tocaff
Posts: 4781
Joined: 10/12/2006 From: USA now in Brasil Status: offline
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March 28, 1944 Moscow Intel 4636 men are based at Wakkanai. 1st Amphibious Brigade is planning for an attack on Wake Island. 14th Mortar Battalion is located at Rabaul. 15th Construction Battalion is located at Tawi Tawi. 113th IJA Base Force is located at Nanking. Yosu Fortress is located at Masan. 10th Tank Regiment is located at Mishan. 1st Heavy AA Battalion is located at Tokyo. 18th Reserve Coastal Artillery Regiment is located at Toyama. 108th IJN Base Force is located at Kyoto. Southeast Fleet is located at Rabaul. Radio transmissions detected at Vancouver. Recon F-5C Lightning takes recon photos of Maumere vacant Mosquito PR.IX takes recon photos of Morotai 4 X AK, 1 X DE, 9 aux, 2 LCUs 4820/2/0 F-5A Lightning takes recon photos of Gili Gili 28 fighters, 18 bombers, 64 aux, 11 LCUs 51400/410/13 PBY Catalina takes recon photos of Lunga 15 fighters, 18 aux, 17 LCUs 33320/154/0 Combat At Brunei 4 PGs and a PCs discovered a mine field. The SS Bowfin, at 40,52, attacked a TK and hit it with a torpedo and then gave the slip to the escorts that tried to find their tormentor. Koepang was bombed by 29 X B-24J, 4 of which were damaged by the AA fire. The port was lightly damaged, there were a few secondary explosions, casualties were light and an AP was heavily damaged by a bomb hit. Then 135 X B-24D and 45 X B-24J roared in for their attack. 12 of the D types and 5 of the Js were damaged by flak as they heavily damaged the airfield, moderately damaged the port, caused a great many secondary explosions, inflicted very heavy losses on personnel and hit the AP with 2 more bombs, leaving it on fire. After all was quiet the AP settled and now just her masthead shows above the water. Port Moresby underwent a fighter sweep by 68 X P-38J who mixed it up with 13 Zekes, 8 Tojos and 4 Tonys while a raid arrived consisting of 47 X B-17E, 48 X B-24D and 95 X B-24J. Between .50 cal and bombs the Japanese lost 12 Zekes, 6 Tojos, 6 Tonys and 5 Judys. The Allied planes suffered 4 P-38Js shot down (6 damaged), 8 B-17Es damaged, 3 B-24Ds damaged and 3 B-24Js were also damaged. The airfield was very heavily damaged, there were a great many secondary explosions and the troops sustained very heavy casualties. The 5th New Chinese Corps, still starving and unable to move, was struck by 10 X Helen for light losses. A CL limping away from Ulithi was attacked by 7 X SBD, 12 X P-39D and 7 X P-47D. The ship, thought to be the Tama was hit by a bomb and some 37mm shells and was burning and heavily damaged. Another wave of attackers arrived and the 7 SBDs, 11 Airacobras, 3 Thunderbolts and 15 F4U-1Ds went to work hitting their target with 3 bombs and more 37mm shells. This was enough to kill off the doomed vessel. At Moulmein artillery exchanges ruled the day and the Allied forces had extremely light losses while the Japanese had light casualties. An Allied artillery bombardment on Rangoon's defenders caused heavy losses. Stick has 2 more escort missions under his belt after today and he relates to the mechanics how it looked as the planes pounded and ultimately sank the Japanese cruiser. The ground crew loves hearing Stick's narratives almost as much as he loves telling them. He still longs for the chance to score a kill. Gil finally arrived in Pittsburgh in the wee hours of the morning due to the railroad having some kind of problems. He knew that he had to wait so he timed his arrival on Squirrel Hill for breakfast. His cab dropped him off and he walked up to the front door and rang the bell. Elaine answered the door and almost knocked Gil off of his feet with the lunge at him that ended in a hug and kiss. This was worth waiting for, he thinks. Suddenly Elaine lets go of him, steps back and says, “Gil, why didn't you tell me you were coming?” Later in the day Gil phones his uncle's hand bag factory in Brooklyn and speaks to him, asking that he pass the word to his parents that he'll be coming home for a visit in a week. Elaine isn't happy to lose him for that time, but he assures her that he'll return and spend more time with her before returning to duty. Stalin sits with his generals and plots how to further press the Japanese. “The Americans are dragging their feet about attacking the Japanese in concert with us so I propose that we put off any attack until the time that suits us. Of course any provocation by the Japanese shall be dealt with harshly. In the meantime continue upgrading our units and see to their training.” With a wave of the hand the generals depart the room as Stalin's dismissal is not to be ignored. Nikolaev was taken by the Russians. Victory Points Japanese 31453 Allied 26962
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