FeurerKrieg
Posts: 3397
Joined: 6/15/2005 From: Denver, CO Status: offline
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August 1st, 1942 August proves to be a big day in the war. The Nick two engined fighter, capable of stopping high altitude Allied bombing runs, and the new Kawasaki powered Ki-61 'Tony' fighter both rolled their first production units out today. SS Porpoise attacked AP Josho Maru on the surface south of Saigon. The ship was carrying elements of the 11th Aviation Rgt, recently reassigned from Manchukuo to Burma. The majority of the unit was on other ships. This ship will likely sink tomorrow. Submarine attack! Weather scrubbed our opening air attack on Liuchow, but we still have a couple days before the attacking army arrives there. To draw war supplies from Liuchow, our army launched a heavy attack on Changsha today. The really major event is the apparent intention of the United States to invade Johnston Island. A Glen floatplane reported a large fleet northeast of the island, heading directly towards Johnston. Unfortunately this Glen was shot down by enemy carrier planes before he could return to his sub, I-26. I-26 was also found by enemy SBDs and bombed. Damage crews were able to stabilize flooding and the sub should be able to make it back to Kwajelein. The sub had arrived from being repaired just four days ago, so it is no stranger to damage. Johnston itself was bombed before sunrise by 9 B-17Es and 12 B-24D's but these did no damage. In the daylight, 66 B-17E's attacked and came in between 9,000 and 14,000 feet. 41 Zeros rose to stop them and did a fair job. 19 of the B-17's were shot down, although 5 Zeros were lost as well. The remaining bombers did a fair bit of damage to the airbase, destroying 9 Betty bombers and 1 Zero on the ground. Enemy bombers shot down 4 Zeros and 3 Bettys on patrol found the fleet and attempted to attack as well, but were jumped by over a hundred enemy fighters, including P-38Fs. Our Zeros managed to take down 1 F4F-4 and shot up another and a P-38 enough that they were considered losses. Thankfully the majority of our fleet arrived just a couple days ago at Kwajelein. The bulk of the fleet is sailing out immediately to be on hand in case the opportunity to damage enemy assets presents. Battleship Yamato is leading a powerful surface combat group, and every carrier and light carrier outside of Zuikaku, Shokaku and Hiryu are in strong TFs with Battleships and numerous cruisers. The fleet will likely stay to the south of Johnston and attempt to sink enemy ships unloading at the island. They may not arrive in time to stop the initial invasion, but hopefully the many coastal guns and mines we have set up with be enough to slow the enemy assault. Soryu was due to arrive in two days, but will speed up and arrive tomorrow to take on fuel and form up a task force and head east to catch up with the rest of the fleet before it engages the enemy. Since the fleet will take a couple more days to arrive, nearly 200 aircraft are flying into Johnston and will attempt to attack the enemy fleet tomorrow. It will likely be a bloody affair, and any surviving aircraft will fly back to Kwajelein the following day so they are not lost if the atoll is captured.
< Message edited by Feurer Krieg -- 8/25/2008 5:02:13 PM >
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