tocaff
Posts: 4781
Joined: 10/12/2006 From: USA now in Brasil Status: offline
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March 18, 1945 Tori Shima Intel 1835 men are based at Hungnam. Chinhae Bay Fortress is located at Pusan. Elements of the 26th Division are located at Chengting. 15th Army is located at Pisanuloke. 34120 men are based at Hamamatsu. 7th Mixed Brigade is located at Mutanchiang. 14th Division is located at Seoul. Sasebo 7th SNLF is planning for an attack on Jaluit. 5th RF Gun Battalion is located at Sian. 17th Aviation Rgt is located at Ichang. 22nd NLF is located at Tavoy. 55th Naval Guard Unit is planning for an attack on Wake Island. 25th AA Regiment is located at Osaka/Kobe. 67th Construction Battalion is located at Gumma. Recon F-5A Lightning takes recon photos of Krung Thep 8 LCUs 60400/600/7 F-5C Lightning takes recon photos of Alor Star 23 bombers, 13 aux, 5 LCUs 23200/184/0 Mosquito PR.IX takes recon photos of Singapore 14 X AP, 1 X AK, 5 X AG, 1 X SS, 3 X CA, 2 X APD, 3 X DE, 142 fighters, 173 bombers, 293 aux, 19 LCUs 35940/149/113 PBM Mariner takes recon photos of Brunei 3 X APD, 6 X AK, 46 fighters, 70 bombers, 82 aux, 1 LCU 9700/0/0 PBM Mariner takes recon photos of Legaspi 1 LCU 3320/0/0 F-5C Lightning takes recon photos of Naga 8 LCUs 86200/929/18 Combat A pair of IJN MSWs encountered a mine field at Teloekbetoeng and immediately commenced sweeping it. A quartet of IJN DDs and a CA entered a minefield at Tori Shima with the following results. DD Tsuta 2 mine hits, on fire, heavy damage DD Nire 2 mine hits, sunk DD Nara 1 mine hit, on fire, heavy damage CA Atago 1 mine hit, on fire DD Onami 1 mine hit, on fire Allied shipping was under a CAP of 105 X P-51D when a raid of 7 X Judy, 15 X Betty, 18 X Zeke, 18 X Tony and 2 X Randy bored in. 5 Mustangs were damaged as they shredded the Japanese attackers. 7 Judys, 15 Bettys, 11 Zekes, 15 Tonys and both Randys were blasted from the sky before they could get close to the unloading ships. Another attack followed a little later in the day and was met by 51 X P-51D. Out of 41 X Grace, 19 X Betty, 18 X Zeke and 12 X Frank the Mustangs shot down 12 X Grace, 14 X Betty, all of the Zekes and all of the Franks. A Mustang blew up in midair and 11 took damage, but no ships were threatened. Japanese ships attacked the Allied shipping in broad daylight with the following results. Japanese Ships BB Haruna 3 shell hits CA Chikuma 5 shell hits CA Atago 4 shell hits, on fire, heavy damage CA Chokai 6 shell hits CL Agano 2 shell hits DD Hanazuki 4 shell hits, on fire, heavy damage DD Kazegumo 5 shell hits, on fire DD Onami, 3 shell hits, on fire, heavy damage DD Umikaze 6 shell hits, on fire, heavy damage DD Momo 13 shell hits, sunk Allied Ships DD Saufley 53 shell hits, sunk DD Schroeder 21 shell hits, sunk DD Lansdowne 21 shell hits , sunk DD Maury 21 shell hits, sunk AK Atlanta City 4 shell hits, on fire AK William Luckenbach 10 shell hits, on fire, heavy damage AK Ernest Meyer 8 shell hits, on fire, heavy damage AK Empire Ballantyne 6 shell hits, on fire, heavy damage Then the IJN conducted a naval bombardment causing no damage and inflicting negligible personnel losses. In the midst of all of the activity in the air some C-46s were intercepted by the Japanese fighters. The SS Picuda, 77 miles W of Tainan, located, stalked and attacked 4 X PC, hitting 1 with a torpedo that set the target on fire and caused heavy damage. The SS Golet was attacked by 6 DDs 81 miles N of Brunei. An attack on the ships at was made by 10 X B-24J who missed the 2 DDs. Before retiring to replenish the Old Gals dumped more death on the Japanese near Cagayan, causing moderate casualties. The IJA 18th Division was attacked by aircraft a few times for very heavy casualties. The 56th Division was hit by planes for no losses. The IJA 24th Ind. Mixed Brigade had very heavy casualties from an air raid. Allied artillery added heavy losses to the tally. A naval bombardment of Legaspi caused moderate damage to the airstrip, light port damage, some secondary explosions, some fuel tanks blew up and light personnel losses. Allied troops hit the beach taking heavy casualties. The SS Puffer evaded 3 PCs that were hunting her. Later through sheer determination they found and pounded her. Now she's heading for a port with moderate systems damage and moderate flooding. No position was given in her report. Nanning underwent a fighter sweep by 72 X P-38J who bounced a gaggle of 7 X Zeke, 9 X Oscar, 13 X Tojo, 8 X Nick and 8 X Tony. The Lightnings knifed through the Japanese loosing 2 planes and having another take damage while they shot down 6 Zekes, 8 Oscars, 13 Tojos, 8 Nicks and 7 Tonys. Andaman Island's airfield was bombed by 26 X B-24J, 1 damaged by AA fire, for moderate damage, a couple of secondary explosions and there were negligible troop losses. A short time later 38 X B-25J (6 damaged) and 17 X P-38J appeared, but they dropped off target, doing no harm. Later the 118th IJNAF Base Force was struck by 148 X Liberator VI, 45 X Mosquito FB.VI and 49 X B-25J for heavy casualties. Another raid on the 118th IJNAF Base Force missed due to cloud cover hiding the unit. The 25th Dragoons Tank Regiment, 21 miles N of Krung Thep, was hit by 15 X Peggy who ran into 7 X Thunderbolt II. A Peggy went down in flames and 4 others were damaged as they caused very light losses to the British unit. A Thunderbolt was damaged in the fight. The Japanese ships near Brunei were attacked by 13 X B-24J and 3 X Zeke, 3 X Tojo, 3 X Tony and 4 X Frank met them, but only made a token attempt at attacking the bombers. An AP was struck by a bomb and an MSW took 6 bomb hits that left it a burning wreck. Troops were seen going into the water. At Naga the two sides traded artillery bombardments with the Allies having negligible casualties and the Japanese having very heavy losses. Sam watched the air combat and the Japanese ships as they closed on the island. Being perched on the heights like this offered a great view. He saw what looked like explosions for no apparent reason so he figured that it was mines or torpedoes hitting the Jap ships and then though they tried to escape he saw the USN ships getting clobbered. It was a sobering sight and now he has a very lonely feeling. Where is the USN that's supposed to be protecting them? Jay peers at the artillery round almost completely buried about 5 yards from his hole. It was a dud and he's been told to stay where he is and don't touch the round. He can't believe how lucky he is and his thoughts begin to turn towards maybe, just maybe he will survive this war. The US 3rd Army took Boppard. Kolberg fell to the 1st Polish Army. The Germans evacuated 80,000 refugees and wounded. Victory Points Allied 55562 Japanese 40082
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