a risky mission: to bomb the major ports of Tarawa, Lunga, Port Moresby and Darwin.
Only a small number would go without escorts and attempt to identify and perhaps hit an
enemy capital ship in port.
Only the mission against Lunga was cancelled due to bad weather:
The raid against Tarawa met no opposition and didn't find any capital ships in port.
At Port Moresby 2 bombers were lost but hit a transport with a 800kg bomb. No capital ships identified here either.
At Derby the raiders were mauled by 12 Spits, 7 ac were lost and only 2 returned. Very few ships in this port.
It was a bit unfortunate that the raid against Lunga was cancelled, I had hoped to identify
a carrier and perhaps hit a major unit in the port.
The recon that was gathered from these missions indicate that the enemy is not very
active in either the Gilberts nor in Northern Australia. This supports the evidence that
Bougainville really is Kens next objective. I thought he may try to divert my attention
with all these Marine Raider landings.
Several Dinah III recon squadrons have been ordered to resume long range recon
missions against various key installations in the Solomons.
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 05/30/43
Air Combat
Day Air attack on Tarawa , at 85,91 - veery quiet in the Gilberts...
Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 8
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 8 damaged
Aircraft Attacking:
6 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 8000 feet
2 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 8000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Port Moresby , at 53,91 - the 'usual activity' here
Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 5
Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 6
F4U-1 Corsair x 9
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
Allied Ships
AK Algorab, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage (hit by 800kg bomb)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Darwin , at 36,84 - a few ships and a sub in the harbour..and very vicious Spits in the skies [:'(]
Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 8
Allied aircraft
Spitfire Vb x 12
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 7 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
Spitfire Vb: 2 damaged
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Lautem at 33,78 - the bombers evade the CAP. Bingo Maru was not a lucky name!
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 6
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 7
Allied aircraft
Beaufighter Mk 21 x 7
B-17E Fortress x 8
No Japanese losses
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
AK Bingo Maru, Bomb hits 8, on fire, heavy damage *sinks*
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground Combat
All Marine Raider detachements were wiped out today. I will try to rotate some
of the units in the bases that were 'reconed' over the next week or so.
Ground combat at Buka
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 8339 troops, 31 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 20 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles
Japanese assault odds: 104 to 1
Japanese ground losses:
12 casualties reported
Allied ground losses:
25 casualties reported
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Gasmata
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 5818 troops, 31 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 40 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles
Japanese assault odds: 19 to 1
Japanese ground losses:
27 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Allied ground losses:
29 casualties reported
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Torokina
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 2165 troops, 8 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 40 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles
Japanese assault odds: 59 to 1
Allied ground losses:
45 casualties reported
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Gasmata
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 5774 troops, 28 guns, 0 vehicles
Allied assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 4)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air Reinforcement Schedule
Here is the immediate air reinforcement schedule: As you can see there are two major
transport units awaiting available aircraft. I had to increase production of Topsy's to receive
this new unit - there are now 35 ac in the pool and I'm expecting it to arrive tomorrow.
The Hickory's is another annoying story. The short legged (normal range 2) ac is almost useless
but I still prefer to get the unit. So I've restarted a production run - there are still 60 available engines
in the pool. Currently there are 18 in the pool and it will take another full month before the unit arrives.
I'm still getting Nate's as you can see. How depressing...
