25 December 1943
Ponape and Tavoy captured - Bangkok and the Philippines up next!
Japan
The cargo ship convoy spotted near Marcus days ago reappeared in Japanese home waters, northeast of Tokyo. USS Tautog took a shot at one of them and missed.
Philippine Sea
USS Snapper hit a 3675-ton cargo ship with 2 torpedoes off Legaspi for a confirmed kill.
China
Air raids:
Anking (ground forces): 37 casualties
Mariannas and CENTPAC
I sent a B-24 raid in from the freshly-repaired airbases at Truk. Today's target was Tinian, we sank 2 mine tenders.
Other B-24s hit Ponape in support of the landings in progress, causing 44 enemy casualties. The marines then captured the base with a shock attack, casualties 266 (J) to 54 (A).
DEI
Air raids:
Koepang (ground forces): 37 casualties
Kendari (ground forces and airbase): 2 hits, 0 casualties
A bit of an error on my part--as the Yankee Butai passed south of the Palaus to rendevous with the amphibious task forces headed for Mindanao, SBD-5s made it far enough north to observe the Palaus and at least 4 of the scoutplanes attacked a minesweeper there. So the enemy probably knows that the YB has moved into the vicinity of the Celebes Sea, hurting my chances at ambushing any enemy forces that try to prevent the landings.
Burma
Air raids:
Pisanuloke (ground forces): 74 casualties
Rahaeng (ground forces) 19 casualties
British ground forces advancing south along the Burmese coast have reached Tavoy and captured it without resistance. In another week or two we should have Bangkok under seige, but within a few days I'll be fighting an air campaign above Bangkok to clear its skies for our heavy bombers.
Reinforcements
DD Ingersoll arrives at Balboa
DD Quickmatch arrives at Aden
DE Eisele arrives at Mare Island
AS Apollo arrives at Balboa
AGC Mount Olympus arrives at Balboa
VII US Amphib Force arrives at Pearl Harbor
23rd Marine Regiment arrives at San Francisco
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