Last Stand at San Diego (no Richard please)

[ADB123]

September 25, 1943 –

The Night Phase started out with USS Balao shooting a half dozen torpedoes at a Japanese DD in another Big (3 BBs and 3CAs) Surface Combat TF at Ocean Island and missing. Balao paid the price for the miss and is now limping home.

Daylight brought out the 4Es and 2Es over the Japanese troops that are southwest of Toungoo. The weather scattered out the Air Attacks but they still did some decent damage. I ordered the Allied troops to try another attack next turn.

And the Liberator IIs switched from Recon to Bombs over Port Blair and hit the Air Base rather nicely now that the Japanese CAP has moved off.

Finally at the end of the day USS Dragonet tried its luck at Ocean Island, missed another Japanese DD, and is now joining USS Balao in the Long Limp Home.

[ADB123]

September 26, 1943 –

There was no Night Action this turn.

Daylight started out with the Liberator IIs hitting the Air Base at Port Blair again. If my opponent doesn’t send in Fighters I’ll close the Air Base and then start on the Port.

Also in Burma the 4Es flew and hammered the Japanese Troops that are northeast of Rangoon. The 2Es didn’t fly against the Japanese Troops that are southwest of Toungoo. Of course, that is where I ordered a Deliberate Attack:

Ground combat at 56,51 (near Toungoo)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 37531 troops, 889 guns, 1180 vehicles, Assault Value = 1357

Defending force 17769 troops, 153 guns, 193 vehicles, Assault Value = 585

Allied adjusted assault: 677

Japanese adjusted defense: 385

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
2672 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 150 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 60 disabled
Vehicles lost 27 (1 destroyed, 26 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
544 casualties reported
Squads: 16 destroyed, 61 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 29 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 11 (1 destroyed, 10 disabled)
Vehicles lost 47 (4 destroyed, 43 disabled)

Assaulting units:
255th Armoured Brigade
2nd British Division
3rd Carabiniers Regiment
26th Indian Division
5th Indian Division
IV Indian Corps
85th British AT Gun Regiment
25th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
8th Medium Regiment
20th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
21st Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
26th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
19th Division
42nd Infantry Regiment
11th Tank Regiment
37th Const Co
53rd Const Co
15th Ind. Engineer Regiment
55th Const Co

Even without the Air Attack the Allied Forces did quite well. They will rest next turn while their Supply goes back into the Black. So I ordered my other Troops that are northeast of Rangoon to Attack next turn.

Things were relatively quiet in the South Pacific. Allied Units continue to move forward to build up more bases. LB4Y-1s dropped Mines at Ndeni. And the KB disappeared.

[ADB123]

September 27, 1943 –

There was no Night Action.

Daylight brought with it Lots of Bad Weather Everywhere, and thus lots of Mission Cancellations.

The only Air Attack that flew in the Far East was the Liberator IIs going after the Air Base at Port Blair again. This time some Franks were waiting for them and two Bombers were shot down. So I’m putting them back on Recon again while the unit gets back up to strength.

Off in the South Pacific the only Air Missions that flew consisted of 1 B-25G squadron attack on the Japanese Troops at Ndeni, followed by an attack by 1 B-24D1 squadron on the Air Base at Ndeni.

So when the Allied Troops on the Road to Rangoon launched their Deliberate Attack in the Rain without any Air Support I wasn’t expecting much, but the Japanese Troops were surprisingly weak and the attack went very well:

Ground combat at 55,52 (near Rangoon)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 45000 troops, 663 guns, 1237 vehicles, Assault Value = 1859

Defending force 5517 troops, 75 guns, 143 vehicles, Assault Value = 149

Allied adjusted assault: 860

Japanese adjusted defense: 73

Allied assault odds: 11 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-), experience(-)
supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1812 casualties reported
Squads: 61 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 101 destroyed, 40 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 30 (26 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Vehicles lost 132 (127 destroyed, 5 disabled)
Units retreated 4
Units destroyed 1

Allied ground losses:
290 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 37 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
268th Motorised Brigade
50th Tank Brigade
43rd Cavalry Regiment
254th Armoured Brigade
77th Chindit Brigade
11th (East African) Division
20th Indian Division
17th Indian Division
29th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
3rd (Special Force) Division

Defending units:
3rd Tank Regiment
1st INA Subhas Regiment
20th/C Division
17th Army
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment

So it’s On to Rangoon for that Column while the other Allied Troops attempt to dislodge the Japanese Blocking Formation southwest of Toungoo on the Road to Pegu.

[ADB123]

September 28, 1943 –

There was no Night Action. Then Daylight came and made up for it. Since all of the action took place in two theatres, I will report it by theatre rather than chronologically.

Off in Burma the Allied Air Missions all flew for a change. The 4Es hammered the Air Base at Rangoon. There was little Flak, which strongly suggests that there is little Supply there. That is always a good thing when there are troops marching towards an Enemy Base.

The 2Es then hit the Japanese Troops southwest of Toungoo in three waves causing Casualties in each attack. And as planned/hoped, when it was time for the Allied Troops to do their Deliberate Attack the result was successful:

Ground combat at 56,51 (near Toungoo)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 37087 troops, 888 guns, 1177 vehicles, Assault Value = 1294

Defending force 16409 troops, 153 guns, 194 vehicles, Assault Value = 432

Allied adjusted assault: 933

Japanese adjusted defense: 437

Allied assault odds: 2 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
2320 casualties reported
Squads: 151 destroyed, 81 disabled
Non Combat: 140 destroyed, 60 disabled
Engineers: 28 destroyed, 14 disabled
Guns lost 30 (11 destroyed, 19 disabled)
Vehicles lost 48 (30 destroyed, 18 disabled)
Units retreated 7

Allied ground losses:
431 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 43 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 16 disabled
Vehicles lost 32 (1 destroyed, 31 disabled)

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
3rd Carabiniers Regiment
26th Indian Division
2nd British Division
255th Armoured Brigade
5th Indian Division
25th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
85th British AT Gun Regiment
8th Medium Regiment
IV Indian Corps
20th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
21st Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
26th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
42nd Infantry Regiment
19th Division
11th Tank Regiment
53rd Const Co
37th Const Co
15th Ind. Engineer Regiment
55th Const Co

And to add to the generally positive mood in the Region, the British 14th Infantry Battalion is back at Bassein and will re-occupy the Base next turn. This time I don’t expect the Japanese to attempt to re-take the Base again.

Things started out less positively in the South Pacific as Bad Weather took hold and many Air Missions were Rained Out or Scattered. But the Scattered Air Missions flying out of the northeast of Oz did find their Target, a Japanese TF at Saidor on the north coast of PNG. The Bombers went in multiple waves, and there was some CAP, including a Japanese Float Plane that I haven’t seen in action before – the Norm, but the Allied Bombers still made good use of the opportunity:

Morning Air attack on TF, near Saidor at 99,124

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 37 NM, estimated altitude 2,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 6
E15K1 Norm x 2

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 14
B-24D1 Liberator x 35
B-24J Liberator x 20

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 2 damaged
B-24D1 Liberator: 3 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Mutsuki, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
AMc Kyo Maru #13, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
AV Kamoi, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Takunan Maru #2, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
PB Toyokuni Maru
PB Rokko Maru #2, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
DD Minekaze
PB Kiko Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
PB Takunan Maru #5
AMc Kyo Maru #7
AMc Shonon Maru #15, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
E W-11

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 5 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
10 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 5 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
10 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 5 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
10 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 5 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
10 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 5 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
10 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 5 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
4 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 5 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
6 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 5 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
CAP engaged:

202 Ku S-1 with A6M3a Zero (3 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 8000
Raid is overhead
952 Ku T-1 with E15K1 Norm (2 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
2 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 9000
Raid is overhead
253 Ku S-2 with A6M3a Zero (3 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 6000
Raid is overhead

And the next one:

Morning Air attack on TF, near Saidor at 99,124

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 39 NM, estimated altitude 2,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-25D1 Mitchell x 10
B-25G Mitchell x 10

Allied aircraft losses
B-25D1 Mitchell: 1 damaged
B-25G Mitchell: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
PB Taijin Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
DD Minekaze, Shell hits 1
SC Ch 7, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Mutsuki, heavy fires
E W-11, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
AV Kamoi, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Toyokuni Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
AMc Shonon Maru #11
PB Kure Maru #5, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
PB Rokko Maru #2, heavy fires

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x B-25D1 Mitchell bombing and strafing from low level *
Naval Attack: 3 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
6 x B-25D1 Mitchell bombing and strafing from low level *
Naval Attack: 3 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
10 x B-25G Mitchell bombing and strafing from low level *
Naval Attack: 3 x 500 lb SAP Bomb

And another one:

Morning Air attack on TF, near Saidor at 99,124

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-24D1 Liberator x 8

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
PB Ryuto Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Minekaze


Aircraft Attacking:
8 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 5 x 500 lb SAP Bomb

And in the afternoon:

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Saidor at 99,124

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 37 NM, estimated altitude 3,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 6

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 13
B-24D1 Liberator x 45
B-24J Liberator x 19

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-24J Liberator: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
PB Ryuto Maru, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
AMc Kyo Maru #7, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AMc Gamitsu Maru #1, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
PB Rokko Maru #2, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Tatsumi Maru, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk
PB Kiko Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Takunan Maru #5, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AMc Shonon Maru #11, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
AV Kamoi, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
PB Shosei Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Mutsuki, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
PB Taijin Maru, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
AMc Fumi Maru #3, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk

Aircraft Attacking:
8 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 5 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
7 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 5 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
10 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 5 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
9 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 5 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
8 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 5 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
6 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 5 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
10 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 5 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
8 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 5 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
10 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 5 x 500 lb SAP Bomb

CAP engaged:
202 Ku S-1 with A6M3a Zero (3 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 8000
Raid is overhead
253 Ku S-2 with A6M3a Zero (3 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 6000
Raid is overhead

Massive explosion on PB Rokko Maru #2

The Ship Sunk Report is below. Sure, these weren’t the most important ships in the IJN, but it was still nice to see my LBA finally take off and attack something at sea. This is the first successful Allied LBA attack against Enemy Ships at Sea that I can remember in a long time.

[ADB123]

And here is the Situation in Burma as of September 29, 1943. There appear to be Japanese LCUs pulling out of Rangoon and Pegu. Is my opponent just pulling out badly damaged Units, or is he really Pulling Out?

[DanielAnsell]

Heck of a nice turn. That naval bombing result bodes ill for Japanese sea power.

[ADB123]

ORIGINAL: Carny

Heck of a nice turn. That naval bombing result bodes ill for Japanese sea power.

Thanks. I'm hoping that this makes my opponent a little more cautious about bringing TFs within LBA range. [:D]

[ADB123]

September 29, 1943 –

There was no Night Action.

Daytime was fairly quiet too, as Bad Weather washed out most Air Missions in Burma during the morning. In the South Pacific a B-25G squadron and a B-24D1 squadron did fly against Ndeni. The Mitchells hit the Naval Guard Unit that is there and the Liberators hit the Air Base. Ndeni should be fairly easy to capture, but I’m not in a hurry and I want to build up Luganville and the surrounding bases first.

In the afternoon the 4Es in Burma flew and hammered the Air Base at Moulmein. There was some Flak here, so Moulmein must still have Supplies.

More importantly, the Lead Units of the Allied Column that is advancing on Rangoon reached the City and stopped to wait for the rest of the units. I set the 4Es to go after the Japanese Troops at Rangoon just in case my opponent has some idea of trying to drive back my troops. There is still a strong symbol for Japanese Troops moving out towards Pegu, so I’m hoping that is correct too.

And the British 14th Infantry Brigade re-occupied Bassein this turn.

[ADB123]

September 30, 1943 –

The Night Phase saw USS Jack miss an SC in a Big Japanese Tanker TF, and get punished hard by the other Escorts in the TF. Jack is limping home.

Bad Weather impacted most Air Missions. In the South Pacific the Mitchells tried to attack the Japanese Troops at Ndeni, but missed. The Liberators then hit the Air Base at Ndeni.

Off in Burma the Allied 4Es hammered the retreating Japanese Troops in the open to the northeast of Pegu. But the 4Es didn’t fly.

There was no Land Action this turn.

It appears that my opponent removed weak or beat-up LCUs out of Rangoon and is now ready to make a stand there. I’m going to try an Artillery Attack next turn in order to measure the strength of his Defences.

Otherwise, now I’ll post the Intel Screen for October 1, 1943, and then the Maps of the key Theatres.

[ADB123]

Here's the situation in Burma:

[ADB123]

Here's the situation in China. Nothing has changed for months:

[ADB123]

Here's the situation in the Far North. Nothing has changed here for months:

[ADB123]

Here's the situation in Northern Oz - "Sitzkrieg":

[ADB123]

Here's the situation in northeastern Oz, PNG and the Solomons. I can bomb where I like:

[ADB123]

Here's the situation in the South Pacific:

[ADB123]

Here's the situation in the Gilberts. It look as if Tarawa is unoccupied:

[ADB123]

October 1, 1943 –

The Night Phase started out with the dot base north of Luganville, Santa Maria, being auto-occupied by the Allies. Then bad news came from the ocean to the north of Geraldton in northwestern Australia that USS Puffer finally sank from the damages it received in an Air Attack near Java.

Bad News continued for the Allies as Bad Weather washed out Air Missions everywhere, and scattered the Air Attacks where they weren’t grounded. And of course the Bad News compounded in Burma as the 4Es sat out the day again while the 2Es went off in scattered attacks against the Japanese Troops that are retreating towards Pegu.

And of course, with the 4Es and the Long Range Escorts washed out, what should the Japanese do but send a huge number of fighters on LR CAP over those troops to the northeast of Pegu. The first Allied Air Attack had one fighter squadron on escort, and those P-36 Mustang Pilots did their best to keep the Japanese Fighters off of the 2Es. But subsequent 2 Es attacks were so lucky. Never-the-less, all of the Attacks hit the Japanese Troops with the first Attack being the strongest.

Meanwhile, out in the South Pacific the B-25 and the B-24 squadrons hit Ndeni again but it was small consolation for the day in Burma.

And to finish off the day in Burma in a consistent manner, the Allied Artillery Attack at Rangoon ended up receiving a heavier Counter-Battery Attack than what the Allied fired off, despite the Allies having general Ground Superiority.

Ground combat at Rangoon (54,53)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 44548 troops, 663 guns, 1153 vehicles, Assault Value = 1872

Defending force 30889 troops, 412 guns, 211 vehicles, Assault Value = 1052

Japanese ground losses:
56 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
370 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 41 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 6 disabled

Assaulting units:
77th Chindit Brigade
11th (East African) Division
20th Indian Division
268th Motorised Brigade
254th Armoured Brigade
43rd Cavalry Regiment
50th Tank Brigade
17th Indian Division
29th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
3rd (Special Force) Division

Defending units:
2nd INA Gandhi Regiment
3rd INA Azad Regiment
113th Infantry Regiment
14th Division
1st INA Subhas Regiment
4th INA Nehru Regiment
32nd Division
20th/C Division
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
17th Army
5th Field AF Construction Battalion
15th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
5th Field Artillery Regiment
7th Field AF Construction Battalion
8th RF Gun Battalion

One has to wonder what the situation might have been if the 4Es hadn’t been rained out two days in a row.

Oh yes, and in one more trivial success, the Liberator IIs returned to Port Blair and hit the Air Base again in the absence of any CAP. I’ll have to remember to send them elsewhere next turn so that they don’t get ambushed again.

[ADB123]

October 2, 1943 –

There was no Night Action this turn.

Daylight brought Really Bad Weather all over the map and most Allied Air Missions were scrubbed.

Of course, Murphy’s Law tells us that the Wrong Mission will always fly, so 23 PB4Y-1s flew over to bomb the Air Base at Lunga and found 32 A6M3as on CAP. The USN Liberators are far from the Death-to-Fighters planes that their Army Cousins are, so they had a tough time going in. Never-the-less, the Navy Libs still managed to shoot down some of their attackers while hitting their target too. The End-of-Day losses were as follows:

PB4Y-1s – 10 A-to-A, 2 Ops

A6M3as – 5 A-to-A, 5 Ops

There had been no sign of planes at Lunga before the mission, and there was no sign afterwards. So together with those Ops losses this suggests strongly that the A6M3as were flying LR CAP from somewhere further away. Never-the-less, the PB4Y-1s were set back to Naval Search. The next time I send Bombers to Lunga they will be the Real Big Boys.

And about half of the usual B-25s and B-24D1s flew to hit Ndeni. My opponent isn’t bothering to try to LR CAP that base.

Off in Burma the Weather Gods frowned upon the Allied Air Forces for the third day in a row. The 4Es didn’t fly, the Fighter Sweeps didn’t fly, the LR CAP didn’t fly and most of the 2Es didn’t fly. A couple of backwater 2E squadrons did fly and hit the Japanese troops in the jungle to the east of Mandalay.

So at the end of the day I waited for my Troops on the road to Pegu to Attack the Japanese Troops on the Road, but they didn’t. The Japanese were able to sneak away to Pegu because there were no Bomber Attacks to slow them down. My troops are now marching to Pegu. I’ve re-set the 4Es to hit the Air Base at Pegu next turn. It will be interesting to see if they fly after 3 days of rest, drinking, and playing cards.

BTW – Allied LR Recon found the Japanese Fighters – there are 175 Fighters at Ayuthia and 130 at Bangkok. Guess where my Bombers aren’t going…

[ADB123]

October 3, 1943 –

There was no Night Action again this turn.

Daylight brought plenty of Bad Weather Everywhere. Even my opponent commented upon it.

Some Missions did fly in Burma in the morning, including the odd 2E squadron bombing the Japanese troops to the east of Mandalay. Then in the afternoon the 4Es finally flew with one Escort squadron (why only one out of three from the same base? Ask the dice…). There was no Japanese CAP over Pegu and the Air Base was hammered deep into the ground.

My guess as to my opponent's sudden dislike of Advanced Weather On is that he was expecting some of the 214 Japanese Fighters at Ayuthia and some of the 141 Japanese Fighters at Bangkok to fly, but none of them did.

In any event, it was a good thing that the 4Es hit Pegu because one of those Land Movement Mysteries occurred as a couple of smaller Allied Armoured Units raced ahead of the rest of the advancing Allied LCUs into the base. Up until now those Armoured Units tended to only move 1 day ahead of their compatriots, not 2 to 3 days ahead. In any event, I’m left with hoping that my opponent doesn’t try a massed Banzai Attack next turn.

Otherwise it was just another day of moving most of the Allied Forces steadily forwards.

[ADB123]

October 4, 1943 –

There was no Night Action again this turn.

Daylight brought Morning Flights for a change. The Allied 2Es in Burma attacked the Japanese Troops that are to the east of Taung Gyi and caused a surprisingly large number of casualties. Then the 4Es hammered the Air Base at Moulmein. There was still a fair amount of Flak at Moulmein which indicates that there still is a fair amount of Supply there.

In the South Pacific the only action was an attack by the same B-25 squadron on the Japanese Troops at Ndeni.

I had two surprises at the end of the day. First off, the Japanese Troops at Pegu didn’t attempt to drive off my two early-bird Armoured Units. The next surprise was that all of my other Advancing Units made it to Pegu this turn. There must be some sort of Speed Enhancement along that stretch of Road.

In any event, with the entire Force in place I ordered a Deliberate Attack for next turn. I also ordered my 4Es to do a Ground Attack on the Japanese Troops at Pegu. It will be interesting to see what happens.