reinforcements to arrive at the front. They're still crawling up the coastal road.

China

The tank regiment hit the Chinese brigade today, but nothing much happened. Only a single squad was killed and half a dozen were disabled. At any rate, they'll attack again tomorrow.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements
3 Raiding Regiment, Southern Army, para capable, not well trained, headed to China once it receives replacements.
4 Raiding Regiment, Southern Army, para capable, not well trained, headed to North Japan for operations in Aleutians once it receives replacements.
Sasebo 6 SNLF, SE Fleet, may move to China for garrison duty until Japanese reinforcements arrive in China to relieve them.
Yokosuka 6 SNLF, 4 Fleet, combines with the 3 IJN Special Coastal Gun Battalion (in 185 days) to form the 3 Special Base Force. They will sit in Japan waiting for the reinforcement. Not sure where they will go, but I have time to think about it.

[Mike Solli]

14 Aug 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Wau was the recipient of the majority of the Allied bombing, with Salamaua receiving 9 B-17Es.

Fifteen B-17Es bombed the troops at Tulagi, where I have a chutai of Dinahs on naval search. The did no lasting damage.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report. Quiet day here today other than 20 Allied fighters sweeping Cox's Bazaar and my troops trudging north.

China

The Chinese brigade was attacked by my tank regiment again today causing a couple more squads killed. I'll attack again tomorrow. Really?

Other Stuff

Reinforcements
DMS W-22, ASW/Escort
xAK Kimonon Maru, Ansyu-C, will convert to PB.

[Mike Solli]

15 Aug 42

Sub War

The I-165 spotted an enemy TF including the BB Royal Sovereign 5 hexes west of Calcutta. The largest port in this area is at Madras with a port level of 5(6). I need to drop some mines there, just in case. The sub unsuccessfully fired 2 torpedoes at a DE. That TF is heading east and will move through the patrol area of I-166. Maybe she'll get a shot at the BB. By the way, I-165 took a few near misses and has 11 sys damage but will remain on station.


5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Allied bombers focused on Wau once again.

Nine B-17Es and 18 P-39Ds (strafing) hit Salamaua.

Six P-40Es swept Gasmata trading 2 for 2 Nicks (2 WIA). These are the Nicks mentioned below.

Two groups of B-17Es totaling 23 sorties hit Tulagi's airfield causing some lasting damage but not putting the airfield out of commission. I stationed 30 Nicks there to hit the bombers tomorrow.

I dropped a small element of 2 Raiding Regiment on Lae and took control back. Another target for Ted's bombers.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

A TF including the BB Royal Sovereign was spotted by sub 5 hexes west of Calcutta. The largest port in this area is at Madras with a port level of 5(6). I need to drop some mines there, just in case.

On the Cox front, the Commonwealth attacked! Yay! Even though they outnumber us 50k to 42k, we prevailed:

Ground combat at 55,43 (near Cox's Bazar)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 49992 troops, 928 guns, 664 vehicles, Assault Value = 1487

Defending force 42192 troops, 409 guns, 348 vehicles, Assault Value = 1171

Allied adjusted assault: 604

Japanese adjusted defense: 2825

Allied assault odds: 1 to 4

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
690 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 56 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 25 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled
Vehicles lost 34 (4 destroyed, 30 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
2651 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 271 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 70 disabled
Engineers: 11 destroyed, 38 disabled
Guns lost 80 (3 destroyed, 77 disabled)
Vehicles lost 22 (1 destroyed, 21 disabled)

Assaulting units:
18th British Division
70th British Division
44th Indian Brigade
19th Indian Division
2nd British Division
3rd Indian Coastal Artillery Regiment
1st Indian Coastal Artillery Regiment
III Indian Corps
2nd Indian Coastal Artillery Regiment
6th Medium Regiment

Defending units:
18th Division
7th Tank Regiment
Imperial Guards Division
48th Division
6th Tank Regiment
10th Tank Regiment
3rd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
2nd Army
1st RF Gun Battalion

I hope they keep attacking, but I doubt it.

China

Chungking, Kunming and Kweiyang all took additional airfield damage. The intent is for none of these bases to build more forts.

The tank regiment finally destroyed the Chinese brigade. They're now heading north to do the same to the surviving Chinese brigade and BFs.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

16 Aug 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Twenty-nine Nicks met 5 B-17Es shooting down 1. They did minor damage to the airfield. A second wave of 7 B-17Es were unable to cause any additional damage to the airfield, but no planes were lost on either side. A third wave of 14 B-17Es were only able to cause a couple of points of airfield damage. Again, no planes were lost on either side.

About half a dozen B-17Es were reported to be op losses.

The Nicks will remain another day.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Five Hurricanes swept Akyab and were countered by 39 Tojos. At a cost of 2 Tojos (1 WIA), all 5 Hurricanes were shot down.

China

Chungking and Kweiyang's airfields took more lasting damage.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

17 Aug 42

Sub War

An ACM arrived at Cox's Bazaar and found Truant. Truant launched a couple of torpedoes that missed and the ACM dropped a few DCs that may have damaged Truant. Anyway, she auto disbanded. More on that below.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Ted is diluting his bombers. He sent bombers to Wau, Salamaua, an a new base: Merauke. I've controlled Merauke for quite a while with a construction company and an SNLF company. The damage was minor. The troops will recover shortly.

At Tulagi, 14 Nicks defended against 7 B-17Es escorted by 13 P-38Fs. The Nicks got through the escorting Lightnings and shot down a B-17, but lost Nick (WIA) after the bombing was concluded.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

There are 2 more ACMs headed to Cox's Bazaar (7 days out) along with a minelaying TF (8 days out) with 450 mines.

China

Two sentai (54 Sallies) that were supporting the attack on Hami have shifted their focus to Lanchow, which took significant damage to their airfield. I don't have the strength to take Lanchow currently, but there are 2 additional divisions headed there.

Chungking, Kunming and Kweiyang all took more damage to their airfields.

The tank regiment attacked the former Hami garrison (Chinese brigade and 2 base forces) mauling them and pushing them farther north. They'll follow and do it again.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement
57 JNAF AF Unit, Southern Army, headed to Singkep to allow a 24 plane Ann sentai to be based there to perform ASW missions in that area. I haven't seen any Allied subs there, yet, but it's bound to happen. There currently is naval search in the area as well as an ASW TF.

The Ha-45 engine just became operational! There are 6 factories of the following size (and their increases):

80(40)
40(50)
30(60)
30(60)
30(60)
30(60)

That brings their total from 240 to 570 in 60 days. Currently, there is 2.914M supply in the empire. In the next 2 days (already run), that number remains constant, within a couple hundred. Two months of that....

The following airframes will use this engine. Also included is the current repaired status of their R&D factories (all max size 30):

Ki-84a/r Frank: 15, 4x14, 3x13, 3x12, 11, 2x10, 9, 2x8, 6
N1K1/2 George: 25, 23, 2x22, 21, 19, 4x17, 15, 4x14 13, 12, 8
B7A2 Grace: 16, 2x10, 9, 8, 6

Note that the H1K5 George switches to the Ha-43 engine. My intent is that the first models of the Frank and George will leave 3x30 factories as operational and the remaining 15 will continue with the R&D. When the final model becomes operational, 9x30 more of each type of factory (totaling 12 of each model) will become operational and the remaining 6 of each will switch to another R&D model.

For the Grace, when it becomes operational, 2x30 will become operational and the remaining 4 factories will switch to another R&D model.

The 16 factories that remain R&D will most likely begin work on the two Kamikaze models, the Ki-115a Tsurugi and the Toka. That will be determined when they become operational.

The 570 production per month (19 per day) is not enough to cover all of the R&D need, which could possibly be 42 per day for R&D. That would mean increasing the factory sizes to 1260. That ain't happening.

For operational concerns, the max needed would be 12/day for Frank, 3/day for George 1 & 2 and 2/day for Grace for a total of 17 needed per day. My hope is that there will be a huge number of engines in the pool by the time a significant number of R&D factories complete their growth so that there will be enough engines to support R&D and production. We'll see.

[Mike Solli]

18 Aug 42

Sub War

The Dutch sub O21 caught a TF returning from Truk to Balikpapan (4 hexes E of Balikpapan) and torpedoed and sank the TK Tatybana Maru (Manzyu TM class, 7950 capacity). Fortunately, she was empty. All of this model are tasked with moving fuel from Balikpapan to Truk (or Babeldaob). They typically move due east from Balikpapan hugging the coast, but I'm probably going to begin sending them south around Celebes and ship most of the fuel to Babeldaob. Truk currently had 257k fuel so doesn't need any for a while.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Allied bombers focused on Wau, Salamaua and Merauke today.

Twenty-two Zeros caught 4 Kittyhawks over Buna killing 2 for no loss.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

Kunming, Kweiyang and Chungking's airfields all took significant damage today with Lanchow taking moderate damage.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement
17 Tank Regiment, China Expeditionary Force, part of 3 Tank Division. Will begin the long trek to Kweiyang.