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Old 10-19-21, 07:46 PM   #263
Molon Labe
Silent Hunter
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Along the Watchtower
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10 June 1942
Invasion of Sumatra

Sumatra
A small force of troops crossed the Strait and landed at Benkoelen and captured it.

Palembang was swept, costing me 5 P-40s with no enemy Zeroes shot down.

We lost 2 more B-25s and 1 more Falcon trying to hit the phibs on the coast.

Japan
USS Sculpin got into a rather embarrassing surface attack against an enemy cargo ship near Toyohara. We bounced 7 dud Mk14s off its hull before getting one to detonate, the whole time the Sculpin was taking hits from the cargo ships guns while its gunners couldn't score any hits of their own. That one Mk14 took the ship down, so all's well that ends well I suppose.

There was a second task force detected here. Classified as a flotilla of coastal minelayers plus at least one cargo ship and a troop transport--headed EAST. I question that these are mostly minelayers...but a large task force that includes merchants heading east from Toyohara is most likely an invasion force headed for the Aleutians. The only other thing east of here are the Kurilles, which make good seaplane bases, but you don't need a task force this size to build them up. If the Aleutians are the target, then spotting this task force near Japan has probably earned me sufficient time to stop the invasion. I intend to have dive bombers and a surface combat task force waiting for them.

Timor Sea
The jig is up. USS Hornet was spotted moving back to Darwin and I think he can figure out why. There are also enemy surface forces skulking around the Banda Sea. Three destroyers moved too far to the south and were attacked by VB-6 from Darwin, scoring a pair of hits on one destroyer for a confirmed kill. A few TBD from Hornet's VT-8 that weren't on an ASW patrol got in on the action, but failed to score any hits.

We hold contact on two enemy submarines and I'm going to try to put them on the defensive. Our B-17s bombing Koepang shot down a Nick and took one loss from flak. Damage to the airbase is still minor, but for now I'm going to keep whatever pressure on them I can. More on this "tomorrow."

Malaya
Our Wirraways scored a hit on a seaplane tender at Kuantan, setting it on fire. Why does he need seaplane tenders in Kuantan?
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Last edited by Molon Labe; 10-20-21 at 07:40 AM.
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