Part 410: Operational Report: 20/01/43
The volume of fire coming out at our ships is much reduced, but we still see some damage.
The Japanese gunners seem to be very accurate still.
At Jaluit, the Japanese forces mount a major assault on our forces, and our lines collapse. Our men, disordered from coming ashore, exhausted from combat are caught by surprise, and the entire 27th Division ashore surrenders!
Our attack at Maleolap collapses, and we take heavy losses.
Some of our B-17's make an attack on Rabaul, and are met by a huge number of enemy fighters.
Their bombers return the visit to Finschhafen, but our fighters are much more effective than the Japanese.
Their afternoon attack is more successful.
We lose Hanoi today as the Japanese march more forces into the city, and it looks like our expedition into Indochina is at an end.
That was a bloody awful day, and our casualties are very heavy. We took 400 points of army losses, which gives the Japanese an increase in their lead of around the same amount.
It may be that the second set of islands will need more troops to take, but I've ordered all ships to move out of the area as soon as they have finished unloading – apart for the one that contains the remains of the 27th. Their off back to Suva to try and rebuild there.
The Shanghai express is out of supplies it would seem, so I'm trying to redirect more from other areas in China to keep the bombers going, but China being a supply sink, this is not likely to work for long.
bunnyofdoom posted:
How long til the Saratoga is fixed?
Only 160 days now!
Murgos posted:
I'm not trying to be rude, I LOVE this lp and read every update, but I don't think that Grey is very good at this game.
For the purposes of the LP though, that's probably not a bad thing.
Hmm, from the OP
Grey Hunter posted:
but I don't understand everything that's going on!
This is a very complex game, one that I've only been playing for four months or so since it came out. So I'm still learning as we go – but I'm a firm believer that the chance of losing something makes it much more interesting.
Make the seventeen months now! And still sucking!