View Single Post
Old 11-01-21, 08:39 AM   #291
Molon Labe
Silent Hunter
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Along the Watchtower
Posts: 3,810
Downloads: 27
Uploads: 5
Default

29 Jun 1942

Yellow Sea
USS Salmon picked off a full-size cargo ship in a convoy of mostly AKLs headed for Shanghai and slipped away before the escorting PB could retaliate. A good result, but I'm keeping a close eye on this. It's only the second ship we've sunk in the Yellow Sea despite the enemy's increased supply need in China and this water is shallow enough for non-upgraded enemy depth charges to be very effective. Two cargo ships in a week isn't worth losing a boat for.

Hawaii
An enemy sub picked off one of my singleton cargo ships as it left Pearl. My earlier estimate that the new aircraft at Hickam would be online in 2 days was too optimistic...it'll be more like a week. That's cause for concern, especially with the PBYs not online yet.

I did some maths...assuming the KB only does a gas-n-go at Truk and then heads for Hawaii at cruising speed, it would arrive on July 4. Oh, and SIGINT reports enemy transmissions at a spot in the ocean in near the Marshalls that's on the lane between Truk and Hawaii. If that was the KB, it's arrival would be July 5--that by itself is scary because it looks like it matches. My likely date of arrival at Lahaina is July 6. Setting that aside for a moment, the KB has been running at high speed for a good chunk of its last deployment, so they need maintenance, and they're due for refits. On top of that, if my cargo runs concerned him, the most efficient solution would be to bring the Betties back--he hasn't done that. So, I think a KB deployment to Hawaii right now is unlikely. But not something I can ignore. For now, I'm going to continue, but I'm probably going to stand off instead of going right in.

Thailand
2 more P-40s down at Raheng. But more important, no enemy bomber activity. I'm going to stand my fighters down for a couple days to let them repair planes and just not give the enemy anyone to play with.

Meanwhile, I've been gradually moving in more reinforcements to this region. I can now drive to Bangkok with the equivalent of about 3 divisions while still keeping enough in reserve that they can't bypass me and threaten Rangoon. Recon says I'm stronger than what they have in Bangkok and Tavoy combined. So in a few more days I'll start heading south again, all the more reason to keep my fighters healthy so that I can keep enemy bombers off the troops if they ever show up.

N. Australia
Another bad day at Darwin, 3 of ours down to 1 of his. I'm tempted to move in more fighters, but... I think with the surge of enemy fighters in Thailand and Sumatra, his numbers here are less than they were when I last tried to carpet bomb Koepang airbase. I'm short on fighters, but good on B-17s. And B-17s chew up enemy fighters pretty good. So, Offensive Counter Air is the call to deal with the threat to Darwin.

China
He now has armies leaving Chengchow in two directions, back across the river and to the south, the way the main force came in. I now have reinforcements arriving on the southern route, and he's also got more troops entering that space from the east, so my guys are caught between the two. I don't have good intel on numbers.
__________________
Molon Labe is offline   Reply With Quote