19 August 1943
DEI
Two DMs added to the minefield at Ambon. Another 3 destroyers patroled to keep those barges away; a midget sub attacked this group and missed. The sub was then destroyed by a depth charging by USS Lamson.
SouthPAC
USS Raton returned to Ponape's port and found another AKL. This time the captain engaged aggressively, doing enough damage with gunfire to sink it.
After Raton left, recon patrols detected yet more merchant ships at Ponape as well as the 3-CV battlegroup. Looks like they're getting ready to pull out. I'm considering a strike. But my ships need fuel first, so they're headed towards the replenishment group.
CENTPAC
A merchant convoy was spotted southeast of Marcus. Trying to get to the Marshalls? A few PBYs attacked unsuccessfully. It's headed back towards Marcus, I'm sending a few tin cans out to try to catch them, they'll be out of search range soon, though.
Burma
I was trying to move tanks and infantry to Pegu together, but the tanks outpaced. The enemy noticed this at set up an attack to try to defeat my gathering forces in detail, but fortunately the infantry arrived in time which prevented an overrun. 500 casualties on each side. But now, this is open terrain, and I have air superiority, so the enemy units are going to get bombed mercilessly.
Near Taung Gyi, the last enemy troops in the area have surrendered, and I have yet more troops streaming down towards Rangoon.
One of my airfields in the Mandalay area is now big enough to support medium bombers without penalty. I still don't have enough aviation support to fully take advantage of this, but I figured I could move some B-25s down there. The elimination of the last enemy troops in the northern areas means the potential targets are near Rangoon, with the exception of the Wellingtons my medium bombers need to move to the Mandalay area to make that trip without a reduced payload.
Withdrawals and Reinforcements
55th FG/338th FS has withdrawn, taking 25 P-39Ds with it. This was a training squadron based in San Fransisco.
CL Emerald arrives at Aden
DD Thompson arrives at Seattle
VF-33 arrives at Seattle (36 Hellcats)
433rd TCG/68th TCS arrives at Eastern USA (13 transports)
23rd USN Naval Construction Regiment arrives at Port Hueneme
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