At dawn we slept...in the cab on the way back from Olongapo

[Cap Mandrake]

Attacking the AF WE built at Butuan. Not sure where the escorts went.

Morning Air attack on Butuan , at 80,89

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 5
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 9

Allied aircraft
Mitchell II x 11
B-25C Mitchell x 9

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Mitchell II: 3 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 3 destroyed, 2 damaged

Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 1


and

Morning Air attack on Butuan , at 80,89

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 7 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 2 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 1
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 1

Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 8

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 2 damaged

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 2

[Cap Mandrake]

Jap infnatry landing at Cotabato as well. Crap.

Pre-Invasion action off Cotabato (78,90)
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

5 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
DD Wakatake
DD Numakaze
DD Yukaze
AK Koryu Maru

Allied ground losses:
26 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

[Cap Mandrake]

Units of 28th Div and 25 Arm HQ landing...without prep evidentarry.

Amphibious Assault at Cotabato (78,90)

TF 29 troops unloading over beach at Cotabato, 78,90

Japanese ground losses:
466 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 49 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 26 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 32 (0 destroyed, 32 disabled)
Vehicles lost 12 (1 destroyed, 11 disabled)

20 troops of a IJA Hy Inf Sqd 43 lost in surf during unload of 28th Div /8
Motorized Support accidentally lost during unload of 25th Army
20 troops of a IJA Hy Inf Sqd 43 lost from landing craft during unload of 28th Div /14

[Cap Mandrake]

Bummer. These lads aren't going to last very long.

Ground combat at Cebu (80,86)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10741 troops, 122 guns, 25 vehicles, Assault Value = 253

Defending force 2767 troops, 40 guns, 1 vehicles, Assault Value = 105

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Japanese adjusted assault: 196

Allied adjusted defense: 103

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
269 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 23 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
333 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 30 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Assaulting units:
16th Division
303rd Ind.Infantry Battalion

Defending units:
81st PA Infantry Division
Cebu Constabulary
8th PAAC Avn Sup
1st Port Maint Engr Bn /2

[Cap Mandrake]

Moluccas and the Sundas and the Rosensteins

Ternate seemed to have no SCTF but rather some AO's and AK's so I sent a CL/DD force to raid at night and drop some HE on the AF. PT's boats first.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Ternate at 77,103, Range 11,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
BB Fuso
CL Yura
DD Naganami
DD Tamanami
DD Kagero
DD Hayashio
DD Maikaze
DD Murakumo

Allied Ships
PT-143, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
PT-147, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
PT-157, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
PT-158, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
PT-167, Shell hits 1, and is sunk

[Cap Mandrake]

Oops, somebody carrh-ah porice.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Ternate at 78,102, Range 8,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
PB Yodozo Maru, Shell hits 2
AO Iro, Shell hits 4
AO Sata

Allied Ships
PT-143
PT-147
PT-157, Shell hits 1, on fire
PT-158
PT-167, Shell hits 1

[Cap Mandrake]

Outgunned. Run away! Run away!

Night Time Surface Combat, near Ternate at 77,103, Range 11,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
BB Fuso, Shell hits 2
CL Yura, Shell hits 2
DD Naganami, Shell hits 1
DD Tamanami
DD Kagero
DD Hayashio
DD Maikaze
DD Murakumo

Allied Ships
CL Perth, Shell hits 7, heavy damage
CL Columbia, Shell hits 1
DD Philip, Shell hits 1
DD Radford
DD Barton
DD Baldwin
DD Carmick
DD McCook, Shell hits 3, heavy fires
DD Stronghold, Shell hits 2, on fire

[Cap Mandrake]

Sneaky baaahstards surge Georges to Boela while we are tring to surprise them with a sweep over Moratai

Morning Air attack on Boela , at 80,110

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 19 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 62
N1K1-J George x 34

Allied aircraft
PV-1 Ventura x 9

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
PV-1 Ventura: 5 destroyed

[Cap Mandrake]

Meanwhile we try flatten the garrison on Namlea but the KB shows up 40nm to the SW with 500+ planes.

Morning Air attack on 9th JNAF Coy , at 76,108 (Namlea)

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 16 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 38
A6M5b Zero x 2

Allied aircraft
Mitchell II x 3
B-25G Mitchell x 9

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Mitchell II: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
B-25G Mitchell: 3 destroyed, 2 damaged

[Cap Mandrake]

Oh Jeez. Maybe 50 Georges start the day at Boela plus LRCAP from somewhere.

Morning Air attack on 65th Brigade, at 80,110 (Boela)

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 34 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 62
N1K1-J George x 31

Allied aircraft
Vengeance I x 9

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Vengeance I: 3 destroyed

and

Morning Air attack on 65th Brigade, at 80,110 (Boela)

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 37 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 17 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 56
N1K1-J George x 31

Allied aircraft
TBF-1 Avenger x 24

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
TBF-1 Avenger: 9 destroyed

[Cap Mandrake]

Maybe 50 B-24 sorties over Namlea right into the teeth of the KB CAP. We shoot down 55 Zekes but lose about 18 B-24's. Hurts to lose B-24's because the 4 to 1 but killing B Zeke jockeys is of value.

[Cap Mandrake]

Sumatra: As Mark Twain sort of said...."the reports of the death of the Nells has been wildly exaggerated". OK, important safety tip. We need to get the AF operational before sending any more troopships to Sibolga

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Sibolga at 44,79

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 75 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 28 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G3M3 Nell x 36
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 28
Ki-61-Ia Tony x 19

Allied aircraft
Martlet IV x 3
Hurricane IIc Trop x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M3 Nell: 15 damaged
G3M3 Nell: 1 destroyed by flak
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 2 destroyed

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
CL Sumatra
xAP Tabinta, Torpedo hits 1
CL Hobart
CL Adelaide
xAP Dundula, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CA Cornwall
xAP Loch Ranza, Torpedo hits 1

Allied ground losses:
33 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 7 (3 destroyed, 4 disabled)

[Cap Mandrake]

***************Office of the Sec of the Treasury, Washington************

Man in fine linen slacks: Mr. Secretary, though I understand the morale side of war bonds, I believe I can convince you that we are paying too much for war bonds. Suppose we reduce the rate on borrowing to near zero. You could fund 20 Essex carriers.

Sec. Morganthau: Young man, do you imagine we haven't already thought of that?

Man in fine linen slacks: Yes sir, Mr. Secretary, but my proposal is the Federal government simply buy sufficient corporate and government bonds to drive down interest rates.

Sec. Morganthau: And where is that money to come from.

Man in fine linen slacks: Why, we invent the money sir.

Sec. Morganthau: I'm listening.....

[Cap Mandrake]

In mid 1943 the RAF and the FAA have only a trickle of planes. What the Hell? Where are they being used? The RAF has switched over to night raids so I can understand the Lancasters but what about the fighters? There must be hundreds and hundreds of USAAF fighters in England at this point. Yo...Winny...send some over here please.

[BBfanboy]

You forget the US and Britain now have North Africa and Sicily to cover ... And Iran too!

[JohnnieX]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

You forget the US and Britain now have North Africa and Sicily to cover ... And Iran too!

...and the Soviet Union. The UK supplied thousands of tanks and airplanes

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: JohnnieX

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

You forget the US and Britain now have North Africa and Sicily to cover ... And Iran too!

...and the Soviet Union. The UK supplied thousands of tanks and airplanes

I know a lot of convoys sailed from Britain to Murmansk, but I thought the aircraft they carried were American ones - like the Airacobra? I haven't heard of Hurricanes or Spitfires or any British bombers sent to the Russians.

[JohnnieX]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: JohnnieX

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

You forget the US and Britain now have North Africa and Sicily to cover ... And Iran too!

...and the Soviet Union. The UK supplied thousands of tanks and airplanes

I know a lot of convoys sailed from Britain to Murmansk, but I thought the aircraft they carried were American ones - like the Airacobra? I haven't heard of Hurricanes or Spitfires or any British bombers sent to the Russians.

Wikipedia says 2,952 Hurricanes delivered to the Soviet Union on the Hurricane page operational history. That would be 60+ per month [:)]

I'm wading through The Second World War by Winston Churchill. It's a pretty dry read in the unabridged form and I'm only at the end of Volume 3. I have taken a break to read something livelier.

Aid to the Soviets came from the UK as well. 4th Sept 1941, Churchill cabled Stalin and included that one half of the Soviet requirement of tanks and aircraft would come from UK production at that time (1941, not 1943). Clearly US arms production was nothing like what it would become two years later.

The relationship with the Soviets was difficult. Churchill writes 'The Soviet Government had the impression that they were conferring a great favour on us by fighting in their own country for their own lives. The more they fought, the heavier our debt became'

[RangerJoe]

Matildas were also sent to the Soviet Union.

[Cap Mandrake]

What the Hell? 60 Hurris a month sent to the Russkis?

Did someone tell Winnie about that?

I still have 3 RAF squadrons with Brewsters and Mohwak IV's.

Time to have Mountbottom call someone (if he is even here yet)