1942 January 26
INVADED
Amphibious TF 88 offshore of Goodenough Island
Amphibious TF 109 offshore of Guiuan
Amphibious TF 298 offshore of Lihir
Bataan, Cagayan, Pontianak, Singapore, Changsha are also invested.
CHANGED OWNERSHIP
Feni Islands is occupied by the Japanese
Japanese forces CAPTURE Tarakan !!!
Overall
• KB1 vanished. Reasonable possibilities for KB1's current movement:
- Attack warships in the DEI.
- Replenish.
- Head south/southeast to rendezvous with New Caledonia, or New Hebrides, or Santa Cruz Islands invasion forces.
- Rendezvous with southern Solomon Islands invasion forces.
- Of course anything else is possible if the Empire decides to make a deep invasion to force the USN into an early battle.
• Possible sighting of KB2/KB3 just east of Hong Kong. One TF is 6 ships, PG, 2x CVL, 3x CV, 6x fighters, 16x bombers, 6x auxiliary; the other TF is 5 ships, 1x DD, 2x CVE, 1x BB, 1x CV, 9x fighters, 15x bombers.
West Coast USA, Alaska, Hawaii
• Three subs/sub TF's close off San Francisco. They are using search planes. With escorts scarce our xAK's are making their way up the coast from San Diego without any escort. That route takes them by the subs' known patrol zones but enemy scouting aircraft could spoil this for us. Ten of the fighter squadrons at San Francisco in training have been switched to 50% training/50% CAP with range 3. Let's see if wandering into dozens of fighters at a time reduces aerial sightings of our ships.
• Sub activity near San Diego.
Pacific
• An snemy sub parked off Suva.
New Zealand, Australia, New Caledonia, New Hebrides, Solomons, Papua New Guinea, New Britain
• No carrier raid on our troops and no sign at all of KB1. No search planes shot down and it is impossible for KB to have moved beyond coverage in one go, so they must be shielded under overcast. The problem this raises is KB1 might well be
anywhere within our search coverage. The RN CL TF at Darwin will stand well to the west. All of ships at Darwin have been formed into a TF and will make for Carnavon.
• We have two AVD just refueled at Pago Pago heading to their assigned station at Reef Islands to support a PBY squadron. It is now a little dicey if we will have any information on KB1's whereabouts when they arrive there. Instead I will send them to separate islands arriving on separate days. The PBY squadron will be divided with 1/3 at each island.
- The 1st base is Funafuti where an AVD is already anchored. The 1/3 PBY Sqn is transferring there now.
- The second base will be Aoba and will provide some Intel about the safety of sailing to Reef Islands.
- Reef Islands will be the 3rd base.
Philippines
• One enemy unit now at Bataan and more on the way.
DEI, Dutch new Guinea, Borneo, Malaya
• Lost a tanker to a sub off Tjilatjap so no more fuel will be siphoned out of Java.
• Tarakan fell.
Ground combat at Tarakan (67,91)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 11188 troops, 91 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 299
Defending force 2782 troops, 42 guns, 7 vehicles, Assault Value = 37
Japanese adjusted assault: 260
Allied adjusted defense: 55
Japanese assault odds: 4 to 1 (fort level 1)
Japanese forces CAPTURE Tarakan !!!
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), experience(-)
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
97 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Allied ground losses:
488 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 27 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 8 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 39 (37 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Vehicles lost 7 (7 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 4
Defeated Allied Units Retreating!
Assaulting units:
21st Division
Defending units:
VII KNIL Battalion
Tarakan Defenses
HQ TC Borneo
Tarakan MLD Base Force
• Pontianak did not.
Ground combat at Pontianak (56,90)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 1254 troops, 7 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 83
Defending force 1748 troops, 12 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 44
Japanese adjusted assault: 17
Allied adjusted defense: 25
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 1)
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-), fatigue(-), morale(-)
experience(-)
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
38 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Allied ground losses:
22 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Assaulting units:
III/124th Infantry Battalion
6th Tank Regiment
Defending units:
W Borneo KNIL Battalion
2e-VLG-I Sup Afd
Singkawang ML Base Force
W Borneo Mil'ie Cdo
1e-VLG-V Sup Afd
• Singapore fortifications at 2 + 73%.
China
• A surprise crossing just west of Hengyang.
Ground combat at 79,53 (near Hengyang)
Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 4356 troops, 38 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 127
Defending force 3870 troops, 41 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 98
Japanese adjusted assault: 94
Allied adjusted defense: 123
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), morale(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+)
Japanese ground losses:
745 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 67 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Allied ground losses:
64 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Assaulting units:
102nd Infantry Regiment
Defending units:
49th Chinese Corps
We are sending reinforcements to hold this hex for a while. Not sure of the full power that might be coming.
• A strong unit that was to rail to Kweilin from Hengyang can no longer do so. Kweilin will be invested shortly and has modest defense.
India, Burma, Thailand, Indochina
• The IJA Rgt is indeed moving on Toungoo while the IJA Div moves on Rangoon.
Japan, Korea, Manchuria, Russia
• Tomorrow our subs will begin arriving back on station.
Complete combat report attached.
