13 April 1942
Lackluster bombardment results at Cochin
Indian Ocean and Ceylon
Thinking I had a chance to neutralize an enemy fighter concentration due to the absence of ASUW threats, I used my carriers' heavy covering force to shell Cochin, with 2 BB and 2 CA firing at somewhat standoffish range with their primary batteries. The bombardment caused moderate airbase damage and destroyed 3 Hurricanes on the ground...out of at least 30. We sank a minesweeper and a corvette on the way in, at least one other minesweeper was present but managed to stay out of our way.
In hindsight... the weather was poor and I didn't assign a floatplane to be a spotter so maybe I could have done better.
Our tanks have eliminated the enemy garrisons to the north of our line of advance on Colombo--the only enemies left are in front of me now.
China
The former garrison forces from coastal bases that I'd recently relieved are now closing in on Kanhsien. I allowed some of the garrison forces at Kukong to move out one hex to try to dislodge a small enemy force between Kukong and Kanhsien to try to stop them from reinforcing Kahnsien, but we weren't able to overcome the terrain bonus to overrun them. I had 71 combat squads disabled, him just 39.
I also have a pair of fresh divisions entering the Sian front area, one that I pulled from garrison duty in the central areas and another recently purchased with political points and pulled from Manchukuo. This should allow me to rotate some beat up divisions back to Sinyang to recuperate, hopefully, after Sian falls, allowing us to continue our advance into the oil-producing northwest region.
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