Part 158: Operational Report: 13/05/42

Dutch sub KXVII comes under attack from a Japanese patrol boat, there she reports a couple of hits, but we don't yet know the extent of the damage she has received.



Of the coast of Japan, the Sailfin continues to have a run of bad luck and dodgy torpedoes.



At Sinyang, the Imperial Army go all out to shift our men, but this only leads to horrendous casualties on their side, nearly one third of the attacking force is wiped out.



While east of Wuchang, our own forces successfully assault the Japanese troops they find.



Please note, our men are now the more experienced of the two sides in this area.
The same is true at Hwainan, where we force the Japanese troops into full retreat.







The Japanese start the day over Chittagong with a fighter sweep, this catches our CAP in dribs and drabs, and cause us to lose three planes.



This leave the CAP in poor state to stop the later bombing raid, which brings down the one remaining hurricane and kills the pilot, Wing Commander J. Brant. - As I got a message about him, he'll be one of the 67th's Aces. I'll check that later.





Wake never seems to get a rest, as they get a visit from two squadrons of Betty bombers today, who catch some of the planes on the damaged runway.



They follow this will a couple of Nell squadrons who inflict more damage on the ground.



This is a softening up attack for a raid by yet another Japanese carrier – but this time we have no planes in the area, as all our carriers are now either sunk or undergoing repairs/upgrades.









Our Banshee's hit another supply ship unloading over in Lea. These planes are still proving worth the 1,600 political points I've so far lost on maintaining them in action here.



In fact, I consider that points well spent.



At Guadalcanal, we force our way into the enemies fortifications, and force him out.



While at the new landing point at Tulagi, which I failed to mention yesterday (mainly because as I write this I'm freezing my ass off in a caravan near Caen, in Normandy – and I'm trying to understand how I was talked into going caravanning in early May, buy the coast. Oh, look, another finger fell off, time to add that to the pile...) our men have come ashore with no real losses and are now seeing off the remaining defenders.







The Japanese carriers are now breaking off their attack on Sydney, but they do get a attack in on the returning convoy from the Shortlands invasion.









Another mixed day, a few losses at sea compared to over five thousand more Japanese casualties in China.

As I mentioned earlier, we lost one of our 67th squadron superaces today.



Brandt, you will be missed.



It does look like the Japanese are setting up some reinforcements for Guadalcanal though, with the 138th Regiment heading for Lunga.

The only other thing I do is order some shifting of troops – including some American fighters from Suva to Sydney, to try and prevent a repeat carrier raid.

This only leaves the arrival of a new ship type.



The Long Island is an escort carrier – these things are tiny compared to the larger American ships, and can only carry a squadron of planes, but they will be useful support for the bigger ships, providing another squadron of dedicated combat pilots.
One thing though, these things are fragile. There is a report of one being hit by a shell and surviving, but only because the timer on the shell was designed to allow it to penetrate heavily armoured ships – and it had gone through both sides of the escort carrier before it exploded!

Its still a welcome addition to the fleet though. Now to get it to Pearl without it being torpedoed.