7 September 1942
Burma and Thailand
The heavy enemy task force shelled Moulmein again, although this time it was pretty much limited to secondary batteries. Damage was minimal.
Army reinforcements are arriving in western Burma from India to deal with the paratroops.
I've sortied a heavy task force to shell Port Blair. It's big enough--also with 3 BB--that if it runs into the enemy heavies it should at least lead to carnage on both sides.
Sumatra
His biggest raid today was 130 medium bombers escorted by 6 Zeroes. We had 9 fighters meet those guys, so in spite of everything we actually had their fighters outnumbered. We got to the bombers, on this raid and some others which flew completely unescorted, and shot down 6 Sallies.
New Britain, the Solomons, and the Santa Cruz Islands
I attempted a P-38 escorted raid on Rabaul, it was opposed by Nicks, shooting down 4 P-38s and 1 B-17, with no victories. Damage to the base was insignificant.
I'm putting together an op to encroach on the Solomons from two directions to take advantage of the lack of Betties and fighter coverage here. I believe Rabaul and Guadalcanal to be mostly paper tigers--I should be able to take some closer bases with enough fighter protection to prevent losses. I'll build up those new bases to enable a more aggressive air campaign to really shut down Guadalcanal, then either take it or bypass it in a way that cuts its supply off.
China
My coastal army has liberated another base on its way north--Tsinkiang is ours again. Both bases this army has taken have had almost no supplies in them--a bad sign about the state of Japanese supply in China. Well, good for us.
Reinforcements
SC-744 arrives at Eastern USA
SS Gurnard arrives at Balboa
AP Arthur Middleton arrives at Balboa
No.261 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden (0/16 Hurricanes, no replacements available for them)
Wasp is back underway after getting some maintenance, and its bringing two fast battleships to Pearl with it. CVE Copahee is going to join my transport task force with the 1 2/3 divisions--getting the CVE forward deployed will help provide cover to future offensive operations.
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