Part 84: Operational Report: 28/02/42

The Skipjack continues to hunt in the Makkasa Straight.



Batavia is bombed, the few fighters stationed there are not able to stop the waves of bombers that come over the city, as the Japanese air force reduces the airfields to rubble.



Over Soerabaja, we trade a P400 for a Zero, and two of the patrol ships are blown apart by the bombs of the Vals.



The carrier based planes then go to finish off the De Ruyter, who was fleeing towards Darwin.



In the afternoon, they strike at Soerabaja, and we again trade a P400 for a Zero.
Djokjakarta falls today, meaning I don't have to type that ridiculous name out once more, but it also means the Japanese are marching closer to Soerabaja.







Our dive bombers based at Port Moresby finally get an escort for their attack. In a fine example of military planning, a two squadrons of P-40's are sent out to escort 4 dive bombers, and to add insult to injury, no enemy planes are seen.



In Sumatra, we see a massive raid on Djambi, nearly one hundred planes in a single raid, which fails to cause any damage to military targets in the area.



Several raids follow this one, as nearly two hundred planes visit the city.






The Gato tries to sink an enemy destroyer, but the torpedo is a dud, and the captain spends the next few hours dodging depth charges. There are some near misses, but no damage to the sub.



My popularity will drop once more today, as the Mississippi takes a torpdeo hit at Eniwetok.



Our planes from one of our carriers find the destroyer Kuri nearby, and visit it with fire. Three 1000lb bombs are enough to send it to the bottom of the sea.



The Invasion force makes another attack, but they are now disorganised from coming ashore, so make little headway, I'll rest them for a couple of days before trying again.







Changsha's runway is obliterated again today, but as we still have no planes, this is of little worry to us.



Sinyang erupts into fire again as the Imperial Army make a push on out forces, but this is a rushed attack, and they take heavy casualties for no real gain.



Chengchow falls today, as the enemy hit our poorly supplied men hard.







As feared, Rangoon falls today when attacked by 35,000 men. Most of our men retreat northward, leaving the enemy to the city.



They also attack and take a base to the east. The enemies invasion of Burma is now well under way.









Well, another battleship hit. I'm going to be popular.





So, time for a quick update on the situation here. We started with a total of five targets, so far we have taken one of them, are likely to take another have abandoned two and the fate of the last, Wotje, hangs in the balance.

So far, I've learned that a successful attack needs more air support, and as the carriers are to easy to damage, this really needs to be land based at this time. To this end, I have a convoy on its way to wake, it is carrying a mix of B-17, Liberators and Bolo long range bombers. These will then be used to soften up the enemy for the second wave of troops I'm now shipping out to Pearl Harbour.



The Mississippi looks to be in no danger of sinking at the moment. So at least that's a good thing.




The Survivors of Rangoon have been ordered north to Chittagong, where we already have a good few men setting up a defence.



While not enough to stop the 35,000 men the enemy have, they are going to be reinforced, so hopefully over the next few weeks we can turn this into a strong defensive position.