31 DEC 42
China remains one giant Pier 13 brawl. The IJA advances and I swing the Chinese troops around and take cities - with supply caches - only to be chased out again. China does have three pacific ports. Wenchow (89,58) - which has been Chinese since the opening moves, and Kwangchowan (73,60) and Pakhoi (72,58) much farther west, which were reoccupied found surprisingly abandoned. These will be useful when I can start smuggling supplies into the Chinese mainland.
The BTO is starting to roll having retaken Rangoon. Still some serious concern at Lashio which is contested and I don't seem to be getting anywhere there. My supplies are barely trickling in and I'm rotating fresh troops in as exhausted ones are pulled out. I'm truly confounded where the IJA supplies are coming from.
Java is proving to be the cork in the bottle I was hoping for. It has been a few months since any fresh IJA troops were landed while I'm trickling in troops and squadrons. Without doubt, the heroes of Java have been my Soerbaya sortees. I was beginning to think they were running out of proverbial rope, but now maybe not so much. Southern Java appears to be making it's own fuel, and a good part of it's supplies. With the Japanese loss of five CVs, three CVLs, five BBs and about ten CAs, sunk, the waters around Java are a lot safer. With more modern British and US fighters continuously taking roost, long range IJA bombers are becoming less and less frequent visitors, making the skies friendlier as well. And always fewer in number leaving. The bulk of the IJA is in(and contested) at Bandoeng (50,100). They are surrounded and with a solid line of Allied units between their only links to the sea at Batavia and Merek.
Darwin is now out of danger. It has been a few months since IJA bombers have tried their luck against flocks of relatively modern Allied fighters, and proficiency among the Darwin fighters is growing. And that does not even take into account the significant Allied Troops and defenses
Likewise, the same goes for in and around Port Morseby. It has been a couple months since any IJA bombers have been seen south of PM. And those few who try to strike PM are easily rebuffed.
The southern defense/supply line is firm with logistics and troops flowing smoothly and safely. The quick success at Luganville has only emboldened me. Next year, 1943, from Noumea, I will make a leapfrog north, not sure where, but will not likely be Guadalcanal - bit further north or a bit southerly; but not The Canal. Similarly, I'm going to have a go at liberating Wake, as well as greenlighting Operation Flintlock in The Marshall Islands.
End of year stats:
Allied Bases Controlled: 442
Allied Base points: 8,800
Japanese Bases Controlled: 415
Japanese Base points: 6,330
Allied A/C pts Lost: 3,717
IJA/IJN A/C pts lost: 7,032
Allied army pts lost: 9,904
IJA army pts lost: 5,715
Allied Ships sunk: 245
PTs for sunk Allied ships: 1,624
IJN Ships sunk: 1,152
Pts for sunk IJN ships: 10,373
Political pts avail: 7,245
Japanese score: 21,605
Allied score: 33,955
Seeking Vic-to-ry in 19-Forty-three.
; Julia Child
of Batavia as our aiming point."