Part 164: Operational Report: 19/05/42

The Baker Island Invasion force arrives during the night, and announces its presences with thunderous fire.



Then the assault troops swarm ashore, forging a beachhead for the following forces.



All this time, the bombardment is continuing, and another 30 Japanese soldiers are thought to be killed. Then, for some unknown reason, the commander of the invasion orders the men back into the boats! I think someone is ripe for demotion.

Luckily, the men at Canton are firmly ashore, and rapidly advancing on the Japanese defenders there, capturing many of them.



The non combat troops are not willing to fight this overwhelming force of Americans, and who can blame them.






The Betty bombers decide to attack Ledo today – this is the Indian side of the Chinese supply route, from here the sky train ships supplies over the mountains.



I may need to scrounge up more fighters to defend this point, as I cannot allow the Japanese to cut my Chinese supplies, this would cripple my offensives there.



Today's' battle over Chittagong is inconclusive, but at least there is no damage to anything in the target area.





The Blenheim bombers go over the peninsula to raid the enemy.



While the Banshee's find themselves another crusier.



The Japanese have landed troops in Lunga, and as I have moved all my men north to deal with the troops still on the island, they take the base without a fight.



Just as well I've ordered men from the nearby Tulagi to move back and retake it already.





The Japanese assault on Kiukaing comes apart nicely for us.



So does their Sinyang assault, which is always a nice source of Casualties.



Hong Kong goes well for us, but now are men are exhausted and disrupted, so they are going to need a day or so to reorganise and rest.









Right, time to find out what the hell the happened with my Baker Island assault, there was no reason to call is off, and I'm not pleased.
It seems that there are nearly 5,000 defenders, many more than the attacking force, so I may let the commander off this time. I have noticed a few ships in the area, so I'm sending the Colorado in with some support to try and take out the supply ships – they were there when we arrived, so their not warships, they would have attacked the troopships if they were.



An assault is planned on Wake, so its time to wonder about sending some ships to defend it, or decide to let the Japanese retake it. The only ship availible is the Yorktown, who has just received some Avenger torpedo bombers.



These planes, on paper at least, are much better than the Devastator's they replace. They have twice the range, more armour and bomb capacity, as well as a higher speed. The only trade off is a reduced manoeuvrability.
Unfortunately, we only have the once squadron of 18 so far. So we're going to have to wait longer. I'm not sure if its worth risking the last active carrier for a little island. The Enterprise is still 33 days from repair, and the Saratoga is 40 miles from the San Diego shipyards, and should be there tomorrow.
The only upside is the Wasp arrives in 22 days, but then there's nothing until the end of the year, and even then they are escort carriers.

It looks like even more men are on their way to Lunga, so its time to send in some more defenders.