9 October 1942
Destroyer group destroys Japan's Ndeni invasion flotilla
Luganville Invasion/New Hebrides/Espiritu Santo
The destroyers that sortied from Efate succeeded in intercepting the enemy landing barges before they reached Ndeni. Many of the barges appeared to be in poor condition--maybe they ran out of fuel? The barges' (12 total) only escort was a coastal minesweeper, my 4 destroyers tore through them without any significant resistance. 680 enemy troop casualties were reported. The destroyers were never spotted by anyone other than their victims, so there was no attempted airstrike on them.
My troops on Luganville have recovered enough that I'm willing to order an attack this turn. The AMC arrived at Efate and is loading. The 3 military transports are a little short of what I need to bring the remaining fragments to Luganville, but it will be most of it. I'll probably order the re-invasion tomorrow, to take place overnight. While they load, the light cruisers assigned to escort them are running up to Luganville to shell the enemy troops. I have a heavy cruiser as well, but the port at Efate wasn't big enough to rearm it, so it's headed to Noumea for ammo so it can hopefully participate in the landings.
The enemy bombed Luganville with a few Betties; we had a few P-38s on station that tried to intervene, but there were no losses on either side. The bombings were ineffective.
We spotted a task force of 4 light cruisers between the Solomons and Ndeni, headed east towards the Gilberts. I suppose if I start moving into the Gilberts or Marshalls I should expect a surface threat.
Burma
Our Tavoy invasion force succeeded in clearing the enemy blocking force off the road and was immediately resupplied. Casualties 1282 to 63.
Reinforcements
No.11 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden (0/16 Blenheims)
110th RAF Base Force arrives at Aden (hollow unrestricted unit)
13th Armoured Division arrives at San Luis Obispo (full strength, restricted)
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