Part 40: Operational Report: 15/01/42

The enemy continue to pour ashore at Kendari and Ambon, with the destroyers supporting the landings firing for hours to suppress our men. The defenders of Ambon lose most of their defensive lines today, meaning that they will most likely not hold tomorrow.



But the defenders of Kendari are pushed back into the fields beyond the base.



South of Port Moresby, the enemy bomber squadron sinks another of our supply ships.



The strike the port itself that afternoon and sink another ship, and a further raid over the water sinks a third.

We also get news that the temporary flooding prevention on the destroyer Van de Ghent, causing the water to flood into the ship rapidly, so rapidly in fact that the captain, along with most of the crew, were unable to get off this ship before she went down.

The Imperial Navy carrier's are fleeing home, but not without striking at Balikpapan. The defenders there get one plane into the air.



Unfortunately for the pilot, Captain Snoeck, despite his best efforts, and after shooting down an enemy bomber, he himself was shot down and killed.






In the Marshall Islands, the Triton attacks an enemy troop carrier, favouring her deck gun over the torpedoes that she knows to be defective.



While this is good news, it also tells us that the enemy is trying to reinforce the area, an area we are currently planning to invade.
But at least that's one troop ship that will never see its destination.




Although I often fail to report it, this is a daily ritual for the defenders of Kukong, these bombers
have been visiting daily for a good few weeks.



In the middle of nowhere, a number of Chinese Corps force back an enemy unit, taking no reported losses doing so.







The Japanese have begun to bomb Luzon once more, this raid has no real effect, but the enemy are once more in the air.



The hit the defenders of Clark field once more with 30 planes, but again no damage is reported.

In the south, the enemy continue to push our men back across the board, today using tanks to capture and kill two thousand men.



Meanwhile, in attacks in the north continue.










No more carriers, and more ships lost in what seems to be a steady flow to the bottom of the sea. Plane losses have been low on both sides for a few days now.



The enemy are shifting troops to Tokyo, most likely forming them up from other fronts for a new invasion somewhere.





Finally, we have fighters at Port Moresby, hopefully tomorrow will see the end of the enemies reign of terror over the skies of the port.



Major Wilborn has been replaced already, and his replacement will have arrived in two days or so, the Major was an decent peace time officer, but not who we want in such an important area.




Now loaded onto their ships, the invasion force bound for Luganville will set off tomorrow, with the Louisville for protection and shore bombardment.





Our first attack of the war is ready to go. Lets see how we do on the offensive.