From here to...well...it SEEMS like an eternity

[Cap Mandrake]

I am not making this up. I do a whole backstory on the men of the 81st Philippine Army Division building their own Malinta Tunnel near Hilo and the very next game day (2-20)....they are gone...all 33 of them!

I checked on Oahu too. They aren't at Madame Wu's.

Maybe they died of boredom?

[tabpub]

Hold #3 USS Sawokla----off Hilo Anchorage.

About 30 men sit around eating K-rations and mangoes.

Marcos: I wonder what's up; those Shore Patrolmen weren't very polite....you'd think we were deserters the way they surrounded us up in our valley fortress.....

Ferninand: <grunts>....Well, they at least let us bring our mangoes...these K-Ration things aren't that good....though this SPAM is delightful, I will say. Mr Hormel should be proud of his product.

Marcos: Ferdinand, you are from Mindinao, right?

Ferdinand: Yes.

Marcos: And you are a Muslim, no?

Ferdinand: Yes; and your point?

Marcos: <hears hatch open> Oh, nevermind; enjoy the SpHaaaammm food. <sees the Major come thru the hatch> Oh, Major!! Find out what is up with all this????

Quimbo: Yes, yes I have; gather round all!! <shuffling of 60 feet for some 10 seconds>
Well, the SP's were confused; being white Navy boys, they thought that we were stewards who had jumped ship from the Fleet. I have that all straightened out now; and better news!!

Many voices: What? Tell!! Where are we going in this tub!?

Quimbo: AUSTRALIA!! <much murmuring, rising in pitch>

Quimbo: SILENCE!! I know....I know, why Australia....well, the 81st is reforming there under a Major General that I have never heard of; but, it is a fact. We will be sailing to rejoin the unit and we can finally lose this /2 tag off our unit ID. It is promised that we will be back in the fight and leading the way for the Allied forces back to our homeland!!
<deafening shouts and much jumping and back slapping>
Ok, ok; quiet down again. It's a long voyage to Australia and then a train ride to Darwin where the Division is located. So, let's work out the daily schedule for training and calesthentics.
<the cargo hatch over head rumbles open and soon a large pallet filled with boxes marked SPAM is lowered into the hold>

Ferdinand: GREAT!! More SPAM! We will eat well on this journey!!

Quimbo: Don't you know what Sp....<interrupted by Marcos grabbing his arm and shaking his head negatively>....eed this convoy will be going? Don't eat too much, you will be seasick...<shakes his head and mutters soto voce> What a war.....

[Cap Mandrake]

HUZZAH! HUZZAH! They are found!

[Cap Mandrake]

More to follow.

[Cap Mandrake]

So, Sunday, Stalker Girl talks me into going to this street fair thingy. It is pretty fun. Goods bands. $4 Amber Bocks, $6 Italian Sausage sandwiches. No carnies. I have no cash with me so she is nice enough to buy me a couple of beers and we are walking along taking in the sights. An early 20-something babe cuts in front of me, making full use of her jeans which appear to have been shrunk in place. A signal quickly emerges from the reptilian part of my brain, forcing itself past roadblocks that are now unmanned because of yeast excrement. I think to myself, "Nice ***!".

Or at least I thought I said it to myself. Stalker Girl turns towards me immediately and says, "What the **** did you just say?"

Here is the safety tip. Don't do the same thing.

[DuckofTindalos]

[:D][:D][:D]

[BrucePowers]

Ahhhh Yup. One has to be very careful.[:D][:D][:D]

[Cap Mandrake]

..[X(]

[Capt. Harlock]

Time for an upgrade -- the P-40E isn't a front-line fighter any more.[;)]

[tabpub]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

Time for an upgrade -- the P-40E isn't a front-line fighter any more.[;)]

Well, they were out-numbered 4 to 1 and took down an equal amount with them....
Now, as to WHY they were out-numbered....well that is a SEAC thing. I hear that now the P38 groups have taken over the CAP over Moulmein.
The Generalissimo will be glad to have the P40's once the Road is open again and the steak and beer flow freely to the Yangtze.....

[BrucePowers]

ORIGINAL: tabpub

Hold #3 USS Sawokla----off Hilo Anchorage.

About 30 men sit around eating K-rations and mangoes.

Ferdinand: GREAT!! More SPAM! We will eat well on this journey!!

Quimbo: Don't you know what Sp....<interrupted by Marcos grabbing his arm and shaking his head negatively>....eed this convoy will be going? Don't eat too much, you will be seasick...<shakes his head and mutters soto voce> What a war.....

My father loved the stuff. He used to fry it up on a cast iron skillet

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

So, Sunday, Stalker Girl talks me into going to this street fair thingy. It is pretty fun. Goods bands. $4 Amber Bocks, $6 Italian Sausage sandwiches. No carnies. I have no cash with me so she is nice enough to buy me a couple of beers and we are walking along taking in the sights. An early 20-something babe cuts in front of me, making full use of her jeans which appear to have been shrunk in place. A signal quickly emerges from the reptilian part of my brain, forcing itself past roadblocks that are now unmanned because of yeast excrement. I think to myself, "Nice ***!".

Or at least I thought I said it to myself. Stalker Girl turns towards me immediately and says, "What the **** did you just say?"

Here is the safety tip. Don't do the same thing.

If reptile-man were not 'conning' the brain at the time, you would have shot back:

CM: "Nice the way that jerk stepped right in front of me - I almost tripped trying not to run into him!"

SG: "It's a 'her'."

CM: "Didn't notice - too busy not tripping."

It might have worked! [:D]

[bradfordkay]

As long as Stalker Girl's name isn't Lorena you should be able to weather this storm, but you'd best keep your mind under control from here on out. Women remember that stuff forever...

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: tabpub

...
Marcos: Ferdinand, you are from Mindinao, right?

Ferdinand: Yes.

Marcos: And you are a Muslim, no?

Ferdinand: Yes; and your point?
....

[:D]


Perhaps Father Emmanoulides can come by and give confession when the trip is over. In the meantime, I say let him enjoy himself.

[Cap Mandrake]

**********No. 225 Group HQ, RAF, Moulmein, Burma, 07:20, Feb. 19, 1943*********


Vice Admiral Sir G. S. Arbuthnot, KCB, DSO was an unhappy man. True, there is a lot of that going around, but, in this case I can't blame him. To begin, he had been brought down a notch or two. At the start of the war, he had been C-in-C of East Indies command, then, in some imponderable maelstrom of entropy, a single chad on his Admiralty Service Specialty Binary Inventory of Training and Expertise IBM card had been partly dislodged when a secretary at Whitehall had inadvertently interjected his ASSBITE card between her bottom and a misplaced knitting needle. The presence of the knitting needle at Whitehall had been a serious security breech and there are suspicions but that is a story for another time.


In any event, he had been converted from an expert in naval warfare to a man who could do an outside loop in a Spitfire with his eyes closed, well, at least that is what his ASSBITE card said. Sure, he had protested. After all, he came from a long line of Royal Navy Admirals going back to the 18th century. He had sailed at Jutland. He recalled one particularly frustrating conversation with a clerk at Eastern Fleet HQ.

"Look, I have a commission in the Royal Navy. Do you not see my uniform?"

"Sorry sir, that is not what your ASSBITE card says. It says here...<refers to form>..expert in aerial combat and East Asian cooking."

"Now look here, I DETEST curry."

"Sorry sir, that's not what it says here."

"But I sailed with Jellicoe!"

"Sorry sir, there is no field for that."

"Look, there has been a terrible mistake, is there no way I can be transferred back to the Royal Navy?"

"Oh, yes sir. You need only petition the RAF Service Change Review Enterprise - West/ Uniformed-personnel."

"SPLENDID..oh..sorry, I mean SWIMMING! Where can I find the....?"

"Oh the RAF SCRE-W/U office, you mean, sir?"

"Yes, yes, SCRE-W/U, that's what I want."

"Why, it's right across the parade ground, 4th bungalow on the right, No. 22, sir."

"SWIMMING!" <turns to leave>

"Oh sir, I wouldn't advise you do that sir."

<stops, looks a bit piqued> "Why is that son?"

"Why, it's lunch time sir."

<looks at watch> "BLAST! when will they be back?"

"Oh, they won't sir."

<now growing more angry> "Why is that, son?"

"Well sir, they closed in January 1941. It seems nobody wanted to leave the RAF. Apparently it's the uniform sir. It acts like a chic magnet....."


The Admiral shook himself from his unpleasant reverie...there was a job to do.

(to be continued)

[Cap Mandrake]

..

[Cap Mandrake]

..

[Cap Mandrake]

**********No. 225 Group HQ, RAF, Moulmein, Burma, 07:20, Feb. 19, 1943*********

(Cont)

Staff officer with completely uninteresting personal story, even to his own mother: Sir, do you recall your wish that we consider other resources to protect the airfield and the dozens of ships in harbour and those ingressing and egressing, given that all the P-38's had been called away to Imphal and also given that even the two Beaufighter squadrons had been redeployed leaving us with only 37 operational P-40E's and 6 obsolescent Demons? Do you recall that discussion sir?"

Vice Admiral Arbuthnot: Yes, yes, I do.


Staff officer with completely uninteresting personal story, even to his own mother: Well sir, we put in a request for some Spits to be shipped in, but as they are beyond ferry range and as they will have to be crated and shipped in by transport, requiring some time to reassemble, and therefore, we will have to make do with what we have for now and given that we are having trouble with the radar system, a number of us felt we might need some alternative early warning system.


Vice Admiral Arbuthnot:I am listening.


Staff officer with completely uninteresting personal story, even to his own mother: Well, sir, are you familiar with the Shan?


Vice Admiral Arbuthnot: The Shan?

Staff officer with completely uninteresting personal story, even to his own mother:Yes sir, the Shan people of Eastern Burma. A certain number among them are said to be clairvoyant. I have taken the liberty of employing a number of them who are said to have this power in the early warning role. I have 15 arrayed in an arc along the axis of likely Jap attack. I am told when they perceive danger, they enter an epileptic state. <just then, one of the Shan at the SE end of the runway falls to the ground, shaking and foaming at the mouth. Within seconds the Shan to his right and left meet a similar fate.>


Vice Admiral Arbuthnot: INCOMING BOGIES BEARING 150, MANY! GET THOSE P-40'S IN THE AIR. ALERT THE SHIPS IN HARBOUR......

[Cap Mandrake]

It was an interesting play by the Jap, which are a clever foe, even if they have bad teeth.

They began to base a large number of elite fighters at Mandalay and a fair number at Lashio. After their air evacuation efforts through Rangoon were put to an end (by LRCAP out of Moulemin), it was my suspicion they were getting troops out of the Northern Burma pocket by air from Mandalay. The Mandalay and Lashio airfields needed to be shut down, but all the longer range fighters were in Southern Burma. The big Jap airfield at Bangkok remained a threat, however. On the 17th, recon showed no bombers at Bangkok, just 200 fighters and several hundred transports. With this information, the P-38's were redeployed to Imphal on the 18th and led a big raid on Lashio, destroying a squadron of Sallys and 8-10 Jacks. Jap recon, however, discovered the CAP had been weakened over Moulmein. On the 19th, the P-38's swept the air over Mandalay, destroying a dozen Jacks in the air. B-25's and Wellys smashed the airfield.

But the Jap had a plan. 198 Jacks and Tonys from Bangkok swept over the airspace at Moulmein, provoking a number of seizures and engaging 37 P-40E's and 6 Demons. All the Demons and all but one of the operational P-40's were destroyed but an equal number of Jacks and Tonys fell. All but 14 of the P-40 pilots parachuted to safety. The same cannot be said of the Jack and Tony pilots, but the way was now open for lightly escorted bombers from Hanoi and Andaman. A the many dozens of ships near Moulemin, a total of 12-13 Allied AK's and AP's were hit. The PG Hollyhock, with Adm Draemel aboard [:)], attracted 3 torps and was sunk. One AK sunk the next morning and 1 or 2 more will likely succumb to their damage, though it might have been worse.

Most of the AK's were empties headed back to Chandpur or were unloading supplies only. One AK with men of the 45th Indian Brigade was hit leading to 200 casualties and oen AK carrying a Spitfire squadron was hit, destroying 10 crated Spits, but leaving the pilots and remainder of the squadron to safely unload.

Lord Admiral Tabpub was less than pleased as the P-40's were on loan from China Command [:D]

The Japs have evacuated Bangkok airfield. B-17's and LB-30's were redeployed to Moulmein (along with the P-38's) and paid a visit over Bangkok on the 20th. Hanoi and Georgetown seem to be the major air threats at this time. The Jap bombers and fighters at Andaman were destroyed on the 20th when they went after RN carriers escorting troop ships from Chandpur.


This was by far the biggest non-carrier based Jap fighter force assembled for the war up to date. They downed 36 P-40E's and 6 Demons but, despite a nearly 5:1 ratio in the air, lost an equal number of their best Jacks and Tonys, including a disproportionate number of pilots. They sunk Hollyhock and one AK, with one or two more likely to sink. They have to be less than completely satisfied with the result. Of course, that could be my spin. [:)]

[BrucePowers]

Keep telling yourself that[:D]