27 January 1942
Ichang liberated from IJA occupiers
CENTPAC
Ordered to Pearl to try to evacuate a headquarters fragment, USS Cuttlefish was depth charged by the escorts of the BBs Yamashiro and Nagato as they moved in to bombard the port. Damage to Cuttlefish was light. The reduction of bombarding battleships from 4 to 2 helped the shore batteries be more effective; Yamashiro was hit 9 times. The armor probably handled most of it, but it looks like it hurt a little. The KB hit Christmas Island again, while I presume the 2 BB there are returning to Lahaina to rearm.
Singapore
The air campaign took a dark turn as he sent Zero escorted medium bombers to bomb the city itself, while Nate escorted light bombers targeted our troops. It looks like attrition is catching up on their fighter forces--that Nates are even being thrown in here is a bad sign for them. But numbers wise, for the first time in a long time, we matched numbers with the Zeroes, sometimes outnumbering them (looks like our peak CAP was 8 Hurricanes, peak Zeroes were 9). But, the bombers are quite numerous. Losses were 3 Hurricanes for 3 Zeroes, 2 Nates, 4 Nells, 6 Sallies, and 1 light bomber.
Celebes Sea
The new task force was an ARG headed to Jolo to relieve the pinned down paratroops there. The two P-36 fighters there switched from attacking the paratroops to strafing an incoming destroyer. They hit it (not seriously), but one was shot down.
The troops landing on Jolo have been identified as the 113rd and 148th Regiments of the 56th Division, plus two marine units. This represents a major concentration of troops in an increasingly dangerous part of the sea for him--the whole area is lousy with submarines, I have a large surface fleet nearby, and I have a lot more airpower here than I did in December. I figure they'll take Jolo tomorrow, then load back up in a day or two for their next target. It looks like it's actually two separate ARGs, plus the covering force has reappeared at Jolo as well.
Dutch East Indies
Claude fighters tried to stop my bombers from attacking ships of Kendari and troops chasing my retreating Makassar garrison, but were only able to damage a few bombers. The naval attack missed, but the land attack was rather successful--our troops turned the tables on their pursuers and wiped them out (a rifle battalion and a fragment of a mortar battalion--we actually outnumbered them pretty badly).
China
At the cost of about 500 men and an AVG P-40, we finally liberated Ichang. The defending tank regiment was completely wiped out. But now we have the enemy army that evacuated on our flank, hiding in the swamplands. I'm probably going to have to deal with them before I send my troops to clear out any other occupied cities.
Coral Sea
Quiet at PM for today. My CVBG has been refueled by the slowpoke aussie oiler and by transports moving through the area.
SOUTHPAC
The fuel situation is getting worse thanks to my 2nd CVBG in this area also needing gas. I have some tankers arriving at various bases soon, but it's going to be tight for awhile.
I was dismayed to see that it's going to take about 40 days to repair the two cruisers that have been torpedoed. Each. And the one that hit a mine won't be any better. Making matters worse, I didn't realize that playing as the Allies, I can't build up the repair yards in Australia. I got too used to playing as Japan, which is allowed to expand facilities. The idea of Sydney being a decent substitute for Pearl now looks pretty ridiculous. Japan is going to have a huge logistical advantage if our ships start duking it out.