shock and awe: RAO vs Scot: Evacuation from KL by sea

[el cid again]

A large ASW group harassed I-155 ineffectively at Batavia in the opening round.

Interestingly the ABDA force - cruisers and destroyers - did a night raid at Sankawang. This vs
a transport group escoted by 3 destroyers. It was amazing - the 3 DDs beat up the Allied ships -
only one was badly mauled (or even hit) - and DD Tenedos was torpedoed and may not make it home.
Later in the day - morning and afternoon air strikes tried to follow up - but only Tanedos was hit - this
by Ki-41s which carry only tiny bombs. I moved in Nells to Sankawang to see if we can get them with
torpedoes tomorrow.

I figured out what those warships in the Celebes sea were doing - 12 of them bombarded Manado - and having had the transports leave the area was a good move. They evaded capture. But his ships also evaded air strikes and I lost them - probably moving to the South.

Two cruiser groups bombarded Kuching and most of 4th Division landed - it will attack tomorrow - and we have some
hope of a quick victory there.

He conducted a landing at Lunga - a surprise - and ran into mines - but he brought MSW - and cleared them (too easily IMHO).
It is clever - I don't want an Allied base there - and I must divert from attacking PM to deal with this. Still - I DID divert a CSNLF and a tank unit - and started staging other things into the area - using Tulagi as a target base - where we have a small security force and some supplies. It may be a regment - 3000 troops or so. It may be a base force.

Six divisions of MSW cleared our minefield at Balikpapan.

[el cid again]

[quote]ORIGINAL: el cid again

A large ASW group harassed I-155 ineffectively at Batavia in the opening round.

Interestingly the ABDA force - cruisers and destroyers - did a night raid at Sankawang. This vs
a transport group escoted by 3 destroyers. It was amazing - the 3 DDs beat up the Allied ships -
only one was badly mauled (or even hit) - and DD Tenedos was torpedoed and may not make it home.
Later in the day - morning and afternoon air strikes tried to follow up - but only Tanedos was hit - this
by Ki-41s which carry only tiny bombs. I moved in Nells to Sankawang to see if we can get them with
torpedoes tomorrow. The DD - Usagumo - was very effective with guns and torpedoes - beating up 3 DD - hitting
cruisers with little effect - and firing all of her torpedoes - one salvo struck home. She was hit by a bomb later in the
day - and had run to seaward - but might make it back to port (and air cover).

I figured out what those warships in the Celebes sea were doing - 12 of them bombarded Manado - and having had the transports leave the area was a good move. They evaded capture. But his ships also evaded air strikes and I lost them - probably moving to the South.

Two cruiser groups bombarded Kuching and most of 4th Division landed - it will attack tomorrow - and we have some
hope of a quick victory there.

He conducted a landing at Lunga - a surprise - and ran into mines - but he brought MSW - and cleared them (too easily IMHO).
It is clever - I don't want an Allied base there - and I must divert from attacking PM to deal with this. Still - I DID divert a CSNLF and a tank unit - and started staging other things into the area - using Tulagi as a target base - where we have a small security force and some supplies. It may be a regment - 3000 troops or so. It may be a base force.

Six divisions of MSW cleared our minefield at Balikpapan.

A follow up air strike at Wenchow on the air base revealed he had evacuated all the planes. Ground air strikes were generally effective. This led to a victory at Pakhoi - and it appears he has all three units in the area now in a situation where they can be isolated and destroyed. We began moving on another guerilla unit - and staging for an offensive to Nanning.

The daily sweep (the last one for a while - we broke up the Zero unit) of Singapore scored 9 Buffalos vs 2 Zeros.

The tiny Viet Ming unit was able to elute ground and air attackers - and lost nothing whatever. A surprise - but my design intent. This is similar to a Chinese guerilla unit - but it does not plant - and it is wholly able to live off the land. Located at Dien Bien Phu, it has excess supply - and built up to 500 men (from less than 50) in a short time.

38000 Japanese attacked 15000 Allies in Central Malaya - and failed to achieve even 1:1 odds - so they fared badly. He must have a strong logistic situation there. We need two days to mount out anohter attack with some chance of effect.

Udan Thani Thailand and Borongon Samar were captued - undefended.

We ordered more troops into the Linguyan (Luzon) position for an attack in a day or two.

KB will reach Wake tomorrow. The transports to invade Midway are 3 or 4 days out - so it can rebuild air groups and then cover them.

[el cid again]

The day began with minesweepers removing the mine threat at Lunga - far too easily as usual - and the continuing landings there. Later in the day we learn that the place is assaulted and conquered by the First New Zealand Brigade - this is a serious landing - even if from only a single transport - escorted only by a pair of MSW. This brigade did lose 55 men to a Nell attack later in the day.

Next a group of 4 Dutch sub chasing boats - joined by a British PC pair - detected, localized, engaged, hit and sank I-155 at Batavia.

Next a Japanese surface group bombarded Kuching, a process repeated by bombers out of Soc Trang and Saigon - but later in the day an attack by 4th Division lead elements failed to take the place.

Two minesweeping TFs cleared mines at Hong Kong - but failed to get them all - again. For some reaon Allied minefields seem harder to clear than Japanese ones are.

A medium scale counter air bombardment air strike at Changsha scored 22 runway hits - but failed to get any aircraft.

A small air strike on Baguio which had 35 Ki-27 Nates was opposed by only 5 P-40s - but the P-40 dominated - shooting down 2 Ki-27 for no losses. 11 runway hits and 4 other hits were scored, but NO Allied aircraft were lost.

A high morale Betty strike out of Cagayan on Mindinao vs Daval on Mindinao - scored only one hit.

An Allied Whiraway attack in Central Malaya lost haf of the four attackers to the heavy AA battalion in the hex. No damage was scored.

Japanese ground attacks by aircraft on the Viet Minh First battalion were effective - and it was forced to lose men in a later gound attack - but it survived. A similar set of air ground attacks on two Chinese guerilla units was more effective, and both surrendered to a lat3er ground attack.

Several Allied air strikes on ships at Kappa Kappa failed to score. A similar attack at Sinkawang killed two Zeros in air combaqt for one Dutch Buffalo. Four Martin B-10a were lost attacking ships there - without effect.

A tiny, unescorted strike by 3 B-17s out of Manila hit CVE Taiyo at Bako - scoring a single hit. This was catastrophic - causing 56 per cent immediate system damage - flood damage and fire. It was possible to get the air groups off - but it will take a lokng time to fix this hit - and it is not clear the ship will survive?

An air strike on San Fernando hit Sanubari Maru.

An air strike at Sinkawang on Usagumo - survivor from the ABDA fight yesterday - failed to hit her - but she may sink anyway from the ongoing fires.

An air strike on Mauban Bay put two bombs into Tensyu Maru - and may sink her - she cannot transport anything safely.

Ground attacks on both fronts in Malaya failed.

The last event of the day was the conversion of Vientiane Laos to Axis control - a minor victory since it was undefended - but marking almost the end of the conversion of the areas not cooperating into Axis economic entities. Only one more town remains on the road/rail net - and only Dien Bien Phu off the net. If these rural areas were not converted - over time Viet Minh units would appear in them. [Now they should appear at Kunming]

[el cid again]

Good in the technical scorecard sense - the losses of the day favored the Allies. The strategic situation remains grim from their point of view - although interestingly they have stopped both drives in Malaya, stopped the main drive on Luzon and actually kicked the secondary drive on Luzon out of two hexes - so things are momentarily not bad in either theater. Both still have effective air forces - both of which are scoring -
and it is not clear how long this will go on? I did not concentrate - but drive far ahead position wise - to take places far in the enemy rear - from which to contest his LOC and sink withdrawing ships - and that has succeeded. Sooner or later these isolated places will fall. But for now they are doing better than I have ever seen - although I don't think either will last as long as history.

The Allies had a bit of bad luck at Lunga - in spite of "clearing" the minefield - the transport there hit a mine anyway. [This may be why there is a 4000 minefield limit - the game may remember where they were laid and keep a small risk of a hit for the duration]. The first portion of the inbound CSNLF - theater reserve - has reached Tulagi. Tanaka's force refueled at sea - but the heavies did not rearm the big guns (which seems like nonsense to me - I see no reason for that) - so he detached his light ships to continue to Tulagi and sent the cruiisers to Rabaul - where hopefully they will find some 8 inch shells. Another division of light warships is inbount to Tulagi. Three destroyers with the CSNLF TF picked up the NLF - well part of it - and will land that on the other end of Guadalcanal - so he does not get the whole place for free. Bombers continue to chip away at his brigade - we have had to change the unit every day due to demoralization (why I wonder? No AAA. No fighter opposition). We should be able to make life miserable for these people in a few days - and force their surrender in a week or ten days - unless something else shows up. This seems a lot like the logic of the original Guadalcanal campaign - IMHO a strategic blunder on the part of the Allies. Why send units so far from friendly air cover in the face of an active (even if not large ) enemy? Unless this is a diversion - in which case it has already succeeded.

Having detected his unit at Xuwin (by Hainan Island) had left - we landed a tank company and will take it tomorrow. An engineer unit is inbound - as are supplies. He has lost the entire South coast of China by Hainan - and now we can start working on a drive to Nanning. Another attack goes in at Dien Bien Phu tomorrow - with air support. It (Viet Minh 1st Battalion under a young junior Giap) took losses today and it should run or die in a day or two. [Giap lost 5 men twice today - once to air and once to ground attacks - which seems like a remarkably small number - but it is a whole lot better than the zero we got yesterday]

ML Shiragami hit two mines during clearing operations at Hong Kong - which we own but have not made safe for shipping. It had a large static defense minefield.

28 Ki-27s led 24 Ki-51s and 2 Ki-15s into Changsha to hit the airfield. They did damage it - but there were no enemy air losses - they are either gone or not flying - and I don't like losing 4 bombers in exchange for no aircraft. It hurt the day air exchange rate.

13 A5M4 Claudes went up against 5 P-40s at Baguio - and the P-40s cleaned up - which is very strange (numbers usually matter in air combat) - 2 Claudes being shot down for no exchange of any sort.

In response to the B-17 raid out of Manila we sent in a large air strike - and lost very badly. A single P-26 was shot down for a loss of 11 aircraft - which scored 9 runway and a few other hits. While many losses were to AA - this was not ideal. Yet yesterday - when a CVE was taken out for a long time - showed the danger of not paying the price to surpress the airfields there. This was a JAAF attack - and it is out of it for now. So JNAF will have a shot tomorrow.

A pair of Allied bomber attacks on the Central Malaya force (bombers out of Singapore) suffered horrible losses to the heavy AA battalion with the troops - 6 killed and 12 damaged - for minor casualties.

A nice combined arms attack (infantry, armor, artillery) supported by air on the rail LOC west from Shanghai - unusually starting in the hex SE of Nanchang (that is, at the opposite end of the segment held by the enemy - not the end near Shanghai) - drove two field armies back down the line. The force will follow them. We hope to drive these two field armies into Pahkoi - isolating 5 (rather than the usual 2) field armies without supplies in the pocket near Shanghai.

The great Allied victory of the day was an air strike out of Singapore on Usagumo at Sinkawang. In spite of being under air cover, 4 bombs hit it, sinking the ship and killing her captain. She covered herself in glory a few days ago - more or less single handedly driving away ABDA forces from a convoy (2 other destroyers helped - slightly). Subject to ineffective bombing ever since, she ran for port to control flooding - and being stationary - was too easy of a target. Better it would have been to scuttle her - she could not have made Saigon.

Allied air strikes out of Port Moresby - still crummy Ansons and Blenheims - were almost as ineffective as usual - but they did hit an AP at Kappa Kappa. Strong forces ashore there are light on supplies - but most are marching overland - and more supplies and troops are inbound in the SLOC stream. The heavy reserves were diverted to Guadalcanal - but this force - combiend with troops marching in from Kokota/Buna -
will be sufficient. The question is - is it better to march slowly or invade by sea? We need another week before we will be fighting at PM if we just march.

[el cid again]

27 December 1941

The night action began with a strong air attack on Singapore - killing one Buffalo on the ground - 2 vehicles and 2 runway hits. Six light bombers were lost - indicating AA remains effective at night (about which I am skeptical).

Engineers and a tank company continued landing at Xuwin - near Hainan - and because orders had been issued to the lead elements the day before - later attacked and captured the place. Three enemy units - two field armies and a guerilla regiment - are now stuck in the Pearl River Delta without supplies. The entire Southern Coast of China is in Japanese hands - and we have started a drive on Nanning. Most of this area is treated as an extension of the Southern Area Army - permitting riverine and coastal ship movements - and unifying the command of air and ground units in this area.

24 Ki-27s led 24 Ki-51s into Changha (along with 3 recon Ki-15s) - striking the airfields - and indicating no enemy aircraft are operating there - in spite of the aircraft indicator on the map. It may be there is too much runway damage - but more likely they have withdrawn all undamaged aircraft to reduce attrition and let them recover numbers and morale.

11 Ki-43 I Oscar and 1 recon plane overflew Rangoon - encountering 24 fighters (16 P-40s and 8 Buffalos). A long air battle resulted in 2 losses for each side - which is a remarkable change from the 2 or 3 to 1 (and occasionally far higher) exchange rates.

Two small fighter attacks on the airfield at Baguio City cost one A5M4 - and revealed the enemy aircraft had ceased using that base.

22 (of 27) Nells at Cayagan attacked the airfields at Ambon - and caused no damage.

A large air attack on Manila destroyed six aircraft (for six lost) - slightly damaged the airfield - and caused (for unknown reasons) massive manpower losses.

17 Allied bombers hit a unit in the cenral Malay drive - 2 were lost to CAP and AAA - causing 54 casualties.

Modest Allied air strikes on naval units were unusually effective. 2 of 2 targets at Kappa Kappa were hit by small bombs. Yagi Maru was hit - 1 of 1 ships in a TF at sea. Daichayko Maru got hit twice - 1 of 1 ships in another TF. A Japanese anti naval strike on the Yangtze put 5 bombs into the Hongtze Hu. A Japanese anti naval strike at Port Moresby put one bomb into a MSW unit - revealing the enemy intends to run ships into this port - presumably with supplies and possibly more units.

Those same minesweepers - a PC and a PG - detected, localized, attacked, hit seven times, and sank Ro-60 - also at Port Moresby.

Three Dutch PT boats made a daring long distance raid on Jolo - catching 2 transports offloading there. The transports fled. No hits were scored by either side.

38,000 Japanese soldiers in the Central Malaya drive engaged less than 15,000 defenders - but failed to achieve even 1:1 odds - and lost 631 casulaties to 82 defenders. The force at KL was too weak to do more than bombard (causing 32 casualties). The Allied defense in Malaya will hold this line another two days at least.

A repeated attack at Dien Bien Phu - supported by bombers and fighters in ground attack - after daily recon - cost 48 Japanese casualties but NO Viet losses. The Viet Ming battalion remains combat effective.

A very strong Allied attack Lemon Bay came up empty (but captured the hex) - Japanese transports had just loaded the last of a rapid replacement unit - and were still in the hex - but not subject to ground attack. This completes the evacuation of the two hexes South and East of Manila - an Allied attack had cut the LOC to Lemon Bay - and the IJA units were not strong enough to engage successfully. All are regrouping at Naga.

[el cid again]

28 Dec 1941

The surprise yesterday was detection of a transport group at Lunga - and on the other side (I talked to Scot) - detection of a surface action group at Tulagi. The SAG ran into Lunga - and bombarded the place - but the transports - which turned out to be four ships - had run - recon says to the East - so it was not a predictable route. We decided to move up landings at Lunga - and to recall the NLP at Tassafaronga: we will try to push the NZ First Brigade off its supplies - and steal some of them to boot. I split the CSNLF - there is not enough capacity to land it all anyway - and that way we can start tiring out the brigade and still have fresh troops. When the rest of the armor arrives - we will run in the other half of the CSNLF. One squadron of CAs is refueling en route to join Tanaka (with a CL and 9 DD) at Tulagi. Another SAG is en route to PM and Lunga. A light SAG is also en route to Tulagi. More ships - with moderate system damage - are at Truk - repairing up - to be reinforcements or replacements.

The Midway invasion TF split - into fast and slow - so part of the force will arrive in 4 days- the rest in a week. KB is with the fast group. Follow on TFs are a few days behind - and will catch up with the slow group.

The night began with DD Barker hitting a Type 88 (sub laid) mine at Balikpapan. This was followed by Tanaka's bombardment of Lunga - causing 119 casualties.

A daylight raid on Rangoon scored 9 hits on 5 ships and destroyed 1 Buffalo for no losses.



Changsha still shows bombers present - so it was bombed again - and one SB-2 was destroyed on the ground. 17 casualties and 15 other hits were scored, and 1 gun was lost. A sweep (which was supposed to go in first) followed, killing 1 more Buffalo. Kill rates are low because enemy morale is low - and he won't stick around long enough to get shot down.


A dozen Nells hit Ambon and destroyed 1 Hudson on the ground.

57 Zeros swept Manila and killed 15 Hawks - a surprisingly strong fight being involved - but the Hawks were not in a good situation - being outnumbered and outclassed

19 Allied bombers of 3 types - including B-17s - hit the central Malaya drive - and escaped losses to the fighter CAP - suffered only 1 damaged to AA - and caused 15 casualties.


Ansons and Hudsons out of PM hit Amakasu Maru near Kappa Kappa - losing 1 Hudson to AA. All Japanese ships except subs left Kappa Kappa today - for the first time in many days- and about 7 units area ashore - 4 walking in to PM. What is coming next is a SAG to bombard and an invasion shipping group. I am inclined to run in an assault unit by sea to suppliment overland attack. An overland unit from Kokota - which started first - is only making 1 mile per day - and is behind ALL the units walking in from Kappa Kappa.


There were several ineffective anti naval strikes on both sides. Two fighter units - at Jolo and Cagayan - did manage to shoot up the Dutch PTs - which went to Zamboanga on Mindinao. Nells out of Rabaul - for the first time - made a successful strike - at PM - hitting a transport 6 times and its escort PC unit once, the latter causing heavy damage.

A two regiment IJA division emerged from the jungle at Tavoy Burma - attacked - and captured the undefended resource hex. This unit - and a HQ unit with it - will now march on Moulmein - by road to Ye and then by rail. Although it is a longer route they will get there before other units get there by overland trails.


A surprise Allied shock attack drove a Japanese division out of Chenchow. We ignored this - we are making too much progress in other ways - and will retake the place down the rail line rather than by crossing the river - AFTER we get the rest of the area secure and producing.

[el cid again]

29 December 1941

The night turn began with Allied Minesweeper units clearing Balikpapan - having learned the hard way that there were mines there (because a ship hit one) yesterday I think. A similar Japanese effort at Hong Kong did clear some mines - but also resulted in damage from a mine hit.

Then came the planned bombardment of Kuching - and the arrival of the balance of 4th Division which should take the place tomorrow. The port was also hit by bombers out of Miri and Indochina. Other raids came in on the ships - mainly out of Singapore - and mainly without any effect.

Next was a big surprise: ABDA force - significantly reinforced and including Prince of Wales - bombarded Sinkawang - with great effect - killing or disableing most of the planes of all the four air units there - and scoring 91 runway hits - threatening to close it down. Later bombers hit the base - scoring more runway hits and showing none of the local fighters in the air. I was worried - but at the end of the day the runway was only 49 per cent damaged. I flew out all four units and flew in others to take their place. There are not enough supplies (a convoy is inbound about 3 days out) - so I assigned more air transport to feeding the place.

The daily raid on Ambon out of Palau by Bettys and Nells (a dozen showed up) did moderate damage. The daily sweep of Manila resulted in one OS2 killed on the ground and one Zero lost to flak. No enemy fighters are flying. Similarly, the daily sweep of Rangoon showed no flights. Recon indictes enemy aircraft may have moved forward to Moulmein, so we will shift the anti-air warfare campaign there.

Helens (Ki-49) out of Rabaul hit PM - scored slightly - and got morale hurt as usual. They went in high - to limit losses - since this type is not in production. They will return to bombing Lunga tomorrow.

Concentrated local and distant air raids were used to set up an attack at Kuala Lumpur - which failed - and it will be two days before we can try again. The effort will shift to the other drive in Malaya tomorrow - and I have no sense when we will break either end of the line? Kuala Lumpur seems low on supplies - but the units continue to fight effectively. Clearly the Japanese drive in Malaya can be stopped for some time.

The situation is similar on Luzon. 16th Division is moving forward again - reinforced by artillery and a reserve regiment - toward Lucena. A large task force will attack Linguyan again - with concentrated local and distant air support to back it up. I am not sure when either drive might get somewhere - but we will reduce his supply production and increase his supply consumption by these attacks - which cannot do him any good. Note that the fighting on Luzon is entirely NOT in hexes with supply sinks - and that in Malaya is just as held up on one side (with the KL sink) as the other (with none).

Many Allied anti-naval air strikes were ineffective as usual. So were some Japanese ones. But Zeros out of Cagayan were able to shoot up the surviving Dutch torpedoboats a little. These are moving North - a surprise - not back home.

Allied bombers - including B-17s - are active out of Manila again - and hit an AK offloading at San Fernando. Except for increasing CAP I didn't deal with this. I cannot bombard Manila by battleship - and it has strong AA defense - so only a strong force of bombers can attempt it - and I don't have the numbers to go that way. Nor is any land unit in a position or strong enough to take the place just now.

Betty's out of Bangkok hit a river tanker in the Bay of Bengal.

The Allied base force that started at Jolo retreated to Zamboanga. We just started landing there.

After more air support strikes, the daily attack on the First Viet Minh Battalion at Dien Bien Phu finally caused it to retreat. Surprisingly it headed for China, not Luangprabang or some other point in Indochina.


Half the CSNLF at Tulagi landed at Lunga - to begin wearing down the First NZ Brigade. We will hit it with ship and air bombardment tomorrow - but NOT attack - it is too strong. It is bright - it has lots of supplies. But we must start taking it down sometime - and sooner is better than later.

Heavy cruisers are moving on PM and Tulagi - others are at Rabaul and Truk in reserve/repairing up. An invasion group with supplies is en route to Kappa Kappa - and after offloading the supplies we will try to put a wave ashore at PM. Overland assaults are well on the way along two routes - from Kokota and Kappa Kappa.

[el cid again]

30 December 1941

At long last we have enough troops ashore at Zamboanga to order an attack. Alas, it appears to be too late - recon shows a 9 ship TF there - apparently a fast transport group based on warships. This is disconcerting - how did they get there undetected - never mind unengaged? Yet it may be a trap: we have the ability to put recon and bombers at Jolo, Manado and Cagayan. Even so, transport groups must leave - and there is no surface action group in a thousand miles. We ordered an attack anyway on principle - but not with the planned ground support.

Leading elements of 4th Division continued landing at Kuching - a heavy and a medium bombardment group supported them - and they took the place in a ground assault later in the day. We now are going to play switchie changie with troops and ships at Miri, Sarawak and inbound for Sinkawang. The inbound supply convoy ran into trouble in the form of Vildebeestes out of Singapore: they torpedoed a CL and a transport - so we are sending a surface group and a light carrier group to escort them the rest of the way. We sent air units forward to Kuching - and began air and sealifting ground support for them. Sinkawang is still not really recovered from bombardment - and didn't appear to fly today - but it has proper (if small) air units. The rest of 4th Division will hit Brunei - aided by the cruiser force - moving it Eastward in case the Allied fast transports try to move over the top of Borneo.

The rest of the first half of the CSNLF landed at Lunga today - and generally ships are retiring or advancing on Tulagi for another round of invasions in two days. We are NOT attacking - but we ARE bombarding - hoping to wear down the brigade there. We are bringing in a good deal of armor to help - a CSNLF not being a proper thing to fight a brigade. A cruiser force and another destroyer division are also inbound. Tanaka's detached CA squadron will bombard PM tomorrow - it has a DE and and AP that are offloading somehow immune to air strikes and submarines. It is still many days before units can march in - so we will sealift Nanyo Detachment - and transports are inbound with supplies to do that - after offloading. Bombers out of PM hit a transport at kappa Kappa too badly damaged to move - but didn't do much to it - and it no longer has any cargo. They struck again and hit another AK at Buna - Allied bombers seem to be getting better. The bombardment of PM cannot come too soon (tomorrow is the plan).

Many aircraft attacked the "air base" at Moulmein - inflicting serious damage - but the planes had fled (again). Apparently it is a tactic to move forward - take pictures - and leave before you get hurt. One large unit of Sallys went in on Rangoon by mistake - I forgot to switch targets - but in spite of no escort and enemy opposition - none were lost - and some damage was done. They were demoralized by the AA though.

The daily raid on Ambon (mainly because I forgot to turn it off) scored 2 hits without losses. Must be confusing him why I raid so ineffectively? Probably the unit has low morale.

Allied bombers from Rangoon attacked troops advancing through the jungle on Moulmein, causing 21 casualties. Japanese air units began moving forward to Tavoy - which has a nice Level 4 airfield. We will work over Rangoon's airfield tomorrow from several points. A binary division (2 brigades) and corps HQ is moving down the road to Ye. The invasion of Burma is premature - there is no shipping route there yet - but it usually pays dividends to start the job early - even at the expense of units for Malaya.

KB detected a 4 ship TF at Midway - a resupply convoy Scot says - and sank the lot in air strikes. Another unit - an AVD in fast transport mode - was sunk by a submarine one hex East of Midway. He knows KB is there now - so we scheduled air strikes on it for tomorrow -
and the lead invasion elements should arrive by the end of the day. A sub barrier West of the island is forcing follow on units to divert around them.

Almost 16,000 troops attacked at Linguyan - they ran into almost 27,000 defenders - got hurt - and I am withdrawing from the position those units that didn't actually run (this is the second time we have left Linguyan). We suffered 1155 casualties and lost 38 guns for 74 casualties and 3 guns on the other side. Not good at all. The fort level was 1 - he is building fortifications.

An armored train wandered into Chengchow by mistake - was almost wiped out - and will go to Tsingtao to rebuild.

[bbbf]

You need to bomb the airfields at Lingayen - as this will tie up his engineers and stop the forts going up.  It will also increase the supply burn rate there.

[el cid again]

31 December 1941

On the run in to Port Moresby, the ad hoc cruiser squadron assigned to Tanaka (he is absent - leading the destroyers at Tulagi)
- including Myoko and Haguro (a division not originally in his force) along with old six gun Aoba and Furutaka, and a pair of destroyers,
ran into a PC unit - which was detached by a high speed AP running for her life. The pair of PC were sunk. At the same time, Tanaka
on CL Kiso let ten DD in bombarding Lunga. [Some of his DD are with transports. On paper a Japanese DD squadron has 12 ships. But
never are all 12 in one place. As of today Tanaka will have 2 CL and 13 DD under immediate command - not counting the detached force.
Two days from now another division of Heavies plus still more destroyers will show up at Tulagi. The other two of the six gun CA are at Truk - repairing minor system damage - and they are servicable - but held in reserve - with four more DD also in good shape. Badly damaged ships are sent to Tokyo for repairs.

The defensive minefield at Hong Kong must be large: yet another ship was hit during ongoing mineclearing there. This isn't like a game laid field - it is one that starts at a major port. The lead landing division at Midway also hit a defensive mine - and later hit another. And a Dutch PT boat running into Jolo - hoping to catch something not there - hit a Japanese mine. The Allies have gone to Luganville - because a strange NZ triple MS unit found a minefield there - but ran into no difficulty clearing it. I have laid minefields at every likely point in the South Pacific.

USS Triton - pulled back a hex SW of Midway - got a clean shot at and actually hit Soryu - but the torpedoes failed to detonate. 10 Japanese DD all failed to find her.

RTAF sent 6 bombers to Moulmein - by mistake - inflicting 8 hits - not bad - and revealing no opposition there.

22 Nates did a sweep of Rangoon - ran into 6 P-40s of AVG - and every P-40 got a kill. Not good, but it did tire out the P-40s. The same 6 engaged 45 Oscars leading 34 Sallys moments later - and all 6 were shot down (but they got one Oscar). The bombers also killed a Buffalo on the ground. 42 runway and 18 other hits were scored. Better.

Local and distant air strikes on Baguio - which had planes yesterday - revealed they had left. The Nell strike inflicted 66 hits of various sorts and killed 359 men - unusually severe for a moderate attack. I do go in low however - just above the machine guns - at 5000 feet.

Another Nell was lost raiding Ambon - and finally I remembered to turn them off. Morale was down to 34 - and only 16 planes remained. A similar attack by mistake at Linguyan - vs Philippine Army 31st Division - by only Ki-27 fighters - inflicted 27 casualties and 1 gun lost - at a price of 2 fighters shot down by AA - he has moved AA into this hex.

Allied bombers - including B-17s - out of Manila hit 65th Brigade - which is retreating from Linguyan (the only unit not entirely out of the hex) - but did no damage.

Ki-51s and Ki-27s hit Misc Southern Factions Sixth Division of ROC Army - but only inflicted a miniscule 6 casualties - in spite of being a large strike.

Six Allied anti naval air strikes were combat ineffective. One put two bombs into an AK.

5 of 6 deckloads of KB hit Midway - inflicting 160 hits of various kinds - and setting up the ground troops. Combat achieved 3:1 odds and reduced fortifications from 3 to 0 - indicating the place will fall tomorrow. There were three units present - the base force and two Marine defense battalions - so he did manage to reinforce the place a bit. 4 Vals were lost to AA fire. The odds are curious - only small naval landing parties were sent - reinforced by a tank company - and they are outnumbered about 2 to 1 - yet they achieved 3:1 odds vs fortified defenders.

Midway managed 147 shots against invaders - inflicting 9 hits on 2 AKs - both of which also hit mines. This made little difference to the outcome - but will put the ships at serious risk of burning or flooding out - as they are thousands of miles from a good port.

The ground attack at Zamboanga revealed the base force had been removed - the cruisers made it all the way to Balikpapan (apparently - not sure how?) or were wholly undetected at sea. The unit left is a combat unit - it is big - and our SNLF is outnumbered 2:1. The attack failed. We will pound em with airplanes for a while.

In China a guerilla regiment retreated near Wuhan - after attack by a division with air support - and we continue to work on the LOC. We set up three attacks in the South tomorrow - and we own all the coastal towns near Indochina. We are going after troops inland - and moving on Nanning. We also are trying to eat isolated corps near Shanghai and isolated guerillas in the center.

[el cid again]

New Year's Day 1942

It was an auspicious opening for Japan: Midway fell. Not entirely without cost: mines hit again - and pesky Marines on two defense battalions scored hits - and I had to scuttle two AKs with no hope of reaching a port able to save them. But in due course we will be able to use it as a recon base - and the enemy won't be able to do the same thing - or use it to bomb the SLOC to the Central Pacific. We hope to repeat this process against Johnston Island - but time will tell. KB is withdrawing on Wake - sending one squadron a day to rebuild there - the weakest first - a unit down 4 Vals (which is to say, not much). Kinru Maru hit a mine. Kongo Maru took two CD gun hits. Both are rated as AMC and that got the attention of AI - which preferred them to the loaded transports. [RHS rates AMC as either CL or as ML] A major reason for the success (to two SNLFs - one of them only partly ashore - and a tank company) was the heavy support of KB bombers - which hit the defenders again today.

A submarine (SS Saury) managed to hit a tanker twice with shellfire - after its torpedoes failed. It set the tanker on fire, although the hits seem to have been only .50 cal AA bursts.

The Southern Attack Squadron shelled PM for the first time - and bombers went in as well - both with some effect. The AP that was there is slowly withdrawing toward Cooktown - her escort having been sunk by the same cruisers the day (night) before. Unless long range air gets her we will let her go - chasing a ship into enemy air power is not clever - and anyway - those bombers were hurting us - twenty ships are damaged strung out all the way back to Tokyo. So we had to hit the base. A transport group arrives at Kappa Kappa tomorrow - laden with supplies - and after they unload - it will lift the first echelon into PM (to stop supply production and start another form of attrition - we will bombard and bomb and fight on land - until it is gone). The base managed to put six bombers in the sky - 3 each Ansons and Hudsons - but 4 were shot down at Kappa Kappa - by Zero LR CAP out of Buna or AA - and while the remaining two DID penetrate - they failed to hit.

At the same time a gigantic light force under Tanaka himself bombarded Lunga. He now has 2 CL and 14 DD - not counting a heavy division that arrived at Tulagi today. The second landing echelon began - putting ashore the second half of the CSNLF and the first wave of a tank regiment. Those landings will go on at least another day. We have supplies in the adjacent hex and can retreat if need be - but he isn't attacking - so it isn't likely to be necessary. My nightmare is a carrier raid - so we put out long range air searches from all possible points.
There should be three USN carries in one group by now. There was a minefield detected at Lunga - but it did no damage and seems to have been cleared by the destroyers (which is nonsense - mine clearing is slow, dangerous and best done when not under fire from the shore). A bomber attack by 19 Nells failed to do any damage to the NZA First Brigade in todays raid. Most days bombers either refuse to bomb it - or fail to damage it - so I think it has an anti air charm of some sort. [Maybe they hired a local witchdoctor - or brought a Maury one from NZ??]

An air raid on Rangoon was unopposed in the air. One Buffalo (presumably damaged) was destroyed on the ground. Recon says the field is 37 per cent damaged - he withdrew - he was not forced not to fly by damge. Since he lost badly in air combat - that is not surprising. Recon days there are 4 APs in port - so we will hit them in tomorrow's raid - with just a few bombers going for the fields - to get another damaged plane if possible.

We tried medium air strikes on Baguio - but he moved the planes to Clark and/or Manila. Tomorrow we will send them into Clark to see if we can get an air battle going. We are sending in supplies and generally rebuilding shattered units from failed attacks. They will need some days to come back - and we must figure out how to concentrate he does not expect - his tactic of moving all the good stuff to the current battle hex is effective - and the RR lets him move in a single day.

19 Dutch B-10s - a major effort at this stage - operating out of Palembang hit Sinkawang by day. 8 Claudes, 8 Oscars and 14 Petes opposed - killing 3 of the attackers and discouraging several others. The survivers failed to score any hits. [One of the better features of the game is that opposed air units lose bombing accuracy. The more they are opposed, the less likely they will hit anything.] This base was badly damaged by a heavy ship raid and bomber attacks two days ago and needed supplies badly. So we ran in AKs - two of which hit mines - loaded with a garrison unit and supplies. They are supposed to take out the airborne for operations in Burma. We ran in a surface action group and a carrier group. Another carrier group is coming in. There will be a total of 3 CVLs and 2 CS in the hex - there were 2 CVLs and 1 CS today - which is why the Claudes and Petes were present. The base managed a good anti-naval strike today - target at Banka Island - 2 torpedo hits and a bomb hit on a PC unit and a DMS. Very long range Betty groups are at Saigon supported by Nells on recon. [Nell extended range = 19. Betty normal range with torpedo = 19. A nice team.]

The Philippine Air Force is still functioning and still armed with P-26 Peashooters. They attacked the IJA 16th Division Southeast of Manila - but did no damage. The USAAF (don't ask me how) got P-400s to Luzon - and they tried to hit a transport at Legaspi. In a strangly even fight - 9 Nates vs 9 Airacobras - nobody got damaged on either side - nor were any ships hit. Two Allied anti-naval strikes were combat ineffective. These were (as most of this sort usually are) very tiny strikes with 3 planes. Yet another fruitless battle occurred when 9 Nates - also out of Legaspi - failed to hit PT boats at Cebu - in a strafing attack. A final fruitless strike was another anti-PT strafing run by Claudes out of Jolo. Clearly the combination of weapons values and luck and WITP code logic does permit fruitless attacks on some occasions.

We have a SNLF at Zamboanga in considerable trouble - it cannot attack in its present demoralized state - but we hit the enemy with lots of bomber raids - chipping away at its size and morale. When the SNLF is back in form we will try again, possibly reinforcing it out of Jolo. In this case the opposition is the Philippine Constabularly 3rd Regiment. [The others are part of a Philippine Army Division on Luzon] This unit is fighting on its home ground - it fought a famous battle vs Morro's here at Zamboanga - fortified itself in the same Spanish walled city - and in spite of a dirth of heavy weapons - it is a considerable force.

Nells out of Cayagan manged to run in on the ABDA force at Balikpapan - scoring a single bomb hit on USS Houston - mirroring something that happened to her IRL - a single bomb hit took out her after turret. We don't know what this bomb did this time?

A general offensive on both fronts in Malaya ended up badly on both sides. We failed to achieve even 1:1 odds - and loss ratios favor the enemy about 2:1. We need a different approach. We will keep a force at KL to prevent production - and move part of it by rail to the other side - which takes several days - during which time we will build up again morale and squad counts. Meanwhile we will focus on killling his air power at Singapore - 75 fighters - even more bombers. Since we cannot do that by sea bombardment - we will start tomorrow with a gigantic night raid by light bombers (Ki-30s and Ki-48s - the latter coming in above the medium AA - the former just above the AAMGs) - followed by a "heavy bomber" raid of Sallys (above MG level) and Nells (above medium) - no Japanese bomber can get over the top of British heavy AAA.
The daylight raid by heavies will have a lot of Zero support- a major force flying at three different altitudes - hoping to entice an air battle on terms we can win. Our fighters have cannon - and are more maneuverable - and in numbers - with many some of his killed or damaged or affeted by damaged runways from the night raid - we might make a good start using this plan.

[el cid again]

2 January 1941

The turn began with landings at Lunga - the rest of the CSNLF and the first part of a tank regiment landed - and will do a preliminary attack (bombardment only) - which sets certain variables in the code after which combat is more effective. [The first turn a unit does not generate its full combat power] A minefield was encountered but did no damage. Tanaka shelled the place with 22 ships - including 2 CA and 2 CL - the rest being DD.

Allied minesweepers kept up clearing Luganville. Japanese minesweepers kept up clearing Hong Kong.

The air battle to reduce Singapore was a partial success on opening day; two night attacks encountered ineffective night fighters and did slight damage - each destroying an aircaft on the ground. During the day a follow up raid saw 86 Zeros lead 26 Nells - but none of the Sally tasked for this - into Singapore. 26 Buffalos were shot down (at a cost of 3 Zeros) - 5 more aircraft were destroyed on the ground - 8 more hits were scored (on top of 2 aircraft and 2 hits during the night). It is a beginning.

A brilliant raid on the SEA LANES SW of New Guinea engaged two inbound convoys for Kappa Kappa - sinking two transports and damaging three others - probably fatally. Australia led CL Perth, CL Adelaide and DD Voyager - and these ships took something like two 3 inch hits for thier effort. They got away clean and do not show up on recon reports - nor were attacked. This action was not too far from a major Japanese cruiser force (at Kappa Kappa) so it was bold - but prudent - get in and out vs targets you can hurt - avoid those that will eat you.

Submariner Ro-34 at Taboli encountered Dutch OCR submarine hunters - torpedoing and sinking one - and got away clean.

37 Oscars led 27 Sallys into Rangoon - hitting all 3 of the 3 APs they detected there. These ships - presumably damaged from earlier air raids - are not likely to leave - ever.

An air attack over Clark was a disaster: 14 Vals were escorted by 9 Claudes - and 12 Vals and 5 Claudes were lost - only one runway hit was scored - and no enemy aircraft were lost or even damaged. This was a combined action of P-35, P-40 and P-400 (42 in all) and it worked almost to perfection (the one runway hit being the imperfection from the Allied point of view).

Chinese SB-2s and IL-4s attacked the Second Independent Tank Company - a famous prototype Japanese unit dating from the 1920s - causing 28 casualties and destroying 1 tank. 8 Helldivers and Hawks were less successful at Hangyang / Wuhan - 2 were lost for no gain.

A medium sized bomber raid out of Manila hit 16th Division at Lucena - causing 21 casualties and destroying one gun. Manila - like Singapore - is a problem. A pair of Zeros swept the place - to no effect.

Ki-27s out of Legaspi put 3 bombs into the Philippine (3 boat) PT unit - probably rendering it combat ineffective. This was a strafing attack with unusual success dropping small bombs. It had been tried for days - and fighters were ordered to do this from three bases.

Escorts of convoys and carrier and surface warship groups at Sinkawang put 4 DC onto Dutch O-19 - which I assume will retire (if it can).

A Japanese SNLF marching overland from Lae attacked the New Guinea Volunteer Regiment at Finischafen. In spite of 3 : 1 advantages in every category it was rated as a 0 to 1 attack (lousy combat system) - and we must recover to proceed. The NGVR must be hurting for supplies and likely is understrength - having been driven from Lae under fire when the game began.

23000 Japanese attacked 20000 isolated ROC troops near Shanghai - suffered 582 casualties and inflicted 730. WE can resupply - THEY cannot - so this should eventually work out.

A Japanese HQ unit reached Ye (Burma) - 15 miles ahead of the 56th Division (Brigade - so designated so it splits into two parts vice three).
The commander ordered an attack - it is undefended. Moulmein is a different kettle of fish - 4 units report many thousands of defenders there. A full fledged air base is operating at Tavoy now - air support having flown in. Burma at least is way ahead of plan and schedule. So - for that matter - is PM - which will be attacked in two days by ground troops. And we will invade Brunei tomorrow.

[String]

ORIGINAL: el cid again



A brilliant raid on the SEA LANES SW of New Guinea engaged two inbound convoys for Kappa Kappa - sinking two transports and damaging three others - probably fatally. Australia led CL Perth, CL Adelaide and DD Voyager - and these ships took something like two 3 inch hits for thier effort. They got away clean and do not show up on recon reports - nor were attacked. This action was not too far from a major Japanese cruiser force (at Kappa Kappa) so it was bold - but prudent - get in and out vs targets you can hurt - avoid those that will eat you.

Ah, it's always heartwarming to see a good surface intercept succeed. I'm a big fan of surface combat myself, and I usually try to force it when I'm the underdog in the air war.

I consider it to be (usually) more damaging than air power, when you get it right.

[el cid again]

3 January 1942

The turn began with Allied MSW still clearing Lugaville. This field was laid by a large cruiser minelayer - not a submarine - and it is taking time to clear.

Next came two ineffective Ki-30 night raids on Singapore (unlike the night before) - no hits - but one operational loss for each squadron. Night fighters and AAA both failed to score - but nevertheless 2 planes were lost for no gain.

A large group of cruisers and destroyers bombarded Brunei - with effect - and shots fired in reply were ineffective. This was followed by landings - and we will try to capture it tomorrow. A similar force (about 20) bombarded Lunga - air bombardment followed - then ground artillery bombardment. We will attempt a deliberate attack tomorrow.


RTAF operating out of Chiang Mai attacked Meiktila Burma - because aircraft were reported there - destroying one Lysander on the ground. Likely that was Royal Indian Air Force recon.

[el cid again]

ORIGINAL: el cid again

3 January 1942

The turn began with Allied MSW still clearing Lugaville. This field was laid by a large cruiser minelayer - not a submarine - and it is taking time to clear.

Next came two ineffective Ki-30 night raids on Singapore (unlike the night before) - no hits - but one operational loss for each squadron. Night fighters and AAA both failed to score - but nevertheless 2 planes were lost for no gain.

A large group of cruisers and destroyers bombarded Brunei - with effect - and shots fired in reply were ineffective. This was followed by landings - and we will try to capture it tomorrow. A similar force (about 20) bombarded Lunga - air bombardment followed - then ground artillery bombardment. We will attempt a deliberate attack tomorrow.


RTAF operating out of Chiang Mai attacked Meiktila Burma - because aircraft were reported there - destroying one Lysander on the ground. Likely that was Indian Air Force recon.

65 Zeros led 12 Nells into Singapore - no fighter opposition - 1 bomber lost to AA - one night fighter killed on the ground - 1 runway hit.

Ansons out of PM attacked a damaged AK South of Kappa Kappa. They missed - but recon hit it later in the day. The worst of 3 ships beat up by cruisers yesterday - we are landing its passengers on the New Guinea coast lest it sink before it makes port. The other two ships surprisingly made Kappa Kappa and are debarking - in spite of damage and continuing fires. So NONE of those HQ squads were lost after all.

Oboto Mongolia was occupied by Mongolian cavalry - a truly strange area without a defined border - we hope to distract Russians into this supply sucking place - so they cannot be where they defend important LOC.

Victoria Point was occupied by a Thai Regimental combat team - it was undefended.

[el cid again]

Two light cruisers led 9 DD/DMS into Lunga - probably on a mission to pick up First NZ Brigade - which Scot loves to do when troops are in trouble. They met Tanaka with 2 CA, 2 CL and 20 DD/DMS of his own. He is the best commander in the game for surface action and I only sent ships forward in good shape - so it was a clean up action - I thought. No ships lost, for six Allied ships sunk and one heavily damaged (including CL Raleigh). Action was at 3000 yards and torpedoes did their thing. One seagull was lost with USS Releigh.

But then there is the REST of the story: Immediately the same force was engaged by a larger Allied TF - with six big cruisers (4 of them CA and 2 modern CL), and 8 more DD/DMS. This was much more even: one DD sunk on both sides outright, 6 other ships damaged. We still got the better of the exchange - not one hit on either IJN CA, vs 3 of the Allied cruisers badly hurt and hits on two more. Somewhat confusingly for me, this large force retired to the NORTHWEST????? Not sure what he is up to, I had every other thing in the area retire on Rabaul, Truk or Kwajalein. The surface group is still in fighting trim (less detached damaged ships) - but badly in need of heavy shells and torpedoes. 2490 Allied casualties were inflicted in ground combat.

IF this was a withdrawall attempt it either failed or it failed to get most of the brigade. The general attack on Lunga took the place - but revealed the brigade was understrength.

On this same day cruisers bombarded PM during the night and the Nanyo Detachment main body landed at PM. Ansons out of there continue to be a problem - in spite of yet another bombardment mission by a surface action group. But its days are numbered and I expect the planes to withdraw or be blasted out of existence in the next day or two.

More to follow - I have been called to work unexpectedly.

[el cid again]

The turn actually began with Allied minesweepers clearing Lugainville - again. Then more Allied ships encountered mines at Lunga - giving away that they were back in the Guadalcanal viscinity. If that wasn't enough, three ships attacked - and hit twice - I-20 - which was lieing in ambush for just such a raid - but somehow got cought in the night, silently sitting in shallow water. [I don't believe it]

RTAF raided Meiktila Burma again - getting another Lysander on the ground. This time they met Buffalos in the air - a whole 2 of them - and shot one down while the other bugged out.

[el cid again]

The same time as PM was shelled another cruiser group shelled Brunei. Later in the day the place was attacked and occuplied by the 4th Independent Mixed Brigade - on its first assault. 4698 Allied casualties were lost when it fell - almost half of them (2281) combat elements.

A large raid on Mersing Malaya by Ki-48s and Ki-30s escorted by Ki-43s bagged two Buffalos - on the ground. He seems not to defend the place against air raids.

15 B-17s out of PH hit Midway - scoring 1 port hit.

ROCAF tried a raid with 2 Helldivers escorted by 5 Hawks at Wuhan - and achieved nothing.

11 Nells out of Rabaul hit one of the surface groups that had fought at Lunga/Savo Island - and achieved nothing.

The SNLF at Zamboanga successfully retook the city. Although it was outnumbered when ordered, there were no defenders when the attack went in - because a cruiser force had been able to get in and get the defenders. This force was spotted retiring toward Balikpapan - and not attacked by anything. Air bases at Jolo, Cagayan and Manado do not seem to help much.

A ground attack at Nanning by 7900 men showed only 5300 defenders - although nomnially it is defended by a corps - and only a reinforced brigade is in the position for Japan.

55th Division Brigade supported by HQ troops took Ye, Burma on the first assault. It was undefended.

An Allied bombardment attack at PM revealed 4780 defenders vs 5400 already landed for IJA.

[el cid again]

Sir Robin advocates please note that the two surface battles represented a tactical victory (in terms of ships damaged and lost) for Japan. If he tried to withdraw the ground troops and failed - it may also have represented an operational victory for Japan. If he tried and only partly failed it may have been a partial operational victory for Japan. But in terms of strategic attrition - it was a clear victory for the Allies: break even for Japan is not less than eight to one: yet two destroyers were lost - one outright and one by scuttling - and a CL may yet be lost. Only one CL and 4 DD were sunk - even if a few more are scuttled or burn out or flood out - it won't be anything like 8:1 - so it won't be a break even in strategic terms. Meanwhile ALL these warships are out of action - until they rearm and - in some cases - repair battle or operational damage.

[el cid again]

The night turn began with Allied minsweeping at Luganville - again. The big minelayers lay big minefields. A DMS also detected a minefield at Irau - the Allies are interested in the Solomans area still. Add to which recon shows the big cruiser force just west of the Northern end of Guadalcanal - either it is escorting damaged ships or it is up to something. So three TFs - 2 minelayers returning from laying mines and an arriving engineer unit - which reached Tulagi (by mistake - nobody is supposed to go there today) were told - combine up and head for Truk - until the situation clarifies. We are not going to have weak ships here while Tanaka is away refueling, resupplying and getting damaged ships back to port (all but one CL are going to make Rabaul tomorrow - the CL may not make it ever - but she is trying - burning or not).

The day turn began with an RTAF attack again - killing another Buffalo on the ground at Meiktila Burma. JAAF tactical air in Malaya hit Mersing twice - scoring one Vildebeeste and 1 runway hit - not impressive - but no losses either. Troops continue to shift by rail from right to left - it is a long way - and to rebuild squads and morale. He attacked some Imperial Guards Division at KL by air - without effect - and we moved air units and air support units forward as much as possible - to maximize power when we hit. We are not attacking the intended target (not KL - but the center of the pennensula beside it) so as not to telegraph our intentions - he loves to shift units in to meet an attack (at least on Luzon). We are shifting air strikes to Johore Bahru and Singapore tomorrow - hoping to get a favorable exchange rate with high morale units.

Luzon is quiet as well. IJA units there are are rebuilding lost or damaged squads much more slowly. We are short of supplies to send in - China is sucking - Japan (with hundreds of ASW sortees per day) is sucking - and so there isn't much to send. We will attack Manila again - maybe hurt some B-17s - tomorrow - maybe shoot down some fighters. 19 Warhawks and Peashooters attacked 16th Division at Lucena - caused no casualties - and lost 1 plane. OK by me. Luzon is entirely in the green - he holds uncontested Manila, Subic, Clark, Linguyan and Maubon Bay - and it is enough to feed his large army. Contested Baguio and Lucena do not generate any supplies for him or me.

Ground bombardment at PM caused no casualties on either side. It reveals 5400 defenders facing 4800 IJA troops - but some of those 5400 are not combat troops. We began loading the rest of the Nanyo Detachment, 2 tanks of a tank regiment, an SNLF and a mortar battalion at Kappa Kappa to reinforce PM - and we ordered another naval bombardment.

Nothing much happened in China. One big attack vs 2 isolated Field armies West of Shanghai was expensive for both sides - and clearly we are suffering from lack of supply in the air and on the ground. Attacks were suspended for the time being to rebuild supply - and more supply convoys ordered to go that way.

Each KB carrier sent one squadron to Kwajalein to rebuild - mostly 1 plane - and only the val units are more than one below strength now. We will keep rebuilding as the force slowly retires to Truk - to repair the low system damage - and be in a position for whatever comes next. Move into the Rabaul area - or invade Johnston island. Otherwise we are routing supplies and fuel, resources and oil.

A major force is assembling at Brunei - 4th division is the heart - for attacks around the South and East side of Borneo. The light carriers and a heavy surface action group will participate.