Part 397: Operational Report: 07/01/43

It seems that our men yesterday managed to take the coastal fortress that so hurt us yesterday. Todays landings at Wotje meet no return fire from the Japanese.



The invasion of Roi-Namur is preceded by a thunderous barrage, hundreds of Japanese are hit, and our men take low casualties as they come ashore to sweep aside the shell-shocked Japanese defenders.



Once again, our carriers seem to have forgotten to protect themselves with fighters, and the Chenango pays the price.



It seems that their planes are protecting the invasion force.



They hold off two waves of Imperial bombers, doing their jobs to protect the men aboard the ships.



Rio-Namur is also attacked, but the guns of the battleships drive them off.



Still more planes attack Wotje, and the fighters continue to keep them away.



Our bombers then hit the airfield at Maleolap.



At Makin, we take the island, but I think there will be the need to clean up pockets of defenders over the next few days,



Wotje also falls, two of the three defending units are destroyed during the fighting.



At Rio-Namur, we overrun most of the Japanese defences, leaving them with only a few trenches left, her to we should be able to win in the next few days.







I get confused when I see an amphibious operation in China, it seems that rather than marching the thousands of men they have in the country to a position to attack Chefoo, they decide to burn more valuable fuel to land some troops.



This is an odd way to fight a war.

Our men in Hanoi are forced to retreat by an attack by a much larger Japanese force.



While the boys in Nanning continue their spirited withdrawal action.



There is some more fighting in the Chuhsien area, and we have a dammed good day.



We also have a good day at Kiangtu, killing nearly four times the number of Japanese soldiers as we lose Chinese.



The shock attack at Sinyang shows me that I either need more men in the area, or for the Japanese to retreat. The heavy losses mean I must now go back to the previous stalemate.







The Shanghai Express continues to hit the shipyards of Hiroshima, causing, once more, minor damage to the port.







Darwin is raided once more, with the normal results.







In the depths of Burma we see some fighting.









The Marshall Islands will soon (TM) be ours, Wotje has fallen, and attrition takes care of their remaining troops, and Rio-Namaur will not be long after in falling. Then we can re-board the ships and take the lower importance islands.
But not without cost, another Escort Carrier lies at the bottom of the seas, the Japanese throwing out so many planes that some of them are getting through.