Rising Sun over the Rockies - F.K. vs OSO - Wake captured by US

[FeurerKrieg]

Jan 20th, 1942

A good day - Singapore surrenders!
Over 78,000 Allied POWs are taken.
On Timor, Koepang is captured.
At PNG, Port Moresby comes under the first of what will be regular air attacks from 60-80 Nell/Betty bombers. Milne Bay is also captured, and will be the docking place of an AV and some Mavis Patrol planes.

[FeurerKrieg]

FYI - 1/29 is where I'll pick up with the more detailed reports, so we are almost done with the fast and dirty summaries. All along there has been plenty of other action, but most of you are familiar with the open weeks of the war - Jap airplanes attacking Allied ships all over the DEI and such. I've tried to stick the highlights. I will put up a list of all the non-Merchant ships sunk as of the end of January so you can have an idea of what has transpired.

[FeurerKrieg]

Jan 21st, 1942
Kongo and Haruna shell Balikpapan in support of the land battle there. With their help the troops present capture the base.
B-17s from Pearl attack Johnston and this time find some Zeros ready for them. Several are damaged and a couple don't make it home. Damage to the airbase is light.

Jan 22nd, 1942
Zeros and the AVG tangle over Mandalay. For the next few days, these fights will continue with the Zero's losing about 1-3 planes per attack, and the AVG losing 5-10 planes per attack.
Another unsuccessful attack on Wuchow.

Jan 23rd, 1942
Allied minelayer Bangkalan is hit in a port bombing raid at Soerabaja.
Davao and Cagayan are both hit by IJA bombers in the Phillipines.

Bases Captured:
Cotobato
Dadjangas
Sabang

[FeurerKrieg]

Jan 24th, 1942
Not sure what happened as the combat report is missing.

Jan 25th, 1942
PT Boats defend Merak against our invasion forces. No torps hit our ships, and two PT's are sunk.
Having been to Kwajelein for supply and fuel, the KB arrives at Palmyra and promptly sinks the AV Wright. Naval landing forces are enroute from Johnston, and Battleships from Kwaj are on hand to shell the atoll.

Jan 26th, 1942
IJN Destroyers at Merak sink a couple more enemy PT boats.
A pair of G5N Liz heavy bombers run a test mission over Manilla. Performance seems okay. The unit will be filled out and put to use against Java since the airfields there are proving problematic.
[center]
New G5N Liz 4-Engined bomber based on the DC-4E[/center]

As our troops are unloading at Merak, several waves of British and Dutch planes continue to attack our ships. Several are damaged or sunk, but the troops are unloaded safely for the most part.
KB Vals hit Palmyra.
B-17's at Johnston lose one bomber, and then more on the way home.
Dili is captured.

Jan 27th, 1942
Haruna and Kongo shell Makassar, The ground troops make good progress on their first major assault. (2 to 1, forts go from 2 --> 1)
Mutsu, Kiei and Kirishima support the landings at Palmyra which go well, and the atoll is seized from the US garrison force.
Merak and Teloekbetoeng also captured.

[center]
Palmyra Atoll[/center]

[FeurerKrieg]

Jan 28th, 1942
Nells from Johnston drop some bombs over Pearl Harbor in the middle of the night. While it seems no hits are scored, it is a nice morale boost to put bombers over Pearl again.
Nells with Zeros begin daily bombings of Batavia in an attempt to stop the strong raids against our shipping in the area.
In China the IJA has reached Honan, pushing several Chinese units again of them. The first assault on the main base goes well. (2 to 1, forts 4 --> 3).
Butuan and Makassar are also captured.

[center]
Nells at Night over Pearl Harbor[/center]

[FeurerKrieg]

Jan 29th, 1942

Today's results started with a bad evening. As Ise, Hyuga, and Yamashiro closed in to bombard Palembang, DD Hibiki collided with a VH2 mine and sunk immediately.
[center]
RIP Hibiki... [/center]

Otherwise, things proceed as planned. Fuso and 5 heavy cruisers pounded Port Moresby as our troops finished unloading. Nell's and Betty's hit Batavia to try and subdue the still dangerous airbase.
[center]
The airfields on Java still have some teeth.[/center]

Northern Sumatra was firmly seized today, as three regiments of the 18th Division each landed and seize Medan, Kaula and Bankha simultaneously. Also in teh DEI, Pinrang was captured by a naval landing force from Balikpapan.

In China, southwest of Honan, in the forest, 4 Chinese corps attempted to break free of the 9th Ind. Brigade, but were repulsed. If Honan falls, these Chinese may well become trapped and I suspect they are desperate to escape the noose that is closing in Northern China.
[center]
Nearly closed pocket in China.[/center]

While on the topic of China, I've prepared a map to show the present situation there. Fighting in Wuchow has gone on since early on, with little progress being made other than the forts being knocked down to zero. However, half of the Yoki Ebi (Yobi Eki?) unit will arrive soon and might be enough to tip the scales. It has also been getting bombed almost daily, but the defenders are stubborn.

In the lower north, after an initial push back across the river at Kaifeng, a Japanese offensive up from Sinyang was enough to secure the river and allow the divisions at Kaifeng to cross the river. From there the force has pushed up into Honan and that city may well fall soon.

In the upper north, we were early on pushed back to Yangku, but then the Chinese seemed to run low on supplies and we were able to push back a bit. In preparation for the fall of Honan several units have been ordered to cross the river south of Yenan, while others cross north of Yenan. Ideally we'll trap the defenders there, while the Honan axis is able to push up to Sian and capture that city. Then they could turn east and capture Yenan, then the way is open to Mongolia if we desire.

In the upper south, Changsha is a fortress I am reluctant to touch at the moment. If Wuchow falls, I may be able to force him to retreat from Changsa so he doesn't get trapped, and taking the city may be possible then. I have 2-3 divisions in most hexes adjacent to Changsha, so any Chinese move east will be difficult for them.

I should also mention, that I have made a point of clearing out guerilla units and that has slowed the front line offensives somewhat. The north is all clear now, but in the south we are still rounding up guerrillas and pushing them towards Changsha. Hopefully all those extra mouths will push his supply situation to the brink.

Lastly, there are some reserve units (about 600 AV's) sitting in Hankow in case he tries to get on my roads. Ichang I left to its fate, but as of yet they haven't advanced to take it. There is one NLF unit garrisoning the place, but other than that it is abandoned.

[FeurerKrieg]

Jan 30th, 1942
Palembang is bombarded prior to the landing of the Guard (2nd) Div and an Engineering Rgt. Some coastal gun fire was present, but the Division was brought in with many destroyers and the CL Kashii, which help suppress the defenders during the landing.

Another push on Manilla fails. Doing the math it appears it will take about 5,000 AV's to capture the city. Several divisions from Singapore will stop in Luzon on their way to the Pacific and help finish the seige soon.

Today's raid on Batavia was effective and torched about a dozen Allied aircraft on the ground. Attacks still sortie from the base though, and more of my transports were hit. They are trying to get to Singapore but some will probably not make it. We also caught some transports at Soerabaja.
[center][/center]


At Port Moresby, the troops there were again supported by naval bombardment. Also Nells, Bettys and Jakes all attack the ground forces in the area directly. The IJN forces on the ground push forward the attack and did well, reducing fortifications. (1 to 1, forts 3 --> 2)
[center]
Assault on Port Moresby[/center]

In Honan the attack went well also and the city will surely fall anyday. (2 to 1, forts 4 --> 3)
[center]
Honan nears capture...[/center]

Finally, a fast transport ran to Bali at night and dropped off a landing force to seize the small island base. L2D2's are standing by in Kendari to fly in supplies and avaiation crews so the we can station some Zeros and some Dive Bombers to cut off the retreat of any ships that flee Soerabaja to the south. Our subs are also in the area in case there are cripples that need finishing.

[ctangus]

ORIGINAL: Feurer Krieg

Jan 20th, 1942

A good day - Singapore surrenders!

Dang - I'm impressed at the date! Can you provide any more details on how the Malaya fight went down? I wish I could do that well.

I'm also interested the Palmyra invasion. Seems like it'd be hard to support & supply a continued presence there. I guess I'm a little curious about why you did it...

[FeurerKrieg]

Hi ctangus! Glad to know I have a reader!

Your questions speak to my overall strategic plan, and this is as good a time as any to go over that. Feel free to criticize all you like - even if I don't change my mind it doesn't hurt to think about things I haven't considered.

Singapore's early fall was as result of my choosing to concentrate force there so that I wouldn't get bogged down in both Malaya and Luzon. CHS does tone down the Japanese a touch (no, I'm not complaining) and I'm something of a pessimist so I am always worried about getting 'stuck' somewhere.

So I sent only 3 divisions to Luzon, and pretty much all other divisions to Malaya. Anything intended for Burma also went to Singapore, including the division that starts in China (not the unformed one, the 33rd? it went to Bankok to finish rebuilding). I tried to be as efficient as possible in reorganizing my my transport capacity to match where units started at on the first turn. Thus, I used my first turn move more to represent the months leading up to the war more so than simple 'surprise'.

Anyway - with all those divisions and armor, rollin down Malaya went pretty well. I did land at Mersing, but OSO managed to get everyone into Jahore before I could cut them off. But once my army got into Singapore, it went down very fast. I was aiming for Jan 15, so not too far off.

The downside of course is that nothing moved towards Burma. I now have a couple regiments and one division moving towards Moulmein on the trail, they should get there in another week or so. I've stopped dueling with the AVG as attrition is not my friend - although I think we killed a fair number of his experienced pilots there. Also I have another division on the way from Singapore to Moulmein via ship.

Not a lot of divisions for Burma, but I hope to make up for some of that with my paras. I have three units ready to go in Bangkok and lots of L2D2's there. Hopefully, I can drop units in ways that will cut off the retreat of his units in Rangoon and maybe I can eliminate some there, instead of pushing them all up to Mandalay. We'll see. The 2nd Div will be done in Java at some point and it can always come up there for reinforcement if needed.

In the Pacific, I'm hoping to go for New Zealand. With our atoll stacking house rules, the potential is there that we may see invasion - counter invasion - and counter invasion again until the Allies really gain speed. Also, with those stacking rules, it means I have more units with which to garrison more atolls, as opposed to dumping lots of units on just a few. The longer I can keep the US bottled up, the better. Not to mention, without US assets in Australia, the threat from that direction should be a bit less.

It is a large area to try and hold, but likewise, if the US pushes at any given spot too deeply, they have to worry about getting cut off as well. And I don't intend to seek out a fight with US carriers (unless situation looks really good). My hope is to keep my carriers alive until late war so I can use them to hit the supply trains coming from the US. The less the US takes back in terms of small islands, the easier it is for my carrier raiders to sneak around.

Also, I want to force him to have to bomb my islands with unescorted 4E's. Those planes are tough in scen 160, but they definitely die more often when they have to fly long range and then fly home.

So - long story short - the plan is 'War in the PACIFIC'. No extra units to Burma or China or India or Australia. It's all facing the US.

[FeurerKrieg]

Jan 31, 1942

As the troops continue to unload at Palembang, CL Kashii strikes, not 1, not 2, but 3(!!) VH2 mines. Amazingly the ship does not sink and will try to make it back to Singapore for emergency repairs.
IJA bombers from Singapore continue to pound Palembang by day, now that the battleships have returned to Singapore.

Over a dozen more planes are destroyed on the ground at Batavia. The raids out of this base are dwindling noticeably now. However, Soerabaja is still very dangerous as a group of transport heading to Bandjermasin found out today. Several transports were hit by a large raid of Martins from Soerabaja. Hopefully the ships will make it to the coast and unload the naval forces on board.
[center]
Hot Java![/center]

[center]
The motley crew defending Batavia - Hawks, Wirraways, Demons and Brewsters[/center]

The naval force unloaded yesterday captured Bali. Aircraft and support units will be flown in ASAP.

Port Moresby was again shelled, but the big ships are about out of ammo so casualties from the bombardment were slight. The ground forces however did even better (massive raids of Bettys and Nells helped). The land battle is about over at Port Moresby. (2 to 1, forts 2 -> 1)

In China, 3 corps across the river to the northeast from Honan attempted to break free and failed. Like the 4 corps to the southwest of Honan, these are nearly trapped and are likely trying to escape. At Honan, the battle continue to progress and we expect the city will fall tomorrow. (2 to 1, forts 2 -> 1)

[FeurerKrieg]

Feb 1st, 1942
A good day!

The front in China moved forward on both flanks. Honan, as expected collapsed and the Chinese headed up the road to Sian. We will pursue after two days of rest for our troops. Not so expected was the fall of Wuchow! The extra regiment was just enough to finally tip the scale there after weeks of fighting. Some units will also pursue towards Liuchow, but we don't have enough troops in the area to expect to capture that city for now. If we can reach Liuchow though, it will cut the supply line to Nanning and we might be able to take this base back with the other half of the Yobi Eki Rgt sitting in Hanoi - that would then open supply lines to our troops from Indo-China.

On the other side of the equator, Port Morseby was captured! The Allied troops there retreated into the mountains towards Dobodura. With no coastline in sight for them, they will slowly starve there since they can't be evacuated.

Lautem was also captured, erasing the last Allied presence on the island of Timor. Base forces are enroute, and we will do our best to prevent any naval buildup in northern Australia for a long time. The Brigade that captured Lautem will next head to Amboina.

Batavia was again hit, the airbase is a tough one to shut down, but everyday more planes are destroyed and less fly from the base.

At Palembang, the battleships return and pound the defenders hard. Our troops continue to unload with several ships hitting more mines and taking hits from coastal guns. The first assault was launched there today and went well, the city may indeed be captured tomorrow. (2 to 1, forts 3 -> 2)
[center]
The Guards make progress at Palembang - the resource crown jewel of the DEI.[/center]


Lots of Martins again hit our fleet unloading at Bandjermasin today. Thankfully most of the force had unloaded through the night. It looks like enough of them landed to capture the base. The ships will try to make it back to Balikpapan for repairs, but it is likely 3-6 transports will be lost on this operation. Something must be done about the Soerabaja airbase, and the G5N may be just that thing.

Lastly, Warhawks over Moulmein (flying from Rangoon) jumped our Helens that have been bombing the area daily without resistance. Losses were light. We will not sweep the base tomorrow in case the Allies are trying to bait us, but the next day perhaps will be a full court press with Oscars, Tojos and Zeros over Moulmein and Rangoon.
[center]
Surprise![/center]

[FeurerKrieg]

Feb 2nd, 1942

A bit of action in the north as the Yokosuka 5th SNLF captured Attu Island. Construction engineers and a IJN Base force are standing off the island to avoid letting the enemy know the island will be reinforced. They will move in immediately now that the island is secure. First task will be getting an airstrip built that will allow us to prevent the Americans from sneaking in on our northern front. The Yokosuka unit will rest briefly and then move farther up the chain if no resistance is encountered.

Near Java Martins from Soerabaja continue to pound our transports at Bandjermasin. On the ground though, our troops were able to rout the Dutch defenders. Air units will be flown in and Oscar's will be based here to provide LRCAP if we choose to try and cut Java in half with a landing north of Soerabaja.

To stop the Martins, Bettys from Timor, and Nells and the new G5N Liz bombers from Kendari have begun bombing airfields at Soerabaja. Zeros from Bali initiated a sweep of the airspace in the morning today and knocked out 6 Bresters, 1 Wirraway and 1 Demon. The bombers arrived in the afternoon and although some Bettys were turned away, the Liz and Nell group scored some very good hits, destroying a dozen aircraft on the ground including WIrraways, Brewsters, Vildebeest IV's, Swordfish, C-60A Lodestars, T.IVa's, F.K.51 and the recently effective Martin 139s.
[center]
The destruction of Soerabaja begins...[/center]

The Guards at Palembang pushed across the base today and capture the place. Amazingly, the Dutch were prevented from doing any damage to the resource and oil facilities there and we now have all the available facilities there at 100% operating condition! This will be big help to the Empire's industrial area.

In Manilla our bombers have taken to target practice on some ships that remain in the harbor. In the Solomons a small unoccupied island called Panggoe was investigated and secured.

In the Pacific, the KB sent 66 Vals to attack ground troops on Christmas island, while SNLF and other naval forces stormed the beaches. The island was only lightly defended and was captured easily. Another 1000 USA POW's. At Johnston, 92 B-17E's attacked the base, destroying 7 Zeros and 8 Nells on the ground. The pilots are okay though, and replacement planes will be flown in immediately.
[center]
Attack on Christmas Island.[/center]

Finally, two pilots have been reprimanded for launching a maverick attack against Pearl Harbor in broad daylight. They turned around when confronted with the enemy CAP at the US base, but they could have easily been shot down and we have adjusted orders to ensure this does not happen again.
[center]
A pair of brave, but foolish, naval pilots.[/center]

[FeurerKrieg]

Feb 3rd, 1942

In Burma, 25 Zeros and 66 Oscars swept the air over Moulmein and found 6 P-40Es. The Army pilots stole the show, shooting downing all the P-40E's with no loss to themselves.
[center]
Oscar's clean house at Moulmein[/center]

Near Samar, the beach of Catanduanes was secured.

Heavy airstrikes were launched against the airfields at Changsha in China.

In the DEI, naval landing forces landed at Raba. Also, the AK Senang attempt to escape Java to the south, only to discover that way has been deemed closed by the Empire. Ki-30 Ann's easily sunk the ship. Also a Tanker was reported sunk in Darwin.
[center]
An AK tried to run the air blockade.[/center]

Other bases captured/occupied: Muntok, Vella Lavella

Finally - Singapore port construction finished today and the port is now almost as good as any in the Home Islands. (Size 9)
Also, Lunga airfield at Guadalcanal has been completed and can now accomadate Bettys and Nells with torpedo load outs. This will be critical to our campaign against New Caledonia in the near future.

[dekwik]

nice aar!
Johnston might be tough to defend when he can drop 92 bombers on it day after day...? Do you have good AAA there? It seems a lot more effective against bombers than CAP...

[FeurerKrieg]

Johnston is at the very edge of B-17 range. So typically, when he flys, I shoot down 1 B-17 outright, damage 20-30 of them. 2-4 of those crash on the way home, and then the rest seem to have to rest for 2-3 days before bombing again. So far he's only been bombing once every 3-5 days. I'm happy to attrit some B-17's since they don't get as many as stock. I plan to bring in some more AA - and I've got a couple BF's there. Also - he isn't doing much damage with those 90 bombers, my engineers are repairing faster than he can damage things.

However, we have a bug popping up there at the moment, because occasionally when the B-17's bomb, the game crashed. It might be due to fragment LCU I have there, so we've agreed to stop the B-17 raids for a couple days while I get it out of there.

And in any case - my intent is only to force him to have to attack Johnston. If the opportunity presents, KB can hang back out of B-17 range from Pearl and do some damage to any ships he brings. If I can do that at each of these island chains, his AP/AK count will go down, and in 44-45 I've heard those Allied need a lot of AK's.

ORIGINAL: dekwik

nice aar!
Johnston might be tough to defend when he can drop 92 bombers on it day after day...? Do you have good AAA there? It seems a lot more effective against bombers than CAP...

[FeurerKrieg]

Feb 4, 1942
Naval landing forces landed on and secured the remaining atolls in the Line Islands with no resistance. Washington, Fanning and Jarvis islands were all captured.

In the SRA, Raba was captured and Butung was occupied.

Martins again attacked our transports retreating to Balikpapan, scoring several hits. 1 AK and 1 AP went under. Our Liz and Nells hit the airfields hard at Soerabaja though, destroying 21 aircraft ont he ground, including some 11 Martins. The AK Sanang, hit near Bali the other day, was reported sunk.

Near Amboina, Hudson's hit one of the transports taking the 4th Mixed Rgt to invade the base. Upon checking damage, it was realized that no supplies had been loaded for the troops! The task force will head to Kendari to rendezvous with a couple AK's that will quickly load up at Kendari. Also, two fast AP's will run to Sorong and pick up an NLF unit there that can land on the other end of Amboina to ensure the enemy units there surrender when Amboina falls.
[center]
Light resistance to our invasion.[/center]

In Burma, sweeps over Rangoon showed that the enemy had fled. Several bombing runs on the airbase also showed no planes in sight.

In Australia, naval landing forces probing the coast found that the beach at Portland roads was undefended. Thursday island was not so unguarded though, and our unescorted transports were very surprised when coastal guns began firing on them. They managed to unload the landing group, but it will be unlikely to take the island without assistance. Three other landing groups will load up at Port Moresby and sail over asap to secure the island.

Changsa was bombed heavily. And lastly, D1A Susies on on bombing runs over Manilla harbor hit three ships in harbor, showing that there is some use for these old bombers. They are also used in the Home Islands and Manchukuo for our flight schools.
[center]
Pilots practicing in old planes.[/center]

[center]
D1A Susie, one of the IJN trainers.[/center]

Lastly, the PG Toyotsu, damaged in the landing at Palmya, finally sunk as it limped towards Kwajelein.

[FeurerKrieg]

Feb 5, 1942
Today, far from the front, the I-18 put a torpedo into the AK Loa Koeloe off the west coast of Australia.
[center]
Not many escorts out here.[/center]

Heavy air attacks were launched against Liuchow as our ground troops continue on the march to the base.

Along with the normal attacks against Batavia and Soerabaja, Army bombers from Palembang now added their ordance to the Batavia airfield. More and more aircraft conintue to be destroyed on the ground, but the Dutch continue to fly out of the airbases. Today Hudsons hit another of our transports. Also, a transport trying to get back to Balikpapan didn't make it and sunk.

A Dutch unit has returned to Medan. Thankfully, the 2nd SNLF Paratroop ground was moving through the area and prevent the Dutch unit from seizing the base. Reinforcement will need to be brought in to get rid of the Dutch entirely, but they are not a threat to the base at this point, other than tyin up the paratroop unit that is there and had been intended to take part in the upcoming Burma offensive.

Bettys and Zeros attacked a couple ships at Darwin, putting a torpedo into the PG Oahu which sunk immediately. The defending CAP did shoot down one Zero though.

Portland Roads in Australia was secured today. And Russell Island was occupied.
[center]
The view over Portland Roads a few years prior to the war.[/center]

Lastly, our submarine spotted a Dauntless bomber flying patrol west of Umnak. This could mean carriers are near since there are no nearby airfields that can support land based aircraft.

[FeurerKrieg]

Feb 6, 1942

A pretty quite day today. Heavy airstrikes at Batavia and Soerabaja continue to destroy enemy aircraft, although the volume of aircraft seen is declining.

Another Dutch garrisson unit came out of the jungle to attack Medan, but without supplies they can do little but harass our unit and prevent it from leaving the area.

Ormoc, Dobodura and Merauke were all captured today.

[FeurerKrieg]

Feb 7, 1942

Ise, Hyuga and Yamashiro bombarded Batavia today. After they return to Singapore to rearm, they will return for one more bombardment before the ground assault on Batavia. At that time, Yamashiro will head back to the Home Islands for some AA upgrades and general maintenance in March.

Air attacks against Liuchow, Batavia and Soerabaja.

A Nell hit and sunk a Sub chaser at Tjilitajap. Another Dutch unit arrived at Medan today. These are still no threat to the base.
[center]
An unlucky small ship.[/center]

The AP Nagaragawa, damaged in the landings at the Line Islands, sunk today while enroute to Kwajelein.

Other bases captured/secured: Belitoeng, Toboali, and Waingapu.

The enemy appears to be trying to reinforce Umnak so a couple days ago CL Tama, along with DDs Yugure, Ariake, Okikaze, and Nokaze, est out to investigate. They are now within range to strike the base at night and possibily disrupt the landing and sink Allied transports. There may be larger ships there, and if so, two of the destroyers in the task group are the smaller Minekaze ships that might be able to dart in and get some hits with our long lances.

There are also ships to the south that may be enemy CVs, but it is hoped that we will be able to attack and retreat fast enough that the carrier air will not reach our ships.
[center]
Plans to raid enemy fleet at on the night of Feb 7th-8th.[/center]

[FeurerKrieg]

I'm almost two weeks behind on the game on this AAR and now company is coming for the weekend - sorry guys!

Feb 8, 1942
The night started off well!

Our small fleet sped towards the beach at Umnak and surprised a large Allied convoy there. Although our ships had a tactical advantage, they weren't able to dispatch the escorts fast enough to reach the transports that slipped away into the darkness. A couple random shots hit a pair of cargo ships, but other thn that the main victims were the enemy escorts. The DD Gilmer and Hatfield were both sunk (the Hatfield took a long lance) and DD Kane was heavily damaged.
[center]
The transports escape...[/center]

Later, before turning back, the raiders found the AVD Casco on its own and prompty sunk that ship as well. The cruiser and company then headed west.
[center]
...but this AVD is not so lucky.[/center]

Unfortunately they had not made it far enough west before the dawn sun rose and enemy carrier aircraft found our ships. CL Tama took 4 bombs, Dd ARiake took 3 and Yugure took 1. The two small DD's manage to dodge all attacks, which is good as they probably would have sunk from even one or two hits.
[center]
The dawn rays brought danger.[/center]

The group will split up tomorrow, with the two small destroyers running fast to Attu, the damaged ships will attempt to evade a probable pursuit and head TOWARDS Alaska, hopefully this is not where the enemy will expect us to go, and we can escape using a long northwestern path.

So far, the score is good - two Allied DD's and one AVD for no ships lost. Ariake is iffy though.

In other areas:
A Liuchow some 120 of our bombers were ambushed by 7 P-40Es that managed to shoot down 10 of our planes.
[center]
AMBUSH![/center]

In Burma, B-25C's, LB-30s, and Blenheim IV's attacked the 33rd Div as it marches on Moulmein. Our Oscar's couldn't stop the heavies, but they did take down some Blenheims.
[center]
Army fighters get some kills.[/center]

Three SNLF units were unloaded at Thursday island to subdue the coast guns there. Our landing craft were pretty shot up, some may not make it back to Rabaul.

Our forces secured Bacolod in the PI.