AmiralLaurent
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Joined: 3/11/2003
From: Near Paris, France
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28-30 January 1943
Northern Pacific
On the 28th, Allied engineers opened an airfield on Amchitka Island, that so became the closest Allied base to Japan. Mavis from Paramushiro Jima started to recon the base the next day, and reported some P-40E on CAP, probably flying from Adak.
Anyway Japanese operations in this area will continue to be limited to defensive minelaying, supported by the MLE based in Eforoto Jima, 4 MLs mining Paramushiro Jima and the specialised submarines I-121 and I-124 Attu and Kiska.
Also on the 28th, two submarines (a Glen-carrying and a RO) left Pearl Harbor northwards to patrol south of Alaska. The Glenn will search Allied convoys, while its mother submarine will refuel the RO, that will be sent to chase reported shipping.
New Zealand- Southern Pacific
On the 28th, the final preparations were made in Auckland port for the invasion of New Caledonia, and this evening the fleet sailed northwards.
The main punch will be provided by the Kido Butai, organised in 3 CV TF:
_ a fast one (able of 30 knots) led by Nagumo with the Zuikaku, Shokaku, Soryu, Hiryu, 4 CA, 6 DD, 114 Zeroes, 94 Vals, 49 Kates.
_ a “normal one” (able of 27 knots) led by Yamaguchi with the Akagi, Ryuho, Zuiho, Ryujo, the BB Hiei, 1 CA, 1 CL, 6 DD, 71 Zeroes, 38 Vals, 60 Kates
_ a slow one (able of 24 knots) led by Yamada with the Kaga, Hiyo, Shoho, Hosho, the CS Mizuho, 1 CA, 2 CL, 6 DD, 99 Zeroes, 15 Vals, 39 Kates, and 21 Jakes aboard the CS.
Four surface TF sailed with the fleet, two centred around one BB, respectively the Musashi and the Ise, each with a CA, 2 CL and 6 DD, and two scout TF with each 1 CL and 9 DD.
The biggest TF were the three transport TF. They had a total of 205 transports and escorts and carried 261k supplies and 281k men, most of them preparing for Noumea and about 20% preparing for Luganville.
Other TF following the armada were 4 ASW TF (6 ships each), a replenishment TF of 8 AO (each with 8k fuel) and 6 escort and a fast minesweeper TF (5 20-knot MSW).
The fleet had a total of 329 ships, 284 Zeroes, 147 Vals and 148 Kates.
As Allied submarines had been reported NW of New Zealand, a diversion TF was sent there with 20 transports carrying each a small portion of a Naval Guard Unit and 6 escorts. It was hoped that one ship will be hit and troops lost, so it would appear that a troop convoy was sailing to Australia.
During the next two days, neither fleet was detected by the Allied. A troop convoy got late and the fleet was ordered to slow down on the 31st to let it join.
Recon continued from Norfolk Island and reported on the 30th 306 aircraft (111/81/114) at Noumea, but the CAP was still flown only by a dozen F4F-4. The same day one of the two Mavis based in Norfolk Island was shot down by AA fire during a recon of Brisbane, and in the evening the last one was sent to Truk for R&R.
The other priority in the area was the possible threat on the area of Pago-Pago. Barges and a FT TF brought some troops to Tongatapu, while a Mavis transport Chutai started to fly other troops from Tarawa to Pago-Pago. Tongatapu having few supplies, a 7000-ton AK was sent from Suva to bring them here. But the Allied fleet wasn’t reported again by the reinforced Japanese air patrols. The submarines anyway continued on their way to patrol the contact area, and 25 A6M2 flew from Auckland to Suva on the 28th just in case.
On the 29th the alert was lowered and rather than remaining in reserve 23 Betties from Suva attacked Efate airfield. As reported by former recon there was no Cap and the attack destroyed 2 B-26B on the ground and scored 1 hit on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 1 on the runway, while a Betty hit by AA fire ditched on the return leg. More important, this raid was followed by the move of some fighters, probably from Noumea, to Efate and the next day the recon reported 18 P-40E over Efate.
Bismarcks-Solomons-New Guinea
On the afternoon of the 28th, Rabaul was attacked by 30 B-24D and 9 Hudson I from PM that scored 11 hits on the airbase, 7 on supplies and 21 on the runways, but the raid was caught in a storm on return and 4 B-24D hit the mountains of New Guinea in bad weather.
The same evening, 32 Ki-61 flew from Truk to Rabaul, and 36 Ki-45 from Truk to Kavieng. Both had orders to fly CAP over Rabaul the next day, but there was no raid, and a Nick was lost in an accident.
The apparent quietness of the area led the Japanese commander of the area to send two AK laden with supplies to Rabaul and Kavieng on the 28th, and a convoy of 9 AP, 4 escort and 4 ML to carry the 7th Air Div HQ and 13th Base Force to Rabaul on the 29th.
But on the 30th, 57 B-24D and 14 Hudson I attacked Rabaul and the CAP of 20 Ki-61 and 19 Ki-45 was unable to stop them. The 203 Sentai shot down 7 B-24 and 2 Hudson but lost one Tony to return fire and 6 on the ground, while the 45 Sentai, flying for the first time the Nick in battle, shot down only 2 Hudson and 1 B-24 but lost 3 Ki-45, one shot down by return fire and 2 in crashes, and had more than half of the other damaged. The Allied bombers also scored 5 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 57 on the runway, and disabled 63 men and 2 guns. One more B-24D was lost in a crash.
In the evening both units returned all serviceable aircraft to Truk and one more Tony was lost to engine failure with its pilot. 7 damaged Tonies remained in Rabaul, and 15 Nicks in Kavieng.
Timor-Amboina-Australia
The 68 Sentai was very successfull over Koepang. On the 28th 22 Ki-61 intercepted 12 B-25C from Derby and shot down 4 without loss, the others scoring 1 hit on the airbase and 7 on the runway and disabling 36 men and 2 guns. The next day the Ki-61 didn’t retire as usual and 23 were again flying CAP when 7 B-25C from Derby attacked again in the afternoon. 3 Allied bombers were shot down by them, and two more by AA fire, the survivors doing no damage at all. There was no raid on Koepang on the 30th.
Lautem was attacked on the 29th (no damage) and 30th (1 hit on the airbase and 5 on the runway) each time by 24 B-25C from Darwin.
In the evening of the 30th, 36 Ki-45 moved from Kendari to Koepang (one crashed on the way and was lost with its pilot) and will LRCAP Lautem tomorrow.
On the 30th, a Nell flying a recon over Darwin was shot down by AA fire.
Southern Resource Area
Convoys started on the 28th to load 14k oil in Medan for Singapore and 10k resources in Manila for Japan. This last convoy left Manila in the night of 29th-30th but ran into an Allied submarine-laid minefield off Bataan and the small AK Yanagigawa was heavily damaged (45/63/14) by a Mk 10 mine and lost 2/3 of her cargo. She turned back and returned to Manila with the other ships of her convoy. She arrived at Manila in the evening and received orders to unload before being docked. Three MSW were sent from Osaka to sweep the minefield off Bataan.
To avoid the same thing in DEI, two MSW groups were sent from Singapore and will check Palembang, Batavia, Toboali and Brunei. Also the ML based in Singapore will lay more defensive minefields in these bases.
Burma
Allied raids continued without encountering any Japanese fighters. Mandalay was attacked on all 3 days by Allied airmen from Imphal. On the 28th the airfield was bombed by 37 Liberator VI, 27 B-17E, 16 Blenheim IV, 16 Beaufort I and 12 B-25J escorted by 54 P-40B, 8 Beaufighter VIC and 8 Beaufighter Mk 21 that scored 14 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 42 on the runways. The two next days the resources centers of the city were the target and all were disabled (between 30 and 40 had been repaired) by a total of 194 bomber sorties (75 Liberator VI, 33 B-17E, 30 Blenheim IV, 29 Beaufort I and 27 B-25J) and 134 escort sorties (108 P-40B, 14 Beaufighter VIC and 12 Mk 21).
Myitkyina was also attacked each morning during these three days by a total of 97 B-25J and 30 Beaufort V-IX bombing sorties escorted by 61 P-40B sorties. These attacks scored 8 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 103 on the runway. Japanese losses were 111 men and 2 guns.
Akyab was missed in the afternoon on the 28th by 9 Blenheim IV from Chandpur escorted by 28 P-40B, and in the afternoon of the 30 th by 61 B-25C and 36 Blenheim IV from the same base, escorted by 27 P-40B. This second attack scored 1 hit on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 15 on the runway, doing 10 casualties.
These three days cost the Allied air forces 6 operational losses: 2 P-40B, 1 B-17E, 1 Liberator VI, 1 B-25C and 1 Beaufighter Mk 21.
The Japanese air force in Burma was now strong enough to do something against these raids, but lacked a good place to do so. Mandalay was too strongly attacked, Pagan was still reconned each day, Myitkyina was very badly damaged, Akyab was lacking supplies, Lashio and Taung Gyi had only small base forces. So rather than defend it was decided to attack Recons flown on the 28th and 29th reported 20-25 Spitfire and some P-40B over Ledo, 25-30 Hurricanes and some Spitfire over Dacca and 40-45 Spitfire and 20-25 Mohawk and P-40B over Chandpur. So it was decided to send a sweep to Dacca.
The attack was sent on the 30th, with an afternoon raid of 24 Nells against the airfield. The bombers were ordered to bomb at 20k feet, and were just there to ensure the 'sweep' will be flown in the afternoon. They were escorted by 68 A6M2 and 24 A6M3a and were intercepted by 31 Hurricanes. In the following battle, 9 A6M2, 1 A6M3a and 24 Hurricane were shot down. The bombers were not attacked but only scored 1 hit on the airbase and 2 on the runways. One Zero of each type were also lost in accidents during this raid, and a Ki-46 was shot down by the RAF over India the same day, so the final result of the raid was 13 losses for 24 victories.
Japanese intelligence reported that Allied units continued to leave Asansol, 27 were now reported here, two less than some days ago.
The problem of supplying Akyab was becoming serious. Barges were not able to do it. On the 30th, 12 Topsies arrived in Rangoon to help supplying the base, and a FT TF of a CL and 2 DD loaded supplies for this base, and sailed in the evening. An A6M3 Daitai was ordered to fly LRCAP tomorrow over it.
China
In the north, the Northern China Army continued to move south from Kungchang but only the 3rd Tk Div reached the river north of Sian. Yenen bombers attacked each day the two Chinese Corps west of Sian, hitting 368 men and 4 guns and losing 2 Ki-49 and 1 Ki-21 in crashes in 156 sorties (73 Ki-49, 48 Ki-21 and 35 Oscar I). These raids were too costly and too early and were stopped in the evening of the 30th.
The LRCAP over Chengtu from Lanchow wasn’t repeated. And Japanese engineers expanded the airfield of Kungchang to size 2.
In Central China, the operational training units based in Wuhan attacked on the 28th and the 30th Chinese troops NW of Changsha, hitting a total of 143 men and flying 288 sorties (117 A6M2, 51 Vals, 52 Ki-48, 53 Oscar I, 15 Kates) without loss.
In the south, a recon unit was upgraded to the long-range Ki-46-III and Kunming was bombed by two KI-48 Sentais from Hanoi on the 29th (44 Ki-48s) and 30th (47) that aimed at the resources centers but only disabled two of the 89 still working before the raids.
On the 30th Japanese engineers expanded the airfield of Nanning to size 4, but the base then became too big for its garrison. Some transport aircraft will ferry troops to the city before troubles began here.
Also some units left again Kweilin for Wuchow because the required supplies fell below 10k and so the repairs of HI and resources stopped.
Japan
The CS Chitose and Chiyoda left Tokyo on the 28th and arrived in Osaka two days later, and were docked there to be transformed into CVL.
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